by Stacy-Deanne
“I’m glad.” She’d had a tizzy settling on the perfect hairstyle and finally picked the graceful updo.
“That dress.” Grayson’s eyes glued to her spaghetti-strapped black dress with floral trim and large flowers decorating the skirt. “You going to a modeling shoot after this?”
“Please.” She flicked her hand at him, hoping he’d notice her jasmine perfume. “Doesn’t matter what I wear. You make me feel beautiful whenever we’re together.”
“I can’t stop looking at you.”
She wasn’t sure what got her more in the mood, Grayson’s gaze or the seductive hum of the saxophone music that played loud enough to enjoy but didn’t overpower the guests’ conversations.
“Ooh.” Connie fanned, waves of heat sweeping through her buttocks. “It’s getting hot in here.”
He laughed.
“Once again everything is perfect. Every time we’re together I’m reminded how lucky I am to have met someone like you. I’ve never been this happy with anyone.” Her eyes tingled from the start of tears. “I thought I’d be alone forever.”
“That’s silly.” He chewed. “You’re too wonderful to be alone.”
“I don’t wanna lose this magic.” She took his hand. “I can’t see my life without you in it.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Connie.” He stroked the top of her hand with his thumb. “I’m here as long as you want me to be.”
She closed her eyes and held her breath at the awkward words she was about to say. “I love you.”
Please say it back. Oh, God please.
His eyebrows rose, mouth widening.
God.
Just when she thought she’d made a huge mistake he whispered, “I love you too, Connie.”
Her breathing quickened, and she nearly flipped out of her dress.
“I love you,” he spoke again with glassy eyes.
“Oh.” The overwhelming moment forced tears, and she dabbed her eyes careful not to damage her makeup.
Grayson stood and leaned over the table, prepping for a kiss. “I love you.” He pulled her from her chair and into a tender kiss.
“Mr. Paul,” a woman beckoned.
Grayson and Connie dropped their heads in annoyed sighs.
Rosalie Kachel rushed toward their table with CeCe in tow.
“I don’t believe this.” Connie plopped in her chair.
“Hi!” Rosalie stopped at the table, her screeching stinging Connie’s ears. “It’s so nice to see you again, Mr. Paul. What a lovely surprise.”
“Hello there.” He waved at CeCe who Connie hated to admit looked very handsome in his slim fit black dress shirt. “You doing okay, CeCe?”
“Fine, Mr. Paul.” He slapped the sides of his gray slacks. “Small world, huh?”
“You got that right,” Connie muttered, sipping wine.
“Imagine seeing you two here,” CeCe said. “It’s my aunt’s birthday.”
“Happy Birthday,” Grayson said. “How old are you?”
“Mr. Paul.” Rosalie tapped his shoulder with coyness. “You’re not supposed to ask a woman her age.”
“She’s sixty.” CeCe snickered.
“CeCe.” Rosalie swatted his arm.
Grayson winked at her. “Well, you don’t look a day over twenty-five.”
“Ooh.” She gushed, turning red. “Flattery will get you everywhere.”
“How are you doing tonight, Connie?” CeCe asked.
She ignored him. “Happy Birthday, Ms. Kachel.”
“Thank you, Detective.” She held her purse low in front of her. “We don’t want to interrupt so we’ll grab a table over there and leave you to your evening.”
“Nonsense.” Grayson raised his napkin. “Join us.”
Connie gaped at him.
CeCe beamed. “Are you sure?”
“This is your aunt’s birthday.” Grayson kissed her hand. “I’d be honored to have dinner with a fan on her birthday.”
“Oh, Mr. Paul.” Rosalie giggled. “We’d love to. We’ll get them to bring over some chairs.” She and CeCe went to the front of the restaurant.
“Are you out of your mind? How could you do that, Grayson?”
He dabbed the corner of his mouth, shrugging. “It’s her birthday.”
“I don’t give a damn. I don’t want CeCe Babbitt anywhere near me.”
“What can I do?” He sipped wine. “I already said they could join us.”
“Why is what I don’t get.” Connie pushed her plate away.
“Don’t be like that. It’s her birthday, Connie.”
A waiter set up Rosalie and CeCe at Grayson and Connie’s table and took their orders.
“What Connie’s having looks good.” CeCe ogled her pork. “I’ll have that.”
“I’ll take that too.” Rosalie closed her menu and handed it to the waiter. “Love a good pork tenderloin.” She finished with an order of Pinot Noir.
“Hold it,” Grayson told the waiter before he left the table. “Put everything on my tab.”
Connie grimaced at him.
“What?” Rosalie touched her chest.
“It’s your birthday.” Grayson winked. “The least I could do.”
“That’s very gracious of you, Mr. Paul.” The waiter turned to CeCe and Rosalie. “Your meals will be out soon.”
“Thank you so much, Mr. Paul.” Rosalie giggled in her hands. “Wow. I didn’t think I could become a bigger fan of yours than I already was.”
Connie scoffed, catching CeCe’s gaze across from her.
“This is a lovely restaurant, isn’t it?” Rosalie put her hands together. “CeCe wanted to take me for a night on the town. He’s such a good boy.”
“Anything for you, Auntie.” He smiled at Connie. “She’s all I got. It’s important to show the women in your life how much you care about them.”
Grayson rubbed his foot against Connie’s leg. “I couldn’t agree more.”
“You guys are so close,” Connie said. “I bet it’s been a change not having CeCe at the boarding house anymore.”
“I miss him.” Rosalie stroked the fancy place mat in front of her. “But, he’s a grown man; and he needs his space. I wish he wouldn’t bar me from his apartment though. Keeps making excuses for why I can’t come see him.”
Connie squinted.
“I’m not making excuses.” The face of CeCe’s leather watch sparkled under the light. “They’ve been renovating the place; so it’s been a mess over there. I want you to come when the time’s right.” He kissed Rosalie’s cheek.
“Renovating?” Connie took another bite of her meal.
“Yes.” CeCe smiled again. “Who knows how long that will take.”
Connie nodded and took a slurp of wine. “May I speak to you for a second?”
CeCe jerked upright. “Sure.”
Connie stood and pushed her chair under the table. “Let’s go outside.”
He scoffed with a lusty grin. “You don’t have to ask me twice.”
They exited the restaurant and stopped in front of the bench at the entryway.
“Now you listen and listen good.” Connie got in CeCe’s face. “Cut this shit right now.”
“I love your hair that way. It gives me a chance to see your beautiful neck.”
“CeCe—”
“That perfume’s been driving me crazy since I got here.” He leaned into her, taking a loud sniff. “What is it again?”
“Cut the crap, CeCe.” She shoved him. “Just cut it!”
A couple passed them on the walkway, exchanging curious looks.
“I’m an officer of the law and you can’t intimidate me like you do other women. I’m not tolerating this shit from you anymore.”
“Talk about being confused.” He tilted his head to one side. “What in the world are you talking about?”
“You’ve been stalking me but it ends tonight.”
“Stalking?” He released a slow, sexual smile. “You have a high opinion of yourself, don
’t you?”
“What would you call it? You follow me around at work, you leave me gifts even though I’ve told you not to, and you stare at me constantly.”
He hummed. “That’s called paying attention not stalking.”
“You showed up at the book signing.”
“My aunt wanted to meet your lover.” The playfulness left his tone. “I’m sorry. Didn’t realize you owned the bookstore and we couldn’t come.”
“What about now? You show up here too when I’m with Grayson?”
“You must love yellow roses.” He licked his lips, swaying his shoulders. “Because out of all the gifts I’ve given you, the rose was the only one you didn’t give back.”
She shuddered.
“You gave back the hairpin and perfume but kept the rose.”
She inhaled, swallowing her rage. “CeCe—”
“I can send you gifts if I want. There’s nothing against the law about me being friendly.”
“Oh yes there is. When a woman tells you she’s not interested and you keep on, that’s against the law. When you keep popping up everywhere she goes you are infringing on her personal space and that’s harassment. And you can stop pretending you didn’t flatten the tire of my car.”
“Your imagination is amazing. Sure you’re not the writer instead of Grayson? I did nothing to your car and as for tonight, how the hell did I know you’d be here?”
“All you do is lurk in corners.” She held her waist. “You probably heard me talking about it at the station. Then you got the bright idea to bring your aunt here for her birthday.”
He studied his fingernails. “So everything in my life revolves around you?”
“Are you denying you got the job at the station because of me?”
He laughed. “God you’re arrogant.”
“You’re the one who’s arrogant if you think people don’t know what you’re doing.”
“What people?” He lifted his chin. “All I see is you inventing things to fit this narrative. Why can’t it be like in the old days when women enjoyed when a man did nice things for them?”
“I don’t want you being nice. I want you to leave me alone.”
“Let’s get something straight.” His jaws tightened. “I’m not the old CeCe that let women push him around. No woman is treating me like a fool again.”
“I don’t want you and there’s nothing you can do to change that.”
“I could make you happy, Connie.” The inside corners of his eyebrows rose. “I’d devote my life to you. Would Grayson?”
“Stay out of my life and my relationship or you’ll pay.”
“You’re even sexier when you get angry.” His cheeks raised. “I bet you’re wild in the sack.”
She slammed her eyes shut on her way back inside the restaurant.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“What?” Dee hadn’t even gotten to her desk good the next morning before Connie rambled about CeCe Babbitt.
“Yeah.” Connie gawked at Dee. “He and his aunt showed up at The Marion Bistro last night when Grayson and I were having dinner. He’s stalking me, Dee.”
“Aren’t you blowing this out of proportion?” Dee sat, nausea ripping through her stomach. “Ooh, Jesus.” She took two nausea pills with Sprite.
“You all right?”
“This damn stomach.” Dee rubbed it. “I’m sick in the mornings, evenings and night.”
“I told his ass off, but it didn’t faze him.” Connie propped her elbows on her desk. “He’s not that timid guy he used to be and he let me know it. It wasn’t what he said but the way he said it.”
“Report his ass for sexual harassment and get him out of here.”
“That’s not even the big news.” Connie wiggled her pen. “CeCe told his aunt she couldn’t come to his place because his apartment building was having renovations. That sounded odd when Detective Phelps hadn’t mentioned that when we talked about the Jessica Jacobs case.”
“And?” Dee belched, getting heartburn. “Ugh.”
“I swung by there to check out these ‘renovations’ and just like I suspected nothing is going on at his apartment building.”
Dee popped a peppermint in her mouth. “He lied to his aunt.”
“Exactly. Why would he do that if he wasn’t hiding something?”
“So he lied. Why is it your business?”
“You don’t care?” Connie grabbed papers. “What about you always going on about Jonathan? I listen to your concerns but you push aside what I say about CeCe.”
“It’s not the same.” Dee smacked the candy. “Jonathan is a sadistic moron who drugged and kidnapped me. CeCe’s a strange guy with a crush on you.”
“No.” Connie shook her finger. “Don’t downplay this, Dee. CeCe’s lying all over the place and I’m gonna find out why.”
Dee moved the candy around in her mouth. “You’re obsessed.”
“Excuse me?” A tall, hunky man around his late 40s with luxuriant blondish-gray hair and a matching beard stood at Connie and Dee’s desks. “Are you Detectives Wilks and Quarter?”
Connie sat at attention. “Yes, we are.”
“I’m Theodore Pyle.” His strong cheekbones flexed as flashes of light popped from his light-brown eyes. “I wanted to speak to you about the Lang Latimer case.”
“Please.” Dee smiled at the man. “We welcome anything you want to tell us.”
Connie stood, straightening her blouse. “Follow us.”
****
“Ooh Lordy.” Dee inched herself into a chair in the interrogation room. “Goodness.” She covered her mouth to hide her burp.
“Are you all right, Detective?” Theodore pulled Connie’s chair out for her to sit.
Dee slouched on the table. “I’m under the weather today.”
“She’s pregnant,” Connie said. “Morning sickness is getting the best of her.”
“Ah.” Theodore took a seat. “I get it. My wife is five months pregnant.”
“Congratulations.” Connie smiled.
“Thanks.” He grabbed the table. “She was sick as a dog those first three months. That’s when your body is goes the most changes. Once you get out your first trimester it’ll get easier.”
Connie asked Theodore, “What did you need to tell us?”
“I don’t want to get someone in trouble if I’m wrong and it’s nothing.”
“If the person did nothing wrong they don’t have to worry.” Connie patted his hand. “We’re all ears.”
Dee groaned as her stomach rumbled.
They glanced at her.
She avoided their stares. “Sorry.”
“I’m the manager at PC Express,” Theodore said. “The computer repair company.”
Connie nodded. “You guys advertise door-to-door. You always seem to come when I’m in the shower.”
He grinned showing his dimples. “We get close to sixty percent of our business going door-to-door and offering specials. Anyway, Lang was a regular.”
Connie wrote on the notepad.
“We’d done work on her laptop last year and she remained a customer. We had a special going about a month and a half ago and we make sure our current customers are at the top of the list.” He clasped his hands. “We had a new salesman on board. He hadn’t even been there two weeks.” Theodore cleared his throat. “I’d assigned him to work in Lang’s area.”
Connie glanced up while writing. “Okay.”
“After the salesman made his rounds, we got a call the next morning from Lang saying she didn’t want him at her home anymore.”
Dee squinted. “Why?”
“She said he made advances toward her and kept shifting the conversation to her personal life instead of pushing the service. It alarmed us to get her complaint because we take harassment seriously. I had no choice but to let him go.”
“Who was the salesman?” Dee asked.
Theodore switched his eyes between Connie and Dee. “CeCe Babbitt.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Okay.” CeCe sat in the interrogation room, shrugging. “I met Lang while I was with PC Express. I barely remember her.”
“Bullshit.” Connie stood beside him. “Since when do you ever forget a beautiful woman?”
He cocked his head in her direction. “You have a point there, Detective.”
Dee asked from across the table, “Did you see Lang Latimer the night she died?”
“Here we go again.” His eyes followed Connie as she walked around the room. “Because I met her while I was a salesman for only about two weeks I might add, I killed her?”
Connie crossed her arms. “Why didn’t you tell us you knew her?”
“I didn’t have to.” He pulled at his collar. “Is there a law that every person who met Lang has to tell you?”
“It doesn’t seem realistic that this is a coincidence,” Dee said. “What’s the chance you knew two women who ended up dead?”
“I’m sick of people bringing up Jeanette Dobbins. I was cleared of her murder. Look, you have nothing on me.”
“That’s not how I see it.” Connie stood from the wall.
“Can you put me at the scene of the crime, Connie? Got any evidence pointing to me? I doubt it. Hock Meadows killed Lang.”
Connie rocked. “I can’t shake this feeling I got about you.”
“I hope it’s a good feeling.” He smiled at her. “All I did was sell Lang something. What’s next? Bringing her mailman in here?” He waved his hands. “Or what about her doctor? Oh, don’t forget her beautician.”
Dee stroked the table with her finger. “What about harassing her?”
“It wasn’t harassment. Jeez, I asked her on a fucking date. Isn’t that what guys do? I found her attractive. Sue me but I bet every straight man you meet would’ve found Lang Latimer attractive. She was gorgeous.”
Connie held her hip. “Bet her turning you down pissed you off seeing how you hate rejection.”
“I asked her out,” he spoke slow. “She said she had a boyfriend, and that was the end. No big deal.”
“Did something else happen while you were at Lang’s?” Dee asked.
“I’ve had enough of this shit.” CeCe stood, shoving his chair to the table.
