Death and Relaxation (Ordinary Magic #1)(43)
It was almost exactly what Cooper had asked me.
I eyed the boxes he’d opened in neat rows. “The last guy who asked me out for lunch almost left in handcuffs.”
“Then it’s a good thing I brought lunch in.” He looked relaxed, though his eyes still flickered with low-burning anger. Cooper Clark had made no friends today.
“I need to talk to Dan Perkin. So I’ll just take one to go.”
“I’ll go with you,” Jean said.
“You have other leads to check into,” I reminded her.
“I can come along,” Ryder said.
Jean and I exchanged a look. We couldn’t ditch Ryder. There wasn’t enough pre-rally stuff to throw at him yet today, and if we left him here, he’d probably end up listening to some god complaining about their cell phone roaming bill. Seriously. Get a data plan, Momus.
Temperamental gods were something I’d rather leave to Roy.
“Or,” he said casually, “I could do some filing. Familiarize myself with the records room, that sort of thing.”
I didn’t know why he willingly volunteered for the scut work, but it seemed mean to make him file all day.
“You brought me on to help,” he said. “Let me help. I can go talk to Dan if you want. But I’m just as happy to stay here and categorize the evidence room. Familiarize myself with things.”
It was tempting to send him out to get a statement from Dan. So tempting. Jean’s eyes lit up, practically begging me to say yes.
But no matter how observant Ryder was, or how quickly he could put someone in a headlock, he wasn’t a cop. We needed to find out if Dan saw anything at Jump Off Jack’s that might help us find out who murdered Heim.
Evidence that would be admissible in court. Which meant an officer of the law had to be there.
“You might as well come along and see how we do this,” I said. “Leave the filing for later.”
I thought I saw a flash of disappointment in his eyes that he quickly covered up. Wondered if he had a filing fetish. A sexy Mr. Librarian fantasy, staring Ryder Bailey, a tweed sweater, and a thick pair of glasses rolled through my mind.
I turned to the door so he couldn’t see me blush. “We’ll eat in the car.”
Chapter 13
IT TOOK one full order of orange chicken and a side of fried noodles to find Dan Perkin. He wasn’t at his house, though his laundry—a heavy flannel shirt, waterproof jacket, knee-high rubber boots, and a pair of waterproof pants— were draped over the railing of his front porch to dry. They had that starched look of material that had seen salt water and sunlight.
We checked in with Pearl, who told us she thought he was down at the community center talking to Bertie about the Rhubarb Rally.
Jean and I were in her old, crappy truck, Jean driving, and Ryder was following behind in his newer, less-crappy truck. The two-vehicle split had been Jean’s idea. I wasn’t sure if she wanted privacy to talk or to give me a breather from the craziness of the morning.
Either way, I appreciated it. Even though the morning wasn’t the weirdest thing that had ever happened in Ordinary, it was up there. I spent the drive time with my hands in my pockets, thumbs tucked between my middle and ring finger, which was an old, comforting habit I hated anyone else to see, sorting through my feelings and reactions to the whole thing. I finally gave up and just stuck the event in a corner of my mind marked: Supernatural Crap To Check Into Later.
Thumbs out. Thumbs all the way out.
“Ready?” Jean asked as she parked outside the community center—a two-story brick elementary school that had been abandoned when the new middle school and high schools were built fifteen years ago.
There had been some wrangling over what to do with the old building, and while it had served as an art center for a couple months, and a storage room for a few more, Bertie had finally convinced all the people necessary that it should become a community center—the heart of our town.
And she’d officially set herself up there like a bird in a big brick nest.
I pulled my hair back into a loose braid and finished tying it. “It’s just Dan.”
“Right. But if you feel the need to slip him the tongue, give me a signal, okay?”
“Like this?” I flipped up my middle finger and she laughed. “I promise I won’t make a habit of randomly kissing men.”
She chewed her gum into little snaps. “I don’t know. There’s a few boys in town I wouldn’t mind kissing, randomly or not.”
“I thought you had your eye on Hogan.”
“I’d like to have more than my eye on him.”
“Yeah, you talk big. When was the last time you went on a date?”
“Two weeks ago.”
I looked over at her. She was staring at Ryder’s truck, which was coming up behind us.
“Who?” I asked.
“None of your business.”
I wanted to ask her why she didn’t want me to know things about her personal life. A small part of me wondered if she and I were drifting apart. How long had it been since we’d watched crappy monster movies together?
Since Dad died? Before that?
Becoming the eldest Reed had taken over my life. This town, these people and creatures and deities, consumed my free time. I didn’t want to lose what I had with Jean because I was working all the time.