The Killing Game(42)

Don’t rile them up. Please.





K. I gotta go. Call you later.





Not trying to be a bitch. I’m just worried.





No need. I’m good.





Next week at the gym?





There was no further response, and Andi stood for a moment locked in indecision. She gave up texting and put a call through, but Trini didn’t answer, which was also kind of her way. She half wanted to go over to Trini’s apartment right now, but she knew she wouldn’t appreciate it. But Trini didn’t really know the Carrera brothers, and Jarrett was looking at the situation through his own filter, thinking she was being flirty even while she’d confronted Brian.

She gazed at the flickering candle. She didn’t want to stay home tonight. She’d had enough nights “in.” If that was a signal that she was moving on with her life, all to the good.

She went to her medicine cabinet, shook out one of the antidepressants, and took it with a sip of water from the glass she’d left on the counter. If these were the reason she was better, she didn’t want to mess with success.

Back in the living room, she picked up her cell phone again and ran her thumb lightly over the keys, thinking. What if she called Luke? What would she say? I’m tired of being alone and I could use some company? God, that was dumb. Almost as bad as pretending you’re nervous and want that bodyguard after all. Oh yes. That idea’s been circling your mind, hasn’t it?

“No.”

Andi made a face. Maybe she should go over to Trini’s and bang on her door. It was sad how few friends she had. She supposed she could call Emma . . . well, no. They weren’t friends, and at this time of night Emma could be more than a few drinks ahead of her.

Instead, Andi went to the bedroom and changed into pajamas even though it was early. She thought about looking for something to eat, but she wasn’t hungry. She decided to pour herself a glass of white wine, get into bed, and turn on the television, which she did, and then she flipped unseeingly through the channels.

She tried to remember how she’d spent her time before Greg’s death. They’d rarely watched the same programs, and sitting down to a meal had become a rarity. She’d spent a lot of time alone then, too, though it hadn’t felt as lonely as this did. He wasn’t home much at all those last few weeks, maybe months. If it hadn’t been for that one night when they’d both dropped their defenses and made love, Andi would have basically said she was single.

And then there was the day when Mimi Quade was shepherded into the Wren Development offices by her brother, Scott, who explained that his much younger sister, barely out of her teens, was pregnant with Gregory Wren’s child. Andi had been at the office that day and witness to this debacle because Greg had asked her to bring him his glasses, which he’d left on the kitchen counter. Andi had stared at Mimi, whose eyes were only on Greg. Greg’s face had turned a brick red. He’d ordered Scott and Mimi from his office. Carter, who’d allowed them in, had looked stunned and quickly ushered them out, with Scott shouting that he and his sister demanded a DNA test. The thought of Mimi’s pregnancy had crushed Andi and she’d left Greg and wouldn’t listen to his denials, though they were long and hard. He’d railed that she didn’t trust him, and it was true, she didn’t. If she’d known she was pregnant herself, she might have tried harder, but in those heated moments she’d just locked him out of their bedroom, and Greg had pounded on the door, yelling that he would prove the truth to her.

And then his vehicle had careened off the road and he’d died of his injuries. Andi had gone from depressed and angry to totally numb. She’d sleepwalked through those weeks until learning of her own pregnancy.

*

She woke up slowly, confused about where she was. The television and lights were still on, and it took a few moments before she recognized her own bedroom. Glancing at the clock, she was surprised to see it was two a.m. For a moment she was frightened. Had she just fallen asleep? It felt a lot like her other episodes. Blackouts, Carter had insisted. But those had just been a few minutes.

She got out of bed and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. Swallowing the water, she realized every time she thought about Mimi Quade’s pregnancy, she seemed to shut down, if not physically, then mentally.

Maybe it was time to confront Mimi to ask what had really gone down between her husband and the young woman. Was she even pregnant? Greg had insisted it was all a hoax perpetrated by Scott Quade, and it was true that since Greg’s death she’d heard nothing from either Mimi or Scott. Andi had pushed it all out of her mind. She’d had other things to think about.

But if Mimi is truly pregnant with Greg’s baby, how are you going to feel about that now?

Andi shook her head, headed back to the bedroom, and crawled back into bed. The idea made her feel like she was under a heavy weight. Firmly, she thrust her own grief to the back of her mind. If Greg truly were having a child, the Wrens needed to step up and acknowledge that fact. That was the bottom line. Even if it meant working things out with the odious Scott Quade and his sister, Greg’s ex-lover.





Chapter Eleven



Luke walked over to his coffeemaker and poured himself another cup. He kept a pot going all day when he was in the office and generally managed to make it to the bottom before quitting time, which tended to vary dramatically, depending how many cases he was working on. He also had a bottle of rum stored in a bottom desk drawer, but he was a beer man, so he only brought it out to share with the occasional client.