“I suppose, but I’m not writing her off.”
“Even though she’s a woman?” Rue said, a trace of humor cracking her stolid façade.
“Fuck me. I knew that was going to bite me in the ass.”
Rue playfully smacked me in the arm, and all was right between us again. She wasn’t a bad person, but she did ride my ass more than I liked. Work was easy when we got along.
I spent the rest of the day looking into our victim’s finances, while Rue focused on other cases in our roster. The painstaking process of discovering what was in Navid’s will would take time. Between fussy lawyers and convincing a judge to sign a warrant, it wouldn’t happen in five minutes.
Navid had a health insurance policy, though, and it turned out that Fatemeh Kordestani was still named as the beneficiary. When I shared the discovery with Rue, she’d turned contemplative.
“That doesn’t look good for her,” she admitted.
“No. I’ll look into those perfumes she listed, but I suspect it will be a dead end. I’m not exactly sure how to go about drawing a specific fragrance from an already fragrant flower. Especially when said flower is cut and at risk of decomposing the second it’s removed from the freezer.”
We called it a day shortly after five. On the way home, I debated the direction of my night. Part of me wanted to text Dominique and share about our interview with Fatemeh. Maybe he would know who I could contact about fragrance analysis since my research had hit a wall. It would open the lines of communication again, and we wouldn’t be distracted. The more sensible part of me knew I should give him space. Rue was right. Pushing Dominique if he wasn’t ready would only drive him away.
Instead, I called Delphine. Émeric’s mother happily passed the phone to my little brother, who sounded glum.
“Hey, Kobe.”
“Hey, sport. What’s happening?”
“Nothin’. Doin’ stupid homework. I hate math, and Mrs. Gilbert gives so much.”
“Not my favorite subject either. Are you almost done?”
“Sorta. Are you workin’ still?”
“Nope. Just got done for the day. I was thinking we could grab burgers. Have you eaten?”
“Not yet. Maybe we could have burgers and go to a movie.” Émeric’s mood lightened with the hopeful tone. “Please, Kobe.”
“On a school night? Dude, the show wouldn’t get out until after ten. I don’t think your mother will go for that.”
He groaned. “Stupid school ruins everything.”
I chuckled. “Maybe this weekend. I don’t know what’s playing, do you?”
“The new Avatar, or we could see Anaconda. That one looks freaky.”
“We’ll see. Let me talk to your mom for a sec. If she says it’s okay, I’ll come get you for dinner in an hour. I gotta shower still, and you gotta finish your homework.”
He groaned again and handed the phone back to his mom.
“He’s so hard done by,” Delphine said.
“Is it all right if I take him for burgers?”
“You know it is. Saves me trying to figure out what to feed him.”
“Do you need groceries, Del?”
“No, no. I’m fine.”
“Are you lying?”
“No.”
