"Yeah, he was what kind of got me thinking about veterinary medicine. Your aunt gave me those books."
I smiled. "Did she also give you a cookie and a coffee?"
"Sometimes," he admitted.
"How about we keep up that tradition? I wouldn't mind having a coffee myself, and it's nice to have company and to hear about her.”
I prepared two mugs of coffee. One for me, one for Kyle.
For the boy, I added two cookies with the strongest mix. While he nibbled on one with a happy look on his face, I checked out my aunt's notes on him.
He did love the books he mentioned, and he'd been a regular customer. That showed he wasn’t lying.
I scrolled down. She had noted a few recommendations for his future reading.
I checked the shelves and found two of the books in the urban fantasy section.
Kyle had already finished the first cookie and was now toying with the second.
Putting the books down on the table in front of him, I said, "How well did you know my aunt?"
"Well enough," he said. "She was pretty cool."
"Yeah," I agreed.
"She never nagged or judged. You could just be yourself around her."
"Unless you screwed up," I said. "I remember that she could be really fierce if somebody crossed the line."
"Nothing wrong with that, is there?" He seemed relaxed.
"I'd say that depends on which part of that line you're on." I waited until he had finished the second cookie, before I pressed on. "Jake was a bit like that too, only much more of a stickler."
"Yeah." Kyle appeared pretty relaxed.
"I heard you're going to Yale or another Ivy League college."
Now his behavior shifted. He hung his head. "I hope not."
"What was that? Did you mess up?" I asked.
He shrugged.
"You like fast cars, don't you?"
I didn’t know why I came out with that question. For my next interview, I needed to prepare better. I could only blame it on Kyle’s unexpected visit, although he had mentioned dropping in. Was I developing brain fog? I hoped not. With a killer out there, or possibly right in front of me, I needed to keep my wits about me. I should remember that from now on.
Kyle surprised me. In a dreamy tone, he asked, "I guess you heard about my little stunt."
"What stunt?"
I crossed my fingers behind my back, hoping that the cookies would make him spill the beans. And that afterward, he'd forget, or dismiss everything. At least that’s what this spice mixture in the cookies was supposed to do. Cosmo told me that my aunt had only used it as a last resort, for trauma therapy. Interviewing a potential murderer would hopefully be another permissible use. If Kyle was innocent, he’d suffer no harm. If he wasn’t, I’d prefer he wouldn’t realize I knew.
"I took out his car. Jake's car, I mean. It was a stupid thing to do, but it was there, kind of, and I didn't really know what else to do." He sheepishly hung his head.
"We all do stupid things as kids," I said. "Only, Jake wouldn't have seen it that way."
"He was cool. I mean, not totally fine with it, but he could have really chewed me out and made my life hell. He didn’t. When I came clean and told him what I'd done, we worked it out."
