I stroked her hair away from her face. “Of course it is, sweetie. Feelings are complicated like that. And it’s perfectly okay.”
Her eyes appeared luminous in the dim light from her bedside lamp. “I really miss my daddy.”
My heart cracked. “I know you do, hon.”
“But I’m really glad I’ve got you.”
I fought against a wave of tears and forced my voice to remain steady. “Back at you, sweetie. I’m the luckiest auntie in the world.”
No matter what might go wrong in my life, I knew that was the truth.
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
I decided the next day to focus my investigation on someone other than Minnie for a while. Hopefully I’d have a chance to talk with her soon so I could find out if she had an alibi, but after my previous attempt to question her, I didn’t feel ready to try to track her down again.
Hopefully, the police were taking a good look at Hoffman as a suspect. Thor, aka Callahan, might think I was trying to throw my ex under the bus, but I wanted to believe that he’d at least look into the claims I’d made. After all, Hoffman was caught on the Mirage’s security camera, so I had that to back me up.
With Minnie and Hoffman on the back burner of my investigation, that left the mystery man. I’d received word that the job I’d interviewed for the day before had been given to another candidate, so I spent an hour or so looking at more online job postings, until I felt like my soul was bleeding out through my eyes. At that point, I gave up for the day. Much of the morning had passed, and I decided it was the perfect time to stop by the pub. Not that I could afford to be eating out, but maybe a soft drink and an appetizer wouldn’t break my bank account.
As I walked to Shanahan’s Suds, I pulled out my phone and checked my messages.
Everything OK? Can we meet?
Wyatt had sent the message while I was immersed in my job search.
I’d respond later, I decided, when I’d hopefully have something to show for my investigative efforts. I’d never replied to his previous message, and that set off little flickers of guilt inside of me, but I wasn’t sure that I was ready to talk to him. Maybe it was petty, but I was ticked off at him for keeping his identity a secret. Did he think I was untrustworthy? Did he think I’d fangirl all over him if I knew he was related to someone famous? If so, he really didn’t know me at all. I’d only fangirl over someone crazy-awesome famous, like Taylor Swift. Rosângela Quintal might have been a supermodel back in the day, but Tay Tay she was not.
By the time I reached Shanahan’s, the damp breeze had me wishing I’d worn a coat over my pale pink sweater. I was on the brink of shivering when I entered the pub, where deliciously warm, food-scented air greeted me. The place was fairly quiet, probably because it wasn’t yet noon, but a man and woman sat eating at the bar together, half watching the football game playing on three different television screens, and a handful of other diners sat scattered around the restaurant.
Nobody was at the hostess station, which had a sign asking customers toPlease Wait to be Seated, so I took a few steps farther into the pub, glancing around. Hopefully Mike would be willing to share the security footage with me, but I figured I should probably establish myself as a paying customer before asking for any favors.
I turned in a slow circle, hoping to spot someone who could direct me to a table. I’d only made it forty-five degrees when I came to a halt, my eyes narrowing.
Wyatt spotted me at the same time. He raised a hand in greeting and then pointed to the empty bench across the table from him.
I took him up on the offer, marching over and sliding into the booth. He had a soft drink in front of him but no food.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded.
Unfazed, he took a sip of his drink before setting it down again. “Hello to you too. I’m doing great, thanks. How about you?”
I ignored the fact that he was pointing out my rudeness. “What you’redoingis investigating without me, right?”
He regarded me with those entrancing eyes of his. “I didn’t realize being partners meant we had to be joined at the hip.”
“We aren’t partners,” I reminded him, my voice terse. “We’re just working together. Temporarily. Under the banner ofmyagency.”
“Okay.” He sat back, resting one arm along the top of the booth. “I didn’t know that working together meant I had to report my every move to you. Besides, I did try to involve you, but you’ve been ghosting me.”
My gaze drifted to the arm he had draped over the back of the booth. I absolutely did not wonder what it would feel like to be sitting snuggly next to him and have that arm settle around my shoulders.
“I’m not ghosting you,” I grumbled. “I’ve just been busy.”
“Investigating without me?”
I clamped my mouth shut.
