“In a moment. Just one more thing. I took a detour past your house on my way home, you know, just to see if you were there and maybe give you quick looking over. Your house was dark except for your porchlight so I figured you weren’t in, but there was this guy on your porch, turning away from your front door as I was passing by. I didn’t recognize him, and he wasn’t delivering anything. No UPS or FedEx. Were you expecting someone? I gotta tell you, he looked fine.”
Ramsey was sitting straight up in the tub now. “Describe him.”
“What? Oh. Tall, I guess. Dark hair, combed back. He looked trim, but that might have been because he wore a long black coat. Wool probably. Pretty classic looking, like something a businessman would wear. Management. Lawyers. No briefcase, though. I would have noticed that. You know who it was?”
“I might.” She was surprised at how casual her voice sounded. “If it’s who I think it is, he said he might stop by. I thought he’d call first. Must have been a whim.”
“So, who is he? You’ve been kinda cagey lately. Are you seeing him?”
“For God’s sakes, Bri, he’s my insurance guy. I have some papers for him and he offered to pick them up.”
“My insurance guy doesn’t do that. I bet he’s hot for you.”
“Rolling my eyes, Briony, and hanging up…now.” Ramsey ended the call while Briony was still sputtering nonsense. There was no point in adding more hot water to the tub now. She was too hot all on her own for it to be effective. Placing the phone on the floor beside the tub, Ramsey stood, removed the towel draped over the shower rod, and began to dry off. She wrapped the towel around her, picked up the phone, and stepped into her bedroom. She pulled up contacts and tapped Sullivan’s number. He didn’t answer, so she left a short message, and went to her closet. She stepped into a pair of boy shorts and then pulled on black yoga pants. She slipped an over-sized shaker knit sweater in complimentary heather gray over her head and pushed the sleeves up to her elbows. Sitting on the bed, she pulled on thick socks and then added the black and gold Fendi bracelet watch lying on the nightstand to her wrist.
The motions of drying and dressing and dealing with her hair were all part of a calming ritual, and she went from one task to the next without thinking. Later, when she was standing at the stove preparing to turn her grilled cheese, she realized her hand was shaking.
“Damn you, Jay Carpenter. You will not do this to me. I won’t let you.”
She plated the grilled cheese and poured tomato bisque, hot from the microwave, into a soup mug and carried both to the kitchen table. She splashed the back of her hand with the soup when she set down the mug. Swearing softly, she ran cold water over her hand and then shook it off. One soup spoon and a paper towel later, she was tucking a leg under her as she sat at the table when her phone rang. It was par for the course, she thought getting up, that she’d left the phone on the counter beside the stove. Her heart lightened a little when she saw it was Sullivan.
“Hey,” she said. “Thanks for getting back to me.”
“I’m outside in your driveway. You want to let me in?”
She headed toward the front door. “Are you in a police car?”
“No. My own.”
Ramsey wondered if her sigh of relief was audible. “Is he around?”
“I’m assuming you’re asking about Jay. No, not that I can see. His car’s not on the street or around the block.”
If what Jay had told her about his finances was true, the Audi had probably been a rental. It wouldn’t surprise her if he was driving something else. “Turning off the alarm now. C’mon in.” She unlocked the door, opened it, and waited for him to cross the porch before she moved aside. She held out her hand for his coat as he was removing it and accepted it as well as a warm hello kiss.
Sullivan toed off his loafers and followed her into the kitchen when she crooked her finger.
“Grilled cheese?” she asked. “You take that and the soup. It’s still warm. I just finished making it when you called. I’ll make another for myself.”
“I’m too hungry to argue. Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Well, I’m certainly not going to mind now. Go on. Have a seat.”
He did, picked up half the grilled cheese and bit in. “What kind of cheese is this?”
“Gruyère. You like it?”
“Yeah. It’s a little sweet. Kind of nutty.”
“What do you use?”
“Velveeta.”
“Philistine.”
“Hey, you don’t get to call me names unless you let me look in your fridge. I bet you have some in there.”
Ramsey had her back to him as she attended to her sandwich, but she looked over her shoulder and gave him the warning glance. “You stay out of my refrigerator.”
