He cheeked the bite he had in his mouth. “Uh-huh. Thought so.” The initial edge off his hunger, Sullivan sat back until Ramsey joined him. When she did, she set a beer in front of him before she sat. He thanked her, took a swallow, and waited for her to spoon some soup into her mouth. “Your message was short on details. How do know Jay was here?”
“Briony called.” She gave him the gist of her conversation with her friend.
“So you don’t know for sure that it was Jay.”
“I understand what you’re saying, but Iknow.”
“All right. I spoke to the chief before I left work. It was crazy busy today, but he managed to find some time to look into Jay. Your ex is staying at the Courtyard. He registered under his name and used the Audi Quattro for the vehicle information. Bailey learned it was a rental from Enterprise in Baltimore and that Jay had already turned it in across the river. He didn’t rent another car so the chief thinks he probably bought a cheap ride to use locally.”
“A cheap ride? Jay?” Ramsey shook her head.
“Well, if he doesn’t have much cash or his credit’s bad, that’d make sense.”
“I thought about him renting another car. Cheap didn’t occur to me. Appearances mean so much to him.”
“You’re not convinced that he’s broke.”
Ramsey swallowed a bite of her sandwich and chased it back with some beer. “I don’t know what to think. I really don’t. He could be scamming me. How do we find that out?”
“Need some time for that. A couple of days at least.”
She nodded. “I want to talk to him again but not here, and I don’t want him to realize that I know where he’s staying. I was half expecting him to show up at the Ridge, but I really don’t know if he’s aware that I work there. He’ll figure it out, though.” She took a spoonful of soup. “You know, it’d sure be something if it turned out that Jay bought a car from Fred Mayhew today. It would explain how Mr. Mayhew ended up in the pharmacy on a bike shouting about retail terrorism. Jay could do that to a person.”
She sounded so sincere, he had to laugh. “Maybe. So what do you think about me asking for a patrol car to make a couple of extra drive-bys in the neighborhood? Does that work for you?”
“Would you? I don’t know what I think he’ll try to do. I’m probably making too much of him coming around, but I would feel better. I reallydon’twant to shoot him.”
“You know, the solution to that is for you to give me your gun.”
She stared at him as she bit off a piece of grilled cheese. “You’re not serious.”
“I thought I was.”
“I was being ironic.”
“Oh.”
“I’m not giving you my gun.”
“I didn’t think you would, but I needed to say it.”
“So that was cop talk.”
“It was friend talk too. I’m fluent in both.”
“I’m not going to let him hurt me again. You don’t know what that was like. I was helpless. There were signs he was escalating, but I didn’t know them then. He struck so fast. He cracked ribs. I had two spectacular black eyes and bruises everywhere he kicked me. I was probably concussed. I can’t say for sure because I didn’t seek medical attention. I sought an attorney instead.”
“Keep the gun,” he said after a moment.
“Thank you.”
“And your phone.”
“Right here,” she said, tapping it. “Briony called me while I was soaking in the tub and I had it handy.”
Sullivan’s eyebrows lifted. “You were soaking in the tub?”
“Don’t distract yourself. Finish your soup and tell me about Caribbean Coast. Have you talked to the chief about your suspicions?”
