Loki gave the detective a welcoming trill and flew around my aide before settling on his shoulder and nuzzling him. Channing seemed pleased by the warm reception.
‘I brought you Dr Pepper.’ He had a pack of six cans in his hand.
‘In case you needed to bribe your way into my apartment?’ I asked in amusement.
‘Exactly,’ he confirmed unashamedly.
I laughed. ‘Come on in, then. I can’t turn down Dr Pepper.’
Robbie took the cans from Channing and put them in the fridge to cool. ‘You want some breakfast, Detective? I’m making waffles.’
Channing eyed the mess in my kitchen and inhaled the delicious aroma wafting from it. ‘If it’s not too much trouble, I’d love some.’
‘Not at all. You talk amongst yourselves.’ My huge ogre mate went back to making us waffles, acting like he wasn’t listening at all, while I knew every word was being engraved into his memory.
I told Channing about our suspicions that Jingo was in Troy. We were discussing what to do about Kate when another knock sounded at the door. I frowned. With the best will in the world, there was still no way it was Ji-ho yet.
What was going on this morning? It felt like Lime Street Station in here.
I moved to answer it, gathering my intention ready as I went. Just in case.
I opened the door to find Elvira dressed in her usual sex-kitten version of the Inspector’s uniform, complete with eyeliner and tumbling hair that was unfairly bouncy.
‘What are you doing here?’ I said as I stared at her.
She brushed past me into the apartment. ‘I had an optician’s appointment. Turns out my eyesight’s fine, but my tolerance for bullshit is worsening. Talking of which …’ She grinned at Channing. ‘How’s that bug going, Detective? You sounded really sick on the phone.’
His cheeks reddened, and he offered another faux cough, making her laugh.
Her smile faded. ‘Listen, I’m not stopping long. I have to be on parade soon. I just wanted you to know, Faraday came by to check you’d closed the file. I showed him you’d covered everything off … but only after I’d already found him in your office.’
A chill ran down my spine. ‘My office?’
‘Yeah. Your office.’
Maybe I won’t poop on her,Loki said into the confines of my mind. He flew from Channing’s shoulder to go and rest on hers.
‘Hey, fuzzball,’ she said brusquely to my bird, but her fingers were whisper-soft as she stroked Loki’s chest.
She dropped her hand and looked at me. ‘Stacy … you need to watch yourself with this one.’
‘Understood,’ I murmured. And I did. She had dropped by with a warning. She hadn’t texted, hadn’t called - she wanted zero evidence of this chat.
Because she thought, sooner or later, someone would come looking for it.
Yeah, I understood all right.
Elvira’s eyes were dark and serious on mine. ‘All right. I’ve got to get going in case anyone figures out that my optician’s appointment is as bogus as Channing’s cough.I’ll keep one ear to the ground at the station, but you keep yourself safe. Let me know if you need anything, on or off record.’ She looked over at Robbie. ‘You keep her safe too.’
He looked amused at that. ‘Have you ever tried to get Stacy to do something she doesn’t want to do?’
Elvira grinned. ‘I said keep her safe. I didn’t say with her permission.’
‘Hey!’ I objected. ‘I keepmyselfsafe at all times.’
‘Yeah,’ Elvira said, ‘but I have a bad feeling all the same.’ She bit her lip. ‘Maybe youshouldclose the Aspen case.’
‘It is closed,’ I insisted.
