I whistled. “Fabio, come!”
The dog panted after us. My phone rang, and Aiden dug it out of my bag to hand to me. I answered, not surprised that Bosco was on the other end. Bos yelled at me because he’d heard about the dead body, and then he and Aiden exchanged some guy talk. Whatever. Aiden kept walking outside the exit and the wintery cold hit my bare legs.
Just as he was tossing me into his rig, Marlie ran out with my wallet, which must’ve fallen. I grinned at her. Oh, she fit in perfectly. I needed to take her to lunch and figure out more about her. “Thanks.” I smiled. “Welcome to chaos, my new friend.”
“I am not amused,”Aiden said, not sounding amused in the slightest.
I shimmied into my jeans and then boots, finger combing my hair into some semblance of curly order. “I was safe.” Before he could argue, I held up a hand. “Do you mind if we pop by the hospital on the way? I still haven’t talked to Doc Springfield about my case, and he’s the last Kringle on my list.”
“Sure. Have Bud meet you there,” Aiden said, gritting his teeth.
I texted Bud. The poor guy was on Anna-duty for another day? Even I could feel a little sorry for him. We reached the hospital and waited in Aiden’s truck for Bud. I started. “Crap. What about Tessa’s Rogue?”
“Donna said she’d drop Tessa off to get it on the way to work,” Aiden said, his gaze scanning the parking lot of the hospital.
Oh. It was nice that my sister had ratted me out. I’d give her a hard time later, although I didn’t want her lying to Aiden, and I didn’t lie to Aiden, so I guess she hadn’t had a choice.
Bud drove up.
Aiden grasped the back of my neck and dragged me in for a deep kiss, taking me under. There was a hint of passion and a bucket-load of frustration in his kiss, topped off with a slice of anger. Even so, my body warmed and my breathing quickened. He leaned back, his hand remaining at my nape. “Stay with Bud. All day. Got it?”
Numbly, I nodded. My jeans felt too tight all of a sudden. “Bye.” I zipped my jacket to hide the ripped T-shirt and jumped out of the truck, smiling at Bud.
He handed over a latte, and I almost hugged him.
“Thanks,” I said. “Let’s go talk to the doctor.”
The interview didn’t take long. Doc Springfield looked more like Santa than the other men, and he had the jolly laugh to prove it. In addition, he only gambled for charity, had no clue the other members had stolen minerals as seed money, and truly didn’t believe Bernie had killed Lawrence. He also couldn’t imagine anybody else committing murder.
An hour later, Bud and I drove away from the hospital.
“Nice guy,” Bud said.
I nodded. “Not a lot of help for my case, though.”
Bud slowed down behind a logging truck. “Maybe your client is guilty. Did you ask him straight out?”
I couldn’t discuss the case with Bud, but Bernie had said he hadn’t killed anybody. I did believe him. But what if he’d known about Sharon? It hadn’t taken Thelma and Georgiana very long to find the woman, and Bernie had the same contacts, probably. If he’d looked for her, he would’ve found her. But he’d said he hadn’t thought about her again.
“Where to?” Bud asked.
It was Friday, but I didn’t have court this week. “Just to the office. Maybe I can wrap everything else up.” I angled my head to see the clouds rolling in. Good. It’d be a snowy Christmas next week if the clouds kept coming. “I need to stop by Duke’s first.”
“Sure.” This time, Bud parked at the curb in front of the buildings, and we both jumped out.
I paused on the sidewalk. “Do you mind if I talk to Duke alone?”
Bud stilled and ducked his head to see inside the jewelry store. “Go ahead.” He angled his body by the door.
“Thanks.” I edged inside, seeing Duke at the cash register to the right. He was in his sixties and as wide as he was tall. His bald head gleamed under the soft lights, and silver spectacles perched on his wide nose. “Hi, Duke.”
“Hi.” He set a notebook to the side. “I’m finished. You want to pay in full today?”
I gulped, hoping I had enough credit left on my card. “Sure.” Digging it out of my purse, I walked across the soft gray carpet to hand over. “I had a nice talk with Earl Jacobsen about how you all seeded your companies.”
Duke calmly swiped my credit card. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, you do. It’s too late to be charged because too many years have gone by,” I said, accepting the card when he handed it back.
