“On Wednesday morning. Dad’s worried. Mom is not.”
“That’s his job.”
I guess. I sit on the sofa far enough away to not feel his body heat. He grabs the leg of my shorts and tugs, but doesn’t press me to his bad hip.
“So… Poe? How did that come to be?”
He levels me with his gaze as the kitten kneads his shirt. “How much honesty do you want?”
He’s asked me that twice. Last time, I couldn’t handle it. How bad could it be? “All of it. Hit me.”
“I found her when I was locked in a safe room. I’m guessing she came in through the return air duct. It was uncovered and the only real option. I don’t assume the fucker who threw me in there was in the business of animal torture.”
“Just human torture?”
“Something like that.”
He relays to me what happened on Friday and Saturday and I’m lucky I don’t hyperventilate with the number of times I gasp. Poe falls asleep at some point during the story, burrowing into his chest. Her belly is full and her purrs fill the room.
“So, do you think he lured you there to kill you? Or do you think you—” I shake my head. “Would he do that? There’s evidence. The police would have evidence.”
“I need to dig deeper into the man. Something’s off in my gut. Ayla had the same questions you do, and I don’t ever overlook it when smart people pose good questions.”
“You think it’s a good question?” I sit up and my voice rises. “You think it makes sense that someone would lure you out of state in order to murder you? You think that’s reasonable?”
His voice is steady. “I don’t like it. I don’t want it to be the case, but I don’t think Barnett is above it. Whole truth?”
“Whole truth,” I answer with a sigh.
“I won’t put anything past a man who offered me money to murder someone.”
“What?” My voice echoes off the ceiling and wakes the cat who immediately eyes me and hisses. “What?” I say quieter as if she’ll understand my correction.
“I figure if he was willing to ask me to kill for money, he wouldn’t have a moral opposition to paying someone else to kill me.”
“He asked you that this weekend?”
He shakes his head.
“He asked you that in the past”—I use my hand to do this large arc from left to right—“and you still went to meet with him knowing his character?”
“You didn’t have a problem when I married a thief.” He grins at me.
“Do not equate me with whoever this Barnett person is. Besides, how would he know you would come?”
“He couldn’t.” His eyes go vacant as he stares off. He gently sets Poe in my lap as he stands to pace. She’s none too happy about the change of lodging and jumps from me to the warm spot he vacated, circles twice and curls in on herself.
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking I’d told him no. I told him I had family obligations.” He stares poignantly at me. “I contacted him after you asked me not to go to Illinois with you.”
“You reached out to him?”
He nods.
“And he was home and hadn’t made other plans? What about his family?”
His eyes narrow. “The house is new to him. It’s an investmentproperty, one of several, but it’s not a home, and he has no family to speak of.”
