room. He joined the group and said hello to Barry and Jeffrey and introduced himself to North.
Both Mason and Barry looked at me with questions in their eyes. I knew they were wondering what I was doing with North. There was nothing to say because I didn’t even know what I was doing with him. This was getting more awkward by the minute. Peter had only said he would pick North up, not when or why.
Finally, I heard the front door open and close. At least I’d gotten the answer to when.
CHAPTER 9
“What was that about?” Mason said when it was just the three of us. Peter had rushed in, waved to North that they were leaving and barely called a “thank you” to me before they went back out the front door. As the door shut, both Barry and Mason stared at me.
“I have no idea,” I said with a shrug. I’d been avoiding having Mason come over while Barry was staying at my house, but Mason had taken matters in his own hands and just walked in.
“Look at you,” Mason said turning his attention to Barry. “Your cast is off and you’re good as new. I hear you’re back to work and driving. So, then you’ll be moving out.” Mason turned to me. “Then Molly can get her stuff out of storage and life around here can go back to normal.” Mason stepped closer to me and put his arm behind me on the counter. It wasn’t around me exactly, but it made a point. Barry’s eyes rested on the position of Mason’s arm.
“When?” Mason asked staring squarely at Barry.
Jeffrey had drifted out of the room as soon as North was gone. I was glad he wasn’t there to see this confrontation. Barry hesitated, but something in his posture said he was standing his ground. “I don’t know exactly. I haven’t gotten the okay from my doctor yet.” To punctuate it, Barry moved his leg and grimaced in pain. Was it real or imaginary?
The whole exchange reminded me of something I’d heard about parking spots. When a man saw that someone was waiting for the spot he was in, he took much longer to pull out than if there was no one waiting.
“It’s a little crowded here,” Mason said, gesturing toward the rest of the house. “Molly, your message said you wanted to talk to me about a murder. I’m here to help.”
“C’mon,” I said to Mason. He was right, it was too crowded in the kitchen and awkward with a capital A. I led Mason out of the kitchen, across the living room and through the den. As he soon as he went through the doorway into the hall that led to my bedroom, I heard him sigh.
“Finally into the inner sanctum,” Mason said. “I’ll close the door behind me.”
“I know more than he does,” Barry said. I hadn’t realized Barry was right behind Mason until I heard his voice. Mason pulled the door to the hall shut before Barry could follow.
That was a laugh and a half. When had Barry ever been willing to share what he knew? From him it was stay out of it. The cops have it covered, blah, blah, blah. Mason had always been a better source of information.
“This is more like it,” Mason said walking into my bedroom. He looked around and suddenly seemed a little disappointed that with the small couch and wing chair, it looked more like a living room than a den of inequity. “Hmm, no round bed with mirrors on the ceiling,” he joked touching the basket of yarn next to the wing chair.
He sat down on the couch and I took the chair, but after a moment I got up. “Let’s go get some food or something,” I said. “I’m too tense here. I feel like Barry is standing by at the door.”
I wasn’t too far off. Barry wasn’t standing by the door to my wing of the house, but the chair he picked in the den wasn’t far from it. He had the TV on, but it was obviously all a ruse. Barry watching a dancing competition? His head swiveled as Mason and I walked through the den toward the living room, but he didn’t say anything.
“You need to remind Barry that he gave up all claims on you,” Mason said when we got into his car. “Even though I’m glad he did, I still think he’s nuts. If a woman said she didn’t want