in Mason’s brow. “Don’t worry, he’s not trying to start things up between us. From what I gather, Detective Heather has been a frequent visitor.”
Mason’s face relaxed and he laughed. “I’d like to see you call her that to her face.”
“Not unless I want her to handcuff me and throw away the key.” I brought up the little pizza party and how she’d been trying to relate to Jeffrey’s drama friends.
“How’d that go?” he said.
“I don’t think she could help it. You know how cops have that air of authority. That and she had a way of looking at them as if she thought they were all guilty of something. The topper was when I heard her call one of the girls ‘ma’am’ as she handed her a slice of pizza.”
Apparently that image tickled Mason and he did a full belly laugh in response. He was good at seeing the humor in most things.
Mason had come in just as the bookstore was about to close to intercept me before I went home. He’d waited while I got my things and we’d headed down the street for dinner. Mason took my hand as we walked and said how nice it was to be just the two of us. But when I glanced toward him, his brows were furrowed in concern. He suggested we go to the Italian place down the street again. It was a Tarzana fixture and the fragrance of garlic and tomato sauce was comforting, even if Mason’s demeanor wasn’t.
Since it was late, the place was almost empty and we took a table by the window that looked out on Ventura Boulevard. The sidewalk was deserted and the street had only thin traffic. We ordered a Margherita pizza to share along with a Caesar salad.
“Okay, what is it?” I said when the waiter left after taking our order.
Mason smiled. “Am I that transparent?” He put his hand on mine. “Sunshine, I need to ask you a favor.” I looked at him expectantly. “Would you come to Santa Barbara with me?”
“That’s it?” I said. I hadn’t meant to, but there was a squeak in my voice. Even though Mason and I had been more or less dating since the big break up with Barry, we hadn’t spent a night together. There seemed to be one excuse after another—on my part, anyway. The plan, at least in my head, was to wait until Barry moved back home. But a trip out of town, even to Santa Barbara, which was only a little over an hour’s drive, seemed to be pushing up the moment. Mason picked up on my hesitation.
“It’s not what you’re thinking. I have to go up there about the wedding and I’m afraid if I go alone with my wife, I might kill her.” He sounded weary as the whole story came out.
“Jaimee heard about a hotel up there with a cancellation. After all that’s gone on, I’m not committing to anything without seeing it. I certainly can’t trust her to handle it, and she won’t let me handle it alone.” There was pleading in his eyes as he looked at me. “So, will you come?”
Mason had come through for me on numerous occasions and even though playing referee between him and his ex didn’t sound very appealing, I agreed to go. Hmm, I noticed that he referred to her as his wife. I guess that was the thing with divorce, it didn’t erase the relationship.
“Good,” he said as relief spread over his face and the usual Mason came back. “And I promise there will be a stop at the McConnell’s ice cream store,” he added with a grin.
McConnell’s of Santa Barbara was my ice cream of choice. The grocery stores that sold it locally only had the basic flavors, but the shop in Santa Barbara had a whole array of choices.
“You know my weak spot,” I teased.
“It’s the least I can do in exchange for keeping me from strangling Jaimee. With that out of the way, Mason leaned back in his chair and turned into the fun person I was used to.
Mason knew I’d gone to Kelly’s funeral and asked if I’d found anything more about her murder.
“I saw some of the crochet pieces she was selling online, but I don’t think they had anything to do with her death. I did see something strange outside though.” I mentioned seeing Dan hugging the neighbor he told me he barely knew.