Andrea was silent for a moment and then she said, “Well, he’s fighting his reputation. And that man has a reputation. Only boy worse than him was his best friend Eddie, it was like they were in a competition to see who was the worst rutting dawg out there. Can’t be fun to be practically famous for f**king anything that breathes and being able to do so by expending the immense effort of just sending a smile their way. Then, later, you find yourself in a position where you’re serious about a woman who’s known you all your life and knows this fact real well and have to convince her you’re serious.”
Man, Andrea was a mother and she still had a mouth on her.
Still, it was true.
I sat down in the chair and I tried to ignore the fact that my stomach was clenched.
“Do you think he’s serious?”
Andrea was silent for a second. “Are you being funny?”
“Funny ‘ha ha’ or the other kind of funny?” I asked.
“I can’t believe…” Andrea started, “girl, at Kitty Sue and Malcolm’s New Year’s Bash you were there with what’s-his-name…”
Oh Lord, I didn’t remember his name. “Um,” I said, “Brad? Brett?”
“Whatever,” Andrea cut in. “Anyway, when Lee wasn’t looking at you with a look in his eyes that, let’s face it, made every woman in the room breathe heavy, he was looking at Brad-Brett like he wanted to rip his head off.”
“No way!”
“Way.”
Holy shit.
“So yeah, I think he’s serious,” she went on. “And I can’t imagine that Liam Nightingale is the kind of guy who appreciates the woman he’s serious about questioning his seriousness when he’s right in the middle of… you know.”
Holy shit.
Holy, holy, shit, shit, shit.
“Anyway, call me when you actually get around to doing it. I want details.”
Great.
Andrea disconnected and I flipped the phone shut. It rang again immediately.
It was Ally.
I took a deep breath, pretending everything was all right (which it wasn’t) and answered, “What’s up, chickie?”
“Girl, I’ve had half a dozen calls, everyone’s seen Rosie and Duke. We got leads coming out of our ears. We gotta roll.”
I immediately got excited. I had to admit, I was kind of digging this super-sleuth stuff.
Then I remembered last night.
I let out a sigh.
“No can do. Tex, the cat sitter, and me kinda broke into Tim’s last night and found him dead in his kitchen and it wasn’t pretty.”
Ally was silent for a beat and then she said, “You went without me? You went with the crazy cat sitter?”
“I was breaking and entering! Tex showed up in the middle of it. We found Tim dead, Ally. Trust me, be glad you weren’t there. This is over. Lee’s turned it over to Hank.”
“What about your bet?” Ally asked.
I thought about Lee’s plans for the day. I thought about what Andrea said.