off to one side, with mammoth Tiny Kloosterman animatedly telling a story. I’m sure Emily would be thrilled to know they were at the bar, but it was, after all, happy hour. I recognized Georgie Reynolds, who’d sung so beautifully at Gloria and Tiny’s wedding reception, and Yoga Matt, our local fitness instructor who, until Leo had showed up, had carried the title of cutest guy on the island. Fortunately, there was no one there who might expect me to come up and say hi, leaving me free and clear to go sit at the bar, which I did.
Leo came out from a set of double doors that led to the tiny back-room kitchen, and his face lit up when he saw me. It wasn’t just his usual I’m-a-super-friendly-guy smile, either. It was his I’m-interested-in-you smile. At least, that’s what I decided to tell myself in that moment. It’s possible the whiskey from Dmitri’s house was still churning around inside me, coloring my judgment. Then again, the weekend had been pretty spectacular.
“Hi there. I didn’t expect to see you today,” Leo said, placing a cardboard coaster down in front of me on the bar. “Having a drink?”
I should have coffee. “A Manhattan, please.”
He crooked an eyebrow. “Day drinking. I like it. Just leaving the office?”
No, I’m just busy aiding and abetting everyone’s favorite jewel thief. “I was doing some community work. How has your day been so far?”
“Pretty good. I spent some time this morning talking research with a couple of guys Clancy hooked me up with. Took lots of notes.”
“Eventually I think you have to take the notes and put them into book format so people can read it.” I smiled, even though I was still mad-impressed that he was writing a book.
“Is that the part I keep forgetting? I knew there was something.”
He finished making my drink and set it on the little coaster. He leaned forward and said, “This one is on the house.”
“Thanks. I owe you.”
“I work until seven. Can I collect after that?”
“Yep.”
I sipped my drink and chatted with Leo. He took care of other customers, and I took a few minutes to visit with a handful of locals who had come in for dinner. I wanted to be distracted because my afternoon with Dmitri had pretty much rocked my world. I wanted to review all my memories and see if there had been any signs, any signs at all. I wondered if, somehow, my father knew. But I highly doubted that. He wasn’t the type who could have sat by and done nothing. Dmitri was his friend, but the law was his true north. It was the moral compass by which Harlan made all his decisions. And he hadn’t been the chief of police back in the eighties when Dmitri had first arrived. That’s when people might have been suspicious, but no one on the island would question his background now.
“Hey,” I said to Leo a bit later, as I finished a second drink, which was really like my fourth drink because I’d had two glasses of whiskey and water at Dmitri’s house. “What do you think about me picking up some to-go chow at Carmen’s Café and we can eat at my place? Maybe watch a movie?”
That’s what I needed. Carmen’s macaroni and cheese and a mindlessly entertaining couple of hours in front of my television. Followed by something naughty with Leo that involved nakedness and lots of thrashing.
“That sounds great. Are you sure you don’t mind going to get it? It’s pretty lousy outside. If you want, I could get it.”
He was so sweet, worrying about a little rain. Didn’t he realize we Trillium Bay folks were quite accustomed to traversing around in all sorts of weather? I’d be just fine.
“That’s okay. It’s nearly seven, so I’ll go now and you can just come over whenever you’re finished here.”
“Awesome. Let me give you some money.”
I held up my hand to halt him. “I got this.”
Drunk-ordering at Carmen’s Café had resulted in me arriving at my house with two huge bags full of delicious food. I wasn’t sure what Leo was in the mood for and realized, as I’d stood there staring at their menu board, I didn’t really even know which things he liked. So I got a little bit of everything.
I set the bags on the coffee table in my living room and trotted upstairs to take a fast shower. My hair was already wet from the snow, and I was