Sadie drank some orange juice and winced as it caused her stomach acid to roar back to life.
"I understand you not wanting to be labeled a killer, okay? But you need to let the cops do their job, Dean. No good will come from me poking around trying to get your dead ex-wife to talk to me."
"My reputation"s on the line here!" His voice got louder. "I"ve been a detective for nearly twenty years! I can"t just stand back and listen to everyone saying I"m guilty without at least trying to get evidence to clear my name." He put his hands on his hips. "I don"t want to say you owe me but..."
But she did. She owed Dean big time. Petrovich had been the cop on the scene of her brother"s suicide. He"d gone above and beyond the call of duty to make sure she was okay then and had saved her sorry trauma cleaning a.s.s many times since that day. He"d also been a champion of her trauma cleaning company, Scene-2-Clean, and had referred many families in need of her services over the years.
Sadie closed her eyes feeling suddenly unbearably exhausted.
"I"ll think about it but, right now, I gotta go back to bed."
"Okay." He nodded. "That"s good. You sleep on it and I"ll be right here whenever you want to talk."
Sadie looked him over and shook her head slowly from side to side as she left him in her kitchen and returned to the comfort of her tangled bed sheets.
When Sadie woke up a second time it was to the doorbell. She glanced at her bedside clock, cursed and ran for the door.
Petrovich stopped her in the living room.
"Don"t answer it. You don"t know who it is. It could be the cops coming to look for me."
"It"s Zack. We have a date. He"s taking me out for breakfast."
"What?! You can"t let him in. I don"t want anyone to know I"m staying with you."
Sadie rolled her eyes.
"Go away then," Sadie said, making shooing motions with her hands. "You"re not s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g this up for me."
"I thought you and Zack broke up."
"We did. Or not. It"s complicated." Her stomach was a bundle of nerves partly because she was still in her PJ"s and there was the little matter of harboring a suspected murderer in her house.
"If he"s taking you out on a date, even if it"s only breakfast, then you"re obviously back together."
"This is our first date since our breakup a couple months ago."
They"d started with stilted emails, moved on to upbeat texts and, recently, had graduated to awkward phone calls trying to test the waters of their relationship. Sadie was hoping a successful breakfast would pave a bridge across the river of poison that was their past. It might be too much to expect from eggs and bacon, but she was an optimist.
The doorbell rang again and she waved her hands at Dean with annoyance and hissed, "Leave!"
Sadie made for the door while Petrovich took off.
"Hi," Sadie said, smiling at Zack while running a nervous hand through her short cropped hair. "Sorry, I"m running late."
She looked over at her on-again off-again boyfriend of the last few years. He looked rugged and handsome in Dockers and a b.u.t.ton down shirt. He smelled lightly of cologne. She couldn"t remember Zack ever bothering with cologne before. He"d obviously made an effort. It caused her heart to do painful flip flops in her chest and also made her slightly queasy. She was beginning to think she shouldn"t have eaten the specialty taco from that food truck downtown yesterday.
Zack looked her over without nearly the same appreciation.
"You just woke you up, didn"t you?"
"Yeah. Sorry. I had a rough night." She tugged at the hem of her Mariner"s t-shirt that she wore as a nightgown. "Make yourself comfortable and I"ll be ready in five minutes tops."
Zack bent and scooped up Sadie"s pet bunny, Hairy, and stroked the rabbit"s fur.
"Take your time."
Sadie ran to her bedroom and threw on a pair of Levis and a t-shirt, then hustled into the bathroom to brush her teeth and hair. She applied a little makeup and was ready for her big date.
Sadie had Zack wait one more minute while she topped off Hairy"s fresh kibble with his favorite yoghurt yummy treat. Then they were on their way. Zack opened the pa.s.senger door to his Mustang for her and when she sat down he reached over and buckled her belt. When he started the car he had the radio station tuned to her favorite soft rock station. He was being so nice it bordered on weirdness.
They talked about the weather and, basically, in Seattle that meant they discussed the various forms of precipitation. It had rained but now it was just misting and by the time they reached their destination it had ramped up to a drizzle. Their conversation positively sparkled with moisture.
Zack had chosen Beth"s Cafe. It was a blast from the past. They"d eagerly shared grease and carbs after nights of shared pa.s.sion in Sadie"s bed. Except, it felt different now. Strained.
"Just like old times," she quipped with a smile. What she really wanted to say was, Why is this so weird when we"ve known each other so long?!
They walked inside and slipped into one of the small booths. Sadie felt a.s.saulted by the thick, greasy smell of bacon in the air. Her usual iron stomach was betraying her. Must be nerves. She took a calming breath as the waitress came over and filled their coffee cups.
"I"ll have the country fried steak and eggs over easy. She"ll have the breakfast burrito," Zack told waitress.
"Hold on." Sadie shook her head. "Not the breakfast burrito."
"But you always get the breakfast burrito." Zack frowned and his tone sounded hurt. He was trying so hard.
"You"re right. I love the breakfast burrito." Why did she want to bungle his hard attempts to please her on this first date. "What was I thinking?"
Raising his steaming mug of coffee to his face Zack smiled warmly at her.
"I thought for a second you were going to tell me you were on a diet or something." He chuckled. "You"re as skinny as ever."
"Um. Thanks."
"In a good way," he said hastily. "Not too skinny. Just that you"ve always had a great appet.i.te and never worried about weight. Not like some women who wouldn"t set foot in this place."
Beth"s was famous for twelve-egg omelettes and all you could eat hash browns. It was not a diner for dieters or the faint of heart.
"Me? On a diet?" Sadie forced a giggle as she sipped her coffee and they fell into an uncomfortable silence. Finally Sadie just blurted out, "So I"ve been wanting to ask you about what happened a couple weeks ago at the spa." Sadie leaned in on her elbows. "What can you tell me?"
Since Zack was an ex cop she knew she could trust his instincts when it came to the shooting of Dean"s ex wife. Even though he was no longer on the force due to a regrettable bullet wound that created an even more unfortunate addiction to Vicodin, Zack still had a network of friends and fellow boys in blue. She needed to know whether the situation was as dire as Dean Petrovich suggested.
"Do we really need to talk about this?" Zack asked. He reached out a hand and placed it over hers on top of the table. "I know you"ve had a rough couple weeks. It"s hard to think of Dean slipping over the edge . . . but you"re just going to have to put this behind you."
That was easy for him to say. He didn"t have Petrovich hiding out at his place.
"Just tell me the truth. Do you think he did it?"
"Sadie, everyone thinks he did it."
Sadie frowned.
"That"s unfair. How can they be sure?"
She pulled her hand from under his and nervously nibbled the cuticle of her thumb. Taking another sip of her coffee she struggled with the uneasiness in her stomach and waived the waitress over to ask for some water.
"Let"s review what we know. It was no secret that Jane and Dean had been squabbling for weeks." Zack leaned in. "He was seen fighting with her right inside the spa before she was going for her ma.s.sage. An hour before she was killed. Not to mention the fact that the shooter killed Jane using Dean"s gun and-"
Sadie put up a hand to stop him.
"There is a heaping, smelly pile of evidence against him. I know that." She blew a breath out between pursed lips. "But we"re talking about Dean Petrovich here . . . what does your gut tell you?"
The waitress delivered Sadie"s water and she chugged from the gla.s.s but didn"t take her eyes off Zack"s. He was the first to break away with a long sigh.
"You think he did it," Sadie concluded.
"I wish there was another suspect in this. I really do. Sometimes, no matter how much you want the evidence to point another way, you gotta go with the facts."
Sadie"s heart dropped.
When the food arrived she stared at the tortilla oozing sour cream, eggs and cheese onto her plate and immediately thought about the shotgun suicide she"d cleaned the week before. Her stomach made a mysterious gurgling noise. Since she usually had no problem chowing down on a smelly tuna sandwich just minutes after cleaning up body decomp, Sadie figured this momentary aversion must be anxiousness over this date with Zack.
She cut off a large bite of the burrito and stuffed it in her mouth. It was just as gooey and delicious as it had always been.
"A toast," Zack said, raising his coffee cup. "To the first date of many."
Sadie laughed as she clunked her mug against his.
When he had to quit the force, Sadie had hired Zack at Scene-2-Clean to help her do trauma cleaning. They"d started off working together, ended up living together and had never, officially, done the dating thing. Once he"d gone to rehab for a second time and blew her off in turn for changing his entire life around, she"d thought they were done. Now they wanted to try again and they"d agreed to start things off in the right order. Regardless of how awkward the date felt, Sadie was cautiously optimistic about their future. Things would get easier. They"d be comfortable together again soon.
They finished eating and talked about the Seahawks and Zack"s new job as a security advisor. Both were safer subjects than Dean Petrovich. Sadie"s stomach still protested the cheese and eggs but she ignored it. After Zack paid the bill, they walked back to his car and he reached for her hand and held it snugly in his.
"I wish I didn"t have to go to work," he said wistfully. "I"d suggest we go for a walk in Discovery Park or something."
"That would be nice. Maybe next time?" she smiled up at him.
"As far as first dates go, I think this went pretty well, don"t you?" he asked.
Sadie looked up into Zack"s smiling face and he bent to kiss her. Suddenly the breakfast burrito in her stomach roared to life. Before she could stop herself, she threw up all over his shoes.
"I"m so-o-o sorry!" Sadie exclaimed sorrowfully. "I don"t know where that came from."
"Your stomach apparently," Zack said dryly. "If you weren"t feeling good this morning you could"ve just said so." He cringed looking at his shoes. "I would"ve understood. Really."
Zack reached into the back seat of his car and pulled out a couple of warm water bottles. He handed her one to drink and used the other to rinse off his shoes. Sadie swished a mouthful of water in her mouth and spat. Then, while Zack continued to clean his runners, she climbed into the pa.s.senger seat of his car feeling disconcerted and ashamed. The last time she"d felt this embarra.s.sed it had involved a prom date and the unexpected arrival of her period. It was nice to know that at thirty she wasn"t above humiliating herself in front of men.
"I must be coming down with the flu or something," she told Zack as he slipped into the driver"s seat. "I wasn"t feeling great first thing this morning and went back to bed."
"Hey, it"s okay," he said, looking over at her and winking. "As long as it wasn"t the company you found repulsive."
As Zack drove Sadie back home she checked her phone and noticed she had multiple texts from her good friend, Maeva, wondering how the breakfast date had gone. Although a psychic by trade, Maeva"s abilities didn"t allow her to read much into Sadie"s love life. That was probably a good thing.
When they pulled into her driveway things became awkward again. They should"ve ended their date with at least a kiss but, instead, Sadie got a friendly pat on her knee. Still, what the knee rub lacked in pa.s.sion, it made up for in good intentions.
"Thanks for breakfast," she said. "Sorry about throwing it up all over your shoes."
"Rest today. I"ll call you tomorrow," he promised. "Feel better."
Once back inside her house Sadie locked the door behind her and then slumped onto her sofa.
"Must"ve been some kind of hot date," Petrovich said, coming out of the kitchen. "The guy doesn"t even come inside afterward."
"It was fine. He has to work." She looked up at him. "Not that it"s any of your business."
He put his hands up.
"You"re right. So what did he have to say about me?"
Sadie raised her eyebrows.
"We were on a date. What makes you think we talked about you? You didn"t want anyone to know you were here, remember?"
Sadie rubbed at her sternum where acid was bubbling up from her stomach.
"Oh c"mon, you mean you didn"t even ask Bowman about the case? You could"ve asked his opinion without telling him where I was." Petrovich began to pace. "I need help here, Sadie. I need you to be my ears and find out what everyone is saying. You gotta help me find out who really did this and-"
Sadie"s office phone rang from her den down the hall and she was grateful for the interruption.
"Hold that thought," she told Dean and ran down the hall to pick up the business line.
She answered the call in her most business-like tone.
"Scene-2-Clean. How can I help you?" She dug in her desk drawer, found an old roll of antacids and popped one in her mouth.
"I"m Harrison and I manage an apartment block up by Northgate Mall. Last week they found a body in one of our apartments. Tenant was killed by her boyfriend but n.o.body knew about it until the neighbors started smelling something."
"Yes, I heard about the incident on the news," Sadie said, sympathetically. "Very sad."
"Yeah, well, I called the police and asked when they were going to come and clean up the mess at this place so I can put an ad in the paper and get it rented out, you know?" Harrison said, sounding agitated. "But they tell me they don"t even do the cleaning. Said I"ve gotta call a trauma cleaner so I Googled and found you."
"Yes, you"re correct. Once the police have retrieved all their evidence from a scene the cleanup is the owner"s responsibility. The good news is that insurance will usually cover my costs."
"That"s great to know "cause I"m just in charge of renting out the apartments, you know? I"m not paid enough to go in there and wipe up after somebody dies."
"I"m certified to handle decomp and blood borne pathogens so you were right to call a professional," she told him. "I can be there for an initial walk-thru later this morning."
Harrison was thrilled to have her start so soon. Sadie got the address from the caller and promised to be there in a couple hours.
"Please gather the insurance information in the meantime," Sadie told him and they ended the call.