Free Murder Under Cover by Kate Carlisle Page B

yours?”
    “No guy is that hung up on me,” she said drily.
    “You never know,” I countered. “Maybe Alex had a partner he double-crossed.”
    Derek finished off the last of his coffee. “Let’s run a few scenarios. Perhaps Alex knew the other person. He expected the guy to come by later and help him rob your place, so he drugged you to keep you out of their way. He probably didn’t expect his friend to kill him.”
    “That’s quite a scenario,” I said.
    Robin shook her head. “But it still doesn’t make sense.”
    “I know.”
    “I thought I’d met the man of my dreams,” she said quietly, then rolled her eyes in disgust. “Obviously, I watched too much Disney as a child.”
    I squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry.”
    “If it’s not too painful,” Derek said, “I’d like you to take us through the entire evening.”
    “It might be a little painful,” she said after a moment’s consideration. “But if it can help clear up a few questions, let’s go for it.”
    “Good. Let’s take a quick minute to clean things up.” Derek stood and cleared our plates, then filled our cups with more coffee. I got up and grabbed a notepad and pen from my utility drawer and we both sat down again.
    Robin started at the beginning of her date with Alex, trying to remember the smallest details, such as what they both wore and what kind of car he drove.
    Derek scowled at the mention of the car, and I knew he would’ve loved to comb through it. But it was probably in the police impound lot by now.
    “Whose idea was it to wind up the evening at your place?” he asked.
    “Mine.” Robin paused. “Well, wait. Let me think about that. We were talking about San Francisco neighborhoods. He lives in the Richmond District and I mentioned living in Noe Valley. He said he’d heard about this fabulous new restaurant in Noe Valley. I laughed and said, ‘That’s like two blocks from my place,’ and he was like, ‘You’re kidding. We have to go to this place.’ Then he sort of changed the subject, told me he was having the best time ever, or words to that effect. I thought the same thing. I was having a wonderful time.”
    She took a slow sip of coffee before going on. “So then we were eating and talking, and a while later, he brought it up again. Said he wanted to take me to this new place, Serafina. It’s Italian. On Castro. And somewhere in there, he said he’d heard a lot of great things about the Noe Valley neighborhood and wanted to check it out sometime. And by then we’d finished a bottle of wine, and so I said, ‘How about checking out my neighborhood right now?’ ” She shook her head. “I thought I was being so alluring. What an idiot.”
    “You weren’t an idiot,” I said fiercely. “He used you.”
    “I guess,” she said. “Anyway, essentially, I invited him over.”
    Derek’s eyes were cold as steel as he qualified her statement. “The invitation was from you, but Alex manipulated you into extending it to him.”
    “Which means he’d already planned out the whole thing,” she reflected.
    “Probably so,” Derek conceded.
    “I can’t believe it,” she said, her lips tightening in anger. “That bastard set me up.”

Chapter 6
    Derek went off to get ready for work while Robin washed the breakfast dishes and I dried and put them away.
    I kept an eye on her as she drained the soapy water and wiped off the counter. While we’d talked, Robin’s eyes had sparkled with righteous anger, and I was happy to see it. I’d hated seeing her feeling so miserably guilty about Alex’s death, as though she were somehow responsible for it.
    No, it was much better for her to get pissed off and take action.
    But now her shoulders drooped and she looked pale and worried.
    “How are you feeling?” I asked carefully.
    “I’m fine,” she muttered.
    “Yeah, right.” I noticed she was staring at her fingers, avoiding my gaze. That couldn’t be a good sign, either. “That must be why you look so