Free Dead Red Cadillac, A by R. P. Dahlke Page B

the core, but I wasn't about to let him know it.
    "Back there in the squad room, that was just embarrassing."
    I didn't know, or realize, I'd embarrassed him. I asked softly, "How'd I do that?"
    "Let me see if I can spell it out for you—'Do you have anything good to eat in your drawers?'"
    "Oh," was all I could manage. I was mortified and tickled at the same time. I rolled my eyes and bit at my lower lip to keep the two opinions from outright collision. My eyebrows wormed up and down in counterfeit anxiety as my voice quaked with all of the mirth I didn't dare show. "I'm so sorry, Caleb. You're right, you know. On every count."
    I could see a crack of a smile zigzagging its way up his face to lift the tired pouches under his eyes. Finally, humor won out, and he chuckled. "You—you…" He waggled his finger at my nose, trying to get the words out, but I'd gotten to his funny bone, and it was impossible for either of us to hold a straight face.
    We grinned, giggled, and laughed outright until we collapsed against each other from the strain. Then we fell away to point at each other and laugh again.
    "It's all your fault," I said, wiping away the tears of mirth. "You know I can't be taken out in public without making a fool out of one of us."
    "Never a dull moment, I'll say that for you."
    I reached across the seat and lightly touched his cheek. "I'm sorry. Truly. Sometimes I just open my mouth to change feet."
    He surprised me by catching my hand and kissing the knuckles. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
    Suddenly embarrassed, I snatched back my hand. His words were those of brotherly affection; it was the delivery that left buzzing sounds in my ears.
    Then Caleb's expression changed again, and he seemed to search for something else he needed, wanted, or had lost. He looked down at our hands lying on the seat between us. Lifting a finger of my hand as it lay on the seat and rubbing his thumb along the edge of my nail, he said, "I do love you, you know."
    One minute we're fighting and the next, oh boy! Could Garth have been right that he'd seen jealousy on Caleb's face? Whatever this was, I wasn't going there, not yet, not now. Anyway, I wasn't ready to let go of my mad, so I said, "You think that's going to make up for why I slapped you last night?"
    "Not working for you, is it? Come on, you can't stay mad at me, can you? Besides, I've already forgiven you for last night."
    "Well, I haven't forgiven you! You were way out of line, buster. There I was, my nerves slinging five ways to Sunday, but did you care?"
    "What're you talking about? Of course I care!"
    "You set me up with damn Detective Rodney. You got what you two wanted, and then you didn't like what you saw? You weren't thinking of me at all. All you could see was Lalla having a good old time with Patience's nephew."
    He jerked back as if I'd slapped him again.
    "You're denying it? You called me and told me when to come in for my scheduled appointment with Homicide. You were there to show me the car, see my reaction to it, and you told me Garth was asking for me and where I should go to find him."
    "It's not like that, Lalla."
    "Until you can prove to me otherwise, I can't see it any other way. Now, if you please, I'd like to pick up my car."
    He silently put the car in gear and pulled onto the road. Then his radio scratched on with a call from the office.
    "Let me call you back on the cell phone, Judy," he said, switching off the radio, picking up the handset and auto-dialing the office. I knew he did it to beat the snoops listening on police scanners. But I also think he just didn't want me to hear. He scribbled down what Dispatch said, then asked Judy to repeat it, and looking at me, wrote again. Tearing off the small note from the clipboard, he slid it into a breast pocket.
    I felt sure it had something to do with me, and if not me, at least Patience's death, which had a lot to do with me. "Well? What is it?"
    "I'm going to Stockton. Garth's ex-wife has agreed to