Free Diagnosis Murder 5 - The Past Tense by Lee Goldberg

after Katherine dumped Harry for me. "But here you are, wearing a brand-new suit, coming by to see me for the first time in years, the day after I discover a murder. I'm guessing it's your first homicide case and you're pretty nervous about it."
    He took a drag on his cigarette and blew a stream of smoke into the air. "Why do you guess that?"
    "Because this has to be even more uncomfortable for you than it is for me," I said. "And you wouldn't be putting yourself through it if you didn't have a lot at stake."
    He flicked some ashes onto his plate. "You're still good at that party game of yours, Mark. But we aren't at a party."
    He stood and picked up his hat. "And the murder of this girl, it's not a game. I came by to tell you to stay out of it."
    "What makes you think I'd get involved?" I asked. Before he could answer, Katherine emerged from Steve's room with the baby in her arms. She wore a turtleneck sweater and Capri pants and had a big, forced smile on her face.
    "Good morning, Mark," she said. "Look who's here, it's Harry."
    "I see," I said.
    "Isn't this a wonderful surprise?" she said. "We've spent the last hour catching up."
    "That's terrific," I said.
    "Sit down, Harry," Katherine said. "We can visit some more while Mark eats."
    "I wish I could, Kat," Harry said, making funny faces at Steve and getting rewarded with a big smile. "But I've got to get to work. Thanks for breakfast."
    "Come back again soon," Katherine said. "I mean it." She didn't mean it. Harry nodded, knowing it, too. He glanced at me, his gaze putting an exclamation point on his earlier warning, then put on his hat and left. As soon as he was gone, Katherine handed the baby to me and left the room. I knew she was crying.
    I waited a few minutes, bouncing Steve on my knee and letting him chew on my finger. Then I put him in his playpen and went into the bedroom.
    Katherine was sitting on the edge of the bed, a tissue balled up in her hand.
    "You okay?" I asked, sitting beside her.
    She nodded. "When I opened the door and saw Harry, I almost fainted with surprise. He looks ten years older. Did I do that to him? Did we?"
    I shrugged. I honestly didn't know. Even when he was a kid, Harry had that weary, basset-hound expression on his face.
    "We talked for an hour," she said. "He hasn't got anyone, you know."
    "You asked?"
    She shook her head. "He made sure I knew without actually telling me straight out. We mostly talked about the friends we had in common, what's happened to them since..."
    Katherine's voice trailed off.
    "Since you broke his heart and I betrayed him," I said, finishing her sentence.
    "It wouldn't have worked out with Harry anyway," Katherine said. "He was married to his badge. I was just his mistress. His little 'Kitty-Kat'."
    "But you still feel guilty," I said.
    "No," she said, taking my hand and resting her head on my shoulder. "I love you, Mark. I love the family we've made together. I wouldn't trade this for anything. But when Harry looked at me and Steve, I knew what he was seeing."
    "What might have been," I said. "The life he doesn't have."
    "A life I'm not sure he ever really wanted," she said. "Even so, he seemed so sad."
    "It's okay to still care about him," I said, giving her hand a squeeze. "I do, too."
     
     

CHAPTER TEN
     
     
    It was wet and dreary outside, so we spent the morning in the apartment, playing with Steve and doing all the domestic tasks that had piled up during the week, like paying bills, cleaning up the house, and putting our Blue Chip stamps into savings books.
    We got one Blue Chip stamp for every dime we spent at participating supermarkets, drugstores, and gas stations. During the week we'd drop the loose stamps we accumulated into a big bowl on the kitchen counter, and then every Saturday we'd put them in the book. We were saving up for a Murray Ohio Super Deluxe Fire Truck for Steve to drive around in the courtyard. The truck was bright red and had pedals, ladders, whitewall tires, and a big silver