Free Crime Seen by Victoria Laurie Page B

grabbed a membership application for me. ‘‘But if we’re going to dig into this, we might want to try and find out.’’
    Dutch’s car was gone when I got home about an hour later. In its place was a beat-up blue Chevy pickup with a familiar face behind the wheel. ‘‘Hey there,’’ I called to Dave as I parked and got out.
    ‘‘Heard you went to the gym,’’ he said, getting out of his own vehicle.
    ‘‘I did,’’ I said and clicked my heels together smartly.
    ‘‘How’d it go?’’
    ‘‘ ’Bout like you’d expect a field trip with me to the gym would go,’’ I said and headed up the walkway to the house.
    ‘‘I’m picturing dropped dumbbells and lots of swearing.’’ Dave chuckled.
    ‘‘Now who’s clairvoyant?’’ I said, opening the door.
    Dave followed me inside and greeted Eggy, who was much more glad to see him than me. ‘‘Want coffee?’’ I asked as I headed into the kitchen.
    ‘‘Love some. Say, have you had a chance to talk to your sister yet?’’
    I smacked my head. ‘‘Crap!’’ I said and wheeled around to face him. ‘‘Dave, I’m so sorry. I called Cat and she’s totally good with the offer. Call the agent and accept. We can close as soon as they’re ready.’’
    Dave looked up at the ceiling and mouthed, ‘‘Thank you,’’ then glanced back at me. ‘‘I hope they want to close soon.’’
    I cocked my head at him. ‘‘You hurtin’ for money?’’ I asked.
    ‘‘Kind of,’’ he said and avoided my eyes.
    It was then that my radar buzzed and in my mind’s eye I saw a red heart with a split down the middle. ‘‘Oh, my God, Dave,’’ I said breathlessly. ‘‘She left you.’’
    Dave looked sharply at me. ‘‘Turn that thing off,’’ he said, pointing to my head.
    ‘‘When?’’ I asked, coming over to him and grabbing his hand to lead him to a chair.
    Once he’d gotten seated, he began to make little circles on the table with his forefinger. ‘‘Last week,’’ he mumbled. I opened up my intuition and tried to get the skinny. Dave looked up at me again and scowled. ‘‘Stop with the mind reading, Abby,’’ he said, and his tone meant business.
    I turned away and fiddled with the coffeemaker. I didn’t know what to say. Dave had been in a common-law marriage forever. I had no idea what his wife’s true name was, since he always referred to her as ‘‘my old lady,’’ which sounded demeaning unless you knew, like I did, that Dave absolutely worshiped the ground she walked on.
    Dave was silent until I returned to the table with two steaming cups in hand. I sat down across from him and sipped at my brew, waiting him out. ‘‘I can’t talk about it,’’ he said gruffly.
    I nodded, but just couldn’t keep myself from saying, ‘‘There’s no other guy, you know.’’
    Dave’s eyes met mine and there was a hint of relief there. ‘‘That what your team says?’’
    I nodded. ‘‘Yep. She’s gone because of a broken promise.’’
    Dave sucked in a breath. ‘‘Shit, Abs. You should be on television or something.’’
    I smiled over the rim of my cup. ‘‘It’s a gift. Sure you don’t want to share?’’
    Dave sighed and picked up the sugar bowl from the center of the table. After spooning in four teaspoons, he began softly: ‘‘I came home last Tuesday, you know, after my usual poker game, and she was gone. All her stuff was gone too and there was no note or nothin’. She wouldn’t answer my calls and I just about called the police, I was so worried about her. And then I passed by the fridge and I saw that the calendar had been taped to the door. She’d circled the day before in big red marker. That was my only clue about why she’d gone.’’
    ‘‘Something to do with the promise,’’ I said, feeling a connection. ‘‘And a celebration missed,’’ I added.
    I got another gasp of surprise from Dave, along with a small, mirthless laugh. ‘‘I may kidnap you for my next poker game. We could