Lead-Pipe Cinch by Christy Evans

Author:Christy Evans [Evans, Christy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Murder, Oregon, Plumbers
ISBN: 9780425233887
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2009-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

chapter 18

The smell of coffee woke me up. There shouldn’t be coffee. Not unless the dogs had developed opposable thumbs overnight. And even if they had, they would use them for something more to their liking than coffee. Maybe getting their own green treats from the cupboard.

The fog lifted a little from my brain. Blake’s death. Murder. Wade making dinner.

Wade. I remember him promising to clean up if I went to bed. What I didn’t remember was him leaving. I had not asked him to stay, but my nose was telling me he did.

I put on my robe—the heavy quilted one that zipped all the way to my chin. I stopped in the bathroom to run a comb through my hair and splash water on my face.

In the kitchen Wade had a big pot of coffee, and a goofy grin. “I slept on the couch,” he said. The wrinkles in his clothes and his bed-head hair testified to that.

“You’d had a rough day. I figured you might have a bad night. Are you feeling any better this morning?”

I took the cup of coffee he offered me, and leaned against the counter. “I’m okay, I guess.”

I looked around for the dogs.

“I let them out a few minutes ago,” Wade said. “The phone’s been ringing for a couple hours. I turned the ringer off so it wouldn’t wake you.”

“Thanks.” I looked over at the answering machine. It blinked steadily, and the message counter was in double digits. “I’ve been ignoring the messages, but I’ll have to deal with them pretty soon.”

“Yeah. Some guy named Stan called a couple times already this morning. Seemed to be anxious to talk to you.”

Stan. I had forgotten about him last night, but escape time was over. It was time for the real world again.

“Uh, Wade, about last night?”

“Yeah?”

“You know all the things I told you? They’re not things I want to share with the world. It’s kind of embarrassing to have people know I got thrown out of my own company. And it’s humiliating to have everyone know I got dumped.”

He looked me in the eye. “Yes, that it is.”

I felt a hot flush creeping up my neck and across my face. Wade knew exactly how humiliating it was, and I was the reason.

“Oh, Wade, I’m sorry!”

He shrugged. “Long time ago.”

He walked to the back door and took a look out to check on the dogs before he continued. “But you don’t need to worry. I know how to keep a secret. Remember, my job gives me access to the finances of half the people in this town. I keep the books for their businesses, do their taxes, help them with college aid applications, set up retirement accounts—just about any kind of financial advice or service they need. If I can’t keep things confidential, I’m out of business.”

“I know.” I felt bad for even bringing it up and it showed clearly in my tone.

“Your secrets are safe with me.” Wade raised three fingers in a scout salute and made a solemn face.

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