Sweet Talk: Is it love on the line? (Love Lines) by Cara Bastone

Author:Cara Bastone [Bastone, Cara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2021-10-25T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Eliot

The next morning I swing by my local police precinct. Unfortunately, over the last two months, this has become a habit for me. Gloria, the receptionist, knows me by name now. I step into the main lobby and her face falls when she sees me, and correspondingly so does my stomach. Because that means that they’ve made no progress on my case. If they’d made progress, she would have lit up. She buzzes back for the detective assigned to my case and a few minutes later, Detective Cabela emerges from the back hallway, her hands tucked into her trousers and her badge on a chain around her neck.

She has a glum expression on her face and just a touch of a flush in her brown skin. Her dark hair is braided back today and she looks pretty. If she didn’t sort of represent one of the worst nights of my life, I might have asked her out when we first met.

“Hi there, Mr. Hoffman.”

“Detective.”

She knows exactly why I’m there and she doesn’t waste either of our time. That’s one of the reasons I like her. She’s got a real down-to-business vibe. “I’m sorry to tell you that we haven’t made any progress on your case.”

I sigh and look down. It’s not a surprise to me. My case was nonviolent, had only my eyewitness account, and very few other leads. It’s small potatoes and pretty much only important to me. But as someone who hasn’t gotten a good night’s sleep since it happened, I’ve been kind of clinging to the hope that apprehending the guy who did it might provide me with a little peace of mind.

“I figured,” I tell her. “Just thought I’d check in.”

“You know,” she says with a cock of her head, “you could always just call me to check in on the status of the investigation.”

“I know. I was just passing by anyhow.”

Her eyes are kind with understanding. “And you don’t want me forgetting about you.”

“I know my case is low on the totem pole. I just want to stay on your radar.”

“Mr. Hoffman,” she says, and I can’t help but notice the little bit of gravel in her voice. “I’m not going to forget about you. We’re working your case as hard as we work any other.”

A colleague of hers calls her name and she waves at me as she gets back to work. I leave the precinct with my hands in my pockets and my eyes on the sidewalk. I halt halfway down the block and look back at the police station.

I’ve kind of been thinking that if and when I happen to see JD in person, after all that time talking to one another, I would just kind of know it was her. Not anything as cheesy as a bolt of lightning. But maybe like a low-level surge of awareness. I’ll see JD and everything will just make sense. Right?

I pull my phone out and search for Detective Cabela in my contacts. There’s nothing there.

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