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When she hit the front desk in the lobby, she asked the clerk, “Which direction do I take to the dock?”
“Take a left out of the parking lot, and you’ll run right into it. Dockside Fish Grill?” He replied as she nodded. “Order the fish and chips.”
“Will do, thanks.”
She stuck to the sidewalk on one side of the street, as quite a few cars whizzed by. Hardly the romantic date night she’d envisioned, but Finn had probably felt the same way when he discovered she hadn’t even been ready on time. Or maybe he’d envisioned no such thing.
Twinkling lights swaying in the breeze signaled the restaurant up ahead, and she quickened her pace. She could use a beer after the day she had, filled with more questions than answers.
She spotted Finn on the outdoor patio and climbed the wooden steps to join him under the heat lamp. He jumped up to pull out her chair.
“Too chilly for you? We can move inside, but the heat lamp helps and the air is refreshing, especially as I’ve been cooped up indoors all day.”
“This is fine.” She scooted her chair closer to the table and shrugged off her jacket. “How were your meetings?”
“Office hours are usually okay, but that one student of mine, Dermott Webb—you saw him after my class—he’s kind of a fanboy. Always has a ton of questions, many designed as gotchas for me. He’s testing me. Those kinds of students are tiresome. And the staff meeting?” He took a long swallow of his beer. “Even more tiresome.”
A waitress pushed through the glass doors to the patio with a tray laden with a bottle of beer and a frosty mug. “I would’ve had it waiting for you, but I wanted to be sure you got it cold.”
“Perfect. Thank you.”
When she left, Jessica picked up her perfectly poured beer and raised it. “To less tiresome and less confusing days.”
“I’ll definitely drink to that.” He clinked his bottle against her glass. “I’m sure your day was more interesting than mine. Tell me what you discovered.”
“I discovered, thanks to my boss, that I’m putting my sister’s old case ahead of Morgan’s and doing her an injustice.” She sipped her drink and touched her tongue to the foam on her lip.
“I think you can do both at the same time. What did you find out from Denny and Ashley?” He shoved a menu at her with one finger. “I’m ordering the fish and chips.”
“Me, too, on the suggestion of the hotel desk clerk.” She stacked the two menus, hitting the edges on the tabletop. “Did you know Denny was selling drugs at the time of Tiffany’s murder?”
“I knew that, yeah.” Finn wrapped his hands around his bottle, lacing his fingers. “That lead went nowhere. Denny was in good standing with his bosses. Didn’t owe anyone. Nobody owed him. No skimming. No stealing.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Wow, so he was agooddrug dealer.”
“Good enough not to make him…or his woman a target.”
After the waitress took their orders, Jessica tilted her head. “You never told me that about him.”
“Like I said, didn’t play a role in Tiffany’s murder.” He tapped his bottle with his fingernail. “What else did you find out from those two?”
“The doll, my doll, the one I’d left with Tiffany, was stolen in the weeks prior to her murder.”
His eyebrows bunched over his nose. “That’s not in the case file. Nobody mentioned a break-in at her place.”
“Ashley never reported it. Claims she’s not sure anyonedidbreak into their apartment. Noticed it missing but put it down to a prank or someone just walking off with it.”
“You think Tiffany’s killer stole the doll and then ten years later left it at the crime scene of another murder victim?” His gaze burned into her, and she wondered again how blue could cause so much heat.
“Y-yes.” She took a gulp of her beer and patted the foam from her lip.
“You don’t sound so sure now. Is that your doll or a replica?”
“With the same missing button?”
He lifted his shoulders. “It’s a toy. Buttons go missing.”
“Maybe—” she snapped her fingers three times “—it’s not the same doll but one meant to look like mine.”