Page 11 of Someone to Call My Own

“He’s your attorney,” Detective Dorchester said. “There’s a close line we’re straddling if he does say something incriminating.”

“Not if we have a warrant,” Detective Wyatt said to his partner. “We’d need to find a judge we can trust, preferably one with a clerk that doesn’t have a big mouth.”

“Weston and Harris will know,” Dorchester replied. “This is our best bet.”

“I’ll fire him as my attorney,” I volunteered. I hated to set Rick up, but I couldn’t think of another way. I just hoped that he was cleared of wrongdoing and would listen to my explanation once it was all over.

“Then he might get suspicious and refuse to speak to you,” Dorchester replied. “Let us go through the official channels and make sure our i’s are dotted, and t’s crossed. The last thing we want to do is let someone off on a technicality.”

“Okay,” I said in frustration. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to act like nothing is wrong when I meet with him to go over business tomorrow.”

“Oh, I think you can dig deep and rely on your training for that,” Detective Wyatt told me. I decided not to remark on his comment.

“Is there anything else?” I asked them.

“Not at the moment,” Dorchester said. “We’ll be in touch soon.” They rose from their chairs and headed to the door.

I called Detective Wyatt’s name before they could leave. “I think I was wrong about you, Detective.”

“You wouldn’t be the first person, Silver,” he tossed over his shoulder as he walked out the door.

I sat in shock in my office for several minutes after they left. I knew there was a high probability that Nate knew his killer, but I wasn’t prepared for Rick Spizer to be that person. There had to be another explanation, and I was tempted to demand it from Rick, but I wouldn’t betray the detectives like that. I could tell that they didn’t trust me completely, but they had enough confidence to ask for my help. No matter how hard, I would follow through with the agreement I made with them.

I pulled myself together and entered the bar area to have our impromptu meeting before the club opened. I was honestly surprised to see that the entire staff had shown up. Honestly, they’d been great to me since day one, which made the theft that much harder to swallow. The club looked like a completely different place with the bright overhead lights on instead of colored lights and disco balls. It was so quiet without all the loud music thumping that I could hear the slapping of the soles of my dress shoes against the floor.

“Thank you all for coming,” I told them. I made eye contact with each of them to gauge their reaction. I saw respect, lust, and even annoyance, but I didn’t see guilt or fear. On the one hand, it was a good thing because I didn’t want any of them to be guilty of stealing. I wanted it to be a trainable incident that could be avoided in the future. On the other hand, I knew better than to hold my breath. If there were a thief amidst my staff, I would find them. Laying out all my cards on the table wasn’t the way to go about it. I was better off to act like it was an honest mistake and watch to see what happened. “I want to go through the process of properly entering the liquor sales into the system. I understand that it’s still a new process for you, so I’m not here to beat anyone up. I just want to make sure that everyone is following the same procedure.”

I spent half an hour going through the process with the bartenders, wait staff, and managers. “No one is exempt from using this method,” I reminded them. “Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir,” they all said in unison.

“Let’s all have a good night,” I told them then returned to my office.

I watched their body language through the monitors as they finished getting the club ready to open. It was obvious from our meeting that each of them knew the system well, which meant that I either had a lazy employee or a thief. I would tolerate neither in my club. I released a sigh of frustration and wished for a millionth time that there was some type of establishment like Voodoo in the Queen City so I could blow off steam and lose myself, if only for a short time.

After running into Josh for the second time, I realized two things. I missed laughter almost as much as I missed my husband, and I liked the idea of writing a book about my psychic experiences more than I originally thought. I also realized that I missed the human interaction with people outside of solving a cold case. I had Memphis, of course, but he was a few thousand miles away, and I realized that I wanted to share a meal with someone while we chatted. Josh offered me the opportunity, but I wasn’t sure I should accept. I didn’t want him to offer his friendship out of pity; I wanted to be… wanted.

I needed to have a purpose in life again—one that I could grasp. I just didn’t believe that I was meant to travel around the country and help solve missing person and cold cases for the rest of my life. I’d lived a purpose-driven life up until the moment my world ended when River died. I knew exactly what I was supposed to do, where I was supposed to go, and who was supposed to be with me until that fateful day in February. After I lost River, the life I knew no longer felt right to me. I tried going through the motions of the corporate America I’d lived and breathed, but I was miserable. My expensive silk tie felt more like a noose, and the fine material of my custom-tailored shirts and suits made my skin itch like I was allergic to them.

My family thought I’d lost my mind when I walked away from the whiskey empire my family started more than two hundred years ago in Ireland. In fact, my mother warned me that I had to see a psychiatrist or she’d block my access to my trust fund. And she would’ve rather seen me homeless than compromise, but my grandfather—her father-in-law—overruled her decision. Connor Whelan might’ve been knocking on eighty years old, but his mind was as sharp as ever, and I was still his favorite person in the world. It also helped that he disliked my mother from the moment they’d met. I was the only reason my granddad tolerated her presence after my father died in a small engine plane crash with his mistress. I knew that Granddad wanted me to resume my rightful spot in his company, but I knew in my heart that I never would.

I needed to forge my own path and put down roots where I wanted them. I wasn’t sure that writing books and living in Blissville were the long-term answers, but it felt right to me for that moment in time. Acknowledging that much at least gave me a sense of peace and a jolt of determination that had been sorely lacking in my life. If I was going to make a nest in Blissville, then I needed to make the rental house feel more like home. I needed vibrant colors, decorations, and wall art. I could’ve hired someone to ship the things I bought with River, but I could almost hear him whispering, “New life equals new stuff, my love.” I decided to liven up the space with a more vibrant paint scheme, and I was lucky that my landlord didn’t care. He even suggested the name of a painter who could do the work for me, but I’d always liked working with my hands. Once the new color scheme settled, I could pick out art and decorations that suited my new life.

I underestimated how much paint supplies to buy and had to make a quick dash to Harry’s Hardware in the middle of a project one afternoon. I was in a hurry to get back home and didn’t pay attention when I exited the aisle with the items I needed. I nearly plowed into Gabe from next door. I clutched my chest with my free hand and smiled sheepishly at him.

“I’m sorry, Gabe. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” A husband and wife walked by us and gave me the once-over. Oh, the downside of being the new guy in town.

“No problem, Emory. How’s it going?” Gabe asked me. “Are you getting settled in okay?”

“It’s going to be an adjustment,” I admitted, “but Josh’s cookies and thoughtful invitation made me feel welcome.”

“Josh?My Josh?” Gabe asked in surprise. “An invitation to what?”

“Um, dinner,” I replied uneasily. “On Sunday.”

“Sunday dinner? This Sunday, as in Easter?” Gabe raised his eyebrows.

“Is that a problem, Gabe? I don’t want to cause any trouble,” I said, backing up slowly. The last thing I wanted to do was create a problem between the happy couple. Gabe snapped out of his surprise and offered me a friendly smile.