At Wick's End - Tim Myers [53]
“Easy, I didn’t mean to offend you. It just sounds like you’re looking for alibis. I happened to be out of town when it happened, working the Outer Banks studying something that didn’t pan out. Harrison, as much as I’d love to hang around here and chat, I’m having second thoughts about that sub of mine. Maybe I’d better pay him a visit in person. I can be quite persuasive when I need to be.”
“I’ll bet,” I said as I followed him out of his office. I noticed he had three shiny new locks on his door as he secured each one in turn.
He smiled. “Like I said, you can’t be too careful these days. I had these installed right after you had your locks changed. See you around, Harrison.”
“I’ll be here,” I said.
“And where else could you possibly go, with this new mistress of yours?” Before I could say anything, his arm swept around me. “I imagine River’s Edge is quite a demanding lady.”
The second I got back to the apartment, it was obvious Esmeralda hadn’t been pleased with my departure. Somehow she’d managed to unroll every paper towel from the dispenser in the kitchen. There was a trail of it throughout the apartment. Not only that, but she’d discovered the toilet paper holder as well. She had saved that for the bedroom. I found the cat perched on my pillow, partially wrapped in the paper herself. There was a stern look on her face, as if she were daring me to say a word.
I wanted to laugh, but Janie had taught me early on that cats didn’t have much of a sense of humor, especially about themselves, so I cleaned up the mess and figured we were even for my deserting her. By the time I had the kitchen cleaned up, she’d managed to extricate herself from her swathing.
As I collected the fallen rolls, my mind kept drifting back to my conversation with the salvage man. Markum was someone so different from what I was used to, it was difficult to gauge the man and his reactions. It was almost as if he was shielded by his nature, giving a shining smile to the world while calculating the odds and angles just beneath it.
After some order was restored to the apartment, I said loudly, “Okay, you made your point. You don’t like being left alone. I’m going to read in the other room now, and you’re welcome to join me.” Blast it all if that cat didn’t hop up from the bed and follow me into the living room.
A part of me was going to be happy when Heather returned, but another part realized that Esmeralda was growing on me, that I might actually miss her when she was gone.
Not that I would ever have admitted it to anyone else.
Especially to the cat.
I woke up to the sounds of mewing the next morning. It appeared that my roommate was hungry, and wasn’t the least bit reluctant to share that news with me. Heather hadn’t told me anything about the frequency of Esmeralda’s diet, but I couldn’t take that pitiful sound, so I opened another can for her.
“It looks like this is going to be our last day together, Esme,” I said as we both ate our breakfasts.
The cat studied me a moment before going back to her food.
“I just wanted to say you’re welcome any time. As long as you can resist the rolls of paper around here.”
There was a knock at the door, and I was surprised to find Heather there.
“You’re back early,” I said as I led her into the apartment.
“Mom’s much better. I went home with her last night, but she was ready to be on her own, so I was told in no uncertain terms that it was time for me to leave.”
“Ouch,” I said. “That had to hurt.”
“Not really, it just meant that she was feeling better. Hey, sweetheart, did you forget all about me?” Heather said to her cat.
Esme looked at her, seemed to think about it a moment, then walked casually toward her owner.
Heather scooped her up, laughing. “I missed you too, you rascal. I see you’ve duped Harrison into overfeeding you.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t know her schedule.”
Heather laughed. “Don’t worry, she’s a great con artist. I’ll be back a little later for her things, if that’s all right