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Odd.
After that, they didn’t talk about Salena anymore. Not here. Not at the club. Besides that brief mention in the paper, there hadn’t been another word of her. It was almost as if she’d never existed. Brendan was sorry her life ended like it did, but he wasn’t sorry that he wouldn’t have to worry about Salena fucking with his family ever again.
“If the groundhog sees its shadow, does that mean an early spring or six more weeks of winter?” Katelyn pondered between bites of her cheeseburger. “I can never remember which it is.”
“It means six more weeks of this shit.”
They were having a late lunch at Charley’s before she went to work and he headed into the club. While it was as cold as a witch’s tit on this second day of February, the sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud to be seen in the pale-blue sky. If Punxsutawney Phil was to be believed, spring wasn’t coming anytime soon. Of course, here winter could last until May—felt like it anyway.
“Do we have any plans for this Sunday?”
“No, sweetheart.” Brendan reached across the table for her hand. “Is there something you want to do?”
“Yeah.” Lowering her lids, Katelyn stared at her plate and squeezed his hand. “I want to stay in and make some lasagna. Talk and stuff. You know, have a quiet, lazy day.”
“That sounds good to me.”
She still stared at her plate. He’d noticed Katelyn hadn’t been quite herself the past couple of weeks. She seemed preoccupied, but he figured it was the new semester at school.
“Everything all right, baby? Classes going okay?”
She looked up. “Yeah.”
His cell vibrated in his pocket. It was Murphy, a friend since childhood, who was a detective with the police department, so he answered it. The call was brief and he wasn’t sure what to think of it. Katelyn was watching his face.
“Friend of mine at the PD.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. He didn’t want to give her any reason to worry. “They, um, want to ask me some questions about Salena.”
“They’re probably contacting anyone who knew her, don’t you think?”
“Probably,” he agreed, nodding. “Calling my attorney anyway.”
By the time Phil Beecham met him in front of the station two hours later Brendan was fucking glad he had. His phone had blown up since he’d gotten the call from Murphy. His cousins, Linnea, Chloe, Venery, Axel and his staff at the club, Marcus, and even Jason, the kitchen boy from Charley’s, had all called or texted him because they’d been asked to go down to the station too.
What the actual fuck is going on here?
The churn in his gut told him something was fishy. And whatever that something was, it stunk.
Murphy approached him in the lobby. He had a hangdog look on his face, lips pressed together in a straight line, as if he were uncomfortable about having to be here. They’d known each other since kindergarten. He was his go-to guy at the department whenever Brendan needed one, like when the black van was camped out by Park Place. When Linnea was missing. Murphy was very much aware of all the troubles Salena had caused. Her machinations. Her threats.
“Hey, Bren,” he greeted him with a backslap and a bro-hug. “Phil, how are ya?” He shook the lawyer’s hand.
Phil answered with a nod and Murphy smiled. Not really. It was sheepish. He motioned them over to a corner where they wouldn’t be overheard.
“Look, Bren. They took me off the case because we’re friends, but I gotta tell ya, someone has it out for you.” He worried his lip. “And I can’t say who.”
Stinks like a putrefied corpse.
Murphy turned to Phil then. “I’m glad you’re here. I’ll be in there, but be careful. Don’t let him lose his cool, get me? We’ll talk later.” He winked and walked away.
“This is fucking outrageous, Phil,” he exclaimed. “I haven’t had anything to do with that woman in well over a year.” Brendan began to pace. “I’ve run into her maybe twice in all that time.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about, Bren.” Phil placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Relax.”
“I don’t need this shit, Phil.” His thoughts went to Katelyn. “Especially now.”
Brendan hoped that after he answered their questions today, that it would be the end of it—as far as he was concerned. He did not want Katelyn to be caught up in this bullshit with him. She was young. Innocent until he got his hands on her. All he wanted was for the two of them to have a happy, peaceful life together.
Is that too much to fucking ask?
