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“We stopped off at our favorite coffee shop. I took a chance and brought you a white chocolate caramel latte,” Chloe says with a smile.
“Did you forget me?” Sabrina teases her bestie.
“Never, ever. I got you apple spice with whipped cream,” Chloe says. “You think I don’t know your fave? Really! That’s insulting, Bri.”
I jump in and ask, “You brought me real coffee, right? You know, that dark rich black brew required to endure all your craziness?”
“You watch yourself, Detective Chambers, or I’ll have to remove you from our Christmas list,” Chloe chides mockingly.
“You don’t want that, man,” her husband, Damian, who’s one of my best buds, responds. “She’s a Christmas savant. You don’t want to miss any of that.” He bumps my shoulder.
Alex pipes up. “Your mother is a Christmas nut. Guess Chloe’s learning from the best.”
“Where’s Caleb? He’s usually here before everyone else.” Sabrina looks around the room. Right on cue, he steps through the door, looking none too happy, I might add.
“This door should be locked,” Caleb grunts, a frown on his face and his brow furrowed.
“Relax, man. They just got here and are waiting for you,” I tell him. Without a word, he closes the door a little too loudly, but reins himself in to say hello to the girls before heading back to me.
“Tell me one of those is for me.” He points to the trays of coffee. I hand him his, debating whether to ask what’s up his ass or not.
Alex beats me to it. “What’s going on with you? Lately, you come in pissed off and you won’t tell us what’s going on. We’re here to help if you need us.”
Caleb lets out an exasperated breath. “My problem is this brown-haired, green-eyed mouse who thinks she can live her life through books. A petite librarian who is fucking sweet and thinks she can change spark plugs on her own or fix a plumbing leak with a how-to book. A book! She couldn’t find the darn things.”
“Your neighbor again?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
“She’s not your problem, you know. You can just walk away,” I suggest.
“She’s in the driveway with the hood of the car up, looking at a YouTube video on where to find the spark plugs in her car. With my luck, she’ll blow up the neighborhood,” Caleb says.
“I think she’s showing independence. Good for her for learning how to do things on her own,” Chloe says in defense of this unknown woman, which earns her a glare from Caleb.
“Did she ask for help?” Sabrina asks Caleb.
“No, but…”
“Then let her be. She’ll either figure it out or call a mechanic,” Sabrina says.
“Those mechanics will take advantage of her. You only have to look at her and see she doesn’t have a clue about cars,” Caleb mumbles with a snort. Then he does a complete one-eighty and says, “Let’s talk about what we’re going to do to find this lunatic on the loose.”
Unfortunately, Caleb says this a little too harshly, and Jasmine winces at his comment. He catches her reaction as well and says, “That was unnecessary, but I promise you, we’ll get this guy.”
Jasmine manages a small smile. “Thank you.”
Caleb, Alex, Damian, and I head into my office. Caleb spreads out all the research he’s been working on since yesterday.
“I’ve had a team go through Jasmine’s apartment looking for fingerprints, especially around the stove, since she said the burner was left on. Most perps with an obsession have a sexual component, so I had the bedroom swept as well. We did find several prints, and we need to rule out Jasmine’s and identify the others,” Caleb states.
“That’s only if they’re in the system,” I remind him.
“It’s a start,” Alex points out. I nod and look at Damian to see what he thinks.
“She was almost run down near her school, right? Are there any cameras in the area? Since there’s a school nearby, there should be. That could give us the make and model of the car, a license plate, something,” Damian says.
“Good idea. Alex, can you check those out?” Caleb asks.
