Page 19 of The Last Close Call

“Yeah. Why?”

“I need to come by. Be there in five.”

She clicked off before he could object. Not that he wanted to, really. But she’d always had a knack for catching him off guard.

Jack’s stomach growled, and he glanced at the pizza box. He lifted the lid and grabbed a slice of double pepperoni, chomping into it as he walked into the bedroom. By the time he’d changed into jeans and a T-shirt, Heidi was knocking on his door.

“Sorry to barge in,” she said as he ushered her inside.

“You’re not.”

She wore a black pantsuit and high heels, and she was damp from the rain.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Not too much,” she said, glancing around. “Hey, I like what you’ve done with the place.”

She was being sarcastic. The last time she had been here was the summer Jack moved in, and not a whole lot had changed since then.

Jack looked around at his smallish condo, trying to see it through a woman’s eyes. The place was minimally furnished but comfortable. It had a brick fireplace and a balcony he never used. Jack had picked the place because of its proximity to work. Over the last few years, the traffic had gotten bad, but Jack had stayed because he liked the neighborhood.

Heidi was looking around, openly taking inventory of his bachelor pad.

“You want pizza?” he asked her. “I just stopped by Home Slice.”

“Thanks, but I can’t stay. I’ll take a water, though.”

He led her into the kitchen. “Why are you dressed up?” he asked as he opened a cabinet.

“I was at the funeral earlier. Then I stopped by the police station.”

He filled the glass with chilled water from the fridge. “Amber Novak’s funeral? They waited this long?”

“Yeah.”

He handed her the glass, and she took a long gulp.

“I assume you’re aware that her family lives here,” she said.

“I know.” The connection between the San Antonio homicide victim and Austin had jumped out at Jack as soon as he learned about it.

“Her brother agreed to sit down with me after the wake.” Heidi rested the glass on the counter. “We had a long visit. The guy’s a software developer here in town.”

“You get any leads?”

She sighed and folded her arms. “Not really. Amber had an ex-boyfriend he never liked.”

“John Bauer.”

She looked surprised. “You’ve heard about him?”

“You guys have. His name came up in one of the witness interviews I read.”

Heidi had been generous enough to give him a look at the paperwork in case anything jumped out at him. But she’d made it clear at the time that she still wasn’t persuaded that there was a link between her homicide and their cold cases.

“Anyway, the brother doesn’t like the guy,” Heidi continued. “Said he was very controlling of his sister.”

“Abusive?”

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