Page 17 of Hoodoo House
Charlie put the coffee on the small kitchen counter.
“I’d better…” Charlie started, pointing to the stairs. “Emails don’t answer themselves.”
He turned and Declan said “Charlie—”
“Yes,” Charlie said, spinning around.
“Thanks for the coffee.”
“Yeah. No problem.”
Charlie headed down to the office leaving Declan alone.Fuck.
As Charlie reached his desk the phone rang. He answered. “Declan Hunt Investigations, Charlie Watts speaking.”
“Yeah, ah, may I speak to Mr Hunt, please?”
“I’m afraid he’s not in the office at the moment. Perhaps I could help you. I’m Mr Hunt’s assistant.”
“Um…sure, I guess. Look, I was wondering if Mr Hunt could look into my case. It’s a rather personal matter. I think I might be in trouble.”
“I see. I’m very sorry to hear that. Why don’t I take down your contact information and I’ll have Mr Hunt get in touch with you when he comes in?”
“I’ve been told I can trust him. I just don’t know what I’ll do if…” Their voice started to crack.
Charlie said, “You’ve come to the right place. I assure you.” Charlie noted the name and phone number of the potential new client, finishing with, “I promise he’ll get back to you as soon as he can.”
As Charlie disconnected, he heard, “Once again, you are a life-saver.”
He turned. Declan was leaning out of his office doorway with his coffee in hand. He still wore nothing but his shorts, shoes and sweat. He hoisted his coffee cup.
Just remember,Charlie thought, business as usual.
“I just had a call from a Cody White. He wants to talk to you. Here’s his number.”
Charlie brought the message to Declan, who met him halfway. Declan took the piece of paper. Charlie stood less than a foot away from the detective. He took a deep breath in, trapping the scent of the man who, moments ago, had made him feel weak in the knees in spite of himself.
As Declan scanned the message, his cell phone buzzed. “Can you give Cody a call back and tell him I’ve been delayed and will get back to him as soon as I can. I have an important meeting I have to get to.”
“I don’t have anything in the office calendar. Did I miss something?” Charlie asked.
“No. I didn’t put it in the calendar. It’s personal,” Declan said.
“Oh. Okay,” Charlie said, trying not to sound hurt.
“I’m going to go take a shower. By the way, I’ve been thinking about that Yamada guy from the party the other night. There’s something not sitting right with me about his story. Could you write up anything you remember from our meeting and see if you can dig anything up on him? And while you’re at it, see what you can find out about Malcolm Tull.”
“Sure,” Charlie said.
“I’ll text you when I’m done and maybe we can grab a drink and you can fill me in. We can meet at Bar-None around five-thirty if that’s okay with you.”
“Sounds great.”
And maybe you can fill me in on your mysterious meeting that isn’t in your calendar.
Chapter Six
Charlie arrived at the bar right on time and looked for Declan, but he wasn’t there. Charlie watched Mickey the bartender drop off a couple of mixed drinks to a young couple at one of the window tables. He couldn’t help but smile. The pair appeared to be in their early twenties and were pawing at each other like two newlyweds.
