Page 67 of Scripted for Love and Poison
“You may be tipsy, but I think you’ve been spot on. It was the obvious first conclusion. Why didn’t we think about it before?”
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“For a woman who is supposed tonotbe involved in this case of yours,”Sol told Luke and Divya the following morning as they knocked on Travis Wise’s apartment door, “I sure am quite the hands-on collaborator.”
“And we both really appreciate it,” Divya said. “But we reckon Travis’d be more open if the ask came from you. As the whole thing could be?—”
“Potentially dangerous and triggering for him. Sure. I’m convinced coming from me, he’ll say yes, no questions asked.” Sol couldn’t avoid the sarcasm.
Travis opened the door a mere few seconds later wearing a two-piece pajama-like suit in dark-green silk.
“Oh my god, you look divine!” Sol told him the moment she saw him. She kissed him on both cheeks in a friendly gesture Luke knew she reserved for people she genuinely liked. And Luke couldn’t avoid smiling. The woman couldn’t resist a tasteful garment even if she had other, more pressing things on her mind. “Youneedto tell me where you got it.”
“This?” Travis said, absolutely pleased but with a tonethat feigned he was just wearing an old rag. “One of the vintage stores on Melrose.”
“Argh!” Sol protested with passion.
“Don’t tell me you don’t like vintage stores?” Travis said, and Luke thought the outcome of what they’d come to do there, and their success, depended on Sol’s answer to that very random question.
“Of course I do! I love vintage stores! But I’m hopelessly lost in them. Can’t ever find anything,” Sol said.
“Let’s make a date, and we can go together. I’ll help you sort through the mess,” Travis said, and Luke breathed out. He saw Divya also relaxing by his side. They both suspected their chances with Travis were good. “But let’s all get in. The kettle is already on.” Luke perked up. If Travis was using an actual kettle instead of the microwave this time, perhaps there was hope of the tea being steeped at the right temperature.
“This place is wonderful,” Sol said as they walked inside the open-concept living-dining room featuring herringbone wood floors, treetop views from a wall lined with windows, and a low-profile tuft-cushioned modular sofa. Perhaps it was because the first time Luke had been to Travis’s flat, Sol wasn’t there to notice its beauty, but he had missed many of its tasteful details then.
“I got it in the nineties, and it was a steal. Of course, back then it didn’t look like it. But now I would never be able to afford a two-bedroom in Westwood,” Travis explained, slightly frustrated. “But make yourselves comfortable. I’ll bring the tea.”
“Let me help you,” Luke managed to say.
But before he could follow Travis to the adjacent kitchen, Divya glared at him.Don’t you dare go telling him his brew is not right.Luke got the message and simply helpedTravis, bringing cups to the tea table in the living room. Sadly the whole “kettle on” comment had been a figure of speech, as the water had been once again warmed in the microwave.
He sat by Sol’s side on the sofa, dunked his tea bag in his lukewarm water resignedly, and was only happy because this time the tea was also being served with biscuits. He took one of the Oreo-like ones from a packet with Paul Newman’s face on it and once again had to marvel at the ability that place had to make everything Hollywood related.
“I’m afraid this isn’t exactly a social visit,” Sol started, sipping her own tea and seemingly unaware of the many sins Travis had committed in its making. Luke had long suspected that Sol wasn’t as discerning in her tea consumption as he was. Not that he had any desire to ever tell her. But he’d witnessed her drink the blandest of things since they’d left London.
Or perhaps that was what seasoned travelers were resigned to do: they just ate and drank anything.
“I imagined as much when you told me you weren’t coming alone but bringing the detectives in tow,” Travis said, his tone friendly, as usual.
“Well, the detectives have asked me to help them and ask you something. I didn’t want to say no to them because I really like them. But please feel free to tell me no,” Sol said.
“Why would I want to say no?” Travis said, his interest seemingly piqued.
“Because you’d be potentially dealing with a killer—and the person who poisoned you.”
···
“Luke, mate, we should take this,” Divya said as theyexited Travis’s apartment building half an hour later. Divya’s cell phone had started ringing. “It’s Moon,” she added, referring to the person she’d been dating for a few months and an employee at a streaming service that had brought them lucrative work in the past. “I think Meshflixx may have more work for us.”
“Can you take it?” Luke said, holding Sol’s gaze. He wasn’t pleased.
“He wants to tell me how I let him down,” Sol explained to Divya.
“Alright, I’m going to be in the car taking care of this.” She pointed to her buzzing mobile phone and then their car parked right in front. “You two can do all the rowing you need on the street, I guess.”
“Fancy a walk?” Luke asked Sol, making an active effort not to show all the wrath he was feeling.
“I mean, this area isn’t necessarily the most charming for a stroll. If we were just North of Wilshire, it gets a bit more pedestrian friendly?—”
