Page 74 of Head Over Feels
“Thatsounds stressful.”
“Yeah.”
Islid the plate in front of him, and he said, “Thanks.I’mnot sureI’meven hungry.”
“Trytasting everything at least.Itmight spark your appetite.Jasoncooked it all on the grill.”
“Okay.”Hepicked up the fork but just stared at his plate. “I’mmeeting her for coffee tomorrow morning.”
Ismiled, my worry easing. “That’sgreat,Malcolm.”
“Yeah.Shehas to be back inHoustonby early afternoon.Herhusband’s leaving on a work trip so she has to be there for the kids.”
“Maybeyou can have a longer visit sometime soon.”
Helooked up then. “Willyou go with me tomorrow?”
Iwent around the island so fastIalmost ran. “Ofcourse.”Ihugged him and he relaxed a little.
“Okay.Good.”
Isat down next to him, and he put a bite of food in his mouth.
* * *
Elliecould’ve beenMalcolm’stwin.Except, you know, without the beard.Andshe wasn’t nearly as gruff, personality-wise.Shewas almost the same height, which was very tall for a woman.Theyhad the same hazel eyes and strong noses and chins.Theirhair was the same dark brown,Ellie’sin a cute pixie cut.
AfterEllieandMalcolmhugged each other for several minutes on the sidewalk in front of the coffee shop, they finally broke apart andMalcolmintroduced me.
“I’mso happy to meet you!”Elliegushed.Sheturned toMalcolm. “Youtold me you’d been injured, but you didn’t tell me you were on crutches!”
Malcolmshrugged. “Iusually have a cane, butIlost it.Theseare backup.”
Wewent inside andIsentMalcolmandEllieto a booth whileIput our order in.ThenIlistened while they traded life stories.Malcolmdownplayed his former job at theFBI, and he told her he’d been shot in the leg “during a raid on a crime syndicate”.Hopefullyhe’d be more comfortable telling her the real story in the future.
Ilooked forward to meetingEllie’shusband and kids.Theysounded like a fun family.Ellielaughed as she describedDiegoaskingAugustif he’d watch football withDiegoandDanielnow that he was a guy.Augusthad said no and pretended to gag, soDanielhad tossed a pillow at him.Ithad ended up in an impromptu pillow fight and wrestling match.Ellietold usDanielwould never have initiated that sort of thing beforeAugust’stransition.
Around10am my phone rang.Foster.Ismiled atMalcolmandEllieasIunhurriedly excused myself to take the call.ButIrushed out the door, and my hand was shaking with tension whenIanswered.
Fostergot right to the point. “Felix, we’ve made an arrest,” he said.
“Oh,”Isaid faintly.Ihadn’t been expecting that so soon.Iwas almost dizzy with relief. “Whowas it?
“TrentDurand.”
“Trent?Noway.”Mymind struggled to accept what he’d said.Iwould never have peggedTrentas the culprit.
“I’mafraid so.Oneof your most recent glitter bombs contained traces of explosive residue consistent with the bomb that went off.Trent’sfingerprints were all over the package.Wealso found traces of glitter at the scene whereDonaldThorpewas killed, so we were able to get a warrant to searchTrent’shome.Wefound the murder weapon in his workroom.”
Icouldn’t believe it. “But, that doesn’t make any sense.Hetold me he was happy.Hehas his online business, and he andXavierare in love.Hetold me he wouldn’t have had any of that without me and the show.”
Fosterbarked out, “Whendid he say this to you?”
Idescribed running intoTrentat the apartment onThursdaywhen he was dropping off the flowers.
“Felix, we need to get those flowers and check them out.”
Ifelt ill.Fostermeant in case the flowers contained a bomb or something else that might hurt me. “Okay, um.”Iglanced through the window atMalcolm.Hewas eyeing me with concern.Ellieturned to look soIsmiled and waved before putting my back to them.
