Page 75 of Head Over Feels
“Ican meet you at my apartment in thirty minutes.”IknewElliehad to leave pretty soon, so hopefully that would be enough time.
“Good.”
“Wait,”Isaid. “DidTrentconfess?Didhe say why?”
“No, he didn’t.”Foster’stone was regretful. “He’swaiting for his lawyer now.Inthe meantime, we’re searching for where he made the bomb, and hopefully we’ll get more evidence from that.”
Wehung up andIstared blindly at the sidewalk.Mymood alternated between disbelief and grief.Iwas dying to talk it through withMalcolm, butIdidn’t want to ruin his reunion withEllie.
Aftera few deep breaths,Ipasted whatIhoped was a carefree, confident smile on my face and went back inside.
“Everythingokay?”Ellieasked.
“Absolutely,”Itold her in my best call center customer service voice.Malcolmglanced at me sharply but didn’t say anything.
Ellieglanced at her watch and moaned about having to leave so soon.Irefrained from shoutingHurryup!at her butIreally wanted to.
MalcolmandIwalked her to her car.Shegave me a quick hug and then gaveMalcolma much longer one.
“We’llget together soon,” he told her. “I’llsee whenIcan arrange a long weekend soFelixandIcan visit you inHouston.”
Ismiled enthusiastically and gripped my hands together behind my back so tightIwas cutting off the blood circulation.
Wewatched asElliegot into her car, thenMalcolmandIwalked casually to theBuickasElliepulled out of her parking space. “Holdon,”Malcolmmuttered. “Justanother minute.”Ishould’ve known he’d realize something was up.
Oncewe were in the car andElliehad driven away,Malcolmturned to face me. “Tellme what’s wrong.”
Iclutched the hand he offered me. “Fostercalled.TheyarrestedTrentfor the bomb andDonaldThorpe’smurder.”
Malcolm’shead jerked back like he’d been slapped. “Trent?Theguy with the flowers at your apartment?”
“Yeah.”ItoldMalcolmwhatFosterhad said about the clues that led them toTrent.
“Huh.”
“FostersaidTrenthasn’t confessed.Isit wrong thatIwant him to be innocent?”
Malcolmpulled me across the seats and put his arms around me. “It’shuman nature.ButIagreeTrentseemed sincerely happy to see you when we met him.”
“Iknow.Idon’t understand how he could’ve acted like that but also killedDonand planted a bomb to try to kill me.”Istraightened. “Dangit, what time is it?ItoldFosterI’dmeet him at the apartment because he wanted to check out the flowersTrentgave me.”
Malcolmgrunted. “Let’sgo.Weneed to get gas first though.”
Duringthe driveMalcolm, bless him, left me alone with my thoughts.Itwas a beautiful day, and riding in theBuickwith the top down should’ve been glorious.ButIcouldn’t appreciate it.
Afterstopping for gas, whichMalcolmwaved away my attempts to pay for, we made it to the apartment.DetectivePalmer—Amy—was waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs with a guyIrecognized as one of the crime scene techs fromTuesday.Wow, had it only beenTuesday?
Amywas carryingMalcolm’scane and my messenger bag.Iwas grateful to have my laptop back, andMalcolmall but tripped over himself throwing the crutches into theBuick’strunk.
“I’msorry about your friend,” she told me.
“Doyou think he really did it?”
Amypatted me on the arm. “Wehaven’t found where he made the bomb yet, but everything else lines up.Ithink you can count yourself as out of danger.”
Ihoped one dayI’dbe able to wrap my mind aroundTrentwanting to kill me.Maybewhen they figured out his motive.
Weheaded up the stairs,Malcolmrelying heavily on his cane and the handrail for support.I’dtried to get him to wait below.Itwasn’t likeIwouldn’t be safe.Trentwas in jail, andIwas escorted byBentOak’sfinest.Malcolmjust gave me alookand went back to gritting his teeth and focusing on his progress.
