More cop jargon, Raphael thought, wincing.
Kate didnt tell him that Shawna and Gabriel had become convinced that the Chihuahua waswell, some kind of an angel. Anyway, she finished quickly, getting back to McGaffney, when I went out there the first time, with the appetizers, McGaffney and Allegra were just sitting there talking. And when I took those plates back, I thought they might be getting, well, tipsy.
Tipsy, Raphael repeated. Another word he rarely heard in normal conversation.
Theyd gone through one bottle of the wine already. His glass was empty.
He didnt want to admit that her powers of observation were extraordinary. But she must have picked up on something in his expression. Kate shrugged.
Its my job. I keep trying to gauge how things are going, you know, to pick up on any little telltale signs. I still feel a little anxious about all this. Success isnt all that comfortable to me yet. Then, for the first time since he had met her, she smiled.
The reflex was crooked, a little self-deprecating. And it changed her face. He realized for the first time that there was usually something hard and determined about her jaw, and that it was part of what had been irritating him from the moment hed found her perched on Allegras back. But when she smiled, everything changed. There was a dimple at the left corner of her mouthjust one, without a matching counterpart. She looked wistful and soft.
He cleared his throat. He didnt want her to have a dimple. And if she did, then he damned well didnt want to notice it. What about the next time you went to the dining room?
That would have been to take them their salads. And another bottle of wine.
And after that?
I went back to get their salad plates. She was gone that time.
Gone where?
He said to the little girls room. Her expression told what she thought of that particular euphemism. I took her saladhe wanted to keep his. I went back to the kitchen to finish up with the steaks, and She trailed off.
The dog, Raphael remembered. Then when shed finally gone back after that, McGaffney had been dead. So he was killed between the time you went to pick up the salad plates and the time you took the entrees out.
Kate was subdued. Yes.
If we could nail down just how many minutes passed
We can. I served the steaks medium to medium rare, at McGaffneys request. They were two inches thick. Twelve and a half minutes in the broiler for the first set, then the dog did her thing, and it took me twelve and a half minutes to do two more steaks.
Twenty-five minutes. He didnt know whether to be irritated with her again or amazed.
Actually, less than that. I do most courses ten minutes apart. So I went to get the salad plates when the first steaks had been in the broiler for two and a half minutes.
Raphael stared at her, figuring out the time of death. Shed called 911 at eight-eighteen. Therefore, McGaffney had still been alive, by her calculations, at approximately seven fifty-five. Give or take thirty seconds.
She was a very dangerous woman to have left alive.
Other than that, I was in the kitchen the whole time, she said. I try to remain as unobtrusive as possible. So all I can tell you for sure is that the killer didnt come in through the back door. She frowned. Are we done?
For the first time, Raphael saw violet smudges beneath her eyes. He was reasonably sure they hadnt been there half an hour ago. Were done. For now.
Good. She looked at the mantel clock as she got up and headed for the kitchen. I have to get up in five hours.
He didnt like the sound of that. In fact, it sounded a lot like an alarm was going to go off somewhere in this apartment at roughly six oclock in the morning. Raphael followed her with his eyes. What for?
I work at the diner from seven to eleven. The breakfast rush.
Not tomorrow, you dont.
He should have recognized the warning signs by now. The way her shoulder blades shifted. The way she turned to him and stared.
I cant call in on a morning shift. They wont have time to get anyone to replace me.
Raphael came off the love seat. What if you were sick?
I dont get sick.
What, youre Superwoman?
She sniffed again. No. Im just reliable.
Well, get over it.
She took a step toward him. I will not. I have a life!
Not for the foreseeable future, you dont.
I work!
So do I. He was getting angry again. You make fifteen hundred dollars a week! What the hell do you need a diner job for?
I dont make fifteen hundred a week! I told you, there are costs. Ive got employees to pay!
That still left her clearing probably eight or nine hundred a week. This was insane.
And Ive got an obligation, she added.
You work a second job you dont need because of an obligation?
Yes. No. Well, not entirely.
She made that sound again. It wasnt a sniff, not exactly. It was more a sharp intake of breath.
I work two jobs to save money for my restaurant. And it galled her to say so, to let him in onwell, her dream. But his expression turned thoughtful, and he surprised her.
Honey, my guess is that you might be better off just doing what youre doing.