Marissa put her hands over her face. She suddenly felt very tired and alone against the world. “You people don’t get it. First you arrest someone because you think gays don’t like women and now you personally are going after Dan because he’s in the way.”

  “The police always suspect the spouse first, although Bandarra has been rattling off the evidence against you to anyone who will listen. I’m not sure if he’s just doing it to get my goat, but it’s working. He can’t get past the alibis though. The rest he has all worked out. How you invited Tiffany to your office, killed her, left clues to the pranks to throw off the police, signed your name in blood to double bluff us. You get the idea. I’ve been trying to show him that Dan had a great motive.”

  “Please don’t make another mistake in this case. Go slowly. Take some time.” Marissa thought about her words and how well they applied to their relationship as well, but she couldn’t bring herself to say them to Gavin in that context. He would take slow as stop.

  “Well, I don’t want to fight tonight, especially tonight.”

  Marissa lifted her face from her hands and looked at him. “Why?”

  “I was hoping to give you your Valentine’s Day present today. I know it’s a little ahead of schedule, but I thought you’d like it with all you’ve been through lately.” He palmed a small velvet box.

  Marissa swallowed hard. This was not the way to make her life easier. She could see it becoming infinitely more difficult in about thirty seconds. She couldn’t believe that he could have gone this far without warning. “Gavin, tell me this isn’t what I think it is.” She looked over her shoulder towards the kitchen. Josh was still picking at his food, but Dan had appeared to take a sudden interest in the conversation in the living room. Marissa turned around to face Gavin again, still holding the little jewelry box.

  “Go ahead and open it. I think you’ll like it.” He pushed it towards her chest.

  “Doubtful, “ Marissa muttered under her breath. She opened the box. A diamond solitaire. At least half a carat. Beautifully faceted. She knew it cost more than he could afford. Another encouragement from the retail establishment that money spent equaled love earned. The stone looked as murky as her thoughts in the moonlight that lit the room.

  “Do you like it?” Gavin plucked the ring from the box and pushed it over Marissa’s knuckle. He held her hand up in front of her face in case she'd missed its significance.

  “Gavin, I can’t believe you’re doing this.”

  “Doing what?” The look on the officer’s face showed that he didn’t understand her feelings.

  “You’re proposing to me in front of my ex-husband. You’ve taken what's supposed to be a special moment for me and made it into what’s convenient for you. That isn’t a relationship.” Marissa felt a tear roll down her cheek. She wasn’t sure if she was crying because of his insensitivity, her emotions that ran close to the surface these days, or embarrassment about the teasing she’d receive from Dan when she returned to the table. Any one of them would have brought tears at this point, but all three at once guaranteed a flood.

  “I thought you’d be happy. I thought you wanted this.” Gavin’s face showed his disappointment, his mouth drooped at the corners. His hooded eyes held a sadness in them that Marissa hadn’t seen before. His pupils seemed to have a milky film over them.

  “How would you know what I want? You never asked me what I want. I’d like to take a relationship slow. Let it build at its own pace. Have some time together in private. I don’t want to be proposed to after three months nor do I want to be proposed to in front of other people. Especially not Dan.” She rubbed a palm across her cheek. Gavin hadn’t understood her or even tried. Where was a man who knew what she wanted and wanted to give it to her? A man who understood the difficulties of single parenthood, the joy of making it on your own, and the loneliness of both. Did he exist? Or did they all behave this way?

  Dan cleared his throat from behind her.

  “Shut up!” Marissa and Gavin said in unison. Gavin smiled first although traces of melancholy lingered in his eyes. Marissa allowed herself a grin. She still had her back to Dan so he couldn't see her amusement.

  “We need to have a long talk, but not here and not now. Is that okay?” Marissa took Gavin's arm and led him back to the door. She pushed the ring box into his palm so Dan wouldn’t see.

  The officer nodded and started to button his overcoat. “I’ll keep you informed about the case. It’s all right if I still call you, isn’t it?”

  “Gavin, you can still call and come by when you want. I’m just not ready to marry you or anyone else yet. We can still go out although you need to start being honest with me about everything.”

  He narrowed his eyes and stuffed his hands deep into his pockets. “What’s that supposed to mean? I’m not cheating on you.”

  “No, but Bonnie told me that you bought Paradise at our store the day of Tiffany’s murder. You never told me that.”

  He shrugged, but the overcoat's shoulders stayed up. “I didn’t think it was important. I told Bandarra I’d pick some up for him to give Ellen.”

  “You still could have bought it from me, used my discount.”

  “He didn’t want to buy it from you or use your discount. He figured that you’d tell Ellen before I got it back to the station. I just forgot about it, what with all that happened later.”

  “I’m glad he didn’t ask because then I didn’t have to turn him down.” Marissa watched him from the corner of her eye, trying to determine if he was lying. They hadn’t been going out long enough for her to know all the little signs that betrayed a lover. Another reason to stay single. Just yesterday she wondered if he could have killed Tiffany. She couldn’t say yes until she answered those questions with certainty.

  He leaned over and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. Marissa winced at the thought of Dan seeing this moment. It wasn’t his to participate in. He’d given up the right of being in her life when he got involved with someone else. Marissa pushed Gavin out the door and shivered as she started back to the kitchen.

  She sat down at the table and tried to ignore Dan's attempts to make eye contact. Finally, she looked up. “Just go ahead and get it over with. Say what you want and be done with it.”

  Dan’s eyes opened wide and he batted his lashes at her. “I was just going to say that love is grand.”

  Marissa sighed and leaned heavily her cheek on one arm. “This is exactly why I don’t like getting involved with someone. Life gets too complicated. You have to consider their feelings and worry about what they think. It’s maddening.”

  Dan shrugged. “The only other option is to spend the rest of your life by yourself. I can’t see you wanting to do that. With the right person, Marissa, love is great.”

  Marissa stood up. “I don’t want to get into this now because I’ll want to know who was the right person in your life, me, Tiffany, or a bimbo-to-be-named-later. I don’t want to go through all that pain again. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Love stinks.” She walked out of the room and left Dan to clean up the kitchen. Served him right. He could take care of Joshua for the night. She threw herself down on the bed and counted murderers to get to sleep.

  Chapter 16

  The next day, Marissa noticed Shawn just inside the mall entrance of Kantor’s. His face, pale and drawn under the blonde hair he’d spiked today, broke into a grin when he saw her.

  “Hey, girl. What’s been going on here?” The Texas drawl was pronounced this morning.

  Marissa gave him a quick hug and looked him over. He looked like he’d lost weight in jail; his dress pants hung from his hips cinched by a belt.

  “I’m glad to see you. I’ve been worried about you. Are you okay?”

  Shawn drew a deep breath. “It’s not the place to make new friends, I’ll tell you that.”

  “I’ve heard that you haven’t had a problem with that since you and Eddie broke up.” Marissa arched an eyebrow and waited. Marissa had thought she’d known Shawn, but she had learned volumes about him in the past twenty-four hours. She assumed that at least some of it was true. It left her with doubts over his story and his alibi.

  “Just a rumor. Nothing more. Can we go get a cup of coffee somewhere?” Shawn scanned the store. Marissa wondered if the experience had made him wary of the people around him.

  They found the coffee machine on the second floor tucked back behind Marissa’s temporary office. She shoved two quarters into the slot and waited. A familiar aroma wafted up from the paper cup in the dispenser. Marissa snatched the cup out of the machine and held it to her nose. Sticking two fingers into the liquid, she touched them to the side of Shawn’s neck.

  He pulled back from her. “What are you doing?”

  “Obsession.”

  Shawn furrowed his brow. “Well, it’s a little weird to slap coffee on me, but I don't know that I’d call it obsessive.”

  Marissa shook her head and tilted her cup so the clear liquid was visible. “Calvin Klein’s Obsession. Someone loaded up the machine with cologne.”

  Shawn dropped his money back into his pocket. “Well, that’s not going to help me wake up. Let’s hit the mall.”

  “I wouldn’t mind getting out of here for a bit. This place is getting to me.”

  The pair walked to Java Experience, which had recently opened in the mall. Marissa lamented the old days when malls seemed to have a more unique flavor to them. Today it seemed as if they all had a single global designer. Cincinnati had been slow to welcome gourmet coffee shops as it did with most things. The malls had started to make up for its reticence in the past few months. A few empty tables with ice cream parlor chairs sat in the center of the mall outside of the tiny store. Marissa savored the sharp scent of the beans. She began to feel more awake just inhaling the aroma. She selected a French vanilla blend and took the large paper cup out to one of the cafe tables. Shawn followed her in a minute.

  “I have a little present for you back at the store. I thought you’d know what to do with it.” He turned the chair around so that the back faced the table and sat down.

  Marissa raised an eyebrow. “A little something you picked up for me in jail?”

  “Actually, something that could have kept me there for a long time. Tiffany’s purse.”

  Marissa spilled coffee on the table as she tried to set her cup down. She shook off her hand as she sat down. “What? How did you get that?”

  Shawn took a deep breath. “You’re not going to believe this, but I found it in my office after the murder. I went back to get an aspirin and there was Tiffany’s purse in my desk drawer.”

  “How did you know it was hers? Was her wallet still in it?”

  Shawn shook his head. “The wallet and keys were missing. I found a credit card receipt and a few letters in one of the compartments. Not to mention a plane ticket. One way to Los Angeles, city of angels.”

  “So why didn’t the police find it? Ellen said they searched your office after they arrested you.”

  Shawn grinned. “Because I hid it where no one would ever look. It’s now an accessory for one of the mannequins in the juniors department.”

  Laughing, Marissa patted her friend’s hand. “So when was this plane supposed to leave? She and Dan sauntering out of my life forever — I’m not sure if that would be their fantasy or mine.”

  He held up his index finger. “I didn’t say two tickets, just one, set to leave seven days before their wedding date. And it had been addressed to the Wongs’ house, not Dan’s. I wouldn’t be surprised if the lucky groom-to-be doesn’t know a thing about her travel plans. Eddie didn’t.”

  “But why?”

  He shrugged. “Who can tell why those Wongs do what they do? Eddie threw away a perfectly wonderful man. Why not La Wong as well?”

  Marissa rolled her eyes. “That means Dan would have been back sniffing around even without the murder.”

  “So what does your boyfriend have to say? What token minority is he picking on this week?” Shawn gulped a mouthful of the hot liquid and Marissa wondered how he could swallow without burning his mouth.

  She sipped slowly, imagining the caffeine flowing into her veins so she could face another day at Kantor’s. “Probably scanning my alibi with a makeup mirror by now. They accused Dan of being involved.”

  Shawn looked over her shoulder. “Why? He’s straight, isn't he?”

  “That’s the reason. If he weren’t straight, he wouldn’t be a threat.”

  Shawn rolled his eyes. “So what else have the Keystones come up with?”

  “Not much. They’re still looking for some logical connection at Kantor’s between Tiffany and Billy, but they haven’t found anyone who knew both of them. They don’t think there’s a killer out there who just hates fragrance models.”

  Shawn snickered. “The Kantor’s Ripper or some such nonsense?”

  Marissa nodded as she sipped again. “I’ve tried to talk to them about it, but Gavin won’t listen to me.”

  Shawn hugged the cup so tight that the lid popped off. “Boys like their theories. You know they even accused Prince Eddy, the Duke of Clarence, of being the Ripper once.”

  “Who?” Marissa looked at the designer. Maybe he had spent too much time in solitary.

  “Prince Albert, Duke of Clarence, George VII’s son, Queen Victoria’s grandson. One of the millions of Jack the Ripper theories is that the prince was the killer.”

  “Why?”

  “Mostly because royal scandals sell books. There's not a lot to the theory. Supposedly he died of brain problems brought on by a venereal disease, so he killed prostitutes.”

  Marissa almost had to spit her coffee back in the cup. She took time to swallow and then smiled. “That’s almost as good as the police case against you.”

  “Well, being accused isn’t the only thing the Duke and I had in common. He had this dreamy tutor that he supposedly fell in love with during college and then dumped. So there you have another case of a gay man being accused of murder because we all hate women.”

  “So what happened to the tutor?” She had composed herself enough to listen. Normally Marissa didn’t care about these stories of the royal family, but Shawn’s intensity about the matter enthralled her. Plus she needed any ideas about the murders she could get. So far asking questions had netted her a mad boyfriend, a resident ex-husband, and Bandarra reviewing her alibi.

  “He came to a bad end. I think his name was James Stephen, but anyway he got hit in the head and went insane, making him alternate suspect number one.”

  “What would he have to gain by killing women?”

  Shawn held up his palms. “He was crazy. Maybe to embarrass Eddy. Hurt him like he hurt James. There was some story about him hating prostitutes. Who knows? It's just all too depressing that in one hundred and ten years the public attitude of gays killing women because of their sexual preference hasn’t changed.”

  “But you’re free now; that’s what counts.” She reached out and squeezed his hand. It was warm from the cup of coffee.

  “Until they disprove my alibi and decide to arrest me again.” The look on Shawn's face puzzled her. He looked defiant, but his eyes still darted around the mall searching the patrons. Would Bandarra have put a tail on him? Or her?

  “Can they?”

  He smiled. “I’m not going to tell a cop’s girlfriend that kind of information. You could be spying on me.”

  Marissa replayed last night in her mind for the tenth time and pressed her eyes tightly shut. Gavin’s offer of marriage in front of Dan. What a nightmare. “I’m not sure I’m a cop’s girlfriend anymore. We’re having a difference of opinion about some things.”

  “I hope it wasn’t because of me. I’d hate to think that a little thing like my arrest came between you. Trust me, I know what it’s like to have someone come between you.” His eyes squinted as he spoke. Marissa wondered if he was capable of killing Tiffany. How far would Shawn go to keep Eddie?

  “That’s not the problem at all, so don’t worry. It’s marriage that’s getting me down.”

  “The institution in general or something more specific?”

  Marissa closed her eyes for a second. “It’s much more specific, me and Gavin.”

  “You want to and he doesn’t, right?”

  Marissa pushed her cup aside. “Now who’s stereotyping? It’s the other way around.”

  Shawn made an exaggerated “O” with his mouth and put his hand over it. “Sorry. My mistake.”

  “I’m afraid it’s more Gavin's than yours. He dropped by last night to propose and tell me that Dan is still the main suspect in the murders.”

  “So what's Dan's motive? You ruined him on the entire marriage experience?”

  Despite the hot drink, Marissa shivered. “More like the other way around. Gavin is pushing way too fast for this and he acts like if Dan’s out of the way, I’ll be more willing to say yes.”

  Shawn stretched his arms out across the table and tilted his head back to look at the skylights. “I understand that feeling. At first, after Tiffany died, I thought Eddie and I could just pick up where we left off before the blackmail, but it’s not like that. I think the trust has been damaged and I’m not sure we can fix it. I mean, we’re trying to connect again. It’s just hard when he doesn’t have the courage to tell his own parents about me. He’d rather switch than fight.”

  “Don’t worry too much. Boyfriends and husbands have a bad habit of coming back like boomerangs.” Marissa furrowed her brow. “So you knew about the blackmail?”

  “Yup, that’s one of the things that made the case so damning against me.” Shawn looked over her shoulders, still not meeting her eyes. Marissa wondered if he was hiding something now, like how he had hid the relationship with Tiffany’s brother. “I knew all about it and couldn’t do a thing to stop it.”

  “Did Eddie tell you about it when he dumped you?”

 

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