Ella Barrick - Quickstep to Murder

“You know,” she said, “they send total mastectomy patients home after only twenty-four hours nowadays. Can you imagine them slicing off your boobs and whisking you out the door in less than a day? It happened to my friend Renee’s mother when she had breast cancer.”

Okay, breast cancer trumped my bullet wound. I quit moaning, even to myself, and said a quick prayer of thanks that Indrebo hadn’t killed or crippled me. I flexed my arm carefully and it hurt, but I thought maybe I’d still be able to compete at Blackpool.

I felt markedly better after a good night’s sleep and was trying a few cautious squats and lunges-exercises that didn’t involve my arm-waiting for my coffee to brew, when the doorbell rang. An involuntary stab of fear took my breath for half a second, but then I remembered that Ruben Indrebo was safely parked behind bars and strode to the door. A peep out the window showed me Tav Acosta’s tall, handsome form.

Happiness fizzed through me and I pulled the door wide. “I thought you were flying back to Argentina today.”

“You did not think I would leave without saying good-bye?” He looked down at me with a lazy smile.

“I didn’t know.” Why did I feel so flustered? Maybe it was an aftereffect of the drugs from yesterday. “Oh, thank you for saving my life yesterday.”

“You had done most of the saving before I got here,” he said. “May I come in?”

“Oh, yes.” I stood back to let him enter, automatically heading to the kitchen and coffee.

“You are injured. I will get it,” Tav said, competently pulling mugs from the cupboard and filling them. I sat and watched him, enjoying the sight of him working-sort of-in my kitchen. Rafe never-I stopped the thought before it fully formed. I was determined to quit comparing the two men.

Tav brought my coffee to the table and then propped himself against the counter. “So you have solved the case and identified my brother’s murderer.”

“Well, I maybe half solved it,” I said. “The solving gets easier when someone points a gun at you and confesses.”

A half smile slanted across Tav’s face. “Do not sell yourself short. If you had not kept after it, the police would have pinned it on Victoria Bazán and Indrebo would be free to kill again.” I buried my nose in my coffee cup, uncomfortable with his praise.

“So,” he said in a brisker tone, “about the studio.”

I raised my eyes anxiously to his. “Yes?” Please don’t say you’re selling to Solange. Please, please, please .

“I have a proposition for you. You must promise to be honest in your response.”

“Oookay,” I said doubtfully. My knuckles whitened on the mug’s handle.

“I have made arrangements to expand my export business to this area; I have signed agreements with several outlets-stores-in D.C., Virginia, and Pennsylvania. I need to be here to oversee the business for a while, maybe as much as a year. Since I will be here anyway, I thought I would hold on to Rafe’s share of the studio for now and run it with you.”

“As partners?” Doubt and hope collided in me.

He nodded and stepped closer until he was standing right in front of me. “I have a degree in accounting and I am a whiz with numbers and organization. I could not help noticing when I went through the paperwork that you were-”

“Hopeless with numbers.” I laughed weakly. “But you don’t dance.”

“True. But I am a fast learner.” He smiled and reached his hand out. “Know where I can find a good teacher?”

I put my hand in his, feeling a tingle that had nothing to do with my wound as his fingers closed over mine. I stood and we were a mere breath apart. “As a matter of fact, I do.”

I raised our clasped hands to dance position and put my left hand carefully on his shoulder. My stitches protested, but I ignored them. His left arm automatically encircled my waist and I leaned into his strength and warmth and steadiness. He smiled down at me, gaze slipping to my lips, and my voice trembled a little as I said, “Lesson number one: the frame.”

“Now?” he said, looking a little uneasy. “Here? There’s no music.”

“Oh, there’s always music.” I squeezed his hand and we began to dance.