Софи Райан - A Whisker Оf Trouble

“Yes, it does,” I said as I locked the door. “It proves that my cat is smarter than you—”

“Careful,” he warned, his dark eyes gleaming. “You don’t exactly have a lot of options for dinner at the moment.”

“—might expect,” I finished.

Nick laughed. “Good save!”

His SUV was parked at the curb. “Is it okay if we drive?” he asked.

I nodded. “Sure. Are you on call?”

He shook his head. “No. But I may need to stop at the station later to talk to Michelle.”

“About the Quinn case?” I asked as I climbed in.

“I can’t tell you that,” he said. He shut my door and walked around the front of the vehicle.

“Sure you can,” I said when he opened the driver’s-side door. “You just don’t want to because you’re afraid whatever you say to me I’ll share with your mother and Rose.”

“And how is the investigation going for the state’s newest licensed private investigator and his merry band of senior citizens?” Nick countered.

“I can’t tell you that,” I said, deadpan.

He laughed and slid behind the wheel. “Truce?” he asked.

I nodded. “All right. No talking about your case.”

“Tell me about your cooking lessons,” Nick said as he pulled away from the curb.

“New rule,” I said. “No talking about your case or my cooking lessons.”

“Oh, c’mon,” Nick said, darting a quick look in my direction. “You must have learned something by now. When are you going to make dinner for me?”

I settled back against the seat with a smile. “When you lace up a pair of sneakers and come running with me.”

Nick didn’t run. He played hockey. He biked. He swam. I’d never seen him run. Jess claimed it was because he looked as if he were being attacked by a swarm of bees when he ran. For all I knew, she was right.

“New rule,” Nick said after a moment, his eyes fixed on the road. “No talking about my case, your cooking or anybody running.”

I laughed. “Deal,” I said.

I didn’t ask Nick where we were going for supper. I was sure we were headed for The Black Bear, so I wasn’t surprised when he turned onto the street by the waterfront.

“You’re not going to find a parking spot down here on a Friday night,” I said.

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, almost as if Nick had some sort of magical powers, a car pulled away from the curb just two doorways from the pub. “Good, clean living,” he said, backing smoothly and expertly into the spot.

The pub was busy, no surprise, since it was a Friday night. Sam was talking to a server by the bar. He looked up and smiled when he caught sight of us, heading across the floor to meet us. “Hey, kiddo,” he said, wrapping me in a bear hug.

Sam was tall and wiry with salt-and-pepper hair and a close-cropped beard. He’d been my father’s best friend and even though I’d eventually gained a wonderful dad in my stepfather, Sam had played a fatherly role in my life, too. He was always ready to listen and he never said, “I told you so,” no matter how badly I messed up.

He pulled out of the hug and offered his hand to Nick. “We missed you last night,” he said.

“I missed being here,” Nick said. I noticed that he didn’t offer an explanation for where he’d been.

“Liam didn’t say you were meeting him,” Sam said, looking toward the back corner of the restaurant.

“Liam’s here?” I said.

Sam looked a little surprised. “Yeah. They got here about five minutes ago.”

They. Nick looked at me. He’d caught the word as well. It probably meant my brother was using his considerable charm on some business associates.

I looked around Sam and caught sight of Liam in one of the back booths. He was leaning forward, one arm propped on the edge of the table, having an animated conversation with someone I couldn’t see seated opposite him. I knew that body language. He was definitely charming someone, probably a woman.

“We’re just going to say hi,” I said to Sam.

“Sure,” he said, giving me a look that could best be described as amused.

Nick and I started across the restaurant. I gestured toward Liam, who was so focused on his companion that he hadn’t noticed us yet. She—because I knew it had to be a woman he was with—must have said something funny, because Liam was laughing.

I looked up at Nick over my shoulder. “You know what he’s doing, don’t you?” I said.

He grinned back at me. “Of course I know what he’s doing. Who do you think taught him how to do it?”

I laughed. “I’m not even going to dignify that with a snappy comeback.”

One eyebrow went up. “In other words, I’ve left you speechless.”

I poked him gently in the ribs with my elbow.

Just as we got to the table Liam finally looked up and noticed us. “Hey, what are you doing here?” he said, getting to his feet and sliding out of the booth. He wrapped Nick in an enormous bear hug, clapping him on the back the way guys did. “It’s good to see you, man.”

“You, too,” Nick said.

Liam turned to me.

“We just came for supper,” I said. “I called you. Twice.”

He shook his head and put a hand to his pocket. “I’m sorry. I turned my phone off when my meeting started and then I forgot to turn it back on.”

“How long are you going to be here?” Nick asked.

Liam smiled and pulled a hand over his neck. “Looks like a couple of weeks.”

“That’s great,” Nick said. “We’re still playing shinny and I could probably scare up a pair of skates for you.”

My brother grimaced. “I haven’t been on skates since last winter. It would probably be pretty ugly.”

“You pretty much just described the entire team,” Nick said with a shrug.

“You’re in the middle of something,” I said, smiling at Liam. “We’re going to get a table. I’ll see you later, right?”

“He’s not in the middle of anything,” a voice said behind me.

I turned slowly around to see Jess, leaning out of the booth.

“What are you doing here?” I said. Liam was having dinner with Jess? She hadn’t mentioned it early when she stopped by the shop to look at the wooden church pew. Liam was turning the charm on Jess ? They’d known each other since she and I became roommates in college. As Avery sometimes said, What the frack?

“In about thirty seconds, eating mac and cheese,” she said, leaning sideways and pointing in the direction of a waiter approaching carrying an oversize-serving tray on each arm.

“We’ll let you get to it,” Nick said, taking my arm. He looked at Liam. “Give me a call when you have a minute.”

“Absolutely,” Liam said. He put an arm around my shoulders for a moment and kissed the side of my head. “I’ll probably see you at the house later.”

I nodded. “Sure.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Jess said to me, turning to give the waiter her own megawatt smile.

Nick looked around, spotted Sam and pointed questioningly at a table near the middle of the room. Sam nodded and Nick led me toward it.

I took off my jacket and hung it on the back of a chair, using the opportunity to look back at Liam and Jess. “Is she feeding him?” I asked.

Nick picked up my chair and moved it around the table so my back would be toward their booth. “We don’t care,” he said, enunciating each word carefully.

I made a face at him and sat down, taking the menu a waiter had just brought over.

“Thank you,” Nick said to the young man. “We’re going to need a few minutes.”

“I don’t care that Liam is having dinner with Jess,” I said. “It’s just that he’s not her type and she’s not his.”

Nick pulled out his chair, sat down and opened the menu the waiter had left at his plate. “The clams and chips look good,” he said.