We both moved to the window. The balcony outside was barely wide enough to stand on, and a nasty fall would send you sailing into heavy traffic. Anxiety moved through my friend’s eyes as she met my gaze and nodded. If I could have thought of any other way, I surely would have grabbed it, but we had no choice.

  I opened the large window and looked down. Big mistake. I gulped and looked at Celeste. She nodded. We stepped outside on the balcony. I wondered what the point of it was, anyway. It was a teeny-tiny thing, meaning that a person was always only inches from the drop-off to the street. Thankfully, there was a railing, although a thin and flimsy one. We were only on the third floor, which could have been a lot worse, but it could have been better too.

  At the far end of the balcony, I saw a fire escape. Okay, that was good. We could make our escape there. Celeste saw it too, and we began moving toward it. Trying to take even breaths, I repeated to myself, “Don’t look down, don’t look down.” Or at least that’s what the grown-up version of me said. The foolish child in me wanted just a little peek again. The grown-up won—for now.

  With Celeste behind me, I slowly inched my way along with my back against the wall. To get my mind off the distance between me and the ground, I turned my thoughts to Marge. Did she manage to hide somewhere? I surely hoped she did.

  Up ahead, I noticed we would have to pass three windows on our way to safety—three chances to be spotted. I hoped the persons inside those rooms were unobservant types or had their noses stuck in stacks of legal mumbo jumbo.

  When I got to the first window, I turned my neck to peek in while keeping out of sight. No one seemed to be inside the office room, so at least there was that. I gave Celeste a thumbs-up. One down, two to go.

  The wind picked up about then—exactly what we needed. The noise competed with the sound of traffic whizzing by at about the spot I’d land if I were to fall. Since I was the queen of tripping over absolutely nothing, this was really, really not the best place for me to be. I sent out a silent plea—to fate or whoever—to get me down from there. If I made it down okay, I would not complain again about my nice life on the ground. No more complaints about my brother! No longer would I grumble when my mother’s awful music blasted me awake. I would just appreciate the fact that I was in a nice, soft bed with a solid floor beneath me. Okay, I fibbed a little, but this seemed like a time to make promises in exchange for…you know…not dying.

  Celeste and I were inching forward, when some movement near the window closest to the fire escape stairs cut into my thoughts. I startled, grabbling on to the thin railing for support. I thought my heart might thump out of my chest and go tumbling down into the traffic. I took a deep breath to calm myself and looked up. Up ahead, I saw a hand grabbing at the windowsill as one leg and then two legs appeared on the balcony with us.

  What the…? Surely these attorneys did not just climb out here to breathe in some fresh air. Then I saw a pink and jangly bracelet that I recognized. Ah-ha. Mystery solved. Our mystery companion straightened up, morphing into Marge. She looked as shocked to see us as we were to discover her, but there was no time to explain. Marge discovered the fire escape near her and moved in that direction.

  I came to the second window, and once again, carefully peeped in. It appeared to be the men’s room—with, thankfully, no men. I signaled “okay” to Celeste, aware that gesturing while maintaining balance could be one thing too many for a klutz like me.

  As I very slowly eased past window number two, a man walked out of a stall, zipping up his pants. Catching sight of me, he yelped. Understandable, I guess. I was two feet from his face. Still, that yelp could have sent me tumbling.

  I closed my eyes and breathed. Both this poor man and I had just received a shock. Sheepishly, I smiled and waved. He stared at me, confused. Then he shrugged and wiggled his hand in a wave.

  I continued to inch my way toward the stairs, where Marge was already waiting. With our escape route getting closer, I allowed myself to look down at the street. This was making me dizzy. Not only that, but there were two women looking up and pointing at us.

  Great. Just what we needed. An audience.

  Nothing to see here. Please move on.

  Arriving at window number three, where Marge had come out, I peeked in. Just as expected, this was the waiting room. And it was empty. For one final time, I signaled to Celeste that we were good to go. Then just before I stepped forward, I saw movement in the hall just outside the open door of the waiting room. It was Alex, walking at a fast clip, with the receptionist and two other officers in tow. That was a close call. They were probably hurrying to Gossard’s office, and I assumed the receptionist informed Alex of the three suspicious visitors. We needed to get out of here fast.

  I stopped breathing and waited three seconds until they hopefully walked by, then I peeked in through the window again. Coast was clear. It was now or never.

  At full speed, Celeste and I sprinted toward the stairs, and honestly, I didn’t even care about the height anymore. I was more scared of getting caught. By my boyfriend. I mentally shook my head, knowing how unbelievably dopey that sounded.

  We gathered Marge, and we eagerly scrambled down the stairs—until we almost got to the bottom. There was a lot of space between the place the ladder ended and the sidewalk. In the middle of that space was a silver Ford Ranger belonging to—guess who? With the street parking full, he must have figured it was faster to just create a spot of his very own. You could do that, I supposed, if you were a cop. Which was good for us, as a matter of fact. If Alex had pulled into the parking garage like a normal person, he would have recognized our car. Plus now, we wouldn’t have to make that scary drop. We could crawl onto his hood, which was quite an ironic way to escape the owner of that very truck.

  True to form, Marge landed like a ninja. Also true to form, I lost my footing and landed on my back in the bed of the truck, bumping my head in the process. I felt for my glasses. Check. Somehow, they were still magically in place. I winced and grabbed my bruised hip as Celeste dropped down. She lost her balance on the hood, taking down a windshield wiper with her as she slid to the ground.

  We ran for the parking garage, with Celeste still dangling the wiper from one hand. I barely registered the small crowd that had gathered to watch the impromptu show. I just wanted to be gone. Once we reached the car, Marge sped out of the parking space at warp speed before I’d even had a chance to shut my door.

  No one spoke on the drive back; we were just trying to breathe, keeping our eyes peeled for any cop cars that might come screeching up behind us—and for a certain truck.

  Back at the office, I collapsed onto the couch while Marge moved to the coffeepot.

  “Decaf, please,” I told her. I was already too amped up.

  Finally, our terror had subsided to the point that we could articulate words.

  “So what happened to you back there?” Celeste put a cigarette up to her lips as she glanced at Marge.

  Marge took a seat on one of the chairs. “I was just sitting in the room waiting, when I heard the elevator doors open and people stepping into the lobby,” Marge said. “I looked up from my fish coloring app and was trying to pay attention to the voices and—”

  “Fish coloring what?” Celeste looked at her, exhausted.

  “Fish coloring app.” Marge’s face brightened up a little. “On your cell phone. You can sit and color everywhere you go.”

  Celeste rubbed the bridge of her nose, and I could tell her patience was wearing thin. I, on the other hand, found it rather amusing.

  “Okay, go on,” I told Marge before Celeste lost it.

  “As I was saying,” Marge continued, “there were voices in the lobby, and I recognized one of them belonging to Alex. He couldn’t see me in the waiting room, but I took a little peek. Alex was holding up his badge and talking to the receptionist. There were two officers behind him. Alex told her about how Gossard was deceased. He said it was important that they get into his office and have a look around. A ‘suspicious death’ he called it. And I was thinking, 'Holy heck. What do we do now?'”

  She leaned forward in her chair. “The receptionist started sobbing when she heard Gossard died. I found it somewhat exaggerated to cry like that when your boss dies. That was all-out bawling she did. Even Alex cringed a little.”

  Celeste and I exchanged glances. We knew why the girl couldn’t help herself.

  Marge told us that the receptionist had then explained to Alex that Gossard had three visitors who had just come in. Quite a coincidence, she said. It was an appointment he’d made without her knowledge, which was not at all the norm. These three women, she went on to say, were in the waiting room, which was Marge’s cue to scram. With no other way out, she did what she had to.

  “Guess we should be glad they had that balcony,” Celeste said.

  I patted my hip. “Guess so.”

  “What happened with you two?” Marge got up to pour some coffee. “After all of that, I hope you found something good.”

  We explained everything we’d learned, and Celeste pulled up her photos.

  “This Tiffany Rogers is one person who could tell us a whole lot,” Marge said as she took the phone.

  “She could indeed,” Celeste said, “if we could get the girl to talk.”

  “That’s a great big if.” I looked toward the table with the coffeepot and creamer, hoping to spot any doughnuts left. I’d worked up an appetite.

  “What was Gossard doing with a diagram of our client’s property?” Marge asked.

  “The very property he snuck onto and got shot.” Celeste blew out a ring of smoke as she pondered what we’d learned.

  Marge was lost in thought as well. “Not to speak ill of the dead, but I think this guy flew a little bit too close to the cuckoo’s nest.” She took a sip of coffee. “It wasn’t the smartest move to keep all that evidence against himself right there on his computer even with a password to protect the file.”

  “A pretty lousy password,” Celeste said.

  I stretched out on the love seat and was lying on my back. “I suppose he didn’t think a bunch of people would be snooping in his office,” I said to the others. Some of these felon types never seemed to really try when it came to the concept of not leaving any traces. Then they turn up dead, and the cops are all up in their business. Big surprise. Well, I suppose they weren’t surprised, being dead and all, but you get the point.

  Speaking of telltale clues, our worries were not over—not by any means. “You do know Alex will come looking for us at any moment now,” I said. “He’ll know exactly who those ‘three cousins’ were.” He’d probably also heard about the acrobatic show outside the building, and he wouldn’t be pleased. My romantic dinner was looking…less romantic.

  “You’re right,” Celeste said. “We haven’t figured out what to say to Alex.”

  Marge waved her hand in dismissal. “That’s easy. We’ll just deny it.”

  “You know he’s not going to buy that, right?” I asked.

  Marge shrugged.

  “Perfect,” I said, sighing. “I also wonder what kind of information he found.” I sat up to take a sip of coffee. “It must be nice to have all the time you need and not have to sneak around.” We were at a disadvantage.

  We all thought about that, and a few moments passed in silence.

  Celeste shifted in her seat. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see—”

  But she didn’t get to finish her sentence. The front door of our office flew open and we all startled. Sporting a disapproving look, he stared us down. Alex.

  I scrambled to sit up straight, almost choking on my coffee. I saw Celeste’s arm move behind her to cover up the windshield wiper with her jacket. Why did she take that thing with her?

  Alex looked from one to the other. This was not a friendly visit.

  Marge tried to act nonchalant. “Hey, Alex. What’s up?”

  “Where have you been this morning?” he asked us warily.

  Celeste busily tapped something into the laptop that was open on her desk. “Going over notes about some future business plans. Busy day, I’ll tell ya.”

  “I’m just doing a little tidying.” Marge seemed to produce a dusting cloth from midair. I’d never seen her dust.

  “Coffee break.” I smiled. “May I pour you a cup?” I hated lying to him. I wished he had some other job—any job but this. I guess he knew the sentiment only too good.

  He gave us a hard stare. “I’m asking you one more time. Where have you been this morning?”

  Marge shrugged. “Where else would we tidy up, go over notes, and make a pot of coffee? We were here, of course.”

  He sighed and crossed his arms. “I was downtown on an assignment…you know…doing my job, and I was told three women matching your description asked for a certain someone with connections to a crime.” He ran his hand through his hair. “You know very well which case I’m talking about, although Bert already informed you that we’ll take things from here.”

  “Yes, and we wish you the best of luck with that one,” Marge said, who had also found a broom and was sweeping all around him. “We know you’ll get your man!”

  “I also heard from dispatch about some crazy antics on a balcony downtown—at that same building I was at, I suspect.” He glanced at me. “You know you have some balance issues, and then you go out on balconies?” The pitch of his voice grew higher at the end of that sentence. “Plus it’s not your place to get involved with this, now.”

  I wanted to assure him that, at least for the most part, I had done just fine, but I couldn’t say anything without giving us away.

  Marge looked up with a surprised look on her face. “I hope those women were okay. What a foolish thing to do.”

  “Foolish and uncalled for,” Alex told us sternly. “Especially when your involvement in this matter ended at the moment the body was discovered.”

  Alex was a good cop. At some point, he would notice we were still on the case. We couldn’t lie to him about that forever. I glanced at Celeste, who seemed to have come to the same conclusion.

  I cleared my throat. “Alex, we have to tell you something.”

  A moment of silence passed, and Alex took a deep breath. “Do I need to sit down for it?”

  I looked at him sheepishly. “My guess is that you don’t. You should’ve gotten used to it by now.”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose, like he felt a headache coming on. “Okay, lay it on me.”

  “It’s not just your case, Alex,” I told him quietly.

  “It’s our case as well,” Marge said.

  “I don’t understand,” Alex said.

  We explained how McMillan had approached us and given us the gig.

  A silence filled the room as he looked down at the floor. “You know what? I do need to sit down.”

  He took Marge’s chair and let his head hang over the backrest.

  “Would you like some coffee?” Marge asked him.

  “Sure, why the hell not?” Alex said, defeated. “A bourbon would be nice, but that will have to wait.”

  As Marge headed to the coffeepot, I could tell that Alex was trying hard to rein his dismay.

  “Why would Grumpy Man McMillan go and hire a private team when he’s got the Springston PD on the case?” he asked, taking a sip of coffee. “That man is a nut.”

  Suddenly I felt surprisingly defensive on the old man’s behalf. “He is unusual,” I mused, “but there are also times when I kind of get his point.” I was met with a blank stare from Alex.

  “You’re kidding?” he asked.

  “Look,” I said, “I know this is awkward, but once again, we’re doing the same job. And I believe things are going to be okay.” I gave him a weak smile. “We are both, after all, on the same side of law and order.”

  “When was it ever okay, Charlie?”

  I thought about it. “We’ll make it okay this time around.” I smiled sheepishly.

  He smiled weakly. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

  “I can’t think of a better way to go,” I said and kissed him on the cheek.

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” Celeste mumbled and moved to the coffeepot.

  “I think it’s cute,” Marge said, giggling.

  “So you were sniffing around downtown?” Alex asked. “The way three cousins might?”

  “Nope, wasn’t us,” Marge said. “I hate to drive downtown. Stop signs and stoplights. Way too many stops.”

  “You know we’re not cousins.” I reached to adjust my glasses. “Just coworkers—and best friends.”

  “It was a super boring day.” Celeste returned to her laptop. “Forms to fill out, ho-hum stuff.”

  I amused myself by watching Alex trying hard not to crack a smile.

  He finished his coffee and stood up from his chair. “I need to get going now. Have to grab a bite to eat before getting back on it.”

  I stood up as well and gave him a shy smile. “Speaking of a bite to eat, I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

  Alex looked confused.

  “Dinner? At your place?”

  He winced. “Ah, is that tomorrow?”

  “Well…yeah.”

  “Charlie, I’m so sorry,” Alex pleaded. “It totally slipped my mind. I’m swamped with work right now, with this new murder case and tons of paperwork.” He looked at me sheepishly. “Can we take a rain check? I feel like a louse.”

  I found myself caught between two feelings. I was trying hard to tamp down the wave of disappointment that I felt and at the same time, I knew this was just how it went when your dream guy was a cop. These felons he went up against weren’t exactly nine-to-fivers, and work would periodically play havoc with our plans.

  “That’s okay,” I said and pointed at him. “But you better make it up to me.”

  He kissed me on the cheek. “Thank you for that, Charlie. And I know you’re tired of hearing it, but please be careful.”

  I nodded. “I will. You too.”

  He got to the door and stopped short, letting out a sigh. I followed his gaze and saw his truck parked outside, across from the office.

 

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