“I would have likely come back to check on you if you hadn’t shown up so quickly.”
He turned serious. “Louise is cunning. She may want your help, but I suspect it’s only one part of her grand scheme.”
“I need to talk to Lula at some point, and preferably without Bingham. I think he’s directing Lula on how to deal with her mother.”
“Agreed. But if so, Bingham won’t appreciate you trying to circumvent him.”
“True.”
“One worry at a time,” he said. “Let’s head to Ewing. We can go to lunch after we meet with Thelma.”
“Always thinking about food,” I teased.
“Do you know how hard it was to watch you hand that ungrateful bitch that breakfast sandwich?”
Grinning, I shook my head at him, but then the seriousness of the situation sunk in. By helping me, Marco was putting his potential promotion to detective in jeopardy.
“Marco.” I searched his eyes. “Maybe it’s time for you to no longer be involved with what I’m doing.”
“No fucking way,” he growled, his eyes dark and dangerous.
“You could lose your job, Marco.”
“You could lose your life, Carly. That’s more important than employment. I can get another job. I can’t get another you.”
I slowly nodded. “Okay. I’ll keep you involved.”
I kept the for now to myself. A huge part of Marco’s self-worth centered on following and defending the rules. But I was making him break them like they were dry spaghetti.
He leaned over and gave me a lingering kiss. “Let’s head to Ewing. I’ll follow you.”
I glanced down at his scruffy shirt. “You were planning to change, right?”
I gave him a hopeful look.
He laughed. “And so it’s begun, huh? You’re planning to start pickin’ out my wardrobe?”
“Not hardly. I like the way you dress.” I grinned. “Usually.”
“Got it,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. He opened the car door, then turned back to face me, his expression turning pensive. “I could get used to this.”
“Me too,” I said softly. And that scared me half to death.
Chapter Eleven
Roberta and Gladys were in the front room of the nursing home when Marco and I walked in. I always brought them a new puzzle when I visited, so I kept several boxes in the trunk of my car, picking a new one or two up whenever I was at the Dollar General. Today’s 750-piece offering was tucked under my arm.
Roberta, who was nearly always cranky, usually demanded the new puzzle before saying hello, but she had a wide smile on her face today.
“Well, hello, hot stuff,” she said as we walked toward them, her gaze taking Marco in.
“Roberta!” I protested with a laugh.
“What? I still have my eyesight,” she said unapologetically.
“I’m not sure I appreciate you objectifying my girlfriend,” Marco teased.
Gladys burst out laughing. “You walked right into that one, Roberta.”
“Wait.” Roberta held her hand up like a stop sign. “Did you just call her your girlfriend?”
“Sure did,” he said, reaching for my hand and linking our fingers. “She’s officially off the market.”
“’Bout damn time,” Roberta grumbled, back to her usual disagreeable self.
“We brought you a new puzzle,” I said as I held it out.
Roberta waved me off, all eyes on Marco. “So when and how did this happen?”
“The puzzle has sailboats,” I said in a lame attempt to steer the conversation away from us.
Gladys snatched it from me.
“I bought her a telescope and showed her the stars,” Marco said in a humble tone. “She took in their beauty for a few minutes, then realized they couldn’t compare to me.” He swept his hands from his head to his sides.
I laughed. It was easy to forget that Marco had a reputation as a ladies’ man. He was so different around me.
But Gladys and Roberta were eating it up and begging for more.
I cleared my throat. “While it’s true he bought a telescope, it was showing me the Milky Way that did the trick.”
That wasn’t entirely true. That telescope was the most romantic surprise I’d ever gotten, though it wasn’t the gesture itself but what it represented that had finally pushed me over the edge. It showed the lengths he’d go to in order to make me happy. He’d proven then, like he’d done countless other times, how selfless he could be, and it had given me the strength to fall into his arms.
“As much as I’d love to give you ladies the long version of the story,” Marco said with his boyish grin, “Carly and I have business to attend to with Miss Thelma.”
“What does she have that we don’t?” Roberta asked.
“A lot less sass,” Marco said with a wink.
Both women cackled as Marco wrapped his hand around mine and led me down the hall toward Thelma’s room, walking with a slight limp. One of them catcalled, and Marco flashed me a grin. He leaned over and kissed me, and we heard cheers rise up behind us.
“You did that on purpose,” I teased.
“Guilty as charged.” But his smile faded when we stopped outside of Thelma’s room.
I knocked on the partially open door, and she called out, “It’s open.”
I glanced back at Marco and dropped his hand, then walked in, leaving him to trail in behind me.
“Good morning, Miss Thelma,” I said. “I’m surprised you’re not out in your flower garden.” She’d created a flower garden in the nursing home’s courtyard, and she was out there more often than not these days.
“My knee was bothering me, so I’m takin’ a day off,” she said, her gaze lifting to Marco. “What a pleasant surprise to see you with Carly.”
“Carly has a few questions to ask you, ma’am, so I thought I’d come along.”
Her smile faded slightly. “I see. I hadn’t heard of a recent murder.” An apologetic look filled her eyes. “I’m sorry, Carly. That was thoughtless of me. Your friend was run off the road just a little over a week ago.”
“Jerry,” I said, pushing past the lump in my throat.
She nodded, then turned her attention to Marco. “Any news about who did it?”
“No, ma’am, but it’s an active investigation. We’re still lookin’.”
She nodded again, then gestured to the empty chair at the end of the bed. “I’ve only got one chair to sit on.”
“Don’t you worry about that,” Marco said. “I’ll let Carly ask most of the questions. I’ll just stand to the side and listen.” He flashed me a smile. I was still worried about his leg, but I doubted he’d take no for an answer, so I took a seat in the chair and pulled out my notebook. Marco leaned his shoulder into the wall, facing us both.
“Miss Thelma,” I said, opening my notebook to a blank page. “I’m going to tell you something, but I need you to keep it to yourself for now.”
“Of course,” she said, linking her hands in her lap. “I never share our discussions with anyone else.”