Falafel Jones - The Kewpie Killer by Falafel Jones Read Free Book Online

like someone wants you to back off. Any idea why?”
    “They think I know something about Finley’s death?”
    “Do you?”
    “If I do, I don’t know what it is.”
    “So what are you going to do?”
    “I have to find out what they think I know.”
    Robby smiled. “Need some help?”
    I felt relief for the first time that day. “I’d love it.”
    We clinked glasses and Robby said, “Tomorrow, let’s go see Brenda.”
    The rest of the evening, we talked about old friends and places I hadn’t thought about since starting college. It was fun and made me feel like I was really back home again.
    We finished off the meal with coffee. Robby had a double espresso. Although the Peanut Butter-Chocolate-Banana mousse screamed my name, I had only a cappuccino with skim milk.
    We decided to call it a night and Robby pulled up in front of my soon to be relinquished apartment. We got out of his car and walked up the stairs to my place where I stood with my back against my door and faced him. He raised his arm and leaned forward to kiss me goodnight but stopped, pointed and asked, “What’s that sticking out of your door?”

Chapter Five – The Loan Arranger
    During my first hour at work, I must have reread that note at least six times. It nagged at me ever since Robby saw it stuck into the opening around my door. I could dismiss the doll in the box and the knife in the trailer wall. Maybe the Kewpie was just a prank. Maybe the knife just missed the practice board.
    The note was different. It was in my door at my home. The sender knew where I lived. Someone wanted me to get that message. Maybe moving wasn’t such a bad idea after all. For the seventh time this morning, I read the note. “If you betray my secret, there will be dire consequences.”
    The language was strange for a threat. “Dire consequences” sounded melodramatic, it seemed odd to include a four-syllable word and for some reason I was surprised that there were no spelling or punctuation errors. “Keep quite or Die” would have been more ominous.
    When one of the reporters stage whispered, “Chickee, the cops,” I put the note in my bag, looked up and saw Officer Robby standing in front of me. A few of the other women in the office started to gather around. I heard one of the girls from Sales ask someone, “Is it Raquel’s birthday? I didn’t know. Is there a card going around? I didn’t get to sign it.”
    One of the other women said, “No, he’s a real cop. He’s not a stripper.”
    The Sales girl sighed in apparent disappointment, “Oh,” and the crowd dispersed.
    I got up and hugged Robby, “Hi.” He was handsome enough that I understood the confusion… and the disappointment.
    “You were going over that note again?”
    “Yeah. Too bad the prints were unreadable.”
    “So you’re trying to get extra meaning from the words?”
    “Sort of… ”
    “Just so you know. My dates don’t usually end at the Crime Lab.”
    “Really? I bet you could start one there. That blonde tech was all over you.”
    “The blonde?”
    “Yep, the one that kept calling me Andrea.”
    “Oh, her. You’re just annoyed because she couldn’t remember your name. Hmm, you think I should ask her out?”
    I slapped him on his side.
    He stood quiet for a moment, and then asked, “You up to doing this today? We could do it another time.”
    “No, I’ll be fine, thanks. Just stand there and flex your muscles for a while I gather my things. I want to make the other women jealous for a little while longer.”
    Robby rubbed my arm and it felt good.
    I piled my things into my bag, took Robby by the bicep and said, “Let’s go.”
    We got into Robby’s patrol car and I asked, “Where’re we going?”
    “Wait and see.”
    We drove a while and pulled up in front of Morty’s Dry Cleaning Store. Robby got out and said, “Come on.”
    “You’re picking up your laundry?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You don’t need me to come in for that.”
    “You’re going to want