Trouble Comes Knocking (Entangled Embrace) by Mary Duncanson Read Free Book Online

ended saying she wouldn’t be back. No ‘I quit,’ no exit interview, no goin’ away party, or anything.” Natalie paused to take a bite, catching a drop of honey moments before it dripped onto her chest. “Anyway, she introduced Clive and me at her annual Halloween party one year, and we’ve been Twinkies ever since.”
    “Twinkies, huh? That’s cool. So you went to her party every year?”
    Natalie finished her meal and tossed her garbage in the trash on our way out the door. “Naw. I’d never gone before. Never wanted to. She’d been so insistent, and boy am I glad.” She smiled widely. “Imagine, someday I’ll get to be Mrs. Clive Brewster.”
    I’d yet to meet Clive and certainly couldn’t judge him before I checked him out; still, I had a sinking feeling. A party she’d never been to with a coworker she didn’t spend much time with, and she happens to meet her soul mate who doesn’t want to settle down until things are “done.” Plus, the now-absent Diana worked my job only a month before me. The dinner had been wonderful but left me with so many more questions than answers.

    I agreed to meet Detective Reyes for coffee the next morning before work. At seven o’clock I walked into the Jumping Bean, a small coffeehouse off Magnolia in the Hospital District, and ordered a latte and a muffin. Then I sat at a table in the back and took a few minutes to go over what I’d discovered yesterday…approximately zilch.
    I’d decided the night before that if Diana and Clive were involved, they’d excluded Natalie from their plot. She didn’t seem the type. She’d told me about the orphans she’d been helping in Nigeria. How she’d received an e-mail requesting her assistance and just couldn’t turn it down. I thought about cluing her in on what those e-mails really were, but she seemed so happy and I didn’t want to take that away from her. Much too sweet and trusting. Which is probably why they’d picked her. For what, I still hadn’t figured out, but the whole story of how they’d met came across a little hinky.
    Detective Reyes showed up at seven fifteen on the dot dressed in navy slacks and a white shirt, wearing a bold blue tie. He dressed as impeccably as he had every other time I’d seen him, and an odd twinge scraped at my belly as he ordered his coffee and flirted with the barista, a girl around my age with blond hair and freckles. I frowned as I watched them linger a few moments too long.
    “Good morning,” I said in the most civil tone I could muster when he finally came to sit down.
    “You look like you didn’t sleep well.”
    “I slept fine.”
    “Huh.”
    I took a sip of my pumpkin spiced latte and forced a smile. Didn’t sleep well, my ass. The man came to talk shop and instead gets all flirty with the barista? It made no sense why I felt so territorial, but I did. “So anything new with the investigation, Detective?”
    “You can call me Eli.”
    “Not going for professional today, eh?”
    He smiled casually and leaned back in his chair. “We’re colleagues, in a way. Feels a little strange having you call me detective.”
    Colleagues. I liked the sound of that. Despite all possible reasoning, he appeared to be accepting me, brain craziness and all.
    “I mean, we’re not actually colleagues, but I’d still like you to call me Eli. Do you mind, Lucy?” He leaned in when he said the last part and placed his hand on mine.
    I pulled back my hand as if it burned. Was he flirting with me, too? I couldn’t figure it out. He’d acted so gruff when I first met him, then so argumentative at the house. This is the thing I hated about my ability. It worked great for things I didn’t need to know, but when it came to simple human language, like whether a guy was flirting with me or not, I was clueless.
    In Eli’s case I decided it best to cut to the chase.
    “Since we are colleagues, you should know I’m in a relationship.”
    “Okay.”
    “Sort of. John. The security