He walked cautiously through the house, avoiding walking on the remains of broken items strewn about. Checking to see if anything else had been taken, he was startled when the phone rang, breaking the silence. It was Nik, calling to confirm the plans later that night. Adelmo told he would be there, and briefly he thought twice about telling Nik about the break-in before saying.
“Hey Nik, my front door was open when I got home.”
“Ya? And?”
“They trashed the place.”
“Anything missing?”
Adelmo paused, thinking about the odd pictures. They had appeared as if out of thin air, and now they had disappeared the same way. He was starting to wonder if they’d ever existed at all.
“I didn't notice anything,” Adelmo answered.
“I’ll send a unit over,” Nik replied.
“That’s all right, Nik, don’t worry…”
“Nonsense. They’ll be there within the hour. Just sit tight.”
Adelmo was too tired to argue about it. “All right, fine,” he said, and hung up.
He’d gone from murder suspect to crime victim in nothing flat and still wasn't sure he could trust his old friend not to arrest him tonight at the restaurant.
To his surprise, Nik showed up with the investigative unit, which made Adelmo a little more nervous. Nik was higher up than investigating burglaries, and Adelmo couldn't help but think he was still a little suspicious.
The fact that nothing was missing made him even more so.
“Burglars don’t break in just to trash the place. They break in to take something.”
“I know that,” Adelmo said.
“You have no idea what they were looking for?”
“No. I told you, I have no idea,” Adelmo said, trying to appear irritated and innocent, instead of evasive.
“Think, Del.”
Adelmo was really worried now. Nik obviously thought he was hiding something.
“Maybe they thought I had something valuable.”
Nik just looked at him for a long moment, and then seemed to make a decision.
“All right, fine,” he said. “You’re probably right.” He smiled tiredly. “I’m sorry, Del. This murder case has me on edge. It doesn't help that my best friend is mixed up in it, somehow.”
“Hey…”
“Through no fault of his own, I’m sure.”
“Thank you.”
This was more like it. Nik seemed to have his sense of humor back.
Nik looked at his watch.
“Why don’t we head over to the restaurant?”
Adelmo nodded.
“That’s fine, but I need to go by the shop.”
“I’ll meet you there in an hour,” Nik said.
Adelmo drove over to the bookstore, arriving just as Lana was locking up.
“Any messages?” Adelmo asked. He was hoping the wolfman had come by, but he still didn't want to risk showing too much interest. Lana was already worried about him, he could tell, and if she thought he was in any kind of danger from the guy, he knew she might call the police or something. He didn't want to scare the guy off before he found out what he knew.
“The only message was from a guy at the police lab. He said he found something interesting,” Lana answered.
Adelmo couldn't hide his excitement, and grabbed the keys right out of her hand, trying to unlock the door to go inside and use the phone to call the lab.
“He left for the day. He said to call him tomorrow.”
Adelmo stopped and relocked the door. Lana looked at him strangely.
“Must be pretty important,” was all she said, obviously hoping he’d elaborate.
Adelmo didn't bite. “No big deal.”
He was a little upset that the scientist didn't leave a way to reach him. He was frustrated, but didn't feel he had much choice but to wait until tomorrow. As Lana was leaving, she asked Adelmo if she could expect him in tomorrow. She looked up at him with a smile in her eyes, hinting she wanted to see him.
“Maybe. Not sure,” he said.
As Lana left the shop she waved goodbye, she couldn't help but blurt out, “Hope to see you tomorrow!”
She drove off, feeling a little down. She had been giving Adelmo subtle hints that she cared for him for a long time, and he just didn't seem to be getting it. She needed to step up her game. She would have to think about what she should do because she didn't want to throw herself at him.
Adelmo was wrapped up in other things, he waved absently and went on his way. He headed over to the restaurant to meet Nik.
When he pulled into the restaurant parking lot, he realized that Nik hadn't showed up yet. It was a small lot, but there were several open spaces and his car was not in any of them. Adelmo walked into the restaurant, and a waitress with a bubbly personality asked how many people were going to be dining with him.
“Just two,” Adelmo said, looking around the room, “Nik Minkah's meeting me here.”
“I'll keep an eye out for him,” she said. Nik was a regular at the restaurant, and everybody knew who he was.
She led him to a table and brought him a cup of coffee while he waited.
He opened the newspaper he brought to read while he waited, and immediately saw an article about the murders. He read anxiously to see if the paper had any new information, but there was nothing.
Adelmo knew more than the police were releasing to the papers, apparently.
Nik finally showed up and sat down across from Adelmo and the waitress walked over and asked Nik if he'd like a cup of coffee.
Nik nodded and winked at her.
She blushed and scurried away.
“What’s that about? You got a thing for the waitress?” Adelmo asked.
Nik laughed.
“No, but she has a little crush on me, so I like getting a reaction out of her.”
“You're a mean son of a bitch sometimes, you know that?” Adelmo laughed. It felt good to have something normal to talk about with Nik that wasn't related to the murders or any of the other strange goings-on from the past few days.
“So true, Del,” Nik said, grinning and looking at the menu.
“So what'd you want to talk to me about?” Adelmo asked. He was immediately sorry he did, because he saw Nik's attitude change back to his semi-official tone from earlier in the day.
“Why don’t you tell me, Del?”
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