Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

I walked into Oddities just as Rose called me her boyfriend and told the guy to leave. It sounded like we were heading to prom and here I was, without a corsage to give to Rose. Lian was standing to the side, looking confused and concerned. You and me both, Lian.

I faced the stranger. "I'm the boyfriend. Go away."

He smiled at me and I disliked him instinctively. First, he wasn't leaving. Second, he was one of those guys who was so good-looking, it made the rest of us men feel like slobs. Plus, I wasn't having my best hair day, what with the fall in the river. Not that I ever have a good hair day. It's just hair, after all. You cut it when it interferes with aiming your weapon. Third, he was smiling in the face of my displeasure. That was really irritating.

And fourth, yes, more, he was dressed like he'd stepped out of one of those magazines for men who cared about what they looked like.

He stuck out his hand. "Rowan Masters."

Lian spoke up. "He's an investigative journalist. Doing a follow-up book on serial killers who haven't been caught. He says he thinks there might be one in Rocky Start."

"I didn't say any of that," Rowan said amiably.

I shook his hand. "Max Reddy. Serial killers in Rocky Start, huh?" I tried to look skeptical, and he took a step back. Evidently, I only have one look and it's not inviting. I figured I looked like a guy stepping out of a magazine like Soldier of Fortune after a really rough couple of months in the bush hunting blood diamond smugglers. Which I'd done, so.

Rowan shook his head. "I didn't say there was a serial killer in Rocky Start. Nor that I'm writing a follow-up book. I'm just casting a wide net for information. It's what I do when I'm researching. The story comes to me eventually. Sometimes in surprising ways."

You stay here too long, you're in for some surprises . "Then why exactly are you here?

"It's strange the places I end up," he said.

I shook my head. "You cast a wide net, you never know what you might end up catching."

"That's the point," he said.

"My point is that I'm interested in how you ended up here," I said, pointing down for more specificity. "In Rose's shop. Right now." I thought that was pretty specific.

"Just asking some questions," he said.

"He was asking me about Ozzie," Rose said.

"Why?" I said to him.

"I understand he recently passed away," Rowan said.

I'd reluctantly sat in on some CIA "renditions" of terrorists, and this guy rivaled the best in terms of avoiding answering a question. I wondered how he'd do if we applied some pressure.

"We really don't need anybody starting rumors there are serial killers in Rocky Start," I said. "It's a quiet little town. Peaceful. It should stay that way." I smiled at him to soften the words, but I've been told my smile isn't one of my best features.

He frowned at me, apparently missing the smile. "What happened to your face?"

"I went for a swim earlier today."

"Outside?" he asked, looking like he was truly interested.

"Yes. Good for the heart. Fresh air and all that." And now he'd flipped the conversation and was asking me questions. Time to get to the point. "There's nothing for you here."

"That's unfriendly," he said, not losing that damn smile.

"I'm an unfriendly guy," I said, smiling back.

He took another step back, a tactical retreat, but I didn't think it was a strategic one. He wasn't going away any time soon. "I understand completely. Thank you." He smiled at Rose. "Very nice to meet you, Rose. I'll be at the coffee shop next door about three this afternoon if you decide you'd like to talk." I must have growled or something because he turned to Lian. "Equally nice to meet you, Ms. Kwan, and that invitation certainly extends to you, too." He looked at me and nodded and then he turned and walked out.

No invitation for me.

"What the hell?" I said to Rose.

"This is not good," Rose said, watching him go.

"He's got a nice butt," Lian noted as she also watched him go. "But you're right, it's not good." She didn't sound too convincing on that. She turned to me. "Rose told me that Melissa Merriweather was killed last night."

I nodded. "Strange he's in town the day after."

Lian wasn't buying it, probably distracted by his nice butt. "He'd be pretty dumb to walk in here talking about serial killers after killing Melissa. And he's famous. Famous people aren't serial killers."

"It would be a great cover for action," I said.

"Doubtful," Lian objected.

"Or he's a criminal mastermind trying to distract us," I said.

"He's got me distracted," Lian said. "How was Melissa killed?"

"Sid says poison," I replied. "Cyanide in a mix. The weird thing is she was posed in the one of those caskets in the window of her shop."

Rose was shocked. "What?"

I took my phone out and brought up one of the pictures. "Like this."

"Where's her jacket?" Rose asked as she and Lian peered at the image.

"No clue." I put my phone away.

Then Lian finally noticed my face and hair. "What happened to you?"

"I was in the river."

"Why?" Lian asked.

Really, is there a good answer to that question? "Somebody cut Reggie's rope bridge."

Lian frowned. "That's a really dumb way to go after somebody."

"Have you been in the river lately?" I said.

"I know, it's really fast," she said, apologizing with a smile.

"And there are rocks, " I said. Which was close to a whine, and I realized the hit on my head had affected me a lot more than I'd realized. I sneezed.

"Okay, that's enough." Rose went to the front door and pulled the blind down again. "You're going upstairs and taking a hot shower and then I'll look at the places you got hurt and do first aid."

I thought about adding some places I might have gotten hurt, depending on her idea of first aid. I know she'd been frosty earlier, but Rose was naturally a very warm woman. And I'd been injured, found Melissa, called Herc, talked to Sid Quill, and then gotten rid of an annoying journalist for her?—

I saw the annoying journalist down the street, looking into the window of Melissa's funeral home. Nothing to see there, buddy. He kept moving, looking in all the windows, and I really hoped there weren't any more posed murders in the shops on State Street.

"Upstairs," Rose said to me, and I started to follow her, but Lian put her hand on my arm.

"Call Herc," she said. "He's evil but he knows things."

"I just talked to Herc. I'm Herc-ed out for the day. For the week. For the year. We ignore this Rowan guy. He'll go away." Even I didn't believe that, but I had a lot on my plate at the moment, along with a really bad headache.

"Rowan Masters is hard to ignore," Lian said. "Google him and he's all over the net. But he must have secrets, everybody does. The Ferrells might be able to help with that." She looked at Rose. "What did you get?"

Rose pulled a wallet from her apron pocket and held it up.

When I'd first arrived in Rocky Start, Rose had lifted my wallet not once, not twice, but three times. So if she stole this guy's wallet twice more, I was going to get upset.

"That's what you were doing when you were flirting with him," Lian said. "I thought you were muscling in on my move."

"Flirting?" Now I was upset.

" Working ." Rose opened the wallet and slid out several credit cards.

"Oh, that's so cute," Lian said, pointing at a credit card that had a picture of a yellow lab on it.

"Stock photo," I said.

"Could be his dog," Lian argued. "He's the kind of guy who'd have a dog like that."

"Are you throwing shade at Maggs?" I asked.

"Maggs is a very nice dog," Lian said in her best yes-your-honor-I-will-admit-that-into-evidence-if-you-insist voice.

"Anything?" I asked Rose.

She shook her head as she rifled through the wallet. "Cards. Some cash. No hotel room key. No business card, which is kind of strange. Driver's license. New York City address."

"Let me see," Lian said. She looked at the address. "Oh. That's a pretty swanky neighborhood in Manhattan." She looked wistful for the big city.

"Swanky?" I said. I'd been to New York City several times. Never to the swanky parts, apparently.

Rose stuffed everything back in and closed it.

"I'll give it back to him," Lian volunteered. "I'll tell him it fell out in the store."

Rose and I stared at her.

"What?" Lian demanded.

"I'm going to change my socks," I said.

"You're going upstairs to take a shower," Rose said.

"I have a head injury," I said with all the dignity I could fake. "I shouldn't be alone in a shower, I could pass out and . . ."

"Drown?" Rose said.

Lian took the wallet out of Rose's hands. "You two are annoying. I'm going to go find Rowan Masters." She frowned. "You know, he never really said what brought him to Rocky Start, but he was very interested. People don't talk about us. More than once."

"You noticed?" I said, perhaps with a dash too much sarcasm. "Word gets out what he's doing, there are going to be some real killers looking for him."

Lian shook her head. "No one here would go after him. He's too famous. It would bring unwanted attention."

"He is unwanted attention," I pointed out. "We're sitting on dynamite and he's poking around with a lit match."

"I'll take care of him," Lian said and headed out with his wallet.

I exchanged a glance with Rose, wondering what exactly Lian meant by that. When she didn't say anything, I said, "So about dangerous showers."

"Come upstairs, Reddy," she said, heading for the staircase to her apartment. "You smell like the river and you look like screaming death, but I will protect you from dangerous showers."

She took off her apron, which meant she was getting serious, and I was right behind her up the stairs.

I needed warmth and first aid, and I was pretty sure I was about to get it.