Okay, I admit it. I have imagined Detective Juarez in my bedroom before. Just not quite like this. And certainly not looking this pissed off.

                He stood here now with two other cops who were busy taking pictures and searching my apartment for any more unpleasant surprises.

                While seated on the couch in the living room long numb from shock, I watched as he strode toward me, purpose and anger present on his face. He stopped in front of me opening his mouth slightly, then thought better of it.

                He was wearing yet another of the many cop faces of Manny Juarez. This one was scary mad with a slim layer of concern buried underneath. The face he used when talking to generally harmless yet bluntly defiant citizens. The face I’ve dubbed the I’m-going-to-mediphorically-kick-your-ass-if-you-don’t-do-what-I-say face. He looked like he wanted to give me a spanking; like he was my father or something and he’d just caught the neighbor’s son sneaking out of my bedroom. That’s not a good face.

                “Why can’t you just-didn’t I say-“He merely sighed. “I don’t need this now. I’ve got everyone on my ass, hounding me to solve this thing. I can’t babysit you right now.”

                “I don’t need to be babysat.” I said boldly.

                “Sure you don’t.” He said, his voice all sarcasm. “It’s perfectly normal for you to receive threatening messages and run around town like some vigilante trying to solve murders and catch the bad guys. And don’t think I don’t know about your little high speed chase the other day.”

                “How’d you find out?”

                “I have my sources and besides, it’s not like you’re the master of subtlety. The whole damn town knows who you are and when you’re coming. You enter a room and it’s like hurricane Evelyn’s coming to town!”

                “Okay, so I don’t exactly blend in but listen, I’ve learned some really interesting things since the last time we talked.”

                He let out a frustrated sigh. “You never learn, do you?”

                “Well I am known around town as the patron saint of hardheadedness. Ask my mother.”

                “This isn’t funny. By sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong you could jeopardize the case or worse, you could get hurt.” He sat down across from me on the edge of my coffee table so we were face to face.

                “These are just empty threats,” I gestured toward my bedroom. “No one’s going to hurt me. He just wants to scare me so I’ll stop looking for answers. If anything me antagonizing this maniac is a good thing. Eventually I’ll have to run into him.”

                “And what do you think he’s going to do if he catches you alone? What do you think will happen if you keep antagonizing a person who was crazy enough to kill before-" He stopped abruptly, realizing for the first time that he was actually taking the time to argue a case with a civilian. “I’m only going to say this one more time, stop bothering the suspects and stay out of police business.” He stood up, trying to use his height as a mode of intimidation.

                “Or what?” I stood up too, defiantly trying to match his height. Well, mostly.

                “If you continue to interfere in police business I’ll have no choice but to arrest you.”

                “Arrest me?! For What?”

                “Obstruction of Justice.”

                “You can’t do that! It’s not a crime to talk to people!”

                “I’m the boss, honey. You’d be surprised at what they let me do.” He folded his arms across his chest, almost smirking but not quite. I wonder if I’d get in trouble for smacking him. Probably. I still want to though. “Leave it alone, or face the consequences.”

                He turned, satisfied that I had gotten the message, and walked back toward my bedroom and the other cops. But I was far from through with this discussion. I stormed after him, grabbing him by the forearm and turning him back to face me. I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to manhandle him like that, but he graciously let it slide.

                “I just don’t understand why Jackson’s the only one being interrogated at all hours of the night. Or why Jackson’s the only one with a police cruiser parked outside his house twenty-four seven. I’m not trying to step on your toes, Manny. It’s just that from where I’m standing it doesn’t look like you’re investigating anyone else at all. I don’t want to see my cousin punished for something he didn’t do.”

                “I know you’re worried, but I’m a professional. I know what I’m doing. It’s not your job to catch the bad guys, it’s mine. And I told you before, call me Detective Juarez. No one calls me Manny.”

                I let out an unconvinced snort. “No on calls you Manny?” He shook his head. “Even when you’re off duty? Even your friends and family?”

                “No one.”

                “Wow. That…that’s a little uptight dude.”

                “Be that as it may, the point is still moot. I catch you interfering again and I’ll throw your nosy little butt in detainment until the case is closed. Clear?”

                “Crystal.”

                That tears it. The wedding’s off.

                  The next day I got a call from the mechanic letting me know that Douglas’ new engine had been placed and he was ready for pickup, so Henry and I headed over and traded vehicles.

                No disrespect to The Snotrocket or anything, but I missed my car, and it felt good being back behind the wheel I was accustomed to. I’d asked Henry to come with me but he said he had some more research to do on that damn novel so I was on my own today.  

                And thus here I was parked across from the Hargrove Apartments again, completely disregarding Manny- oh I mean Detective Juarez’s threat by the way, getting ready to confront a woman about a lie.     

                Johnny had told me that he’d seen Allison at Taste Teas at the time of Bo’s death. I found it mighty suspicious that the brunette beauty had found it necessary to lie to me when I asked her if she’d been there when Bo had died.

                I climbed the few floors to her apartment and rang the doorbell. After a brief silence I heard padded feet shuffling to the door. There was a pause, and I swear I heard an annoyed sigh before she opened the door.

                “Evelyn,” She exclaimed with the fakest smile I’ve ever seen. “What brings you hear?”

                “In the neighborhood, thought I’d drop by.”

                “How wonderful. I so enjoy your company.” I wonder how many Hail Marys she’s going to have to do to forgive the barrage of lies she's been spewing this week?

                “Gonna invite me in?”

                “I was actually just leaving.” I took in her wrinkled oversize sweats and knew instantly that she was lying again.

                “This will only take a minute, I promise.” She fidgeted for a minute then sighed and stood aside.

                I walked into her ultra chic ultra clean apartment and took a seat on the couch. She followed and slouched across from me on the loveseat. My welcome with her was wearing thin so she dropped all friendly pretenses and asked me point blank what this was about.

                “Some people have been talking.”

                “About what?”

                “About Bo’s murder.”

                “I told you I had nothing to do with that.” She shifted uncomfortably. “ I don’t have anything more to discuss about Bo.” She looked like she was moving to kick me out so I got to the point.

                “Some people have been talking about the pretty reporter who was at the café when Bo died. Even though she swore she had already left.” She slid back in her seat. “I find that kind of funny considering you told me you had long left before the party went down. Even funnier that a supposedly innocent person would feel the need to lie about something like that.”

                She bit her lip and heaved another weighty sigh, tired of the run around and trapped in her lies.

                “Fine you got me, I went back that day.”

                “Why? After Bo humiliated you and you tore him a new one, why go back at all?”

                She let out a tormented moan then finally snapped. “I went to beg for my job back, okay!”

                “To ask for your job back? Okay, I’m confused. You’re the one who quit.”

                “I know! I had a bad moment but I needed that job. After I left I got all the way down the street before I realized that if Bo kept his promise to blacklist me from other news studios I’d never be able to find work. He was an asshole but he had a lot of influence.”

                She laughed a bitter hardened laugh.

                “I’ve got rent and car payments and student loans to make. I can’t not work. So I went crawling back in there with my tail between my legs to apologize for what I said and beg for my job back. By the time I made my way inside he was already in a fight with that baker.”

                “You think he would have given it back?”

                “Oh I know he would have.” She looked down and started playing with her fingers. “I was planning to offer to sleep with him.”

                 “What?! After all that talk about respect and being treated right you were going to crawl back and reward him with sex?” I couldn’t believe that this go-getter would stoop so low as to sleep with a guy she hated just for an internship she could barely stand.

                “It wouldn’t have been the first time.” She stood, folding her arms protectively in front of her, and paced slowly back and forth in the small living room. “Back when I first started I was real naïve about things. Bo said he could get me a permanent position if I just did this one thing for him. I mean he wasn’t physically repulsive or anything he was just-“

                “Old! Old as hell!”

                “Hey he was only fifty-nine. And he had the body of a forty-five year old-”

                “Ew, okay okay.”

                “Anyway, afterwards he pretended like it never happened. Like he never promised me-“ She paused to calm her increasingly spastic breathing. “He totally reneged on our deal. Every time he looked at me or called my name it was like he was taunting me. For being so foolish. I hated that man! And I swear to God I thought about a million ways to end him, but I didn’t kill him.”

               I left her to ponder over the consequences of her ethically ambiguous choices then drove to Taste Teas because, well, sometimes you just have to go to work. I spent the rest of my day doing just that and at nine o clock I closed shop and prepared to go home.

                Just as I was getting to Douglas my cell phone rang. I glimpsed at the caller I.D.

               Han Gyong

               Henry’s eldest brother. Growing up their parents would force Han to watch Henry and me, to his unending annoyance. Where Henry was my best friend, Han became like the big brother I never had.

                “Hey Han, long time no talk.”

                “Evie, its Henry.”I froze. Something about his tone wasn’t right.

                “What’s wrong?” I asked panicked. He paused for what seemed like an eternity. “Han! What’s wrong?”

                “There was an accident. Henry’s in the hospital."