“Like what?”
“Time of day. Part of the city.” She shrugged. “Arresting officers. Judges in the original trials, if there were any. Things like that.”
“You went that deep?”
“Deeper,” she said, as she closed the office door behind her and walked toward the elevator. “I see patterns most people could never find. Motives.”
“And did you find any patterns?”
She nodded. “A few.”
I smiled. “You care to share them with me?”
“Not yet. I want to work on it some more.”
“But you think you might have some ideas.”
“Maybe.”
“Please tell me that you didn’t hack into the court system to get copies of the police reports.”
Shelly glared at me. “Public records.”
“Okay.” It might have been dumb of me, or naïve, but I believed her.
We got in the car and she was quiet on the drive home. “You okay?” I asked as I pulled into the driveway. There were already three cars there, but they weren’t blocking my spot. Good friends always left you your favorite spot.
“Who’s here?” she asked.
“Some friends of mine.” I opened my door. “Come on. I want you to meet them.”
She didn’t get out. “Who are they?”
“Some people I have worked with for a very long time. One I grew up with.”
“And why are they here?”
“For poker.”
“Poker?” she parroted.
“Yes. It’s poker night. Although I’m pretty sure they just show up so MeeM
aw will feed them.”
“That’s why she was cooking so much?”
“Yes.” I stared at her. “Do you want to get out now?”
“Not really,” she said. “Maybe I should stay at my apartment.”
“Not a chance in hell,” I said. “Get out. Come on. I need you.”
“For what?”
“If I don’t bring you home with me, MeeMaw will probably send me back out to find you. And I hate to waste my time. MeeMaw really likes you, so come on. And Channing Tatum would be devastated if you didn’t come in.”
She grinned, finally. “Well, when you put it that way.” She got out of the car and walked with me to the side door, which opened into the kitchen. The faces of three of my best friends in the world stared at us as we came in the back door.