Don't Touch Me! - 24

 

Cody paced the kitchen as he waited for the soup he was having for lunch to heat up. He knew he was being stupid, but when Brent had said he'd be by on Saturday, he had hoped it would be in the morning. Instead, Brent had called briefly to say Detective Milburn had eliminated Cody as a suspect in his mother's murder and he'd give him all the details later, once he finished up with a job that couldn't wait.

"He'll probably call again, fill me in then tell me he can't stop by because he's too damned busy," Cody grumbled. "He's done what I paid him for, end of story, end of our…relationship, for lack of a better word."

The soup was finally hot enough, so he poured it into a bowl, put it on the table next to his sandwich, and sat down to eat. He was halfway through his meal when his phone rang. As soon as he answered, Brent said, "I'm on my way over. Don't go anywhere."

"As if," Cody muttered before realizing he was talking to a dead phone. "Now that wasn't polite at all." Still, he couldn't stop his pulse from racing at the thought he'd be seeing Brent in a few minutes. He hurriedly finished eating, washed the dishes then went into the living room to wait.

When the bell rang, he went to open the door, stepping well aside to let Brent in.

"So how's my favorite client?" Brent asked.

"Ex-client, and I'm fine."

"You should be even better when you hear what Walt had to say," Brent replied, taking a seat on the sofa.

"God, that poor woman," Cody said when Brent finished. "Can you imagine falling for someone only to find out they're a killer, multiple times over?"

"Presuming she didn't know already, after he murdered his wife."

"Then why kill her now?"

"To shut her up. If she knew and finally decided she couldn't deal with it—or just found out. Either way, he couldn't let her live."

"I hope they catch him soon, before he decides he likes murdering women."

"You and me both." Brent leaned back, looking at Cody, who was sitting in the armchair across from him. "Feeling better now?"

"Yeah, I guess. How much do I owe you?"

"Okay, where did that come from?"

"Well, my case is solved, so I guess you want to be paid, so you can—"

"Cody…" Brent shook his head. "For starters, your retainer covers everything I've done. Secondly, if you were going to say, 'So I can move on', you know it's not going to happen. We have unfinished business to take care of, in case you've forgotten."

"I haven't. I just don't want you to feel you have to try to help me. It's going to be a lost cause."