“What’s up?” Max asked again and I wondered if I should run upstairs, put on a cardigan, my robe, maybe some jeans, a snowsuit (though, I didn’t have one of those).

Mick walked further into the house in my direction but turned back to Max.

“Gotta ask you a few questions,” he said and I decided not to go get dressed. The way he said that, I decided to stay right where I was.

“What questions?” Max asked, also walking in but he came direct to me, positioning himself behind my stool so close I could feel his warmth at my back.

Mick took this as an invitation to come in further and he did, stopping about three feet away.

“Gotta know where you were last night around two, three in the mornin’,” Mick said.

I felt myself still and I stared at Mick noting he was uncomfortable and not hiding it.

“What’s this about?” Max asked and I could tell by his voice he was not happy and also not hiding it.

“Just answer, Max,” Mick said softly.

“In bed,” Max said, his gravelly voice curt and Mick’s eyes darted to me then back to Max.

“Asleep?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Max answered.

“Sorry, Nina,” Mick’s gaze came back to me, his eyes dropping to my nightgown for the barest of seconds before coming back to my face and he continued. “Could you corroborate that?”

“What’s this about?” Max repeated.

But at the same time I said quickly, “Yes, I can.”

“You sure?” Mick asked me.

“Of course I’m sure,” I said firmly.

“Were you asleep too?” Mick pressed and my back straightened.

“Mick,” Max was obviously losing patience, “what the f**k’s this about?”

But again I spoke quickly. “No, I wasn’t asleep.” Mick opened his mouth to speak but I kept talking. “I’m here from England, I’ve got jetlag. I woke up around two in the morning, nine o’clock my time, and stayed awake until dawn. Max was with me the whole time.”

Mick’s face and body visibly relaxed, relief washing through him and he nodded.

“Now you wanna tell me what this is about?” Max’s patience was gone, he sounded angry.

Mick’s eyes moved to him. “Curtis Dodd was killed early this mornin’.”

I heard Max pull in breath and even though I didn’t know who Curtis Dodd was, I felt my eyes get wide.

“You’re shittin’ me,” Max said quietly.

“Wish I was,” Mick replied.

Then Max asked, “Murdered?”

“Yep,” Mick answered.

“And you come to visit me?” Max didn’t sound angry anymore, he just was. I heard it and felt it.

“Now Max, just procedure. Everyone knows you don’t get along with Dodd.” Mick’s tone was placating.

“Yeah, neither does most of the town,” Max returned.

“Yeah, that’s why I got deputies visiting a lotta folk. You’re my third this mornin’,” Mick explained.

Well, at least that was something.

“What happened?” I asked in order to turn the conversation and hopefully diffuse the situation.

“Dodd was shot,” Mick answered.

“Where?” Max asked.

“His house, guy broke in,” Mick answered.

Max came closer, his body touching my back and I could feel something strange coming from him.

“Where was Bitsy?” Max went on, his voice cautious or maybe concerned.

“Visitin’ her sister, she don’t like the spring break tourist season. Too many kids, teenagers gettin’ sloshed.” I felt something coming from Max, I didn’t know what it was but it was also coming from Mick. He was uncomfortable again for some reason that was different than before and he hurried on. “You know she goes down to Arizona for a coupla months every March and April.”

I felt Max relax before he asked, “Who found him then?”

Mick shifted on his feet and I knew he would have adjusted his collar if he didn’t think it would give him away.

“Dodd wasn’t exactly alone,” Mick muttered.

“Fuckin’ hell,” Max muttered back but his mutter was clipped and annoyed. “Shauna.”

Surprise hit me and I looked at Mick nodding then over my shoulder at Max’s hard, angry face.

“Shauna said he heard the break in and went to investigate then she heard the shots. Lucky for her, seems the killer didn’t know she was there, just did Dodd and then took off. Hearin’ the shots, she was scared shitless. Took her awhile to get her shit together to leave the bedroom, find Dodd then call it in. She was pretty shaken up. Still is.”

“Bet she is,” Max muttered like he did indeed bet she was and he didn’t give a damn.

“What about Harry? I thought she was with Harry,” I asked stupidly, looking over my shoulder at Max and his eyes came to me then his hand came to my waist and he gave me a squeeze. He didn’t have to answer, that was answer enough. Shauna was stepping out on goofy, sweet Harry. Then I whispered, “Poor Harry.”

“Yeah, poor Harry,” Max replied, his voice quiet.

I looked back at Mick and added, “And poor um… Curtis Dodd.”

Mick examined me a second then his face split in a genuine, amused grin before his gaze shifted up to Max.

“Nina’s new around here, I’m guessin’,” he noted.

“Yeah,” Max answered.

“I’m sorry?” I asked and Mick looked at me.

“There’s about two people in a four county area that’d say, at learnin’ the news that Curtis Dodd was murdered, ‘Poor Curtis Dodd’. You and Shauna. You because you don’t know him, Shauna because she was sleepin’ with him.”

“Oh,” I mumbled and wondered about Curtis Dodd.

“You want coffee?” Max asked and Mick shook his head.

“Gonna be a busy day, gotta get on my way.”

“You have a travel mug in your truck?” I asked and Mick looked at me.

“Yeah,” he said.

“If you’ll go get it, we’ll give you a warm up.”

Mick’s face changed, his eyes cut to Max then back to me. He smiled and said softly, “Be kind of you.”

“Well, not really. Max made the coffee though I think he used coffee from my grocery stash. I’m finding Max isn’t good with grocery boundaries.”