Beth, what are you still doing here?
You were the one who wanted me here, she said coolly.
Yeah, when I thought I was just going to answer a few questions. Dont you have work to do?
This is my work. I need to be there while theyre processing the car, the gun
Good luck with that. The Bernadette Parish crime lab wouldnt let her within five hundred feet of their precious evidence, not until they were good and done with itwhich meant making anything that didnt support their case disappear. Then, if she wanted to run her own tests, Raleigh would have to file requests with the court, a process that could take weeks.
You dont want me hanging around. She studied her fingernails with great interest. Thats obvious. But youre not going to scare me away by acting like a jerk. This is work. It has nothing to do withwith our personal relationship. Which we dont have anyway.
Beths face flushed to a lovely shell-pink as her argument wound down.
What the hell was she talking about? So youre no longer my friend? he asked, just to be sure he understood. Were just associates now?
Im not sure we can be friends, she said glumly. When a line is crossedwell, I could have just left things alone, but I didnt and I ruined everything.
You ruined it? What the hell was she talking about? Sorry, Im confused.
Can we not talk about this? she pleaded.
Talk about what? Why were women so confusing? Why didnt she just spit out what was bothering her?
I just want to make sure you understand that Im here only because Daniel asked me to stay on top of things. Im not trying tochange your mind.
He gave up demanding that she clarify; his questions were getting monotonous. When faced with an unreasonable female, his strategy was to agree. Saved a lot of unproductive arguing.
Okay, he said, offering up a smile.
With a frustrated sigh, she turned and exited the room, and Mitch couldnt help appreciating the way her sassy little butt twitched back and forth with each tap of her heel on the hard vinyl floor.
He racked his brain to figure out what was stuck in her craw. Maybe she was so repulsed by the things shed learned about him recently that she really didnt want to be friends.
That was a depressing thought.
But she said it was a line shed crossed, not him. What had she done recently regarding Wait a minute. The zydeco concert. Shed offered him her extra ticket, and shed acted kind of strange when she did it, standing in the doorway whispering with Raleigh.