Deathtrap by Dana Marton Page A

just handled it, seen the good in him. He was the man who could look at a small forest and offer to dig it in.
    Which was a ton of work, come to think of it.
    She tilted her head. “Why are you doing this? Helping me?”
    “I’m not helping you. It’s an even trade.”
    “And with the dog?”
    “I’m helping the dog, not you. So don’t take it personally.”
    She couldn’t tell if he meant that or if he was mocking her. For a long second, he held her gaze across the table. He was looking at her with the same expression that Peaches used, as if not sure what to make of her, as if not entirely certain of the wisdom of their newfound association.
    His ringing phone interrupted the moment. He took the call and listened for a minute.
    “All right. I’ll head right over there.” He stood, listening to more information from whomever he was talking to. Then he was moving toward the door, stopping only for a second to call back to her, “I’ll be here first thing tomorrow morning.”
    Then he was gone, hurrying to his cruiser at the curb.
    First thing tomorrow morning.
    It almost sounded like a date, which, of course, it wasn’t. They were doing a professional trade.
    “It’s called a barter,” she told Peaches, who was watching her.
    The dog’s tongue lolled out. He looked suspiciously as if he was laughing. Then he barked when her phone rang.
    “I wanted to see how your appointment went the other day,” her mother said when Sophie picked up.
    “Pretty good. Everything’s okay.” Talking about her garden vandalism would just recharge her mother’s quest to have her move home.
    But it seemed she was on the warpath already anyway.
    “You shouldn’t live alone. If you came home, we could talk more. I asked the elders, and they said they’d be happy to pray over you.”
    “I appreciate it. But I’m okay. Really.” She did believe in God, but maybe she didn’t believe the same things exactly the same way as her mother.
    “I don’t like the thought of you all by yourself, without Jeremy.”
    “You didn’t like the thought of me with Jeremy either.”
    A moment’s pause followed before her mother finally said, “You were living in sin.” Another pause. “You don’t have anyone else, do you?”
    “No.”
    “Are you still in love with him?”
    They normally didn’t discuss their innermost feelings, so the question caught her off guard. She considered it carefully. Maybe part of her did still want Jeremy. Truth was, she was lonely. She missed the companionship. He’d been her first boyfriend, her only real boyfriend.
    Could they work things out? Could she be more understanding? Could he learn to accept that she was changing?
    Yet when she tried to picture her future with a man in it, it wasn’t Jeremy’s face she saw. It was Bing’s.
    Stupid. Only because he’d just been talking to her, she was sure. Bing wasn’t the right man for her either.
    He was a strong man who had his act together and knew what he wanted. She was still trying to figure out who she was, how she wanted her life to be.
    “Is your back still giving you trouble?” She changed the subject and told herself to quit thinking about Bing.
    * * *
    They had an ID on the man Kristine Haynes had argued with the week before her death at the bank, and Mike had brought him in for questioning. Bing sailed across town in his cruiser.
    “Where is he?” he asked Leila as he burst into the station.
    “Interrogation room. Andre Blauel,” she said. “And the county commissioner called a minute ago. Wants you to call him back. You’re getting some kind of an award.”
    He barely registered that. “I’ll deal with that later.” Awards didn’t motivate him, although the department had its share. They had a good reputation in the county. He strode to the back and pushed through the door to the interrogation room.
    Chase was in there with the man already.
    “Captain Ethan Bing.” Bing dropped into an empty chair and didn’t waste any