I didn’t make any commitment not to get involved, nor did he expect me to. Murder had come straight to our doorstep, over our threshold, and into our home. Of course I would help out any way I could. After we hung up, I sat on our broken-down couch and looked around the apartment. The big window framed a black sky, unbroken by stars or ambient light. The sun set early in December, especially when you were as far east in a time zone as coastal Maine. I let my thoughts wander. It had been a long, stress-filled day. Le Roi jumped up and settled beside me, purring loudly. He loved it when I was home and sitting still; it was such a rarity. Suddenly I sat bolt upright, disturbing Le Roi, who meowed in protest. There it was. The fuzzy thing I’d felt was important but hadn’t been able to remember. All four of the couples that had come to the restaurant the night before had paid with gift certificates! Because they’d stayed so long and drunk lots of extra coffee and after-dinner drinks, they all gave me some cash or a credit card at the end of the night, so I’d forgotten, burying the coincidence somewhere in my sleep-deprived subconscious.
