Hot Stuff

Chapter FOURTEEN

Kellen was at his computer when Cate strolled into his office.

“Your mother called while you were in the shower. And your brother. And Sharon the realtor.”

Cate called her mother first.

“I knew it was a bad idea to move into that condo,” her mother said. “Look at what happens there. First someone falls down the stairs and breaks his neck, and now your roommate is thrown off a bridge. It’s all over the news. It’s in the papers. And your brother saw it on television. You should be living at home. That building you’re in is full of loony people. And where are you? I called your condo and you weren’t there. And some man answered your cell phone.”

“That was Kellen. Beast and I are staying with him until I get my housing situation straightened out.”

“It would straighten out if you came home,” her mother said. “I’m sending your father to get you.”

“No! Don’t do that. I’m fine.”

“How could you be fine with people dying all around you? Where are you? Where does this man live? You’re not in that same building, are you? That building has bad luck.”

Next up was Danny.

“Some guy answered your cell phone,” he said. “Should I find him and beat the crap out of him?”

“It was Kellen, and I don’t want you beating the crap out of anyone, especially not Kellen. I like him. I really, really like him, and I won’t be happy if you screw it up.”

“When did I ever screw anything up for you?”

“How much time do you have?”

“The list isn’t that long. I don’t like this. I think you should go back home with mom and dad. That building has bad juju. And I don’t know about this Kellen guy. You hardly know him, and you’re living with him.”

“I’m staying in his house temporarily until I straighten out my housing situation. It’s okay.”

“I don’t like it. I’m going to come get you. Where are you?”

“Do not come get me. I’m fine. And I’m not telling you where I am.”

Kellen was watching Cate. “I think I’m in trouble with your family.”

“I’m the baby. They’re a little overprotective.”

“I’m assuming they all want to jump in their car and come get you.”

“Yeah. They think I should move back home. They don’t realize it’s not an option for me. I love them, but they were driving me crazy when I was at home. They’re… boisterous. And they fill up a room. Not just my parents, but my grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, neighbors. Everyone collects at my parents’ house. I couldn’t get any work done. I was living at the library. And there were always questions. Where was I? What did I eat for lunch? Who dropped me off? Were they Catholic? And when I had the rare date my father would be waiting up for me!”

“Was it like that for your brothers?”

“My brothers didn’t go to college. They went to work and were expected to raise hell. And when they’d raised enough hell the expectation was that they’d get married. And that’s exactly what they did.”

Kellen pushed back in his chair. “Sounds like my family.”

“Did you go to college?”

“No. I was a cop. All the men in my family are cops.”

“Did you raise hell?”

“With a vengeance. I did my best to meet their expectations. And I reached a point where the lifestyle got old, but I never met the woman I was supposed to marry. My sisters are all married and have families. I’m the holdout.”

Cate thought she might like to be the woman in Kellen’s life. She liked sleeping next to him. And she liked being part of his routine. He was great with Beast, and he’d been great with her nieces. He’d been respectful of her parents but not intimidated. And there was that thing… the spark of something nameless and intangible that made her warm and happy and sexy when she was near him. The thing that had been missing with other men.

“And you stopped being a cop.” Cate said.

“It was too rigid, too political. And I felt I was getting a slanted view of human nature, always moving through the dark side of society. I made detective, but it still wasn’t satisfying. I felt confined by the structure.”

“So you set off on your own?”

“Yes. And I like it. My business is small but profitable. I’m performing a niche service. And I’m good at it.”

“You’re lucky. You found something you love.”

“I did,” Kellen said, smiling at her in a way that made her heart stutter.

Don’t second-guess him, Cate told herself. It would be exciting to think he was experiencing the same sort of feelings for her that she was having for him, but it was early in the relationship. Don’t create a whole falling-in-love fantasy, she thought.

Cate dialed Sharon’s number. “One phone call left,” she said to Kellen.

“Good grief, I just heard about Marty,” Sharon said. “It’s all over the news. It’s all over the building. This is awful.”

“Yeah, I feel really bad,” Cate said.

“I didn’t know him very well. Just to say hello to.”

“He was an okay guy. He kept to himself, but he was always nice to me. And he was… interesting.”

“I know this is harsh, but it’s going to be a black mark on our building. First the agent and now Marty. Condo values are going to drop like a rock, and I have two listings. I need to sell those units. I have a mortgage. I saw shoes at Saks that I have to have. And what about you? Are you going to try to stay in the condo?”

“No. It feels creepy. And I’ll get kicked out anyway. The condo will go into Marty’s estate.”

“I know about a sweet studio walk-up. It’s only a block from here. It would make a great starter property for you.”

“I can’t buy. I have nothing for a down payment, and I’d have to cut back on classes if I had a mortgage. I could barely afford to rent that room from Marty.”

“Beast is going to make it more difficult to find a rental,” Sharon said. “Where are you? I went upstairs to your condo, but no one was home. Since a man answered your cell I’m assuming you’re either with your parents or Mr. Yummy.”

“Mr. Yummy.”

“Lucky you. I have a good feeling about him.” Sharon sighed into the phone. “I have a good feeling about 2B, but I can’t connect.”

“Are you sure a man lives there?”

“This morning there was a name under his door buzzer. Mr. M. How mysterious is that? Mr. M.”

“That’s pretty mysterious,” Cate said. “Did you check around to see if anyone saw Mr. M. fiddling with his name plate?”

“No one saw. He must have done it in the wee hours of the morning. Gosh, I can’t imagine what the building will be like without you. Why don’t you move in with me? I have an extra bedroom. It would be fun.”

“That’s really nice of you, but I might have some other options.”

“Well, the offer is always there. I have to go. I’m showing a townhouse this morning.”

Cate didn’t have other options. She had a big dog and no money. What she had were two very good friends, and she didn’t want to lose one of those friends by encroaching on her space.

“What are you going to do?” Kellen asked.

Cate shrugged. “I’ll find something.”

“We might be able to work something out here… in exchange for services.”

“What sort of services were you thinking about?”

“Cooking. Cleaning. Sex.”

“That could get pricey,” Cate said. “My cooking doesn’t come cheap.”

And it could be painful, Cate thought. She would have a hard time tearing herself away from Kellen and his house if it didn’t work out. And she still couldn’t tell if this was casual sex or something more for Kellen. It was too soon for the “L” word to get spoken out loud. And how do you figure this stuff out?

Her relationship with Beast was much easier. She could promise undying love to Beast, and he’d happily stay around as long as she fed him.

Midmorning Cate’s cell phone rang.

“Hey, girlfriend,” Julie said. “Where the heck are you? I sent Pugg up to fetch you, but he said nobody’s home.”

“Pugg is there? Doesn’t he sell tires on Saturdays?”

“He has the day off, and I have him runnin’ errands. He’s such a good soul. So where are you? Are you out with the dawg?”

“I’m at Kellen’s house.”

“Mr. Yummy? Omigod. I was thinkin’ you might be with him. I want a full report. He’s great, right? I can always tell.”

“Did you hear about Marty?”

“Hard not to hear about Marty. It’s all anyone’s talkin’ about. It’s just so sad. And I hate the thought that you might leave the building. You and Sharon are like sisters to me.”

“I like the South End. I’m going to try to get something in the neighborhood.”

“Shoot. You could stay here with me. I could even get an extra chaise longue. Only problem is my landlord won’t let Beast stay here. Not that there’s that much difference between Beast and Patrick Pugg. They both got about the same amount of fur.”

“I’ve got a good start on your pages. I thought I’d stop around after lunch and drop some of them off, so you can see if they’re okay.”

“Sure. I was hoping you’d do me a favor today, if you have the time. We got the seniors on the party trolley again, and they’re asking for more of your cake. My boss said he could use four cakes, and he’d pay for them. And one of them has to be the yellow cake with the white frosting and multicolored sprinkles. And another wants to be the chocolate chip cake with the creamy chocolate icing.”

“He’ll pay?”

“Yep.”

“It’s a deal.”

Cate punched the code into the condo lock and pushed the door open. She had Julie’s pages tucked under her arm, her purse hung on her shoulder, and a grocery bag balanced on her hip. The condo was silent and felt benign. As far as Cate could tell there was no bad juju lurking behind the drapes or under the bed. She kicked the door closed and went to the kitchen. She’d bought butter, eggs, powdered sugar, and cake mixes. She had the rest of the ingredients already in the condo.

Marty’s kitchen still felt empty to Cate. It would have felt better if Beast had been there. And while Cate had mixed feelings about Marty now, she wished he was in the kitchen too. He might not be the guy she thought he was, but she didn’t wish him dead.

She went to work buttering and flouring cake pans, and setting out oil, bowls, the colored sprinkles, and chocolate chips. It would be fun to do this in Kellen’s kitchen, she thought. All that space to work. And his kitchen felt like a real house kitchen. It had a big cook’s stove, and the beautiful mahogany moldings were everywhere. And the best part about Kellen’s kitchen was Kellen. He didn’t have a lot of pots and pans. He didn’t have a mixer or spatulas or even a toaster, but his presence was felt. His keys were on the counter. A pad and pen. The take-out menu for California Pizza Kitchen and P.F. Chang’s left lying out, next to the phone. The knowledge that he was somewhere in the house and could walk through the kitchen at any moment.

Cate closed her eyes and thunked her forehead against an over-the-counter cabinet. She was in bad shape. She was doomed. There was no denying it, she was in love.

Two hours later, Cate had four cakes cooling on racks on the granite countertops, and she had the butter softening for the icing. Plenty of time, she thought. She didn’t have to be at work until six. It was three o’clock now. And it wasn’t like she had to go back to Kellen’s house to get dressed. She still had clothes in the condo.

She was about to add powdered sugar to the butter when the doorbell chimed. She wiped her hands on her jeans and went to the door. She looked out through the peephole and didn’t see anyone at first. She looked lower and realized it was Pugg at the door.

“Julie sent Pugg to help,” he said to Cate.

“Thanks, but I don’t actually need help.”

“Pugg would score points if you let him help. Or maybe Pugg could just stand to one side and watch. Pugg would be very quiet.”

“Sure. Come on in.”

Pugg followed Cate into the kitchen and flattened himself against a wall.

“You won’t even know Pugg is here,” he said. He craned his neck to see what Cate was doing. “Did you know that some people believe the first cake mix in a box dates back to 1929 with Duncan Hines? Pugg has read that these mixes were lumpy, but he doesn’t know from personal experience. Jiffy and Bisquick were introduced in 1930. And General Mills and Pillsbury did not produce cake mix until 1949.”

“I didn’t know that,” Cate said.

“Where is Cate’s dog?”

“He’s with Kellen. I thought he’d be safer there. Kitty Bergman wanted to take him away.”

“Why would Kitty Bergman want Beast?”

“I’m not sure, but I think he might be mixed up in stolen property.”

“Pugg is interested in this. If Pugg was a master thief he would implant a microchip under a dog’s hide and have Pugg’s secret bank accounts recorded on it.”

Cate stopped stirring. “Can you do that?”

“Yes. It’s common practice to implant microchips in animals for identification purposes. Microchips are tiny transponders approximately the size of a grain of uncooked rice. They carry unique identification numbers and are implanted just below the hide using a needle. They can be easily read with a handheld scanner.”

“Can anyone do this?”

“Most often this is done by a veterinarian or breeder, but it would seem to be a simple procedure, that could be done by anyone able to stick a needle in his dog.”

“How do you know all this miscellaneous information?”

“Pugg has large blocks of free time while he waits to score with chicks, so he reads books, many of which are filled with interesting but basically useless information.”

“What would a scanner look like?”

“Pugg has never seen one, but he imagines it might look like a small television remote.”

“Look around the condo while I make icing and see if you can find one. Look in Marty’s room first.”

Cate was finishing the last cake, piping on small yellow flowers, when Pugg came into the kitchen with the scanner.

“Pugg thinks he found the scanner,” he said. “It was in Marty’s office and could easily be overlooked in a drawer with other electronic gizmos. Pugg thinks this is the scanner because Pugg could not get it to work the television or DVD player.”

Cate took the scanner in her hand. “It’s light.”

“Yes. The average chip scanner weighs four ounces and can read transponders operating at 125 and 128 kHz. Pugg believes this particular scanner is Swiss-made to read a fifteen-digit code and needs a transponder operating at 134 kHz. It sells for $179.95 on the Internet and weighs less than three ounces.”

“You must have a photographic memory.”

“At the risk of ruining your inflated opinion of Pugg, Pugg read most of that on the back of the scanner.”

Cate dropped the scanner in her purse and carefully boxed the cakes.

“I got these boxes from the bakery on the corner so everything would stay nice,” she said to Pugg. “You take two of them, and I’ll take two of them. Just be very careful not to tip them. I don’t want the icing to get smushed.”

They maneuvered out of the condo with the cakes, and Cate made sure the door was locked behind her. They rode one floor down in the elevator, and carried the cakes into Julie’s apartment and set them on her kitchen counter.

“The little old folks are gonna love these cakes,” Julie said. “The trolley’s coming by special to pick them up.”

“Pugg… I mean, I was very helpful,” Pugg said. “I found the scanner for Cate.”

“What the dickens is a scanner?” Julie asked.

“It’s a device for reading a microchip,” Cate said. “We think Marty might have installed one in Beast. It would be a safe way to transport bank codes or safe combinations.”

“That sounds real high tech. My cousin Orville used to do something like that. He was a professional balloon swallower. If you wanted something transported somewhere and you didn’t want anyone to know, Orville would put it in a balloon and swallow it. It worked real good except the downside was you had to wait a day or two for Orville to poop it out.”

“Your cousin Orville was a mule?” Pugg asked. “That’s a very dangerous profession.”

“Yeah, but if Orville didn’t do that he was pretty much unemployable. He once dropped his teeth in the deep fryer at Burger King. He said he sneezed and next thing his dentures were in with the French fries. Lucky for him he was good at carryin’ drugs or else he wouldn’t have been able to keep up the payments on his double-wide.”

“Is Orville still employed in this manner?” Pugg asked.

“No, poor ol’ Orville was carryin’ a balloon from Mexico to Birmingham one day, and it got a little pinhole in it and leaked some of the stuff out into Orville. By the time he got to Birmingham he was foamin’ at the mouth. He didn’t die, but he’s still droolin’ and foamin’, and he thinks everyone’s Walter Cronkite. So my Aunt Madelyn had to put Orville in the Shady Rest Nursing Home. It was a shame, but Orville had a real good run before the pinhole.”

“Shit happens,” Pugg said. “Excuse my French.”

Cate put Julie’s typed pages on the counter next to the cakes. “I have about twenty pages here,” Cate said. “Take a look at them and make sure they’re okay. I have to run. I want to talk to Kellen before I leave for work.”

“Do you need Pugg to escort you?” Julie asked.

“No. I’ll be fine.”

“Maybe you could stop in and say hello to Sharon for a second,” Julie said. “She’s nutty over 2B again, and I haven’t been able to do anything with her. I swear she’s such a sensible, grounded person, except for her shoes and 2B.”