Chapter 10. Divulgence

*

*

*

FRIDAY, 7:15 P.M.

The lovely thing about having a double date involving dinner is that you have a built-in excuse for not joining in the conversation, as long as you keep shoveling food in your mouth.  I chewed my food slowly so that I’d have plenty to see me through the rest of the meal without feeling obligated to speak unless I was addressed directly.  Thankfully, the rest of our party carried on merrily and didn’t seem to notice my silence.
*
*
*

“So, what are your plans for this weekend?” Erica asked Sean.

“Ed and I will do some surveillance for one of our cases tomorrow night, but Sunday we’ll be moving Ed into her new place.”

“Sounds like you’ll be really busy.  I know that Nick has been doing a lot of surveillance lately.”

“Yeah, he’s been taking up where Ed and I have to leave off most days.”
*
*
*

“How much longer do you think it will take?”

“I think we’re really close to getting the answers we need.  I’m working on another angle just in case we don’t get anything from following people around.”

“That’s good.  Maybe soon you’ll get a rest from the surveillance.”
*
*
*

“Yeah, well it’s not like we’ll get much of a break from it.”

“Really? You have another case lined up already that requires surveillance?”

“Well, yeah–the one to track the movement of Dorantes’s drug transport.” Sean said.
*
*
*

Across the table from me, Nick paused with his fork near his mouth and closed his eyes.

“What?  You’re moving on that soon?” Erica was looking around the table for an explanation.

He didn’t tell her, I thought.
*
*
*

“I didn’t say anything about it because of the leaks in your office.  I thought that if you knew you might unintentionally let it slip or you might make a call to me about it and–” Nick started to explain.

“I get it.” Erica’s tone was hard and sharp, a knife that cut him off.
*
*
*

The sound of our forks scraping across our plates was loud in the silence that followed their exchange.  Nick quizzed me about my plans for the house in an effort to change the mood in the room, but it didn’t quite work.  We all finished our meals and Sean and I took our leave after Nick and Erica both declined our offers of help in the kitchen.  I knew that they would begin fighting as soon as the front door closed.
*
*
*
SATURDAY, 10:40 P.M.

“I asked Nick why he didn’t warn us that Erica didn’t know. He said he’d been so busy that he just forgot.” Sean shook his head.

We were outside the local cinema, waiting on Claudia Abbott and her roommate, Angela Murphy, to exit.  We’d followed them all night on what appeared to be a girls’ night out, complete with a few drinks at a local bar, some dinner at The Bistro, then a movie.
*
*
*

“Talk about awkward–that was horrible.  If they ever invite us on a double date ever again, count me out.”

“Aww, c’mon Ed.  You’ll miss all the uncomfortable silences and furtive bickering in the next room when they think we can’t hear.”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass.”
*
*
*

“Seriously, baby, I’m sorry it was such a train wreck.  If I had known it was going to be so awful I would never have agreed to it, especially on the day you signed on your house.  You deserved a real celebration, not a daytime talk show experience.”

“Don’t worry–it didn’t dull my excitement.” I didn’t add that I had my own ideas about how to celebrate.  If all went as planned, I would probably make my attempted seduction sometime later in the week, but there was no way I was letting Sean know that.  I still wasn’t sure whether I had the guts to follow through on my seduction plot.
*
*
*

“Good. Maybe you can have a housewarming party?  That would be fun, right?” Sean smiled.

I had to swallow a laugh because given the direction of my thoughts, ‘houswarming party’ seemed like a dirty euphemism.  Lucky for me, Claudia and Angela walked out of the cinema right at that moment.

“There they are.” I said quietly.  Sean shifted his attention to them.
*
*
*

We followed them with our eyes as they walked along slowly, obviously not aware that they were being watched by anyone.
*
*
*

By the way they walked together and held hands, we were only slightly surprised when they kissed.
*
*
*

Now we had a theory about why Elliot Foster and Claudia Abbott became friends.