“What’s wrong this time?” Cora asked. “Raccoons in her garbage cans? Someone trampled on her flower bed?” Mrs. Wilson was the old widow of a retired police officer who had died several years ago. The Providence Falls police were kind and attentive to her because they wanted to honor her husband’s good name, but it wasn’t always easy. She was as bored and as crotchety as a shrew. Mrs. Wilson’s kids were grown and gone, and judging by her personality, Cora guessed they didn’t often visit. It was probably the reason Mrs. Wilson kept filing formal complaints about the neighborhood with the local PD. It gave her something to do.
“She wants me to arrest her neighbor because his dog won’t stop barking,” Rob said with a groan. “Says if we don’t put a stop to it, she’s going to lace one of her fruitcakes with rat poison and feed it to him.”
“The dog or the neighbor?” Cora asked.
“Exactly. With that woman, you just never know.” Rob’s face filled with hope. “I don’t suppose you and Liam want to take this one?”
“Not a chance. We’re off to the university district.”
Rob gave her a long-suffering look. His boyishly handsome face was a little sunburned, reminding Cora of the way he’d looked back in high school when he ran track. Sometimes she couldn’t believe she’d briefly dated him, but teenagers weren’t exactly known for their stellar decision making. Luckily, she’d wised up fast, and they’d never gotten serious. Rob was a nice enough guy, but he was an outrageous flirt and had a reputation for charming the socks—and other articles of clothing—off scores of women. Cora suspected her friend Suzette had a secret thing for him, but to Cora he was just like an annoying brother.
“Hey, look on the bright side,” Cora teased. “Maybe Mrs. Wilson will save you a piece of fruitcake.”
He threw her a look equivalent to a rude hand gesture and stalked out.
Cora turned to Liam, who was back to salivating over sports cars on the website. The look on his face was downright indecent.
“Come on, Fast and Furious.” She slapped the back of his chair and went to grab her purse off her desk. “I want to catch Lindsey Albright at her apartment before she goes to work.”
“I’m not angry,” Liam said, taking one last look at his computer screen.
“What?”
He stood and stretched like a lazy lion. “You called me fast and—”
“Oh, no way.” Cora gaped at the blank look on his face. “Don’t tell me you’ve never seen Fast and Furious. With the racing cars and all that?”
He shook his head.
“Jeez, Liam, you must’ve been living in a bubble before we met. I guess we’ll have to have another movie marathon this weekend.” For someone who loved fast cars as much as he did, she was surprised he’d never heard of the films. But then there were a lot of things Liam seemed to have missed, like roller coasters and ice-skating and senior prom. Just the other day he asked her if she’d ever seen the ocean. Weirdo. It was only a few hours away. Did he expect that she’d never traveled outside the town where she’d grown up? Cora smiled at the memory because, whether she wanted to admit it or not, his quirkiness was growing on her.
“Tootaloo, y’all!” Mavis sang out as they left the police station. The receptionist was wearing one of her trademark sweatshirts with a quilted birdhouse on the front and dangly feathered earrings in patriotic colors. As usual, her heavy perfume wafted through the air around her desk like an invisible force field.
“Don’t get into any trouble while we’re away,” Liam said, snagging a butterscotch candy from her dish. “Wait until I get back, so I can join you.”
Mavis gave a high-pitched giggle that ended on a snort.
Cora shook her head as she pushed through the front door. It seemed no woman was immune to Liam O’Connor’s charm. Except herself, of course. Thank goodness.
* * *
The university district was a fascinating melting pot of humanity, with people of all ages and walks of life bustling from one activity to another. There were modern offices next to quaint independent bookstores, and dusty music shops selling old vinyl records. People lounging on wrought-iron bistro chairs sat outside street cafés, chatting over lattes while their dogs snuffled for breadcrumbs under the tables. Quirky art galleries lined the avenue along with a pipe shop, a tattoo parlor and consignment stores with racks of retro clothing spilling onto the sidewalks.
“This place is amazing,” Liam said, staring at a group of impressively limber women doing yoga on a grassy lawn. Posters advertising the night’s Fourth of July celebration were pasted against the brick wall behind them. He knew about the American holiday from the basic knowledge the angels had given him. The fireworks were sure to be outstanding, but Liam found the idea of celebrating freedom from the British even more fascinating. He’d never been one of those rebels who called themselves Fenians, or anything like that. Politics didn’t mean much to a hungry man, but the idea of wresting independence from the Crown tickled the imagination.
“Lindsey’s apartment is on the other side of those dorms,” Cora said, pointing to a redbrick building in the distance. She swerved just in time to dodge a bicyclist weaving through traffic. “This place is a zoo today. This part of the city’s always like this on holidays.”
Liam had often heard people remark that Providence Falls was small, but to him it seemed as vast and ever changing as the sea. Every part of the city was so unique; you could drive four blocks and be in what felt like a whole different world. He thought he’d grown used to it, the constant commotion and traffic and noise, but today he was reminded again how far from home he truly was.
Home. The thought always left a hollow ache in his chest, because he knew it no longer existed. Everything and everyone from his old life was dead and gone.
He looked at Cora as she turned the car onto a residential, tree-lined street. Her delicate profile was so familiar and dear to him, it helped lighten the heaviness in his heart.
A few minutes later they pulled into Summerwalk Apartments. It was a two-story complex with indistinguishable units in varying shades of beige. Many of the people coming and going appeared to be college students or young professionals, and everything about the place screamed “temporary.”
Lindsey’s apartment was on the second floor. Loud, thumping music boomed from inside, and a girl’s high-pitched giggle could be heard over the bass.
Cora rang the doorbell. When no one answered, Liam raised his hand and knocked. Still no answer. He made a fist and pounded hard on the door.
The music lowered, and the door swung open to reveal a flush-faced young woman chomping on a wad of chewing gum. She looked annoyed and slightly out of breath, wearing nothing but an oversize T-shirt that barely covered the important bits. “Can I help you?”