The Case of the Confirmed Bachelor

He pocketed the sealed plastic envelope. “I’ll run this over to the lab. I have a friend there.”

“Will he be at work on Saturday?”

“Since I phoned him at home last night and asked him to meet me there, I do hope so,” he replied.

“That was kind of him,” she said.

“I’ll drop you off on my way to FBI headquarters,” he offered.

Daniel seemed to grow two feet. “That’s hardly necessary,” he said stiffly, and his arm drew Tabby closer. “Tabitha must have told you that we’re to shop for an engagement ring today.”

“Yes, I hear you’re planning to be married,” Nick said.

“A very sensible move, too,” Daniel said carelessly. “I live alone and so does Tabitha. She had that huge house and lot, where we can live, and her car is paid for.” He hugged her close. “She likes keeping house and cooking, so I’ll have plenty of time to work on my book.”

Nick was going to explode. He knew he was. “Book?”

“Our book,” Tabby inserted with a glare at Daniel. “It’s a new perspective on what I found at the Custer battlefield after the fire.”

“And includes information I dug out about its history,” Daniel added quickly. “Tabitha could hardly do it without my help on the grammar and punctuation.”

Nick’s eyebrows jerked up. “You think Tabby needs help with those? Are we talking about the girl who was school spelling champion in seventh grade and won a scholarship to Thorn College?”

Daniel shifted on his feet. “I have a master’s degree in English.” His watery blue eyes made mincemeat of Nick. “What was your field of study, Mr. Reed?” he asked with pleasant sarcasm, as if he considered that a detective probably had less than a high school education. In fact, an FBI agent was preferred to have a bachelor’s degree in accounting or a law degree. Nick had a law degree. It wasn’t something he’d ever boasted about. He wasn’t going to now, either, if that careless, mocking smile he gave Daniel was any indication.

“Oh, I know a little about the law,” Nick said. “I am, after all, a trained detective.”

“Like a police officer.” Daniel nodded, looking superior. “They’re only required to have a high school education or its equivalent, I believe?”

Nick stiffened. But before he could explode, and he looked close to it, Tabby stepped in.

“We really have to go, Daniel,” she said. “Thanks again, Nick. I’ll talk to you later.”

He murmured something and Tabby moved Daniel out into the hall with unusual dexterity.

“I don’t like that man,” Daniel said angrily as they walked down the hall.

“I know,” she said, soothing him.

A loud screech sounded as they passed the temporary biology lab. “I don’t like that monkey, either.”

“Yes, Daniel. Let’s go.”

A door opened at the end of the hall and a small man with a moustache came out, pausing as he saw Daniel and Tabby. He looked uncomfortable for an instant. “Uh, the missing artifact,” he said to Tabby. “Found it yet?”

“No. But I’ve engaged a private detective to look for it,” she began.

Dr. Flannery stood very still for a moment. “Detective?”

“Just to look for the pottery,” she said.

“Of course. Of course.” He turned and moved off down the hall, stopped suddenly, turned and went back the other way with a mumbled goodbye.

“Flannery is a flake,” Daniel muttered as they left the building. “He spends too much time with those monkeys. He’s beginning to act like them.”

“Primates,” she corrected. “They’re very nice when you get to know them. Even Pal. He’s intelligent, you know, that’s why he gets into so much trouble.”

“Maybe Flannery took that piece of pottery,” he said speculatively. “Did you know that his house was repossessed just recently? He’s in financial trouble. Some collectors would pay anything for a find like that.”

“Yes, I know. But it couldn’t have been Dr. Flannery,” she said stubbornly. “My goodness, he’s a biologist, not a thief!”

“Desperate men do desperate things,” he said. He slid his hand into hers. “You are going to marry me, aren’t you? We’re very compatible, and this will certainly be a successful book. Probably the first of many.” His eyes had a faraway look. “I’ve always dreamed of being in print.”

“Daniel, you aren’t marrying me so that we can write a book together, are you?” she teased.

He cleared his throat. “Of course not. Don’t be silly.”

She wasn’t being silly. Daniel kissed her only when he had to, and not very enthusiastically. He’d never tried to step over the line, to be amorous. He never sent her flowers or phoned her at midnight just to talk. He only ever talked about writing. She sighed. Marriage was what she’d always wanted, but this wasn’t how she’d envisioned it. Not at all like this.

Her dreams had been passionate ones, full of Nick. Dreams died hard, and hers never had. Now that he was back in her life, she’d have to start all over again forgetting him. Perhaps, she thought, it would be easier when he left. Meanwhile, all she had to do was live through the next week, and hope that he could clear her name. If he couldn’t, she thought with real fear, she might not even have a job much longer!

Tabitha couldn’t find a ring she liked. Honestly, she wasn’t that interested in marrying Daniel at all. He seemed bent on using her, while she was hitting back at Nick in the only way she knew. It was ridiculous to promise to marry one man just to show another that someone found her desirable. As if Nick was fooled! He’d seen right through Daniel’s motives for the engagement. Probably through Tabby’s, too. She flushed.

Daniel had taken her to a nice restaurant for lunch. She was nibbling dessert while he went to the bathroom.

Her mind was far away from the strawberry shortcake she was eating. It was on that fatal New Year’s Eve party.

She’d felt as if anything was possible that night. She’d been wearing a black dress with spaghetti straps, her long hair around her shoulders. She’d left her glasses off—despite the fact that she was nearly blind without them—and put on much more makeup than usual. Helen had told her that Nick was finally ready to settle down and that it was Tabby he really wanted. That bit of encouragement had been just enough, along with the alcohol, to make her act totally out of character.

Nick, gloriously handsome Nick, had been leaning against a door frame sipping punch. Tabby had stared at him with her heart in her eyes, drowning in the sight of him. She’d loved him for, oh, so long!

Putting her punch on a nearby table, she’d walked a little unsteadily to where he was standing in the shadows of the room while sultry blues music played from the stereo nearby.

“All alone, Nick?” she’d asked, with pouting lips.

He’d smiled indulgently. “Not now,” he mused. “You look nice, Tabby. Very grown-up.”

“I’m twenty-five.”

“That wasn’t what I meant. You aren’t very worldly.”

“I’m working on it,” she purred. “Want to see?”

She noted the faint surprise on his face as she suddenly stepped close to him, smoothing her slender body completely against his.

“Tabby!” he exclaimed.

“It’s all right,” she’d whispered nervously. “I only want to kiss you, Nick. And kiss you…and kiss you…!”