Then, there was the fact that Lee seemed to be a little bit better at this relationship stuff than I was. It had only been a couple of days but he talked casually about going out to dinner or when he’d pick me up from the store. He seemed pretty comfortable with me in his bed, in his house, my clothes in his drawers, my toothbrush next to his.

How this could be when Lee went through women like water was beyond me.

Granted, the longest relationship I’d had lasted eight months but there was a reason for that, none of the guys were Lee.

Now that it seemed like I had Lee, would I drive him away with my thrashing around in bed (although he seemed to have conquered that obstacle pretty quickly)? Then there were my crazy escapades with Ally (although he’d had a lifetime of that and always seemed to find it amusing). Of course there was also my somewhat crazy and uncontrollable bent towards doing stupid shit all the time (although he was showing alarming dexterity at cleaning up the messes I made). And, of course, my hell-bent independence and need for space (although he’d also managed to get by that by forcing me out of my space and into his, and his space was rather nice, with a great view and a housekeeper).

Yikes.

Finally, there was the scary part of Lee.

My Dad was a cop, the danger level to that job was a lot higher than most and I’d lived with it my whole life. I knew it and understood it, I didn’t like it but I was proud of him. He was one of the good guys that made the world safe. The world needed guys like Dad, Malcolm and Hank and the people in their lives had to give them space to do their jobs or we’d all be up shit creek.

Lee was… I didn’t know.

Death didn’t freak him out. He seemed to wander around comfortably both in the sunny real world that I inhabited and the slimy underworld that I hoped was temporary for me.

For Lee, bad guys had nicknames.

For Lee, driving twenty miles per hour over the speed limit, weaving in and out of crowded mid-day traffic on Speer Boulevard was like a Sunday drive.

Lee was offended at the thought that he’d botch a B and E. Lee oozed so much authority that crazy guys like Tex did what he ordered without comment. Lee was so dangerous that even Goon Gary and Creepy Terry Wilcox barely could hide their fear of him.

I dumped the cooked macaroni in the colander, rinsed it and left it to cool.

Then I went upstairs and slathered my body in factor 8 suntan oil that smelled deliciously coconuty. I dressed in my turquoise bikini that had the silver hoop between my boobs and the ones holding the material together at my h*ps and wrapped a sarong around my hips, tying it in a big knot at the front.

After doing this, I decided that I’d just have to wait and see what Lee had to say.

He told me he’d show me who he was, what he wanted and then I could make my decision. This did nothing to shift the joy or the fear, but it definitely mingled it with not a small amount of excitement.

It felt like Christmas Eve.

I was assembling my macaroni salad extravaganza when the back security door was thrown open and Rosie stepped into the kitchen.

He was carrying a gun.

And the gun was pointed at me.

I stared at him, wooden spoon in hand, dripping mayonnaise.

He looked like hell. Rosie had never been one to worry about personal hygiene overly-much, he groomed enough to make it not gross that he was serving coffee.

It was clear he’d slept a helluva lot less than I had and hadn’t had a shower since I last saw him.

“Rosie!” I cried. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking all over and worried sick.”

“Where are the diamonds?”

Uh, excuse me but this was beginning to piss me off. Why did everyone think I had the diamonds or knew where they were? I hadn’t even seen the f**king things.

He moved the gun jerkily and I quit thinking about the diamonds.

“Where are the diamonds?” he shouted.

I stopped staring at Rosie and started staring at the gun.

“I don’t know where they are.”

“Duke’s gone, they aren’t at his house.”

My eyes moved back to Rosie. He was definitely freaked out, panicked, and not in an artist-on-the-verge kind of way. It was far worse than that.

“You didn’t toss Duke’s house did you?” I asked.

“No! It was like that when I got there. I thought it was you and that crazy guy who taped me up.”

“I haven’t been to Duke’s but Duke’s coming back and I’m sure he knows where the diamonds are.” I tried to be calm and calm him. “Rosie, put down the gun, you need to stay someplace safe. I can call Lee –”

Rosie started waving the gun around and I stopped talking and stepped back.

“Don’t call that maniac. He taped me up! It took him, like, two seconds. I didn’t even get the chance to yell. I didn’t even hear him come in. He’s nuts.”

“Okay, I won’t call Lee. But Rosie, you have to be smart. Your friend –”

“He’s dead, they shot him. They f**king shot him!” He was shouting now, waving the gun around and seriously freaked out.

“Rosie –” I started.

“Yoo hoo!”

I heard the call from out the backdoor, complete with the clickety-clack of high heeled shoes and Chowleena’s nails on the bricks.

My neighbor, Tod.

“Tod, go back!” I yelled but Rosie had turned and pulled the trigger, shooting wild out the backdoor, three shots were squeezed off in as many seconds. I saw Tod’s arms flung out before him as he hit the deck and Chowleena started barking, each bark sending her upper body straight in the air. I knew this because I could hear the click of her nails hit the bricks every time she landed.

Rosie stared at the gun as if he forgot he was holding it and then ran out the door.

I ran after him.

“Rosie! Come back here! Don’t be stupid!”

But Rosie wasn’t listening to me. Rosie threw himself in a dark gray, old-model Nissan Sentra that was parked blocking my back alley and took off. I managed to read half the license plate before he turned left on Bannock and disappeared.

I ran back to the house. Tod was standing at my backdoor wearing a pair of white, to-the-knee jeans shorts, a wife beater and a killer pair of high heeled, strappy black sandals with sweet little bows on the peek-a-boo toes with rhinestones in the bows. He had his hand at his chest, his face was pale and considering the bloody areas, he’d scraped his knees and palms.

“Great shoes,” I said, trying to stay calm.

“I was coming over to show them to you, bought them yesterday,” Tod replied.