High Noon

screaming boredom, I’ll think of you.”
    “That’s the plan. I have to go. Tell your mother I said goodbye.” He touched his lips to her forehead beside the bandages. “Take a dose of Jake and Elwood and call me in the morning.”
    “If I don’t walk you to the door, I’ll have to lie to my mother and say I did.” She set the bag down to lead him out. “I appreciate the movies, and everything else you did—and didn’t do. Such as comment on my bed hair and foul disposition.”
    “Good. Then when you’re feeling up to it, you can pay me back and have dinner with me again.”
    “Are you bribing me with DVDs?”
    “Sure. But I think my discretion over hair and mood earns even more points.” Since it pleased him to see her lips curve up in a quick smile, he lowered his for a little taste. “I’ll see you later.”
    He opened the door just as a woman jogged up the steps. “Hey,” he said.
    “Hey back. Lieutenant.”
    “Detective. Detective Liz Alberta, Duncan Swift.”
    “Oh yeah, we spoke on the phone.” He held out a hand. “Nice to meet you, and I’ll get out of your way. Talk to you later, Phoebe.”
    Liz turned, studied Duncan as he dashed out and through the rain. As she lowered her umbrella she raised her eyebrows at Phoebe. “Nice.”
    The tone, the look, told Phoebe that Liz referred to the exit view. “Oh yeah, it certainly is. Come in out of the wet.”
    “Thanks. I didn’t think I’d find you up and around today.”
    “If I don’t get back to work soon, I’m going to go straight out of my mind.” She took Liz’s umbrella, slid it into the porcelain umbrella stand.
    “Bad patient?”
    “The worst. Are you here for a follow-up?”
    “If you can handle it.”
    “I can.” Phoebe gestured toward the parlor. “Anything I should know?”
    “Your weapon hasn’t been recovered, but I did bring you this.” She pulled an evidence bag out of her satchel. Inside was Phoebe’s badge. “It was found at the base of the stairs, where we assume your attacker tossed it. No prints but yours.”
    “He wore gloves,” Phoebe murmured.
    “Yes, so you said.”
    Her badge would have been hooked to the waistband of her skirt, Phoebe thought. He’d cut her skirt to pieces, shoved his hand up under what he’d left of it to…She shook her head. No point, none, in putting herself back there. “Sorry. Please, sit down.”
    “How’s the shoulder?”
    “I tell myself it could be worse. It could. It could all be worse.”
    “Lieutenant—”
    “Just make it Phoebe. This may be an official follow-up, but we’re not in the house.”
    “Okay, Phoebe. You and I both know that sometimes the emotional injuries take a lot longer to heal than the physical ones.”
    Knowing and experiencing were two different things. “I’m working on that.”
    “All right.”
    “He set me up. Arnie Meeks set me up and he took me down.”
    Before Liz could respond, Essie wheeled in a cart. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you had other company. Duncan?”
    “He had to go. Mama, this is Detective Alberta. My mother, Essie Mac Namara.”
    “You took care of my daughter when she was hurt yesterday. Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome. It’s good to meet you, Mrs. Mac Namara.”
    “I hope you’ll have coffee, and some of this cake.” Essie set cups, saucers, plates on the coffee table as she spoke. “I just have a few things to see to in the kitchen.” She lifted the tray holding the pot, the creamer, the sugar. “Y’all just let me know if you need anything else.”
    “Thank you, Mama.”
    “Detective Alberta, you don’t mind pouring, do you?”
    “No, ma’am.” Falling in, Liz picked up the coffeepot, poured out the cups. She shot a glance over as Essie slipped out of the room. “I thought carts like that were just for movies and fancy hotels.”
    “Sometimes this house feels like a little of both. You’re going to tell me that you’re actively investigating, but don’t have any solid evidence implicating Officer Arnold Meeks at this time.”
    “I am, and I don’t. I spoke with him. He was in the building and was smart enough not to deny it. He claims he was getting a few items out of his locker at the time of the attack.”
    “This was payback, Liz.”
    She looked out the window as her mother had earlier, but instead of being comforted by the rain, felt trapped by it. Trapped inside when there were things to do.
    “I’ve bumped up against a few other cops, that’s just the