Chapter 4

I left home early Monday before Jude got up. I had to meet with my partner. There was a potential break in the rape case. It didn’t pan out, and by lunchtime, I was sitting at my desk, starting to do some checking on the good Yogi. My phone rang. It was Jude. She asked if I had a few minutes to talk, which immediately made me nervous.

“Yeah, actually, I do,” I told her. “What’s up?”

“I thought more about your party idea,” she explained, “and I am excited about it. It’s been forever since we had people over. I was thinking to get it catered, so we don’t have to spend all our time and energy getting ready. What do you think?”

“I trust your judgment,” I replied. “Do it however you want. By the way, did you invite Yogi Marcel?”

My partner, Detective Eduardo Martinez, was sitting next to me and started chuckling.

“Yeah, I did,” Jude replied. “He said it sounds like a fun time and he’d be happy to accept our invitation.”

“Cool. Cool,” I said, repeating myself. “Was that it?”

“Yeah, that was it.”

“Ok, then, I’ll see you tonight.”

“Oh, Bill?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you going to be late tonight?”

“Yeah, probably, we have to go over the victim testimony again tonight. Why?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said. I could tell something was not right in her voice. “I just wanted to know if I needed to fix dinner.

“Uh, no,” I told her, my mind wandering into dark places it should never go. “I’ll grab something here.

“Ok. Bye, honey. Love you.” Jude said, then disconnected.

As I hung up, Martinez was laughing. “What’s a Yogi Marcel? Is that anything like Yogi Bear?”

“Shut up,” I said, grimacing.

I have deja vu all over again,” he said with a chuckle.

“I used that already,” I told him as I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I hoped I hadn’t come across that badly when I did the same thing with Jude.