“The one that’s been hovering over the room with all the subtlety of Rodan for the past ten minutes.”
“Hey, we were being sensitive to your needs,” I insisted.
She smiled in acquiescence. “Well, you can stop it. I assume you want to ask me about Alex.”
“Who’s Rodan?” Derek asked.
Robin sat back and stared at him. “You’ve never heard of Rodan?”
“The flying monster?” I added. “Godzilla’s buddy?”
“I know of Godzilla,” Derek said, as he finished off a piece of bacon.
“Rodan is another old monster movie,” I said. “My parents let us watch it when we were kids. It was very scary at the time. Prehistoric flying reptiles, killer bad breath.”
Robin nodded. “Rodan blew deadly gaseous fumes out of his beaked mouth.”
“Fascinating.” Derek shook his head. “Clearly I’ve lived a life of deprivation.”
“I’ll say,” Robin said, and turned to me. “Jeez, we can really go off on a tangent.”
“You think?” I said, then shifted in my chair. “Okay, since you’re feeling better, I’m hoping you’ll tell Derek about Alex.”
“Sure.” She settled back and seemed to gather her thoughts. Her features tightened and I could see the flash of guilt and pain in her eyes. “I told you he was wonderful, right? He was. Handsome, funny, charming. He obviously had money, not that it mattered. He liked to do interesting things, or at least that was the impression he gave me.”
“What kinds of things?” Derek asked.
“Oh, you know. He said he liked to go to art galleries, museums, the park, the beach. He talked about all kinds of music. Jazz and rock and bluegrass. He even mentioned the symphony. He loved food, all kinds. We first bonded over aloo jeera and kati rolls at Kasa. But he also raved about Giant dogs and garlic fries.” She sighed again and her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “I still can’t believe this.”
“So he liked baseball, too?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“A regular metrosexual,” I said, then added, “I’m not judging.”
“That’s okay. I don’t think they really exist.”
“An urban legend?”
She paused to contemplate that one, then shrugged. “Anyway, he was adorable. And he liked me, Brooklyn. He liked women. You could tell, you know?”
“I know.”
“Of course you do. He was a lot like Derek. Well, except he didn’t carry a gun, of course. And he wasn’t all… Well, I mean, he was normal.”
“Excuse me?” I said.
Derek laughed.
Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth. “I didn’t mean… sorry.”
Waving away her apology, I said, “It’s okay. He’s really not normal.”
“Yes, he is,” Robin insisted.
I shook my head. “No, he’s not.”
“I beg your pardon?” Derek said.
“You’re extraordinary.” I smiled at him.
“Darling, you’ll make me blush.”
I laughed at that. “You’ve never blushed in your life.”
“You could drive me to it.”
Robin cleared her throat. “The point is that-”
“The point is that Derek is dangerous and carries a gun,” I said. “He takes risks. He walks on the wild side.”
“You’re getting carried away again,” Derek murmured.
“No, no,” Robin said, leaning forward and planting one elbow on the table. “I get what she means. Okay, Alex wasn’t so much like Derek. He was more laidback. He reminded me of a… a fun-loving aristocrat. He wanted to show me a good time, take me places, spend money on me. That’s what he said, anyway. He wanted to make me laugh. God, he was sexy. He made me feel sexy. I haven’t felt that way in a while.”
Not since my brother, Austin, broke things off with you, I thought, but didn’t say aloud. “You said he was born in Ukraine.”
“That’s what he told me.”
“Did he have an accent?” Derek asked.
“A very mild one. He said he came over here for college, and he was in his thirties, so he’d lost some of his accent.”
“Did he say where he went to school?”
“Berkeley.”
“Impressive.”
“He is pretty smart,” she said thoughtfully. “I mean, he was pretty smart. God.”
Derek asked a few more basic questions, then moved to the crux of the matter. “You know he drugged you, Robin. Did you realize what was happening at the time?”
The question caught her off guard. She reached for her coffee and took a few nervous sips. “No. I remember feeling really tired, and then I guess I just fell asleep. But why would he drug me? We’d already had sex. Great sex, by the way. Amazing. Inventive. I mean, really great.”
“Yeah,” I said intently. “We heard you the first time.”
“Sorry.” But her teasing smile faded as her eyes clouded over. “Why would he drug me after we had sex? What would that accomplish?”
Derek sat forward. “It would allow him to search your place without interference.”
“But why? I don’t have much money lying around. I have artwork.”
“Is it worth a lot of money?”
“Most of it’s my own, plus a number of local artists. We’re not talking Rembrandts. Who would want to steal anything from me?”
“He must’ve thought you had something worth stealing,” I said.
“Like what?”
I had no idea. “Maybe he was just a charming cat burglar who worked from the inside out.”
“So I was a crime of opportunity?”
I winced. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“So then who killed him?” she demanded. “A rival burglar? It doesn’t make sense.”
“No,” I agreed. “That’s definitely the sticking point. Why would anyone come into your place and kill this guy?”
“It wasn’t random,” she mused.
“No, of course not,” Derek said.
She frowned. “I mean, if it was random, they probably would’ve killed me, too. And they didn’t steal anything. Not that I know of, anyway. I have my purse, so they didn’t rob me. So who were they and what were they after?”
I pondered the question. “A jealous wife?”
“Oh, God, no,” Robin cried. “That’s just too awful to consider. Maybe it was a business rival?”
“Or an old boyfriend of yours?”
“No guy is that hung up on me,” she said drily.
“You never know,” I countered. “Maybe Alex had a partner he double-crossed.”
Derek finished off the last of his coffee. “Let’s run a few scenarios. Perhaps Alex knew the other person. He expected the guy to come by later and help him rob your place, so he drugged you to keep you out of their way. He probably didn’t expect his friend to kill him.”
“That’s quite a scenario,” I said.
Robin shook her head. “But it still doesn’t make sense.”
“I know.”
“I thought I’d met the man of my dreams,” she said quietly, then rolled her eyes in disgust. “Obviously, I watched too much Disney as a child.”
I squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry.”
“If it’s not too painful,” Derek said, “I’d like you to take us through the entire evening.”
“It might be a little painful,” she said after a moment’s consideration. “But if it can help clear up a few questions, let’s go for it.”
“Good. Let’s take a quick minute to clean things up.” Derek stood and cleared our plates, then filled our cups with more coffee. I got up and grabbed a notepad and pen from my utility drawer and we both sat down again.
Robin started at the beginning of her date with Alex, trying to remember the smallest details, such as what they both wore and what kind of car he drove.
Derek scowled at the mention of the car, and I knew he would’ve loved to comb through it. But it was probably in the police impound lot by now.
“Whose idea was it to wind up the evening at your place?” he asked.
“Mine.” Robin paused. “Well, wait. Let me think about that. We were talking about San Francisco neighborhoods. He lives in the Richmond District and I mentioned living in Noe Valley. He said he’d heard about this fabulous new restaurant in Noe Valley. I laughed and said, ‘That’s like two blocks from my place,’ and he was like, ‘You’re kidding. We have to go to this place.’ Then he sort of changed the subject, told me he was having the best time ever, or words to that effect. I thought the same thing. I was having a wonderful time.”