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Checking the few items she’d brought with her from Chicago, she chose a knee-length jersey dress. It was a shade of gray that enhanced the clear-blue of her eyes. Leaving her hair to fall in loose disarray around her shoulders, Jess applied a touch of mascara and a strawberry-red lipstick. Satisfied with the end result, she wore a long necklace made of turquoise stones, matched the dress with a pair of black ankle-length leather boots, and a black purse. Humming a tuneless song, she then bundled up in her down jacket and drove towards the restaurant she’d noticed earlier downtown on her way back from the fitness center. Its wood façade and the furniture she’d glimpsed while looking into the two wide front windows, reminded her of the cabins belonging to the early settlers she’d seen at Pioneer Park.
As soon as she entered, a waitress came towards Jess with a smile. The spacious interior of the restaurant was only partially crowded, probably because it was only ten past six in the evening, but the general atmosphere was lively but relaxed. Music came out of several loudspeakers strategically placed along the beamed ceiling. Everybody seemed to be having a good time. Content with the wise choice she’d made, Jess followed the waitress to a rounded wooden table which might’ve comfortably accommodated four people. She consulted the menu, placed her order, and only then started to look at her surroundings with interest.
Her curiosity was piqued by a group of people crowding in front of the bar at the opposite end of the restaurant from where she sat. They looked like friends out to have some fun together. They certainly were loud. Her gaze wandered then to another part of the restaurant, where the stuffed head of a moose kept a vigil eye on the family of four sitting at the table below it. She was about to turn her wandering eyes towards the pool table, placed slightly behind her on her right, when her field vision was momentarily blurred by two police officers who’d just entered the restaurant from the front door. Wondering what reason might have brought them there, Jess followed their progress, cranking her neck to better see what they were doing when with purposeful treads they walked to the bar. Had they come in to arrest somebody? Who? Excitement made her wriggle impatiently on her chair. It felt like being part of a movie.
The officers had no sooner joined the noisy party, than they disappeared almost completely from sight, as if swallowed by the people’s enthusiasm.
Trepidation made Jess knock over the tall glass of water the waitress had just placed in front of her, spilling part of its contents on the cloth covering the table top. Embarrassed, she straightened the glass then set it safely away from her. Just then, the two officers emerged from the crowd in front of the bar, pushing a handcuffed man in front of them.
Her heart missed a beat. Blinking to make sure the man she saw walking behind the cops wasn’t a hallucination, Jess hurriedly left her table, sloshing the rest of the water out the glass. Reece was following the two officers holding a sobbing woman protectively enfolded in the circle of his arms. Even though Jess was trying to convince herself there must be a logical explanation to what she was witnessing, jealousy and worry battled inside her, raising her blood pressure.
“Jess, what are you doing here?” Reece inquired, just as surprised to see her, stopping for a moment to look at her.
“I was having dinner,” she vaguely answered, more interested in the woman in his arms than in what he was saying.
Reece Hilton was a dead man. She was beautiful. A frail creature from another era. Her auburn hair curled in natural, long stands, reaching just under her shoulder blades. Her round, pale face was covered with skin so white it was almost translucent. Her nose, slightly upturned, and her slender body gave her an air of elf-like fragility bound to bring out the protector out in any man.
“You two are coming?” one of the officers asked, impatiently looking at Reece.
He resumed walking, still shielding the elf in his arms. Jess followed pursuit uninvited. The Pacific Ocean would dry over before she left Reece unguarded withthatwoman.
* * *
Reece switchedon the lights inside the cabin while Jess closed the front door. The clock on her phone indicated it was 2:14 a.m.
“I think a cup of coffee is in order,” she offered, moving towards the kitchen while Reece took it upon himself to rekindle the ashes in the fireplace.
By the time she had driven to the police station, Jess had been asked what connection she had with any of the parties involved. She’d told the officer she was with Reece, but when asked if she’d witnessed any of the goings on, Jess had to admit that from her table she had seen nothing. The officer at the reception desk, had then asked her to please wait sitting in an uncomfortable plastic chair outside the sheriff’s office, where the handcuffed man, Reece, and the elf had been taken, to explain their positions and give their statements. In the four odd hours it had taken the police to clarify the matter, no one had offered her an explanation. When asked, a young officer who had come out of the sheriff’s office empty handed returning a few minutes later with several coffee cups, had simply brushed off her questions with a vague “We’re still collecting depositions,” leaving Jess to conjure up every kind of scenario in her mind.
Now they were back at the cabin. The handcuffed man and the beautiful woman were still at the police station, while Reece was set free to go. During the ride back, he’d offered no explanations, and Jess had asked none, preferring to leave Reece the time to sort out his thoughts. He had yet to start talking, and since the four walls around them provided all the privacy and the absence of distraction they needed to discuss such a delicate issue, Jess felt she was due an explanation. A sound one, for that matter.
“How was your day?” Reece inquired, speaking first.
Jess mentally ground her teeth. He was buying time.
“Good. I went to a fitness center, met with a neighbor and we spent the afternoon together.” She purposely didn’t specify the sex of the person she was with. If Reece truly cared to know, he would ask.
“Did you eat anything?”
Okay, maybe hedidcare, but something else –like the elf-like creature he’d escorted out of the restaurant, was on his mind.
“What do you think?”
Reece looked at her, hearing, but not understanding the reason for her catty disposition.
“Same here.”
“Frozen quiche or a sandwich?” she asked, investigating the refrigerator’s contents.
“Whatever you’re having.”
“Quiche. I won’t have to clean up afterwards.”
“Fine by me.”
Silence followed their exchange. Jess got busy with the coffee and the food. Reece sat at the table.
“Ten more minutes and it’ll be ready,” she informed him a while later, handing him a steaming cup of coffee. She sat on the other chair, facing him. Her eyes searched, locked, and held his. “How wasyourday? And more to the point, where did you spend the night?” she asked with a harsh edge in her voice.
