“Who was that?” asked Carl flipping through the pages of a book. The book contained the names of Jessica’s relatives.
“Jessica,” replied Shirley calmly, “She’s mad at me!”
Carl looked up, he looked into her eyes. Her gaze met his, she searched his face.
“She wants me to meet this friend of her’s, she says his Evan, bla bla bla. I told her I won’t be there. Its so unusual for me not to be with her.” Sadness swept over her. She swallowed hard and blinked back the tears. “I miss her so much. I had to lie, told her I’m in LA visiting my parents.”
“Won’t you call your parents to let them know?” His gaze never leaving hers.
She smiled lightly, “No, Jessica trusts me much. And I can’t tell my parents lies. Don’t wanna lose the trust it took me years to earn.” She felt so lonely. She’d never been away from Jessica since they’d met. Now, she was and she was with a Detective who’d laugh over any mistake she made. She just wanted to go back and live her life, forget about hunting Jessica’s killer-to-be. No, no, she musn’t go back, she’d rather and lose Jessica’s trust just to protect her.
Carl knew how she felt. She’d risked a lot to be with him now, trying to protect her friend. He’d made fun of her and made her felt like a baby. He was just making things worse for her. He felt sorry. He gave her an I’m-sorry look, when she tossed her head to gaze at him.
“What?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, so sorry.” he reached for her.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about.” she bowed her head. “I brought you into this. I should be apologising, I-”
“No, no,” he cut her off. “I know this is very important for you and I’m not making things any easier. I’m sorry.” He took her hands into his and pressed them. “I know you feel lonely and sad. Know that you’re not alone, I am with you, we’ll go through this together. While you risk your life protecting your friend, I’ll risk my life for you.” He threw her into his arms. “I’m here, don’t be afraid.”
She held on to him, tight, so tight. Never wanting to let him go. She sobbed. “Thank you, Carl. Thanks so much. I promise-”
“No promises. Just assure me that we’ll get to the bottom of this together”
She smiled. She’d been waiting for those words. Now they were out, she hugged him more tightly. “Just you and I, together till the end.”
Releasing himself from the embrace, he smiled at her, “Lets go have breakfast.”
**** **** **** ****
“When do we start?” Shirley asked Carl as she finished her glass of wine. They both had a sumptous meal. Carl used the servet to wipe food particles from his lips before giving Shirley an answer.
He cleared his throat. “Shirley, this is going to be very difficult. You know that, right?”
Remembering what she had to do to get there, to be with him, to save Jessica, Shirley knew it would be so difficult and dangerous. It could cost her life.
“Yes, I do. Its gonna be dangerous as well.” She replied confidently.
“Are you sure you are prepared?” Carl asked again. He was so worried about her.
“I am ready for anything.”
“Do you know how to use a gun?”
“A gun?” she repeated.
“Yeah.” Carl leaned backwards to rest his back on the dining chair. “You’ve gotta learn how to use a gun. Its to protect yourself when necessay. I could teach you.”
Shirley sighed, then leaned forward. “I’ll let you teach me. But I never dreamt of holding a gun. I dread hearing the sounds of bullets in the air, even killing someone. I’ll do all for Jessica’s sake.”
“Pretty nice speech.” Carl drawled.
Ignoring his remark, she continued. “How long will it take?”
“Depends on you, on how fast you learn and catch things. I think it’ll take us two or three days, your brain works fast.”
“Hmm”, she scoffed. “Thanks anyway. Lets begin now, we shouldn’t waste time.”
“Yes ma’am.” Carl got off his chair, moved to Shirley’s, took her arm and they strolled out of the restaurant together. As he opened the car door to sit down, he said, “We’ve got to find a shooting range. You’ll learn quicker there.”
The door leading to Jessica’s office opened, a handsome man smartly dressed in denim jean and a light blue longsleeved shirt walked in.
Jessica looked up and smiled. “Hey, Evan what you doing here?”
Evan frowned. “Is that how you greet your visitors?” He sat down, univited.
Jessica laughed. “Uhm, ya most of the time, especially univited guests.” She laughed again.
Evan gave her a questioning look.
“Don’t give me that look. I didn’t do anything wrong.” She said looking innocent.
Evan kept staring at her.
“All right, all right, come here,” She opened her arms.
Evan got up delightedly and welcomed her embrace.
The door made a sound which abruptly ended the warm embrace. “Who’s there?” asked Jessica terrified. She walked to the door, opened it and found no one around, she heard some light footsteps. Few minutes later, she heard nothing. “Evan, Evan,” Jessica called breathlessly as she ran back to her office.
Evan hadn’t followed her out, he just wanted to see her frightened.
As she got to the door, she locked it and ran to him, holding him so tight. “He….he…..” she stammered whimpering. She held on to him, Evan didn’t let go of her. “He was here Evan, he came to kill me.”
“Shhh! Hush, calm down, okay?” said Evan patting her back.
Jessica freed herself from Evan’s hold. Her face turned pale, her lips quivering, her hands trembling. “Evan, he was here,” the tears came down slowly. She sobbed.
“Who was here?” Evan asked puzzled.
Jessica paced around her office for several minutes. She turned to Evan when she was done, “The man that almost killed me the other night-”
“What night? What are you talking about?”
Jessica went dumb for the next five minutes, her eyes dropped to the ground, she kept biting her fingers, not saying a word.
Evan was getting impatient. He didn’t know how to deal with girls like Jessica, the emotional type. She was just too drammatic, easily scared and acting like a child. He couldn’t wait any longer. She’d better drop this attitude or he’d yell at her and walk away.
But he couldn’t. How could he even think of doing such a thing? He had to stay and play the good guy, be her hero, get the b—h to marry him, get the money and kill her. This ain’t easy at all, he thought.
Grudgingly, he raised her head up placing his fingers, the thumb and index on her chin. His gaze met hers? “Jess honey, tell me, what night are you talking about?
Jessica turned away from him. “You don’t know? Oh, yes you don’t know. I can’t say, I can’t, can’t can’t!” she walked back to him, held the collar of his shirt, shaking him, he didn’t move. “Take me outta here Evan, I wanna go home.”
Jessica was rumpling his favorite shirt. Forcefully, he took her hands off him and shook her violently. “Jessica!” bellowed Evan. “Don’t touch me that way! What in the name of God is wrong with you? Let go off me!” He pushed her away.
Jessica really had it with Evan. It was her weak moment, the moment she needed someone to be there for her. When she needed someone to talk to.
With the tears falling from her eyes more heavily this time, she stormed out of her office and the hospital. She must have heard her name being called by different persons, she couldn’t even recall their voices. She didn’t look back, she carried on, cried more and more till she was out of the hospital. As she got to the street, she started running.
Isaac sat on the bonnet of Evan’s car, he sighted Jessica running and went after her.
“Jessica!” he shouted.
She didn’t look back, she kept on running.
“Jessica!” he called out her name again, this time, running to catch up with her.
She looked back, saw him and increased her speed.
“Shit!” Isaac shouted. He increased his speed too. He could outrun her and catch her. All he needed was focus and determination. She’s a pretty good runner, he thought.
“This is the reciever,” Carl said pointing to the reciever of the small caliber .22 pistol he was holding. He tossed the gun and caught it with a finger. “Here’s the magazine catch, the trigger, trigger guard, slide stop…..” Carl continued lecturing Shirley.
Hands on hips, Shirley gawked at Carl and the gun. She wasn’t a bit interested in his boring lecture, all she wanted was to know how to shoot and not the parts of a gun. How will you know how to handle one if you don’t know the parts? A voice in her head asked. Immediately, she pushed those thoughts aside.
“Darling, whatsup?” asked Carl smiling.
Not being able to pretend to enjoy the boring lecture, Shirley sighed and was about to speak, Carl interrupted.
“Uh-uh, I don’t want you complaining like a baby. I left home ’cause of this.”
Shocked at his mocking statement, Shirley exploded, “First of all, I was not about to complain or whine. Secondly, I’m not the reason you left your home.”
Carl was making a face, wanting to say a few words, she held up her index finger, “You know what? I’m so bored of your lecture…. Its not fun and interesting, I’d prefer staring at the wall to listening to your blabbings. Just teach me the main thing and not this rubbish, okay? No protests, I’m the one in charge now!” she concluded.
Carl couldn’t say no or even utter a word. She’d won and he couldn’t do a thing except follw her lead. She’s in charge now. He liked this other side of her though he’d never seen it before. He was happy she knew her rights and could speak up for herself.
“What do you mean by she knows her rights?” He hit his head and shook it. “She’s a lawyer, a good one.” He reminded himself.
