When I awoke I found David sitting with his body hunched forward on the edge of the bed. He'd been intently staring at the floor, and from his occasional blinking, it was apparent that he was processing something in his mind. He also appeared to be shaking a bit. I reached up and glided my hand over his bare back to jar his attention. "Good morning."
He turned his head sideways and looked at me from the corner of his eye. He gloomily and with little enthusiasm replied, "Morning."
"Is something bothering you?"
He pursed his lips, and made a fist of his hand as he rested his head on it. "Work issues."
As I recalled his story from the night before, I got the feeling that this wasn't all that was plaguing him. "Don't dwell too much," I advised for what it was worth. "I know what you're going through is stressing you out, but don't internalize it."
"That's easier said than done," he said as he squinched his eyebrows together. "Everything is always so hard for me."
"It doesn't hurt to at least try," I said. "It's difficult, but you always have me. Sometimes a listening ear is all one needs." He looked back at me with a faint smile, then turned his eyes again to the floor. My eyes wandered to the prominent tattoo of the 8-pointed star on his neck. I tried to discern the symbol inside the star, but the ink had long faded. "Can I ask you a question?"
Seeming perplexed, he nodded yes.
"That tattoo …," I said running my finger over the outline of it. "Is it supposed to mean something?"
With a slight grin, he said, "I was a teenager when I got it. It's the Star of Ishtar. She's the Babylonian goddess of war and love." His grin became wider now, and he scratched his head a bit. "I was into mythology and that kind of stuff when I was kid. Like these Zodiac symbols on my fingers," he said now holding his right hand flat out before me.
"That's cool," I replied while imagining a younger version of David reading stories like The Odyssey. Perhaps it was a way of escaping reality, and I couldn't blame him one bit. "So, you have the day off today, too, right? Unless you have something else to do, I think we should get away for a while and drive to the next town. I still haven't had a chance to do some shopping, anyway. Something always keeps coming up."
"Yeah, and I don't expect to be called in today," he said as he put his shirt back on. "That kid, Alex Jones, he's still missing but there's not much I can do about it for now."
"Exactly," I said affirming his train his thought. "You know, I was serious when I told you last night that I wanted you to move in."
He didn't immediately say anything and didn't show any kind of emotion or hint of one. I always got nervous when he reacted like this: it was as if he blanked out or altogether stopped thinking. It reminded me of the hollowness one feels like when they're about to lose something, and can't do anything about it. "It's been a few years since I've lived with someone," he finally said.
"I know you're used to being on your own, but if it makes you feel better, it's been a while for me, too," I said. "Just think about it. There's certainly room in this house for one more."
"I think you'd find living with me to be quite interesting," he snorted.
"You say that like you're a monster or something," I replied with a titter. Again with the blank stare, he turned up the corner of his mouth and shrugged his shoulders. "Tell you what, decide by the end of the week. If by then you still haven't made up your mind, then we can let it go. Does that sound like a deal?"
He bobbed his head in agreement. "Yeah."
Inside I felt like a cheerleader jumping up and down with pom-poms and chanting some upbeat anthem. "Good," I said with a smile before I kissed him. He surprised me when he lowered his body onto mines, and held my arms up over my head.
"You're not in a hurry, are you?" He playfully asked as he softly grazed my neck with his lips.
In a broken voice in between giggles and spoken words, I said: "We have all the time in the world."
***
"Whew, it's cold," I uttered while blowing air into the palms of my hands to warm them some. Of course, it didn't work. We'd just arrived at the shopping mall in the closest town, which was only slightly more populated. At least it appeared to have more action and scenery.
"This isn't Miami," David cheerfully said. "And that sweater won't hold you for long. Here, wear this." He took off his hooded black coat and wrapped it around my shoulders.
"Aren't you going to be cold now?" I asked looking at his thin long-sleeved black sweater.
He scoffed and said, "I'm used to it."
Inside the mall looked like any run-of-the-mill small-sized commercial shopping mall. Still, it was definitely not like the ones I was used to back home. David put his hands in his pants' pockets, and looked all about at his surroundings, similar to the way a tourist would if they were visiting a place like New York. "When was the time you were here?" I asked.
"Uh," he hesitated. "I don't know, maybe when I was 10 or 11?"
"That's a long time," I said in retrospective. "You don't get out much, do you?"
He double blinked once and turned his gaze down. "I know, I need to get a life," he said with a smirk. "I just work all the time."
"Hey, you do have a life, okay? Lots of people care for you," I said as I grabbed his hand in mines and held it.
So, we carried on. The stores didn't carry exactly the kind of clothing I preferred to wear, but it was all good enough. It's not like I had many choices anyway. I gravitated towards the jackets and coats first as I didn't own anything useful for the cold weather. It never got this cool down in South Florida. "You're not going to get anything for yourself?" I asked David when we were waiting our turn in the checkout line.
"Nah," he said as his eyes glazed over the various trinkets and charms inside the glass display. "Actually," he said now turning to one of the salesclerks behind the counter. "Can I take a closer look at that bracelet over there?"
The salesclerk obliged and opened the glass display, and pulled out a golden bracelet with two interlinked hearts. David examined it closely, then, he grabbed my wrist and wrapped the bracelet around it. What was he doing? "You can get it engraved, too. Most couples put their initials over the hearts," the clerk said.
"Um," I unsurely said as I pondered the piece of jewelry.
"You don't like it?" David asked.
"It's not that, I do like it, but are you sure about this?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" He asked with a raised brow. He reached around and pulled out his wallet. "Let me give you this gift."
"Well, thank you," I said. You can't get anymore official than this, my inner voice let me know.
Once we had paid for our things, we continued to walk around some more in the mall. This could've felt more normal except that it was the first time I'd gone out with David to a public place. He must have felt that way, too, especially since it seemed like he hadn't gone out just for pleasure in a while.
"Would you like to have lunch here?" David asked.
"You read my mind," I replied.
As we turned the corner to head over to the food court, the figure of a small woman walking towards us amongst the crowd caught my attention. As she got closer to us, I was able to make out her thick glasses and frizzy grey hair that was pulled back into a bun. I tensed up and could feel my heart palpitate as soon as I realized that it was none other than Holly Jones. "David," I said pulling his arm.
"Yeah?" He followed my gaze, and soon saw Holly, too. "Shit!" He uttered. "What is she doing here?"
"Do you think she saw us?"
"Probably," David said with a disappointed look. "Let's act like we didn't notice her."
But it was evident that she had already noticed us. She was looking straight ahead at the both of us with a defiant, and irritating, smirk plastered across her face. "Detective Loki," Holly exclaimed once she was standing across from us. Her eyes went down to our intertwined hands.
"Hello, Holly," David said with a straight face.
"Emma, it's so good to see you."
"You, too, Holly," I said with a gulp. That was the biggest lie I had told in a long time.
David suddenly moved his position and stood in front of me, blocking my sight of Holly. "You doing some shopping, Holly?" David interrogatively asked. I stood on my tiptoes to look at Holly from above his shoulder. She was stern and stood with her arms folded across her chest. In all, Holly did not seem pleased to see us.
"Yes, that's right, for both myself and my nephew. I'm sure he'll turn up any minute now, don't you think, detective?" Holly asked in a cynical manner.
"We're all working hard to find him," David said.
"It certainly doesn't look like it," Holly said as she glanced at me. David pulled me further in behind him with his arm. He was so tall that now all I could see was his back.
"Hey," David started and raised one hand towards Holly. "There's no need for that attitude."
"Attitude? I'm just calling it the way I see it," Holly replied. Vexation reeked from her tone.
"We're trying to enjoy ourselves some. There's no need to ruin each other's day. I suggest we keep moving along, and forget about this. Okay?" David finished saying.
"Oh, is that what you think I should do, detective?" Holly sarcastically asked. "You're not the one who has to go home to find that the only family you have left is missing."
"Mrs. Jones," David said now getting more formal with Holly. "I'm working furiously to find Alex. Maybe he ran away. All I can tell you is that you need to have some patience. I've checked out every source that could possibly be involved. Just let me do my job. He's not the only one who is missing."
I silently cheered for David as he told it like it is. What did Holly think: that her nephew was the only important person in this case? The lives of two little girls were also at stake here.
I could hear Holly taking in a deep breath before she answered in that unwavering voice of hers, "Alex wouldn't run away. Look harder, detective. Maybe if you do that, you'll be able to find those girls quicker." With that, Holly started to walk away from us.
I recoiled in distaste at Holly's mention of the girls. That she was the one talking about them made the situation all the more disgusting. "Ooh, I can't stand her," I cried out as I stepped out from behind David. He, in turn, looked pensive and deeply lost in thought. "Is everything okay?"
"Uh, yeah," he said with a nod of his head as if he were trying to snap back to reality. "Didn't you catch that?"
"What do you mean?"
"She said 'look harder'," David said as he pinched his brows together and blinked a lot: a sure tell sign that he was analyzing something in his mind.
I didn't see the connection. "I don't think she meant anything by that other than the obvious."
He shook his head, and replied, "No, she was trying to say something. People don't just say things like that out of the blue."
"What are you trying to say?"
After a brief pause, he added at last: "She told me once that her husband walked off one day and never came back. The priest had the dead body of a supposed child killer in his basement. Bob Taylor kept drawing an indiscernible maze before he shot himself. There has to be a connection somewhere here between all these …" David's words trailed off as he withdrew into himself again.
"Um, David?" I called out as I tried to grab his attention by tugging slightly on his arm. "Let's grab some lunch, okay?"
"No, we have to get back. I think I know who has those girls."
*I don't own the characters Detective Loki and Holly Jones.*
Copyright © 2014 by CountingStars29
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.