Chapter 2
After school that day, I found Adam in the parking lot.
"Hey," I said, sidling up next to him. "Can I ask you a big favor?" I gave him my best smile, hoping that he wouldn't object too much to where I wanted him to drive me to.
In the end, Adam only put up a small fight about taking me, but eventually he relented, which is why, twenty minutes later, I was standing at the front desk of the Carmel Police Station, wearing what I hoped was my best smile.
The woman behind the desk looked at me through a pair of glasses that rested on the tip of her nose. I'm not kidding. She looked like a librarian or something. You know, the kind that gets all mad at you when you're talking too loudly in the library.
"May I help you?"
I glanced over my shoulder at Adam. Biting my lip, I said, "I need to talk to Detective Arnold."
The woman directed me toward an office door, where she told me I could wait for Detective Arnold, who wasn't in at the moment.
I turned to Adam who had followed me to the door. "I need to talk to him for awhile," I explained to him. "Do you mind staying out here?"
He didn't, so I entered the office and closed the door behind me. It hadn't changed since the last time I'd been there. There was a large oak desk in the center, and it had papers stacked on top in messy piles, and pictures of what I assumed were his wife and baby boy.
Detective Arnold entered just then, so I really didn't have much time to ponder any of this, and it wasn't like I found it terribly important.
"Miss Simon," he greeted. "What can I do for you?"
I forced an uneasy smile. "I think Paul Slater's alive."
The detective blinked at me for a long moment. It wasn't exactly the response I was expecting, let me tell you. "Miss Simon, that's impossible."
I stared at him. "What? I saw him with my own eyes, Detective. It was no more than a few hours ago. Paul's definitely alive."
He just shook his head. "I'm sorry, but you must be mistaken. We found his body and it has already been identified by his family." He leaned forward, planting his elbows on the desktop. "You probably only saw someone who resembles Paul Slater."
I shook my head. What was wrong with him? He shouldn't be acting like what I was telling him was nothing. For God's sake, didn't he care that I had seen a convicted killer? He had to.
But, as I soon found out, that wasn't the case. Which was why, twenty minutes later, when Adam dropped me off at home, I was in an especially bad mood. And when I got up to my room, my day got even worse.
Okay, let me just say that, normally, I'm very happy to see Jesse sitting on my daybed. But today was different. Not only had I found out that my nemesis, Paul Slater, was alive, but no one would believe me. And Jesse just had be there, looking so damn hot and the opening in his shirt-which, of course, showed off his abs-looked so inviting. I'm telling you, my life is not fair.
Not that I minded the way Jesse looked at me just then. He had this big smile on his face, you know, the kind where you could totally tell he was happy to see me.
"Querida," he said when he noticed the expression on my face, "is something wrong?" His smile turned to a look of concern as I dropped down onto my bed across from him.
"No," I mumbled. Don't get me wrong, I really did want to tell Jesse about Paul. I know that he at least would believe me. The thing is, though, that I know how angry he'd get. He hates Paul just as much-and sometimes I think more-as me. But that just wouldn't be a good idea. Because, as much as I hated to admit it, Paul knew a lot more about the whole mediator thing than I did, and he was probably the only person who could tell me how to use my new "powers." That and I wanted to know how he'd managed to survive.
That's why I didn't tell Jesse about him. See, if Jesse knew that Paul was still alive, he'd probably kill him. Not only had Paul tried to kill his girlfriend-me-but he also used Jesse to do it. That's not exactly the thing that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy about a guy.
So, when Jesse said, in his silky voice, "Are you certain?" I just nodded.
For once, Jesse actually left the subject alone, which surprised me. I decided to let it go for right then, figuring I had enough to deal with at the moment.
Maybe I should have paid more attention to what Jesse wouldn't say.
After school that day, I found Adam in the parking lot.
"Hey," I said, sidling up next to him. "Can I ask you a big favor?" I gave him my best smile, hoping that he wouldn't object too much to where I wanted him to drive me to.
In the end, Adam only put up a small fight about taking me, but eventually he relented, which is why, twenty minutes later, I was standing at the front desk of the Carmel Police Station, wearing what I hoped was my best smile.
The woman behind the desk looked at me through a pair of glasses that rested on the tip of her nose. I'm not kidding. She looked like a librarian or something. You know, the kind that gets all mad at you when you're talking too loudly in the library.
"May I help you?"
I glanced over my shoulder at Adam. Biting my lip, I said, "I need to talk to Detective Arnold."
The woman directed me toward an office door, where she told me I could wait for Detective Arnold, who wasn't in at the moment.
I turned to Adam who had followed me to the door. "I need to talk to him for awhile," I explained to him. "Do you mind staying out here?"
He didn't, so I entered the office and closed the door behind me. It hadn't changed since the last time I'd been there. There was a large oak desk in the center, and it had papers stacked on top in messy piles, and pictures of what I assumed were his wife and baby boy.
Detective Arnold entered just then, so I really didn't have much time to ponder any of this, and it wasn't like I found it terribly important.
"Miss Simon," he greeted. "What can I do for you?"
I forced an uneasy smile. "I think Paul Slater's alive."
The detective blinked at me for a long moment. It wasn't exactly the response I was expecting, let me tell you. "Miss Simon, that's impossible."
I stared at him. "What? I saw him with my own eyes, Detective. It was no more than a few hours ago. Paul's definitely alive."
He just shook his head. "I'm sorry, but you must be mistaken. We found his body and it has already been identified by his family." He leaned forward, planting his elbows on the desktop. "You probably only saw someone who resembles Paul Slater."
I shook my head. What was wrong with him? He shouldn't be acting like what I was telling him was nothing. For God's sake, didn't he care that I had seen a convicted killer? He had to.
But, as I soon found out, that wasn't the case. Which was why, twenty minutes later, when Adam dropped me off at home, I was in an especially bad mood. And when I got up to my room, my day got even worse.
Okay, let me just say that, normally, I'm very happy to see Jesse sitting on my daybed. But today was different. Not only had I found out that my nemesis, Paul Slater, was alive, but no one would believe me. And Jesse just had be there, looking so damn hot and the opening in his shirt-which, of course, showed off his abs-looked so inviting. I'm telling you, my life is not fair.
Not that I minded the way Jesse looked at me just then. He had this big smile on his face, you know, the kind where you could totally tell he was happy to see me.
"Querida," he said when he noticed the expression on my face, "is something wrong?" His smile turned to a look of concern as I dropped down onto my bed across from him.
"No," I mumbled. Don't get me wrong, I really did want to tell Jesse about Paul. I know that he at least would believe me. The thing is, though, that I know how angry he'd get. He hates Paul just as much-and sometimes I think more-as me. But that just wouldn't be a good idea. Because, as much as I hated to admit it, Paul knew a lot more about the whole mediator thing than I did, and he was probably the only person who could tell me how to use my new "powers." That and I wanted to know how he'd managed to survive.
That's why I didn't tell Jesse about him. See, if Jesse knew that Paul was still alive, he'd probably kill him. Not only had Paul tried to kill his girlfriend-me-but he also used Jesse to do it. That's not exactly the thing that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy about a guy.
So, when Jesse said, in his silky voice, "Are you certain?" I just nodded.
For once, Jesse actually left the subject alone, which surprised me. I decided to let it go for right then, figuring I had enough to deal with at the moment.
Maybe I should have paid more attention to what Jesse wouldn't say.