Many of the characters within this story, and the universe they inhabit, are the intellectual property of Jason Katims Productions.
Roswell: Re-Imagined
Written by Horatio Jaxx
Chapter 31: Rising Trepidations
It was a quarter past ten on a Tuesday Morning when Jim Valenti entered the Crash-Down Café. The restaurant had yet to fill up with its lunch time crowd. There were only eight patrons inside who were either eating or waiting to be served. He strolled cautiously through the dining area, in his Sheriff uniform, taking note of the faces inside. After stopping in front of the bar he took a seat there and waited for a waitress to approach and request his order.
"I'll have a coffee, and could you tell Jeff Parker that Jim Valenti would like to speak to him if he's a got a minute."
She filled his coffee order first, with a smile, and then set off for the kitchen to fulfill his second request. Jim had no reason to believe that the waitress knew who he was despite the uniform. His only visit to the Crash-Down was on the day that Liz was shot there. He was accustomed to people recognizing him from pictures in the local papers, but he never assumed this to be the case. He learned from experience that a large population of people paid no attention to the news and often thought he was just another deputy.
The waitress returned less than a minute later and told him that Jeff was coming. Jeff Parker emerged from kitchen sporting a smile a couple of minutes later.
"How are you doing, Jim?" Jeff greeted pleasantly from the opposite side of the bar. "What can I do you for?"
Jeff Parker was dressed in a plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of jeans. This was his normal attire for work. Tall, six-feet four-inches; and thin, Jeff was a handsome man who looked to have been far more so in his past. As a teenager his primary preoccupation was music. The drums were his instruments of choice. His secondary preoccupation was girls. It was these two interests that kept him and Jim Valenti apart throughout high school. Jim, a dedicated athlete, had little interest in music and was only interested in girls one at a time.
"Sorry to bother you at work, Jeff," Jim countered politely. "I was hoping we could touch base on a few things if you have a couple of minutes to spare."
"Sure," Jeff quickly agreed with a mildly interested look. "Let's take a table."
Jeff walked quickly around the bar and led Jim to table that was sufficiently removed from all the other occupants of the restaurant.
"Is this an official visit?" Jeff inquired a second after they both were seated.
"Oh no," Jim quickly deflected with a slight wave of his hand. "This is more of a neighbor-to-neighbor chat," he corrected with a smile.
In reality this was more a personal visit than a professional one. Jim had chosen this time of day to speak with Jeff because he knew Liz would be at school. That was not a major factor in his visit, but he saw no reason to alert her that he was having meetings with her parents.
"Well, that's awfully neighborly of you, Sheriff," Jeff retorted with a grin.
Jim was equally amused by the comment and sported a wide smile in response to it. Two seconds later he commented about it.
"Hey, I'm just as surprised about the job as you are."
"I never said I was surprised," Jeff quickly spoke back with a smile. "You always did have that drive to excel."
"You see, that's where you're wrong," Jim corrected with a shake of his head. "You were the one with the drive to excel. I was always just trying to get over the hurdle in front of me. It never mattered to me what that hurdle was," he pondered out introspectively. After a second of thought he finished with a conclusion that he just came to, "I have a low tolerance for obstacles."
"Well, that mindset seems to have served you well," Jeff acknowledged with an affirmative nod of his head. "But I, on the other hand, never had that drive," he continued with a negative nod.
"You had the dream," Jim responded with an excited expression. "You had your music and your plan to be a rock star."
"Yeah, it was more dream than plan," Jeff mused back. "I was always in the moment back then," he continued in a confessing tone. "Enjoying life as it came, but we all have to give up our dreams at some point and get down to the business of managing our lives."
"Well, speaking as someone that never had a dream to pursue, I'm going to have to take your word for that," Jim grudgingly acquiesced.
"Well, here I am," Jeff tossed out with his hands extended palm up in front of him. "Managing a restaurant."
"Hey, there's not a day that goes by where I don't wish I had a small business of my own," Jim retaliated with a bewildered expression.
"Don't even try and make me believe that you would give up your job for this," Jeff rifled back with a grin.
"You have no idea what I have to put up with daily," Jim grinned back with a wave of his hands.
"Are you kidding me," Jeff countered with a shocked expression. "I deal with the general public all day, every day."
"Small potatoes my friend," Jim dismissed with a grin and a nod. "I have a line of people lined up to gnaw on my backside every day, some of whom are my superiors."
"Okay, I give up," Jeff surrendered with a laugh. "I guess we're all stuck with the lives we lead."
"Here, here," Jim agreed with a smile and nod.
"So, I know you didn't come here to reminisce," Jeff tossed out with a smile. "Is there something happening I should know about?"
Jeff had already dismissed the idea that Jim was there to report some bad news about his daughter. He knew his job as the Sheriff of Chaves County was too far removed from investigating juveniles for him to be there in his capacity as an officer of the law. And he also knew that if anything of a personal nature had happened with regards to Liz that would have been the first thing he mentioned.
"Actually," Jim began with an introspective pause. "That's my question to you."
"So, you are here to talk about Liz," Jeff concluded out loud. "What are you not telling me?" He questioned a second behind.
"Right now, my primary worry isn't Liz," Jim began cautiously. "I'm a little concerned for Amy DeLuca's daughter."
"Maria?" Jeff questioned back sharply.
Jim concurred with a nod as Jeff paused to comprehend that.
"Has something happened with Maria?" Jeff questioned a second later.
"Apparently she's been keeping company with Michael Guerin, the close friend of Max Evans," Jim explained reservedly. "They've been seen parking around Spring River Park. One of my officers had to chase them out of there last Saturday. Amy is a friend and I'm just trying to decide if I should put her on her guard. You know Amy?" Jim quickly questioned at the end.
"Yes," Jeff quickly confirmed. "She's in here once or twice a month I'd guess. She and Nancy are good friends."
Jeff paused to ponder that information and then asked a clarifying question.
"So, you're asking if we've seen anything that Amy should be concerned about."
Jim noted Jeff's confusion and quickly decided to clear things up for him.
"Kyle tells me that your daughter, along with Maria, Max Evans and this Michael Guerin kid have become a small clique at school. Kyle still likes Liz, and he worries about her. He thinks there's something going on between them that is improper. Now this could just be Kyle overreacting about being dumped, and I understand that. And I'm sorry if I'm worrying you. I've been debating with myself for two days now if I should even bring this up with you."
"No," Jeff quickly spoke up with an alarmed expression. "I want to hear this."
"You should know that I haven't heard anything about Liz and this Max Evans kid."
"Liz has been grounded ever since the White Sands thing," Jeff grumbled back with a look of grave concern.
"Well, that's one of the reasons why I thought I should talk to you," Jim continued in a soft voice. "The White Sands thing never made sense to me. I've never heard of teenagers driving one-hundred miles outside of the city just to go sightseeing. My instinct tells me that something else was going on there. And the fact that they're keeping this a secret makes me all the more concerned."
Jeff listened to Jim's thinking with great interest and growing concern.
"That, plus the close friendship between Max Evans and Michael Guerin," Jim continued to explain. "I just thought I should check to see if you've seen anything different about the way Maria or Liz have been acting. Like I said, Amy is a friend and I'm just trying to decide if I should say something to her or leave it alone."
"You think its drugs," Jeff questioned with a commanding inflection.
"I'm trying to rule that out," Jim confessed reluctantly.
"What about the test the Air Force did on that Max Evans boy?" Jeff demanded more than questioned.
"They lost the test results," Jim responded with a bewildered nod of his head.
"Sons of a bitch," Jeff grumbled in response.