Happy birthday, Daniel

Chapter 8

Daniel continued to attract the attention of his female students at his party. When one of them found out that Kate had been a former student of his, they immediately clustered over to her, wanting to know what Dr. Pierce had been like back then. Then when they had moved on, others stopped by to have a word with Daniel.

"Hey there, birthday boy!" one of the faculty members declared as others came by with their short greetings.

"Enjoy your day, Daniel!"

"Keep the drinks flowing, buddy!"

"You sure know a lot of friends!"

"Dr. Pierce, come over and meet my..."

Throughout the many well wishes, Daniel still had in mind that Hilda Jones was here Jones. His eyes worriedly darted from one side of the room to the other. Kate was nearby and when she tried to leave, he reached out and grabbed her arm with a steady grip.

"Don't leave me, Kate," he pleadingly whispered

"Daniel," she lightly patted his hand that was holding her arm, "Don't worry, I'm here for you!"

They started to mull around the crowd together, trying to get a glimpse of SedanLady. They were now standing alone at the punch bowl, covertly scanning the room.

Daniel had leaned in, "Do you see her?"

Kate craned her neck, left, then right, "Not yet, but there's so many people at your party!" She then turned and with a jesting tone, added, "So Daniel, how do you feel now about having a party thrown in your honor?"

He shrugged, "It's not bad. The hard part is having to be in a good mood at all times."

Kate grinned as she tilted her head, "You won't admit it to yourself, but I bet you're actually enjoying yourself all this attention at your birthday party."

Daniel continued to scan, "And so...is this the part where you tell me how I will forever remember this very special moment?"

"Perhaps," Kate reasoned, "after all, no one ever reflects back on their life and remembers the time they got a good night sleep, do they?"

"I do," Daniel stated honestly.

Kate laughed, "Oh, Dan-iel..."

Just then, two people walked by him to wish the best, causing him to force a smile.

"The party is fine, but I'm not sure I like all this attention," he admitted to Kate, as others smiled or waved when he looked their way, "I feel as if I were a prize pig at the county fair."

"Don't worry," she whispered back, "The people here? They're harmless. It's like a dog who chases a car. He likes looking at the car but he's not interested in driving it!"

Daniel looked confused, "I hope I'm not the car or the dog...I want to be the stop sign."

Kate's smile became wider.

So entrenched were they in their interaction, they had stopped looking for Hilda Jones until she was suddenly by their side. Just like that. Out of nowhere. Her red curly hair seemed even more unruly than usual and her eyes were like little green buttons set deep in a porcelain freckled face. She came right up to Daniel.

"Hey..." her tone sounded emotionless as she watched him with unblinking eyes, "Good party."

Daniel was held speechless by Hilda Jones's sudden appearance. It was up to Kate, therefore, to start the conversation. She smiled lightly and introduced herself to Hilda, who was too busy looking around and didn't seem to take notice of Kate.

"Hello, I'm Kate," Kate greeted politely, "Nice to meet you."

Hilda tore her eyes away from what was happening at the party to glance at Kate, "You're kinda pretty."

Kate uncomfortably shrugged, her cheeks slightly colored, "Thank you, Miss. Jones."

Hilda Jones seemed slightly stunned that Kate knew her name, "You know me?"

"I know Max Lewicki was the one who invited you here," Kate explained, "And I've seen you before in front of Dr. Pierce's residence."

"Meant no harm," she said, cryptically, her eyes now looking throughout the room again while Daniel shot Kate a puzzled expression.

"Um, Ms. Jones," Daniel decided to try the direct approach, "is there a reason why you're watching me or my house?"

She didn't look at him, "No, but it's a free street."

The situation seemed to get more and more awkward.

"Of course it is," Kate interjected, giving her a reassuring smile, "Are you... new here, perhaps? Looking for a place to reside?"

Hilda stared blankly at Kate, "I can figure things out myself," she merely said as she continued to look around.

It was obvious Hilda was losing interest in their conversation.

Daniel cleared his throat, "Why are you-"

"I must go." she suddenly announced, not looking at either of them.

Daniel and Kate exchanged baffled looks.

"But you've just arrived!" Kate stated the obvious.

Hilda didn't seem to hear her, "Goodbye.." then she turned towards Daniel's way, "and you? You're okay."

Daniel looked thoroughly puzzled. Then before either one of them could stop her, Hilda Jones had turned and left, leaving the door opened as she disappeared into the night.

"Well, I'd like to say I've seen stranger," Kate surmised after Hilda's departure, "but, honestly, I haven't."

"Consider yourself lucky," Daniel stated, "You were at least considered pretty by her, whereas I was merely o-kay."

"Correction," countered Kate, "I was kinda pretty, remember?"

Daniel shook his head, "She made someone like me seem almost normal."

Kate looked over at the front door, the last place they had seen Hilda Jones, "She definitely was a walking oddity," she commented before asking Daniel, "So what's your take on her?"

He scowled slightly, "She did not seem fearful of the people or a new situation, so I doubt she suffers from a social anxiety disorder. And with her lack of eye contract and social graces, I could almost diagnose her as being autistic, but I didn't notice any repetitive patterns of behavior associated with that neurological disorder," he analyzed, "So I suppose in non-clinical terms, she is what is known as a weird-o."

Daniel had stated it so seriously, it made Kate laugh.

They had no more time to theorize about Hilda Jones' strange behavior, for the lights were suddenly dimmed and the noise died down. Then Max appeared with a large lit up cake. People oohed and awwed and immediately began surrounding Daniel and singing happy birthday to him. As the cake was placed on the table in front of him. Daniel had a sheepish look about him when the cheers erupted after the song.

"Speech! Speech!" various people were saying.

The female students were clapping and chanting in unison, "Yay, Dr. Pierce! Yay, Dr. Pierce! Yay, Dr. Pierce!..."

Daniel froze slightly, until he felt a hand on his arm. He looked over and Kate was giving him an encouraging smile.

"Say a few words, Daniel," she whispered, "it would be nice if you did."

Daniel cleared his throat as everyone quieted down and waited for the guest of honor to speak.

"It's not like me to be the center of attention..." he began and then immediately added, "Oh wait! I'm in front of a classroom every day!" he exclaimed, amid some chuckles, "Anyway, I want to thank everyone for coming here to remind me that I'm worth celebrating. I realize now that every birthday from this day forward will signify another year I've spent among friends and colleagues. Thank you for your kind wishes, for spending this particular birthday with me, and I look forward to having the maximum number of parties in the future, as long as all of you will join me in celebrating them!"

His impromptu speech was met with clapping and cheers, especially coming from Kate. She appreciated that Daniel spoke from his heart. He could not have endeared himself more to her.

She leaned over to him, "Now make a wish and blow out the candles."

Daniel looked at the candles.

He closed his eyes to make a wish; his very first birthday wish. He needed to make it good, but he drew a blank. For some reason, the idea of wishing he'd never have to be forced to go into outer space by himself entered his mind. Probably because he had wished that often as a boy. Well, if it was good enough then, it should be good enough now. "No outer space" he requested, and then added, "let me stay grounded with Kate." Then he opened his eyes and looked at the cake again.

"There's so many candles on my cake here." joked Daniel lightly, "that it should be a fire hazard!"

Everyone laughed.

Then taking a deep breath, Daniel leaned down towards the cake. In one breath, all the candles were blown out, with enthusiastic clapping surrounding him.

And as Daniel looked around at all the joyous faces, he realized that having to dress up, to dance, to make an impromptu speech, to blow out the candles and to deal with a party crowd all added up to him having a wonderful time. Especially the dancing with Kate and, of course, the impromptu kiss. In other words, he had the best time ever. Even SedanLady's arrival seemed to be harmless. And this great birthday party was all due to Lewicki.

He now turned to his loyal, thoughtful assistant.

"Thank you, Max," he sincerely stated, "for everything."

Max acknowledged, "Glad to do it, Doc."

People stayed a while, but by 10:50 pm, Max was informing everyone it was time to leave. They all merrily went on their way, making sure to say one last goodbye to Daniel. When the last of them had departed, Kate had begun to help with the clean up. Lewicki would hear none of that.

"Let me do the clean up, Kate," Lewicki insisted to Kate, "You'll just be in the way."

"Oh, I don't mind at all, Max," Kate stated.

But Lewicki stopped her, "Nonsense! It's a beautiful night for a walk, wouldn't you say, Doc?"

Max Lewicki, the matchmaker.

Daniel and Kate exchanged glances and with Lewicki urging them on, it didn't take much to convince them.

.

It was a lovely, unusually mildly fall night, with plenty of stars and a full moon. Surprisingly, the first thing they noticed was from across the road, they saw Hilda Jones pacing back and forth, as if she were waiting for someone.

"I hope you're not going to suggest we go over and talk to her again," Daniel announced.

Kate shook her head, "I can see now that would be useless. No, I think Miss Hilda Jones wants to be left entirely alone."

They went along the road in the direction of the university campus. The crisp air and quiet solitude was much appreciated and for the first time they were not focused on the case, as they talked about other matters.

"…so in a nutshell, that's why my marriage didn't work out," Kate was saying as the sounds of their footsteps on the concrete sidewalk was the only sound they heard.

Daniel's voice was subtly serrated with hesitancy, "Does this mean you're done with relationships, Kate?"

She stopped walking to peer up at him, although she could only see the part of his face that shone in the moonlight, "I thought I was," Kate answered him honestly, "but I've learned never to say never…"

Daniel's knees felt a little wobbly at the implication.

"So..." Daniel broke the silence, "when you said you weren't done with relationships, does that mean...that is to say... are you implying...that maybe...in the future that..." He couldn't seem to bring up the subject regarding the two of them, out in the open.

Kate suddenly stopped walking, causing Daniel to halt, too.

"Is this your roundabout way of asking about us, Daniel?" she asked directly.

Daniel nervously licked his lips.

"Oh, you thought I wanted to talk about us?" he had to think fast, "I only brought it up...because Lewicki may be disappointed if we didn't talk about us."

She smiled, "As much as I don't want to disappoint Max, I need time to think... about things...and about us, too...is that okay?"

Daniel let out a relieved sigh.

"Sure."

Meanwhile, clouds had begun to roll in and obscured the moon as they began walking again. They had stayed longer than they had intended. The air suddenly turned cool.

"It's getting colder...and darker... " Daniel commented,"... and...and spookier."

"You're right; maybe we should be heading back," Kate agreed.

They retraced their steps while the moon played hide and seek through the clouds and tree branches. When they were almost home, the full moon came to life again, shedding light over the lawns of the faculty houses.

They were within yards of Daniel's house when he abruptly stopped, and lightly touched her arm, "Kate, what's that? Do you see it up ahead?" he asked, pointing to a dark shadow to their right on his front lawn.

Kate squinted to see what had captured his attention. She took a few steps forward to get a better look at what the dark moonlight revealed.

At fifteen feet away, both saw that something unusual shimmering in the light of the moon. It was the hilt of the missing cake knife. Daniel and Kate should have been relieved that they had found the missing knife, but there was no cause for celebration. They stepped closer. That was because the carving knife was protruding from a shadowy blob on the grass, which turned out to be a dead body.

The moonlight had washed out the colors of the scene, but upon closer inspection, they both observed the lifeless eyes of Hilda Jones staring up at them.

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