Watchin' The Detective: A Mystery Dinner Romance (8 page)

“Yes. It sure is.”

“I thought you were going to play golf.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Is everything okay? You’ve been acting like
you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“I guess I’m still pretty shaken up by the
murder.”

“It was horrible, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. Do you have some new leads?”

“A few.”

“Are you close to catching the bad guy?”

“I hope so.”

“So, do you think Hamid might have done it?
Is that why you’re here?”

“I wish I could discuss it with you, but I
can’t. I hope you understand.”

“Sure. I do.”

They are quiet for a while, looking out
towards the golf course. He breaks the silence by saying, “You must
be hot in those sweatpants.”

If you only knew
, her dirty mind
thinks, but she modestly says, “I can move about more freely when I
wear them.”

“Oh, I see,” he says.

What a lame thing for me to say
, she
tells herself.

“How’s the library doing these days?”

“Pretty good. Just the usual stuff.”

“Oh, really.”

Why can’t we have a normal
conversation
? she wonders.
I feel like a
thirteen
year old on her first date
.

He stands up and says, “Well, I’ve got to get
going now. Maybe I’ll stop by the library and see you
sometime.”

“That would be fantastic!” she says, with so
much enthusiasm that it embarrasses her.

He smiles and puts out his hand for her to
shake. Once again, he holds hers a lot longer than other guys
would, especially with a woman who looks as sloppy as she does
right now.

“See you later, Isabella,” he says and gives
her his million dollar smile.

“Goodbye, Detective Sterling.”

“Call me Don.”

“Okay. Bye, Don.” She admires his butt as he
walks away
. Oh, so we’re on
a first-name basis, now.
Sounds encouraging
, she thinks, giving herself a badly-needed
pep talk. She especially needs to be her own “rah-rah club” when
she notices Nicole and Joshua laughing together and slowly making
their way back to the clubhouse to meet up with her again.

Joshua sees her and says, “Isabella, what
happened to you? We were worried.”

Yeah, right!
Isabella feels like
snarkily replying. Instead, she says, “I ran in to Detective
Sterling.”

“Oh, really,” Nicole says.

“I was surprised to see him.”

“Why was he here?”

“He wouldn’t say.”

“Hmm…,” Nicole says.

Joshua unlocks his car door and tells them,
“I’ll see you guys later. I had great time.”

“Bye,” they tell him.

A car pulls up next to Isabella’s and a lady
in dark sunglasses gets out. The first thing about her that
Isabella notices is that her shoes are gorgeous; they are also the
same shoes she saw on the murder victim’s wife the night he was
killed.
I wonder why she’s here?
Isabella asks herself.

Chapter
Fifteen

Isabella lies in bed listening to the far off
sound of an Amtrak train horn. She always loved that sound. It
seems to beckon her to come travel somewhere far away. The
neighborhood is quiet now except for the occasional cry of a
mocking bird that never seems to give up his quest for a mate. She
can still hear the cackle of her neighbor’s TV through the screen
door, even at 10:30.

Her brain swims with the activities of the
day. She remembers her encounter with Hamid and of course her time
with Detective Sterling.
I wonder what he’s doing right now?
Maybe he’s lying in bed thinking about me. Yeah, right! If
only!

Oddly, her mind returns to the visit that day
at the dinner theater. Something stuck with her after she looked at
the room in the daylight. Where she sat. Where the man sat who was
shot. Where his poor wife sat. The dining room was all in white
with fresh table cloths and chairs. It seems miles away from that
awful darkness that she remembers.
Why did this stick with her
so much?
It was his poor wife that she remembered most. The
look on her face. The sound of her crying out. The look in her
eyes. She could not forget that moment. The memory of Hamid
touching her shoulder was certainly an awful moment. She shudders
when recalling his cold look and gravelly voice. Seeing Detective
Sterling brought her out of her dread into another, more wonderful
world. She felt whiplashed by all the emotions over that thirty
minute timespan. And yet she always returns to the wife. Karen. The
look on her face is stuck in her memory.

Isabella gets out of bed and walks into the
kitchen for some water. Taking a sip, she can see the moon just
rising over the tops of the Italian cypress trees out the kitchen
window. Her backyard looks so bucolic in that light. Her mind
wanders back to that man’s wife. She walks into the bathroom and
looks at herself in the mirror.
What is wrong with you girl?
Her eyes stare back, looking for an answer she didn’t have.
That’s it!
she says to the mirror.
Somehow I have to
find
out what Karen’s story is
. She hasn’t been this
driven to do something since her childhood days when she read her
first Nancy Drew book and couldn’t put it down. She goes upstairs
and fires up the computer. She continues her earlier searches in
Google when she was at work. She plows through innumerable links
and starts learning all about this Karen Black. Isabella has access
to many library news search systems and uses them all to put
together a picture of this new widow. Where she lives and what her
life has been like over the past ten years. Isabella smirks when
she thinks about how readily most of this information is. She
glances over at the clock and sees that it’s after 2:00 AM.
I
better try and get some sleep!
She shuts the lid on her
notebook, turns out the lights, and makes her way down the stairs
to try and get some rest before the morning alarm wakes her. Her
mind is spinning with her new-found knowledge of Karen Black.
Oh
man, I wish I could
talk to the detective. Wouldn’t he be
surprised?

*******

The alarm clock radio comes to life with a
searing bit of Queen telling Isabella that they are the champions.
Reaching over, she turns off the alarm and falling back into bed,
stares at the ceiling debating whether to call in sick
. I have
to go: I’ve got that meeting at 10. If I don’t show up for my own
meeting, I’ll never hear the end of it.
Dragging herself out of
bed, she jumps into the shower as her mind immediately clicks back
into Karen Black mode. She is trying to organize all the facts
she’s discovered as she shampoos her hair. Stepping out of the
shower, she sees her tired self in the mirror.
It’s been a rough
night. Maybe this is what old spinsters look like,
she tells
herself
.

Chapter
Sixteen

Isabella is late for work and hurries past
the courthouse and Joshua’s coffee cart. He has a long line and is
deep into mixing up coffee drinks for the overwhelmed public
thirsting for caffeine fixes. She smiles and looks his way, but
he’s too busy to notice her. Slipping quietly in the back door of
the library, she tip-toes past the office of the director hoping
she doesn’t notice she’s late.

“Good morning, Isabella. Had another late
night?” the director says to her, without looking up.

Sheepishly, Isabella replies, “I’m sorry Mrs.
Rogers. I just lost track of time.”

“Please try not to make a habit of this.
Nicole has been looking all over for you. Something about a meeting
you scheduled?”

“Yes, thank you. I’ll just go and speak with
her.”

Isabella slinks over to her desk and sees
Nicole glaring at her, not saying a word. Two men are sitting with
Nicole, looking very much out of place there in the library in
their three piece suits. Nicole gets up and excusing herself, walks
over to Isabella’s desk.

“Where have you been? It’s past 9 o’clock
already! Did you forget the meeting you scheduled with these
publishers?”

“I’m so sorry, Nicole, I just lost track of
time. I thought the meeting was at 10. Why are they here so
early?”

“Ten? You told me it was nine.” Nicole passes
her a note written by Isabella clearly showing the meeting was to
be at nine.

“Geez Nicole, I’m losing my mind. I’m so
sorry. Please forgive me. Why don’t we get the meeting started and
get this over with.”

They walk back to Nicole’s desk as both men
stand and shake hands, exchanging all the required niceties. They
all gather in the conference room and begin to talk about books and
publishing. Even though Isabella arranged this meeting, Nicole has
found herself doing most of the talking, working out the
arrangements for new books and subscription details. Isabella
smiles blankly and thinks about nothing but Karen Black. The
conversation fades in and out of her ears, but the image of Karen
Black sticks in her mind. Finally, after an hour of talking and
proposals, everyone stands, shakes hands and agrees on a follow-up
meeting next month at the same time. Isabella offers her apologies
again and promises she’ll be better prepared next time. Nicole
walks out with them and Isabella returns to her desk. Fighting the
urge to return to Karen, she start’s working through her email,
sorting the good and bad and answering those that she can. Nicole
returns and motions for her to follow her to the conference room.
Nicole shuts the door behind her and they both sit down.

“What is going on with you, girl?” Nicole
asks. “You’re a million miles away!”

“I can’t stop thinking about that night. That
night at the mystery dinner theater. After our visit, or maybe I
should say, my visit to the restaurant yesterday, I came away with
more questions than when I came.”

“Isabella, are you going nuts in love with
that detective? Is that what it is?”

“Well, it’s that too. I mean, I can’t stop
thinking about him, sure. I just can’t stop thinking about the poor
woman, that widow. Something about her is making me crazy.”

“I guess so!” Nicole says.

“Nicole, last night I spent four hours
researching the woman and what I’ve found only makes me wonder
more! It’s like I’ve stumbled into a mystery story in a parallel
universe!”

“Did you drink something funny last
night?”

“No, no. I was totally sober. No alcohol in
the house. Maybe if I did, I wouldn’t be in this situation. And to
make things even stranger, when we left the golf course last night,
I saw that woman, Karen Black, drive in and park right next to
me.”

“It was pretty dark, Isabella. How could you
be so sure?”

“It was her shoes. When she got out of the
car, I looked at them and noticed that she was wearing the exact
same pair the night of the murder. I noticed them that night
because they were such an unusual style and I absolutely loved
them. Plus, the table she was sitting at was right across the room
from us. I got a good view of them under the table. I know it was
her! Now, what was she doing there?”

“Isabella, there could be a thousand reasons.
Maybe she was meeting someone to play golf.”

“It was dark, Nicole.”

“Maybe she had some things to work out with
the restaurant?”

“Like what?”

“Geez! I don’t know! Now you’re making me
nuts! This is taking up way too much room in your brain! Why can’t
you just let it go and let the police handle it?”

“I’ll bet the detective would like to know
about her. I’ll bet he would!”

“Then call him, for heaven’s sake! Then maybe
you can return to the living and help me out here! We’re both way
behind and the director is starting to breath down our throats, if
you know what I mean. Let’s get out there and promise me you’ll put
your Nancy Drew-hat away until you get home. Promise?”

Isabella smiles and touches Nicole’s arm. “I
promise. I’m sorry again. I’m going to make sure I get here on
time. Maybe it’s time to get another alarm clock.”

“Now you’re starting to make sense again.
That’s a good sign!”

They laugh, stand up, and hug each other.

“Try to think about the detective. That
sounds like a lot more fun that that woman!” Nicole says.

“It sure does. It sure does,” Isabella
answers, as they both walk back to their desks, piled high with
books and papers.

Chapter
Seventeen

“What a day!” Isabella thinks, as she throws
down her purse on the coffee table in her front room. While
checking her mail, she gets the sudden urge to cheat on her
Slimfast diet, and go get a chocolate croissant at the bakery in
South Coast Plaza.
I deserve a treat! I’ve been such a good girl
on this diet
. She grabs her purse, gets into her car, and heads
out to the mall.

Standing in line at Vie de France, waiting to
order her croissant, she glances over at “Missoni”—the store where
she bought her expensive dress. The store’s window displays are fun
to look at: they show brilliantly colorful dresses, purses, and
shoes that she’d love to have. She pays for her croissant and walks
over to the window display to get a closer look. Some shoes with a
very unusual design capture her attention:
Wow! Those are the
same shoes that Karen Black was wearing the last time I saw
her!

She enters the store and says, “Hi,” to the
salesgirl.

“Isabella!” she answers.

“You remember my name!” Isabella says.

“Of course I do. I know how special that
dress is to you.”

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime purchase for
me.”

“So did your investment pay off?”

“As a matter of fact, it did catch the eye of
a handsome detective I like.”