Watchin' The Detective: A Mystery Dinner Romance (6 page)

“Any idea why?”

“No. It was weird. I wondered what he was
doing.”

“Are you sure it was him?”

“Pretty sure.”

“Okay. That’s good information. Thank you for
telling me.”

“It was my pleasure,” she says.
That was a
stupid thing to say. This is a murder investigation. It’s not
supposed to be pleasurable, for heaven’s sake
, she scolds
herself
.

He smiles at her and asks, “Do you have
anything else you’d like to tell me?”

You mean like, I’m falling head over heels
in love
with you?

She moves uncomfortably in her seat and the
shoulder strap of her purse that’s hanging on her chair slips down
to the floor. She reaches down to pick it up just as he is also
reaching down. Their hands briefly brush together as he gives her
purse back to her. His touch sends shivers through every fiber of
her being.

She tries to regain her composure and says,
“So, how’s the investigation coming along?”

“Pretty well.”

“So, do you have any suspects?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you. I wish I
could.”

“Maybe when it’s all over?”

“Yes. Maybe when it’s all over.”

The waitress brings their meals and Isabella
can hardly eat a thing she’s so nervous. Plus she doesn’t want him
to see any food that might get stuck between her teeth. She plays
with the food on her plate. He says, “Aren’t you hungry?”

“I’m not that hungry. I’ll take it home with
me and have it later.”

“So, do you live around here?”

“Yes. I live in a neighborhood called
‘Washington Square’.”

“Oh, yes. I know that area. I went on a home
tour there with my girlfriend.”

Uh-oh
, Isabella thinks. She asks, “So
where do you and your girlfriend live?”

“Oh, we’re not together anymore,” he says.
Isabella lets out an audible sigh. He hears her and says, “I live
in San Juan Capistrano.”

Perfect!
she thinks. “I love that
area. The Mission is so beautiful. I’ve gone there so many times. I
never get tired of it.”

“Me neither.”

“One time my friend Nicole and I took the
train down there and went to the mission. Afterwards, we had dinner
at Sarducci’s.”

“I love that place.”

Isabella almost says, “Why don’t we go there
together sometime?” but restrains herself. Instead, she says, “I
like sitting in their patio and watching the trains pull up. I love
the romance of a train trip.”

“So do I,” he says. Then he looks at his
watch and says, “I’d like to stay and chat with you some more, but
I’ve got a lot of work today.” He signals the waitress for the
check and puts some cash down.

When he stands up to leave, he shakes
Isabella’s hand, holding it a little longer than he probably should
have.

Isabella doesn’t want to let go.

He tells her, “Give me a call if you think of
anything else.”

“Okay,” she says and watches him leave. When
he’s almost to his BMW, he turns around to look at her one more
time and waves goodbye.

Isabella returns to the library floating on
air. She can’t wait to tell Nicole all about her lunch with the
detective and get her friend’s take on everything that happened. As
she makes her way to her post at the reference desk, she sees that
two policemen are talking to a shirtless homeless man who is
refusing to leave the library. He’s shouting, “These people here.
These library people. They’re keeping records on me. They’re trying
to control my brain.” He points at Nicole.

Oh, my God! Not this again,
Isabella
thinks. She walks over to where the shouting man is and says,
“Kelly, what’s wrong?”

One of the policemen tells her, “We received
a call saying that he had threatened Nicole.”

Isabella says, “Kelly. Get a hold of
yourself. Nicole’s not going to hurt you.”

“But she’s keeping records on me.”

“No she’s not. Stop being so silly.”

He seems to be calming down a little bit and
the policeman asks Isabella, “What do you want us to do?”

She asks the homeless man, “Kelly, are you
going to behave yourself and stop this foolishness?”

He doesn’t answer, but seems to have a little
bit more control of himself.

Both policemen look at Nicole and one of them
asks, “Do you feel like he might hurt you?”

She looks at the homeless man and says, “You
wouldn’t hurt me, would you, Kelly?”

“No. No,” he answers.

The cops tell him to keep his voice down if
he wants to stay in the library. They tell the librarians to call
them if he starts acting out again.

All this drama has put a damper on Isabella’s
desire to share news about her time with the detective. She feels
like she’s back in the real world again. She puts her arm around
her friend and they walk to the reference desk together. She asks
Nicole, “Were you the one to call the police?”

“No. It wasn’t me. I think one of the patrons
did.”

They’re quiet for a while, and then Nicole
breaks the silence and says, “So, how’d your lunch go?”

“Well, since you asked. I’ve been dying to
tell you. I think he likes me back.”

“Really? What gives you that impression?”

“Well, when we were sitting there talking, my
purse dropped to the floor and both of us reached down for and it
and our hands brushed together.”

“That’s it?”

“No. It’s just that I felt electricity shoot
through me and I think that he felt the same.”

“How do you know that?”

“Hey, Nicole. Stop breakin’ my balls here. It
was just my impression. That wasn’t the only thing, either.”

“Okay, go on.”

“Well, when he stood up to say goodbye, he
shook my hand and didn’t let it go right away, like normal people
do.”

“Normal people?”

“Oh, you know what I mean.”

“Go on.”

“Then, as he was walking to his car, he
turned around, looked at me, and waved before he got inside his
BMW.”

“He knew you were watching him.”

“I know. And he lives in San Juan Capistrano.
I’ve always wanted to live there.”

“So, you already have your bags packed and
the guest-list for your wedding made out?”

Isabella says, dejectedly, “I know. I guess
it isn’t much to go on, is it?”

“Not necessarily,” Nicole says. “Did he say
anything about seeing you again when this was all over? That kind
of thing?”

“Well, now that you mention it, he did. When
I asked him if he had any murder suspects, he told me that he
couldn’t talk to me about it—but that he wished he could. And, I
said, ‘Maybe someday,’ and he agreed.”

“Really? That sounds encouraging.”

“What should I do now?”

“Wait until he finds the murderer,
maybe?”

“Maybe I can help him find the killer.”

“Okay, Nancy Drew. Are you going to go and
look for some clues?”

“Once I think of any,” she says with a
smile.

Kelly walks over to the reference desk and
says goodbye. “See you later,” he says.

‘Good riddance,’ Nicole says under her
breathe, as he is walking out the door.

“I think he forgot to take his meds today,”
Isabella says.

“If he even has any,” Nicole replies.

“I wonder what he looks like when he’s all
cleaned up.”

“He must have a face behind all that
beard.”

“It’s really sad, how some people live, isn’t
it?”

“It certainly is.”

The phone rings at the reference desk and
Isabella picks it up.

Joshua says, “Hi, Isabella. I was wondering
if you wanted to come over and have dinner at my house
tonight.”

“Okay. Sure. Do you want me to bring
anything?”

“No. I got it covered. See you around
7:00.”

“Okay,” Isabella answers. Even though she is
infatuated with the detective, she still is attracted to Josh.
Besides, nothing may ever come of her and the detective getting
together.
I have to keep my options open,
she tells
herself.

Joshua lives with his roommate next door to
Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. He is a student there, studying
computer programming. She finally finds a parking space, and walks
up to his apartment complex. He lives to the right of the front
entrance, across from the bank of mail boxes. There is loud music
playing in the distance and some kids in the pool are shouting,
“Marco! Polo!”

I am so glad I don’t live in apartments
anymore
, Isabella thinks. She knocks on the door of Joshua’s
place, and he answers.

When she sees the way he looks, she thinks,
He must have just gotten out of the shower; his hair is wet
and
all sexy-wild.

He wears jeans and a Black Keys t-shirt. He
takes one look at her and says, “Va Va Voom!”

Isabella starts laughing and says, “Where did
you learn that?”

“I heard it in an old movie.”

“Are you going to let me in?”

“Sure, come on in.”

There is a young man sitting in a recliner in
the front room watching “Game of Thrones.” Joshua introduces him,
“This is my roommate, Jake. He was just leaving, weren’t you, bro?”
he says, looking at his friend with dagger eyes.

“In a minute. This episode is almost
over.”

“Let’s go into the kitchen,” Joshua tells
her. “I’m running late because my teacher kept us over.”

“I know what that’s like. I used to go to
Orange Coast College, too.”

“You never told me that. What was your
major?”

“I was a Liberal Arts major. I went to OCC to
take all my General Education classes before I transferred to
UCI.”

“I wish I could go to UCI. It’s way out of my
budget.”

“It was for mine, too. I got scholarships and
grants, but I’m still paying off my student loan debt.”

“It’s a lot more expensive these days than
when you were a student.”

“Yes. Back in the dark ages.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

He is struggling with some pots and pans in
the lower cupboard and says, “I haven’t even had time to start
dinner for you yet.”

“Why don’t you let me take you out to
dinner?”

“Oh, I couldn’t do that.”

“No. I mean it. Those tickets for the mystery
theater were really expensive. I want to return the favor.”

“Well, I am hungry.”

“Great. Let’s go.”

“Let me go finish getting dressed.”

“But you already are dressed.”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he tells
her.

Isabella joins his roommate in the front room
and watches TV with him. She says, “I like this show, too.”

The roommate just nods his head. He’s not in
the mood for small talk.

Joshua comes out of his bedroom five minutes
later wearing his dressiest black pants, a white long-sleeved
shirt, and a skinny black tie.

“Wow! Joshua. You look like a million bucks,”
Isabella says, thinking,
Aww…He’s dressed just like the
detective was that night
.

“I can’t be seen dressed like a slob while I
am going out with a girl in such a gorgeous dress.”

“I’m glad you like what I’m wearing,” she
says.

As they walk out the door, Joshua says to his
roommate, “We’ll be back in one hour. To an empty apartment.
Okay?”

“I hear ya. Loud and clear.”

Joshua holds Isabella’s hand as they walk to
his car.

Isabella asks, “So, how’s Gunther?”

“Feeling humiliated. He fears he didn’t make
a good first impression.”

“He shouldn’t worry. We were all upset. I
mean, how often in one’s life do you witness the scene of a crime
and a dead body right in front of you?”

“I don’t suppose Nicole wants to go out with
him?”

“I’ll ask her.”

They walk over to his restored VW bug. He
opens Isabella’s door for her. As he gets into the driver’s seat,
puts his key in the ignition, and turns his headlights on, Isabella
says, “Do you realize that you don’t have a front windshield?”

“What are you talking about?” he says, and
reaches into the thin air where the windshield should be. “Damn
it!” he says, pounding on the steering wheel.

“Isabella says, “I guess not.”

“I’m going to kill those kids.”

“What kids?”

“There’s a group of teenagers around here
who’ve been breaking into cars. I came out one day to find that the
wheels of my car had been stolen and my car was sitting up top of
four piles of bricks.”

“Oh, Joshua. That’s terrible!”

“Now I have to call it in to the police. I’m
sorry, Isabella. Some date I turned out to be.”

“Don’t worry. Do what you have to do and
we’ll eat later.”

*******

The police finally arrive and take down all
the information. They tell Joshua that it is unsafe and illegal to
drive without a front windshield and he must get a new one. After
they leave, Joshua tells her, “I’ll see about getting it fixed
tomorrow. Let’s go eat.”

“Good thing there’s no rain in the forecast.
Let’s take my car so you don’t get a ticket, okay?”

“Sure,” he says, feeling like a loser of a
date.

******

They pull into the parking structure at South
Coast Plaza and Isabella says, “We’ll go to my favorite place,
Wolfgang Puck’s.” They walk by Missoni where Isabella bought the
dress that he likes. Ordinarily, she would’ve pointed it out to
him, but she doesn’t think he’s interested in learning where her
dress came from right now. His mood for the night is definitely
shot and he seems distracted all through dinner. She tells him,
“You didn’t mean what you said about killing those kids, did
you?”

“How can you even ask me that, Isabella? Of
course I didn’t mean it literally. What do you take me for?”