1. Knox watched the man walk away in the direction of the parking lot. Go home, have a stiff drink, and go to bed. The suggestion sounded like a good one. “Except it’s backwards. First I’ll have the stiff drink, then I’ll head for home and bed.” If there was anything positive to say about being placed on probationary status, he was being given a few days of paid leave to get his head together, until he was called in to find out what the final decision would be.
2. “I, uhh. I thought
you might have had to work late.” He remembered to smile. “Glad you were able
to make it.” He doled out her potatoes and passed the tray over to Chad, who
finished filling the tray before handing it to her. It wasn’t until she left
the serving line that he noticed the piece of rope—no, it was a jump rope—tied
to her belt. The other end… He leaned over the counter. The scrawny little
black and white-spotted mutt obediently remained right on her heels, unmindful
of the other end of the jump rope tied to his collar.
3. She was intelligent and funny, as
well as an animal lover. He studied her face as she continued. He wasn’t an
expert, but he would swear she wasn’t involved in drugs. Other than being a bit
on the skinny side, she looked healthy, which made her story that much more
interesting.
4. The smile dimmed but
didn’t vanish. “When my mom died a couple of years ago, that left just me and
my older brother. She and Dad divorced when we were little, and we’ve never
heard from him since then. I don’t even know if he’s still alive. Anyway,
Bradley and I both had full-time jobs, but it wasn’t enough to pay the rent and
utilities, plus put food on the table. So he entered the military, hoping to be
able to send back enough money to help me get by.” She slowly shook her head,
and it was as if a dark cloud descended over her. “Bradley collapsed during a
training session. The doctors said he died of an aneurysm. They promised me he
didn’t suffer. It was that sudden and unexpected.” She watched a dollop of ice
cream slide down toward her hand before she took another long lick to pick it
up. “Mom had a life insurance policy that paid for her funeral, but Bradley
didn’t. The Army wouldn’t because he hadn’t been with them long enough to
qualify. So I sold off what I could to pay for his casket and all, and to buy a
plot next to hers where he could be buried.”
5. He checked his phone.
He’d been sitting in this interrogation room most of the day. After the
detective had quizzed him on his actions the night of the fire, the man had
left him alone. Other than remarking on the charge Knox would be facing if the
autopsy results came back to incriminate him, and that one time an officer
brought him the coffee and a bag of chips, no one had come in to check on him.
At least, not in person. He glanced up at the
tiny camera visible in the corner of the ceiling. He knew they were watching
him. Monitoring him. Maybe recording him.
6. Jenise lay there,
eyes closed, and listened as he switched the laundry. She heard the dryer door
close, followed by the click of the dial and the steady hum as he turned on the
machine. She waited until Knox closed the bedroom door, then sat up. Corky whimpered,
and she shushed him with a calming hand. “It’s going to be okay, little man.
He’s going to be okay, too. I just feel it in my gut. Right, God?” Casting her
eyes at the ceiling, she lifted the amulet on her necklace to her lips and
kissed it. A sense of calm answered her, and she lay back down, cuddling the
dog against her as she fell back to sleep.
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