Chapter IX, Battle of Wits

I keep glancing at the door. Hoping he will come at any second. The only thing that keeps me sane is the smell of the coffee that lingers in the air. It is comforting. I sip my latte as I look at my laptop, preparing my presentation to Argo. The hot coffee that caressing the tip of my tongue keeps me awake. I take a glimpse at my watch, it's 4 pm already. Did I fail to convince him? He did seem eager yesterday.

I slumped down to the desk.

"Hey, I just clean that up!"

I heard Emily's voice from behind. I can imagine she yells at me as she resting her head on the handle of a mop. I don't even have to look back.

Emily is my senior in college but even though she's a senior, we are the same age. I sometimes asked her about projects that I need to do. She's a pretty nice person despite her harsh words.

"Gah. I did own this coffee shop, didn't I?" I sit back and look at the ceiling.

"If you own this crap, do something about it. Even graveyard has more people than this place."

*clink* 

As soon as she said that I see him walk in. He looks so different than yesterday when I saw him. Today he wears a white long-sleeved shirt that rolled up to his elbows. His wavy hair's slicked back but kind of messy. He wears high-waisted grey pants that showing his fit body. As he gazes at me, my heart skips a beat. Huh? Why would my heart skip a beat like this?

"Hey." He grinned as he pulls a chair and sits in front of me.

"Hi. What do you want to order?" 

He grabs the menu and looking at it seriously. I glance at Emily, giving her a sign to write down his order but she's busily drolling, adoring this man. She slacked off in front of me.

"Caramel Macchiato seems nice. Please add a lot of caramel sauce." He smiles and winks at Emily. 

Emily snaps out of her daydreams and walks straight to the bar. She glances at me and gives me the 'damn-he-is-so-hot' look while I give the 'cut-the-crap' look at her. She giggled.

"Cute choice, I thought you will pick something like Americano or just go Black." I blurted the words to start the awkward conversation.

"Nah, I like them sweet. So, what do you want to show me?"

His facial expression change to serious mode. Thank God I don't need to carry the convo. I hand him the files I've been working on. His gesture shifts drastically from a casanova to a professional. I notice that he has this habit to put his index finger onto his lips when he focuses. I show him the data that I got on my laptop.

"I have tried to rule down the suspect but none of them fit the profile 100%. Most of the suspects are older than the culprit's age. The only specific lead I got is the culprit is so young, under 20 at that time to be exact. I knew it because of his hand. The size of it and compare it to his body made me come to that conclusion." I give him some explanation.

We then discussed how much I know about the case and he shares his viewpoint about it. He knows enough about the case to gives me some advice, I'm amazed at how he did his homework. From talking about the case, our conversation turns into talking about family.

"I might don't have any. My dad left me without a note and I have never heard from him." I answer his question regarding my family.

I look down, it is true though. A week before my parent's suicide, Thomas' missing. I've been searching for him yet I found no trace at all.

As he looks at his watch, I look at the clock on the wall. It's 10 pm already. Emily has gone home. I guess I'll do the closing again today. It's a natural thing for me to do the closing when she went home first.

"Hey, do you wanna go out after this? I mean it's been heavy so I need something refreshing but if you don't wanna join it's also okay." He stretched his arms.

After contemplating for a minute, I nod. I think I do need to get closer to him so I could charm him. I mean this is purely for my goal not because of something else. If he could be valuable, why not?

After closing my coffee shop, we step outside. It's really cold I can see my breath. I bet winter is coming. I peek back and see Argo walks towards a red Alfa Romeo. 

"After having a sweet tooth, now you surprised me by into the classic." I run my hand onto the car's body.

"Well, I might want to impress someone." He winks at me.

Aaron is also stunning, prosperous, and even charismatic but somehow I don't waver. Why is this officer seems so alluring? Is it because of the car?

"You are not gonna kidnap me, are you?"  I get into the car. 

"I should have brought my black SUV if I want to abduct a young woman like you."

He chuckles at his own joke. I don't even know whether this officer is kidding or not. He does have this scary look when he's serious and I do pay attention to his behavior. When he's into something, he will focus on it until he gets it. 

After driving for a while, we stopped at peak of a hill. 

"Here, wear this."

He hands me a sweater from the seat behind us. I guess he acknowledged that I've been sitting on my palms to make them warm along the way. 

It's freshly washed, the scents of spice and woodsy burst into my lungs. Nice choice of perfume but the size is almost way too big for me.

He then takes me to the fence of the hill. Now I know why he brings me here. I can see the whole town. The lights from people's houses look a lot like stars. Everything looks so stunning, it's as if the stars had moved to the earth and I'm standing above them. The only least enjoyable aspect is the weather is truly freezing.

He pulls out a box of cig and offers me one to warm my body. I decline. I'll smoke until I die after I catch my sister's murderer.

He just stood there, leaning his body against the wooden railing while blowing out the smoke. There's no smart-mouth officer no more. He seems calm and relaxed. This demeanor somehow fit him better than the casanova ones. 

"It's odd y'know, we human enjoying this wonderful scenery of a town that carrying a lot of despair in it." He suddenly breaks the silence between us.

Even just for a second there, I saw it. I saw the similar pathetic smile I always did when thinking about life. Call it woman intuition but I bet he's also lost someone in his life. Those sad eyes, they crave to share a life story but couldn't. It is something no man can hide, especially from someone who relates to the situation. 

I reach for his hand. He doesn't fight it. We just standing there holding hands. For people like us, this is enough support to say "it's okay, I understand."

I wonder what's inside his mind right now.

Achoo! Achoo!

He sneezes hard.

"Ah... Let's go back and get something warm. And Emma, thank you for joining me." 

I smiled. It may be weird to feel this way too comfortable with a stranger. Maybe because it's been a while since I have had a company like this, especially because we can relate to each other.

Suddenly something touching my hair. I look up and see snow falling. I have had a hunch that winter is coming but I never thought it would be this fast. The first snow in this year. I have had a hunch it would be winter soon but I never thought it would be this early.

"I'll go get a hot chocolate from that minimarket. You want something?" He said it as we parked in a gas station.

"Jasmine tea would be nice, thank you." 

As soon as he got out, my phone ringing

Aaron's calling.

"Emma, are you home yet? It's kind of late and cold outside."

I look at the clock on my phone and it's almost midnight.

"I might be at home in thirty minutes, relax. I'm with an officer, Aaron."

"Okay, let me know when you arrive. I want to talk to you about something."

After he hung up, I try to put my phone back into my pocket. It may due to the weather but the phone slipped and fall. Damn it. This is why I hate winter, everything is so cold and slippery. 

When I duck to take my phone, Argo goes into the car.

"I can't find the Jasmine. I hope chamomile is good enough." He sits back in his driver's seat.

I see something glinting. I still freeze in the same position. I calm myself down and sit back in my seat. I dared myself to talk to him. I look straight dead to his eyes.

"Argo, why there's a bloody knife on your car?"