The Blood

by Nancy Jackson

  “I don’t know,” Senna would reply each time, deep in thought.

  The dressing room had been an adventure. Even though Senna had a body and stature to die for, they often picked things that were just hilarious in the way they fit or looked once they were on. They had frequently doubled over in laughter.

  By the end of it all, Senna had bought a ton of great things. Andrea talked to her about practical things for every day that would still be cute but comfortable. She showed her how to match things together and how to accessorize, also how to mix and match what she had bought.

  And six pair of shoes! Senna had always loved shoes. Then there were purses and other accessories. It had started off slowly, but by the end, the gates had busted open and they were shopping with a vengeance.

  Senna plopped into her chair. “I’m too tired to put it all away, but I can’t wait to look at it all again. It makes me want to go in there and just grab everything I own and shove it into trash bags.”

  “Well, you just need to learn to put things together. The clothes you have on now are great clothes and just putting them together differently was all they needed. Don’t throw anything out yet. I’ll come over one day this week or next weekend and we can see how to work in what you have, with what you just bought.”

  They both sat for a bit, totally exhausted. “Okay, as soon as I can pry myself up from this sofa I'm going to go home and crash,” said Andrea.

  They laughed and talked recounting the day. Then, finally, Andrea picked herself up, but as she turned towards the kitchen, she saw the flashing light on the answering machine. “Hey girl, you have a message.”

  They both stood there as Senna played Blake’s message. “Oh, my! He called you. He is hoooooked,” Andrea said as she drew out the o’s in a singsong way. Her eyes were big and her smile was wide. She was genuinely happy for Senna.

  Senna felt a combination of sick and excited. She had no idea how to be in a relationship. She knew all men were not like Father, but how would she know?

  “I’ll leave so you can call him back.”

  “Call him back?” Senna replied. It surprised her that Andrea expected her to call him back.

  “Yes, call him back! He asked you to please call him back.”

  “Okay. I will.” Senna felt a knot grow in her stomach as Andrea walked out the door.

  Chapter Eight

  “Did you call Blake?” Andrea asked first thing as Senna walked through the door the next morning.

  “Good morning to you, too,” said Senna.

  “Well?”

  “No, of course not!” exclaimed Senna.

  Andrea stood there a minute watching Senna to see if she was telling the truth or not. “You really didn’t, did you?”

  “No. That wouldn’t be appropriate.” Senna was serious.

  “But he asked you to call him,” Andrea drew it out as if slowing the words down would help Senna understand them.

  “I know. I don’t feel comfortable doing that.” Senna busied herself with the books that had come in through the slot overnight. She was uncomfortable with their conversation and the topic of her calling Blake.

  Andrea let it drop, for now. They both had plenty of work to do that day since they were getting a new shipment of books. They also had to pack up books which were to be removed from inventory and shipped back to the central storage facility.

  At noon, Andrea suggested they place a lunch order at the All American and she would go pick it up. Senna agreed after only a moment’s hesitation. It would be good to do something different for lunch rather than just sit alone with her typical sack lunch.

  The smell of the fresh, hot burgers hit Senna’s nose the moment Andrea came through the door and her stomach responded with an intense growl.

  As they were sitting toward the back of the library eating their lunch, the front door chimed. Senna had finished her burger and offered to get the door. It was Blake.

  “Hi there,” he smiled as he saw her come around the corner.

  “Hi,” replied Senna. Tension shot through her body and she felt herself start to wring her hands.

  “I left a message on your answering machine yesterday. I was hoping you would call me back last night.”

  “I know. I didn’t feel comfortable calling,” Senna’s hands were sweating again, and she felt awkward.

  Blake thought he understood. It fell right in line with her conservative behavior. “Well, I’m on my way to a meeting, but since I had to pass by here on my way, I wanted to just stop in and see if you were okay.” It was good to just see her if only for a brief moment and he smiled.

  “Oh, yes I am,” Senna tried to dig deep to come up with something to say, but she was at a loss. She just choked up around Blake.

  “Would you like to go out again?” Blake volunteered.

  “Yes,” Senna replied and gave Blake a smile before dipping her gaze.

  “Great! I’ll call you this evening around seven.”

  Senna nodded and watched as he walked out the door.

  “Cat got your tongue,” said Andrea as she emerged from around the bookshelf. She wore a teasing smile.

  “I have no idea why I can’t seem to find words to say to him. My mind just goes absolutely blank.”

  “You talked the other night on the date, right?” confirmed Andrea.

  “Eventually. But when he got there, it was just like this. He did most of the talking but after a while I did relax quite a bit.”

  “It will be okay,” Andrea patted Senna’s shoulder. “He likes you. I can tell.”

  “Andrea, this is the first guy I have ever been friends with, gone on a date with, or even thought about having a relationship with. I am terrified!” Senna was serious. It was just that age old fear that she had known forever plaguing her now in a different way.

  Andrea looked at Senna thoughtfully. “I never really thought about that. I can see why you have such anxiety about it.” It all seemed so strange to Andrea. Even though Senna had told her about her childhood and home life, it was still hard for Andrea to comprehend how all that had formed Senna. Even though Senna was in her twenties, this experience was the same as Andrea had experienced in junior high school.

  “Senna, everyone goes through this. Some are older than others when it happens, but everyone feels this way when they start dating. I can tell that Blake likes you. There is something about you, not the way you dress or fix your hair, but you. So, don’t worry about it. Just be you. Eventually you will feel more and more comfortable.”

  Senna nodded as she picked up a stack of books to pack. Once again she felt the turmoil rage within her. She really did like Blake, too. How could she shut down the voices that tried to pull her back? No matter how encouraging Andrea was, she kept feeling waves of doubt and fear dragging her backwards.

  Reading romance novels had given her such a vast array of relationship knowledge. Senna was smart enough to know that there was very little reality in those books. But then that left her even more doubtful about what to do.

  Working on packing the books, she allowed her mind to remember Blake and their date. Thinking of that warmed her heart. He was so good looking, mannerly, and considerate. She could see that maybe, just maybe, he could be her forever love.

  ~~~

  “Good morning,” greeted Carrie as Randy walked in.

  “Good morning to you, too,” Randy replied.

  “How was your weekend?” Carrie asked.

  “Well, it was okay,” he said with hesitation. “Just crap going on at home. Not really in the mood to talk about it.”

  Carrie looked at Randy getting a sense that she should not inquire further. “Sure. Well, yesterday I went back to the Big Horn and had a long talk with Pinky.”

  “Oh?” Randy gave Carrie a sideways glance. “You went by yourself?”

  “Yes. I didn’t want to bother you and I didn’t feel I was in any danger. I thought about asking Darren to go with me but both of you have families and I didn
’t want to pull either of you away from that.”

  “Did you find anything?”

  “Talked to Pinky again. He caught me in the room in the barn where they keep all the meds for the animals. They have Ketamine, but that’s no surprise. We talked for quite a while, but I didn’t get anything new.”

  Randy stood at his desk, shuffling papers distractedly. Carrie wasn’t even sure he had heard her, so she waited, watching him.

  Finally, he realized she had finished talking and turned to respond. “Hmm?”

  “You didn’t hear a word I said? You asked me a question and then didn’t even listen when I answered it.” It irritated Carrie.

  “Sorry.” Randy was definitely distracted. Things weren’t going well at home. It was cliché, but this job put distance between him and Sandy.

  “Today all the hands are coming in for interviews. We have to be at Darren’s office in about an hour. I told Pinky to send them to us in thirty-minute intervals so that would not leave them short-staffed at the ranch. They are coming in pairs, so I thought we could do the interviews individually and cover more ground.”

  A stuffy silence filled the air on the ride to Kachina. They arrived at the precinct only three minutes before the first two hands showed up. Thankfully, Darren had the interrogation rooms set up and ready to go.

  The day was a repetitious grind. By midday, not one hand had anything new to contribute. They all loved Justin and Keith. And they had all appeared sad that they were gone.

  About mid-afternoon one of the hands, Tad, let it slip he had seen June McGivens and Justin a few times. He thought they were having an affair. He was the only one who had mentioned that so far.

  Carrie didn’t know if that was because no one else knew or because no one else wanted to divulge that nasty little secret. She wondered if that was what Pinky had been so tight-lipped about.

  “Well, that was a big waste of time,” said Randy. It was the end of the day and He was feeling disappointed they had found nothing.

  “Maybe not,” replied Carrie. “Tad told me he had seen Justin and June McGivens back behind the big equipment barn a few times, so I switched gears in my interviews. I found one other hand who admitted to having seen them. Motive?” she asked.

  “Well, if Jack McGivens saw them, then yes. But what about Keith?”

  “What if Keith saw Jack kill Justin? He would be a loose end.” Adrenaline was starting to pump through Carrie and she was renewed with energy.

  They both sat and thought the scenario through in their heads for a bit. It was plausible. The nervousness of June in that first interview could be directly related to their affair.

  They both knew the very next person they needed to talk to was Jack McGivens.

  ~~~

  Randy made arrangements for Jack McGivens to come into the Kachina police station for their visit. Jack had not been at all happy about the request, but conceded anyway.

  At approximately three that afternoon, Jack arrived, thoroughly disgruntled. Randy and Carrie chose to speak with Jack in Darren’s office rather than an interrogation room. They hoped that the office would put Jack at ease where the interrogation room might create more tension.

  “Thank you, Jack, for coming in to meet us today,” Randy began while motioning towards a chair for Jack to sit.

  “I don’t know why you couldn’t come out to the ranch. I am a busy man and I don’t need to be coming in here wasting my day.” His face was red, but from the sun or from irritation, they didn’t know.

  “We understand, but felt this would be more private,” said Randy.

  Jack met Randy with a scowl. “So what do you want?”

  “We know that both Justin and Keith worked for you. What can you tell us about them?” Carrie asked.

  “They were ranch hands. Pinky handled all of that. I met them when they hired on and worked with them from time to time.”

  “Did you have any complaints about them?” Carrie asked, she was itching to get to the real question she wanted to ask.

  Jack considered Carrie for a moment before answering. “None at all,” he said.

  “How much interaction did your wife June have with the hands?” asked Randy.

  Jack huffed out a laugh and said, “Next to none! I doubt she even knows most of our hands’ names.”

  “So if I told you that there were witnesses to June and Justin in an intimate embrace back behind one of the barns, what would you say?” asked Randy

  Jack sat stone cold as the question was being asked. Both Randy and Carrie were looking for the slightest tell of his true emotion. Jack’s eyes told of confusion, but he quickly recovered. He was used to keeping a poker face.

  “You’re lying!” Jack replied. His neck was tense and his jaw was rigid.

  “No, we aren’t. We have two eyewitnesses who have individually stated that they saw June and Justin locked in an intimate embrace.”

  “Who the hell are they? They’re fired,” Jack was furious. It appeared the fury was more from an employee betraying a confidence rather than from the possibility that June and Justin had had an affair.

  “So you don’t think it is possible that what they said was true?” asked Carrie.

  “Hell no!” Jack yelled then stood up. “I am done with this slanderous crap.” As he headed for the door, Randy stopped him.

  “Sit back down. We aren’t done here yet.”

  “I’m done!” said Jack.

  “No, you’re not,” said Randy. His look was stern, and it was evident that he was not going to let Jack get past him.

  Jack reluctantly moved back to his chair and sat down, clenching and unclenching his jaw. His hard eyes bored into Randy.

  “You may be telling us the truth, but with two eye witnesses we have to wonder if you knew they were having an affair and confronted Justin about it,” said Randy, watching Jack closely.

  “You son-of-a-...,” the words hung heavy in the air, threatening. “My wife has never had an affair. I would know!”

  Carrie shifted gears, “So who do you believe killed Justin and Keith?”

  Jack shifted his stare from Randy to Carrie. “I told you I have no idea. I don’t follow those hands around like a babysitter to see what they are doing. They are grown men. All I care about is that they are getting their work done.”

  Randy followed up with a few more questions attempting to re-circle back to the affair, but Jack was impenetrable. Randy finally conceded and ended the interview.

  Once Jack had left, Carrie said, “I don’t think he did it. I don’t like him, but there was a moment of confusion when you asked about a possible affair.”

  “Yeah, I saw it,” said Randy as he scrolled through his email on his phone. It deflated him. He knew they were back to square one and so did Carrie.

  “Hey,” he said with new hope. “Justin and Keith’s cell phone records just came in. Looks like they each had a call not long before they died. Tech is tracing it now.”

  “Is it from the same number?” asked Carrie.

  “Looks like it. This could be what we’ve needed.”

  “You know we need to talk to June McGivens again, right?” asked Carrie. “Even though we don’t think Jack knew, there could still be something there.”

  “Yes, let’s give her a call to come in. Jack would hit the ceiling if we went out there to see June while making him come in,” Randy snorted.

  ~~~

  When June McGivens received the call to come into the station for an interview, her stomach knotted up tight and she thought she would be ill.

  All the way to the station her mind flooded with worry. If Jack were to find out about her and Justin, she didn’t know what he would do. His frequent rages over the smallest things were iconic. What on earth would this information cause him to do?

  Soon, she was pulling into the parking spot and then walking into the station. They directed her to interrogation room one, offered something to drink, and then left her to wait.

  Ra
ndy and Carrie watched her behind the one-way glass for five minutes or so to determine her demeanor before going in to conduct the interview.

  “No doubt she is nervous, even more so than the other day,” said Carrie.

  “I wonder if she has talked to Jack?” said Randy. He pondered that for a few minutes. How would that affect their interview? If she had talked to Jack, then she would know we know about her and Justin. But if she hadn’t talked to him, then she may still lie to us.

  “Okay, let’s go see what she has to say,” said Randy.

  Both Randy and Carrie walked into the interrogation room and sat across the table from June. Randy laid the folder he carried down on the table. It was as much a prop as anything.

  “Before we begin, we want you to know two things,” began Randy. “First, that we know that you and Justin Thatcher were having an affair. Second, that Jack now knows as well.”

  June felt the color drain from her face. She felt deathly ill and light-headed. Jack would kill her, she thought.

  “We have two witnesses who saw you and Justin behind the equipment barn on the backside of the property,” said Randy.

  “So now, you need to just be honest and tell us everything. If you did not kill Justin, then you have no reason to lie or to hold anything back,” said Carrie. She was looking straight at June and watching for even the slightest sign of emotion. The cool calm, but slightly nervous June from their first interview, was now replaced with a fearful June. Her face was pale and beads of sweat dotted her forehead.

  June tried to wet her dry lips with her tongue. She felt as though her throat was so dry she couldn’t force out a word. “Could I have a glass of water?” June asked. Her voice was small and quiet.

  Carrie jumped up and went to the door. She cracked the door slightly and leaned out. “Sam can you get Mrs. McGivens a bottle of water? Thanks.” She waited at the door and was soon presented with a cold bottle of water.

  Once June drank at least a third of the bottle, she sat it down and began. “Yes, we were having an affair. It’s not something I’m proud of. I’m not sure one just wakes up one day and decides that they will have an affair. It’s just something that happens.”