Chapter 12
After almost an hour of driving her car Sara reached the diner. It was Michelle's idea to meet in a diner far from the city and this one seemed to be a good option, here people were least bothered about the corporate and fashion world, so they could sit and have their discussion as common people without posing for the paparazzi. While parking her car she spotted a liquor store beside which a few bikers were brawling over something. While entering the diner she heard a scream followed by someone yelling at the top of his voice. It shouldn't be who I think it is she prayed silently but the deed was already done. Ryan is yelling at someone, who is it? She went a little closer to the audience which was now interestingly watching the argument like some soap. Oh no, by now she had reached their table and could peek enough to notice that her brother was cursing Michelle and the lady glared at him, almost ready put in another scream or hit him with her fork which she held in her right hand, with her left she was dabbing her handkerchief on her now spoilt mascara. Sara now stood facing Ryan, who was not the least concerned that he had gathered all the customers with his curses, even the manager stood there watching the CEO of Jenson's yelling and cursing at a raging lady. Sara could see Michelle's eyes and face were moist, may be her friend could not control her tears. But who could with this hooligan standing in front of her. She never thought that her brother whom she thought was the most patient person could be such a buffoon. Today he looked totally out of place the only person sitting here with a designer suit on and screaming like a drunken brawler, similar to the ones she had seen a few minutes back. When he was exhausted and stopped his string of colorful words, she said to the amazed audience" I think the show has come to an end". Everyone went to their respective business and murmurs could be heard from every corner. "I'm sorry for being so late she said while taking a seat near Michelle. When neither of them spoke she decided to dig out the matter. She knew it would be useless to ask her brother about it, confronting her friend would be better. "I know it can be quite insolent when you become the subject of selective adjectives as my brother used, but please don't waste your tears for that ". Suddenly, a baffled Michelle turned to face her" I'm not crying , your generous brother threw wine on my face," Sara's stomach seemed to burst out with laughter ,but she had to control, now with an even softer tone she asked" what did you do to receive such treatment?" "I threw pastry at him", her friend replied coldly. Great I'm in a carnival where these two compete on throwing food items at each other, the best thrower wins. Now as she noticed some amount of cream was still stuck in Ryan's tie must have been from the pastry "why did you do that, I mean throw pastry?" "He called me scandalous", finally someone spoke the truth, she gave out a commiserating laugh" I don't think anything's funny here", Ryan said in a calm way, "anyone who insults Mexican food has to be scandalous", he said "only those who can't feel the richness of culture hate Mexican ", both ladies nodded in agreement truly spoken. Now that Sara knew the reason she needed to hear the complete story" I need to hear everything, please fill me in", her friend immediately recognized the tone, this was the same way she spoke to Sara whenever she smelled something fishy" actually Ryan came here exactly on time and he had been for us about half an hour when I reached, I asked the manager to show the table which I had booked and since Ryan is a familiar face", Sara's brow furrowed "I have seen him on tabloids ", Sara was smiling again on her friends poor humoring attempts, he can't be convinced so easily. To ensure herself she glanced at him, whose face was unreadable by now, Michelle continued" I introduced myself first and he asked me regarding my position in Raven Smuts, then called you, you seemed to forget about the meeting so I thought you would be late, we started talking", she rubbed her face with a Napkin "Actually I started chattering about sports movies and finally landed on food." Both Ryan and Sara listened patiently though for different reasons. Ryan was still raging inside how this mere woman could be so blatant and Sara she obviously had to listen to her friend's sobby story. Because of the cold looks he was giving her she felt her throat drying up ;his looks stinging through her skin made her feel drawn towards him, so she took a sip of her wine, ,."You know he is not much of a talker, so I had to continue my mouth exercise ", Sara narrowed her brows trying to comprehend Michelle's words; recognizing Sara's usual 'I am lost' expression Michelle said " I kept on talking ", with a cocky smile the former recovered " I like you for that", quietly thanking her friend for understanding her so well; Michelle continued" after a while we started conversing about various cuisines and he asked my opinion on Mexican dishes, I said they're ridiculously slime and even the Chinese food that they serve in petty suburb restaurant over the highway is much better", Sara muffled her giggle with a cough "you cough too much now-a -days", Ryan remarked "well, it’s because of the wine , you know," she smiled. He must have understood. Ryan simply nodded "now would you please continue your grief". "Yes present yourself as the perfect gentleman ", she said sarcastically, while eating the other pastry that was ordered for her smacking Ryan with the first one." You wouldn't believe what he did after hearing my version of Mexican food, he called me scandalous", she said" He cannot judge a book by its cover, I may dress up as a sultry woman, may be spill two or three secrets of my colleagues or steal others boyfriend but I'm not scandalous", she said innocently. Ryan who had been listening patiently all this while now said" Actually I'm sorry about whatever I said earlier", he pleaded surprising, he is surely up to something now, both the women thought because he was not a person to ever, ever ask for forgiveness. "You are a pervert", he smiled roguishly. Michelle now went into autopilot and was about to decant her glass of wine at him, when he instantly caught her wrist" No more woman, this time you spill and you'll be fortunate enough to wash my cupboard", " brute", she rolled her eyes. They may not know, but someone was watching them.
"If both of you have completed your feat, can we please plan for the party", both Ryan and Michelle nodded and the rest of the discussion continued smoothly. Michelle had to leave earlier than her promised time, so Sara and her brother simply caught up on old days, they were walking towards the parking lot when he finally approached the topic "How is she"? She saw this coming, she knew who he was talking about, but was he safe enough, without thinking anymore. She turned the lock of her car, while getting she said" Rachel is no more with us", she couldn't turn back to see his face. She left him standing there.
"What do we do now"? Walking up stairs again through which the supervisor aka the convict had run down seconds earlier. After walking down the person almost seemed to vanish in air and he was out of sight."Well call her and say we almost", she walked in closing the door behind her. "I can't listen to her rants", he was investigating the sink where the convict was standing while they charged in "you call her Miss Sara and inform of the successful loss". She smothered a laugh "don’t be sarcastic Martin; we're quite close to getting him", he raised a brow" Only if you had called earlier". While walking out of the diner Sara had seen a silhouette similar to the supervisor, she had to take a risk. Chasing an unaccused person may be a crime, what if he is already a criminal. She answered Ryan's question got on her car and drove past him; he needed some time to himself. She followed the person close to Little China and dropped the car in an alley when she was sure that he would take one of the apartments as a hide-in, following him stealthily she called Private Detective Martin and asked him to reach there as soon as possible." Give me the phone", "Use your own", he said. "Mine has been bugged and that's why he could run before we got here", she pointed a bugging machine which lay neatly packed inside a built -in-cabinet near the bed. He scowled and cursed "Do you think this has been going on for a long time"? "Perhaps" she searched the cabinet for any more clues. "Here take this", he tossed his phone towards her. "Before you call her, just tell me how did you know it was her"? He asked over his shoulder. "Today", he had now left his search and was all ears "Going to be interesting". "She was in the diner with me when she got a call from Hudson I suppose, and said
she had to leave immediately when I pressed her for the reason", Sara chuckled "You wouldn’t believe she said she was going to meet her grandpa in a pub". He blew out a low whistle followed by a rumble "I never found her so lost", she confessed. May be he really affected her. Talk of the demon and here she calls.
The Mysterious Women Series:Blackmail Page 13