Aye, I am a Fairy

by Dani Haviland

  James removed the ‘do not disturb’ sign from the doorknob, waved it at her, and smiled. He turned back to the door, opened it, and stood face to face with Clark.

  “I got an important message,” the eager young man said. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything,” he added, as he tried to look behind the door. James stepped outside, blocking his view completely by holding the door open just enough that it didn’t latch.

  “From whom?” James asked flatly. He was glaring and didn’t care if he was being rude or not.

  Clark looked down at the pizza flyer in his hand with the scribbles on it. “Uh, he said to have Lord Melbourne call him right away. He said your phone didn’t work, and it was important. He said his name was Detective Billy Burke. His number…”

  James grabbed the green handout and turned to go inside. He paused, turned back around quickly, and said, “Thanks, I appreciate it.” He reached inside his front pocket and pulled out his cash roll, peeled off a $20 bill, and handed it to him. “Buy yourself dinner,” he groused, then slipped back into the room.

  Leah was already off the bed and standing at the table, powering on both of the smartphones. Beep, beep; their phones chimed at the same time, signaling notifications of voice mails. She handed James his phone, then sat down in the chair. “He tried to call me, too,” she said as James waited for his call to go through.

  “Yes, yes, we’re fine. We just turned off the phones. Now what’s so important?” James asked, trying not to be surly, but making sure Billy knew he was in no mood for chit chat. “Okay, we’ll be right there. Thanks, bye.”

  James put the phone back into his shirt pocket and said, “Get your keys. We’re needed. I’ll tell you about it on the way.”

  Leah slipped on her sandals and grabbed her purse and keys. James flashed the room key at her, letting her know he had it, then put it in his back pocket. She climbed into the little purple Prius, gasped, and popped right back out of the car. James read her mind. “I’ll get some towels,” he said, opened up the room again, grabbed two clean washcloths and bath towels, and tossed one of each to Leah. She had already started the car, got the windows rolled down and air conditioning turned on, and was standing outside of it with the doors opened, waiting to get some of the hot air blown out. She arranged the bath towel over the seat and gingerly sat back in. “Here,” he said as he gave her the second washcloth. “I think you’ll need both of these for the steering wheel and the shifter. Damn, could hell be any hotter?”

  “I don’t want to find out,” she snorted, as she checked her mirrors, threw the car into reverse, and sped out of the parking lot.

  Billy had asked them to come to the police station as soon as possible. Something must be wrong—he wasn’t even supposed to be at work at this hour. The traffic was not in their favor, either. It was afternoon commuter drive time and the signals weren’t synchronized. Curses were flying out of Leah’s mouth at every red light. James looked over at her and tried not to smile on the outside. He could feel his glow of satisfaction on the inside, though. She was extremely frustrated sexually. He sighed. Hopefully the next time—and he promised himself that there would be a next time—they wouldn’t be interrupted.

  Leah drove around the police station twice, looking for a parking place. She was just about to illegally use a handicapped space when James pointed to a car backing out. She zipped in, cutting off a car that had been waiting on the other side for the same spot. As soon as the engine was off and the key out of the ignition, she was out of the car. Ignoring the coarse call of ‘bitch’ from the young driver she had just cut off, she sprinted across the parking lot, over the lawn, all the way up to the front door. James chased after her, not caring if they looked like a couple of nuts. At least they were a couple of nuts, he thought. He’d have to save the rest of that thought for later.

  Billy had arranged for Dyane to escort them into the blind side of the interrogation room where he was, observing his suspect.

  “Thanks for getting here so quickly,” he said. “I can only hold him for an hour on this. He hasn’t been charged with anything. I asked him if he’d stay as a courtesy; that I had someone coming in who wanted to speak to him. I needed to get on his good side, so I pumped him up, telling him what an asset he was. But he didn’t want to be near a police station. Then I told him I could hold him as a person of interest and make him stay, but would prefer that he remained of his own volition. Of course, I had to explain the word ‘volition’ to him,” Billy said, and rolled his eyes.

  “Short story is—do you know him? Longer version is this guy was in Wal-Mart buying all the lighter fluid in the store and a couple of those propane torches used for soldering. It looked suspicious, but the clerk—Teresa Daily, whose husband is a cop—couldn’t do or say anything. Or at least she didn’t think she could. Anyway, turns out the guy wanted to buy a pack of those little cigars, too. Well, Wal-Mart policy is to card everyone for tobacco purchases. So, she carded him and wrote his name down as soon as his back was turned. She called her husband who called me at home. He had already done the database search for me, found out what car he owned, and we put out an APB on it. He was pulled over by a traffic cop and asked to come in to ‘help with a civic matter,’ that he wasn’t being arrested, but that the department would appreciate his help as a law abiding citizen.

  “Leah, I think this might be the arsonist we’re looking for. I can’t tell you his name, and I couldn’t get the names of any accomplices out of your two assailants, but these guys are the same age and color and well...” Billy took a deep breath. “I know this is racial profiling, and you’re not supposed to do it, but gangs and bad guys tend to hang with men their own age and color. And these white guys all have something in common besides age: they all have an English accent. Or Scots or Irish, I’m not sure which, but they all seem to originate from the UK.”

  Billy looked over at James, “No offense,” he said, “I know you’re one of the good guys. Anyway, I did find one of those plastic tips from a cigarillo in the ashes at Leah’s apartment. You don’t smoke, do you, James?”

  James shook his head just as Leah offered, “He’s smarter than that.” James beamed at his woman bragging about him. “But,” she said changing the subject, “I don’t recognize him. James, come over here and see if you’ve ever seen him.”

  James walked around Billy to get a better view of the man squirming in the chair, twisting and scooting like he had an itch on his butt that he couldn’t quite scratch with the bottom of the seat. Then the man turned to look at himself in the one-way mirror.

  “Oh, shit,” James said when he saw the man full on.

  Both Leah and Billy stared at him. “What do you mean by that?” asked Billy. Leah started to echo the comment, but bit her lip. This was Billy’s party and his job.

  “Um, I think I bought stolen goods from him last year when I was here. On Halloween. It was an old map,” he said softly, as he turned to look at Leah, “a very old map.”

  Leah turned pale and suddenly felt sick. She gulped and stumbled to the chair at the other end of the one-way mirror. She laid her forehead on the table and did slow, deep breathing. She hadn’t eaten recently, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t puke up bile or get an attack of the dry heaves. Slow, easy breaths, and pleasant thoughts. ‘You are not allowed to freak out or panic or worry about anything. James is here to take care of you.’ She smiled in peace at her mantra. She lifted her head and looked at the two men who cared so much for her. “Sorry ‘bout that guys. I’m fine now. Go ahead and do what you have to. I’ll stay wherever you decide to put me.”

  James turned his attention back to the nervous man at the table. Something was wrong, and he knew what it was. “Billy, doesn’t it seem odd that a man has on a woman’s bracelet, or do men wear jewelry like that here?”

  Billy glanced at it and said sarcastically, “Ah, he’s probably a fairy,” then looked over at Leah to see if she was laughing at his self-depreciating remark. She wasn’t l
aughing, though, she was staring.

  “Leah, isn’t that the bracelet you were wearing when I met you at the airport?” James asked.

  Billy did a double-take, and then a palm slap to the forehead. “Crap, Leah, I gave you that bracelet! How could I have missed that?” Billy nodded an ‘excuse me,’ then hastily left the room, reappearing seconds later next to the ‘person of interest.’

  James pushed in the chairs around the table, then sat down next to Leah. “Do you want to leave?” he asked. He looked up and saw the rage in Billy’s eyes as he walked over to the suspect wearing Leah’s Italian charm bracelet. There was no sound coming into the room. Apparently Billy hadn’t enabled the audio function when he invited them in. The visual was a bit too stimulating for either one of them, though. The punk who had been on the edge of his seat moments before, was now scooted all the way back into it, ready to climb over the arms to get away from the detective. Billy was in his face, grabbing at the bracelet, and by the lip-reading that wasn’t hard to determine, asking him, “Where did you get that?”

  “Let’s go to the lobby,” Leah said, her back turned to the viewing wall. “I don’t think any good can come from me watching this. I don’t need any more fodder for nightmares.”

  “Okay. I’ll make sure they have our phone numbers, then we can leave. I know, I know, Billy has them, but just as a matter of courtesy and good form, okay? We can always come back if they call. Besides, I want to take a walk with you. I found something you might like. Can you take me to the hospital first, though?”

  “Are you okay?” she asked with genuine concern. He looked fine now, but had looked quite stunned and shocked at seeing the man who had sold him the map last year, the day her mother disappeared.

  “I’m fine. It’s just, well, just trust me, okay? Let’s get out of here. I’m getting a bad case of the willies.”

  They reached the car, and in short order were ready to take on the afternoon traffic one more time. Leah was baffled, and for more than one reason. She could usually feel something with James, but right now, there was emptiness. And the void was scary. “Here, my hospital is the closest. Should I pull into the emergency entrance?”

  James was concentrating on mountains of stockpiled coal, the view looking deep into a long, dark mine shaft, slate-colored blackboards without any marks. Emptiness was hard to focus on, especially with Leah asking him questions. Do not allow chalk near the board, keep everything blank. “Oh, no; no emergency room, just make sure we’re on the north side of the building, the lot closest to Church Street would be preferable—yes, this is a good place.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go in?” she asked one more time as she pulled into a parking place.

  She didn’t wait for him to get out and open her door, but instead popped out, rushing around to his side, helping him exit the car. She’d pass on the good manners this time.

  He shook his head quickly, thinking of acres and acres of coffee grounds. “Let’s walk,” he said, as she guided him away from the car.

  Leah walked close to him without speaking. She had taken his hand, but after a couple of minutes, pulled it away. “It’s too hot to hold hands,” she said. “Just know that if it was cooler, I wouldn’t let go. Where are we going?”

  “Someplace I don’t think you’ll ever forget,” he said, hoping that he wasn’t giving her any clues. He wanted to surprise her.

  Black jelly beans, buckets and big buckets of ebony black jelly beans. They were passing the school now. The sounds of unreserved happiness filled the air. Children were playing on the swings, running around the grounds, playing tag it looked like. He sighed. One of these days, he hoped to have lots and lots of children. Oops, back to the jelly beans, coffee grounds, and blackboards without chalk marks.

  “Are you sure you know where we’re going?” Leah asked, possibly for the second or third time. He hadn’t heard her before—he was still trying to keep an empty mind—but she sounded more than a little irritated.

  “We’re almost there. Close your eyes, clear your head, and trust me, okay?” He placed his hand softly on her shoulder so he could guide her.

  “Well, all right, but I already trust you or I wouldn’t be here right now. Okay, eyes closed.”

  He watched as her face animated with wrinkles, squints, and pursed lips as she tried to figure out what he was up to. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the side of her forehead, then spit out her hair that had stuck to his newly sprouted mustache and found its way into his mouth. “Is your mind cleared?” he asked.

  She sighed and let her face relax in trust. “I’m trying,” she said in exasperation. Being blind voluntarily, eyes squeezed shut, was not comfortable for her. If it had been anyone but James or Billy, she’d have told him to pack sand in his butt and leave her alone. She might as well get used to trusting him implicitly now, though. And for some reason, she wasn’t able to use her transient sixth sense to figure out where they were going.

  A few hundred yards and a stumble or two later, James patted her shoulder, letting her know it was time to stop. “Okay, you can open your eyes now,” he said.

  They were standing under a huge tree in the front of the old Buffalo Presbyterian Church. Or rather she was standing, and he was down on one knee.

  “Leah Madigan, I love you dearly. We have only known each other a little over a week, but it didn’t take even 24 hours for me to know you were the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Will you marry me, not because it is the right thing to do or because it is logical for our journey, but wholly, solely, because I love you?”

  Leah looked down at James, one elbow resting on his knee, trying to steady his shaking hands that were holding hers. He looked scared, but she couldn’t figure out why, at least not at first. Then she realized what it was. He was afraid she’d say no.

  “You stinker!” she exclaimed.

  James was shocked by her reaction and didn’t know what to do. He was flustered beyond words and started to stand up, feeling like an absolute fool for opening up to her and getting shot down.

  Leah put her hand on his shoulder to keep him from rising. “Hey, you, stay put. I want to enjoy this a little bit longer.”

  James dipped down and got back into his previous position, totally confused, baffled, and quite embarrassed.

  Leah looked down on him and smiled, gave a big sigh, then moved into him and embraced his head between her bosoms, squeezing and rocking him so heartily that she nearly knocked him off his knee. “Of course, I’ll marry you, silly.”

  She let go of his head and backed away half a step, allowing him to rise to his feet. “Oh, and just for the record, I love you, too.” She put out her hand to help him get his balance, and then—when she was sure he wouldn’t wobble over—sneaked in for a full body hug that ended with her face looking up into his, ready to accept him, warts and all.

  “But I don’t have any warts, I told you that.” He grabbed her under her arms, lifted her up to his level, and kissed her without holding back any visualizations of what he wanted to do with her. He wouldn’t have to concentrate on math computations, gun specifications, or mountains of coal and black jelly beans any more. She was his.

  “You are so romantic,” she said dreamily as she readjusted her shirt that had come up with their very worthy smooch. “You know, I was getting a little, well, afraid… But I really did have faith that marrying you was the right thing to do, even if we hadn’t, well, both acknowledged that we loved each other. And how did you know that I was thinking about you and warts? I didn’t say anything.”

  “Maybe what you have is contagious,” he joked. “Or maybe you’ve just opened up so much to me that I can be inside you because you’ll let me.”

  “Or I want you to be inside me,” she said coyly. “Come on, let’s hurry back to the car so we can go home.”

  “Wait just a minute,” he said, keeping hold of her hand despite the heat. “Do you know where we are?”

  “Well, th
e sign says Buffalo Presbyterian Church,” she answered, wondering why that was so important. “Yeah, it’s an old church, and this is a nice place for a proposal; big shady tree and all….”

  “And the church was built in 1756 which means if we’re married here, we can go back and see it again next week.”

  “Oh, you are more romantic than I thought,” she sighed, then quickly changed moods. “But I still want to go back home.” She wiggled her hips and gave him an impish grin that said, “I’m more than ready whether we’re married or not!”

  Leah grabbed his hand and started walking fast, laughing at him as he jokingly dragged his feet, as if he didn’t want to go with her. “But I don’t know if I wanna do that…” he whined.

  “When I get done with you, mister, you’ll wanna. I guar-an-tee it!”

  The two of them skipped halfway back to the car, then walked the rest of the way. He knew the two of them were getting stares, but he didn’t care. “I don’t think I have ever felt so happy and free in my life!” he crowed. He was in love and going to get married, and she was just as happy about it as he was!

  **39 How Hard It Is

  They were both quiet, but glowing with contentment for the ride home. Leah turned the air conditioner up to full blast and James didn’t protest. He wanted his core body temperature cool so a good workout wouldn’t get him overheated, or at least, too sweaty.

  She must be thinking along the same lines. At least, it feels like she is. Could it be that I’m sharing her thoughts? I can see her, lying on her back—as clearly as I can see her now, a warm breath away—my hands stroking her from her calves to her hips, across her belly and…. Oh, boy. I’ve never fantasized about that! Those are her thoughts, for sure, not mine. I’ll make certain I fulfill that desire, too.

  Leah remembered to let James open the car door for her. This hunky, smart, and well-mannered man was going to marry her—be her husband for time and eternity—as soon as Bibb was back, and they could get his birth certificate. And he really, truly, deeply loved her. Life was good and getting better every day, every hour.