by J. D. Griffo
“It even sounds beautiful in English,” Jinx said.
Smiling, Helen looked at Jinx like she was a little girl taking her first steps into the real world, and in some instances she was just that. She was intelligent and at times could be street smart, but she was, at her core, innocent. She was also wrong.
“The phrase is far from beautiful, but rather tragic,” Sal explained. “It means to chase an unrealistic dream. Jonas wasted his entire life chasing after a woman who didn’t return his love. So instead of moving forward to find a love he could call his own, he retreated into the past and found solace in the bottle.” Sal paused a moment and looked as if his own words had caught him off guard and were more personal than he had intended. “A very common human tragedy that no amount of prayer could rectify.”
Prayer might not help, but some good old-fashioned reporting might.
* * *
An hour later Jinx was back in her street clothes at her desk at work rifling through the back issues of The Herald searching for any clue she could find about Jonas and his mystery girlfriend. She didn’t find his high school sweetheart, but the woman she discovered he was linked to stunned her. The article frightened her so much, she printed it out, and only read it in its entirety when she was safely ensconced in her car.
Jinx couldn’t believe that she was reading about a connection she never imagined existed. Several years ago a school teacher took out a restraining order against Jonas because he was harassing her at school.
“Nola?”
Jinx read the article again and unless there was another Nola Kirkpatrick who taught English and drama at St. Winifred’s Academy, the article was about her. Which meant that the gossipy goth girls at Jonas’s service weren’t being gossipy at all, but were telling the truth. And Nola and even Sharon covered up the facts about Jonas’s past behavior. But why would they do such a thing?
And why would Freddy be sending me a one-word text, Jinx thought. Since the one word was “urgent,” she thought she should reply immediately.
Fifteen minutes later just as Jinx was about to put the key into her front door, it opened. Standing in front of her wasn’t her boyfriend, but Nola’s. They both appeared disappointed.
“Kichiro, what’s wrong?”
Motionless, the detective stood in the doorway with his hands balled into fists. His left one was at his side, but his right was pressed against his lips as if he were contemplating punching himself in the face.
“Nothing, I’m just leaving.”
“No, I mean with your finger.”
The last time Jinx saw Kichiro at the impromptu celebration dinner for Jinx’s new assignment he was still sporting a Band-Aid around his finger from the cut that he endured the night before Jonas was killed. But now the Band-Aid had been replaced with a larger white bandage that covered his entire index finger.
“Oh this,” he said.
When it was obvious that he wasn’t going to elaborate, Jinx continued her questioning. “Yes that, are you alright?”
“Oh yeah, it’s . . . that, that splinter I got, you know it became infected so I had to get some antibiotic cream and need to keep it bandaged.”
Jinx was speechless. Not because she was grossed out or felt bad for Kichiro, but because the cop was lying to her.
“You said you cut yourself, now it’s a splinter?”
Kichiro didn’t say a word, he merely glared at Jinx. Finally when the façade thawed, he looked like his old self, like he did when they first met. It was a relief to see his dismissive glare that said he felt Jinx was a complete moron, at least that was familiar. The quiet, introspective Kichiro she witnessed when they found Jonas’s body and the cheerful, upbeat Kichiro, who she had dinner with recently, were alien to her. So while she wasn’t thrilled that his eyes were drilling imaginary daggers into her forehead, she was happy to be reunited with the Kichiro she loved to hate.
“Would you knock it off with your fact-checking?” he finally spat. “It’s really annoying.”
“I can’t help it, I’m a reporter, fact-checking’s in my blood.”
“You’re a real reporter, like I’m gonna be chief of police someday,” Kichiro said. “It’s never gonna happen.”
“Do not compare your lack of ambition to my aspirations,” she scoffed. “If you want something in this life, Kichiro, you have to go for it.”
Kichiro shook his head and his eyes lost all their fire. He seemed to age right in front of Jinx’s eyes. “If you believe you can really have something just because you want it, you’re stupider than I thought.”
Jinx wasn’t hurt or upset by Kichiro’s comment because it wasn’t said in anger, but rather pity. And not for Jinx, but for Kichiro himself. She watched the cop slowly descend the stairs and couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. Like Jonas, Kichiro clearly had his own personal demons to contend with; what they were she had no idea, but they were causing him to lie, act differently, and be very un-coplike. Luckily, one man in Jinx’s life was behaving consistently and exactly the way she wanted him to.
Just as she stepped into her apartment and closed the front door, Freddy had his arms around Jinx’s waist and was nuzzling his mouth against her neck.
“It’s about time you got home,” he said gruffly.
Jinx turned around and let her keys and bag fall to the floor so she could return the favor. She wrapped her arms around Freddy and allowed his lips to move north from her neck to her mouth. She loved the way he tasted, fresh like the morning rain even in the early evening. She also loved the way he felt, soft lips, smooth skin, strong shoulders, and most of all how his floppy ears felt in between her fingers when she pulled on them.
“Stop it,” Freddy giggled. “You’re gonna make me look like Dumbo.”
“Dumbo was cute,” Jinx teased. “Plus, he was an elephant.”
Pleasantly surprised by Jinx’s innuendo, Freddy took her comment to mean that he was going to get an invitation to spend the night. And he probably would have if Nola’s crying in the other room didn’t spoil their romantic mood.
“What’s that?” Jinx asked.
“What else?” Freddy said, rolling his eyes. “She’s been crying non-stop.”
“Seriously? But Kichiro just left.”
“I don’t know what’s going on between them, but when I came over he was already here and she didn’t look happy,” Freddy explained. “Then they went in her room and must have had a fight. I had to keep turning up the volume on the TV to shut them out.”
“They were fighting?”
“Dude! That’s why I texted you,” he said. “I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, but they were loud.”
“What do you mean you couldn’t hear what they were saying? They were right in the other room.”
“I’m only the reporter’s boyfriend,” he declared. “If you want me to eavesdrop, you have to give me some lessons first.”
From the way Jinx looked over at Nola’s bedroom door, Freddy knew that he wasn’t going to get anything from Jinx tonight other than a raincheck.
“I’m sorry,” Jinx said. “I have to get up early anyway. Why don’t you plan to come over tomorrow night and we can spend it doing . . . whatever.”
Exhaling deeply, Freddy kissed Jinx long and passionately before speaking. “And I’m going to hold you to that offer to do . . . whatever.”
“I hope you do,” Jinx replied unable to hide a mischievous smile.
After Freddy left, Jinx took several cleansing breaths to expel sultry thoughts of her boyfriend from her mind, picked up her things from the floor, and turned her attention to lifting up her roommate’s spirits.
“Hey Nola, it’s me, open up,” she shouted, knocking on Nola’s bedroom door.
It took her roommate almost a minute to obey and when she did it was evident that she had taken the time to wipe her eyes.
“What did Kichiro do?”
Confused, Nola shook her head and said, “He didn’t do anything.”
Nola’s eyes grew wide. Jinx thought for sure that words were going to tumble out of her mouth like they had so many times before and Nola was going to explain exactly what was going on in her life in excruciating detail. But she was wrong and instead Nola swallowed hard and looked away.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me,” Jinx said. “When have I ever not understood something that’s bothering you?”
“This is different.”
When Nola tried to shut her bedroom door in her face, Jinx put her arm up and placed her hand on the door pushing it wide open. “Don’t lie to me Nola. What did Kichiro do?”
“This has nothing do to with him,” Nola stated. “Well, not entirely.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Stuttering, Nola started to say something, then stopped, then started to cry, and then she started to talk again. Jinx found it frustrating to watch her and even more frustrating to hear her rationale for keeping quiet. “I know you don’t like him so just leave it alone.”
“This has nothing to do with whether or not I like him, Nola, this has everything to do with the fact that he’s made you cry.”
“I’m not crying over him!”
“Then why are you crying?”
“Because I’m an idiot! I’ve been an idiot my entire life and nothing is ever going to change!”
Luckily, the venom associated with Nola’s words made Jinx take a step back so when Nola slammed her bedroom door closed, Jinx was a little more than an inch away from getting hit in the face. The last thing she needed was a broken nose considering that her roommate already had a broken heart.
Jinx knew that she wasn’t going to be able to make Nola feel better at that moment or divulge any more information as to why she was in such a frantic state. But she would. She also knew that despite what her roommate claimed, Kichiro was very much the reason why she was crying her eyes out. First, Nola defended Jonas for stalking her and now she defended her boyfriend for breaking her heart. An icy shiver ran down Jinx’s spine as she asked herself a frightening question: What other secret is my roommate keeping from me?
CHAPTER 10
L’erba è sempre più verde.
Two women, two destinations, one goal: find out why Jonas’s secret past as a stalker has been kept hidden.
When Alberta entered the police station, she was alarmed that Vinny was not trying to keep his own feelings secret or hidden.
In the middle of the station, in front of the main desk, Vinny was standing next to Kichiro, and Alberta didn’t need to hear a word of what he was saying to his deputy to know the two men were arguing. Vinny was about a half foot taller than Kichiro under normal circumstances, but with Kichiro’s head bowed staring down at the black-and-white linoleum tiles and Vinny standing with his chest puffed and arms waving, the difference in their height was exaggerated. Not only that, but once again Kichiro’s defiant attitude was subdued, and Vinny, who despite his role as chief of police was not known to capitalize on his position of authority and throw his power around, looked furious. The anger in Vinny’s voice matched his posturing.
“What is wrong with you lately?” Vinny shouted.
“I’m sorry, Chief,” Kichiro mumbled.
“I’m tired of hearing you say, ‘I’m sorry.’ I want an explanation! What is going on? And don’t tell me you didn’t get enough sleep again and you’re tired because I don’t buy it!”
Aware that he was being stared at not only by Alberta but the rest of his colleagues on the police force, Kichiro’s cheeks turned red, and he gazed with even deeper intensity at the floor. He was staring so intently, Alberta expected lasers to fly out of his eyes and dig a tunnel in the floor, creating an escape route. The lasers didn’t come, but the tears did. And no one expected them, least of all Kichiro.
The young detective wiped his eyes so furiously it was as if he was smacking his tears like a desperate father might smack an unruly child on his backside to get him to be quiet. Something was definitely going on with Kichiro, and it had nothing to do with a few sleepless nights. Vinny didn’t notice or, more likely, comprehend, what was going on until midway through his next tirade.
“You’ve been late, unresponsive, unfocused!” Vinny yelled. “It’s like you’ve forgotten how to do your job. And I just can’t. . . What the . . . ?”
Seeing Kichiro cry made matters worse. Vinny was stunned to watch Kichiro hold his hands against his face for a few moments and breathe deeply. The rest of the police officers in the room tried to act as if they didn’t notice the scene unfolding a few feet in front of them, but it was impossible. They saw it, but like Vinny, they didn’t understand it. Alberta felt that Kichiro didn’t understand it either. Finally, Kichiro dropped his hands to his side and raised his gaze higher than the floor. He couldn’t meet Vinny’s eyes, but at least he was now focusing on his shoulder.
“I-I’m just going through some personal stuff,” Kichiro said with quiet honesty.
Thankfully, Vinny had not changed much from the person Alberta remembered him to be and was still a kind man, and not someone who kicked another when he was down.
“Why don’t you take some time off?” Vinny suggested, his voice decibels lower. “To work through whatever it is you need to work through.”
Perhaps it was the combination of the fatherly tone of his voice or the kindness of his words, but whatever the reason, Kichiro finally had the strength to look Vinny in the eye. What Alberta saw in Kichiro’s eyes when he did broke her heart because she had seen that look in the mirror before. It was the look of someone who needed help but didn’t have the courage to ask for it.
“Thank you,” Kichiro said. “But I’ll be fine.”
Unconvinced, but unwilling to push the subject while an audience was still gathered, Vinny replied, “Good. Now get back to work.”
Kichiro stared at Vinny, and Alberta thought he was about to tell the truth of what was going on inside his mind, but instead he nodded his head and started to walk into the bowels of the building. As he passed by, Vinny patted him on the shoulder, and it was more than a reflex, more than a mindless gesture, it told Kichiro that he wasn’t alone and that Vinny would be around whenever he was ready to talk.
When Alberta waved at Vinny, she could tell by his expression that he didn’t feel like talking to her, but despite the scene she just witnessed, she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“I’m sorry to barge in here like this, but I need to talk to you.”
“If I ask you to come back later, I assume you’re going to tell me you can’t wait and what you have to tell me is of the utmost importance.”
“I might not have used those exact words,” Alberta hedged. “But the gist of it would be the same.”
Vinny frowned, let out a deep breath, and said, “Follow me.”
At least he isn’t afraid to show his true feelings to me, Alberta thought.
Vinny closed the door to his office behind them and put out a hand indicating that Alberta should take a seat in the one chair on the other side of his desk. It was faux leather in a sandy brown color with chrome piping that had seen a better day. He plopped into his slightly larger, but equally outdated and beaten up, chair behind his desk and reclined so the back of his chair almost rested against the wall. He folded his hands on his chest like he was prepping to take a nap, but instead told Alberta to start talking.
“Okay, what’s so important?”
Since Vinny wasn’t wasting any time on pleasantries, neither was she.
“Did you know that Jonas’s father built the tree house just for him?” Alberta asked.
“No I did not.”
“How come?”
“Because I’m the chief of police, not a mind reader.”
“But that could be an important piece of information, don’t you think?”
“Not really. It doesn’t matter if Jonas was emotionally connected to the
tree house or he had never seen it before, I just need to figure out why he died a few feet below it.”
“But if it was someplace he was emotionally connected to, don’t you think he could have visited the tree house with much more frequency than just one random morning?”
“Very possible, but again it doesn’t matter. Most everyone in town knew the tree house had become a kind of landmark in the park. A few years ago I tried to get it torn down because I was afraid it was going to get destroyed by vandals or become a hideout for some kids who would use it as a place to party and get hurt, but the town fought me on it.”
“So no one had ever gotten hurt or fallen out of the tree house before?”
“If anyone had, it went unreported, but I knew it was only a matter of time before something serious would happen. Now, of course, I’m the bad guy because somebody, in fact, did get killed.”
Leaning forward, Vinny kept his hands clasped and placed them on the desk. “Is there anything else, Detective?”
Alberta was surprised to hear the agitated tone in Vinny’s voice, but chalked it up to his earlier conversation with Kichiro, which she was dying to ask him about. But Alberta knew it would only serve to get Vinny madder, and she wanted him to remain cooperative and share whatever information he had with her.
“That’s Mrs. Detective to you,” Alberta said trying to defuse what was starting to become a heated discussion.
Smiling, Vinny relaxed in his chair. “Duly noted.” Alberta’s tactic worked. Briefly.
“Why didn’t you reveal that Jonas had a restraining order against him?”
Vinny tried to conceal his surprise, but was unsuccessful. He also was unsuccessful in concealing his anger. “What idiot told you that?!”
Before Alberta knew what she was saying, she gave away her source. “My granddaughter is hardly an idiot.”
“She has no right spreading that information around.”
“Why not? It’s public record isn’t it?”
“It happened a long time ago and that girl recanted her story.”
“Nola?”
Vinny tilted his head to the side and smirked, “You know exactly who I’m talking about.”