by Jack Parker
"Ok, Foster just left the building. The coast is clear if you wanted to make a getaway." Brandon said. I flashed a confused look for a second but then remembered he thought I was hiding in here so that I could take a break without getting in trouble.
"Oh. Thanks." I said before leaving.
I arrived at my house about an hour later. Ash greeted me as soon as I opened the door. It caught me off guard because his food bowl was filled halfway and I hadn't been here in two weeks. But then I remembered the conversation Kari and I had. She took him to a friend's house while I had been in the hospital. She must've brought him back just now while I was still at the station. Of course, seeing as I had the only key to the house, that would have only been possible if she had used my key to get into my house when I had first been admitted and just never bothered to lock the door back. Then when she came back with Ash two weeks later she locked the door from the inside and then closed it.
It kind of made me nervous to think that my door had been unlocked for that long, but considering that she went out of her way to make sure Ash was taken care of I guess it was ok. I quickly took a tour of the house to make sure nothing had been stolen. But everything was where it should be. And after the few minutes I had spent making sure things were in order, I finally got a chance to relax on the couch. Not even a second later my phone rang and I had to get right back up, trot over to the counter where my phone was and answer the call.
"Hello?"
"Michael." came back the stern voice over the speaker. I didn't need to look at the caller ID to know who it was. There was only one person that ever referred to me as 'Michael'. My father.
"What do you want?" I instantly regretted saying it because it came out like I wanted him to get to the point so I could get off the phone with him. Although if I knew my dad, and I think I do, he would say something in a few moments that would make my previous statement actually true.
"What, are you busy?" he wondered.
"No…. What's up?… I-uh. I mean… what's the deal?" I nervously blurted out. He paused before answering. It sounded like he was debating whether or not to call attention to my tone of voice, but then he must've decided against it.
"I've been trying to get in touch with you for awhile. I guess you've been busy with that serial killer case." he said.
"Oh. Sorry, I guess I have been busy." I took his story and ran with it. Technically I was lying because that wasn't the reason I couldn't talk to him. But I didn't want to explain the whole 'coma' thing over the phone.
"We should do dinner tonight or something. It's been a month since the last time we've had a real conversation." he suggested.
"Yeah, that would be nice." I said. I really wasn't that excited to have dinner with my dad. I would personally rather relax at my place and maybe play video games for the rest of the day while I try to figure out this 'Taylor resigning' thing. However, I didn't have a good excuse to not meet him, and saying 'no' probably would've resulted in an argument of some kind between the two of us.
"So where do you want to go?" he asked. I thought about it for a moment, mulling over the potential choices. I wanted to pick a good place, because if I had to sit through a meeting with my father, I might as well enjoy the food. Wait a second, why did I feel like I had thought about this already today? He just now called me and suggested we go eat somewhere… oh that's right. I had already promised Kari we would eat dinner together.
"I just remembered…." I began to say. "Kari and I already made plans tonight."
"Kari?" he asked. "Oh, that friend of yours… the one I haven't met in person."
"Yeah, that's the one." I confirmed, nodding my head nervously. I'm glad he couldn't see me because I was certain he would've made some kind of comment on how tense I looked.
"Well, there's a solution to that. Instead of two separate dinner dates, why don't we combine them? The three of us can find somewhere nice. That way I get to meet this friend of yours."
"That wouldn't be a good idea… because…" I knew I had a legit reason why I didn't want him to go, but I couldn't figure out how to explain it.
"Oh… it's a 'date' date. I wouldn't want to interrupt that." he quickly said. His sudden outburst made my face suddenly turn red. I expected his usual aggressive conversation style, but this new twist on it was almost worse than the normal version.
"N-No, i-it's not like that. W-We're just friends." I stammered. For a moment I wished that I had just lied and let him think that. Then he would have his explanation. But then I knew eventually that lie would come back to bite me.
"Wasn't this the one that said she liked you?" he asked. This is not good. My mind was spinning trying to dodge the bullets he was firing at me as if I were piloting an old WWII fighter jet being shot at.
"I-uh… yes."
"What ever happened to that?" he asked. Mayday! Mayday! This plane is going down!
"Well-uh….It's a long story." I said. It wasn't a long story at all. I punched a wall to try and relieve some of the stress that was building up.
"What was that sound?" he wondered.
"Um… that was the cat getting into something." I instantly responded. I was proud of myself for being able to return serve this time. "I have an idea. What about lunch tomorrow at Tropiocas?"
"Well, I guess lunch is fine. I'll be free at noon." He answered. Tropiocas was the coffee place downtown that both of us frequented for lunch. It was close to where he worked, and it was also the closest place to the station with wi-fi.
"I'll see you tomorrow then I guess."
"Yep. See you tomorrow."
I hung up and breathed a huge sigh of relief that that conversation was over. There was a mountain of things on my plate that had been left unfinished. There was the thing with Taylor resigning and the potential link with the Vigilante. Then there was the Vigilante Killer case itself that was going nowhere. Even though I was technically taken off the case, I still felt like I had a hand in solving the thing. But getting let go from my consultant duties meant I would eventually need to find another job somewhere else. It was nice to be able to complete something for once. And with the phone call done with, I needed a few moments to decide where I was going for dinner.
CHAPTER THREE
Kari and I met for dinner at Chuy's off Westheimer road. I choose the place because it was somewhat in between where both of us lived and it was only a twenty minute drive. Usually when we grabbed dinner somewhere it was after a long day where we both were working some lead on a case with Taylor. We normally took one car because we might have to drive a bit and didn't want to waste the gas. One of us would drive to the other's house and use the other's car for that day's events. But with the restaurant a short distance for both of us, it didn't really matter if we took one car or two.
Chuy's was a Tex-Mex style restaurant. Certain regions of the United States are famous for something when it comes to food. Louisiana is famous for Cajun food; the New England area is known for seafood. I remember when I lived in Chicago for a good chunk of my life. They had their own style of pizza they invented that was popular in the city. Houston, meanwhile, is famous for it's Tex-Mex.
I don't know what Texas actually brings to the 'Tex-Mex' table. It would seem to me that most of the menu items are Mexican inspired dishes. Maybe the term just refers to the fact that the food is cooked in Texas. All I know is that one can find a few of these restaurants on every commercial street in Houston. Growing up here, I have been to many Tex-Mex places and they are all only slightly different from each other. Chuy's is one of the better ones in the area I hear. But even the lower end places are better than the average Mexican restaurants that could be found in Chicago. I remember getting that opportunity once when I lived in Chicago and I had been very disappointed at the difference.
"….Soooo?" Kari said, emphasizing the word to catch my attention. The two of us were in the parking lot outside of the restaurant. We had a few moments before going into the somewhat crowded restaurant.
> "What?" I wondered.
"Notice anything different?" she asked, doing kind of a twirl for emphasis. That was all the clue I needed.
"Did you dress up for dinner?" I asked. That was the only thing immediately noticeable. The way she asked the question implied it was something visual.
Normally she would wear something like blue jeans and a buttoned up shirt to a casual event like this. But today it was some kind of white dress shirt and a formal pink jacket. How clothing can be formal and pink was anyone's guess, but that's what this was. Instead of blue jeans it was some dark fabric I didn't know the name of. If I were more into fashion I would probably know the actual names of all of these clothing items, but all things considered I think I've painted a good picture of reality here.
"Ding, ding, ding, ding!" she confirmed my correct answer.
"What's the occasion?" I wondered.
"Hmmm… someone's suddenly curious." she teased. I couldn't think of a response, so instead I just let it drop. She was right about my curiosity, but that was just my nature. I tended to obsess over details. It was something she would bring up as a joke a lot. But today I think she at least made an effort to put my mind at ease on the issue because as we were about to enter the restaurant she added, "I'll tell you later. This isn't a conversation I want to have in a parking lot."
Suddenly I was feeling very nervous. When I initially asked the reason for her sudden change in wardrobe, I assumed that she had just made the decision on a whim. Now, she has never dressed this nice when it was just the two of us hanging out, but she's made impulsive decisions sort of like this before. Honestly I think if she had her way, every time we met to go do something she wouldn't decide what we were doing until the last minute. Of course, since I'm the type that doesn't like surprises I put the kibosh on that happening on a daily basis.
But the reason I was nervous was because this obviously wasn't one of her normal impulsive decisions. She said she would tell me what the reason for this was later, and that meant there was a real reason. We walked into the restaurant, waited for the host to find us a table, and then followed them to where we would be eating for the night. I was able to stay in reality for the most part by making the customary nods and hand signals that went with the event, but the rest of my brain was trying to figure out what could possibly be the reason for the way she was dressed.
Wait a second, wasn't our high school reunion last year around this time? I don't remember the exact day, but it could easily have been exactly on this day last year. That reunion was the first time the two of us met. And Kari was the type of person that tracked sentimental days like that. But that wouldn't explain why she decided to dress up for this occasion… unless. Unless the whole anniversary thing was just a backdrop for something else. But what? It could be anything.
"You know, I thought we could have some fun during dinner today." she remarked with a grin on her face.
"That's not good…" I kind of mumbled. It was meant to come off as a joke, but usually when she uttered a phrase like that it meant she wanted me to get involved in some kind of shenanigans.
"Oh, come on, this is a good idea." she replied defensively, "I happened to switch channels and I caught the end of Super Troopers on TV the other day at the hospital and…"
"…and you wanted to see how many times you could say 'Meow' without the waiter noticing?" I teased. The 'Meow' thing was something that had happened in the movie.
"Well, no… that wouldn't be original." she responded as if that was the only thing stopping her from doing that. "But you are on the right track. My idea was for both of us to only respond to anything the waiter says with a sentence starting with the last letter of the last word that he said."
"Wait, so if he says, 'How are you, sir?' I have to respond with a sentence starting with the letter 'R'?" I wondered.
"Right." she answered. She gave me kind of a clever look and I briefly wondered what she meant by it, but then my confused expression turned into a smile as I realized that she was already playing her 'game' with me.
"But you would easily beat me because you are better at thinking on your feet." I pointed out.
"Fine, be that way." she said with mock disappointment. She had to have known I wouldn't go for this. "But I still want to try. I think I could pull it off the whole night without him noticing what is going on."
"No way you can go the whole night."
"That sounds like a challenge to me." she said, flashing her usual smile.
I smiled back. This was usually the type of thing that happened when we went out for dinner. I wasn't the type to naturally engage in small talk with other people, even those I knew well. As a result, I usually only spoke when it was absolutely necessary. Like if someone was asking me a question or sometimes if I needed to get information across to that person. This was pretty much the sole reason why social gatherings made me nervous. Because all you could do was make small talk with other people. And because of that, during my free time I would most likely be found playing video games with my online friends. The only talking that was required for that was just what was necessary to win the game.
But Kari came up with a good solution about a month into us hanging out. Basically she turned the conversations into games. With any other two people this would be the most ridiculous idea imaginable. But from my perspective it was something to distract me from what was normally awkward chit chat. Instead of thinking how stupid and pointless the things I said were, I was now thinking about 'strategy' and 'optimization' for this game. From her perspective it was just something fun to do.
I remember the first time we tried to do this we played the game 'Two Lies and a Truth'. It was a game where one person said three statements about themselves and the other person tried to figure out which one was true. Before I knew it, we were pretty much covering the usual small talk conversation pieces but just within the parameters of the game. It worked perfectly, and so now every so often one of us will come up with some kind of 'game' to play so that we didn't have to resort to normal boring conversation.
"Oh hey, the waiter is coming." Kari warned. Then, as she turned to me with a grin she said "Watch the master work."
"Good evening. My name is Anthony. Would you like me to start you off with some drinks?" he asked.
"Sure." Kari answered, starting off 1 for 1 starting her sentence with the same 'S' that he ended his with. "I'll have tea."
"Sweet or unsweet?"
"That's a tough choice. Hmmmmmmm." she pretended to the decision for a few seconds. I knew that this was all just a ploy for the sake of the game. "Sweet."
"And you, sir?" he asked.
I briefly considered trying to join in the game, but I couldn't think of anything clever that started with the letter 'R'. So I just said, "Unsweet tea."
"Ok, I'll be right back with your drinks. Someone will be bringing by some salsa and chips shortly."
Soon another worker came by with the chips and salsa: the universal Tex-Mex appetizer. It was the main reason I liked these types of restaurants. As soon as they put chips on the table, it was a conversation deterrent almost. At the very least it was better than sitting there for five or ten minutes trying to figure out something to talk about. And this place had a server that was only used to give out the appetizers to the guests. That was getting a lot more common in the bigger places because it was more efficient.
"Tough choice? Really?" I mocked Kari's 'clever' word selection when she responded to the waiter the last time.
"Well, sometimes they put too much sugar in the tea. No one wants that…" she flashed an innocent look. That drew a laugh from me.
I loved how she could keep the act innocent act up even though I already knew it was fake. If it had been me I would've broken character a long time ago. But, if she really thinks she can go the whole night starting her sentences with the last letter of the last word the waiter says, she has another thing coming. It would be easy enough to make her give up on the game. The st
rategy here was simple. The more things the waiter said to her, the more opportunities she would have to mess up. Also, if I could get him to end his sentences with 'hard letters' to throw her off, that also was a good play. The only flaw in my plan was that I wasn't nearly as comfortable speaking as Kari was, so I had to make the most of what I said.
"Here's your unsweet tea, sir, and sweet tea for you Miss." the waiter said as he came back with the drinks.
"Sweet!" Kari responded. "This is good stuff."
"Your welcome. Now would you two like to place your orders now?" he asked.
"We would." she replied. "Mike, you know what you want right?"
Instead of confirming or denying her question, I went right ahead and ordered. "I would like an order of fajitas."
"And you?" he now turned his attention toward Kari. I figured this would be interesting to witness.
"Um…let me think." she began to say. She paused for a few seconds, trying to 'validate' her use of the word 'Um' by pretending to be indecisive. She might've done too good a job at acting because the waiter decided to help her.
"Well, we have what's called the Chile Rellenos, and it's basically a giant pepper and inside they put cheese and either beef, shrimp or chicken." he explained, "And it comes with whatever sauce you want with it."
"That sounds like it would be too spicy." she replied.
"Hah, that pretty much knocks out a lot of the specialties we serve here." he said. "We do make a good Tortilla Soup. We can take out the peppers if you don't want it to be that spicy."
"Yeah… I don't think I'm feeling like soup today."
I wondered why she was messing around. She could have easily stated her real order after he went on about the Chile Rellenos. I'm sure she knew what she wanted; she's certainly been here before. Maybe there was some angle I was missing. Maybe she didn't want to appear as if she suddenly knew what she wanted only after sounding like she was so unsure before. Then again… would the waiter really notice the subtle change? And even if he did, would he care? He had enough things on his mind today. I'm sure he didn't have time to worry about an odd, sudden change in Kari's attitude when it came to ordering food.