James?

           “Seriously, Hootch, you tripped the alarm because you’re hungry?” she said angrily, though he thought he heard a smile in her voice.


           As metal shutters rose, he saw the closed circuit camera monitors and a red alarm light beaming. He saw himself in the monitor, standing by the window and knew that she would see him in a matter of seconds. He ducked and literally crawled to a blind spot he had noticed in the short time he had to study the camera positions.

          “Boy, this is what I call taking stalking to a new level,” he muttered to himself.

            He heard thumping. A consistent low sound accompanied by the brief sound of what sounded like small stones being dropped on plastic. She whistled and the thumping stopped. He figured Hootch was a dog and his wagging tail must have been the thumping sound. Hell, his heart thumped when he saw her, there was no way the dog could escape her charm. Struck by a sudden panic that a dog would be far more perceptive than the inanimate cameras, he slowly moved towards the fencing of the house.

           It was only when he was a fair distance away from the house that he stopped to think about what he just saw. Trying to remember every nuance, he thought about the complex “glass” screens, the exposed wires, the entire CCTV set, the room on the far left which could have been her actually dwelling and the metal shutters.

            Stunned and admittedly scared, he decided it was time to pretend he saw nothing and go back to his shop. He got back into his truck and took one last look at the supposed Coroner’s Office. He was willing to bet his prized World Series baseball bat that “Jo” or whatever her name is was not as simple as her signature stir-lick-lick.

            As he readied the shop for the day, he felt a stirring in him. It was excitement. He felt exhilarated, what with the entire prospect of investigating this strange, but painfully beautiful woman. He was on edge. He knew there was not a soul in Somerset who could operate the computerized systems he saw. What did she do for a living? Who was she? Was she a criminal? Did she work for someone? What was she involved in? Was she part of the military? He knew the base down in Jessup County had some scientists and researchers in-house, but “Jo” certainly did not look like the average scientist. She was way too hot to be a book-type scientist; though he had a feeling she was mad enough to be one.

          He left the store counter to search for his binoculars and long range microphone he hid at the back of his shop. He smirked as he remembered how he had bought the amateur “spy kit” for Jordi when she was 19 and determined to get a degree in Criminal Justice so she could become a private investigator. That idea had been thrown out the window the moment Chris found out about it. They had been dating since she sucker-punched him – literally and he had a say in pretty much everything she did.

           As he arranged the dusty set, he was jarred out of his random musing by the sound of the bell attached to the shop front door. He quickly covered the set he had placed on top of a wooden crate with a fire blanket and moved to the front of the store.

          “Whatcha doing, big brother?”

          “Jordi. I’m working. What do you need, little sister?” he asked sarcastically.

          “I broke the toilet flush. Can you fix it? I really couldn’t be arsed to find a plumber. Please?” she requested gently.

          “Yeah, sure, no problem. I’ll come take a look at it during my lunch break, okay?” he answered quickly, though he knew it might give him away.

          “Hmmm. What’s going on? You’ve got that crazed 1989 look on your face again and you and I both know something’s got you buzzing,” she queried.

          “What? No. Now run along, you’re throwing off my groove!” he laughed, a little too nervously.

         “Fine, fine, fine. As if you had a groove to begin with,” she scoffed as she opened the front door to leave. “By the way, steak and mash for dinner. Don’t be late or you’ll end up eating that God awful pecan pie old lady Percy makes for dinner.”

          Satisfied that she had left, he busied himself with the shelves in the store and kept working until lunch hour came. He called himself ten kinds of fool for thinking he should pursue his little “surveillance” project as he drove to his sister’s house. He threw the truck into park and as he walked up to the front door, he saw James’ car again. Funny, how James’ car was the most unique in the county, yet he kept seeing it all over town.

          “Oi! Runt! I’m here!” he yelled out as he crossed her living room. He saw James sitting at the dining table, looking quite pensive reading the papers.

         “Hey James. What’s going on? I thought I saw your car early this parked round the back of the coffee shop,” Jake said, trying to sound as nonchalant about as he possibly could.

          “Hey. Yeah, I went for a cup of coffee and the paper,” he answered shortly.

          “You mean the paper you’re reading now?” Jake said proudly, knowing he had caught his brother in a lie.

          “Yeah, uh, I didn’t have time to finish it,” James replied gruffly.

          “James-sie here must’ve gone to check Jo out, since everyone goes at ten to nine to check Jo out,” Jordi said absently as she entered the kitchen carrying a basketful of laundry. “Now get to work, slave. The toilet is upstairs!”

          “Yes, Ma’am. I’ll get right on it,” he laughed. “You!” he said to James, “don’t go anywhere. We need to have a little chat.” The idea of James ‘checking’ Jo out did not sit well with him. No, there was no way Jake could possibly be jealous of his baby brother ‘checking out’ some crazy chick. She was gorgeous, but definitely crazy.

         As he worked on the toilet flush in his sister’s bedroom, he heard the two of them joking and laughing. The phone rang, and he knew it was Chris, calling her to tell her how his day was going. He smiled to himself. He had a good thing going with his family. Sure, he and James had some things to work out, but they always got through it. They were a little over a year apart, which was why they competed for everything.

          He was sincerely happy James took the scholarship from M.I.T. He stopped turning his monkey-wrench when he remembered that. James could almost definitely operate and understand the complex computer system at the Coroner’s office. If there was one person who could, it would be James. Should he tell James about what he saw? Was James involved with this Jo lady somehow? Completely baffled by this new revelation, he suddenly realized he had no idea of what James did for a living.

           It was funny how Jake had managed to put it all together. Even funnier was the fact that he knew nothing about what his brother did for a living. He had never thought to ask. Now he was jumping to conclusions, thinking James was somehow involved with Jo, her lab and her dog, Hootch. He made a resolution to find out.

            He finished up with his sister’s toilet flush and went downstairs to find her folding laundry.

          “Where’s James?” he asked.

         “Dunno. He said he had an appointment. I didn’t even know he still had friends here in Somerset anymore. He left so long ago, you know. Maybe it was a work meeting,” she said.

          “Speaking of work, who does he work for? Any idea of what kind of work he does?” Jake asked himself, more than he was asking her.

          “Funny you should ask. I was thinking of asking him myself. Isn’t it strange how we haven’t figured that out all these years. Maybe we’ve been too self-absorbed to ask him,” she said thoughtfully.

           “Yeah. Maybe you’re right, runt. We’ll ask him tonight,” he said as he left the house.

           He was deep in thought as he drove back to the store. He still had fifteen minutes to opening time. His mind kicked into overdrive. Something in him pushed him to drive past the shop and head towards Penny Lane.

           “What am I doing?” he asked himself, out loud. He was also half-expecting to see a black Mustang outside the Coroner’s office, but no such luck. The yellow Hummer was still there, and he did not bother to stop. There was no point trying to figure this all out during his lunch hour. He would come back, tonight, after dinner and gather some “intel” on this woman – after interrogating his brother about what he did for a living.

            Everything would fall into place, he figured. He reprimanded himself, laughed at himself for even daring to think that he was some kind of “detective”. He owned a hardware store, and had a college degree in Management and Logistics.

          “Pfftt. Helluva damned good detective you’d make, Foster,” he muttered to himself as he drove back to the shop, a little sad that he had not seen her again. He quite liked her red ankle boots. He quite liked the look of her and that smile she gave him earlier today was sincere, he knew that much. Fixated on the plan he had set for the rest of the day, he slowly drove back to the shop. It really was time for a change.


Missed Chapter 1? Read it here.
Missed Chapter 2? Read it here.