Revenge is Sweet

Chapter Eight Vanessa

I'd left the café in search of Tamera around 9:30, mostly just driving around town in hopes of seeing her car. By ten I found her asleep in front of the Jenkins' house. That wasn't the best sign, seeing as Sally had been the first victim. But she hadn't been a paid target. She'd been more of a personal attack, to let people know where I was these days. And that people can't just get away with bad things. I shook my head out of the cobwebs, and focused on figuring out why Tamera's here and what she's been doing all day. The detective beat me to the first question.

"What are you doing here Vanessa?" Her voice was business, no hint of the friendliness it held usually. This tone sent chills up my arm, making me straighten my spine. I needed her to see me as a friend again. Or else she could ruin everything. I liked Tamera, but I wouldn't let her catch me.

"I got worried when you didn't come in for lunch, I stopped by the station but Day said you'd been gone for hours and that your cell was going to voicemail. So I came to look for you, I was just driving by and saw you slouched over in your car. I thought you were, I don't know, dead or something. I heard that you found another body last night... I'm sorry." The words tripped over themselves and out in the air between us with little permission. Her face softened, a tiny bit, and she paused. Her expression seemed to be thoughtful.

"What time is it?! I swore I only closed my eyes for a second..." She glanced around in obvious confusion. It was pitch black outside, and she'd been asleep for a while from the looks of it. I let out a small laugh, and pulled out my cell to check.

I flashed her the screen that read 10:05, trying not to laugh at the startled expression crossing her face again. When she made that face, her cheeks heated slightly, making her freckles pop, her eyes going wide enough that the whites seemed to swallow the pools of brown, her lips shrinking in on themselves with impatience and annoyance in an adorable scowl. Good god, stop staring you perv. I shook my head and smiled thinly.

"It's after ten? How?? It was five when I got off the phone with... God I slept here for five hours. Well thank you for coming to find me. I guess I should call Max and go home to sleep." Tamera had hesitated and changed her sentence right before telling me who she'd talked to. Damn it, I needed to know what she'd figured out. There was still a wariness in her eyes, the kind that made me nervous. She didn't still suspect me, did she?? I was still trying to figure out how the hell she'd found the mansion. Had she followed me from Toralees?! Did she think I killed her? I was so confused... I needed answers. The best way to get them was to get her alone, and talk.

"Have you eaten? I could... we could go to my apartment and I could whip us up some crepes or something?" The words were too urgent, too hurried to be casual and polite. Now they seemed desperate and strange. Damn it, I needed her at ease, not worried I was trying to ax murder her.

"Um, no I haven't but I'm tired. Rain check? Sorry." Her words were... cold. And distant. Good job Vanessa. Now not only does she think you're a killer, she thinks you're trying to kill her. Fan-fucking-tastic. New tactic, if she was so tired she had accidentally fallen asleep for five hours... Then how could she possibly drive home? That wasn't safe.

"Come on Detective, I can't let you drive this tired. That wouldn't be very safe. You could cause an accident. Please, just let me drive you home. I promised Max I'd make sure you were safe, I can't do that if I leave and let you drive. What do you say?" My words were soft and teasing this time, polite but joking. Hopefully they worked, her face was unreadable.

"Okay you can drive me home. But what about my car? How will I get to work tomorrow without my car?" She had a valid point there, but I had thought ahead.

"I'll just pick you up in the morning, and bring you back to get it. That way you can drive to work, plus I go this way to the café from the apartment anyways." Simple, not entirely true, but she didn't have to know that. I watched as she took in my words and decided it would work.

"Okay fine." She grabbed her phone and keys and climbed out of the car. She hit the key fob and locked it as we crossed the street to my truck. I watched her face as I climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine. Tamera seemed wary still, but not as distant. Progress.

As I drove us carefully through the dark, I started up a conversation. I needed to get her talking, I needed to know what she knew.

"So what were you doing at the Jenkins' house? I hope Paul is well, I haven't seen him in a while. He usually comes into the cafe for dinner, since Cathy passed. But I don't think I've seen him since Sally passed. I like talking with him, he never orders the same thing twice." I let out a genuine laugh as I thought about Paul, a sweet man I had befriended partially out of guilt. But he's great, really he is.

"I was just-" Her sentence is interrupted by a huge yawn, and I have to stifle a laugh at the expression she makes. "Asking some questions about some irregularities I found in Sally's financials."

The last half of her answer turns my blood to slush. Her finances?! Has Tamera found out about Roanoke?? Has she discovered the affair? I turned the truck onto my street, trying to brainstorm how else to get her talking.