ROSEANNE
Bambam's eyes are on me, just as they have been since last night. He watches me make two cups of coffee, and he watches me fix the cups with cream.
"You want a cup?" I ask the watcher.
"I've already made some, but thanks for the offer."
At first I thought he was suspicious, then he left me alone in the room with Lisa and also left me with a gun. Then I thought he was a perv, but he turned away abruptly when he walked in the room this morning to check on Lisa and saw me in my panties.
So I don't know why he's watching.
Unless I'm just that fucking interesting.
"So you and Lisa are pretty serious, yeah?" he asks, lifting the cup of coffee he's drinking. I'm not sure why he's not crashing. The sun has just peeked out, and he's been up all night.
"I think so. At least, I'm serious."
"You don't think she is?"
I need to learn when to shut up.
"I think she is," I say with a tight smile as I turn to face Mr. Watch Me.
He runs a finger over his lips in a pensive manner. "Any family in the DC area?"
I shake my head and return to my task, stirring both coffees.
"Any family at all?"
I shake my head again.
"This is making you uncomfortable, isn't it?"
"No. As an extremely private person, I love talking to a stranger about my past first thing in the morning after my girlfriend was attacked in a town full of weak and evil people," I state dryly, holding his gaze.
His eyes widen marginally. "Sorry. Just making conversation. None of us have great conversational skills. Occupational hazard."
I shrug it off. "Lisa was the same when we first met."
"She stopped pressing for your past? As I said, it's an occupational hazard."
Have I mentioned I hate nosy people?
"I told her the important parts. Not everyone enjoys talking about the past," I say with another shrug. "I've told her more than anyone in years. But she doesn't push for more than I give. It's one of the things I love about her."
We stare each other for several uncomfortable minutes. I'm not sure what he's trying to see.
"Hey." Lisa's voice has us both jerking our heads to the bedroom doorway where she's wearing her sports bra and moving toward me. Her eyes flick to Bambam. "Anything happen while we were out?"
Bambam shakes his head. "All was ghost-town quiet. The sheriff is standing by his promise that Hollis was a bad seed who acted alone, and that he has no idea what set him off. Johnson says he's already vetted the rest of the guys, ensuring us none of them are hostile toward our team." Bambam rolls his eyes.
"Amazing. He managed to vet over twenty other deputies since last night, not to mention an extra five police officers," Lisa says with no emotion, but a definite suspicious lilt.
"This is the most fucked up shit I've been involved in," Bambam says, his jaw ticking.
"Leave Vernon with Nancy today. You ride with me. I'm going to go find Carl Burrows today and get some answers about Robert Park."
The glass in my hand almost slips, and I curse as coffee sloshes over, scalding my fingers.
Lisa grabs some paper towels, and she brings my wounded hand to her face, inspecting it. I feel Bambam's eyes on us, but I ignore it. I don't know or care what his defect is.
