My type

Luke was the first to come out of the SUV and came rushing to me while I ran to meet him halfway. If it were in another life, he would be my ideal man, my type, intelligent, tall, dark, and handsome, with a killer smile and a rock-hard body that I wondered how it would feel being held by him in a tight hug. All the fairy tale stuff. What was I thinking? I had two murders to solve, actually not murders, just their motive for shooting at me yet my mind was all foggy with my ideal man thinking, dumb Zelda, focus. My thoughts were redirected when, Luke hugged me saying, “Zel what going on, I talk with you an hour ago, and next you are killing people at the docks” trust Luke to be melodramatic. I patted his shoulder and replied defensively, “ I came here for fresh air and they just started shooting at me, what should I have done, played hide and seek with them?”

“ At the docks? Everything in the docks is always shady, we both know that. It wasn’t just about a walk for fresh air, something else is going on Zel. And I need you to trust me enough to tell me about it, okay?” I couldn’t argue anymore when Luke got me feeling all cared for like that so I just nodded and started explaining to him how things went down.

The scene was secured, evidence collected, the bodies put in bags, and sent to the lab where they will be analyzed and later taken to the morgue. The whole process took roughly thirty minutes. Luke was engrossed in his work and I wondered if he realized, just how handsome he was, how appetizing he looked with his broad frame and muscles threatening to rip his blue shirt. Gosh! Focus Zelda, you are drooling. I think he realized was staring and ogling at him because he came where I was standing and said, “now that we have established that you like me, what about I take you out tonight.” The audacity of this man, where had I said I liked him? No way. We are colleagues and nothing can come out of mixing work and pleasure, even love. It will just bring awkwardness and distractions. So I said the only thing that I could think of and I regretted it the moment it was out of my mouth because of the disappointed expression he gave and immediately masked it with a smile. I said, “not happening” he just smiled and kissed me on the cheek and said, “we will see about that. Those walls will come down soon and I will take you on that date.” I could not come up with a reply and he just smiled and strode to his car and waved goodbye leaving me wondering what was really wrong with me.

When they cleared out, I remembered the old man, shoot, he must have left by now. I walked briskly to my car and shockingly he was still seated in my car, calmer and collected now. The moment I opened the driver’s door, he said, “ do you know who was shooting at us? Were they after you? And how can you be calm like that, back there when people are shooting at you? Is this what you experience every day?” He was panicking again and at this rate a heart attack was imminent.

“I don’t know who was shooting at us and yes, I think they are after me as I have made a lot of enemies along the way. And yes, I experience this nearly every day, other days worse than others. So let us get back to business, why did you want me to meet you here?” I answered.

“your job must be tough. Do you know where you came from?”

“what does that mean?”

“do you know your real parents, I mean those that gave birth to you?”

“my parents are Mr. and Mrs. Pierce. what is that supposed to mean? They are not my biological parents?”

“why don’t you ask them?” he replied and with that, he got out of the car and I shouted at him, “ where do you think you are going? You owe me an answer for keeping you safe you know.”

“ I don’t owe you anything and thanks for keeping me safe when it was your fault in the first place. I will keep in touch when you have the right answer. Ciao.” He replied and disappeared leaving me seated in my car confused