Authors: Angella Graff
“Fair to middling,” he answered honestly. He looked at her and was surprised to see her dressed casually, in a long, black skirt and loose fitting sweater. Her hair was down, curly from the bun she’d kept it in all day, and her work make-up had been washed off. She looked very nice, Ben realized, and quickly tried to stamp his attraction down. Regardless of how flirty she seemed to be, there was no way Ben could cross that line.
“Fair to middling calls for a couple of martinis,” she replied while he shrugged off his jacket and threw it to the side. A server came over and Stella quickly ordered. “Two gin martinis, dirty, two olives, and we’ll start with the samosas.”
Ben didn’t mind her taking control of the order, and perused the menu while she rattled on her favorite dishes. Eventually he settled on some extra spicy lamb curry and before long, they were picking away at their appetizers and making small talk.
“It’s not so bad here, though a lot of my detectives can be a huge pain in the ass,” Stella said as she spun her speared olive around her drink. “It’s difficult being a woman in power with this job. It requires them to respect someone they feel is naturally inferior and I get a lot of push back.”
“Is that why you took over the case?” Ben asked as he nibbled on the edge of his samosa.
Stella snorted a laugh and shook her head. “I took over the case because those two were a couple of bumbling idiots with the maturity level of middle-schoolers. They were screwing up left and right, and I was about to lose control of the case. I realize it’s just one missing person, but that missing person may help unlock something in a rather large homicide case, and they didn’t seem to want to listen to that reason.”
“They were looking for notoriety by taking down a seasoned detective, or proving he had a hand in some crime,” Ben said with a shrug. “I see it all the time. It’s a first for me, personally, but I had a guy working under me who went after our chief. Needless to say, it didn’t end well.”
Stella let out a small laugh. “I can imagine not. Anyway, I do love the job, and I love San Diego. I grew up in Arizona, so being costal, and on the edge of a rather pleasant beach is a nice change.”
Ben quirked an eyebrow. “Arizona, interesting. Never pinned you as a Zonie.”
Stella rolled her eyes and pushed the empty appetizer plate away. “I haven’t heard that term in ages. I’ve lived here twelve years, I think I’ve earned my California badge.”
“I guess,” Ben said with a smile. They ordered a couple more drinks as the food arrived, and for the first time in weeks, Ben found himself actually enjoying a meal and a conversation with someone.
“Married?” Stella asked as the server took away their entrée plates and set down two small bowls of the restaurant’s famous almond kulfi.
Ben took a small taste of the ice cream and gave her a wry smile. “No, never been. Engaged once, but it didn’t work out well.”
“Let me guess, she cheated?”
“Luckily she left before that, but I think if I’d pushed her to hang on any longer she would have,” Ben said. “We met in college, you know, couple of stupid kids thinking we were so grown up. As time went by, we both did grow up, but we also grew into people who didn’t fit together anymore.”
“So, not bitter,” she said with a small smile.
“Not often, but I have my moments. I’m a homicide detective, after all,” he finished with a laugh. “You?”
“Married twice.”
“Cheaters,” Ben said. “I’m clever,” he replied when she looked mildly surprised.
“Married right out of high school, lasted two years. Married the second time when I was twenty-five, and he was a serial cheater.”
“Bitter?”
“Not after I had him arrested for credit card fraud,” she said with a laugh.
“Wow,” Ben replied. “You’re scary.”
“I can be,” she said with a shrug. “You caught a small glimpse of my ugly side. Which I’m sorry about, by the way.”
“No apology necessary. I can’t tell you what a hell week I’ve had, so you getting a little bitchy didn’t bother me at all.”
Stella nodded and stared at him for a moment. “Want to talk about it?”
“Not particularly, no,” Ben said, and when Stella looked a little hurt, he continued. “It’s nothing against you. In fact, if I actually felt like sharing this insane week with anyone, I’d probably tell you. You’re the first person to approach me with any sense of reason in a long time. There’s just a lot I’m trying to sort out.”
She raised her hands in gentle surrender. “I get it, no worries.”
“This ice cream is fantastic by the way,” Ben said as he scooped the last of it onto his spoon. “I may have to drive down here simply to eat here.”
Stella laughed. “I know. I’m an absolute addict.”
The pair of them locked eyes long enough to make Ben uncomfortable and he quickly cleared his throat and changed the subject. “So, this professional dinner…”
“We failed, I know,” she said with a half-smile. “I think we both needed the break.”
“I do have to get back home with some sort of possible lead, though,” Ben said. “Mind giving me a hand with it?”
“I’m happy to,” Stella said. “What do you have?”
Ben reached into his inside jacket pocket and passed his small notebook over to Stella. “There’s a guy who used to work at the hospital in housekeeping. I have a witness who says he was acting strangely the night before he just stopped showing up to work. Human resources fired him as a no-call no-show, and had a cop sent over for welfare check, but he wasn’t home. I’d like to get some sort of address and possible family members on this guy.”
“Shawn Thompson,” Stella said, reading over the notes. “And your witness was this Nancy Wilson?”
“Yes,” Ben said with a shrug. “She said the last time she saw him happened to be right outside of John Doe’s room, and at that time, Wilson was acting really strangely. Staring off into space, claiming that there were people after him. He’s the person who had the most consistent contact with John Doe aside from the doctor and nursing staff.”
Stella nodded and closed the notebook. “Mind if I keep this? I’ll run his name first thing in the morning, and if you want, you can meet me down at the station in case we get a positive hit.”
“Sounds good,” Ben said. He stifled a huge yawn, and realized that what he really wanted was a good, long night’s sleep.
Stella seemed to be thinking along the same lines, and as promised, paid the bill for the two of them and then led the way outside.
“Is it a feminist thing?” Ben asked as the pair stood in the parking lot.
“What?” she asked, her dark brows knotted into a deep frown.
“Paying for dinner. Is it the whole, I can do anything a man can do, thing?”
She laughed and wobbled her hand a few times. “Maybe a little. I just don’t think there’s anything wrong with a woman treating every now and again.”
“Hey, you’re not hearing me complain,” Ben said and shoved his hands into his pockets. “But next time, dinner’s on me.”
“How about an obscenely expensive cup of coffee in the morning, and an everything bagel with cream cheese?” she counter-offered.
Ben smiled and stuck out his hand. “Deal.”
She grabbed it and squeezed lightly, their fingers touching for longer than necessary. When she pulled away, she pulled away slowly and smiled very softly. “Thanks for the great convo.”
“Thanks for the awesome logic,” Ben said.
There was a pregnant pause, the moment of hesitation where Ben knew that if it had been a date, this is where he’d kiss her. They weren’t on a date, however. They were colleagues, both heads of their respective departments, and he was on official business.
Eventually, awkwardly, Ben gave a little nod and then started towards his car. He walked backwards a few steps, as did Stella, and they exchanged one last, awkward wave before he got into his car and turned it on.
The heater was on full blast, which felt great as he quickly sped down the road, and he found himself actually smiling. Despite the situation, and everything going on, Ben had a feeling that he could actually like that girl.
Chapter
Thirty-One
As unfamiliar as Ben was with the city, he managed to find the place reputed to have San Diego’s best tasting espresso drinks, and ordered two of their house specials; espresso with soy milk, caramel and cinnamon. He threw in a couple dozen of their bakery’s fresh bagels and headed off to the San Diego station where Stella had already clocked in for the day.
Ben had been at the San Diego station several times, and was familiar enough with the officers inside to receive a sort of stilted greeting from a few who found him cold and a little hard to converse with. Ben wasn’t in a hurry to change that first impression, and only met the officers with a terse hello, and head nod as he made his way back to Stella’s office.
Through her tall windows, he saw her sitting behind her desk, her corded phone pressed to her ear and she was chatting away. She saw him through the open blinds and waved him inside as he wiggled the cup of coffee in the air.
“Look, I don’t really have time to do this with you right now, but I’ll be in touch if I hear anything. I’m an officer, not a magician, and as sympathetic as I am to your case, this isn’t some televised crime show. I’m an actual detective with the actual police, and not every crime is solved by a drop of blood or semen at the crime scene.”
Ben snorted and Stella rolled her eyes as he took a seat and let her finish up the call. The smell of the fresh baked bagels soon filled the room and as Stella listened to the ranting voice on the other end of the phone, her eyes snapped to the large paper bags Ben had brought in.
“I don’t care who you report me to, the point is, I can’t magic evidence out of thin air. We’ve followed up on every single one of your leads, and several others that were brought to us, and he’s still missing. You might want to consider the fact that you’re very unpleasant and maybe he just packed up and left no trace because he didn’t want you to find him. I’ll be in touch,” she finished and slammed the phone down.
Ben chuckled as Stella groaned and dropped her face into her hands. “Already that kind of morning?”
“About to get better if those bagels are as fresh as they smell,” she said, her voice muffled by her hands.
“Haven’t tried them but they looked fantastic,” Ben said. He fished one of the everything bagels out of the bag and shoved it towards her with one of the tubs of cream cheese.
With a happy sigh, Stella began dressing her bagel liberally. “This more than makes up for dinner.”
“So
you
owe
me
? I’ll remember that,” Ben said with a wink.
Stella rolled her eyes and took a long drink of her coffee. “Not bad, Stanford. Not bad at all.”
“So any luck with my guy?” Ben asked after the two of them munched on a little bit of the breakfast.
“Mmm,” Stella replied, her mouth full. She pushed a piece of paper across the desk and washed down her bite with her drink. “Not much, just a couple of speeding tickets several years ago. His address is listed as owned by one Diana Thompson, his mother, who still lives there. We called but there was only a machine. Probably worth it to stop by and check, though. He wasn’t reported missing at any point, so it’s possible she knows where he is.”