Hidden Sanity

Chapter 18 - Hide

Even though he wanted to meet her frequently like that, he can't. Right now, his mind was bombarded with the appointments, projects and duties as the president of their company. He felt the pressure each day that he almost got used to it. It was already included in his routine.

He checks=ed his schedule through his phone and he said, "Damn, very fucking compressed the whole week."

He rubbed the back of his neck. He had been prepared enough for busy schedules like these. Nothing to be surprised about. He wanted to help Alice with the case but he has stuff to finish for the whole week. Though Alice is his priority, he has to do his obligations first. A very smart choice but can also be a painful one, because within the week, she'd been in touch with another man, with Joe.

He had to admit, he sometimes feel scared that she might fall for him but he was confident that he will and he can win Alice with just a snap.

For the whole week, there had been no communication between him and Alice. That was the most boring week ever, according to Jack. They see each other in the office but they don't talk that much, just maybe one liners but nothing more than that. Jack was always cold to anyone when he's busy. It's like he avoided every person in the office in order to focus.

Because of the distance he created between him and Alice that week, Alice had become closer to Joe. Joe was the one helping her with the case, wasn't he always? They talked to the police to ask about their findings in the hotel room where Christine's body was found. They said it was found on the ground, buried through concrete and covered through linoleum. It was not televised just for them to put out such news with a very slow progress of investigating. The body was already rotten when found out and they had nothing to blame but the team assigned to the task. It had been an awful mistake of the police and so they just chose to close the case without leaving a word to the public. After hearing the story, Joe asked if they have a cigarette because he wanted to smoke. They said they can't offer him a cigarette so Joe asked for two 10 dollars in replacement to his whole 20 dollar bill. The policeman coughed and took his wallet from his pocket and searched for money. He gave it to Joe. Joe said thanks, left a money as a reward to the questioning they've done, then went out of the station right away. Alice asked him why and he just said, "The policemen have something to do with this."

She replied, "How can you say so?"

"The police have a well shaved beard, impossible for a man who has a case to study in a minimal amount of time. Perhaps he's been too easy on this. The man was on his 50's but no sign of wrinkles, therefore I observed that he had botox in his face. Fresh wound from injection. He coughed—one effect of botox, flu-like symptom. Drooping eyelids, another sign. I asked for a cigarette, he can't offer me one. But his co-officer was smoking outside the office, meaning, it's okay to smoke but he didn't give me any. He might be a smoker too, but that's before, not now that he had his botox. He had too many injected parts in his face, I see that, and for that, he can't properly move his lips for sipping or even holding a cigarette in between. I knew he wouldn't give me one and that will lead me to asking for money, not because I have no two 10 dollars in my pocket but because I want to see the inside of his wallet. I saw he got plenty. Where could he get that amount of money only as an officer? How did he manage to botox his face in the middle of a crucial case? I suspect someone's sponsoring that man..."

"How—"

"Proof?"

"He took my money. A policeman doesn't accept money from a stranger just like that."

"Wow... Didn't see that one coming."

"That was easy. Very predictable."

Joe left a very good impression to Alice because of that. Joe was a very intelligent man. He'll be good in investigating and working on cases, that's why Alice thought he's a good catch. Jack would probably have a hard time having also a smart man like Joe as an opponent.