Les Femmes Fatales [2]

▪ Six

Waking up had never been something hard for Chris. He always woke up when he had to, his alarm rang only once each time and he thought he wasn't moody during the mornings, especially after having a cup of coffee. At the same time, he valued his sleep quite a bit. So, when the next morning he woke up hours before his alarm clock would ring because the family above them were throwing things to the ground it seemed during a Saturday morning, he wasn't exactly pleased. But compared to Stella, he seemed wonderful.

Her hair was still tangled, sticking up in any possible direction even hours after they had woken up and she was half-way through her third cup of coffee. Chris knew better than to disrupt her as the look in her eyes certainly wasn't conveying friendly vibes at the moment and her irregular drumming of her fingers every time a sound was heard from upstairs had him glancing at her every once in a while, almost afraid she would explode at some point.

Up until it was time for lunch and the family upstairs had finally gotten quiet, Chris and Stella didn't speak much. Chris decided to cook fish for the day so as to lift her spirits up a bit and it actually seemed to work as she put her newspaper aside and offered him a smile as he set the plates on the table. They took to eating in silence at first but after a while, he found the courage to speak up.

"What were you reading?"

Stella swallowed with a shrug, "Psion's men are causing havoc yet again. This time it was during the early hours of the morning, at about three. I was home by then."

"You have to rest, you can't live to fight any occasional criminals, baby," he smiled over at her, quite relieved she had answered in a regular manner and that she didn't let her annoyance with the family upstairs get in the way she talked to him. Maybe cooking fish had actually been a pretty good idea.

"Yeah, of course," she nodded but then fell silent again. He watched her closely as she ate, slowly setting his fork down.

"Is there a problem?"

"I was just thinking about yesterday and the woman I talked to you about."

"What's the matter with her?"

"Villains usually don't avoid confrontation."

He folded his arms on the table, eyes narrowing slightly as he tilted his head to the side. "Why are you so sure she's a villain?"

"Because of facts, Chris," she briefly looked up at him, "she was there at the robbery of the jewelry shop and the bank and both Amadi and Aili saw her talking to Psion, who is the most well-known villain there is in the city at this point. There is too much evidence against her for me to think she's innocent."

"What if she was there during the robbery by accident?"

This time, she set her fork down as well, mirroring his stance. "Maybe she didn't mean to be present the first time. But what about the second time it happened? Both times it was late and yesterday it was even raining, she had no reason to be there."

"But you did say she didn't seem to have anything with her both times, so she didn't steal anything."

"And? What does it matter if she stole anything if it comes out she helped the criminals get away with it? For all we know she could be working with them."

"I doubt it," he shook his head as he grabbed his fork once again and started eating. "And about the villain, keep in mind you don't know if she's actually working with Psion at this point. Perhaps he found her and spoke to her against her will."

"Amadi and Aili said she wasn't struggling."

"Maybe she struggled before that."

"You can't be sure and I can't base my opinion on assumptions."