Jack Kline's Sister

Chapter Six: Optimism

Monica agreed. She knew she wouldn't ever have an obituary, but if she did, she wouldn't want her favorite place to eat in it.

"Yeah, well, young guy dies, they never fail to put in those things." Dean walked up to the counter. "Hi there." He pulled out his badge.

"Can I help you?" The brunette in front asked.

"Yeah. Agent Barry, FBI, this is my partner, Agent Charles, and my niece--she's sort of an agent in training--Rebecca."

Monica frowned. Rebecca? Just plain Rebecca?

"We're wondering if you could give us some details on a regular of yours. Winston Mathers."

"Sure, hon," the woman said, pouring coffee.

Monica missed what she was saying as she had suddenly become infatuated with a painting on the wall. She tilted her head, studying it until Jack nudged her with his foot. She looked back to the woman, eyes probably too focused. He wrote it down until Dean nudged him. Um, you're gonna want to give us a little more than that," he said, with a tight smile.

The waitress glanced at him. "Listen, deep state, flashin' a badge might work on people who don't have a working knowledge of the constitution." She looked at the door, then back at them. "That ain't me." She grabbed a tray. "Now, I gotta go earn some money."

"Or you can stay here and earn some money." Dean pulled out some bills and slid them towards her.

The woman thought a moment before tucking them in her apron. "He came in here every day like clockwork. You really wanna ask about Harper Sales. They had just started courting."

"What's courting?" Jack asked.

Monica wanted to kick him, even though, she, too, was curious.

"It's what you do before you start dating," Dean said.

"And that's the thing you do before the sex?"

Monica literally stepped on her foot to keep it from her brother's, though she would love more info on the topic. Monica's entire sex education had come from the dictionary. Let's just say it wasn't very satisfying.

The waitress shot him an odd look. "Sometimes you just have the sex," she said, leaning in close.

"Okay." Dean forced a tight smile. "Who's Harper Sales?"

After interviewing what seemed like a hundred people who all had the same story to tell, they took a break. Dean got pie. It was chocolate with what looked like toasted marshmallow on top. Monica didn't care what it was, she was just starving. She jammed nearly half of it into her mouth in one bite and closed her eyes. Heaven. No. From what she'd heard, heaven wasn't all that perfect. This was better.

"Eat up," Dean said. "Pie is important."

"Can I ask you about what Wanda said about courting? I mean, I've seen romantic movies but I've never experienced it unless what you said about Rowena and Gabriel counts."

Dean shook his head, mouth full of pie. "No definitely doesn't count. Look, I'll tell you everything sometime later when--" he gestured to Monica "--Isn't in the room. For now, we need to focus on Harper Sales. I mean, that's just too much bad luck for one person."

Monica was too high on pie bliss to even notice their conversation.

"Maybe she's not human," Jack suggested.

"That's what we're going to figure out."

"How?"

"You ever read a romance novel?" Dean asked, shoving more pie in his mouth.