Sleuth

Letter

"Because when your mate is around, her smell should intoxicate you. And when you touch, her skin should send electricity through your body in the most pleasurable pain imaginable" Kaddian said.

"That was poetic, truly, I'm impressed. But what is it you're trying to tell me?" Jarren said as his phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and stared at the screen.

"I'm saying maybe you should pay more attention to Sarai" Kaddian said, then he rolled up his window. In his rear view mirror he saw Jarren take a phone call and begin to head toward the house.

Sheriff Lauren Hale lived about fifty yards past the Redd house on the outskirts of town in a small, dark brown cabin. Kaddian had to duck to get under the extremely sloped porch roof, but the cabin itself consisted of three rooms; a kitchen, living, and bedroom, all of which had very high ceilings. As Kaddian prepared to knock on the door, he noticed a plain face envelope wedged in between the logs of the cabin next to the door. He removed it and placed it on top of the food container before he knocked gently. There was music playing in the home, and he couldn't hear movement or shuffling, so he wasn't sure if the Sheriff had heard him, which is why he was surprised when the door opened suddenly to reveal a casually dressed Lauren Hale. Kaddian was not sure he had ever seen her in anything other than her uniform, and to see her now, dressed in plaid print, flannel pajama bottoms and a form fitting black long sleeve caught him off guard.

"Mr. Grayson!" she said, shocked. She was holding some sort of lemon wine cooler in her hand and, through the open door, Kaddian could see files open on the table in the livingroom.

"Hello Sheriff Hale. Dinner was made for my Sleuth and our guests and we had leftovers, I thought you might want some" he said, extending the food container.

"Oh, of course, thank you! Please, come in. Want anything to drink?" she opened the door completely and took the food from his hand and placed it in the kitchen on the counter. At his head shake, she continued "I'm sorry it's such a mess", scooching past him, she went to straighten up the papers on the table... the only 'mess' in the entire house. Everything from the hearth decorations to freshly vacuumed carpet was pristine, almost as if she didn't live here.

"Your house is not messy... it's the exact opposite" Kaddian said slowly.

Sheriff Hale looked around the living room before sighing. "Honestly, it's like this because I'm rarely home" she admitted. She plopped down on the couch and took a very long drink of her wine cooler.

Kaddian stood exactly where he had been the entire time, right inside the door, and realized this was probably the closest he had ever felt to feeling uncomfortable and awkward.

"Why do you work so much?" He asked finally, making his way slowly to the love-seat perpendicular to her position on the couch.

"Because I want to keep people safe" she said quickly, then took a deep breath and continued, "and to distract myself from... all of this" she made a grand gesture to the cabin surrounding them.

"You don't like your home?" Kaddian asked.

"Listen" Sheriff Hale said, "close your eyes and listen". Hesitantly, Kaddian did and heard nothing, even with his slightly improved senses.

"There is nothing" he finally said.

"Exactly. I'm almost thirty years old and I have absolutely nothing to show for it. This house should be filled with children's laughter and the smell of home cooked food and my husbands coat should be hanging by the door" and as Kaddian listened to Lauren Hale rant about how her life should be, he imagined everything she described with extreme vivacity.