Blurred Lines

Chapter Seventeen

"Blair!" Mr. Mike exclaimed, standing up from his chair. "What a surprise! John didn't tell me you were coming."

Dad shrugged. "She just called me about an hour ago saying she would be visiting."

"With dinner," I clarified.

"With dinner." Dad nodded. He shuffled through a folder on his desk. "I just need to finish one last thing. I'll be back in a couple of minutes, and then I'll be ready to eat."

"Okay, I'll just wait for you here." I grabbed a chair and brought it over next to his desk, using the spare moment to respond to a few unread messages on my phone.

"I swear, I don't know what I'm going to do, but how can a person make you so angry?" Officer Darrell rounded the corner, directing his question at Mr. Mike. When he looked over and saw that I was sitting there, he bit his tongue from saying more.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were sitting there."

"No worries." I pretended like I didn't care and wasn't listening.

Mr. Mike's eyes shifted from me to Officer Darrell and stood up to guide him to a short hallway, out of the way. "How about we talk over here."

Their voices were hushed, but Officer Darrell's anger caused his tone to raise. I caught the words "Victoria" and "investigation", and automatically assumed Officer Darrell was working on Dave Harvey's murder. His hands started to point and wave, making sudden jabs with his fingers and physically expressing his frustration. Mr. Mike shushed him again and his words became a quiet bite, too low for me to hear them.

"Ready?" Dad asked, tucking some papers inside of the folder and shoving it inside one of his desk drawers.

"Ready."

"What are we having today?" We made our way into the cafeteria and sat down at the table.

"Chicken caesar salad wraps with veggies." I unpacked the food containers.

"Fancy." Dad looked impressed and snickered, "Are you turning into Carol?"

I rolled my eyes. "Haha, very funny. No Dad, I am not turning into Carol and I won't make you eat cauliflower pizza."

He appeared relieved and as he took the next bite, his mouth was too full to say anything so he gave a thumbs up. I told Dad about the tubing trip the following day and how I might not be home for dinner.

He raised an eyebrow. "Patrick, eh? This is the stupid-looking one that didn't have the decency to be a good gentleman?"

"Dad, really? We discussed this." I took a bite. "I told you that he apologized later and we all had a good time."

"First impressions are key, Blair." He wagged a finger at me. "He still needs to make up for that lousy first impression."

"Well he made it up to me, which is what matters," I said stubbornly before shaking my head. "Woah, okay, we're getting ahead of ourselves. He doesn't even need a first impression because I'm not even dating him."

"But you like him," Dad said matter of factly.

"Uh, well, no," I stuttered. "I only met him once. I barely know him well enough to be considered a friend, let alone for me to like him."

"Yeah." Dad didn't look convinced. "Whatever you say."

Officer Darrell walked into the room with a pink glazed donut in one hand and an empty water bottle in the other. He appeared to be much calmer from his conversation with Mr. Mike earlier.

"Got anything good in there?" He peered at the remaining veggies we had left and turned his lips in disgust. "That is rabbit food."

"Are you going home soon, John?" He went over to the fridge and expertly poured the water from the pitcher into his water bottle, all without putting down his donut.

"No." Dad shook his head. "I have to go out on patrol in-" he looked down to check his watch, "-about half an hour."

"Really? Are you covering someone's shift?"

"Yeah, Tom needed me to cover his."

Officer Darrell screwed the cap on the water and put the pitcher back in the fridge, nodding. "That's right, Tom busted his fragile ankle." He took a bite of his donut. "Alright, Watsons, I will see you later." He gave a little wave and left.

"Bye Darrell." Dad waved and chuckled, leaning back in his seat.

I finished the last of the vegetables and began to snap the lids back on the containers. "So, Dad," I started, a bit hesitant to ask the question that had been pressing me. "Have you heard any word on what happened to Dave Harvey?"

As Dad opened his mouth to speak, I cut him off, backpedaling, "I know that's unprofessional and all, but I'm just so curious as to what happened and if there are any leads on the case so far."

He eased forward slowly. "Blair, you know better than to ask those sorts of questions."

"I know." It was worth a shot.

"Ongoing investigations don't get reported to anyone else besides the press when it comes time for an official statement." His voice became stern.

I know but the questions have been making me go insane and I just want answers. I just want something. Anything.

"Don't ask again, Blair." He pushed his chair back, squeaking against the linoleum floor.

****

What did you think of this chapter? 

Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed, please vote or comment, it helps my story get noticed :)

- Payton