Chapter 26
Serenity
When I walked into the diner, I was a little late. I decided to take a detour and go toward the lake and I couldn’t help but sit and stare for a bit longer than I should. It was the only thing that cleared my mind. Staring at the waves and knowing the secrets that they held astounded me because no one would ever know all the secrets in those depths. Then there was the struggle of getting a taxi at rush hour. That didn’t help keep me calm and collective.
I saw Simon in the back booth and walked back. He was looking at one of the menus. Thank god, because I’m starving and I didn’t want to be the only one getting food. I should stop lying. Either way, I was going to get food.
“Hello there.” Simon put the menu down and looked at me with a smile.
“Hi, did you want to get something to eat? I’m starving.” I grabbed the menu and started to look at it, but I already knew what I was getting. A big ass greasy cheeseburger and fries.
“What can I get you two to drink?” I looked up from the menu and saw Simon looking at me, assuming he’s waiting for me to go first.
“I’ll take a tea and I’m ready to order if you are?” I looked at him now, waiting for him to answer, but I just got a nod. I’m kind of over all this nodding. I got enough of that whenever I saw his brother.
“I’ll take the cheeseburger with everything and fries, please.” I handed her my menu and she turned to Simon.
“Same.” Really? Same? He handed her his menu, and she walked away. He kept looking past me every time the door opened like he was looking for someone. Probably the same someone that I was hoping that I would see.
“What did you want to talk about, Serenity?” Okay, get right to it kind of guy.
“I found out some information today about Claire and what happened to her husband. I’m pretty sure I know how their connection started as well.”
He looked intrigued, so I started from the beginning and went over everything that I had found. When I got to the medical examiner part, he stopped me before I started to talk about it.
“Please don’t tell me you broke the law to get information on his death?” He was funny. Does he not know what I do for a living?
“No, I didn’t break any laws. Mr. Smith was a willing and able body who gave me his findings when Mr. Morono passed.” He crossed his arms and seemed irritated.
“My uncle was the medical examiner that you talked with? What else did he have to say?” Okay, did I act like I didn’t know it was his uncle or did I mention that I knew that little fact?
“Yes, I did, and I only found out that he was your uncle while I was sitting there. He has a picture of you and Theo on his desk.” He seemed shocked now, which is a feature that I hadn’t seen on him before now. But it was not like I had seen him many times.
I started to tell him everything else. from the traces that his uncle couldn’t determine to his brother taking Claire and her husband’s belongings. He talked with me during all of this. I’m pretty sure neither of us even noticed that our food was brought out. When I stopped, I looked down and it was like my stomach was attached to my eyes because it started to make noise.
“Let’s take a break from detective work and eat?”
I looked at him and just started to dig in. I was starving. That first bite of the burger was like heaven. I took a fry and shoved it in my mouth next. I probably looked like some crazy cave women or something. I was about done with all of my food and looked over at Simon and realized he’s barely halfway. Either he ate slowly or he was watching his figure.
“Not hungry, I’m guessing?” He shook his head just as his phone started to go off.
“This is Simon.” Very interesting way to answer the phone. Maybe I should try something like that.
“Fine, I’ll be there within a half hour.” No goodbye or anything. All he did is put his phone in his pocket and take a fifty out of his wallet and put it on the table.
“Thanks for all the information. I will look into Claire’s past husband’s case and see what I can find. Don’t do anything that will land you in jail.”
This guy was funny. Me, jail? Yea right.
“Fine. If you get more information, promise that you will let me know otherwise I might land myself in jail and your brother will be the least of your worries.” Point made, I hoped.
“Okay. I’ll call you later, Serenity.” That was all he said. Again, no goodbye or anything. Maybe he had social issues just like his brother. Must be a family trait thing. When the waitress came back, she smiled down at my empty plate but had a slight frown when she saw that Simon barely ate anything.
“Can I get a box for his food? I don’t want it to go to waste.” She quickly walked away and grabbed a box. When she came back, I put the food in the box and gave her the fifty. She seemed shocked but went to get the change.
“Keep it. I hope you have a good rest of your day.” She smiled, but I saw it was hiding something deep down.
“Thank you so much for this. I hope your day is good too.” I grabbed the box with food and went to walk out. I took a quick look around the restaurant, but still no mystery man.
When I got outside, I decided to head back to my hotel to freshen up. I needed to look up Claire’s address to see if I could sneak around to her house when it got dark and so I could put this food in the fridge. I started to walk down the sidewalk and almost thought about going through the park again, but decided not to. I needed to stay focused if I wanted to stop Claire and save Theo. My head needed to be focused. I snagged the first cab that came by and headed back to my hotel. Time to get my head back into the game.