Chapter 24

I looked at both of them. “What was that?” I finally said,
“Nothing,” she said and continued with the interview.
After I answered all of their questions, I was told to take a seat in the hallway, and someone would bring me home shortly. As I sat there waiting in the hallway, Officer Jansen came walking down and appeared startled when he saw me.
“Vivienne, what are you doing here?” he asked looking around.
“I had to come down for an interview, two friends of mine were killed yesterday and I was the last person to see them,” I said with tears in my eyes.
“Oh honey, that is awful,” he said pulling me close and wrapping his arms around me.
I could feel his heart beating under his uniform. He rubbed my back lightly as he continued to hold me.
“Let me take you home,” he said. “I’ll let the officers know.”
I sat there as Aaron stepped into the room and several minutes later he was leading me down to his car.
He drove me home and helped me into the house. “Thank you I think I am going to take a nap,” I said giving him a kiss by the door.
“Okay let me know if you need anything,” he said and touched my cheek before walking out the door.

I awoke from my nap as someone was knocking on my front door. I looked at the clock and it was just after 4 o’clock in the afternoon, I walked downstairs and opened the front door. There was my assistant Jen all dressed up in a simple black dress that went to her ankles, and a beautiful pair of black strappy sandals that added to her petite height. She is no more than 5-foot 1 inch at best. Her toenails were painted a dark purple, as were her fingernails. She had accented the dress with a simple necklace of silver circles that rested just above her perky breasts. She had pulled her long blond hair into a twist at the back, allowing the beautiful curve of her neck to show. She was standing in the doorway tapping her foot impatiently as she looked at me still dressed in pants and a t-shirt.
“Are you going to wear that?” she asked obviously disgusted.
“No, I was taking a nap and I am just going to jump in the shower and change. Make yourself at home,” I said as she came in. “You know I really don’t feel like going even though I know we have to.”
“Why what’s the matter?” Jen asked taking a seat on the couch.
“Two friends of mine were killed last night and I spent the day at the police station answering questions,” I said putting my head down as tears filled my eyes.
“Oh my God Viv, I am so sorry, wait why were you at the police station?” she asked as she hugged me.
“I was the last person to see them alive before someone broke into their home and killed them. I had just been there a short time before they were killed,” I sobbed into Jen’s shoulder.
“Come on it will be okay, let’s get you cleaned up and maybe you will feel a bit better,” she said with a slight smile.
I trudged up the stairs and into my room, and turned on the water in the bathroom, not remembering that she was picking me up for the evening. Walking over to the closet I pondered what to wear and finally chose a simple dark green dress that went to my knees, and a pair of black sandals that made my legs look fantastic. The dress hugged my curves in all the right places. I jumped in the shower and then quickly got dressed, throwing my hair into a quick updo so that it would have time to dry like that and I wouldn’t have to take the time to blow dry it. I pulled two little tendrils down so that they curled around my face elegantly, one last look in the mirror and I walked downstairs.
Jen got up from the couch and shut off the television.
“Wow that was fast, you look great, let’s go,” she said. “This is going to help you get your mind off things. When is the funeral going to be?” she asked.
“I don’t know when it will be, let me just grab my purse,” I said walking into the kitchen and grabbing it off the counter. Jen walked out the door and I followed her, locking the door behind me. We rode in silence for a couple of blocks before Jen asked,
“So have you seen your cop friend,” glancing at me with interest.
“Yes, as a matter of fact I have,” I said with a smile.
“Well, when?” she asked. “He stopped by last week on my birthday with flowers, a card, and a beautiful sun catcher that I hung in the window,” I said smiling.
“Well, that’s good. How nice of him to remember. So, you think this will be a regular thing between you two?” she asked.
“I don’t know but I hope so,” I said.
“Oh shoot,” I said irritated, “I forgot my swimsuit.”
“Oh, it’s ok, I didn’t bring mine either,” she said. Several more minutes in the car and we pulled up in front of the country club, Jen gave the keys to the valet as we both got out.
Jen and I walked up to the country club. Drinks and networking were going to begin in about 10 minutes, and we were a few minutes early. We walked into the lobby, and it was beautiful. There was tan, marble floors with gold trim on everything, and there were large marble columns that separated the country club into different sections. I saw a sign pointing to the right indicating our client was in one of the large ballrooms. Jen and I proceeded to go down that way, admiring the lovely décor of the country club as we walked. The sounds of the heels of our black, strappy sandals clicking on the floor could be heard as we made our way to the ballroom. We heard the soft murmur of a crowd, as we got closer to the men and women laughing and conversing.
We walked into a gorgeous ballroom decorated in dark purple for the occasion. It blended well with the marble columns and gold trim that was present in the room. I spotted my friend Janelle with her back to the door, talking with an older gentleman. She was touching his arm lightly and laughing at something he had evidently just said to her. He was looking at her intently and smiling as if he adored her. She was wearing a beautiful gown almost two fancies for this occasion, making me feel very self-conscious in my simple dark, green dress. She looked beautiful. The back of the dress made a v towards her shapely butt, and the dark purple color, which matched the décor in the ballroom, accented her curves nicely. You could see the pleasing soft curves of her shoulders and back.
Jen and I made our way around the room introducing ourselves to everyone in attendance, including the client’s employee’s spouses and others that were there. The room was packed with men and women all dressed up, even though it was a Tuesday evening. Finally, I made my way over to Janelle and introduced Jen.
They immediately started talking to each other and I excused myself to go use the lady’s room. When I returned, Janelle was introducing Jen to her co-worker, Eric Stewart, a smaller stature man. He wasn’t much taller than me. Only a few inches, but his muscular, rippling body was tanned, and he was very attractive. I walked over and Julia introduced me. He gripped my hand in a firm shake, while maintaining eye contact. I consider that to be a good quality in a man.
“Nice to meet you, Miss Layley. Jen, your assistant here, is fantastic. She has been telling me all about your graphic arts department,” he said smiling at Jen. He was very pleasant, well spoken, and his deep-toned voice was very pleasurable to my ears. I imagined him whispering naughty words into his lover’s ear as he made love to her. Janelle pulled me away by the arm and waved to the pair that we just introduced with each other.
“Oh, he likes her already,” Janelle said with a smirking grin as we walked away arm in arm.
“I want to introduce you to a couple more of my co-workers, and then we will be sitting down to dinner. I reserved a place for you next to me, and I put Jen next to Eric,” she said laughing. She introduced me to everyone and then it was time for dinner.
I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as dinner was served. It was the same feeling I had the other day as if someone was watching me. I looked around the ballroom trying to see if anything was out of place. “Are you okay?” Janelle asked seeing how distracted I was.
“Yes, I just am having a bad time tonight, a couple friend of mine were killed in their house yesterday and I had been there a few hours beforehand. So I spent most of the day at the police station answering questions,” I said feeling more and more exhausted.
“Oh my God,” Janelle said and put her hand on my arm comforting me as I cried quietly for a minute. “Jen why would you even bring her?”
“Well I figured she could get out of the house and it would be a good distraction from what happened,” Jen said now she had her hand on Eric’s arm as they were chatting.
“I’m okay,” I said wiping the tears from my eyes.
I looked over towards the corner of the ballroom and it looked like the man standing there was Aaron. I squinted but couldn’t make out if it was him and then the man slipped back further into the shadows.