Chapter 97: July 2014
He saw the house the second week of July.
They hadn’t even really been looking for one, not yet. But
there it was, two streets down from one of Tim’s crime scenes.
And driving past it, toward a dead body, he just caught
sight of it out of the corner of his eye. In and out of his vision. It didn’t
make much of an impression. A house. For sale. Kind of, sort of, Victorianish.
Big wrap around porch. Tidy yard. Probably three or four bedrooms.
And then there was a dead sailor, and pictures to take, and
a case to solve.
Three days later he was back taking witness statements,
interviewing the neighbors, seeing if anyone heard anything. (No.) When the third
one told him that no, he’d heard nothing, saw nothing, that as far as he could
tell a ghost wandered into Sergeant Jamis’ house, Tim started asking some
non-standard questions. How were the schools? Quiet neighborhood in general?
Traffic good at rush hour?
“Research.”
“For what?”
“1721 Kendal St. About half a mile that way.” He pointed
behind them.
“You’re house shopping?”
“Sure. Not like we’re getting any closer to solving the case
by talking to these people, so I might as well get something useful out of
this.”
Tony rolled his eyes. But for Tim, who was liking the
answers he was getting, this was proving to be very interesting.
“I was thinking...” Tim said to Abby as they sat down to eat
dinner.
“Yeah.”
He smiled at her, spooning some salsa on his fish taco. “I
want to show you something. It’ll be a wedding present if you like it.”
She looks curious and a little disbelieving, adding some
salt to hers. “You want to show me my wedding present before you get it for me?”
He nodded. “Yeah. ‘Cause if you don’t like it, I really don’t
want to pay for it.”
Her expression shifted to curious and pleased. “What is it?”
“For right now, a mystery.” He took a bite and chewed
quickly. “But, if you’re free tomorrow around two, we can go see it.”
Tomorrow was a Saturday, and he knew she didn’t have
anything scheduled for two.
She took a bite of hers. “Ohh… yeah, hake was a good choice,
we’re definitely making this again.” She took one more bite, chewed, swallowed.
“And yes, I’m free, and will happily go see your mystery present with you.”
They were ten minutes away when he stopped the car.
She looked around, of all the things she could have
expected, this was nowhere on the list. “We’re in a Starbucks parking lot. You’re
getting me coffee for a wedding present. You do know I’m not Gibbs, right?”
He laughed, leaned over, and pulled a scarf out of his
pocket. “Blindfold.”
That got an amused and skeptical look out of her. “Blindfold?”
“Yeah, you’ll know what it is when we get close, and I want
to keep the surprise as long as I can.”
She shook her head, but then turned away from him so he
could tie the scarf around her eyes.
“Good?” he asked.
“Yeah. Just tight enough and I can’t see.”
“Okay. About ten
minutes to go.”
“So, do I get any hints?” Her excitement was starting to
peek out and he was enjoying this.
“You know where we are, at least within ten minutes, and you
know it’s a big enough expense I don’t want to just hope you like it.”
“So, we’re in Falls Church... And it’s expensive...” He was
fairly sure her eyes would have gone wide if she wasn’t blindfolded. “It’s a
house, isn’t it?”
“Maybe.” He laughed.
“It is! You’re taking me to see a house.”
“Possibly.”
“What’s it like?”
“I haven’t said it’s a house, have I?”
“It’s got to be a house.”
He thought carefully for a few seconds wanting to make sure
he said this right. “If it is a house, and I’m not saying it is, then telling
you what this hypothetical house may be like would make the blindfold
counter-productive.”
“Hmmmp.” She’s facing him, and even with the scarf covering
half her face, her expression of pleased frustration came through loud and
clear. “Wasn’t your last case out here?”
“Depending on where here might be, the answer to that could
be yes.”
“Trying to trick answers out of you is a pain in the ass.”
“Well, lucky for you, you’ll know for sure in two minutes.
So, if this thing I am taking you to see was a house, what would you like it to
be like?”
“Big enough for us and kids. Trees. Lots of trees. And a
porch, has to have a porch. And the sort of front room that has one of those
windows you can sit at. And green. Green would be good. I love the idea of a
green house.”
“Uh huh. Anything
else?”
“Two floors. Maybe one of those little tower looking things?
Gingerbread detailing? Ohhh a copula. Porch swing? Flowerbeds, with roses.”
He pulled into the driveway and stopped the car. “You stay
put. I’ll open the door and help you get out.”
“Okay.” She was grinning at him.
He got out and went around to her side, opened the door, and
took both of her hands, helping her out. Then he pointed her toward the house
and took off the blindfold.
“It’s blue, but we could paint, and there’s no tower or
copula, but it’s got pretty much everything else you wanted. What do you think?”
She just stared at it, eyes wide. “It’s really a house.”
“Yeah. Do you like it?” He was starting to get nervous, not
sure what her expression meant.
She started walking toward it. “Can we go in?”
“Realtor will be here in five. Until then, we can see the
outside.”
She headed for the backyard and stopped once it was in view.
There actually were rosebushes along the sunny side of the house. Half-wooded
lot in the back, back porch with space for a grill and table, and a swing set
with a slide. She stopped, looking at it for another long minute while Tim felt
more and more nervous.
“If you don’t like it, it’s not a big deal. I just thought—”
And then she was in his arms, kissing him, lips soft and
happy against his. She pulled away when they heard another car drive up, and
said one word, quietly, to him, “McSciutos!”
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