Dashboard lights, p.16
Dashboard Lights, page 16
part #2 of Gunpowder Series
***
As Derek worked his way through the kitchen toward the front counter, Cassandra turned and had a strange expression on her face. As he moved closer, he saw his dad occupying the doorway of the office, waiting for him. Impatiently. Derek was only running a couple minutes late. As he passed Cassandra, she threw him a doubtful look. He headed towards the office, where his dad grabbed him by the arm and drug him into the office, slamming the door. Cassandra and the others working out front jumped.
Derek was face-to-face with his dad. The closest he recalled since a small child. Norman's nostrils flared. Derek suddenly felt sick to his stomach. What was going on? It couldn't be good. His dad had never expressed such discontent with him.
"Uh. What's going on?" Derek asked, feeling his dad’s hot breaths down his neck.
"Who. Is. That. Woman?" He dad said with great emphasis.
"I don't know what you mean," Derek said.
"There is a woman out at a table, and she had been waiting for you since eleven-thirty this morning. She just keeps getting refills of coffee. Who is she?" Norman still had not let go of his adult son's arm, squeezing it a bit.
"Dad. I have no idea what you are talking about. I've not seen her." Derek took deep breath. "But she's already been to the house and spoken with Ruby."
"What?" Norman's word carried far beyond the office walls. Cassandra and the McCafé crew heard clearly.
Norman walked over to the wall of monitors and pressed a button. Instantly six screens came to life. Various images flashed on the screens as the cameras cycled. Norman clicked ‘pause’ when the image of a woman seated at a table appeared. A backpack sat on the seat next to her and a McCafé cup sat in front of her folded hands. Norman tapped the screen several times with force.
"Who is she?" Norman voice boomed.
Derek squinted his eyes trying to make out her image. The camera was at an odd angle, displaying only a profile shot. He watched as sipped her coffee, looked at her watch, and rubbed her hands rather impatiently on her jeans. And then he realized she was seated at his and Ruby's 'table.' A scowl crossed his face.
"I honestly do not know," Derek finally said. "I can't say I've ever seen her before."
"Well, she apparently knows quite a bit about you. She rattled off Cassandra's ears. And how does she know Sarah?" Norman referred to Derek's sister.
"She doesn't know Sarah. She stopped at the house looking for me and thought Ruby was my sister," Derek replied.
"Is she one of your friends from college?" Norman had his hand posted on his hip.
"Dad. You know I don't have any friends, much less from college." Derek's held his arms out from his side, trying to reason with his father. He expected Ruby to be upset. He did not expect his dad to be upset. "I guess the only thing I can do is go out there and talk to this girl and find out what she wants."
"Yeah. And then send her packing. We don't need any scandals running around town." His dad shook his forefinger at Derek, as if he personally blamed him for a crazy woman camping out in their lobby. His dad was really torn up.
Derek sighed. Then taking a deep breath, he said, "Here I go!"
Derek opened the office door and immediately saw Cassandra roll her eyes towards the strange woman. Feeling tense and unsure of what the next few minutes were to bring, Derek walked around the counter and approached the young woman seat at the table. Of all the tables in the entire lobby, how did she come to sit at that particular one. It was now tainted. Stopping a couple feet from the table, Derek felt stiff. Awkward.
"Derek!" The woman instantly smiled seeing him. "I've been waiting for you all afternoon! Where have you been?" She started to rise from the table.
"No-no. Sit please." Derek pushed his hands down in front of him as if he were physically pushing her down. "Is there something I can help you with? Do I know you?"
"Derek! You're such a jokester! You know we had a study date this morning! Where have you been?" She laughed, throwing her long hair to the side, reaching for her backpack.
"Stop." Derek put out his hands. She instantly stopped, a confused look claiming her face. "I don't have a clue who you are much less have a 'study date' with you. Why are you here?"
She laughed, leaning her chin casually on her palm and propped elbow. "What is eating you today, Derek? This is so unlike you!"
"No, seriously! I do not know who you are or what you are doing here. Either you answer my questions, or you need to leave." He put his hands on his hips, attempting to look intimidating.
"Oh, Derek, you are just adorably handsome when you get testy!" The smile slowly faded from her face, and she sighed. "Okay. I'll go. I guess I got you in trouble with your dad anyway. You won't be in very good humor!" She stood and slung the purple backpack over her shoulder. Picking up the McCafé cup, she walked uncomfortably close to him as she passed. Derek turned and watched her head for the door. She paused before pushing the door open and winked at him.
"See you tomorrow, babe!" And then she was gone.
Derek stood baffled. He looked over to Cassandra who witnessed the entire exchange between the two. Norman stood behind the counter leaning on the stainless-steel top. Derek shrugged his shoulders in silent reply. He walked over to them.
"Well?" Norman was first to speak.
"That was the most creepy thing I've ever experienced," Derek replied. "I have not a clue who she is. I've never seen her before."
"Could she be from one of your classes?" Cassandra asked.
"All of my classes are online this semester. Maybe she was in one last semester, but if she was, I never paid attention."
"So how does she know you so well?" Norman asked.
"I don't know, Dad!" His tone was defensive.
"I think you need to report it to Jonah," Cassandra said. "You just never know what crazies are walking around these days. I know I've never seen her before. She acted like she knew me even."
"If what you're say is true, son, and you don't know this woman, then I have to agree with Cassandra." Norman raised his brows. "Sure is strange. But you're going to have to deal with this." Norman headed back for the office, adding, "Especially if she's been at the house."
"Derek, I know you don't know her," Cassandra told him in a low voice. "Your dad wouldn't listen. But I think he believes it now. She acts like some sort of stalker or something."
"Did she tell you her name?" Derek asked.
"No, and I didn't think to ask." Cassandra twisted her mouth.
"She told Ruby her name was 'Taylor'."
"That woman was seriously at your house?" Cassandra asked in disbelief. "She talked to Ruby?"
"Yes. Thank God Ruby didn't let her in. She tried. I don't have a good feeling about this." Derek reached for his cell phone and began searching for Jonah's number.
Within a few minutes, Jonah arrived at the McDonald's in his truck and Kenny Brown pulled in behind him in a patrol car. Norman, Cassandra, and Derek met with Jonah explaining the bizarre encounter with the young woman, while Kenny unpacked his print kit and began dusting. At one point, Derek and Norman took Jonah into the office to review the camera footage.
When they came back out to the lobby, Kenny was packing up his kit.
"I pulled several clean prints. If she's in the database, we'll have no problem finding her." Kenny told them.
"Good work, Kenny," Jonah said, and turned to Derek. "You want to ride over to your house with me? I'm going to need to talk to Ruby as well."
Derek looked at his dad. Norman motioned his hand for him to go. "It's been a weird day. I'll stay here through the dinner rush and leave things to Cassandra after that. You need to be with Ruby."
Derek nodded and went with Jonah.
"Did you walk to work today, Derek?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, until we know what is happening here, I would advise that you drive and make sure people know where you are. And Ruby—she might not need to be alone during the day."
"Got it."
"And be aware of your surroundings. Like if someone is following you."
"Ha! If she's trying to follow me, she won't be hard to notice! Ruby said she drove a bright yellow Jeep Wrangler with a black hardtop!"
"Good to know," Jonah replied.
***
Ruby was still curled up in her blanket in the wingback chair by the fireplace, this time reading a book, when Derek and Jonah burst through the back door. She looked up as they shed coats and headed toward the library. A sense of urgency shadowed the tone of their conversation.
"Hello!" Ruby greeted them. "To what do I owe a visit from my two favorite men?" She seemed completely relaxed. Derek bent over and gave her a kiss before sitting again in the chair opposite her. Deja vu? Jonah took the chair next to Derek, also facing Ruby. "What is going on?" She knew something was up.
"Jonah wants to talk to you about your visitor earlier," Derek said. Ruby read the uneasiness in is blue eyes as he leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees.
"You mean, your visitor," Ruby corrected. She sat up in her chair, laying the book on the table, drawing the blanket up around her shoulders.
"Yes, I suppose. She was at the McDonald's when I got there. She had everyone in a quandary."
"Quandary?" Ruby asked, slightly amused at his choice of word. She realized there was no humor to the situation.
Derek explained for Ruby what he had told Jonah and Kenny about the woman's appearance in the lobby and her strange behavior. He purposely left out the part about his dad being annoyed with him and especially about the woman sitting at 'their' table.
"She said she'd see me tomorrow! Ruby, I have no idea who she is! But she acts like she knows me. Cassandra said that the woman acted like she knew her!" Again, a defensiveness consumed his words.
Jonah leaned back in the chair listening with his ankle of one leg resting on the knee of his other. His elbows rested on the arms of the chair, and his hands touched as his fiddled with his ring. Ruby recognized Jonah's ring-turning habit as a sign of perplexion. His ring had turned many times during her early days with the family.
"Ruby, can you tell me exactly what happened when she came to the house this morning?"
"Sure," she replied. She told him every detail about the encounter, including how the peep hole was too high for her, and how the woman tried to convince Ruby to let her wait. Ruby also described the Jeep the woman retreated to.
"Of course, I lied and told her Derek was going on to work. I did not want her hanging around. I knew that Derek was coming back, and I just hoped and prayed she was gone before he did," she finished.
"What was your impression of her?" Jonah asked. He knew Ruby had an uncanny talent for reading people, given her years homeless and on the street.
"She was very pleasant and portrayed herself as confident. But she struck me as deluded. She behaved as if she knew Derek, but she spoke in generalities. There was no substance to what she said," she replied. "There was definitely something off about her."
"Off?" Jonah prodded.
"Yes." Ruby thought for a minute, glancing at Derek, who clung to her words. There was no doubt in her mind he had no idea who the woman was, and it was eating at him. "How to explain...I got the impression she really believed what she was saying or was trying to. That sent up all sort of alerts for me."
Jonah nodded. He understood what Ruby was telling him. Jonah instructed them both to not be alone and to stay alert of the people and their surroundings. He told them Kenny was running the prints and hopefully would come up with something.
***
"Are you going back to work?" Ruby asked.
"No. I'm home for the rest of the night. Dad said he'd stay through the rush and let Cassandra close."
"I am sure Cassandra feels a bit uneasy as well," Ruby replied.
"Probably so." Derek seemed very tense, as he should. Shaken. He rested his head on his clasped hands. "Ruby, I'm really sorry. I wish I knew what was going on.”
"Derek, you have nothing to be sorry about. You did not do anything."
Ruby reflected on several similar experiences when she was with Betsy and on her own. It was violating. People—predators—messing with your mind and trying to get inside your head. Trying to find out what made you tick. Trying to control you. She had become wise and wary of such people. Derek's naivety of such manipulative people was pure. Although, he had the sense to be afraid. She fully expected that either this woman was preying on Derek being from a wealthy family, planning to blackmail him or somehow worm her way into his world, or she was a complete lunatic.
"Hey," Ruby emerged from the blanket. "I have an idea." She knew Derek needed some positive attention. To get his mind off the day's bizarre developments.
"What's that?" he asked peering over his hands.
She held out her hand. Derek straightened up and took hold of the slim softness. "Come with me."
As he rose from the chair, a whiff of French fries and fried chicken patties flew by her nose. Amazing how quickly that odor crept into clothes and hair. She led him up the stairs and down the hallway into the bathroom. Door closed, she turned to him, touching his forearms. She could feel the stiffness in his limbs. He said nothing. He just looked down at her. He acted like a beaten man. She needed to bring him out of it. She understood the psychological games of others. A layer of filth left behind that needed to be washed away. She took hold of each side of his buttoned work shirt and pulled him toward her so she could kiss him. At first, he did not respond, but with gentle persistence, and a playful lick of his lips and tip of his nose, she got him to chuckle.
Derek looked down at her with clouded blue eyes. Ruby began slowly unbuttoning his shirt. One button at a time. She tugged on the tucked shirt tails pulling them free of his uniform pants, unbuttoning the last button. He placed his hands on her shoulders. Was he trembling slightly? She pushed the shirt over his shoulders and down his arms. It dropped to the floor. She then slid her small hands under his un-tucked t-shirt and raised it up along his chest as far as she could. With one hand, Derek pulled it over his own head and then grabbed the back of her head and kissed her. The way she deserved to be kissed.
They finished undressing each other, alternating an article of clothing from each. Derek stepped out of his shoes, freeing himself of pants pooling around his feet, as Ruby cranked the shower knob. Water began raining as the two entwined, feeling each other’s soft smooth skin, and mingled their tongues as one.
"Come on, let us wash away this day," Ruby said, drawing him into the rain shower with her. He nodded. Warm rain. Taking their time sudsing one another, neither spoke words, instead communicating with each other in a different language. Ruby looked up into Derek's eyes, saw the clouds parting and a sparkle peeking through. She laughed, her own pale blue eyes swallowing him up with her love.
***
Elise entered the back door, wondering why it had been locked and dead-bolted. As she hung her coat and bag on a hook in the hall, she looked for Norman, normally seated in the library watching the news when she got home. No Norman. Just a blanket strung from one of the chairs and partway across the floor. The house was unusually quiet. She walked into the kitchen and headed for the refrigerator to pull out the ground beef and pork that was thawing. It was meatloaf night. The noise overhead stopped her abruptly, a gasp catching her breath. At first, it sounded like…screams? But as the noise continued, she realized it was not screaming. Rather, it was the sound of practice for more grandchildren. She leaned her back against the fridge and smiled. They would be hungry.
Chapter Eleven – Premonitions
A few days later, obeying Jonah's instructions to not be home alone, Derek pulled up in front of the library to drop Ruby off. The night before a text from Megan announced the DNA test kit arrived and was ready for Ruby's spit. So, she was off to spit, drink coffee, and help the librarian with a few needed chores. Kissing Derek, she opened the passenger door and slid to the ground. She already scanned the street and adjacent parking areas for any sign of the yellow jeep. The mysterious young woman had disappeared as quickly as she materialized.
The flowery perfume snaked below Ruby's nose as she headed for the library door, reminding her that April was right around the corner. Soon trees would be covered with blooms and crocuses and daffodils would spring from the earth. And the woods and clearings would give life to the myriad of edible plants Ruby became fond of—survived on—during her wandering years. She was getting anxious to get out and forage for some of the wonderful greens to add to salads, impressing even Elise's culinary abilities. It was important to Ruby that Derek and his family experience little clips from her former life. To understand what kept her going.
Ruby was seized at times by the desire to share an event or situation from her past with Derek, which she had easily done during the early stages of their relationship, hanging out of the sidewalk steps of the Hunt house into the wee hours of the night. But after she became the ward of Jonah and her worlds flipped, the opportunities for her and Derek to relax and share upbringings dwindled to non-existent. Derek was so busy, and when he wasn't going a full speed, he was asleep. Ruby sensed people’s discomfort with hearing or being reminded that homelessness was a real condition of humanity—of those who resided on the fringe of society.
Literally, on the outside. To so many, the world of the homeless was as fictional as that of elves or hobbits. Ruby decided the best way—maybe the only way—to bring elements of her history to her new life was incorporating her nutritional finds and some of the more acceptable talents she acquired, blending them in ways that didn't challenge people's sense of comfort.
Entering the library, the little bell ringing overhead, Ruby stopped and took a deep breath. It never got old. The musty, dusty stagnant pages. No other smell like it existed. Ruby developed an affection for the odor as a small child, when she and Betsy took refuge inside libraries to avoid the extremes of hot and cold days. This affection blossomed over the years as she and Betsy continued to frequent libraries and then when it was just Ruby. Coating her lungs with the smell of her own kind of 'candy,' Ruby headed for the circulation desk. She was about to slap the silver bell on the counter when Megan rounded the doorway.
