Dying for the Diamond

I was waiting her table like normal. I watched as she meticulously wrote in what I believed was a journal. It was a little black book with a diamond in the bottom right corner and in script font was Diamond Edition. She was like clockwork. Always here every Thursday at 7:30. Something felt different about today. Her beautiful blonde hair was pulled up in a messy bun. I wondered if she ever wore what I like to call “regular clothes”? You know jeans, leggings, and T-shirts.

I place her food on the table. She thanks me and with a smile she wills me away. Her teeth are as perfect as she is. As I begin to walk away, the door opens, and another beautiful woman walks through the door. She is a brunette. I thought it odd for her to be wearing sunglasses as the sun was setting. She caught the attention of the regular who hurriedly dropped the book underneath the booth. The brunette walks up to the blonde.

“Where is it Sara?!” She is yelling at the top of her lungs.

Never knew her name was Sara. She kept to herself and outside of minimum small talk; she never told me her name. She just always sat at my table, paid cash, and tipped well. So, I never asked. You could tell she was about her privacy. I just go with the flow.

She speaks slowly and deliberately as to not enrage the brunette.

“I am deeply sorry. Have we met? I am having a hard time placing your face.” She leans into the brunette to get a better look.

The brunette never takes her hands out of her pockets. I walked over to them to intervene. “Ma’am. Can you please lower your voice? The other patrons are concerned. If you are not having dinner; I will have to ask you to leave.”

She looks over at me and scoffs; still not taking her hands out of her pockets. I could feel the heat radiating off her body. I know she is upset and yet visibly her body is rock solid still.

“Not until Sara here, hands over her little black book of secrets and dirty deeds! I want that book that has destroyed my family!”

Bingo! That’s why Sara threw the book. She didn’t quite know why at the time, but her intuition must have told her to do so. This is about to get interesting. Sara coolly says – “I don’t know …”

Then gunshots fill the air. Multiple gunshots. Sara takes two the chest and falls out of the booth. My ears are ringing. My eyes open wide and as I turn to run - I take one in the shoulder. I fall on my face and do not move. I am too scared to see if she will pull the trigger again on me. Gunshots are ringing out everywhere. Crazy. Not one single patron moved, ran, or called the police. No one left the building except for the brunette. I pause. Waiting to see if she returns. After a moment – I muster up my energy to see if anyone is alive. From the looks of it - no one is. Including the cook who ran out to see what the commotion was. Not even Angela, the manager that I cannot stand. Although I do not like her; she did not deserve to die.

I limp back over to where Sara was lying on the floor. She is gasping. She is not going to make it. I do not know why. I just know. She is mouthing something, so I get closer to hear what she is saying.

The wheezing is worse, and any moment can be her last breath. “Don’t … let her … get the book. Don’t. Let anyone get the book.” I look to where she tossed the little black book. I crawl up under the table to grab the book and Sara’s purse. I high tail it to the employee room and throw it in my locker. As I begin to go back to the front, a loud bang stops me in my tracks. First one. Then two. Then three. It was so melodical. The only thing I can think of is she was back and ensuring no witnesses.

I am shaking with fear. I cannot believe this is happening right now. With all the previous gunshots, someone had to have called the cops, right? Why haven’t I heard sirens yet? I pivot to run into the manager’s office then hide underneath the desk. I hear footsteps. The brunette must be searching for survivors. She is searching for me. I steady myself and I pull out my cellphone. I check to make sure it is on silent because knowing my luck it will ring and she will find me.

FINALLY! I hear sirens in the distance. I breathe a sigh of relief, but it burns like hell. Two to three minutes have gone by and I’m so dizzy and nauseated. Then I hear. “Police! Anyone in here.” I think to myself if I were the killer, I am sure I wouldn’t announce myself. Then the door to office opens forcefully and I hear “Clear”. I muster up the energy to raise my hand above the desk and let out a faint “help”.

The moment I laid eyes on the officer I passed out.

The male EMS tech is looking me in the eyes. He is saying words, but I can’t really make them out, “Hang on honey. We’re almost there. Tell me your name.” Is it wrong that all I can think of is jumping his bones? He is a hot one. His smile is sending sensations through my body while I am halfway dying. We make it to the hospital, and I cannot tell you what happens next. Clearly pain, blood loss, and enough drugs to knock out a horse left me out for a week. I did learn that about an inch closer – I would not be here to tell the story. Once I came to, I watched the television meticulously. Looking for signs of Sara. There were none. Just Jane Doe. No one claimed her body yet. No one came forward to speak on her behalf.

What was plastered on the news was the police were still looking for the brunette. Apparently, she came prepared to take out an army. A fact that I was able to exploit to get away when she was reloading and getting more gear. A few more days go by. I am expecting the police to show up to either ask me questions about what happened or to ask for Sara’s belongings. Or maybe they already had them and just kept that to themselves? Who knows?

It is Friday and payday. I am being released today. The sky looks perfect.

I look up and I swear all the male hospital staff are models or something. My goodness the orderly looks like he should be my husband rather than pushing people around in wheelchairs. He is so good looking that I would finance his every want and need. Those hazel-grey eyes and dirty, blonde hair. I just want to do bad things with him. My mother, the saint, breaks my thoughts. “Honey, maybe you should pull out your Bible and we can say a quick prayer.” Really lady? Of all the sinful things that I was thinking, and you say, “pull out your Bible”. If that was not the biggest case of cockblocking I had ever seen - I do not know what is.

His eyes avert from me. So, you were thinking the same thing sir? Do not worry I will be back to find you. There was small talk and chatter as Brian Fleming, as his nametag states; helped me into the wheelchair, down the hall and on to the elevator. We were meant to be. But first I have some unfinished business to take care of.

Mom pulls up into the handicap parking spot of the restaurant. I was about to object, but then saw the police tape. Two weeks later and they are still not open. There were people crawling everywhere. Reporters reporting the news. Teddy bears and flowers being placed. It was a vigil and here comes the lone survivor. I can see where this is going and all I want to do is turn around and leave. An officer walks up to the car. He is profoundly serious looking. I roll down the window.

“Excuse me sir”, I say hesitantly, “I work … worked here. I just want to get my stuff out of my locker. Would that be okay?” He raises an eyebrow, gestures, and walks away. Odd. Not one single question. I watch as he walks up to another person in a well-tailored suit. They both glance at me. Darn drugs! I cannot move fast enough. I weave my way through the officers as I explain multiple times; “I am getting my stuff from my locker”.

I get to the locker. It looks untouched. Upon opening it - there sits the purse, the book, and my bag. I quickly stuff everything into my bag. I make sure to cover it up in case they want to search my stuff. I slowly make my way through and back outside. The tailored suit gentleman stops me before I get into the car.

“Misses Harper?” His voice was so deep and disturbing.

“Yes?”

“I am Detective Captain Louis Ward. Do you have a moment for a few questions?”

“Um. Now?”

“Do you have somewhere to be?” His face becomes stern and something tells me “yes” would be an unacceptable answer.

“Um. No. I don’t.”

“Great. My officers will escort you to the police station.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

The police station is musty. There are people everywhere. I try to catch my breath as we climbed what felt like 200 steps. They escort me to a room that looked like it should be sanitized and burned. Twice. Well, there is no trash or dust, but everything is old and antiquated. It looks like they have the mentality of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. They should really fix it. A little update would go a long way. In walks Detective Captain Ward. He drilled me so hard I was sweating bullets on the inside, but I passed the test. The paranoid me thinks to wait a while before rummaging through Sara’s life.

Time has passed; Google does not say much. I decide to visit her place. It is plain and elegant all at the same time. I like it. No one batted an eye as I let myself in. I rummage through the drawers. I perused the closets. Her dress is nothing less than classy. I get to her desk and in a file was $20,000. I felt like I just won the lottery. There were more books with emblems and fancy fonts. The diamond book was the best book. It was the one where Sara received the largest payments. All in cash. The deeds that were carried out by Sara is the reason 10 people are dead today. They died for the diamond.

The diamond book was the most scandalous of them all. From set ups to murders – Sara did it all. Now I will take her place because in a short time I have changed. I am more cavalier to life as I nearly died for someone else’s sins. However, those sins made lots of money and it is much better than waiting tables. Since no one is claiming Sara I will let the city burn her and take on her life. I may not do all that she has done, but I will do most. Her sexual appetite was as wild as mine. I only wished we had talked more. If she had let me in – I would have surely followed her. Now, on to finding Brian Fleming.