if Rose was interested in working for them. Now, as Charles entered the office without much formality he took a seat after first getting himself a cup of coffee from the stainless steel machine at the back of the room. The introductions were brief and everyone smiled.
‘You’ve had a ragtime recently from what I heard Rose’, Charles said smiling kindly at her. ‘I hope it didn’t put you off about living here, ’ he added as his introduction.
I don’t think you know even half of it, she thought but kept it to herself and just nodded her consent. Charles concluded that she was frightened and immediately proceeded to reassure her that she was not under any suspicion. Rose didn’t feel much better after hearing that. She just had a feeling that someone out there was not happy with her.
‘I am happy with your written declaration but if you want to add anything to it I’m more than happy to hear, ’ Charles said.
‘Nothing on the matter of the USB, ’ she said pausing for a moment, ‘but I wanted to check with you about the recent search of my house, ’ she said with some hesitation. ‘You know, there are rumors, and my neighbors… and I’d like to keep the place, ’ she admitted.
‘Oh, that matter. Of course, ’ he said now a bit uncomfortable. ‘What a mess we did, my lady, and I have to apologies to you for that, ’ Rose suddenly had the feeling that something was very wrong and she shrank in her chair. The two man looked at each other and then James was first to speak.
‘The stolen article from your neighbor was found so you’ll never have to face another questioning about it, ’ he said scratching his head and coming to a halt.
‘What should I say to my neighbors? ’ Rose asked just partially relieved and she saw another brief glace exchanged by the two men.
‘Adele will never ask you any question about it again, ’ James said now slowly, glancing away as he spoke, somewhat embarrassed Rose thought and wondered why. There was a brief silence after that and then James continued: ‘I can’t tell you more right now as we are about to make an arrest but you‘ll get the answer in the papers soon, ’ he said now looking at his boss who just nodded. None of them looked pleased by that and that seemed a bit unusual to Rose but she felt relieved to be out of the picture.
‘I think I’ll take some time off and spend the Christmas with my family overseas, ’ she blurted out. ‘I’ve been through too much excitement recently, ’ she continued in a soft voice. And then getting more courage in the middle of the heavy silence that followed her disclosure she said: 'I think I’m getting a bit paranoid. I thought that someone bumped into me intentionally on the highway while I was driving here today’.
Both men looked at her with curiosity. Wrong place at the wrong time? They’ve never believed in coincidences. In their line of work such thinking got you dead.
‘Are we missing something here? ’ the older man asked aloud looking at James and they both turned to Rose. She told them briefly what she remembered about the accident and the next moment she found herself alone in the office. They were chasing the recording of that speeding camera hoping to find an explanation. It was very late in the afternoon when Rose was finally told that everything was under control and she was safe to return home. As they showed the photo to her for a split second she lived again the moment of horror and then her mind cleared and she could identify clearly in the photo all the cars involved: her car balancing on two wheels, the black car behind her and the huge truck. She could see the broken front lights on the black car and she realized that she hadn’t imagined things. She was hit just before that photo was taken and there was the proof.
‘Do you recognize that person, Rose? ’ she heard a voice coming from far away and she realized that she was staring at the broken light. As she tried to focus her attention on the driver of the car she realized that it was someone familiar but her reflexes were slow today.
‘Angela? ’ she said not understanding what was happening and the two men just nodded and left in a hurry. It was hard to believe that a police officer like Angela would run away from the site of an accident. She had the gut feeling that something wasn’t quite right but she could not put her finger on it. Her mind was racing and she was not able to focus on anything.
Rose spent some time that afternoon seeing the local doctor and after she received medical clearance she had to leave her car there and take a taxi home. Apparently they didn’t trust her to drive till she felt better. Talking to her they started to realize the extent of the aftershock that she was experiencing. Rose went straight to bed when she got home and woke up starving about four hours later. She considered for a moment going out for a meal but in the end ruled it out as not a viable option after the day’s events.
She was half way through her attempt at putting together a meal for herself when she got a text message.
‘I’m outside, ’ it said and she went to open the front door to James. He was somehow subdued, or that’s the way it appeared to her. She was fully aware that she was still in a dazed state but considered that normal part of a recovery after a motor vehicle accident. She hadn’t ever been involved in one before but had heard about it. She realized now that ‘dazed’ was almost like being ‘drunk’ which, for her, was unpleasant and she couldn’t imagine why anyone would possibly want to feel like that. She wondered if stoned meant a similar experience?
He brought food for both of them and she realized that he might have had a very busy day. He was definitely one of the most interesting men in her life these days. The two of them ate in silence and then she thought that the least she could do for him was make a cup of coffee. Later in front of a coffee James dropped the news on her without realizing that she hadn’t had the time or energy to put the two and two together yet. The long silence that followed clarified that for him. Rose took another sip from her coffee and then clearing her throat she just repeated his last sentence:
‘Angela tried to kill you, ’ and then silently over and over again in her mind. A while after that she just said thoughtfully: ‘It makes sense now, ’ and she could now see clearly in her mind the connection between the recent strange incidents in her life: the misplaced artifacts, the anonymous tip and the accident today but she said nothing aloud.
‘She admitted to it after she was confronted with the recording from the speed camera and the fact that her car scratches matched those on your car. And then we identified her as the anonymous tip that initiated the search of your house and found her hand prints on the stolen goods from your neighbor, ’ he said to Rose.
‘There is something that baffles us about the way the stolen goods were discovered. Do you happen to know anything about that? ’ James said with an impish smile. As Rose embraced a naïve look, and it wasn’t difficult in her current state, James continued: ‘It just came to my attention that you were the one who suggested that something was stolen in the first place’.
‘Look, James, I’m a bit bamboozled about all of this and my head is still spinning since the accident; forgive me if I can’t quite concentrate at the moment’.
‘Sorry, Rose, I’m a bit excited about all of this. And when I thought that could be another cold case, ’ he said more to himself. ‘Not that we are pleased to discover that one of us is involved in such sordid matters, ’ he added.
‘You know why Angela came after me don’t you? ’ Rose said with a flat voice leaning forwards in her chair.
‘We are still trying to clarify that, ’ James said pensively.
‘Forget it, ’ Rose said laughing now nervously and shifting rapidly her sitting position noticing that James had no idea. And James looked at her with a puzzled look.
‘What’s the matter? ’ he asked naively now. Was it possible for such a clever and experienced man to miss the little intricacies of the heart matters, Rose asked herself staring now openly at him.
‘You are a dangerous man, James, and sooner or later your boss will come at the same conclusion like me. That female officer, Angela, was just besotted with you
and tried to keep everyone else away. It just happened that she started with me, ’ Rose said with a clear voice.
They looked at each other without saying anything for a minute and then James said: ‘We’ll find out eventually but please accept my apologies for all the drama that I might have caused you accidentally’. He said it with sadness and great sorrow as finally it downed on him that Rose’s premonitions might be right.
‘Gypsy insights? ’ He tried to joke smiling at Rose but she was lost again in the aftershock daze and she looked very tired. The coffee and the good company was definitely not enough to keep the effects of the recent incident at bay. She needed to return to bed, thought James and reluctantly he found an excuse to leave her alone. She needed time to recover and now that Angela was off the streets James was almost sure that Rose was safe but to cover all the bases he would organize some more surveillance for a while. He was happy with his plan and Rose didn’t need to know about it.
Less than a minute later, and before Rose was able to change her position in her comfy chair, a call came on the landline. It was grandma. Something was telling her that things were not going smoothly for Rose. This time their transcontinental chat was cut short by Rose’s physical and mental