Starlight Cafe was one of the many popular coffeehouse brand in the Metro City. They offered wide, exotic, and novel varieties of hot and cold beverages along with baked artisan pastries. They were usually found sitting in the bellies of popular malls such as Miracle Plaza.
Constable Jenny and Constable Jackson tried to be comfortable. The cafe seats were small and the table had a bit of a wobble. The ambience in the mall was loud: people chatting, kids splashing in the play fountain, mall music blaring random songs, and adults chatting on their phones. The area around them was too open, making any escape unpredictable.
Jenny frowned at the festive atmosphere, especially when she kept tugging on Jackson’s sleeve to get him to stop staring at women in fancy clothing. She pulled out her recording device and pressed a button, adjusting her posture with a police tablet on her lap. “Miss Felicia Harvey, you were aware that Mr. Frank Tucker had a wife, yes?”
“Oh of course. Do I look like an innocent school girl hopeless for true love? Please, this is the 21st century. A woman can have 20 boyfriends on her phone and still live happily ever after.”
Felicia Harvey sat across the cafe table from the two officers. She sipped on a cup of hot Espresso, smacking her full lips painted with lush scarlet lipstick. She spread butter across her jalapeno and cheddar scone and after one small bite, she made a lovely hum to savor the flavor. As she brushed the crumbs from her thin ironed suit and dark pantyhose she gave her head a light shake to free her hair about. “I am terribly sorry officer. I have back to back appointments. My coffee break is the only time I can answer your questions freely. Please, ask me anything. You have, hmmmm.” Felicia glanced at her watch, shaking her wrist to turn the loose lethal straps around, “29 minutes.”
Jenny gave a deadpan stare. “Then I’ll be direct. Do you know Sarah Tucker is dead?”
“Oh yes. Tragedy really. At first, I saw her on the news thinking it was another victim of the Splitter.” Felicia bit into her scone again and dabbed her lips with a napkin, “that was until Frank called and told me about the dreadful news. I spent the whole night consoling him over the phone. Poor man. My heart goes out to him.”
“Soooo,” Jackson leaned into the conversation, the table wobble under his weight, “How did you know Mr. Tucker? Love at first sight? Whirlwind romance? Or just you both want to get it on.”
Jenny just frowned and kicked Jackson’s ankle under the table.
Felicia pursed her lips into a tiny grin. “Oh my. When your fellow officer said she would be direct, I wasn’t expecting a question like that. Where should I begin?” She tapped on her lips with a hum. “Frank and I were actually childhood sweethearts. We did everything together, play, study, sleepovers, pranking teachers. Good times. We even went to the same highschool. Frank and I started to hang out, to dating each other, and, well” She cleared her throat and playfully brushed the wrinkles from her dress. “Did more than just holding hands.”
Jackson tried not to show his smirk. Jenny remained neutral, diligently typing on her police tablet.
“Alas, our love was interrupted.” Felicia shrugged. “His parents had to move out of town. Haven’t seen him in like forever, until I ran into him 5 years ago at the airport.”
“And like the song ‘Sometimes When we Touch’” Jackson smiled and literally sang out, “And the passion, flaaared agaaaaain~.”
Felicia could not resist a small clap to praise him.
Jenny just died of cringe inside.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
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“As much as I was happy to run into Frank again, I knew he was married.” Felicia curled several strands of hair behind her ear with a slender finger. “It was hard to miss his wedding band plain in sight. Granted, I too was having a long distance relationship. However, that feeling we had in our youth just blossomed back alive. We couldn’t resist each other. In the end, I broke things off with my boyfriend overseas and Frank kept our relationships out of the eyes and ears of his wife.”
Jenny cleared her throat, holding up her tablet as some sort of wall to her body, “Did Mrs. Tucker ever suspect it was you?”
“Well. Frank told me that his wife knew about him having another woman.” Felicia tapped the corner of her lips, avoiding her lipstick. “As for whether or not if she knew...The last time I saw her alive was when she came to my office to sign the paper. At the time she was smiling, nice, happy, head over heels for her ‘perfect husband’. I doubt she was an award winning actress, so no I do not believe she knew it was me who took her husband away.”
“The policy,” Jenny turned her tablet about to show a copy of documents on her screen, “The pay out is $10 million dollars, correct?”
“...Yeeeeees? I mean, I did wrote it afterall.”
“Was everything done properly?”
“I don’t like your tone, officer.” Felicia’s eye twitch and she placed her scone back on the plate. “Regardless of my relationship with Frank, I am a professional. Every document, every paper, every signature has been done to the letter. Approved and legal.”
Jenny stared at Felicia, the latter made sure the feeling was mutual. Jackson glance back and forth, confused at first, until the weight of the atmosphere made him realize it. He cleared his throat, to break up any invisible catfight and adjusted his fedora to ease the situation.
“10 mil,” Jackson made a short whistle, “That’s a lot of dough. So much so, it’s worth killing someone over.”
“If you are implying Frank killed his wife for this money, then I can assure you,” Felicia turned to Jackson and he felt ice dripping up his spine, “Frank would never murder his wife. Of course, it sounds strange coming from his ‘mistress’. I knew Frank since we were kids. Whenever he faces a problem, he often procrastinate or avoid it. Rarely would he explode into a frenzy and, what, turn his wife of 20 years into chopped lobster. He keeps it under his own hat.”
Jenny took in a deep breath, “Have there been any moments where you asked Mr. Tucker to make a choice in your relationship?”
“Of course I have, officer. What woman wouldn’t want the man in the love triangle to look at her and only her. I respect his dedication, but as his lover it often pained me when he had to leave my side to go and calm down that stubborn woman who treated him like garbage.” Felicia rolled her eyes at the remark and leaned in her seat, rocking back and forth. “I confess, there were some moments where I felt lonely, vulnerable, frustrated. I sometimes tell him he can only pick one: me, or his boring wife... After we calm down with some wine we make up and I try not to bring it up again.”
Jackson had his chin on his hand and a finger tapping his cheek. “When you heard Mrs. Tucker disappeared, what were your thoughts? Initially?”
“Surprise. Shock even. I was worried for Frank, he was running around town trying to look for her. He had no time to keep my company and I thoroughly understood his feelings,” Felicia paused and the muscle in her cheeks clench, “When he told me about what happened to her... I felt so bad for him. I wanted to console him, spend time to help him with his grief, but he told me the detectives – you both – would be coming and going. Given how...awkward the situation had become, we thought it would be best we kept our distance for now.”
Jenny typed into her tablet. Without looking up she asked, “And you had absolutely no strong emotion in regards to Mrs. Tucker’s death?”
“If you are implying am I happy she’s gone, no. I only met her a few times in my life. I respect Frank’s wishes and keep our contact discreet. Besides,” Felicia flicked a hand up with a pfft gesture, “I honestly thought she ran off with him and not got chopped up into pieces.”
Jackson raised an eyebrow. “Him as in Mr. Tucker?”
Felicia picked up a napkin. She quietly wiped each of her fingers, slow and intentional. Jenny and Jackson couldn’t help but examine her movement as she rubbed her hands across the napkin the whole time. Once she was finished she dropped it in a ball across the table and sipped her espresso.
“No~”
== TO BE CONTINUED ==>