Chapter 1: Murder In Harmony
Chapter 1:
Sheridan stood at her bedroom window looking outside. She was feeling especially restless today. After the shooting at the wharf she knew it really wasn’t safe to go outside but she couldn’t help wanting to anyway. She didn’t dare mention it to Luis though. They had been getting along really well lately and she didn’t want to ruin it.
Luis was outside double-checking all the windows on the cottage. He walked around to the window in Sheridan’s bedroom and they came face to face. Sheridan jumped startled by Luis’ sudden appearance. She walked over to the French doors and opened them, letting Luis into her bedroom.
“You scared the hell out of me Luis.”
“I’m sorry. I told you I would be outside.”
“I know, I was just distracted and I didn’t hear you walk up.”
“What were you thinking about?” Luis asked.
“Oh nothing really.”
Luis looked out the window. “You were thinking about going outside weren’t you?”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t going to ask. I know it’s too dangerous,” she said sadly.
“You’re right, it’s not safe for you to be outside, but I know you hate having to stay in the house all the time, so I guess we could go somewhere.”
“Really? Where?” Sheridan asked enthusiastically.
“You’ll just have to wait and see,” Luis teased, “but you better change your clothes.” He motioned to her long pick dress.
“Ok, what should I wear?”
“Just some shorts and a T-shirt,” Luis said, “I’ll wait for you in the living room.” While Sheridan was changing Luis put some things together in the kitchen and took them out to his car. When he came back in the cottage Sheridan was just coming out of her bedroom. Luis couldn’t help but stare at her as he walked into the room. She made even a simple pair of shorts and a shirt look amazing. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans shorts and a white three-quarter sleeve button up shirt with the top two buttons left open and it was tied at her waist in a little knot so that her belly button peeked out as she walked. The movement of that shirt mesmerized Luis. He watched intently as it continued to move revealing momentary glimpses of Sheridan’s silky flesh. And before he knew it she was standing right in front of him.
“Luis!” Sheridan said loudly.
“Huh?” he responded, snapping out of his trance.
“I asked if you were ready to go. What were you thinking about?”
“Oh, um, nothing really. Let’s go.” They got into Luis’ jeep and drove through the town. All through the drive Sheridan looked excitedly out the window trying to figure out where they were going and taking in all the sites of Harmony as if she hadn’t seen them in years.
“You seem really excited about this. I hope you aren’t disappointed when you see where we are going.”
“I know where we’re going,” she replied, “and I’m not disappointed that we are going to the youth center.”
“How’d you figure it out? We’re not even there yet.”
“Well you said that we couldn’t go outside because it is too dangerous so it had to be someplace indoors. I’ve been watching where we are going and I decided that the only possibilities that are in this direction are the Police Station, the Book Café, and the Youth Center. I couldn’t think of any good reason why you’d be taking me to the police station to cheer me up, and the Book Café is too public, there are too many people coming and going. But school started last week, so the youth center will be empty for a few more hours and you can lock the doors to make sure that no one can get in, so it had to be the youth center.”
Luis grinned, “I must say I’m impressed with your deductive reasoning.”
“Maybe Sam should make me detective,” Sheridan teased.
“Ok Sherlock, we’re here. Let’s get you inside.”
“I kind of wish we had gone to the Book Café,” Sheridan said as she got out of the car, “I’m starving.”
“I figured you night be hungry, so I brought lunch,” Luis said, pulling out a bag of food from the back seat. They went inside and Luis locked the doors behind them and took Sheridan into the gym. He flipped the radio on and pulled a large mat out onto the middle of the gym floor. He spread out the food he brought for their lunch and they sat on the floor of the gym sharing an indoor picnic.
Tears streamed down Kay’s face as she packed some of her clothes into her backpack. She put a sealed envelope addressed to her father on her bed and left the house unnoticed. Kay was walking though town towards the bus station when a limo pulled up next to her. The rear window rolled down and Ivy Crane leaned her head out.
“Kay Bennett is that you dear?” Ivy asked.
Kay quickly wiped the tears off her face and turned around. “Hi Mrs. Crane.”
“Please, call me Ivy. Would you like a ride home?”
“No,” Kay said harshly, “I’m never going home again.”
“Please get in Kay, I feel really silly leaning out the window to talk to you.” Ivy opened the door and Kay got into the limo. “Now tell me, if your not going home then are you going to school?” Ivy asked pointing at her backpack, “in fact shouldn’t you be at school right now?”
“I wasn’t going to school, I was going to the bus station. I’m leaving Harmony and I’m never coming back.”
“You’re running away? Why?”
“Because my life is over, my friends, my family, they’re all gone. She took them away from me.”
“That can’t be true sweetheart. I know your father loves you very much.”
“He’s the only one. No one else cares about me,” Kay said trying to keep her tears back, “but I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I’m not going home so please don’t try to convince me.”
“Ok, I won’t but I wish you’d reconsider leaving Harmony. I mean where will you go? Where are you going to sleep? You probably don’t have much money, how are you going to take care of yourself?”
“It doesn’t matter where I have to live or where I go as long as I don’t have to go back home. I’ll just have to find some kind of job and watch how much I spend.”
“Kay honey, you’re only fifteen and there aren’t many people who will hire you. And even if you do get a job you probably won’t make enough to afford a decent place to live. Why don’t you come stay with me,” Ivy offered, “at least for a few days until you’re thinking more clearly.”
“A few days won’t change my mind,” Kay said, “I never want to go back home.”
“Please Kay, stay for a few days and then if you still want to leave I’ll buy you a plane ticket to anywhere you want to go so you won’t have to take that awful bus, and I’ll help you find a place to live and a job.”
“Why do you want to do this?”
“Because I like you. You are a sweet girl and don’t want anything bad to happen to you,” Ivy said, “so will you stay?”
“Ok,” Kay agreed and Ivy ordered the driver to take them to the Crane Estate.
“So what do you have planned next officer?” Sheridan asked as she finished the last bite of her cookie.
“I don’t know. We can do whatever you want, as long as it is inside the youth center.”
Sheridan was thinking about what she wanted to do when a song familiar to her came on the radio. “Oh Luis can we dance?”
“What?”
“This song is one of my favorites. Will you please dance with me?”
“Well, I did say anything you want.” Luis stood up and pulled her up off the mat. He wrapped her in his arms and they began swaying to the slow music. Sheridan relaxed into his arms and laid her head against his shoulder.
She felt like she was in a dream and she didn’t want to wake up. She could feel Luis’ heart beating against her chest. It was racing and her own heart was matching its pace. As the song came to an end Sheridan pulled back and looked into Luis’ eyes. She wished this really was a dream and that it would end the way so many of her dreams of Luis had.
The way she was looking at him was driving Luis crazy. He wanted her so bad; he just couldn’t help himself. He leaned in to kiss her but a thought popped into his head, ‘don’t do it, she made it clear she doesn’t want you.’ Luis suddenly stopped and stepped away from her leaving Sheridan to wonder about what just happened.
“Uh, you want to play basketball,” Luis asked, trying to think of something they could do that didn’t involve them being so close to each other.
“Sure,” Sheridan said. She picked up a basketball that was lying on the floor. She turned and tossed the ball through the air and it fell perfectly through the hoop.
“Ok little miss show off, let’s go.” They played a friendly game, neither of them caring about who won. They were just enjoying having fun with each other.
Sheridan began to take a shot and when Luis tried to block her she bumped into him sending them both crashing to the floor. Sheridan ended up lying on top of Luis.
Sheridan looked down into Luis’ eyes. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten so close.”
“It’s ok,” she said eyeing his soft lips and wishing they were even closer to her own. All she had to do was lean down an inch or two and their lips would meet. ‘Stop it Sheridan,’ she mentally berated herself, ‘he doesn’t want you. Quit torturing yourself.’ Sheridan forced herself to get up off Luis. “I think I’ve had enough basketball for today,” she said.
“Ok,” Luis answered picking himself up off the floor. He looked around the gym to see if there was something else they could do when he eyed the mat. “I have an idea for what we can do now.”
“What?”
“I want to teach you some self-defense moves just in case something happens to me and you need to defend yourself.”
“Don’t say that Luis,” Sheridan said her eyes filling with concern, “nothing’s going to happen to you.”
“I just want to make sure you’re prepared. I want you to be able to protect yourself.” Luis moved all the stuff off the mat where they’d had their picnic. “Come over here by me.
Now I’m going to come up and attack you from behind and what I want you to do is grab my arm, put all your weight on your front leg, bend down slightly and then pull my arm forward as you push off with your back leg and it will kind of flip me over.”
“Ok,” Sheridan said, a little unsure that she would remember all of that or that she could even really do it.
“Are you ready?”
“Um, sure.” Luis walked around behind Sheridan. His left hand grasped her waist while his right hand slid over her shoulder and across her chest. Feeling Luis’ hands on her body sent shockwaves through her system. He was so close she could feel his breath on the back of her neck and it made her stomach flip-flop.
Her mind wandered into familiar fantasies and his hands continued to move across her body caressing every curve while he kissed the back of her neck and shoulder.
“Sheridan,” the sound of Luis’ voice broke her thoughts, “you’re supposed to be resisting me.”
“Huh? Oh right, sorry. I’m ready now.” Sheridan grabbed Luis’ arm and tried to follow his directions, flipping him onto the floor. But something went a little wrong and when Luis landed on his back on the floor Sheridan ended up right on top of him.
“Was this supposed to happen,” Sheridan giggled.
“No, you were supposed to let go of my arm,” he laughed.
Sheridan propped herself up a bit with one arm and smirked down at Luis. “You might have mentioned that before.”
“Sorry.” Luis shifted a little underneath Sheridan and bumped her arm causing her to fall onto his chest. Their faces were once again mere inches apart and they stared into each other’s eyes. Luis could feel every inch of her body pressed on top of his and it was driving him crazy. He couldn’t resist any longer. He reached his hand up to her face and brushed his fingers across her cheek and back into her hair. He started to pull her face down to his but suddenly all the lights went out.
To Be Continued…