Chapter 10: Chris

Last night as I was leaving my office, a guy stepped in front of me. He was a large black guy who somehow seemed familiar to me.

"Chris, can I talk to you?" he asked. I nodded my head. It wasn't like I had anything else to do.

"Can we sit down somewhere over a beer?" he asked and I nodded again. "Do you still go to Arnold's?" he asked. I nodded for a third time. "Meet me there in 10 minutes," he said, leaving. I took my time driving my little pony to Arnold's. I was racking my brain trying to remember where I'd seen the guy before.

I walked into the bar and looked around. I spotted the guy sitting at a table with a big Hispanic man. I joined them.

"Chris, first I want to thank you for saving my bacon 16 months ago. That guy came out of nowhere. If you hadn't stopped him, he might've killed me and Sarah," said the man.

"Now, I remember you. You're that nosy Investigator's husband. Your wife helped to ruin my life. If I had known who or what you guys were doing, I probably wouldn't have stopped him," I snapped.

Both of the men looked at me, and then at each other. Then they laughed. "Yeah, you would have," said Darryl. "You've been a Boy-Scout all of your life." Both men nodded and took a sip of their beers.

I gestured to a waitress who knew me and she went behind the bar to get my favorite drink. The two men were drinking Coronas and they looked at me strangely when she put the bottle down in front of me.

"I don't always drink beer," I said. "But when I do, I prefer Dos Equis," after that we were all laughing like old friends.

"So what is this about?" I asked.

"This is about Sarah," said Darryl. "She's obsessed, distressed, and depressed, and I must confess, I can't take it anymore."

"Well, consider yourself lucky," I sneered. "At least you have a wife to care about. So what is she upset about. Did you guys run out of people's lives to fuck up?"

"She's upset about you," he said calmly. "Sarah probably won't admit this, but she's in love with you."

"Whoah, I haven't seen or spoken to your wife since the day at the convention," I said. Both men laughed again.

"Of course you haven't," said Darryl. "She's very good at what we do. But she's always been within 10 minutes of you since that day. When you ran away to play with your car in Arizona, she was the dark haired woman who worked in the restaurant. That same dark haired woman gave the file to the judge at your divorce. The voice on the phone claiming she was your best friend. The one who kept giving you files and information on that waitress you were fucking in Arizona and everyone else who wasn't good for you for the past 16 months. She's basically put her life on hold to watch over you," he said.

My jaw dropped, and I took a sip of my beer. "Why is your wife following me around?" I asked in shock.

"She's not my wife, and I already told you she loves you," he said. "And you know something else? Do you remember how well the two of you were getting along before that nutcase attacked her? I think you like her too."

They both looked at me. I remembered that Sarah was really pretty. And I actually had been feeling guilty the whole time I spoke to her at the convention. Even though we were only talking, it felt like I was cheating on Helen.

"So what do you want me to do?" I asked.

"Just sit down and talk to her, is all I'm asking," said Darryl.