The Suspect - L R Wright by L. R. Wright Read Free Book Online Page B

eyes, and his face was a collection of planes. She
wondered if she would feel any physical attraction for him, by the
time lunch was over.
    "You do have an Aryan look about you," she
said.
    They were almost alone in the restaurant, which was a
place with overgrown ferns hanging from the ceiling and a view over
the water.
    The waitress approached, a petite, curvaceous young
woman with a tumble of wavy auburn hair. "Hi, Cassandra,"
she said with a grin. "How's your life?" Her eyes skittered
to Alberg. 'just fine, thank you, Rosie," said Cassandra
brisledy.
    " You two gonna have a drink? Maybe a bottle of
wine?"
    "I was thinking more of coffee," said
Cassandra. "And then maybe some food."
    "Oh. Right. I'll go get a couple of menus,
then.”
    "Librarians," muttered Cassandra as Rosie
turned away, "can't slink among the stacks smelling of gin."
    Alberg was observing with interest Rosie's undulating
progress across the room.
    " She's studying psychology," said
Cassandra.
    Alberg looked at her. "I beg your pardon?"
    " Rosie. She's a psychology major. At U.B.C. Her
parents own this place. She works here in the summers."
    " Ah."
    Rosie returned with menus. "The clam chowder's
good today. So I'm told."
    " I'll have it," said Cassandra promptly.
"And coffee.”
    " Me too,” said Alberg. He smiled at the
waitress as he handed back the unopened menus, but at least this time
he didn't goggle at her as she walked away.
    "I hate this," said Cassandra with passion.
    Alberg leaned forward politely. "What do you
hate? Having lunch? Restaurants with ferns? Or meeting strangers?"
    "Meeting strangers." She took a drink of
iced water, wishing it were wine.
    "I liked your ad," he said after a while.
    "Why? What made you like it?"
    " It had a nice, sunny sound to it."
    Rosie returned with two bowls of clam chowder and a
basket of rolls and butter. "Have a nice lunch, you two,"
she said sentimentally.
    Cassandra stared indignantly at her back.
    Alberg laughed. "Hey, look," he said.
"Relax. Enjoy yourself. You never have to see me again, if you
don't want to. Meanwhile"—he waved his spoon at her—"she's
right, it's good clam chowder. You can tell by the smell." He
closed his eyes and leaned over the soup and sniffed, blissfully.
    "I'm sorry," said Cassandra, smiling.
"You're right." She began to eat.
    "Tell me about yourself," he said.
    "I'm a librarian. Here in Sechelt. That's what I
meant in the ad, when I said—”
    "'Books are my work, my comfort, and my joy.' ”
    She looked at him curiously. "What did you think
of that?”
    "I thought you were probably a librarian."
He took a spoonful of soup.
    Cassandra laughed. "I could have been a writer.
Or a bookbinder.”
    " You could have been. But it seemed unlikely.
What else?”
    "What else? Well, let me see." She broke
open a roll and buttered half of it. Then she put the roll back on
her plate and her hands in her lap and spoke rapidly. "I'm
forty-one years old, financially secure though not much more than
that, never been married, came here from Vancouver almost nine years
ago—God, I can't believe that—I've got a mother who lives in
Golden Arms and a brother who lives in Edmonton, I go back to
Vancouver once a week if I can to remind me that these villages up
and down the coast are not all there is." She picked up her
soupspoon and the buttered roll.
    " Golden Arms? Oh, that senior citizens' place.”
    "Yes, that's right. They live there on their
own, but somebody's there to sort of watch over them. Now you. Tell
me about you.”
    " I'm a police officer."
    She looked at him blankly. "A police officer. A
cop. Are you a Mountie? Up here, you must be a Mountie."
    " R.C.M. Police. Yeah. I hate 'cop.'”
    "A policeman. R.C.M.R" She chewed her roll
thoughtfully. "I use marijuana sometimes. Nothing else, though,
not for a long time. I've had a few speeding tickets, too."
    " This is obviously not going to work out."
    She looked up to see him smiling; she hadn't heard a
smile in his voice. The smile