Page 5 of Very Special Forces

"Iwasn't sure and I didn't think much more about it until I saw hercoming home from work last month and she was limping. She had herankle in a bandage and said she sprained it while jogging but thenight before, I heard a crash in her apartment. We live right nextdoor to each other. I mentioned the noise and she went all red andsaid no, she knocked over a lamp. I thought back to when she hadthe bruise on her arm and I felt suspicious. She's notaccident-prone at all."

"Did youask her again?"

"I triedto but she shut me down. She said she had a lot on her mind andshe'd been a little clumsy lately and told me not to think anythingof it. The day after that, I buzzed in a flower delivery guy anddiscovered that Bryce had sent her a beautiful bouquet."

"Wasthat unusual? Did he make gestures like that often?"

"Oh, allthe time. There was pretty much a bunch every week since theystarted dating. Not just cheap flowers either! Only lovely,hand-tied bouquets, all different kinds. We all thought that wasterrific at first. Bryce was so sweet and thoughtful."

"But youthought it was a guilt bouquet?" I pressed.

"I did,and I feel bad for thinking that. Julia said he just wanted tocheer her up. All our other friends thought it was adorable. One ofour group had just been hospitalized to have a baby and all herhusband did was bring her a McDonalds Happy Meal to celebrate thebaby's arrival."

Icouldn't help it; I laughed. "Did she at least get a milkshake withit?" I wondered.

"No, hegot her a Diet Coke," said Jas. Her shoulders shook with laughter."Some men are clueless."

"But notyour friend's fiancé. What else does he do that's nice?"

"Oh,lots of things. He takes her out for meals. He might even drop inwith a surprise lunch picnic to her workplace. He'll supply thewine and cook them dinner at her apartment or his. He buys herbeautiful, thoughtful gifts for her birthday and it's neveranything generic like chocolate. He took her to Hawaii for avacation and paid for everything. His proposal was straight out ofa movie. There was even a carriage ride and a string quartetwaiting for them at the end."

"Thatall sounds pretty nice," I said.

"It is.All our friends love him. His friends too. It's not a party withouthim. He's always arranging some kind of get-together, or a nightout, or a boys' weekend away."

"Isthere anything you can think of, excluding your suspicions aboutphysical violence, that add to your distrust towardhim?"

"No.He's so damn perfect, it's hard to ever find fault with him." Jasblew out a breath and shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"What doyour friends think?"

"ThatI'm a little jealous of Julia and Bryce's happiness and they assureme I'll feel better once I start dating again. It's not truethough. That is, I am a little unhappy. I do miss my ex-boyfriendbut I would never want someone else to feel unhappy just because Iam." Jas paused and sighed. "Perhaps it is nothing. Perhaps I'mjust being overly cautious but I'm sure something is wrong and Ithink the changes in her personality are directly because of him.Do you think you can help me find out if Julia is okay? I can payyou. I'm not rich but I have some money put away and I thinkprotecting my friend would be making the best use ofit."

"I'dlike you to fill out some forms," I told her. Turning in my chair,I reached for the client forms that we left in the room. Therewasn't a single pen around so I was glad I'd brought my own, whichI handed to her. "I'm not promising anything but if you can tell meas much information as you have, I'll think about how and if I canhelp."

"Thankyou! Thank you so much!"

"I wantyou to add a timeline of events as you've noticed them too," Iadded. "When they met, where and how, everything you can think ofup to now, including when you first noticed a change in yourfriend's behavior."

"So youdo believe me?" Jas asked, looking up from the forms I placed infront of her.

"Ibelieve that the bruise and the injury could be a cause for concernbut the other things you mentioned don't raise any immediate redflags. I also believe that you don't want your friend to be unhappyand that you're not jealous." By the time I finished speaking, Jashad already picked up the pen and was steadily working her waythrough the document.

I leanedback in my seat and gave her time to finish while I thought aboutthe case. Concerned friends had come in before so it wasn't unusualbut they generally had more serious issues that validated theirworries. A missing person, for example. Jas Kapoor didn't havethat. It sounded like, mostly, she just had a hunch. I had learnednot to dismiss hunches. Trusting my gut was important in mybusiness.

"I thinkthat's everything," she said almost ten minutes later. She laid thepen on top of the pages and pushed the small pile towards me. "Ineed to get back to work but I really appreciate you meeting me at,well, no notice at all."

"It'snot a problem," I replied as I reached for the paperwork. "After Ireview the information you gave me, I'll be in touch."

Jaspushed back her chair and stood, but hesitated before leaving thetable. "What should I do until then? We're going to a gym classlater — Bryce is out of town for the night — and we live next doorto each other."

"Goabout your life as normal," I told her. "Take the gym class. Hangout. Do whatever you would normally do."

"No, Imean, do I say something to my friend? Do I tell her that I'mworried?"

"Haveyou told her before that you're worried about her?"

"Yes,and she dismissed my concerns."

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