Page 5 of Blood on the Rocks

Chapter 3

Seraphina barely hadtime to take a sip of her heavily creamed-and-sugared coffee before the doorbell rang. It was the next morning, and Katella was in the shower, preparing for another day of work despite Seraphina’s suggestion that she take some time off to cope with Papa’s death. But Katella was weird in the way she handled her grief; maybe it had to do with the fact that she was the oldest of the two, but she seemed to prefer to bare her pain by herself, alone, and throw herself into other activities rather than allow herself a moment to be sad or ask people for support. Seraphina wished Katella didn’t try to be strong all the time.

In merely a loose t-shirt and short shorts, Seraphina stood on her toes in order to see who was outside, calling on the sisters at such an awful seven-thirty hour. Frowning in recognition, she rolled her feet back down and opened the door with her free hand, wondering just what Detective Christopher Williams of the Newport Beach Police Department wanted.

“Sorry for the early hour,” he said with a sheepish smile. Seraphina herself wasn’t immune to this smile, and she was certain that the thirty or so year old detective employed it for his benefit. “But I have a couple more follow up questions, if you don’t mind.” With his blue eyes, he took in the sight of Seraphina, realized his mistake, and forced them back to her face, causing both to flush. “Right, may I come in?”

“Sure.”

Seraphina led him to the dining room before excusing herself to change into something more appropriate. Having a crush on the police detective wasn’t exactly part of the plan, and it wasn’t as though Seraphina actually expected anything to come from it, but it was a nice distraction during those lonely moments just before she went to sleep where her eyes were closed, her body exhausted, but her mind cruel and awake, thinking and overanalyzing everything she should have, could have, would have done to save her grandfather. Though such criticisms still existed, she wasn’t as plagued by them as she had been before meeting Christopher Williams.

For a police detective, Christopher Williams was handsome, with curly black hair and those sea-blue eyes. Whenever he smiled, a dimple popped in his left cheek, and he had this way of making whomever it was that he was talking to feel safe. Or maybe that was just Seraphina. He wasn’t too tall, barely five foot nine, and though he didn’t have that much muscle on him, he was compact, looking as though he could hold his own in a fight even if his opponent was bigger and stronger than he was. Today, he wore a blue long-sleeved shirt – just setting his blue eyes off even more than they did on their own – and grey slacks, with recently polished black loafers. Very professional, indeed.

Seraphina figured the detective might want to talk to herself and her sister, so Seraphina coaxed Katella out of the shower, and after a few minutes of throwing on conservative clothing, the two sisters joined the detective in the dining room.

“Would you like some coffee, Detective?” Katella asked. She had always been a good hostess, even when the two sisters were young and threw sleepovers. In fact, Katella was quite a pro at making coffee and she didn’t even drink the stuff.

“Yes, please,” he said, nodding. His eyes rolled up to the high ceiling and then to the wall before following the hallway out and into the living room. “Nice digs you got here.”

“Oh,” Seraphina said, taking a seat across from the detective. She felt her face flush, but this time, for a different reason. She always got uncomfortable when people noticed and mentioned the fact that she could afford to possess nicer things than women her age, feeling as though perhaps she didn’t deserve such an extravagance at such a young age. Of course, a voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like her grandfather would remind her that both she and her sister had gone through more than other kids their age. “Yeah, thanks. It was a gift.”

“Your grandfather must have really loved you guys,” Christopher said more to himself then thanked Katella once she handed him the black coffee.

“We were all he had,” Katella said as she sat next to her sister with own glass of orange juice. Her eyes were slightly narrowed, as though she saw Christopher’s words as some sort of criticism against the sisters.

“You both must have been close to him.”

“We were.”

Seraphina watched as he took a long gulp of coffee, surprised that he didn’t shrink back at the heat. Maybe he was used to drinking hot liquids and his tongue developed a blister from it or something.

“This is some good coffee,” he said once he finished. “Wow. I’m impressed.”

“Detective Williams” –

“Chris,” the detective corrected Katella. Seraphina watched as her sister forced a smile.

“Chris. I don’t mean to be rude, but I have to be at work soon in order to go over proposed idea for this season’s events. Is there any way we could get right to it?”

“So the Gulls are going to play this season?” Chris asked, directing the question at Seraphina rather than Katella. “Awesome. I love the Gulls.” He looked back at the older sister and nodded his head. “Of course, Ms. Hanson. Again, I apologize for the intrusion. We’ve gone through the evidence at the office – you can actually go in it and use it or whatever you were planning to do with it, just so you know – and had a few more questions for the two of you.” He reached into his front pocket and pulled out a small flip notebook with a pen attached through the spiral. “The first is a basic question; I’m sure you’ve seen it in the crime shows on television. Did you grandfather have any enemies?”

“No,” both sisters replied at the same time.

“Our grandfather was tough but fair,” Katella explained.

“People maybe didn’t agree with everything he said or every decision he made, but they respected him,” Seraphina added.

Christopher nodded as he took notes. When he finished, he looked up at the two of them, his left hand curled into a fist, resting on his hip. “Tell me about these selling rumors,” he said.

“I don’t understand,” Katella murmured.

“The team,” Chris said. “There were a couple of stories that ran in the Orange County Register, a couple of interviews on ESPN, talking about how there were rumors your grandfather was planning to sell the team. Were these true?”

Both girls were silent for a moment, both thinking if they remembered him possibly mentioning selling the team in passing.

“He never really talked business with us,” Katella finally said.

“Well, he would ask me my opinion about things every now and then,” corrected Seraphina, an index finger caressing the tip of her chin.

---