Dino by Jaime Lewis

Chapter TWELVE

Arianna gave her belly a good pat and smiled as her dad put the last dish into the dishwasher.

Everyone knew Paul served some of the best food in town at the restaurant, but none of the patrons had ever had a home-cooked meal of his. His prime rib was to die for. It was similar to the one he had on the menu at Bayside, but he saved his special spices for special occasions.

Getting to spend Christmas with him after missing the last three was a little emotional. Especially when he had answered the front door and she was standing there. She swore she saw the tears start to build in his eyes before he pulled her in for a hug. And, boy had she needed that hug from her dad. He was and always would be her protector.

She and her dad were always very close, but even more so after her mom died. Even after she graduated high school and went off to college, they still had a strong bond. She had chosen to attend George Mason University in Virginia for her undergraduate degree, where she majored in Accounting. She loved studying numbers, but while at college, she acquired an interest in criminal law. After talking with a few of her professors, they encouraged her to look into the Digital Forensics Master’s program at the university. She took their advice and read through the material, and then spoke with some of the professors in that program. Then one weekend, while she was visiting her dad, which was often since it wasn’t too far of a drive, she brought up the program to get his opinion. He agreed and said it was a good field to venture into, especially if that was what interested her. Her dad had always been her sounding board when it came to big decisions that could impact her life. And she welcomed his advice whether she liked it or not.

Her dad was brilliant and was involved in a lot of classified stuff during his tenure in the military. There had been a few times after he retired where she questioned if he really was fully retired from the government. He wasn’t one to talk about his time in the service or what he and his friends from the government liked to “dabble” in their spare time, and she wasn’t one to question him. She had learned years ago that her dad was like a vault when it came to his career. Nobody was getting any information out of him, no matter what. However, she loved to imagine in her mind what he had taken part in. One time, she told her dad that she thought he was a Marine turned Black Ops CIA Agent. The only reply she got back from him was a loud laugh. But that didn’t mean she was wrong. It had been and still was a fun little game she liked to play with him. Maybe one day down the road, she could put all her clues together and solve the mystery.

“I expected Victoria to be here,” Arianna told her dad.

“Yeah, she decided she wanted to spend the holiday with her sister in Vermont.”

Arianna stared at her dad. There was obviously more to the story than Victoria wanted to spend the holiday with her sister.

Victoria Prescott was her dad’s girlfriend. She was the only girlfriend her dad had since her mom died. Arianna wasn’t a fan of the woman, but if she made her dad happy, she would support him.

It had taken her dad a few years to get over his wife’s death. They were soul mates. They had been the perfect example of what Arianna wanted in a relationship when she found the right one—love, loyalty, compassion, and trust.

After the funeral, Arianna saw her dad was struggling even though everyone thought he was handling his wife’s death quite well in the public eye. But those outsiders weren’t at their home to witness his heartbreak when he cleaned out her side of the closet or saw anything that reminded him of her mom. It had been heart wrenching for Arianna to watch. To see her big badass daddy shed a tear destroyed her.

Arianna knew her dad needed help at the restaurant. She had been able to keep things going administratively, like payroll and inventory, because she had learned all that from her mom. But she was supposed to leave for college in a few months. She had offered to forego George Mason and stay closer to home to help him, but he was adamant that she lived her life and find her future. He promised her that he would figure something out.

Needless to say, he went through many managers over the course of a few years. That was where Victoria came into the picture. To her credit, she had applied for the position every time her dad had posted it. And every time, he had called her in for an interview but never offered her the job. He claimed it was because she didn’t have the experience he had been looking for. But surprisingly, on the last interview, he offered her one of the waitress positions that had just opened up. She had accepted, and slowly but surely, she learned the ropes. A little while later, the manager at the time was caught stealing. Her dad had fired him on the spot. Instead of posting the job, he offered Victoria the position on a trial basis, and of course, she had accepted. Both Arianna and Bruno, her dad’s friend who helped him out at Bayside, weren’t huge fans of her, to begin with. Bruno, to this day, always claimed she seemed suspicious.

Arianna’s take on Victoria went south when she had come home one weekend to visit her dad but found Victoria in her dad’s office going through some financial papers that didn’t pertain to her. When she confronted her on it, she tried to laugh it off, spewing something about it was mixed in with the restaurant's stack of mail. It had been total bullshit. She mentioned it to her dad, but again he brushed it off.

Her dad and Victoria had started dating at the end of Arianna’s senior year in college. Her dad surprised her with that detail when she was home for Spring Break. Arianna hadn’t thought that the romance would last, but to her surprise, a few months before she had left for her undercover assignment, her dad asked Victoria to move in.

Something had changed in her dad that year, and even Bruno thought so too. But neither of them could put their finger on what it was. But hearing that Victoria didn’t want to spend the holidays with him made her suspicions grow.

“Arianna, I know you don’t approve of Victoria, but trust me when I say there is a reason that she’s still around.”

“What does that mean, dad? She treats you like a doormat. I mean, if she really loved you and wanted to be with you, why would she want to spend the holiday with her sister and her family and not you?”

“And you know what? That is fine by me because I get to spend the holiday with you.” He grinned and pinched her nose like he used to do when she was a young girl.

Arianna shook her head.  “You’re up to something.” Her dad gave her a blank stare, and she knew that look. It was the look that said to “drop it.” And she would. “I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

Her dad walked to the other side of the kitchen and pulled down two coffee mugs and two small plates. She smiled as she watched her dad busy himself around the kitchen. He kept himself in great shape for being in his late fifties and was as healthy as an ox. He cut two slices of apple pie and brought them over to the table.

“So, are you still planning on making your grand appearance at the New Year’s party?” He asked over his shoulder as he went back to the counter and poured their coffee.

“That’s the plan,” she told him as she forked a big bite of apple pie and put it in her mouth. Mmmm…homemade apple pie was her favorite dessert.

He brought the mugs over to the table and set one in front of her.

“How has it been since being back?” He asked her.

She took a sip of the strong, black coffee. It was the only way her dad drank it, and she picked it up from him. Getting back to her dad's question, she almost laughed when the first thing that popped into her head was Dino. But she didn’t think she could explain how being back had been pleasurable. At least not to her dad.

“It’s different, but it feels great. I’m glad I decided to give myself a couple of weeks to ease back into things and the town before I visit with friends.”

“The girls are excited to see you. As are Stitch and Frost.”

She smiled, recalling her friends from high school.  She couldn’t wait to catch up with them. She had met the group of them in middle school.

“I can’t wait to see them.  It’s been a long time.”

“They’re still the same people, just grown up now like you. A lot has happened since you left. Alex is engaged, Tenley is married with three kids, Stitch just got engaged, and Frost has a wife and son, and if I heard correctly, they are expecting as well.”

“Wow!  I’d say things have changed.”

She felt a slight pang on the inside, realizing she didn’t even have a significant other.

“Hey, what’s the sour puss look for?”

“Just everyone seems to be moving on.”

“What happened to that guy you were dating? I thought things were good between you two.”

She never told her dad that Vinny was a sleazeball who had been sleeping with her next-door neighbor. After several odd encounters with Noreen, the neighbor, and Vinny, Arianna started to put two and two together. It was subtle actions toward each other, like how they would make eye contact while they were in her presence. She may have just been a Forensics Accountant, but she had learned a lot over eight years working for the FBI. She had several co-workers who had taught her what to look for in expressions and body language. Usually, because of his work schedule, Vinny would stay at her place on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since she preferred to work early morning hours, she always left before him on Wednesday and Friday mornings. So, one Friday morning she got up and got ready for work like she normally would. Before she left, she woke him up and made sure to say goodbye to him because she was positive after that morning, she would never see him again.

When she left her apartment, instead of heading to the elevator, she went the opposite way down the hallway to the laundry room and waited. Ten minutes later, she heard a door down the hall open. She poked her head out into the hall, and just as she suspected, Vinny walked next door and knocked on Noreen’s door. When Noreen opened the door, she had been dressed in a siren red itsy-bitsy see-through nightie. Vinny grinned, and Noreen grabbed him and pulled him into her apartment. Arianna gave them a few minutes and then knocked on the door. The look on Vinny’s face when he answered the door in nothing but his boxer shorts had been priceless. Of course, he stuttered and tried to make up some lame excuse. But all she could do was shake her head and walk away.

“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” Her dad asked.

“Not physically.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

She sighed. “Vinny and I broke up before I took on the assignment. I haven’t seen or heard from him in over three years.”

“Jesus. I still can’t believe it’s been that long.” Arianna could tell he wanted to ask her about the assignment.

“It has been a long time.” She took another sip of her coffee. “In fact, there are times that I feel as if I’m a whole new person.”

Her dad eyed her over, and he set his mug down. “So, are you going to tell your old man what’s eating at you and why you snuck into town undetected earlier than expected?”

She grinned, “How do you do it?” She joked.

He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m a dad. I can tell when something is on his little girl’s mind.”

If he only knew.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not just yet. I need to process some things first. But I promise to come to talk to you when the time is right.”

“Fair enough. How long are you planning on staying in town? You know you could’ve stayed here.”

She cocked her head sideways and gave that look of hers, telling him that he was out of his mind.

He chuckled. “Yeah, I thought I would get that reaction from you.”

“Seriously?” She asked him though she knew he was just teasing. There was no way she’d stay at his place with Victoria there.

“All joking aside, where are you staying?”

“I rented a beach house. Not too far from Bayside.”

“You rented a house?” He questioned. “Are we talking long-term rental?”

She used her pointer finger to trace the rim of her mug. “At least six months. I’m sort of on a break from the bureau.”

“A break?”

She took a deep breath. She really wasn’t ready to get into all this with him right now. Eventually, she would, but she wanted a little more time to process it all. Before she could tell him that, he said, “Forget it. When you’re ready to talk, you know where to find me.” He winked, and she smiled.

Changing the subject, Paul shifted in his seat. “Well, since you seem to have some time on your hands, how about helping me manage the bar? I have some business that will take a lot of my time for a few weeks, and I’m looking for someone I can trust not to screw me over. What do you say?”

She smiled. “I’d love to. But what about Victoria? I thought she was handling that.”

He curled his lip and snarled. “Things change.”

Okay….

“Can I start after New Year’s?”

“That works. I’m warning you now some of the newer waitresses are difficult to work with.”

“That’s a simple problem to fix,” she told him.

“How so?”

“I’ll just fire them.”

“Arianna…”

“What? They don’t want to work; they don’t have to. Plain and simple.”

Her dad just shook his head. “I’ll leave you to it. Speaking of New Year’s, what time are you arriving? Alex has been hounding me.”

She smiled, “I’ll give Alex a call. Do you have any special events lined up besides New Year’s?”

“No, don’t need to. As long as I keep providing great food, it’s all that I need to keep the customers coming back.”

“What about bringing in a band or some kind of entertainment on certain nights?”

“Stick around, and maybe you can see to it that sort of thing happens.” He winked, and she laughed. He would never admit it, but deep down, she knew he’d be thrilled if she ended up staying. The more she thought about it, the more she imagined she’d probably enjoy it too, but what job could she get around here where she could use her forensics skills? She didn’t think she could go back into a general accounting job. That wouldn’t be challenging enough for her. Hmmm…maybe that was something to think about.

She finished her coffee and then helped her dad finish cleaning up the kitchen. By then, it was getting late, and even Nigel was snoring by the front door. The dog had instantly taken a liking to her dad. And judging from all the food and playtime her dad had given Nigel, the feeling was mutual. At least she had a dog sitter.

“I think I’m going to head home,” she told him and went into the living room to get her purse and coat. “Are you going to the homeless shelter tomorrow to help serve dinner?” She asked him. Volunteering at the shelter on Christmas had been a tradition that her mom had started.

“Of course. Want to join me?”

“Maybe. Who else is going?”

“Bruno and two other guys I know from the service.”

She smiled. “I’d like that. That was a great idea that Mom came up with.”

He smiled back at her then looked at the Christmas tree sitting in the corner of the room. It was decorated the same way that her mom would have decorated it. “Your mother was a sweet soul.”

Her dad stepped closer and pulled her into a hug. She smiled as she snuggled close. God, she’d missed him.

“Try not to let your job get under your skin. I know it’s hard, but things happen for a reason.”

“I know. Right now, I’m just taking it one day at a time.”

He winked and kissed the top of her head. “That’s all you can do. Oh! I almost forgot. I’ve been collecting mail for you.” He walked over to the table by the front door and pulled a stack of envelopes from a bin on the shelf. “I’m sure most of it is junk, but I didn’t want to throw anything away just in case.”

“Wow! Okay, thanks. I’ll go through it eventually,” she told him and shoved it all inside her purse.

She shook Nigel’s leash, and as if a fire lit under his ass, he jumped up onto all fours with his tail wagging. Her dad walked over and gave him another pat on the head.

“You lucked out with this one,” he told her.

Grinning, she said, “I know. He’s perfect.” And, he was. Though it had only been two days since she brought the pup home, she knew the two of them were meant to be together.

After she got Nigel leashed, she walked to the door, and her dad followed her out. As they walked down the driveway, a tingling sensation moved from her arms up to her neck. It was a strange feeling as if the energy in the air had changed—like a warning signal. She took a quick glance at her dad, and his focus seemed to be somewhere else as he looked up and down the street. When their eyes met, he had a hardened look. Something had changed in the few seconds they walked from the house to the car. She wondered if he had felt what she had. Was someone or something out there watching them?

He gave her another hug before she got into the car.

“Do me a favor and call me when you get home.”

She looked up at him, and the intensity burning in his eyes told her not to question or argue with him. She swallowed hard.

“I will.”

He kissed her forehead. “Drive safe.”

“Love you.”

“Love you, too, sweetie.”

As she pulled out of her dad’s driveway and drove down the street, she kept an eye on her dad through the rear-view mirror. He never took his eyes off of her car until she made the right-hand turn taking her to the main street and out of his sight.

Something was going on, and she needed to find a way to talk to her stubborn dad about it.

◆◆◆

Paul kept a close eye on Arianna’s car as it traveled down the street, looking for any sign that she had a tail on her. The anonymous email sent to Bayside’s general email account yesterday had heightened the awareness and safety surrounding his daughter.

“Daddy’s little girl can’t escape the wrath of hell that is about to be brought down on her.”

The violent threat on her life made him wonder what she had possibly landed herself in during her time away.  The timing of the sender’s communication hadn’t sat well with him. Knowing that Arianna had been back in town for over a week made him skeptical that the person who sent the email knew her whereabouts and when she had arrived, meaning a predator shadowed her. But who and why, were the top critical questions that needed to be answered?

◆◆◆

Concealed behind the vehicle’s dark-tinted glass, he watched through a pair of night vision binoculars as the bastard kissed his daughter goodbye.

Paul Roland was a man of mystery and power within the confined walls of the government. But he was also greatly hated by few men who were thirsty for revenge.

Roland’s government files were locked down tight. Still, it was rumored that after his career span in the military, he had been recruited by a secret intelligence division that reported directly to the president.

Roland’s alertness as he watched his daughter’s car drive away confirmed that he had gotten the message loud and clear.

Both Paul Roland and his daughter, the precious Arianna, a.k.a. Anna Humphreys, needed to be put in their place.