Rule of Law and Dating

He picked his teeth with a floss pick in the front visor mirror of his Prius. Satisfied that his teeth were good enough, he stuffed the floss pick into his denim jacket pocket and went on to checking inside his nose when he noticed his date walking into the coffee shop. He was pretty sure the front of her matched her profile picture but if the backside was that slammin’, not looking like her photo wouldn’t be a deal breaker.

After she had entered the building, he watched from his vehicle as she placed an order and then sat down at a table for two. Then she adjusted the buttons on her blouse and seemed to use her arms to squeeze her breasts together. He smirked. This wasn’t so uncommon and he enjoyed seeing it happen in real time.

“Ladies love Chet,” he said and took one last look in the mirror to shoot himself double finger-guns.

He patted the driver’s side door once it was shut like it was a beloved pet and finally went into the coffee shop to meet his date.

The doorbell jingled when he entered. People already deep in conversation didn’t notice him or only glanced his way as he walked by. He winked at one of the cuties with curly black hair when she made eye contact with him.

He approached his date from behind and placed his hand on her shoulder as he rounded the table to his seat. She jolted a little.

“Oh, you startled me,” she said. “Chet, right?”

Chet grinned. “That’s right. So, Sadie,” he said and paused, waiting to see her facial expression change to intrigued. “I really like this nerdy, librarian sort of look you’re going for. Very…what would you say, chic?”

She nodded. “Yeah, chic.”

Sadie’s round glasses and long dark brown hair fell over her face like a curtain; her bangs met the top rim of her glasses. He couldn’t help but allow his eyes to travel down to see how she had decided to present her chest. When looking in from the outside, he’d expect more skin but this was just the first meeting.

A barista came over and delivered Sadie’s coffee in a slate blue, wide-rimmed mug and a matching saucer. Really fancy. She thanked the barista and he decided to order an Americano right there at the table. The barista seemed like she wanted to tell him no but took his order anyway.

“So, I gotta be fully honest here,” Chet began when the barista left. He figured it was smart to lay everything out on the table right away. “I don’t usually go for such mousey girls but the way you pursued me, I just couldn’t say no.”

“Oh, well…” Sadie trailed off and then chuckled. “I’m not really sure how to respond to that.”

“Flattered? Right?”

She nodded. “Mhmm. So, why don’t you tell me about yourself a little?”

He leaned back and draped an arm over the chair back. “I’m an open book. What do you wanna know?”

“Well, like, what do you do for fun, or for work?” she asked.

“Ah, you know what? I’m actually in between jobs right now, but my buddy’s got a great business plan going for a brand new gun shop and shooting range here in town. Yeah, he’s a real entrepreneur and businessman. You know about High Caliber over in the more progressive downtown area, right? We want to create a gun community for men in this area. It feels really girly over at High Caliber so we want to bring men back together while feeling comfortable in their environment, you know?”

Sadie quietly nodded. “Yeah, I get it.” She drummed her fingers on the table. “So, you’re a gun…enthusiast?”

Chet cackled and several heads briefly turned towards them. “You were going to say ‘gun nut’ weren’t you? It’s okay. I am. So that would also be my answer for what I like to do for fun. My buddies and I go way out into the country and practice shooting. Away from the city and anyone complaining about the noise, you know? You should come sometime. I’ll teach you to shoot.”

“What do you like to shoot?” she asked him. Her attention firmed once she asked this question.

“A little bit of everything, actually. Out in the country, I love shooting my shotguns. I’ve got two right now. One of them I inherited from my grandfather. I keep that one locked away. But if I’m shooting locally, it’s gotta be my Sig Sauer P220. It’s practically my baby. I almost brought it in with me today since I have my CPL but, you know, polite company and all.” Chet gestured to her and the rest of the coffee shop. “So, it’s tucked away in my trunk. Do you want to see a picture?”

Sadie blinked rapidly. “Do I want to see a picture of your gun?”

“I’ve got plenty,” he said and pulled out his phone and opened the photos application. Then he scooted over closer to her with his chair so she could also see his phone. As he settled in right next to her, he noticed that she turned her upper body towards him.

He began giving her the fine details about his Sig Sauer when the barista finally returned with his Americano.

The barista gently leaned in. “I’m terribly sorry but some people are uncomfortable with your gun talk. Could you please discuss something else or I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

Chet had just taken a hot sip of his unexpectedly bitter yet flavorless Americano so he couldn’t retort right away. Instead he coughed and sputtered a bit while the barista stared.

“I’m very sorry,” Sadie apologized. “We’ll refrain from that topic.” She smiled at the barista who then glanced back at him before walking away from the table.

“See what I mean? And this Americano is disgusting. Have you ever tried one?” he complained and pushed the cup aside. “You know, gun talk is perfectly legal. I was about to lay into that guy.”

“He’s not worth it,” said Sadie.

“Yeah, you’re right. The ignorant will always be ignorant, I suppose,” he conceded. While he scratched at the inside of his ear with his pinky nail, he also supposed he should ask Sadie about herself.

“So, why don’t you go ahead and tell me about yourself?” he suggested and then checked his pinky nail.

Sadie’s eyes lit up for the first time since she’d sat down with him. “I’m actually moving back after a year abroad.”

“Oh, interesting,” he said.

“My family is from here though. My parents are local and my twin sister Sarah also lives in the area.” Sadie paused. “Sorry, she used to.”

“Used to? Did she move then?” he pressed. He found that if he encouraged girls to talk about themselves then he appears to be a more desirable mate.

“She died. She was killed.” Sadie said and removed all expressions from her face.

Chet didn’t know at all what to think of this. Why was she being so serious all of the sudden? He wasn’t in the mood to try to comfort a hysterical, weeping girl in a public place.

“Sarah, huh? I’m sorry to hear that but how about we keep our conversation on the more positive side, huh?” he asked. He had repeated the name aloud but was unsure why; it shifted something in his brain.

Sadie’s mouth curled up at the ends but her eyes remained cold, dead. He knew this look. It was the look of a scorned woman’s hate.

“Do I know you?” he asked. “Because it feels like you tricked me into a date for some reason. Did I ghost you or something? You know it’s really tacky and desperate to make a new profile and waste my time just to make a point.”

Sadie chuckled sarcastically. “You really are as stupid as you look.”

“Excuse me?!”

Chet was taken aback and leaned forward on his elbows. Directing an accusatory finger at her, he made to tell her off right there but he stopped. She had removed her glasses and brushed the bangs away from her forehead.

“Do you recognize my face? Just picture this face with blonde hair,” Sadie asked.

He felt something in his nervous system spark up. Now he was on edge as she stared him down. He hated the feeling she was giving him; he wanted to run straight out of the coffee shop lest she shoot daggers directly into his heart from those blue eyes.

Those blue eyes.

All of the blood drained from his face and then from the rest of his body.

“You’re not…Sarah. You can’t be. You’re not…” He couldn’t bring himself to say the last word.

“Alive?” Sadie finished the thought for him. “Sarah’s not. Because you killed her. You killed my twin sister, you monster!”

Every single head in the coffee house turned to them. The silence was palpable. Outside in the parking lot, two police cars had pulled up to the front of the building.

“What the hell is this?” Chet panicked.

Sadie gestured to her chest and then to her ear.

The curly, black-haired hottie stood up and walked over to their table. “Chet Parker, I'm Detective Rosa Santiago. You’re under arrest for the rape and murder of Sarah Colton. Turn around and let's make this easy.”

“Detective? What–?”

The next thing Chet knew, his face was smooshed down onto the table with Detective Santiago behind him and her hand on his head.

Detective Santiago told him his Miranda rights as she yanked his arms behind his back and locked a pair of handcuffs on his wrists. Sadie continued to scream at him as he was forcefully carted away by the lady detective.

He heard some applause as the door jingled again. He kept his head down and tried to obscure his face with his baseball cap. Detective Santiago walked him towards one of the police cruisers and opened the back door.

“Sadie was right, you are as stupid as you look. You showed her the murder weapon and led us right to it. Watch your head,” said Detective Santiago as she locked him in the car.