All Kate wanted was a hot shower. No, it’s not actually true. She wanted a hug, to cuddle up with somebody under a warm blanket just as much, feel the heat of another human being on her skin, but since there was nobody waiting for her, she would do with just the shower. Deep in her thoughts she did not hear the scraping sounds of the footsteps until they stopped right behind her.

“I didn’t know you are smoking”, the familiar voice sounded amused.

“Because I don’t”, she said as she turned to face Julian Anson, and flicked her cigarette butt in the nearby bushes.

“All right, Detective Cheerful, forget I said anything”, he shrugged, but the cocky smile never left his face. “How are you doing?”

“Tired”, she said, leaning back on the wall.

“You look like someone who needs a drink. Why don’t we go over to Freddie’s and I’ll get you a beer.”

Kate frowned at him, but he already crossed the road half way. Whatever, I do need a beer, she thought and followed him in the dimly lit pub. It was a little bit shabby, but the weathered furnishing just added to its charm. The warm colours and the clinking of glasses soon made Kate feel less edgy. Julian was already at the bar, talking to a cordial bartender when she walked up to them. Julian pressed a bottle of beer in her hand.

“Honey Dew?”, she raised her eyebrows.

“Trust me, you’re gonna love it”, he said and gently steered her to the table in a quiet corner.

“If you thought you can get me drunk and I tell you everything about the investigation, you are mistaken”, said Kate as she plopped down on the chair.

Julian’s smile disappeared for a moment. “Can’t I just have a beer with a lovely lady at the end of a hard day?” he said, and the signature smile was back with full force.

Kate took a sip from the bottle and felt the cold liquid slide down her throat. Flowery, with a subtle sweetness afterwards.

“You were right”. She had to give that to him. “This is amazing.”

After her second beer they were talking to each other like old friends. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so at ease in someone’s company. Someone who was a man and a stranger, that is. The initial tiredness she felt earlier was gone, and she realised she’s actually having a great time, laughing and joking with Julian whom she thought of only a few hours ago as an irritating prick, and here he is, making her giggle when all she wanted to do is dwell in her misery. Kate felt the familiar but nearly forgotten tingling sensation. They were on their third beer, when Julian ruined everything.

“Is it true that June was pregnant?”, he asked right after Kate told her the story of the pregnant cat she found when she was ten years old.

“I better go”, she said as she rose from the table, the smile gone from her face. Before she could turn around, Julian grabbed her wrist.

“No, don’t go”, he pleaded. “I will shut my mouth, I promise! Not another word about the case. Okay? Just stay, and have another beer.”

Kate freed her arm, and walked out of the pub without looking back. How could she think he would be interested in her. She scolded herself for letting Julian fool her for a moment.

As she lay on her bed, alone, with her eyes closed, sleep eluded her. Thoughts seeped in, uninvited and guilt-ridden. The picture of Julian, sitting in the pub, laughing, kept creeping back on her mind. It was so vivid that she thought she could just reach out with her hands and touch him. That’s enough. She jumped out of bed, went to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face. She shouldn’t have gone out with him to begin with, and for the life of her couldn’t explain what possessed her to agree to have a drink with him.

She was still slightly mad at him, for the torture she and Ben had to endure the past two days was pretty much his fault. Hadn’t he put an appeal for information in his damned Monday news, they would never have gotten under siege by meddling town folks, who no doubt were convinced that they are being helpful.

When Sergeant Ellers slammed the morning paper down on the table on Monday at 8 o’clock, they all knew they were doomed. He had already fended off a few uninvited self appointed detectives over the weekend, but after the newspaper was out, everyone suddenly seemed to think they must offer counsel for the police. The first witness arrived three minutes later, and the procession did not stop until until 5 in the evening when the sergeant declared that he will arrest the next person who stands between him and the lamb chops his Tansy was preparing for dinner.

They were all in a foul mood anyway, because the investigation came to a halt and they needed a new strategy to go on. Of course they needed new witnesses, but not the bored housewives who saw nothing, but made up for it with their opinions, encouraged by the newspaper’s busybody reporter, who no doubt had the time of his life sniffing around the station while they were swamped. He tried to talk to Kate twice, but was greeted with an icy death stare in return. Ben finally took pity on him and promised him he’ll call as soon as something news worthy arises.

Aruna checked the fingerprints from David and Paul, and found that both were on the bottle they found at the scene. They got their hopes up for a moment, until another visit at Paul’s work at Monday lunchtime provided an explanation: Paul got the beer for David before leaving, because he was helping his mother pack up her pie stand.

David’s clothes were pretty much soaked in blood, but none of the sample matched June’s. It was all from David himself, and an unknown male, supposedly from the man, or men, who beat him up Saturday afternoon. His boots would have been almost a good match for the partial print, but they couldn’t find a trace of blood on them from June either. The cigarettes found at the scene were the same brand Paul smoked, but him and David told the detectives the same thing: David ran out of smokes and Paul gave him his half empty pack.

The DA considered it for a while, but then dismissed the case. “Circumstantial. Not enough”, he said. Kate was fuming.

“He’s right”, Ben said and put a hand on Kate’s shoulder. “If we arrest them now, it might not stand. David admitted being at the scene, he even said they argued. But this is not against the law. Without the murder weapon this is not a strong case. They would never take this to trial. If they failed and later found the weapon, they couldn’t try him again. Nobody would take this risk.”

“But what about Paul? You saw him today, he was wearing work boots, like the one David has”, she was clutching and straws desperately.

“We can’t link him to the crime scene”, he shrugged. “At this point nobody would grant us a warrant to search his house or take his shoes off his feet and you saw he was not really volunteering to help us either.”

“I know, but I feel so helpless!”, she hugged herself tight. “Even his wife thinks something’s up!”

When Ben looked at her questioningly, she continued. “Remember when we went there on Saturday and asked him what time he left? His wife answered for him straight away, and said they were at home, together. On Sunday he said the same thing, but something felt off. He’s lying, I’m sure, and his wife thinks he had an affair with her, and is involved in her death, so now she’s covering for him. He owed her money, so it was in his best interest to get rid of June.”

“We can’t prove it”, Ben said, but the expression on Kate’s face made him add, “yet.”

“But…”, Kate said, and cursed herself when she felt her lower lip tremble in frustration.

“Don’t give up now”, Ben said. His voice was warm. “You are doing great so far. We are getting closer.”

Tuesday was much the same. But the people had not only come to the station, they would stop them on the street, sit at their table at the diner, and intrude on their coffee breaks. It was truly insufferable.

“I heard she had a rich boyfriend… if we can call him that. He was like, sixty!” said the blond woman, interrupting their lunch.

“I saw her a few times down at the beach. Shady looking, if you ask me”, another blonde added later when they were having coffee, uninvited just the same.

“Why don’t yer ask that boss of hers, huh? Surely he would have much to tell yer”, the balding man said when he stopped them on their way to the station, emphasizing his words with a stab of his cane.

“I know it’s not my business, but”, started the thirty something gentleman in the corduroy jacket, leaning over his coffee, “one must wonder how this hadn’t happened earlier. The affairs she had, eventually caught up with her. You should look into those clients they had at the Red Cow.”

By the time the sun started to set Kate’s ears were buzzing. She was not listening to anyone anymore, and she could see that Ben was filtering out most of the people as well, however he was still keeping up appearances with his dutiful note taking.

The last drop had been the woman who arrived with the muffins. Even if she hadn’t told them she’s Anna Foster’s best friend they would have known.

“Maybe God doesn’t want you to find who did it!”, she said forcefully and shoved the muffin basket in front of them. “Whoever was, freed us from evil!”

Ben pressed his lips into a thin line, but said nothing. Kate couldn’t be sure that she would be able to keep her mouth shut, so just excused herself, went to the back of the building and lit a cigarette from the pack she’d been carrying around all the time, just in case, but hadn’t been in the need of using if for at least six months now.

If she hadn’t been so preoccupied with the obnoxious muffin lady she would have noticed Julian creeping up on her earlier and could have come up with a better answer that did not involve her getting tipsy with him at Freddie’s.

Too late though, she made an ass of herself and now she has to live with it. She groaned as she remembered his smiley green eyes under, and pulled the cover over her head in an attempt to block the world, and her disturbing thoughts out.