Detective Billy
At Maya’s house…
“Maya, I think he’s back.” I closed the front door and set two cases down near the kitchen table. “Can you confirm it’s him in the parking lot?”
“Seriously?” Maya straightened and turned to walk down the hallway toward her bedroom.
“Wait.” I lightly touched my hand on her shoulder. “Are your blinds closed in your room?” The sentence made me want to laugh. I had to hide my amusement. It felt like a sentence I would say if we were a couple. Which we were not, so I needed to clear my head of those thoughts. “Because I don’t want him to see me in your bedroom.”
I decided to wear dark blue coveralls today. When I carried the two large cases into Maya’s house, I hoped that, with my attire, it would look like I was repairing something for her.
“Yup, they’ve been closed since the first moment I noticed him in the parking lot.” Her arms were crossed, and her face looked worried. “He must’ve just arrived.”
“Why would you say that?” I took one step into Maya’s room and stopped.
“I have three extra people in my house.” She walked over to the blinds. Instead of peeking out to see if it was the guy, she turned to face me. It took me a moment to process what was happening. I knew today would be difficult, more like, almost impossible. “You okay?”
“What? Yeah.” I cleared my throat and stepped closer to the blinds. “The car I’m talking about has a messed-up bumper.”
Maya gasped and opened the blind a quarter inch. She didn’t say anything for several seconds. Then she dropped her hand and took a step back.
“Maya.” We were only about six inches apart. “Talk to me.”
She plopped down on the edge of the bed and dropped her head into her hands. “Why is he doing this?” She mumbled around her hands.
Without thinking, I squatted down in front of her and placed my hand on her thigh. “I don’t know, but I promise we’re going to find out.”
Maya straightened and dropped her hands onto the bed next to her legs. “How can you be sure of that?”
“He’s not hiding.” I had to move my hand off her thigh. “He’s just sitting in plain sight in the parking lot.” I stood and took a step back for some distance. “And his car is not exactly incognito.”
“True.” She started to laugh and quickly covered her mouth. “I’m sorry.” She continued to laugh. “It’s a bit ridiculous when you think about it, right?” She laughed harder. “His car is like one of those really obvious Where’s Waldo puzzles, because it stands out like a sore thumb.”
That made me laugh. “Good point.”
Lola appeared in the doorway. “Alright, does your laughter mean it’s not him in the parking lot?”
“No.” I cleared my throat. “It’s him.”
Lola scowled. Maya hopped up and grabbed her friend’s hands to share why we were laughing. “It all feels a bit silly. I feel silly.”
“Why do you feel silly?” Lola glanced over at me and back at her friend.
“What if it’s harmless?” Maya shrugged her shoulders.
“What if it’s not?” I didn’t mean to scare Maya, but there was still a man outside who was obviously taking time out of his day to park his car in front of her bedroom window.
Maya let go of Lola’s hands and turned to face me. “Can you just go out there and arrest him?”
“For what?” I shrugged my shoulders. “From all we know, he hasn’t stepped foot in your house. We need more solid evidence. Right now, we have nothing. He would be released after 48 hours.”
“What about the receipt you found? It was the same restaurant we went to together.” Maya walked back over to her blinds. “It was on the ground outside my window.”
“It’s a popular restaurant. That’s not enough to go on.” I opened the blind a quarter inch. “He’s literally just sitting there. We need to catch him in the act. Like, standing by this window.”
Maya shivered and wrapped her arms around her chest. “You’ll be here, right?”
“I’m not going anywhere, Maya.” I wanted to move the stray curl that had fallen down over her eye, or wrap my hand around her forearm. Instead, I laced my fingers together in front of me. “If he’s comfortable sitting in plain sight, he’s going to eventually slip up and do something even more stupid.” I took the few steps to the doorway. “I plan to be here when he does.”
“I can camp out here for as long as you need.” Lola sat down on the edge of the bed and tugged her friend down next to her. “If that’s what you want.”
I smiled and left the room. I could hear Maya say in a low tone, “You don’t have to stay. I know you and Ryan are busy. Billy will be here.” Then they started giggling.
I made my way back into the kitchen and set up the two cases on the small kitchen table. I attempted to move a purse over to make room for my stuff and noticed a photo of Maya and Lola. The conversation with my mom ran through my mind.
In high school, I assumed I knew everything about Maya, even though I didn’t know a damn thing. Now, fourteen years later, I was still telling myself the same old bullshit.
What if I was wrong?
“Billy,” Maya yelled from her bedroom.
“Yeah?” I ran down the hallway and stopped in front of her bedroom door. “You okay?”
AUTHOR NOTE:
This is so much fun seeing Billy a bit uncomfortable. He’s hid his feelings for so long. Now he has to be in close quarters with the one person he can’t stop thinking about. With how Billy just ran down the hallway, and seems a bit disheveled… Do you think Lola suspects something? Maybe her spidey senses are telling her Billy may have feelings for her best friend? Or is he doing a good job not making his feelings obvious?