A Jealous Encounter

“A Jealous Encounter”

A Short Story

Written By

PureSciFiPlus
Aka PureSciFi

     The front door creaked a little from a slight breeze, and from being slightly opened. So, Jessica cautiously entered her house. Jessica glance around her as she entered it. She pulled her gun out. Once inside she stopped. First, she cocked her head to the right then the left as she scanned that hallway. She looked up at the stairs that faced her front door.

     Jessica shouted to be heard by anyone there. “If you are still here, you have made a big mistake in robbing my house.”

     “I’m a cop.” Jessica walked down the hall. She stopped just after she entered her living room.

     “I know that you are a cop. We have been dating for over three years.”

     Jessica stared at Thomas for several seconds with a shocked look on her face. “Thomas, what are you doing here again? You need to stop doing that. We haven’t been seeing each other for almost six months now.”

     Thomas got up from the chair he had been seated in and started walking around that room. He picked up a picture of Jessica and another man. “Is this your latest lover?”

# # #

     Entering a smoky bar, Thomas stood just inside that door as he slowly scanned it until he came to a single man from the picture seated at the bar. Thomas could see that there were a lot of seats taken up by other patrons, but there were a couple of empty seats by that man.

     ”There he is and he’s alone,” Thomas thought. Thomas continued to think a few seconds later. ”My contact was right about him.”

     Thomas walked toward that man still in thought. ”I have been watching this bar for the last two weeks, and he has been here almost every night.”

     ”Maybe he’s alcoholic.” Thomas sat down next to that man. He looked over at that man. Then he looked at the drink that man had just put down in front of him.

     “That looks good. What is it?” Thomas asked.

     “It’s called Purple Passion.” Christopher looked at his drink.

     Thomas called for the bartender. When she came over a few seconds later Thomas pointed at the Purple Passion. “I’ll take one of them.”

     Smiling, Thomas thought as started to watch the television in front of him. ”Making friends with this guy isn’t going to be as hard as I thought. No pun intended.”

# # #

     Misty got up to let Thomas sit in her chair. She pulled up the chair next to him and sat down. “Do you think that you understand this post.”

     “I think I do,” said Thomas. “When I’m not checking in and out visitors I am watching these monitors. That’s when I’m not doing my two patrols each shift.”

     “That’s about it. It sounds like you have this post down,” said Misty. “It’s a very easy post if you ask me.” A few seconds later she added, “Do you have any other questions?”

     Thomas didn’t say anything for about a minute. “There is one thing I’d like to know. Is that all we do, watch these monitors when we aren’t on patrol or checking visitors? That can get boring very quickly.”

     “No, they are very relaxed here. As long as you do your patrols and watch the monitors every minute or two you can do pretty much anything that you want to do here.”

     Just then Christopher walked in with several other men and women. All showed their ID badges to both guards as they passed the security desk. Christopher stopped when he saw Thomas. “What are you doing here?”

     “I’m here because of you. You are the one that told me that there was a position opening up for a security guard.”

# # #

     Thomas sat in his car staring at Jessica’s house. He was so preoccupied with that he didn’t notice it when Jessica opened his passenger door and got into it. “What are you doing here? Are you stalking me again?”

     “I never stalked you.” Thomas continued looking out the driver’s side door window as he talked to Jessica. “The only reason why I’m here is that of Christopher. You do have a date with him tonight, don’t you?”

     “How do you know that? Wait a second, how do you know who Christopher is?”

     Thomas looked at Jessica. “I and Christopher have been best friends for almost two months. I have been working for Global International for about a month now.”

     “You’re jealous. You have been jealous of anyone I have gotten involved in ever since we broke up.”

     “I’m not jealous.” Thomas returned to staring out his side window. “Maybe I was at first, but then I got to know him. I don’t know what it is yet, but there is something wrong with him, and I’m going to find out what it is.”

# # #

     After Thomas sat down next to Christopher at the bar he ordered a Purple Passion. Thomas looked over at Christopher. “I want to talk to you about Jessica.”

     “How do you know Jessica?” Christopher asked after he looked over at Thomas half drunk.

     “I used to be involved with her too,” said Thomas. “In fact, we were together for almost two years before she suddenly broke up with me for no good reason for doing it.”

     Christopher stared at Thomas with a blank look on his face for about a minute. “So, you are the crazy jealous ex-lover that Jessica warned me about.”

     Thomas gestured Christopher to lean in closer. When he did Thomas popped a pill into Christopher’s half full Purple Passion. The pill dissolved almost instantly. “I’m not crazy nor jealous. I am just worried about Jessica.”

     After Thomas said that to Christopher he picked up his glass and tapped Christopher’s. “Cheers. Let’s drink to Jessica.” Thomas drunk his drink down in one gulp. Christopher did it too.

     Christopher looked at Thomas in wonder. “What are you smiling about?”

     “A new truth pill is being tested in police stations all over this country. I just gave one to you. In about a minute or two you will tell me what I want to know.”

# # # # #

     Once again Thomas sat in his car across the street from a house. Only this time it wasn’t Jessica’s house. The truth pill didn’t work. Our police station must be part of the placebo group,” thought Thomas.

     Thomas continued thinking a few seconds later. That’s why I’m here. As soon as Christopher leaves his house I will go in there and find out what is really going on with him.

     Just then Christopher came out of his house. Thomas suddenly had a shocked look on his face. Christopher didn’t come out of his house alone. A female about his age also came out, two children did too. He guessed the boy to be about thirteen and the girl a couple of years young than him.

     That can’t be his big secret. Thomas looked shocked again as he saw Christopher give that female a peck on her lips. Then he hugged the boy. Christopher then picked up the girl and hugged her too.

     Thomas watched as Christopher got in his car and left. He ducked out of sight when Christopher’s car drove by him. Thomas sat up thinking, ”It sure does look like Jessica’s latest love is married.”

# # #

     Walking down a long hall, Thomas glanced into seven opened doors on his left and six to his right. Thomas also checked eight closed doors on both sides to be sure they were locked. The opened doors lead to rows of cubicles with employees working within them. He could barely see the tops of their head. At least the ones that were there. Only about half were occupied.

     ”I love working the graveyard shift,” thought Thomas. It give me a lot more freedom to do what I need to do.

     Thomas stopped at one of the seven opened doors and nodded at the employees in there as he scanned that room for several seconds. Most of the employees either didn’t notice him or they ignored him. A few did nod back at him, though. Thomas checked a closed door next. Then he checked another one across from that door. He smiled when he sees the name on it.

     After Thomas checked in both directions and seeing no one within sight, Thomas used his master door key to slip into that room. ”If there is anything in here to find I will find it.

# # #

     When Thomas entered that restaurant he suddenly stopped. As the hostess walked up to him he could see that Christopher was there on the far side of it. Only he wasn’t there alone. A young female about his age sat across from him.

     The hostess started escorting him in the opposite direction of where Christopher sat. Thomas pointed to the empty booth beside Christopher. “Can I have that booth instead?”

     “Of course, you can.” The hostess took Thomas over to that booth and gave him a menu before she left.

     Thomas leaned back against the booth seat as he started looking at the menu. Come on. Tell me something I can use, Thomas thought.

     “We need to stop meeting like this before someone finds out about you,” said Christopher. Thomas could barely hear what Christopher had just said.

     “I love you, and I always will. There is nothing you can do or say to stop me from doing that,” said the female with Christopher.

     A few seconds later Christopher responded. “I love you too, but you have to stop doing this.”

     Thomas smiled. I’ve got you this time,” Thomas thought. “You are involved with someone else besides Jessica.”

# # #

     Once again, Thomas walked down another long hallway. The number of doors was the same, but the design of it indicated it was another floor. Thomas checked the last door at the end of that hall and was about the check the closed door that faced it when he stopped himself.

     Thomas flattened himself against the wall next to that closed door. He pressed his ear against that wall. They are still here, thought Thomas.

     Christopher is in there, thought Thomas. Thomas heard talking coming from down that hall. He looked down there to see three employees walking down it. Stepping a few feet to his left Thomas stepped into darkness. Thomas continued his listening. }”At least it sounds like it’s him.

     ”I wonder what they are talking about,” thought Thomas. Thomas peeked around the corner and saw those three employees go through an opened door. Maybe I will overhear something that I can use against Christopher.”

# # #

     Jessica suddenly stopped after she entered her living room. “What are you doing here this time?”

     “I’m here to warn about Christopher.” Thomas got up out of the chair he sat in. “I overheard what Christopher and Global International are really doing.”

     “You tried to warn me about Christopher when you claimed he was married. All he was doing was saying goodbye to his sister and her kids.”

     Christopher shook his head sadly. “That peck and hugs sure didn’t look like that to me. I was sure they were married.”

     Jessica sighed. “You said that when you thought he was seeing someone else too. In a way, you were right about that. Mary is his ex-lover. She’s almost as jealous as you are.”

     “Maybe I was wrong about that too, but I’m not about what I overheard,” said Thomas. “You must stop seeing him. He’s a criminal.”

     “I know he’s a criminal,” said Jessica. “That’s why I broke up with you. It was to get closer to him. I just had to see a few guys before him so that he wouldn’t get suspicious about me being a cop.”

     Jessica continued a few seconds later. “Your jealousy might have destroyed my investigation against Global International.” Suddenly Jessica smiled. “Then again your jealousy might have just solved it for me. You did say you overheard what they are really doing.”

Word Count = 1,992