Summer Solstice
Laura sat alone at a booth in Mac’s 24hr Diner nursing her ice tea and picking at her half eaten BLT. Distracted by what she was watching. Jim and his girlfriend Kate were finishing their meal a few tables down.
She watched as Jim helped Kate with her coat, how he smiled at her, how he touched the small of her back as they walked out.
Laura fought back tears, as she finished off her ice tea, threw a twenty on the table and followed them out into the night. She took a second to light a cigarette before walking behind them.
She stayed far enough back so as to not be heard, but close enough to watch their interactions. They slowed up in front of an apartment building, Jim pulled Kate to him and kissed her. She gave him a hug, a peck on the cheek and headed up the stairs. Laura’s tears turned to rage, and jealousy.
~ ~ ~ ~
Detective James Andrews got out of his car, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
Longest and hottest day of the year.
He made his way up to the front of St. Anthony’s church, ducking under the crime scene tape he entered the narthex.
“Ok, Officer Henderson, what do we have?” Detective Andrews asked.
“Female 20 to 25, approximately 5’ 6” 115 to 125 lbs. Found laying on the altar, apparent blunt force trauma to the back of the head. Along with some bruising and lacerations to her legs and arms, Sir,” Officer Henderson said as they walked up to the body.
James looked over the body, she was young, with pretty blonde hair and blue eyes. She was nicely dressed in a pair of dark blue walking shorts topped off with a white blouse with little blue flowers printed on it.
“Who found her?”
“Mrs. Chapman the church secretary, when she came in to open the office this morning,”
James knocked on the church office door.
“Mrs. Chapman? I am Detective James Andrews. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?” he said as he entered the office.
“No, it’s fine, come in,” Mrs. Chapman said.
“Thank you, do you know the girl?”
“No, I don’t think so, she doesn’t look familiar, the church hired a security guard because there had been some break ins, have you talked to him yet?”
“No, we haven’t, would you have his name?”
“It’s here somewhere,” she said, moving some files and papers around on her desk.
“Oh, here it is, Shane O’Grady,”
~ ~ ~ ~
Shane had started his shift at 8 pm, by checking the doors and windows. As he moved his flashlight back and forth, walking around the far side of the church, he heard something. He turned towards the sound, and listened.
There was nothing, he shrugged it off and continued walking the perimeter. When he approached the front of the church, he spotted a basket sitting next to the entrance.
Shane looked around, as he walked up to the basket. It was a simple wicker basket with a handle, it reminded him of something they used at Easter for the egg hunt.
There was a checkered red and white cloth laid over the contents of the basket. He pulled the cloth to the side looking down into the basket.
“Surprise!” a voice from behind him said.
Shane jumped, raising his flashlight towards the voice.
“Fuck, Helen, what are you doing out here?” he asked.
“I wanted to bring you something to eat, it being your first night alone,” she answered, throwing her arms around him.
“Well thanks, but next time call, I could have hurt you,”
She squeezed him, giving him a kiss.
“You’d never hurt me,” she said, picking up the basket and leading him over to a bench outside of the front of St. Anthony’s.
“We ate the sandwiches that Helen had brought me and she went home,” Shane said.
“What time did she leave?” James asked.
“Had to be almost 10 pm,” Shane answered.
“What time do you think you were attacked?”
“Had to be close to one, I did my rounds again at midnight everything was quiet, then I woke up with a splitting headache around dawn,”
“Do you recognize this girl?” James asked, handing Shane a picture of the girl found on the altar.
Shane stared at the photo.
“I want to say maybe, she looks like the Mcalester girl, I think her name is Kate, she was a few years younger than me in school,”
“Kate Mcalester, are you sure?”
“Pretty sure, her parents are Steve and Nancy, I think she was waiting tables at Mac’s Diner,”
“Thanks for your time, if you think of anything else give me a call,” James said, handing Shane his card.
~ ~ ~ ~
“Jim, it’s time to wake up,” a whisper caught in his ear.
“What?” Jim said, being pulled from his dreams.
“What’s going on?” he asked the darkness.
Laura turned on the lamp, Jim blinked repeatedly, trying to focus his eyes.
“Laura? What are you doing here?” he asked, sitting up.
Laura dropped to her knees by the side of the bed.
“I watched you with her. How you looked at her. How you spoke to her. How you touched the small of her back. How you kissed her good night. I watched you with her and I wanted to be her,”
She couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, as she stared up at Jim. He took a deep breath, reaching down to brush her hair away from her face.
“Oh Laura, you know that Kate and I are together,” he said.
She took his hands in hers, looking him in the eye.
“I fixed it, I can be her now,” she said.
Jim took a second to process what she had just said.
“Sweetie, Laura, how did you fix it?”
~ ~ ~ ~
Kate finished her shift at Mac’s Diner at midnight and headed home. When she reached the steps to her apartment building a woman approached her.
“Kate?”
“Yes, can I help you?”
“You’ll never make him happy,”
“What?”
“Jim, he’ll never really love you,”
Kate turned to go up to her apartment when Laura swung, something hard hit Kate in the back. Out of instinct Kate started running, Laura chased after her.
They ended up outside of St. Anthony’s church, Kate saw Shane go around the side of the building, she tried to scream at him, just as Laura knocked her down.
Hitting her legs and arms with what she thought was a flat bat of some sort. Kate tried to protect herself by crawling away and getting back to her feet. Then Laura swung the cricket bat with all her force catching Kate in the back of the head.
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