"Gotcha buddy boy!" laughed the voice behind him. The person seemed to be having a hard time keeping himself from laughing. After a few seconds with Jim only just now realizing what had happened, a loud braying burst of laughter burst out behind him. Jim couldn’t believe it. He looked at Jill to see her reaction and found, instead of a look of horror like he’d expected, a smile. The thought was now really sinking in that something wasn’t quite right about this whole situation. Whoever it was behind him obviously found this extremely funny since the laughter continued and actually got a little louder.
Slowly turning around, half expecting to be shot, he was surprised to see somebody dressed up as a police officer bent over laughing so hard he was almost choking. The man slowly started recovering, trying hard to repress new bouts of laughter, and stood up. As he did Jim came face to face with the last person he expected to see. Standing not three feet away with a red, tear streaked face was his childhood friend Rob.
"Oh, you should have seen your face!" Rob said still trying to hold in the laughter that was bubbling out of him.
Jim wanted to be angry but he couldn’t do it. He was too happy to see Rob for it to work. Instead he said the only thing that came to mind. “Ha, ha real funny dickhead. Is this the only reason you became a cop? So you could scare the shit out of us little people?”
“Hell no!” he replied before the words were even done coming out of Jim’s mouth, “That’s only a fringe benefit. I also get free food at some of the restaurants once in a while. Oh yeah and some of the tourists come up with some interesting thing to get out of tickets if you know what I mean. If you only knew some of the things I’ve seen,” he finished with a wink and a wicked grin. Jim just looked at him for a minute not quite sure how serious he was. Seeing his look just made Rob smile all the wider. He wiggled his eyebrows to make Jim wonder a little more but all that did was make him laugh. Shaking his head Jim turned his attention back to Jill who seemed to have found something that just absolutely had to be done right now behind the counter. Instead of seeing her beautiful face he got quite an eyeful of her butt. And a nice one it was if someone were to ask him. She was bending over looking at something on the floor underneath the shelves of candy. Jim was about to say something when Rob loudly cleared his throat. Sensing something wasn’t quite right and not hearing any talking Jill quickly spun around and caught Jim staring at the area where her previously exposed backside had been. Having no other choice but to admit he’d been caught Jim just smiled at her with red cheeks.
“Like what you see?” she asked slyly.
“You could say that,” he fired right back taking up the silent challenge.
That seemed to catch her off guard. He was getting good at saying things that threw her off. It was her turn to have red cheeks. Something else important must’ve needed her attention since she quickly ducked back down behind the counter. Sounds of things being moved around could be heard from the general area.
“So I guess you came back cause of Tommy, huh?” Rob said snagging Jim’s attention once Jill wasn’t in sight to distract him.
“Yeah, that’s about the size of it,” Jim sighed, “but, ya know, there’s a few other things I’m starting to find interesting around here. The scenery wasn’t as nice around here when I left. I was planning on leaving right after Tommy was buried but I might end up sticking around a little longer just for the view.” He knew he was acting like a high school kid but he still hoped Jill was listening. He was pretty sure she was. It felt a little awkward flirting with somebody when he was supposed to be mourning but he didn’t think Tommy would mind. Hell, he would probably have been encouraging him if he were there. Jim was pretty sure Jill was at least a little interested but he wasn’t as positive as he usually liked to be before asking someone out so he figured dropping a few hints every now and then couldn’t hurt anything. Jill stood up and gave him a queer look before her cheeks started turning red again. She quickly turned and began looking like she was taking an inventory of the candy on the shelves.
“Yeah,” Rob said picking up his line of thought, “there sure are some pretty nice sights to see around here. You gotta be careful of them though,” he continued with a wink in Jim’s direction, “they can be pretty dangerous sometimes. There’s all kinds of curves you gotta watch out for. Some of them are sharp but some of them are smooth too. They can also be a little snoopy too sometimes if you know what I mean. Didn’t used to be a lot of stuff like that in this town, but just recently in the last couple of years the scenery finally took a turn. I mean, not that I’ve had a chance to appreciate it too much.”
“Yeah, when I left it pretty much sucked around here,” Jim said starting up right where Rob left off, “but from what I’ve seen since I’ve been back it’s changed quite a bit. For the better if you ask me.”
Jill looked over her shoulder to where they stood for a minute shook her head and went back to her make believe inspection. She mumbled something under her breath about men thinking they were so clever making innuendos that they didn’t think women understood and something else about how they weren’t as smart as they thought they were. Glancing back and fixing them with another slightly disapproving stare she returned to looking busy again.
“So,” Jim said to Rob after a few more seconds of watching Jill, “what’s this I’ve been hearing about Tommy’s death not being as cut and dry as everybody thought.” Seeing Rob’s reluctant look he quickly added, “Look, I know you don’t want to talk about it but I really need to know. He was my friend too. I’m going to miss him but if this was anything other than a horrible accident I need to know.” He didn’t want Rob getting into any trouble for telling him specific details about the case but if there was something fishy going on he thought somebody, especially somebody as close to the deceased as he’d been, should know. Unfortunately Rob was the only source he could get that information from.
“Boy, you don’t hold back do you? Just jump right on in with both feet without the hip waders don’t you?” Rob asked shaking his head. When Jim didn’t respond right away he took that as a sign to continue. “Well, let me start by saying you don’t know the half of what’s going on. If you’d seen the things I have you wouldn’t be asking a fella to describe it to you.” Jim watched him as he spoke. It was as if an invisible veil passed over his face turning everything somber just thinking about Tommy. Jim didn’t like forcing Rob like this but if it upset him this much just thinking about it than obviously something bad was going on. After stopping for a few seconds to collect himself Rob signaled his readiness to continue with a slight smile and spoke up in an official sounding voice, “As you know I’m not supposed to talk about official police business with civilians but sometimes there are special cases.” He was trying to cover his pain by joking around but it didn’t fool anyone. Least of all Jim. He’d known him too long. Rob was acting like the big tough guy because of who their audience was. Jill was still near at the register. If she hadn’t been he’d probably have started blubbering like a little baby as soon as he started talking.
“Now with that official disclaimer having been said,” Rob continued in his big boy voice as he glanced over his shoulder making sure nobody else was in the store he might have missed, “I might as well tell you everything anyways since I know I’m going too eventually. Might as well get it over with sooner rather than later. I could never keep a secret from you, huh?” When they’d been little he’d never been able to keep secrets. At least from Jim. Every time Rob tried to keep something from them it had always been Jim he’d eventually told. Jim never even had to ask. It was like he needed to confess and Jim was the preacher. Rob never went to any of the others, just Jim. Now was no different. It was funny how they’d fallen right back into the old ways just like the past twelve years had never happened.