Picture Perfect Murder by Rusty Ellis

Author:Rusty Ellis [Ellis, Rusty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rusty Ellis

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Pulling in front of Ransom’s house, Teresa finally relinquished and turned down the music to a low hum. She turned off the key and left the music playing.

Turning to Ransom, she started to speak but he cut her off, “So what happened with you?”

Teresa raised an eyebrow at the unexpected question.

Ransom clarified by pointing at her ring finger, “What happened?”

“You know, girl meets man. Girl gets job as reporter. Man wants kids, but girl wants career. They call it quits. Girl meets another guy. They stay married about a year and a half when they determine that being friends is better than pretending to be happily married.”

“I thought that being friends was a good thing?” Ransom shook his head.

“He was ‘friends’ with too many people,” she punctuated the word ‘friends’ with air-quotes and shrugged.

Ransom decided not to push. She obviously wasn’t wanting to divulge more, hiding behind her vague explanation.

Teresa broke the silence, “I had a great time. Not just tonight, but yesterday too.”

It dawned on Ransom that they had now been on two dates together. The thought caused a grin to unknowingly emerge on Ransom’s face.

Seeing the grin, Teresa asked, “What? What’s the grin about?”

Ransom shook his head, “Nothing.”

“Come on, tell!” she demanded.

“Maddie’s going to pepper me with questions about our two dates,” he responded.

“Is that what these were? Dates?”

Suddenly confused and a little embarrassed at his boyish assumption, Ransom stuttered, “Uh, they were dates, weren’t they?”

Teresa gave him a stern look before breaking into a laugh. The relief flushed across Ransom’s face. The seasoned detective outplayed by the beautiful reporter.

“Yes, detective, they could be classified as dates,” she mused, taking advantage of his embarrassment.

Pulling himself together he muttered, “I thought so.”

They both laughed at the slight jab of high school level awkwardness. Catching their breath, Ransom and Teresa’s eyes met. Teresa blinked deeply and smiled at Ransom’s prolonged gaze. Oddly, Ransom felt warmly trapped in the comfort of her stare. A trickle of energy pushed through his chest and forced the corner of his mouth into a wry grin.

The silence hung in the air, both content to just let the moment be. Teresa reached over and placed her hand on top of Ransom’s forearm which was resting on the center arm rest. Her touch caused a shock of goosebumps to run down his arm. Noticing the reaction, Teresa looked down to catch a glimpse of the results.

“Teresa,” Ransom began.

She looked back up to his face, only to be cut off by his cellphone in his shirt pocket. Instinctively, he reached in and retrieved the chirping device, answering it before realizing what he’d done. Teresa looked a little disappointed at his response and he mouthed “sorry” to her.

“Hey, Leesa.” Ransom listened for a few seconds before saying, “Give me a second.”

Ransom lowered the phone, “I gotta take this. I had a great time.”

Ransom reached for the door handle, trying to juggle the pizza box, his cane, and the phone. Teresa reached once more for his forearm and pulled him toward the center console.

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