Innocent Monsters by Barbara Doherty

the man he was looking for.
    “Can you remember if there was anything odd about him? Anything that stood out at all? Anything would be helpful.”
    “Not really, no. They looked like they had a good time.”
    “Like boyfriend and girlfriend? That kind of good time?”
    “Yep. That kind.”
    “You wouldn’t happen to remember his name, would you?”
    The young man pulled his hands out of his pockets and buried his fingers in his hair instead. “Christ, no! I’m good with faces, but names, forget about it. And it’s not like we were ever introduced.”
    “Do you keep a booking record here?”
    “You’d have to speak to our manager for that. He will be in later, at opening time.”
    Brown stood silent for a few seconds then started to walk through the restaurant, looking at some of the artwork on the walls, looking at the buildings opposite through the front windows. Then he turned around to look at the young man, still standing on the same spot, a baffled expression on his face.
    “How about till records?” Brown asked, “could I get hold of any kind of record of the intakes between middle of August and end of September? Credit card payments, slips, that kind of stuff?”
    “Again, you’d need to speak to our manager.”
    Brown looked at his watch pondering. “Could I wait here? How hot is that coffee machine back there?” He pointed behind he counter of the bar just left of the kitchen door.
    The young man smiled at him, finally relaxing. “Oh, that’s ready sir. We all have coffee first thing in the morning here. That puppy’s been ready since eight o’clock.”
    Brown smiled back and pulled one of the chairs by the window away from the table. “I’ll have a coffee then. When you’ve got a minute.”

15 December 2000
    JESSICA TURNED the last screw to fix the new roller blind to the kitchen window’s frame.
    The room had completely changed since the first day she had set foot in as a tenant, the whole apartment had. It had only been a couple of weeks but the place felt more hers then the previous one had in the five years she had spent there. She had put so much time into it, it seemed a shame to even imagine looking for a property to buy.
    Incredible what could be achieved with too much time on one’s hand.
    It had taken her two weeks to get to Nob Hill after signing the contract and most of that time had been spent sorting out Kaitlyn’s things rather than her own. It had been a painful task, one she had done completely alone. She had kept some of her things but most of it had been given away, donated to the gallery and to charity, including her furniture, any profits made from her share of the Galleria, and whatever money Kaitlyn had left in her bank account. There would have been something not quite right about keeping it, like stealing jewelry from a corpse. Kaitlyn hadn’t left a will, she had never said she wanted Jessica to have her money if something happened to her and she just couldn’t bring herself to keep it. Clothes and furniture was one thing, money felt almost dirty.
    There was nothing else tying her to Crocker Amazon now. Anything that was once important had either been disposed of or moved to Nob Hill with her.
    She hadn’t seen Lisa since the afternoon in her loft. She had not called and Jessica had made no attempts to meet her before the moving van had set off. In a way she knew it would be like this, she had known the second she had turned away, living Lisa clutching pop corn on that sofa and in truth, she didn’t care anymore, what she might. She had sent her a postcard with her new address and her phone number but nothing else. No apologies. No wish you were here. No regrets. It had been almost two weeks and she had not heard from her. In fact, the only person she had heard from had been Charles Brown. He had called her the day she had moved in wishing her well, told her he would have sent her a card if he didn’t think it was inappropriate. He had been following a