Two-Faced by Sylvia Selfman, N. Selfman

the more.
    “This isn’t funny,” Jess said. “I think it it’s harassment or...”
    "Hey, Dad," a young boy interrupted.
    Jess turned to see a smaller, thinner, 9 year old version of detective Sykes standing behind her.
    "Hey, Kev, How was your party?" Sykes asked.
    The boy shrugged in an attempt to look cool. Sykes nodded at him, then turned back to Jess. "Mrs. Parks, this is my son, Kevin."
    "Hi, Kevin" Jessica mumbled. She could feel her face turning bright red with embarrassment. "I didn't realize…” She took a deep breath. “You know you could have stopped me before I made a complete fool of myself.”
    “ I don’t think anyone could’ve stopped you. You were really on a tear.”As he loaded his son’s backpack into the backseat, Jess couldn’t help but notice the resemblance. The same dark eyes. The same dark straight hair, with a cowlick near the temple.
    "He's in sixth grade,” Sykes said, looking proudly at the boy who was climbing into the passenger seat of the car. "I have to drop him at his mother's and get back to work unless there's something else you wanted to yell at me about." He looked at her, awaiting an answer.
    She shook her head ‘no.’
    "Well then. I'll be in touch.”
    He was about to get into the car when he turned back. “By the way, what was that you mentioned about phone calls?
    “ Nothing. I Made a mistake . It was nothing,” Jess mumbled. But she couldn’t help but wonder--if it wasn’t Sykes that kept calling and hanging up—then who was it?
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
     
     
    Jess put her purse down on the small, wrought iron table in the foyer and picked up the mail she'd allowed to accumulate over the past few days. Then she flopped onto the couch, kicked off her pumps and turned on the TV. She glanced over at her answering machine relieved to see it wasn’t blinking.
    Since she ’d confronted Sykes about the hang-ups the day before, she hadn’t received any more of them. And though he denied knowing anything about them she couldn’t help but wonder whether he was lying. There was just something about him that was hard to get a handle on. He seemed to enjoy baiting her, for some reason. It was as though he wanted to find a reason to believe she was guilty of murder.
    Not that she considered herself an expert at reading people- espec ially not since Zach, but there was just something about him.
     
     
     
    The ringing of the phone was loud and insistent. For a moment Jessica wasn't sure where she was, then she realized she had fallen asleep on the couch. Her heart pounded from the sudden shock of being startled awake.
    She grabbed the phone, breathless and heard only silence in response.
    “Hello. Who is this?” she yelled into the phone, picturing Sykes on the other end of the line. “If you’re trying to rattle me it’s not working, dammit. I’m going to report you for harassment!”
    She was about to hang up when she heard a familiar voice.
    “Hello Miss Jessica.”
    “ Maria?” Jess said, in surprise.
    Her father ’s maid was the last person she expected to hear from. “Maria, I’m sorry I went off on you. I’ve been getting some hang-ups lately and I thought…”
    “ I need to talk to you,” Maria interrupted.
    "Is everything alright?”
    "No. Not on the phone. In person."
    “ Oh,” Jess said, wondering what this was all about. “Well I guess you could come by the office sometime next week or..."
    "No,” Maria interrupted. “Tomorrow.”
    “ Maria, is this about a reference? Or…”
    “ It’s about your father. You come to my house tomorrow at. At 222 Olivado Drive," she said and hung up abruptly.
    Jess clicked off, wondering what that was all about. Had her father made some sort of promise to Maria that she wanted to make sure was honored? Well, she'd find out tomorrow, there was no use in worrying about it now.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER THIRTY