by Claire Matturro
Dayton sipped his vodka martini when he would rather have had a beer and listened to Miriam talk about her recently murdered boss. Saturday night, and he was out with a real lady. So what if Miriam was twice his age. Besides, wasn’t this what the other detectives at the police department had told him to do? Befriend the woman and find out what she wasn’t telling them.
Truth was, though, Dayton liked Miriam. Not like a girlfriend, but still—like a man should like a lady. Yet, maybe not like a fledgling detective should like someone he was trying to get information from.
After they finished their drinks at a fancy St. Anne’s Key restaurant Dayton would never have had nerve to go into if Miriam hadn’t suggested it, he took her hand and led her to the dance floor. It was getting late and they’d long since shared a dinner he couldn’t afford but was too proud to let her pay for. Dayton wondered if he could turn in the receipt for an expense voucher to the police department and stiffened as he took Miriam in his arms. He stumbled through the first few steps.
“Don’t be so nervous,” she whispered in his ear. “It’s just a dance.”
“Yeah, but I’m not so sure I got my money’s worth out of those Arthur Murray lessons,” he answered, trying mentally to remember the steps before Miriam’s arms began to guide him gently into the right moves.
She sure does smell nice. He leaned into her as he concentrated on dancing.
After the dance, she smiled at him as she led him back to their table. “All you need is some practice. You’ve got a nice feel for the music.”
“Well, then, thing to do, is for you and me to come dancing more often,” Dayton said, remembering to pull back her chair for Miriam as she approached her seat. “How about Friday night? Maybe someplace a little more…casual.”
“Thank you, Dayton, that’s a sweet offer, but I am old enough to be your mother.”
Dayton blushed. “Well, my mother never looked as good as you. Besides, not meaning any disrespect, but I’ve already got a girlfriend.”
“Well then, Dayton, dear, take her dancing.”
“Oh, I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“She’s, ah, she’s…see, she’s still married. I mean, she’s gonna get a divorce, but, you know, it’s better if we don’t go out in public just yet. We’re not doing anything bad, I mean.” Even in the heavy air conditioning, Dayton’s face got hotter and hotter. “Just talking. Nothing wrong, you know.”
“Do you love her?”
“Oh, yes, ma’am, I do. Only thing—” Dayton made himself stop for a moment. This woman might be a suspect in her boss’s murder, and at the very least she knew something the detectives didn’t but needed to know. Dayton told himself to keep his mouth shut. But then he looked at Miriam’s sweet-looking face as she tilted it toward him. No way this woman was a killer.
“Yes, ma’am, I love her. But see, her daddy is my boss at the police department, and it’s all complicated.”
“Oh, Dayton, you poor, dear boy. You are in for a hard time, aren’t you?”
Dayton nodded.
Miriam sipped the melted ice out of her glass, then held out her hand to Dayton.
“Come on then, Dayton, let us dance and not think anymore.”
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