To Kill a Ghost

Kirkland sat at the table in the dark cafe. Dim orange light moved through the window alerting him of the time. She wasn't coming. He hoped she would, but he should have known better than to hope. Even her name sounded fake, the number she passed him as they laughed on the train couldn't connect to anything more than an operator telling him the number wasn't in service. Or worse, it connected to a bad Chinese restaurant. He knew he would never see the silvery blue eyes woman again.

His money had barely brushed the table when the waitress came to check on him. The number of times she stopped at his table was countless now. He smiled at her graciously. “Thank you for putting up with me today. I left a good tip for taking up your table.

“Don't mention it, Darling.” Her words were annunciated and the way she slipped a dark curl behind her ear made him want to touch her cheek.

“What's your name?” His hand trembled at his side with the urge he fought.

“Tanya.” The smile she gave him was polite yet confused. “We're you just stood up?”

“Unfortunately. You wouldn't want to make me feel better would you?”

“What about the girl? Is she going to come back?” Tanya put her hand on her hip and eyed him warily. “I don't think we…”

“I don't like being high and dry. She didn't give a curricula call, so I'm done. This would've been a first date anyway.” He shrugged. “If you don't want to that's fine, but I would like to take you out.”

“What's stopping you from asking the next girl when I say no?” Her finger tapped against her hip as her foot tapped on the floor.

“Honestly, rejection. I cannot be turned down more than twice in one night without becoming desperate.” Kirkland gave her another famous smile as he grabbed his coat and slid into it. “Since you're saying no, have a good night.” He turned on his heel moving forward away from the waitress.

Tanya had a certain charm that he couldn’t quite point out, but he liked it. She was funny and seemed sincere. He hoped his confident yet almost too pitiful plea to go out with him might work. She never officially rejected him, but as the door to the café shut behind him he realized she never said yes either.

“My associate must have had an unprecedented emergency. Under normal circumstances, she would be here to explain her findings.” Kirkland explained as he watched the woman on the other side of his desk.

She tucked her ebony curls behind her ear in the familiar way Tanya had. Her eyes locked onto him and she reminded him of Jane. He wondered about the woman from the train all those years ago. What might have been if she showed up that night? Kirkland could have been Dedra’s father if she had, but she didn’t and he settled for taking her daughter in after she died just to have a piece of her in his life.

It couldn’t be explained. The moment he fell in love with Jane Callahan. Her name was real, but the number wasn’t. Calling the French bistro dozens of times to see if she worked there proved to be pointless. He couldn’t stop looking for her. Every woman he passed on the street reminded him a little of her, but Tanya had the same way of looking at him.

“Did you hear me? Hello, Earth to Mr. Reeves?” Sarah smiled as she waved her gloved hand toward his face.

“I’m sorry, what were you saying?” He answered, shaking the thoughts from his head. It didn’t matter who this woman looked like, but the reason she sat before him now mattered a great deal.

“You keep talking about finding some sort of information about the file I gave you. What is your information?”

“The photo and the military history do not match the man we discovered. He is anything but intelligence trained.” Kirkland shook his head in disappointment. “I cannot do anything about your problem without the correct information.

Sarah’s brow furrowed as she leaned back in her chair. Her plump lips turned down, and Kirk found himself desperately wanting to chance her expression. He shoved his wild emotions into the void where they belonged. There was no room for fondness or caring of any kind in this line of business, not if you wanted to live.

“Assuming my associate did not take the day off, she is wonderful at what she does. She can find the man we’re looking for, but it will be difficult for us to get proper information on him.” He watched as a range of relief, almost happiness, and despair filtered across her features.

“What are you saying?” Her voice shook, but her hands were oddly calm.

“I’m saying I don’t trust you, and I won’t do anything about your problem until I know for absolute certainty what is going on here.” Kirkland leaned forward. All kindness drained from his face as his eyes bore into Sarah Wilson. “I will not give this project a second thought if there is nothing suspicious about your target.”

“Why am I really here then, Kirkland?” She leaned forward too. His intimidation tactics did nothing to frighten the woman, but something did give her reason to be afraid. Her fear filled her eyes even though she tried to stamp it out as if it were a smoldering cigarette that couldn’t be put out.

“Because I needed intell on you as well as your client,” he retorted. As if on cue Linox walked through the door carrying a stack of papers.

“This is all I could dig up on short notice, Sir. I called our…associate, to ask her a few questions, but still no answer.” Linox reported with a nod before stealing a glance at Sarah.

“Thank you. Keep me posted on your latest assignment.” Kirkland answered. He didn’t acknowledge Linox other than taking the papers from his hand. Dark fingers twitched with fury as Linox’s eyes lingered too long on Sarah. She made him nervous. “You can go now.”

“What are those papers supposed to tell you?” Sarah questioned as Linox shut the office door.

“Whether you’re lying to me or not, and I suppose they might have a thing or two to say about your personal character.” Kirkland smiled sweetly as he glanced over the first paper. “Shall we meet again, or would you like to watch me read your paperwork?”