The Witness

lot closer to her two divorces.
    “If you want to play hard to get,” she began, sliding off the desk.
    “I’m not playing.” She would have slithered right into his lap if he hadn’t pushed to his feet. “Look, Sylbie.”
    As he was facing the door, he saw Abigail step into the opening, saw her immediate jolt of embarrassment.
    “Ms. Lowery,” he said, before she could back away.
    “I’m sorry to interrupt. I’ll come back.”
    “No, that’s fine. I’ll talk to you later, Sylbie.”
    “I’m buying that wine,” she murmured, shot him her slow smile. She turned, angled her head as she studied Abigail.
    “You’re that woman who lives out at the Skeeter place.”
    “Yes.”
    “Everybody wonders what in the world you do out there all by yourself.”
    “They shouldn’t.”
    “People have a curiosity. That’s a natural thing. I’m Sylbie MacKenna.”
    “One of the local potters. You do very good work. I bought one of your bowls.” Abigail looked at Brooks again. “I can speak to you later, Chief Gleason.”
    “You’re here now. Sylbie’s got to get on.”
    “So official. He didn’t used to be.” She gave Abigail a knowing smile. “I’ll see you later, Brooks.”
    “She’s very attractive,” Abigail commented.
    “Always has been.”
    “I’m sorry I interrupted. The woman, your …”
    “Dispatcher?”
    “Yes. She said I should just come back.”
    “That’s fine. Have a seat.”
    “May I close the door?”
    “Sure.”
    After she’d done so, and taken a seat in his visitor’s chair, silence ran for several beats.
    “Something on your mind?” he asked her.
    “Yes. I realize I mishandled our … business this morning. In the market, and when you came to my house. I wasn’t prepared.”
    “Do you have to prepare to have a conversation?”
    “I’m not a social person, so I don’t have many conversations, particularly with people I don’t know. In the market, I felt uncomfortable with your interest in what I was buying.”
    “My interest in what you were buying was a ploy for conversation.”
    “Yes.”
    Everything about her was cool, he thought, and still. He considered how she served as polar opposite to Sylbie, who always ran hot, always seemed to be moving.
    “We’re a small town, Abigail. A small resort town, full of New Agers and old hippies, second-generation hippies, artists. We’re friendly.”
    “I’m not. I’m sorry if that’s rude, but it’s fact. I’m not a friendly person, and I moved here for the quiet, the solitude. When you came to the house so soon after the market, it made me nervous, and angry. I have my reasons for carrying the pistol. I’m not obligated to share those reasons. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
    “That’s good to know.”
    “I like my property, and the land around it. I like this town. I feel comfortable here. I just want to be left alone.”
    “What Sylbie said about curiosity’s true. It’s a natural thing. The more mysterious you are, the more people wonder.”
    “I’m not mysterious.”
    “You’re a walking mystery.” He rose, came around the desk. As he did, he saw her brace, stay on alert, even when he leaned back against the front of the desk.
    He wanted to ask her who’d hurt her, who she was afraid of. But he’d lose her if he did.
    “You’re a really attractive woman who lives alone—with a big, musculardog—outside of the town proper. Nobody knows for sure where you came from, why you came here, what you do for a living. And since this is the South, nobody knows who your people are. You’re a Yankee, so people will give you a certain latitude. We like eccentrics around here, it fits right in with the community. If people decide you’re eccentric, they’ll stop wondering.”
    “By certain standards I am eccentric. I can be more so if that would satisfy everyone.”
    He grinned at her, just couldn’t help it. “You’re definitely different. What do you do for a living, Abigail? If it’s not a mystery, or a matter of national security, you should be able to tell me. And that would be a simple conversation.”
    “I’m a freelance computer programmer and software designer. I also design security systems, and improve or redesign existing systems, primarily for corporations.”
    “Interesting. And not so hard to talk about.”
    “Much of my work is highly sensitive. All of it is confidential.”
    “Understood. You must be pretty smart.”
    “I’m very smart.”
    “Where’d you