The Dead and the Dreamer

After talking over old times and a few new ones, John said his good-byes. He felt a little guilty for not seeing her more often, but his crazy choice of profession and late night ramblings into music kept him pretty busy. Although that, he admitted to himself, was a weak excuse. He could do a lot better.

The drive to his office was short. John hardly had time to reflect the past few days of the Tammy and Gallager mystery case. He sat in his Jeep outside his office and watched the evening sun's orange glow fan across a red sky. The image was a perfectly powerful summertime image.

He had the creeping feeling that eyes were on him from somewhere. And judging from what had happened, he trusted these feelings.

Metal to glass tapping came and nearly sent John out of his skin.

Tammy was standing right outside his door, wide-eyed and smiling. God, she was beautiful.

"I was just thinking of calling you," John said as he slid out from the front seat. Having been enveloped in cold air conditioning from the ride, the outside humidity engulfed him and he suddenly felt drained.

"I wanted to see you," she admitted and shrugged.

John unlocked the back door to his office, stood aside and let Tammy walk in first. The same perfume she wore the day they met lingered behind her.

"Have a seat," John suggested. He fumbled with his keys and then finally tossed them on top of the clutter and junk mail on his desk. "I've been looking into some things."

"I found out you have a record deal brewing in Nashville." John rolled back the leather chair from under his desk and lowered himself into it.

"You found out right," she said with no emotion. "I really don't see it as a good deal. It's better than nothing. I'm really happy to have it."

The private eye could not believe his ears. He and Brad had been sending out demo tapes and begging for some kind of record deal from anyone who would listen. Now here sits a young woman saying it's no big thing to have Nashville interested. As usual, he did not express his true feelings. She was, after all, his boss in a way. He would restrain and be respectful. "That's awesome."

"It is, I guess. And I've been working really hard to get where I am. Believe me, Mr. Farris. This didn't just fall in my lap. I know what you might be thinking, but I had this record deal well before me and Michael started seeing each other in a personal way."