AU fic suggested and requested by Ann. Work in Progress
"You should have a will too, especially in Haven." Duke had to wonder what the hell kind of town he'd sailed into.
"Yeah. I'll look into that." The woman at the bar tried to smile politely but her instinct to recoil away from the creepy guy who looked and sounded like a walking threat to her well being was obvious.
The barrista was staring at her and it was starting to get awkward. Duke couldn't really blame the guy, she was pretty; But this was starting to look like the beginning of one of those Stalker of the Week movies on Lifetime his ex-wife had liked so much. "Hey, can I get an orange juice, freshly squeezed?"
This drew the attention of both of them and the woman smiled her gratitude at him. He really did not want the smile of a pretty woman to feel like someone had filled his stomach with jello. But he felt himself warm in dark places anyway. The barrista turned to fill the order and he nodded cordially at the woman.
Jennifer took the man to be a local and hoping to strike up a conversation with him that would, in it's turn, hopefully keep the creepy barrista away. "Weird town or just a weird barrista?"
Duke was puzzled for just a few seconds before realizing she wasn't a local either. "I actually wouldn't know. I'm not from around here."
She looked delighted. The way that a foreigner in another country is happy to find a fellow countryman, and her eyes glowed warm in the sunlight. "I'm not either. I'm up here from Boston..." She trailed off as though she didn't really want to tell the rest of the story to a stranger. Her eyes were still warm but flickered away. "Where are you from?"
Jennifer's heart fluttered in the most annoying way at his rakish smile. "Oh, everywhere," he answered.
His smile widened at her apparent confusion. "I'm an importer and transporter. I have my own boat."
She really shouldn't find him even more sexy with the information that he was likely a modern day pirate. But her breath caught in her throat anyway.
The barrista brought over his orange juice and asked if he wanted anything else. Glancing at the menu he ordered a sausage roll and coffee. The girl at the counter requested a refill and croissant.
"So what brings you to Haven?" He asked.
"Just tourism."
Duke nodded and momentarily turned his attention back to his breakfast.
In his business, it paid to know when someone was lying. And he got paid well. She didn't even lie well. Her smile turned from its natural warmth to deliberately charming and her eyes met his with too much direct brightness. But her hand closed in a nervous fist while she drank her coffee and she averted her eyes away too quickly. A determined liar -- but a lousy one. And damned if that just didn't make her more interesting because suddenly the nice girl at the coffee counter had a big secret or two.
"So, why Haven?"
"Huh?"
"Why Haven? Not really a very famous tourist spot. Not known for its beaches... not known for anything."
"I guess I could ask you the same question."
"Well, I'm here on business. That's easy. Even not-so-well known tourist spots need goods delivered." He took a drink of his coffee and decided to change the subject. "Are you staying in the loft upstairs?"
"Um. No. It's leased." This girl would have to avoid playing poker. Anything you wanted to know about her could be read across her face and in her eyes. The place upstairs was leased and she knew by whom, but she couldn't stay there -- even more interesting. He smiled, if he wanted an adventure while he was here, it would seem this little Alice could lead him down the rabbit hole.
"So, what's your name?"
"I'm Jennifer. Jennifer Mason." She offered her hand and met his eyes again telling him more about herself than she would want to.
He returned the friendly gesture with his own hand and direct gaze. "Duke. Duke Crocker."
"It's nice to meet you, Duke." She meant it as automatically as she had the handshake and direct eye contact and he bit down on his tongue to keep from smiling more than the exchanged called. Jennifer Mason was a good girl, raised right by the right kind of people in the right part of town. From her not-perfectly manicured yet perfectly clean and soft hands, to her almost perfectly done hair with a couple of tendrils determined to curve around her chin and all the way down to her high quality leather boots that matched her high quality leather bag and contrasted nicely with her dark leather coat and jeans. Duke's fingers itched to move the wayward tendrils behind her ear and reveal more of her porcelain skin. He wondered what her eyes would do then, or what her red mouth would do or say.
"So when you're not touring Haven, what do you do in Boston, Jennifer?"
"I, um, I teach dance. At one of the dance studios in the area."
Someone was either going to have to take this woman to task for lying or teach her how to do it right.
"Oh really? What kind of dance?" He wondered how far she would carry this lie.
"Hm? Oh! Um, lyrical and ballet. Some jazz too."
"Nice. Very versatile. What ages do you teach?"
She was drinking her coffee again and looking away, this time she didn't try to make her eyes meet his. "Third through Eighth grade." One would think she would get better or at least more comfortable at lying as she went along here. Instead, she turned the questioning around.
"What kind of goods do you import or deliver?"
"Rare items, novelties. Things that can be hard to find, I happen to have a knack for finding."
Another puzzle piece fell into place at the hope that flared in her eyes for a moment. She was in Haven looking for someone or some thing and yet instead of asking openly, felt like she had to be secretive in her search. He took a close look at her left hand, she wasn't wearing a wedding band and there was no imprint on her finger from one recently removed so he could probably nix the cheating husband theory.
"That sounds like it could get interesting."
"I've lived in some interesting times."
She smiled warmly again. He was starting to really like that smile. "You know," she said, "that's actually a Chinese curse, I think."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, I read it... somewhere." She frowned trying to remember.
Probably in a novel that nice girls read in their nice houses with their nice parents.
"Well I don't think it would be much of a blessing to live in boring times."
This time soft laughter bubbled up and her smile was a little warmer and lasted longer.
The barrista returned to where they were seated and collected their empty plates. This time she withdrew what looked to be a journal from her purse and glancing at it, asked if he could tell her where to find the Good Shepherd Church.
"That's up on Townsend Street." He gave her some directions and Duke noticed that she wrote them down in a different book. "Not much going on there now, since the Reverend was killed. They haven't found a replacement for him yet."
"When was he killed?"
"Oh, about eight months ago, I guess."
"And there's still no replacement?"
The barrista shrugged. "Some people are just harder to replace than others, I guess."
Jennifer covered up her sadness pretty well, but Duke noticed it. "Yeah. I guess so. Thanks." She left her money on the counter and headed out the door.
"Hey!" The barrista called after her. She flinched and turned cautiously and Duke felt like back-handing the guy. "You should check out the Founder's Day Festival downtown. Lots of Haven history gets talked about there. And it's not that far from the church."
"Oh. Thanks. I'll check it out."
Duke and the barrista both watched her leave. When she was out the door the barrista made Duke his new buddy and told what he knew about her.
"She was here yesterday. Says she's just doing some research on old colonial port towns. But she'd do better staying in the downtown area if that was what she was after." He shook his head. "Who knows? Haven does have a lot of history. And some of it is pretty weird. Did I hear you say your name is Duke Crocker?"
"Yeah."
"I think that this is for you." He produced a medium sized manilla envelope from somewhere behind the counter and passed it to Duke.
Duke nodded his thanks and not wanting an audience while he perused the contents of the envelope paid for his breakfast and stepped outside. When he did, he noticed that Jennifer was still there, in the parking lot. She looked to be reading something and it wasn't making her happy. He shrugged. Ultimately, whatever she was up to, wasn't really his business. He removed the note from inside the envelope and was pleased to find a downpayment for his services along with it.
You can pick up the item downtown during the Founder's Day parade at The Two Sisters Candy Shoppe. Tell Norma that you're picking up a special request item.
Duke sighed in frustration. Turning what should be a simple exchange into a Scooby Doo episode was never a good idea. At least, if he was going downtown, he might run into the lovely Jennifer again.
Jennifer found the doors to the Good Shepherd Church locked. Looking around behind her she tried to determine if anyone was observing her and found that despite the crowd downtown, or maybe because of it, no one seemed to even see her. She still pushed her hat further down to try and obscure her face more and took out the lock picking kit Audrey had sent her along with her journal about the strange happenings in Haven.
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