Afterthoughts by Lynn Tincher

was no sign of a struggle.
Remembering the pictures of Anthony that showed all of the bruising
around his neck, she could feel her hands around his neck,
squeezing tighter and tighter until he fell to the floor. Suddenly
the coffee cup slipped from her hand and shattered on the break
room floor. Paige grabbed the counter top and tried to steady
herself.
    “ Here, I’ll get that!”
Jay, who had walked in behind Paige, started cleaning up the mess.
Paige stood there shaking. “You okay?” he asked as he looked up at
her while wiping up the coffee.
    “ Yeah, just need that
first cup of Joe,” she tried to smile but Jay could see through her
facade and knew something was wrong.
    “ You go sit. I’ll clean
this up and bring ya a fresh cup with tons of cream and sugar,” he
added with a wink. Paige didn’t argue and walked back to her
office, still shaking and trying to figure out what she had just
seen.
    As she sat at the desk,
she saw the envelope. She took a deep breath, slid her finger under
the seal and opened the letter. Inside was a single piece of rose
colored paper that opened to reveal the same neat
handwriting. “Whoever wrote this, really
took their time,” she thought to herself
as she began to read.
     
    Dear Paige
Aldridge,
     
    I am writing to you because
I know what you have been going through. I know about your memories
of the dark room. If you want some answers, please think of me when
you are alone and I will be there.
     
    Junna Breck
     
    “ What the hell is this
about?” she asked herself as she saw Jay
coming her way. Hurriedly, she stuffed the paper in her desk
drawer. She wasn’t ready to discuss this with anyone.
    “ Here you go,” Jay smiled
and handed her the coffee. She tried to return the smile as she
took it from him, but her hands were still shaking.
    “ Thanks a bunch. Do you
have any leads that aren’t in the files?”
    She tried to divert his attention away
from her hands and the fact that her drawer was partly open with
the pink paper sticking out.
    “ No. That’s the problem,
there is nothing but what the chief feels is the obvious,” he
sighed and sat down in the chair across from her desk.
    He was worried about her as she looked
very pale and sick again and fought back the urge to hug
her.
    “ You don’t feel that way?”
she asked hopefully as she leaned toward her desk to push the
drawer closed further.
    “ I’ve not always gone with
you on your hunches, partner, and I don’t want to give you any
false hopes. It is just too obvious.” He took a long drink of his
own coffee and brushed the hair out of his face. His hair had grown
out a lot lately, she noticed. It looked great on him.
    “ I just feel there is
something else going on. Someone else involved,” she said. As she
very carefully placed the coffee cup on her desk, she thought about
the letter.
    Jay stood and started to
leave but turned around to look at Paige. He half opened his mouth
to speak, then turned back around and walked out. Paige was looking
at her desk drawer, waiting for him to get back to his office. She
opened the drawer and re-read the letter .
“Think of me when you are alone and I will be there.”
s he repeated over and over.
    He placed the letter back in the
drawer and looked at the file again.
    “ There has to be
something, some small clue that we’ve overlooked.” She thought about the vision she had in the break
room . “Why can I feel my hands around his
neck? Why did I feel the rope in my hands when I thought about
Richie? Am I thinking too hard about it all? Is everything getting
under my skin too much, making me imagine these things? And who the
heck is Junna Breck and what does she have to do with me? Why am I
remembering that dark room and who is that man?”
    Paige’s eyes began to fill
with tears as she stood and hastily ran for the bathroom. After
making sure no one else was in there, she sat down, quickly grabbed
some toilet paper and wept. She cried harder than she