Jack Johnson #1: Coffee

Jack and the nurse sat at the breakfast table, surveying the rest of the main floor. “Thanks for the coffee, Miss Paulsen.” Jack sipped it and wished he had a flask of his vanilla whiskey with him. Nothing better than Irish coffee to fight this late-in-the-afternoon feeling.  

She sat down across the breakfast table from him. “As I said earlier, you can call me Amy.” She smiled coyly again. Jack wondered if she was glad to get this moment alone with him. But that’s not what he asked her.

What he did ask was, “So, how long have you worked for Mrs. Cummings, Amy?”

Her blood drained from her face. Not a lot, but noticeable. “Two years. Right after graduation, Ellen found the job for me.” Jack was confused as to why this simple, run-of-the-mill question got to her. But maybe it was just the Ellen connection, knowing how much Mrs. Cummings disliked Ellen.

“You knew Ellen before working here, then?” Jack prided himself on how even he kept his tone. Just how he thought a detective should be. Unemotional. Uninvolved. The only person he couldn’t keep his façade up around was Pete. But to everyone else, he was a regular Spade. Jack wasn’t even classically trained, if you could call it that. Sure, he had a university degree, but it was in psychology and not criminal justice. Over the years, that psychology degree had turned out to be useful in this line of work. Maybe it was the clinical side of psychology that helped him now to be even, professional. Unaffected.

“Yeah,” Amy paused. The coy smile had long been replaced with a tight line and her eyes focused on some invisible dirt in the carpet. “We were roommates when I went to UC Boulder. After I transferred to UC Denver, we stayed in touch.” Jack began scribbling. 

After a sentence or two, he asked, “Why did you transfer?” 

“My family lives here, and I was able to find a better paying job.” Here she looked out the window, to the left. A bird was perched on the branch of the rose bush, but she didn’t see it. Neither did Jack, but he wasn’t looking out the window. He was waiting for her to finish. “I didn’t want to commute, and free room and board sounded pretty great.” The line turned into a slight smirk. Jack thought it was supposed to be a slight smirk. It looked more like a grimace.

He tried to put her at ease. Maybe he wanted to see that smile again, to be the reason for the smile. Maybe he knew that if she was at ease she would talk more. Either way, Jack did something uncharacteristic and offered a small bit of camaraderie. “I hear you there, especially in this housing market.” Jack had gone to an expensive private university and was still paying off student loans. On-campus living was expensive, and off-campus living was even more so. “So, did you know Eric before, as well?” Jack watched her face carefully. She wasn’t making eye contact with him. 

“Yes. Ellen and I took a class from him our first year.” Now she was looking right into his eyes. 

Jack held her gaze. “She’s dating her former professor?”

Amy motioned for him to keep his volume down. “Yeah, they actually started dating before she graduated. Here she began whispering. “But Mrs. Cummings doesn’t know that. She doesn’t even know that Ellen went to UC Boulder.”

“Really?” When Jack was in college, there were rumors of a professor who dated undergrads, but here was an actual case of it. But if it was going to happen anywhere, of course it was going to be UC Boulder.

“If she found out, and knew that I knew, I’d be toast. She already distrusts me. She’s old and that makes her paranoid.” Jack sensed some bitterness. “Eric suggested she hire me, and I think she thinks I’m his mistress or something. And she hates Ellen, so my being friends with her would hurt my already unstable relationship with Mrs. Cummings.” Those eyes were pleading with him.

“I’ll keep this conversation between the two of us.” She sighed. “Why would she think that you were Eric’s mistress?” Jack was thoroughly amused. Although the question had no bearing on his current investigation, he couldn’t help fishing for extreneous information.

Amy rolled her eyes. “She makes comments every once in a while. She thinks she ruined Eric. He’s not the best guy out there.” Amy shrugged. “Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he is cheating on Ellen or something, but it’s not with me.” She looked very serious. “I’m grateful he got me the job, but that is as deep as our relationship runs.” 

“For the record, who does Mrs. Cummings think Ellen is?”

“She thinks Ellen is an adjunct at UC Boulder, in Eric’s department. The story they tell is that they met at a staff workshop and hit it off. What really happened is that they met in class and had an A+ affair, if you know what I mean,” The coy smile was back. “And they have been seeing each other ever since.”

“Where do they live?” Jack needed an address to go check in with Eric later. He had some questions for him. Jack hazarded a guess, “Together?”

Amy nodded. “Yes, they live in a townhouse in Thornton.” She closed her eyes, perhaps to concentrate better or maybe to conjure up a picture of the house in her mind. “On Garfield. Nice place, built last year.” She opened her eyes. “Before that Ellen lived in an apartment with college friends and Eric lived here.”

“Really?” By Jack’s estimate, Eric was way too old to be living at home.

“Yes. His room was the front room that is now reserved for ‘special guests’ in the hopes that they break up and he moves back in.” 

“How likely is that?” Jack watched her listlessly stir her coffee. 

“Not very. They’ve been talking about settling down before they bought the house together. It’s only a matter of time before they get married.”

“Well,” Jack drained his cup. “Do you mind showing me around?”