Free Sker House by C.M. Saunders

about to comment on it when Dale jumped in first and asked her if she wanted another drink. The dinner had been so delicious that she hadn't even noticed she had also drained her glass. “Why not? Get me a Cardiac Breezer, please. Lemon if they have it.”
    When Dale came back from the bar he was smiling from ear to ear and walking with such a spring in his step that he struggled to keep from spilling his beer. “What's up with you?” she asked.
    “You'll never guess what! Mist... Machen, the landlord...”
    “Yeah I know who he is. What about him? Did he turn out to be your long lost uncle or something?”
    “I don't know. I never thought to ask. Anyway, I went to the bar right, got the drinks, and then when I went to pay for them, he said he didn't want the money. Said he was sorry that the interview went so badly this afternoon, and that we could try again tomorrow when he's not so stressed out.”
    “When he's not so drunk, more like.” They both turned to look at the landlord, who was sitting in a bar stool across the room facing them. He smiled and waved.
    “You think he's drunk? Can't the guy just be nice?”
    “Well you changed your tune. Two hours ago he was just a bad interviewee. Now he's in line for a Nobel Prize. I can't believe you just allowed yourself to be swayed by one free drink.”
    “I didn't!” Dale looked offended. “It was two free drinks. I didn't pay for yours, either. And guess what? He said he had a special surprise for you. He just sent that barmaid out to get it.”
    “A surprise for me? What kind of surprise?”
    “How the hell should I know? He didn't go into specifics. Just said you'd love it. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Isn't that what they say? Or is it the ear? Or the...”
    “It's the mouth.”
    “Okay. It's the mouth. Well, it should be the...”
    “No it shouldn't,” scolded Lucy. She knew what he was going to say. When Dale got himself into this kind of excited state, especially after a drink, he reverted back to an eleven-year old boy. His child-like enthusiasm was infectious, and he had lifted her spirits more than anyone else had recently. She supposed she should be grateful.
    Lucy and Dale were so busy arguing about horses anatomy that neither of them saw Izzy coming until she was virtually standing over them. “Looks like your surprise has arrived...” said Dale, straining his neck to see what the barmaid was carrying.
    “On the house,” said the young barmaid as she collected their empty dinner plates and replaced them with two white bowls.
    “Mmmmm! Strawberries! With cream and sugar!” squealed Dale. “Surprise!”
    Lucy stared at the bowl of fruit in front of her, feeling like she had just seen a ghost.
     

 
     
     
    Chapter 6:
     
    Images
     
     

 
    Dale made disgusting wet noises as he systematically devoured his desert, and didn't notice that Lucy hadn't even lifted her spoon until his bowl was almost empty. “What's up?” he asked, dabbing at the corners of his mouth with a napkin to soak up any spare globs of cream. “I thought every girl loved strawberries.”
    “I guess I'm full,” replied Lucy. Even to her, the remark sounded unconvincingly. Luckily, Dale was too busy stuffing his face to notice her discomfort. “I mean... I used to like strawberries a lot when I was a little girl,” She added. “Just not tonight, that's all.”
    “Okay, fair enough. Your loss,” said Dale as he reached over and grabbed Lucy's untouched bowl. “Waste not want not and all that. Do you mind?”
    “Not at all,” she said, standing up. “If it's all the same to you, I'm going to go upstairs to check through the images I got today. See if I really did get a shot of the woman in the window. Then I'm gonna grab an early night.”
    Dale nodded as Lucy swept the room key off the table and left. She went upstairs and used the key to let herself into their room before she realized something. She had the only key, and Dale was still drinking