The Cinema Files s1 p8

The Cinema Files
page 8, chapter 8

Flowerpot Fantasy

"Dessie." Vincent's voice broke through the static. Blinking, I turned to accept the small paper cup that was in his outstretched hand. "Yeah." he said closing his deep brown eyes shaking his head slightly. "We're out of medium and large takeaway cups. The delivery guy never showed."  he was standing in the doorway of the video store when I got there; a smirk suddenly brightening up his eyes. "But your delivery guy seems to have been on time." he side stepped exposing the large bundle of  pink and yellow flowers that were propped up against the door in the bright green wrapping. "Blake's been here already." Vincent said scooping them up taking a deep breath.  I nodded as I sipped at the coffee, unlocking the door to the video store. The sound of dvds sliding across the floor as I did, didn't do anything to help my mood. The store might not have been open yet for the day, but over half the returns were already back ready to be sorted, the pile ankle high with two jammed into the return slot.

"Huhhh. I hate it when people do that." I replied letting my hand slap my thigh. "How difficult is it to drop them in one by one? Huh? Why do people feel the need to stack them together and ram them in?" sighing, I put my purse in the little closet-office and the coffee on the counter, before grabbing a pencil to try and wedge them out. It was technically just a mail slot that had a metal latch over it, but people loved to use it to make those uber early morning returns.

"Okay, you look like you should be starring in one of those zombie movies. Not get any sleep?" Vincent asked as he continued to cradle the flowers like a child.

"Yes, you can take them for the cafe. Blake can yell at me about it later. And yeah. No sleep. Was over at the storage unit all night." I grunted as I managed to get the dvds unstuck from the mail slot.  I started to count the returned movies. All but one had been returned, indicating that either I was going to have one customer come in later and rent something new, or they were going to have a late fee. I was betting on the late fee.

"I saw the newspaper.Your boyfriend..."

"Not my boyfriend."

"Your not boyfriend-boyfriend, got the lead headline on a second murder. Think they're connected?"

"I know, and yes. I was with him when the body was found. No it wasn't a date. Not really anyways. Both were drowned. Thing is, I know I've seen the girl before." I commented without looking at Vincent, while I grabbed the stack of dvds checking them into the system. "Those Go-Go boots just remind me of something?"

"Like the ones from that sex tape?" Vincent's voice was solid as it shocked me back to focus. Putting down the dvds, I moved to the little closet-office and popped the sex tape on.

"Oh my god! You're right. Totally right." pausing the tape I pointed at the chick. "That's her. That's the body found in the bathroom."

"You're sure about that? You're going to ID someone by a pair of boots? I mean, those look pretty generic. Could have bought them anywhere."    I shook, my hand at him waving off the idea before tapping my finger on the screen again.

"It's not the boots. It's what's right above the boots. Just at the crook of her knee." 

"She's got a tattoo of a rose."

"The police said there wasn't anything to identify her with at the scene. No purse, no ID. But I'm sure by this point they've started to track the tattoo." I turned off the video, removing it from the dvd player and stashing it back in my purse.

"Track the tattoo, track the victim."  he leaned on the edge of the door frame, his belt buckle catching the glow of the blue tv screen. "Okay, so what do we know? Land developer and tattooed chick do a sex tape. Tattooed chick ends up dead, drowned in a toilet."

"Right after a random guy was found drowned in a puddle. Plus, some other random guy was looking for the sex tape, in what could only be called a frenzied panic. Plus, the fact the Land Developer just bought the old tomato factory."  I said tapping Vincent's belt buckle.

"Tomato factory?" his voice took on a question mark of it's own.

"Right, that was Rudolph's contribution." I made a clicking noise as I shooed Vincent out of the little closet-office, the front door of the video store opening to expose the first customers of the day.  I saw the look of disapproval in Vincent's dark eyes. I'd stepped on his ego by sharing information with my reporter boyfriend, and not him. "That's all he knows. I swear. I haven't told anyone about the sex tape."

"The sex tape is ours. Private between us." he smiled then tilting his head to the side his shoulders back, chest puffed out once again.


Tune in again for another installment of the Cinema Files, starring your heroine...me(straight up story. Everyone's got a small piece of the bigger picture.)