|
Scene #15
"Are you trying to get
yourself killed, Amanda?" Clay asked, obviously not expecting an
answer as he wasn't finished with the rant he was on. Amanda
went ahead and quickly inserted a "No" but she didn't think he was
listening. "What could you have been thinking to go into an
alley with a strange man, let alone a snake like that. Are you out
of your mind?" At that statement Amanda decided she had had
enough. She was already shaken up and Clay's statements were not
helping. "For your information Clay I am investigating a friends
death, which you very well know. I am well aware of the dangers and
am being careful. I knew you were meeting me shortly and Clive was
going to share something I thought was going to be important to my
investigation. I didn't realize he was a crackpot or I never would
have left with him." Clay was not placated at all. If
anything he seemed a bit more upset with her. "Going into an alley
with a strange man, whether I was meeting you or not, is not being
careful. Anything could have happened. And what if I hadn't shown
up in time to see you leaving. You could have been murdered and
then your investigation would have stopped anyway. Is that what
you want?" "Of course not" "You are obviously not being
careful and I don't want you doing any more hands on investigating
without me. Is that clear?" Amanda was now getting very mad
at Clay and any residual tremors, or thoughts of possible lack of
judgment on her part, went out the window at that ridiculous
statement. "I will conduct my investigation any way I see fit,
alone. Neither you, or anyone else, has a right to say what I will
or will not do. Is that clear? You will just have to deal with it.
Taking care of myself has never been a problem before and I won't
let it be a problem now. From now on I'll just have to be a bit
more careful." "Were you taking care of yourself just now
going into a dark alley alone, what about the night in the alley
awhile ago when that jolly pack of teenagers had you surrounded.
Were you being careful then. I think not. You bloody well will stay
put until I'm available to go with you." Amanda could tell by
Clay's examples that she was losing ground on the taking care of
herself front. His speech was also acquiring a strong Scottish
accent, which meant he was getting more upset with her not less.
Before he could list any more bits of misjudgments on her part she
needed to calm him down somehow. She was more than aware that going
into that alley was dumb and just glad that things worked out
alright. Not that she was going to concede the point to Clay. He
was doing just fine without her shooting herself in the foot again.
"So I'll stay out of alleys from now on, " Amanda said. Clay
was not amused. "Seriously here, I can take care of myself
despite what you think. I have taken several self defense classes
and carry a can of pepper spray just in case." Clay just
looked at her, not saying anything. Jeesh, Amanda thought. What
that man can convey with just a look would be a great defense if he
could teach her that. "Ok Clay, I am going to keep investigating
any way I see fit. You know that, whatever I say now. So why don't
you teach me what you think I need to know to defend myself."
Clay kept looking at her until she started to feel a bit
uncomfortable. Just when she was about to leave the table in a huff
Clay calmed down enough to offer a small compromise. "We can start
tomorrow with this training. But until I deem you good enough to
defend yourself against normal mortals you will not conduct any
more footwork without me. Is that clear?" That ‘normal
mortals' crack was a bit strange but Amanda was not going to mess
around with the compromise offered. She was just amazed that he was
willing to do so at all, and with a minimum of fuss. "Agreed, but
after that I will go about conducting this investigation any way I
see fit to. Is that clear?" Clay looked at her again for a
bit before deciding on something. "As we are both looking into the
same thing it just makes sense that we pool are findings and
speculations. Between the two of us things are bound to get
answered faster. Don't you agree?" Point taken there, Amanda
thought. The longer this took the less likely there would be any
more clues to find. "Agreed." Clay seemed a bit more settled
with her agreement. Clay's thoughts were now on making sure he kept
a step ahead of Amanda's nosing around and steer her away from
anything to dangerous. He had learned over the years that the most
direct route was not always the best way to go. Clay was actually
quite proud of how he was able to handle himself. When he saw the
peril Amanda had placed herself in again he wasn't sure rational
thought would be possible. Clay picked up his drink just as
Amanda did the same and he offered a toast to try and cement
things. "Here's to getting to the bottom of things, together."
Amanda accepted the toast which gave Clay the sense that he was on
top of things. He knew Amanda well enough though to realize that
was probably wishful thinking on his part. Clay never quite new
what Amanda was thinking or what she would do next.
| 
