Shun Ken Onion 7″ Santoku Knife

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Rod gasped when he opened his door. “What the? But I thought you…” He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “No, it’s you, isn’t it, Millicent? I figured you’d probably be showing up.”

“Nice to see you again, Roderick,” Sylvia’s twin said with a grin. “Now why don’t you put down that air freshener you’ve got there and invite me in for coffee.”

“By all means,” he said, stepping aside to allow her entry. He placed the can of Air-So-Nice on the counter and shrugged before heading to the kitchen. “Sorry, the place is a mess. I’m still in the process of getting everything cleaned up for the sale. I’d offer you a chair, but all I have are boxes of old junk and milkcrates full of various flavored lubricants.”

“I’ll stand, thanks.” Millicent followed Roderick into the kitchen, looking over things as she went. “Yeah, I saw the sign out front. Interesting timing on that, what with Sylvia gone. I don’t suppose you know anything about that, though, do you?”

Rod laughed as he prepared her cup of coffee. “Right to the point, eh, Millie? You can take the girl out of the private investigator’s office, but you can’t take the private investigator out of the girl, I guess.”

“Can’t blame a girl for trying, can you? After all, you’re the ex-husband. You’ve got a sour history with Sylvia and you’re dating her best friend.” Millicent picked up the seven-inch Shun Ken Onion Hollow-Ground Santoku knife sitting on the counter. “It’d be easier to start your new life if you didn’t have to pay any alimony.”

“First of all, Pamela and I aren’t dating. We’re just friends.”

“Friends who didn’t think enough of my sister to tell her about your little ‘cooking lessons’ and ‘shopping outings’ and such, isn’t that right? Tell me something, did you and Pamela spend a lot of time rocking the slight belly curved, stainless steel blade of this knife as easily as a chef’s knife as you chopped veggies and meats, or were you two too busy rocking that old red velvet rotate-o-bed you have?”

Rod snatched the knife out of Millicent’s hand by its ergonomic ebony PakkaWood handle. “‘Had,’ actually. I’m a different person now. And maybe Sylvia and I didn’t have the closest rapport ever in the history of divorce, but I didn’t hate her, nor did I want her gone.”

“Enough that you’d help her out if she came to you?”

Rod and Millicent stared each other down harder than they had after she’d noticed him leaving a restroom with one of the bridesmaids at Sylvia’s wedding reception. Finally, he slid the cup of coffee across the table. “Sorry about the styrofoam,” he said. “Think of it as a to-go cup.”

Millicent grinned again, took the cup, and began walking toward the door. “I look forward to seeing you again, Roderick. Very soon, in fact.” She stopped just after opening the door and turned. “Oh, and that air freshener isn’t cutting it, by the way. I can still smell Sylvia’s cigarette smoke in the walls and carpet.” And with that, she stepped out.

As Rod stood at the counter, the sound of a flicking lighter behind him broke the silence. “She knows,” he said without turning.

There was an audible inhalation and exhalation, and then, “Maybe. But she doesn’t know why. Not yet. And hopefully this whole mess will be behind me before my darling sister finds out.”

In the Box:

• (1) Shun DM0517 Ken Onion 7″ Santoku Knife

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