She still looked good to him. He was glad that she didn't color her hair. Barbara interpreted Jeff's lack of concern as indifference. She was self-con...cious of her aging. She looked in the mirror one morning and found that she was no longer a blushing maiden. Jeff sensed her displeasure, but misjudged the depth of it.All of these factors combined together to create an atmosphere that was unpleasant and tense. At times things would improve, but some issue would arise and they would revert back. I find the quiet time helps me to prepare for the stress and craziness that always comes later on. But that morning, I opened my door to leave the room and almost walked into this very attractive young woman. I somehow got the impression that she wasn't one of the guests staying at the motel when she asked if she could use my phone to call a friend to come and get her. I stepped back into my room and told her that she could make the call. She came in and once I closed the door I showed her. GO!’ I buried myself back in the stack of reports I was working on. But Marshal being the way he is, walked right in, sat down and stared at me. I tried as hard as possible to ignore him, but my skin crawled from the eerie silence. I looked up and arched my eyebrows, ‘WHAT?’ I screamed. Knowing he had me now, he asked, ‘It couldn’t have been that bad, could it?’ ‘Worse,’ I grumbled. ‘What’d you do, try to get into her panties at the restaurant?’ he giggled. ‘No, as a matter of fact she wanted. "I made arrangements with Mum to sit with the kids, and Dad said he would drop me off and pick me up. I think he was hoping it would give me a kick into having a social life again. So the next evening found me ensconced in The Bell with an old shipmate. We shot the shit about events, mates, ships and cruises for a while, then Jimmy got to the nub of why he wanted to see me."I thought you might be interested in a bit of scuttlebutt on Constable Graham." Not if it affects the investigation,.