Rainbow of Expressions- A short story

It was a cold December evening. I was strolling past the Pike Place Street when someone caught my attention from outside the glass pane.

She sat in the Starbucks cafe, sipping her coffee and staring out of the window. The blood stained knife lay next to her handbag, covered with her blue silk scarf.

These past few days were witness to a series of murders in Seattle region. It was all over the news. While the investigations were on, it was certain that the suspect was a young lady.

I knew by instinct that the killer was in front of me. My mind was racing, my heart was thumping. I wanted to be as near to my suspect as possible, and start my keen observation. I checked the queue outside the entrance door.

This was the first Starbucks opened way back in 1971. And it’s mostly very crowded with people from all over the world. Having attained a cult status, people don’t mind standing in a long queue here. I quickly joined the queue. The wait to reach inside seemed endless. As I entered the cafe, I was lucky to get a seat not too far from her.

By instinct, I was sure that the knife hidden under her scarf was the murder weapon. The air around smelt of blood.

Crime novels have always excited me, and here was my chance to witness some action in real life. Somehow, I knew my moment of glory was ticking. I could imagine my name all over the news tomorrow, as the one who got the mysterious serial killer nabbed. I even saw my picture captioned, ‘Sherlock Holmes Reloaded’.

Thankfully, a group of students jabbering besides my table pulled me out of my dream world. So, I went back to do what I was required to do and something that I take pride in.

I started to observe my suspect for a while. It just felt unbelievable that such a young pretty face could have been a serial killer.

What was she thinking? Why would she be so dumb to bring the murder weapon to a public place? Had she lost her mind? Maybe she was done with the last murder on her list. And now there was no fear left inside her.

I was confident enough to call 911. That would be the logical thing to do and also bring me instant fame. But, then, the writer inside stopped me. This was a great chance to observe an interesting character. Possibly a psycho character. This experience would be priceless and would be crucial in my future writings. So, I decided to hang on for a while.

Human emotions have always fascinated me.  I have always believed that real emotions are very difficult to disguise.

Every time I managed to have a good look at her, I could see a new expression showing up.

She had an intense look made equally vulnerable by the fear encompassed in her deep black eyes. She seemed conscious of the blue scarf lying beside her.

There was a tinge of nervousness. Of course, she knew what was going to happen. She would be caught eventually.

Then there was panic. She seemed to be calling someone frantically, but wasn’t getting connected. There might be someone out there to rescue her.

As she sipped her coffee, there were moments when a certain evil satisfaction was evident on her face. As if, she had just accomplished an important mission. As if, she just found a new meaning in her life.

And few moments later, as she looked at the knife beneath her scarf, anguish filled her eyes. As if, she was witness to the most painful thing moments earlier.

Was it just me who could really see through these Rainbow of Expressions?

All this while, I managed to avoid eye contact with her, lest she gets suspicious.

This went on for almost an hour. And then, it seemed as though she was about to leave.

That was it. I did what I was procrastinating for a while. I dialed 911. 

“I have to make sure she doesn’t leave in the next few minutes”, I pondered. What should I do? Luckily for me, a teenage girl came frantically from the other corner of the café. She looked nervous with excitement and started conversing with my suspect. I strained to hear their conversation but could not hear amidst the noise from all over the place.

Seconds later, another girl approached with a grin as she joined the ‘Suspect’ table. Of course, I was confused. These girls were dealing with a serial killer here. Police should be here anytime now. I could not do anything but wait.

But as a group of boys approached the suspect, I knew something was amiss. Immediately I ran over to the billing counter and asked if someone knew my suspect.

It turned out that my assumed ‘suspect’ was a budding TV actress, Sheena Thomas. She was a firm believer in method acting. She was playing the character of a psycho serial killer who comes regularly to Starbucks to choose her victims.

For the past few weeks, Sheena had been regularly coming over to Starbucks preparing herself for her role. She would disguise herself wearing different hair wigs and scarfs. And today, she was preparing for the last episode where she comes along with the murder weapon.

Of course, there was no blood on the knife. It was red paint.

Now I knew why I could witness the rainbow of expressions. She, indeed, was a great actress.

What the hell was I going to tell the police officer who was about to come? I guess my face would also portray a rainbow of expressions. 7 shades of embarrassment!!