Her years at university were pretty great and she would always look back at them fondly. She made friends, even some good friends. She even made a best friend in Lahela who’d started the same year she did and was one of her dorm mates.
She had learned a lot from her classes and felt she’d made the right decision in her chosen course of studies. Olesia was now about a quarter of the way into her senior year and needed to make some decisions about where go or what to do upon graduation. To that end, she was now heading for the admin building to chat with her advisor, Mr. Brewer. He wasn’t the warmest of people but he hadn’t seemed to steer her wrong yet on course advice.
She arrived for her appointment about five minutes early and he wasn’t there yet so she sat outside his officer and waited. It’s a good thing she was fairly patient because he didn’t show up until 20 minutes past the appointment time.
He only nodded a greeting, unlocked his door and motioned her in. No apology for being late and keeping her waiting which irritated her a bit but she’d let it slide.
Mr. Brewer unlocked a filing cabinet and retrieved what she assumed was her student file and then sat down behind his desk.
“What’s up?” he asked brusquely.
“I’m starting to seriously consider my options upon graduation. What area of law enforcement I want to go into, etc. I would appreciate your advice,” she finished. She’d learned over the few years of dealing with Mr. Brewer that he liked straight facts and no “dithering” as he’d once said to her derisively.
Mr. Brewer nodded and looked over her file. “Your grades are pretty good, not exceptionally brilliant, but good. As far as I can see here, you’ve shown good attendance.” He looked up at her, “Do you have any preference for where you want to go?”
“I’d like to be able to find something that will take advantage of my psychology skills within law enforcement. But I’m not sure whether I can do that with a city police force. I’d probably have to go state or federal level?” she phrased that last as a question for Mr. Brewer.
He nodded, “You’d find a few opportunities at state level but I think you’d do well at Federal level. I happen to have some contacts in that direction at the FBI which I could tug on to see about a placement for you after graduation if you like,” he said.
She broke into a big smile and said, “That would be great, Mr. Brewer! Thanks so much! I promise I won’t let you down.”
He shrugged, only a very small smile skirted his lips as he said, “No promises yet and you’ll need to keep up the grades. It wouldn’t hurt to raise your GPA a bit more for this year.”
She nodded, “Of course. I’ll work really hard, Mr. Brewer.”
He then firmly scooted her out of his small office and took some time to review her file again, particularly the last report on her activities. He pulled out his cell phone and made a call, “Hey Phil. I just met with the Herron girl. She’s definitely up for recruitment and I think she’ll be a good candidate. No family, good grades, and doesn’t waste a lot of time with partying. As far as we know, she isn’t romantically involved with anyone. I just nudged her to work harder on her studies so that should keep her out of any trouble in that department. We don’t want her ‘falling in love’ with some schmuck at this late stage.” He listened to the reply on the other end and then said, “Fine, I’ll get her to follow procedure and formally apply to the bureau and then she’s all yours. Now, when am I getting brought back in and out of this hell hole where nothing happens?” he growled and then frowned at the response he got. “You know I’m not big on patience,” and then ended the call, smacking his phone face down on his desk with a muttered curse.
***
That evening Olesia and Lahela got together in her room to chat about their day. She was excited to share with Lahela about her meeting with Mr. Brewer.
“Wow, the FBI?” said Lahela with big eyes.
“Yeah, I know,” replied Olesia with a grin. “How exciting could that be? Mr. Brewer said no promises but wow, imagine if I could get into profiling for the FBI. How awesome that would be. They must have really great resources too.”
“If you did get a job with them, any idea where you’d be located?” asked Lahela with a suddenly sinking feeling in her chest. She didn’t want to lose her best friend.
“No idea,” she replied and correctly reading her best friend’s expression she said, “but don’t worry. Wherever it is, you could come with me. Just the two of us off to explore our new lives. Unless you’ve decided on something around here?”
Lahela shook her head, “No, no, nothing on that front. I haven’t really decided what I want to do with my life after graduation. My parents would like me to come home, marry a nice boy, and do nothing but make grandbabies for them,” she said and rolled her eyes.
Olesia laughed knowing her friend wasn’t anywhere near ready to settle down. “Tell you what, keep your options open and once I know where I’ll be going, you come with me and you can figure it out then.”
“But what about work and living expenses? You can’t support us both I wouldn’t think,” she said.
“Don't worry about it. I’m sure you can find even some part time work wherever we end up and money won’t be an issue for a bit. Once I graduate, I get control of my trust fund and I can afford to float us for a bit. You’ll find your feet, hon,” she said. “Now, off to bed. We both have an early class tomorrow.”
***
Thousands of miles away, dawn was breaking over the horizon. He was meticulously cleaning his tools and had already incinerated the clothing he’d worn for his work that night. He was a careful man about evidence or the lack of it that anyone would find. Later, he sat in his little rental house and enjoyed a superior glass of single malt; smiling as he relived in his mind his kills that night.
Yet, there was always that little nagging thought in the back of his head about the one that got away. She was still out there somewhere. He’d tried to find her over the years but she’d disappeared off the face of the earth as far as he would tell. It made him frown to think of her. He didn’t like the loose end to that bit of work.
He watched the sunrise and said softly to himself, “On day, little bird, I’ll find you and you’ll join your family at last.”
