A SLIVER OF the moon was all that illuminated their spot at the end of the parking lot. A cave would have offered better light as the burned-out streetlamp hanging above the car provided nothing. The absence of light suited Matt Pawsloski and Melissa Thomas just fine.

They had arrived around nine o’clock and parked at the far end of the lot, relieved to see theirs was the only car. If Matt rolled down his window, they could hear the roar of Hog’s Back Falls and the bravado of teenagers shouting somewhere nearby. He shut off the car but left the window down a crack. Just enough to provide a breath of air in the humid Ottawa night while muffling most of the outside noise.

Matt unknotted his tie. It produced a zipping sound as he yanked it from his shirt collar and tossed it on top of the light gray suit jacket draped across his briefcase in the back seat. He had removed the jacket earlier in the evening when he left the office. The suit and tie fit his upwardly mobile path at the legal firm where he worked downtown. Shortly, he would have his law degree, but by watching others of lesser capabilities progress in the firm, he learned that being seen in the office by the bosses after hours was almost as important as the work he produced. Besides, he needed to confirm the identity of the person responsible for an irregularity at the office and waiting until others left afforded the best opportunity. He had stayed late, which suited Melissa since she worked beyond her scheduled shift end of eight o’clock.

Matt reached for Melissa’s hand as they sat in silence for a few minutes. She was jittery, shuddering at the sound of a sewer hole cover clattering as a passing car on the street drove over it. She leaned across the center console in the Camry to be closer to Matt. A mosquito buzzed around her head until it made a fatal miscalculation and landed on her arm where she swatted it.

She said, “I hate this, Matt. It’s too dark and creepy, and this car is so uncomfortable. I feel like a teenager stealing a few minutes with her boyfriend.”

Matt’s annoyance showed as his lips scarcely moved.

“Well dear, I guess it’s partly true. I am your boyfriend. What else can we do? We can’t rent a hotel room every night, and there’s no time to drive to my place. Your husband wouldn’t appreciate it if we used your bedroom.” His tone softened as he changed the subject. “Speaking of your husband, what’s Gary doing tonight?”

Melissa gazed into Matt’s eyes. Her hesitation signaled her discomfort with the subject. Finally, she said, “He went to a friend’s place. Just a bunch of guys getting together like they always do. You’re right, I can’t be too long. Besides, you seem edgy.”

Matt leaned to pull Melissa closer and brushed her lips with his.

He said, “I’m sorry, some things at work are bothering me. Things I’d rather not talk about yet. When are you going to leave him? You know he stormed into the office and threatened to kill us? In the office! Good thing I wasn’t there. You’ve been talking about leaving him for weeks, but I don’t think it will ever happen.”

Melissa pulled back, saying, “It will happen. The time just has to be right. If he ever caught us, he would kill us. He’s got a terrible temper when he’s mad. You know that, right?”

“I heard about his temper when he came into the office. It’s all the more reason to leave him. Does he have a job yet?”

Melissa shrugged and blew air through her lips before responding. “He says no one in town is looking for chefs right now. He’s pretty picky, but eventually, he’ll have to take something, even if it’s in a fast-food restaurant. We had a tremendous fight about him not working the other night. It was so loud, the police came.”

A fleeting smile crossed Matt’s lips as he said, “That must’ve been something. Now, there isn’t another car in the parking lot. It’s just you and me, so let’s make the best of it.”

Melissa snuggled close to Matt again for a moment before jerking upright again, saying, “What if a police car shows up? They must patrol the parks.”

Matt’s head dropped back in exasperation. “Oh my God, Melissa. You worry too much.” He pulled her closer to continue what they started. He found her lips again and kissed her intensely as he unbuttoned the top of her blouse. His words were a whisper. “The way I feel, we won’t be here long. Let’s get into the back seat. This console is in the way.”

His fingers found the inside of Melissa’s lacy bra as she draped her arms around his neck.

The lights of a car turning into the parking lot reflected off the facets of Melissa’s diamond ring. The vehicle crept past their parking spot before doing a deliberate, meandering U-turn and pulling in on the opposite side. Shallow breathing was the only sound in Matt’s car as he peered through his back window, but the other vehicle’s tinted glass obscured the driver’s face. Eerie shadows cast by the moon danced across the asphalt as tree limbs rocked gently in the breeze. Matt shivered involuntarily, but he tried to hide it from Melissa.

Melissa sat back and whispered, as if the other driver could hear, “I told you the police might patrol the park.” Her voice was frantic. “We had better go, Matt.”

“Melissa, it’s not a police car and I have never seen them drive an unmarked Mercedes. That car is expensive. It’s probably just some old guy hiding from his wife. Or maybe the driver stopped to make a phone call. Even if it is the police, we’re consenting adults, so they won’t do anything. Let’s just wait a bit and see if he leaves.”

They used the next few minutes to discuss their future, ever watchful of the other car. The tension in Melissa’s body eased, comforted as she was by Matt’s words. She wasn’t a stunning beauty, but the smile that came readily to her face, and the dimples it created, attracted Matt from the beginning. She found the humor in anything, tonight being an exception. He found that incredibly attractive. The first time they met, when she patched him up in the hospital after a bicycle accident, the smile and her sense of humor drew him like metal to a magnet. She made him laugh by emphatically imagining a curb leaping in front of his bike at the last second. It took his mind off the pain. He noticed her wedding band only after he asked her out for coffee, and she accepted. He wondered if she took it off when she worked, but he never asked. The affair had been ongoing for months.

Her hands ran nervously through her hair as she talked about leaving her husband, but she continually glanced over Matt’s shoulder to see if the dark car had moved. Matt listened as she talked. He had heard it all before, and he didn’t actually believe it. Melissa was too timid to walk out on her husband. She was too afraid of what her husband might do if she left him. But he listened, nodding at the right time, and deliberately, tantalizingly, letting his fingers wander under her skirt.

Melissa stopped him. She said, “Matt, listen to me. I have a plan this time. We will be together. I’m going to leave him.”

Her voice trailed off as a sharp knock on the window startled them. Neither had noticed the man approaching from the black Mercedes. It wasn’t a hand knocking. It was something metallic rapping against the glass that set both their hearts racing. Melissa gasped. Matt turned to peer at the intruder, but a piercing flashlight beam blinded him. He threw one arm up to block the light while he pressed the button to roll down the power window. Nothing happened because he had turned off the car.

It didn’t matter.

The last sight either would see was the flashlight beam and the flash from the barrel of a gun. Melissa died first as the blast from the man’s weapon pierced the glass and the bullet struck her in the forehead. She slumped against the passenger door. Matt died right after as the next bullet entered his heart, interrupting the scream forming in his throat. The gunman shot them each twice more for good measure.

The killer shoved the gun into his waistband and listened to the night as he strode to his car as if nothing had happened. Dogs barked in the distance, disturbed by the sound of the gun. The boisterous teenagers had gone quiet, either trying to identify the noises or running the other way. A smile danced across the man’s lips. He started the car and drove away into the humid Ottawa night.