The Last Snowfall

Jessica spoke, “The last thing I’ll see is the snow falling!”

She paused a moment as the snow under her became red and spread out around her. But that’s the end of the story. How did she get to this place in time?

It started a few hours ago.

She sat in a bar sipping on a ginger ale and cherry juice. The last thing she needed was a drink, but she was meeting someone, someone she met on those dating apps. He seemed nice on paper, and she did a shallow dive into his past and found nothing. She should have done the deep dive; she would have been better off.

“Hi, I’m Jessica.” Careful to leave off her surname in case she needed to leave before the end of the date.

“I’m Jackson. I like the profile, we have a lot of similar interests.” Jessica eyed him. Her profile was rather sparse. What was he talking about?”

Jackson said, “I also like hiking, and I am a big fan of night hikes. The nocturnal critters that you see are amazing.” OK, now she was wondering. A few weeks ago, she commented on a friend’s social media post, almost using the exact words.

Jackson said, “So, first off, call me Jack. Second, what do you do for a living?”

Inwardly, she grinned. There was no way she would tell him her real job: “I work for the city, nothing amazing or interesting.” She paused, “How about you?”

He grinned, “By day, I manage a construction office, and at night, I consider myself a pretty fair movie buff.”

“I enjoy movies as well, Science Fiction mostly, but pretty much any movie where I can fall into the story and see it and experience it like I’m there.”

“I know the feeling.” A server appeared and said, “I’ll have a scotch, Macallan 18, please, double, on the rocks.”

She walked away, and Jessica considered a drink herself, but she saw in his face that he assumed she had an alcoholic beverage already, since he said nothing.

Jack asked, “What are you drinking?”

She had no intention of telling him it was a non-alcoholic beverage. She was starting to get a bad vibe and could not put her finger on it. She replied, “Something my father used to drink.” She changed the topic, “Have you been here before? It looks like a nice little place.”

“I have not, and you’re right. It seems to be a quaint little neighborhood bar.”

Jessica’s phone buzzed, and he noticed, “A friend checking up on you?”

“In a way. Gloria has taken me on as a project. She thinks I need to be married or something.” She told him, hoping he would buy the lie. In reality, it was her partner on the other side of the room watching.

Someone has been killing women on dating apps for more than a month, two a week, and the two of them have been on multiple dates trying to see if they could catch this person. Jessica got the vibe from him that something was wrong.

“Maybe the three of us can have a drink one night?” He said.

“Good idea. I’ll ask when her and David are free.”

“Excellent!” Jack said. A moment later, his drink appeared, and he took a sip. “This is my absolute favorite scotch.”

“Not a fan of scotch, I prefer my drinks mixed.” She tapped the glass, alluding to the falsehood it contained spirits.

“I’ll be back in a minute.” She said and walked to the ladies’ room.

As soon as she was out of sight, Jack removed a small vial from an inside pocket, poured it into her drink, and replaced the now-empty vial in the hidden pocket.

A minute later, Jessica returned and sat. Her phone buzzed.

“Gloria, again?”

“Yep.”

“What is it this time?”

“Just a smily face, so evidently she is happy with my decision to go out tonight.”

He thought for a minute the jig was up, but felt satisfied she was clueless that the ‘medication’ was in the drink, and soon he would be able to stagger her out of the bar and deposit her in his car.

A second later, Gloria walked from her vantage point, and Jessica stood and greeted her as if they had not seen each other in a while. After a lot of rehearsal, they practiced exchanging glasses. Jessica’s half-full glass with Gloria’s half-full glass. Jack was annoyed and looking around, apparently embarrassed by the spectacle of the two friends meeting, hugging, and screaming.

“I need to run, doll. My date is bringing the car around.” They hugged again, “Ta ta!”

Jessica sat and looked at Jck, “I have not seen her in a long while.” With that said, she finished off her glass.

Jack grinned. The game has begun.

Jessica stood and held her head, and walked towards the door, and Jack was right there, apparently supporting her in her alcohol filled state.

As they walked out into the cold night, it had begun to snow, and the ground was covered with several inches of the most beautiful snow.

Jessica tripped, and Jack fell hard. He looked up at her in surprise. She should not have been able to stand, let alone knock him to the ground.

“Slipped something in my drink, huh? Did you really believe I did not see the liquid level of my glass apparently increase?”

“But you drank it? You should be completely fucked up!”

“I took the antidote.” She said as she took a few steps back that he was getting back to his feet. “That smily face meant you slipped something into my drink.”

As he made it all the way standing, he pulled a huge knife from somewhere. “You are coming with me!” He ordered.

“Not happening,” Jessica said.

Jack took a few steps in her direction, and she backpedaled, and in her hand appeared a pistol. Before she could point it in his direction, the knife made contact with her left side. The pain was unbelievable.

She pushed him away, hard, and he stumbled back, not realizing she had a gun in her right hand. He jumped up and lunged in her direction, flipping the knife over with the intent to stab and kill her. As he approached, she fired two rounds.

The shock and surprise on his face were incredible. He stood there for what seemed an eternity, then fell straight back and landed on his right side, looking directly at her.

“I am Detective Jessica Vance, and you are under arrest for attempted murder.”

The last words he said were, “This should have worked! The drug was in your system.”

Jessica replied, “I guess I’m just smarter than you.”

He stopped breathing, and the bar patrons ran out to see what was happening in the parking lot.

She saw Gloria running toward her and looked around.

Jessica whispered, “The last thing I’ll see is the snow falling!” She closed her eyes and said so softly, nearly no sound coming from her mouth, “I can live with that!” And that last thought made her smile as she passed out, knowing she now knew full well what her expiration date was and was satisfied her death meant no other woman would be tortured and killed by Jack. A serial killer. Gloria would see to it that he was exposed.

Gloria held the knife wound with her hand as the ambulance arrived. Jessica was still breathing; Gloria made sure of it and, with sheer willpower, kept her breathing. She did not come to, but Gloria asked the EMT, who said it was a nasty stab wound, but it does not appear to be fatal.

Their boss arrived, the ambulance left, the patrons all returned to the warm, safe inside, leaving just the two of them standing in the parking lot.

“Did she say anything before she passed out?” Captain Frank Marconni asked.

“She did,” pausing a moment, “She said she could live with the fact that the last thing she saw was the snowfall.”

Frank turned his head a few degrees, looking directly at her.

Gloria said, “I love watching the snow fall as well.”

They walked out of the parking area, the red now covered with fresh white snow. Like it never happened. She had already placed the glass and its contents into evidence, but it was no longer a priority. The killer was stopped, and she was heading to the hospital to be with her friend.

She sat in her car and looked out the front window, “I really do love looking at the snow falling. It’s so peaceful.”