"Where do you adjust the seat?" She strummed innocjavascript:;ently with her eyelashes. The officer looked nervously at Laila's thigh. "Between your ... er, under the seat." Laila leaned forward. The slim straps of her dress slipped over her shoulder. The officer was looking in a different direction.

Laila was increasingly enjoying this game. "I can not find the lever, if you were so kind?" She spread her legs slightly. Still staring intently in another direction, he groped under the seat for the lever. He touched the smooth skin of Laila's calf and pulled his fingers back as if he had touched a hot stove. "Sorry."

"I help you. " Laila groped under the seat as well, careful to bring her full cleavage near his head. "He has to be somewhere." Laila tried to make her voice sound serious. She leaned forward. Her breasts touched his shoulder. "Ah, there." Her fingers closed around his wrist. "No, just his watch."

Laila saw sweat glisten on his temples and blew him gently against his forehead. He looked at her. "I'll go." She gave him a flirty smile. "The keys are stuck." He straightened up. "Me too."

"You're welcome?"

"The keys of the Porsche."

"Oh yeah."

"I really have a huge appetite." Laila let her tongue flit over her lips. The officer stepped from one leg to the other, undecided. "At breakfast."

"Of course, please follow me." Laila grinned and turned the ignition key in the lock. The Dodge stuttered.

Grinning, Laila watched as her Porsche was doggedly driven into the street. The engine howled and Laila saw only the swirling cloud of dust as the officer gave strong gas. Should he let off steam, Laila thought, and stomped behind with the Dodge. Before the next intersection was the Porsche. Bravely, the officer drove ahead at the proper speed. They turned off the highway. Continuing past huge fields and pastures until they hopped on an uneven dirt road that made the suspension of the Dodge moan.

Laila looked anxiously at her Porsche and hoped that neither spoiler nor exhaust would be damaged. The officer stopped in front of a cute wooden hut, which snuggled close to the first trees of a huge coniferous forest. The light wooden planks stood out against the dark wood of the trees. The long branches of a huge fir seemed to reach for the hut like knobby fingers.

Laila had to bite her lip to keep from screaming. The officer had rammed a wooden sign into the ground next to the hut. In awkward letters there stood 'office' next to a sticker with police star. Laila opened the creaking door of the Dodge and got out.

The officer was still sitting in the Porsche, caressing the steering wheel. Laila put her arm on the windshield. "Well, was it nice?" Immediately he began to philosophise about speed momentum, acceleration, road holding and braking behaviour, while he looked at Laila with bright eyes.

She felt like Santa Claus at a solemn celebration. Laila let him babble. It was too nice. His childlike enthusiasm seemed so normal and innocent to her. That was a perfect start to a relaxing holiday.

Sighing, he finished his lecture. He looked at Laila in dismay. "Excuse me, I stammer like a toddler, I did not mean to bore you." He got out of bed and, embarrassed, rubbed his messy hair and increased the mess on his head.

Laila smiled at him. "Will Mrs. Officer cook us a coffee?" Laila thought he saw a shadow over his face. Only a moment, then it was over. He became serious. "I live alone."

"OK, where is the kitchen? I'm a true coffee bean virtuoso." He looked at her sheepishly. "Is also serviceable?" Laila clutched his chest theatrically. "That's below my dignity." He shrugged his shoulders. "Then you get the unique opportunity to enjoy the breakfast of a lonely bachelor, but first ..." He got serious. "... I check your papers."

"Very pragmatic." Laila pulled him up. "If something is wrong with me, at least save coffee powder ..." Indignant, he took a breath. "... and eggs and bacon Oh, Officer, please, I'm really hungry for a bear."

"Sorry, Mam. Duty works."

"You are on vacation."

"Well, ..." he hesitated. Then he stuffed the keys deep into his pocket. "You will not flee without your car, and you're not a wanted killer around the world, are you?" He laughed heartily at his joke. Laila, trusting in Benedict's talents and knowing that her false identity had withstood some scrutiny, looked at him conspiratorially. "You never know."

"You're right, first the papers, then a relaxed breakfast, okay?" Laila sighed. "Do I have a choice?"

They entered the hut. Laila looked around attentively. The cabin was small but cosy. At least it could have been, apart from the chaos that apparently only single men could cause. The officer was visibly embarrassed when they had to climb into the living room over several pieces of clothing scattered around the floor. "Please long here."

He lowered his eyes and red face paint as he passed, T-shirts and boxer shorts from the planks of the shiny wooden floor. Everywhere Laila saw thick balls of dust dancing through the breeze of their movements here and there. "Uh, my cleaning lady is on vacation." He was obviously embarrassed. "My office." He opened a door for Laila.

They entered a larger broom cupboard, where light fell on an old desk through a tiny window. The officer had to squeeze between the wall and the table to sit on the office chair. He motioned for Laila to sit down. She looked dubiously at the wobbly plastic chair in front of the desk and sat down carefully on it.

The officer put Laila's ID and her papers on the worn plastic surface and slammed the computer under the desk. Loudly the computer began to rattle. Laila looked doubtfully at the huge wreckage of screen that occupied almost half of the desk. An old 15 inch screen. Benedict would not even have tackled the museum-ready device with the pliers. The officer pounded on the keys and mumbled "Belinda Hammersfield."

"Do you also tell me your name, Officer?" He stared at the screen in concentration. "Robert Marshall" Laila coughed to drown her laughter. He rolled his eyes. "I know all the proverbs, nomen est omen, the name is program, self-fulfilling prophecy ... Do you have anything to add to that, lady?" Laila pressed her lips together and shook her head vigorously, but her eyes sparkled with laughter. He turned off the computer and returned her papers to Laila. "Everything alright. So, breakfast?"

Laila was surprised, actually he should have asked her a few questions after the review. People were always interested in their job as a therapist and wanted to know how to stay mentally healthy themselves when dealing with so much misery and despair. The officer apparently did not care, or did not want to waste more time on official business on his vacation.

Together, they entered his single kitchen and prepared a typical men's breakfast. Eggs, bacon, toast and Instandcoffee. Officer Marshall had to get the plastic chair out of his office so they could sit down together at the small kitchen table. Laila enjoyed the conversation with him and learned a lot about the village and its job. No 200 souls lived here. Tendency falling.

The offspring worked after attending school in the paper mill or fled to the city. Robert Marshall was preoccupied with retrieving runaway cattle, keeping coyotes out of chicken stables, or settling the drunken drunk in the pub and then preventing them from getting drunk into the car. All in all a pretty unspectacular job.

Laila listened. "There's a pub here?"

"Yes, it's about a 20-minute walk through the forest."

"Is there any good beer?"

"Well, the area is actually known for its whisky here."

"What's up with Officer Dick, may I call you Dick, right?"

"Nobody called me that since school."

"Good, Dick, what do you think about that? I'll revise myself for the sumptuous breakfast and invite you to the pub tonight." He opened his eyes in disbelief. "You want to go out with me?" Laila calmly studied her fingernails. "Why not? So I could look for a place to live in. Is the pub well visited?" Dick laughed drily. "He is well-attended, always the same usual suspects, you will hardly meet anyone who will offer you a bed without any ulterior motives."

Laila looked up in surprise. "How so?"

"Because you are by far the most attractive on two legs, which has ever entered this place. Since even our last year's prom queen looks like a withered wallflower, I can not let that happen." He jumped up and walked up and down in big steps. After just two meters, he was forced to change direction in the small kitchen. Suddenly he stopped and looked at Laila beaming.

"You'll stay with me for a few days, you'll sleep on the couch, no, I'll sleep on the couch after two or three days, you'll be sick and probably want to move on. " Laila did not think long. "Good, but only if I'm allowed to take over the leave for your cleaning lady. The food purchases go on my bill."

"Agreed." He smiled in a happy mood. "Man, they'll break their mouths if they see us both."

"There is one thing left." Laila got up and put his coffee cup in his hand. "I do not sleep with anyone under a roof I'm not with you Call me Linda." She pushed her cup against his. "OK Linda, I'm Dick." Laila grinned.

"That's not true." She took his face in both hands and kissed him firmly on the mouth. "Do you help me with my things?" She turned toward the exit. When he did not follow her, she looked back. "Dick?" Dick still stood rooted in the kitchen, running his fingers over his lips. "Di-i-ck?"

He looked at her with a stupid expression. He seemed to be somewhere else, far away. "Hm?"

"I have two travel bags in the car, are you helping me?"

"Oh, yes, of course." He stumbled toward Laila and stuck his foot in the plastic chair frame. Laila grinned, that would be a nice holiday start. When was Dick the last time with a woman? If he was as hungry as Laila, then auspicious days - and nights - would be waiting for her.