Darkness Falls

by Melissa R. L. Simonin

  I admired my purse again and leaned forward and held it so Jenny could see.

  “That’s beautiful,” said Jenny, feeling of the soft leather. “I love the color, too.”

  “You aren’t likely to lose it anyway,” said Xander, glancing at the bright pink handbag.

  Jenny and I laughed. I love the color! I wouldn’t expect a guy to, though.

  “With the shoulder strap the length it is, it’ll go over my head and across my chest, so it won’t be slipping off my shoulder either,” I said.

  “Oh, yeah, I hate when that happens,” said Jenny.

  “Me too,” said Xander, and we girls laughed and rolled our eyes.

  “Are we boring you?” asked Jenny.

  “No, no,” said Xander. “I love hearing about shopping and purses! Let’s talk about shoes, next.”

  Jenny and I laughed again. It made me thankful that Miles doesn’t mind going shopping with me! Clearly not all husbands or husbands-to-be are that way.

  We reached our apartment building, and Xander parked the vehicle in the covered lot. We said hello to Steve on our way to the elevator. This time when he said he was fine, he was telling the truth.

  We walked down our hall, and Jenny unlocked her and Annette’s apartment door.

  “Do you want to hang out with us for a while?” asked Jenny.

  “Sure,” I said.

  “I can stay for a minute,” said Xander. “I’d like to know about what you learned in class today.”

  We went inside, and I set my purse and book bag on the entryway table, then we went to the living room.

  “Hi guys,” said Annette, looking up from the Bride magazine she was poring over. “How did today go?”

  “Interesting,” I said, as I sat down.

  “John isn’t here?” asked Xander, sitting on the couch with Jenny.

  “He’s at your place studying,” said Annette.

  I think we all wondered why he wasn’t studying here with Annette. Jenny and I did, anyway.

  “Apparently I distract him by talking at random,” Annette said.

  I’m sure I looked as surprised as Jenny did. I think my feelings would be hurt if Miles said that to me, and decided to study somewhere else.

  “It’s okay,” said Annette, laughing at our expressions. “John didn’t study at my place last year, either. He’ll come over when he’s done.”

  “Good,” I said. “I’m so used to how Miles studied over here all last year, I guess I thought that’s what every couple did.”

  “Me too,” said Jenny.

  “Yeah, we’re different that way. I think next year when we’re married, we’ll need to set up a bedroom as the office, so I don’t disturb him,” said Annette.

  “When you see some of the math problems John has to do for a couple of the classes he’s taking, it’s easier to understand,” said Xander. “The problems themselves are more than a page long.”

  “What? That’s crazy!” I said.

  “When would anyone even encounter a problem like that in real life?” wondered Jenny

  “We won’t, but if you were an engineer you might,” said Annette.

  “Okay, well I get it why he needs to be undistracted,” I said. “I can’t even keep track of counting if someone interrupts me.”

  “So what happened in class today?” asked Annette.

  I told everyone what happened from my perspective, and several times Xander chimed in with something he saw, that I missed. He was aware of the other students’ reactions, for one thing, and talked to several after class and throughout the rest of the day.

  “You mentioned on the way here that you had a sort of vision…” said Jenny.

  I hadn’t thought of it as a vision. I wasn’t sure that was correct. But then again, maybe it was.

  “I saw Rob Westin and Ryan Mead go on a camping trip the summer of 1996 after they graduated high school. It was shortly before college classes started. Rob killed Ryan. Premeditated, in cold blood. Then he disposed of the body, just as he’d planned. I saw this as if I was there. I heard everything, I even felt the breeze and smelled the pine trees.”

  “Are you serious?” exclaimed Xander.

  “Yes. I’m very serious. When it ended, I was back in class and no time had passed.”

  “I can’t even imagine…” said Annette. “But how horrible to have that memory! I can’t believe it, how calm you are about it! I wouldn’t be.”

  “I don’t have that memory exactly,” I said. “It isn’t a memory, it’s the truth. It didn’t become one of my memories, either. I have to want to see it, otherwise it doesn’t come to mind at all.”

  “Aw, man, this is crazy. I don’t know whether to envy you and Miles, or to be thankful I don’t have to navigate all this stuff myself!” said Xander.

  “I can’t even grasp what you’re describing,” said Jenny.

  “I’m not explaining it very well,” I said. “It’s… strange, and not like anything else, so it’s hard to find words to describe it accurately.”

  “That’s—that’s just amazing,” said Annette. “So do you have what you need to get this guy now, since you’ve seen this?”

  “I don’t know where it took place,” I said. “If I can figure that out, we can find a way… maybe we can give the information to our PI and he can go to the police, and keep us out of it.”

  “I can see why you wouldn’t want to be involved,” said Jenny.

  “Yeah. It wouldn’t make sense for the police to suspect me of having anything to do with it, I was only a couple of years old when it happened. Still, I can’t explain to them how I know what I do. It would be a big, complicated mess, so… we don’t want to appear involved in any way.”

  “Plus, if in the future you solve cases that involve a more recent crime, the police would be looking at you and Miles, possibly thinking you were attention seeking,” said Annette.

  “Right,” I agreed. “Miles knows firsthand how you can be completely innocent, and still be accused and pinned with a crime anyway. To have to deal with any of that, it would just be a waste of our time.”

  “So does this thing you saw help at all?” asked Xander.

  “Maybe. I’ll have to go over it and focus on every detail and see if I can figure out where they are, or something else that will lead to evidence,” I said.

  “How will you do that?” asked Annette.

  “It’s the truth, and truth doesn’t change. It isn’t a memory. So far, it’s just as sharp as it was when I first saw it.”

  “That’s—amazing,” said Xander. He looked from Annette to Jenny. “We have got the coolest friends in the world.”

  I laughed at that, as I glanced at the wall clock.

  “I better go. I don’t want Miles to get out of class and worry, when he doesn’t find me in our apartment.”

  “Okay,” said Jenny, as she and Xander stood to walk me out.

  “We’re going to watch you walk down the hall and lock yourself in,” said Xander. “Miles said to keep an eye on you until you did that, so we’re going to.”

  I didn’t laugh. He wasn’t trying to be funny, and it wasn’t funny that we were having to take precautions like this. After last year, though… and what had happened to Second-Miles… and after the truth I saw today… none of us were overreacting.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “We’ll see you tomorrow,” said Jenny.

  “Sounds good,” I said.

  I walked down the hall and let myself in our apartment and locked the door behind me. Chip and Trixie were both there to greet me.

  “I love all kinds of things about you guys,” I said, kneeling on the floor so I could pet them both. “One of those things, is that I can come home and know without a doubt, that no one’s been here that shouldn’t have been.”

  I stood and put away my lovely new purse and my book bag, then checked the fax machine just in case there was anything new about our island fortress. There wasn’t, and I made a face.
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  I looked at the clock on the mantle. I had about thirty minutes before Miles’ class would let out, so I decided to cook dinner. I had a recipe that Miles liked and it didn’t take long to fix.

  Forty minutes later, Trixie’s ears perked up. A few seconds after that, I heard Miles’ key turn in the lock. I was there to greet him before he got the door all the way open.

  “How was class?” I asked, as I hugged him.

  “It was fine,” Miles said, hugging me back. “Not the most interesting class in the world, but information that I think will benefit us.”

  I let go of Miles so he could set down his books and laptop.

  “It smells great in here,” he said, as I led him into the kitchen.

  “Thanks. It’s ready. Let’s eat, and I’ll go with you to walk the dogs. You kids can wait that long, can’t you?” I asked them.

  Chip lay on the floor and looked at me, but Trixie thought about it and then nodded once.

  “Thank you, Trixie. You’re such a good girl!” I said, as I spooned servings of the chicken and pasta dish onto two plates.

  Miles washed his hands, then helped me carry them to the table and pulled out a chair for me.

  “I’ve been thinking,” he said, as he sat down in the chair next to me.

  “About?” I asked, scooping up a forkful of the one-dish meal I’d prepared.

  “When you’re here at the apartment I don’t worry so much about you. We’ve got all sorts of security precautions after what happened last year.”

  Miles stopped to take a bite while I finished chewing, and looked at him in concern.

  “So you want to confine me to quarters?” I asked. Because that’s where it sounded like this was headed…

  “No,” Miles laughed. “And thank you for making dinner, this is very good, by the way. But no, I don’t want to confine you to quarters. What I was thinking though, is that I wouldn’t feel as secure about you if you were alone in a house. It’s not enough to know that the police will be alerted by a security alarm if someone breaks in. We experienced that for ourselves not that long ago, when you called for help and it didn’t arrive until several minutes after the shooting was over.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t think they’d ever get here,” I said, taking another bite of the pasta dish. It was good. I had to remember to thank Mom for that recipe book. “I know it wasn’t for lack of trying, but that was small consolation when we were being held at gunpoint. So what are you suggesting, stay here, rather than get a house?”

  “Yes, but I was thinking of putting in a garage on this end of the building, and having sort of a roof garden on top. We’d need to have a door put in the wall of our apartment to access it. That wouldn’t mean that the dogs would no longer get walked or taken to the dog park,” Miles said, reassuring a concerned Trixie. “However, it would mean we could sleep in on the Saturdays we stay in town. I know I’d appreciate having the option to let the dogs out by themselves, if you ever keep me up all night crying again.”

  I laughed and wadded up a napkin and tossed it at him. Miles smiled, and instead of reaching him, the napkin floated across the kitchen and threw itself away. Night, who had wandered in for a drink of water, saw the wad of paper sailing through the air and leaped as high as he could. Taking a swipe at it, he followed it right into the trash can.

  Miles and I laughed, and Miles fished Night out.

  “Good thing you took the trash out and we put a clean bag in this morning,” I said, as Night scampered out of the kitchen, thoroughly embarrassed. I’m sure he was glad his sister didn’t see that!

  “He got off a lot easier than you did when you tried to fish that cat out of the dumpster behind the Cedar Oaks grocery store,” smiled Miles.

  “Oh, that was horrible! Don’t remind me!” I wailed. “I had to wash my hair like ten times to get the smell out. If it wasn’t below freezing, Mom would have hosed me off before letting me in the house. And she was not happy about how the car smelled!”

  Miles laughed. Hard. For longer than I felt was appropriate, considering what an ordeal it had been. I couldn’t help it though, I laughed a little too.

  “You have good reflexes,” I finally said, changing the subject to something more serious. “I’m glad, the times you’ve used them to save me, are adding up.”

  “After today, I’m so glad I didn’t put all of my faith in Xander being able to protect you. No matter how good his intentions, he couldn’t have prevented what almost happened.”

  “I’m so glad you didn’t, either,” I said. “I remember thinking I couldn’t be safer than in a roomful of other students, but I wasn’t accounting for the fact that there’s something not right about this guy. It’s like he’s not afraid of consequences.”

  “That makes him very dangerous. I’m so glad you’re dropping the class,” Miles said.

  “I am too.”

  “It sounds like a lot of students are,” said Miles, and he smiled. “I overheard a group of students on my way out of class this evening. One of them suggested that perhaps he was confused and thought he was supposed to demonstrate abnormal psychology, instead of teach sociology.”

  I laughed, and Miles did too.

  “He hasn’t gained the popularity that he had at his previous college,” I said. “If Cecilia went here, then maybe she wouldn’t have been run out of town, it might have been the other way around.”

  “Part of that has to do with you,” said Miles. “Pretend-Mead picked the wrong girl as his target. You’ve got a lot of friends, a number of whom were taking the class with you. They’re loyal. They remember all of the hosting you and Jenny did at your apartment, last year. They remember what a good friend you are. You’re very likeable, if I haven’t mentioned that lately. I feel happy just by being around you, and I think you do the same thing for most other people. According to our PI, you’re a completely different kind of girl than this guy usually targets, and it backfired on Pretend-Mead. Strange how he diverted from his usual routine.”

  “At first it was how I looked, he called me Audrey several times. He was also looking for a challenge, so when I rejected him he became fixated. He has to win, remember. He found out from Delia that I’m married, and what you and I have been through together, and how much we love each other. What greater challenge could there be than to win me away from you. He overestimated himself, and underestimated us. He ended up covered in scalding coffee, he’s going to lose his job here, and I’m going to see that he goes to prison!”

  I was trying to stay calm, but I was boiling mad inside at what he wanted to do! It was one of those truths I got, but it locked away like the others, and didn’t come forward until Miles said what he did just now.

  Miles was silent for a second.

  “I… am so glad you’ve never been this mad at me, and I hope you never are,” he said. That made me laugh.

  “I was! When you boycotted me on weekends.”

  Miles laughed.

  “I forgot about that! But you were spending too much time with me, and not enough with other people, especially your family.”

  “I know, and you were right. You were thinking of what was best for me and not what I wanted most, which was to move into the estate and spend every second I could with you, before we found proof and you left forever. I am so glad that isn’t what happened after all.”

  “Me too, dear,” said Miles.

  We finished eating and cleaned the kitchen. Then, we took our very patient dogs for a walk.

  The sun was setting and the clouds in the west were dappled brilliant shades of pink, orange, and purple. Only a few birds were singing.

  As we walked, we came to an adorable little house. It looked as if it came straight out of a fairytale. The front yard was a profusion of colorful flowers, held in check by the white picket fence. The house itself was a single story with white clapboards and dark green shutters. It was smaller than the guest house at the estate.

  “I’d love flowers on our roof garden, if w
e decide to put one in,” I said, admiring the beautiful garden as we passed by.

  “I don’t see why we can’t do that,” smiled Miles.

  “How is the hunt for the new accountant?” I asked. “Did the company that did the audit have any to suggest?”

  “Yes. I narrowed down the list, and now I need to start setting up interviews. Maybe you’d want to come with me.”

  Miles stopped in his tracks, and the rest of us did too.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Yes. Absolutely, come with me! Do you realize what an asset you are in so many ways? What better way to know if an applicant is honest and has the necessary experience for the job, than for you to listen to the answers they give to my questions?”

  “Oh my goodness, this is so perfect!” I said. “I was wondering how we’d know we weren’t getting into another situation like we were before. A lot of temptation comes with this position, after all.”

  “I’m fairly confident in my ability to judge character, but you’re foolproof,” said Miles, as we continued on our walk.

  We didn’t wear the dogs out, but they were adequately exercised by the time we got back to our apartment. The dogs put their leashes away, Miles sorted through the mail and made phone calls, and I straightened up and put a load of laundry in to wash.

  Once I’d done everything I could possibly think of to do, I sat on the couch with the book I was reading. It wasn’t long before I had a gray panther-kitty on my lap. I was thankful for the protection the couch throw offered, because Night was in a kneading mood. Pandora wandered in and looked at the couch, then at me.

  “Sorry kitty, but he’s working. He’ll be here when he’s through.”

  She thought about that, then hopped into a recliner and curled up.

  I was deep in my book when Miles sat beside me, nearly sending me through the roof.

  “Oh my goodness, I did not know my heart could beat this fast!” I exclaimed, breathing hard to keep up with it.

  “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” said Miles. “What in the world are you reading?”

  “Matthew Davis’ latest book,” I said.