“But your fear makes you doubt him?”
She nodded, looking miserable.
“Well, is there anything that you’ve seen at home, or anything that Paul has done that makes you more suspicious?”
“You mean like hide a bloody shirt in the bottom of the laundry basket?”
“I didn’t want to get that graphic, but yes.”
We both chuckled, more to relieve the tension than to make light of the situation.
“No, I haven’t.”
“Good. Then let’s believe in Sheriff Norwood’s ability to catch his man. As Paul’s wife, you believe in him until you have reason not to. That’s your position, right?”
She squared her shoulders and sniffed. “You’re right. After all, we have our son to think about too, and he loves his daddy. I do too.”
“Meanwhile, maybe convince him to get back into the anger management classes.” I hoped she wouldn’t be offended at the suggestion, and she didn’t seem to be.
She smiled for the first time. “You’re right. If I don’t, I just might be driven to lengths I don’t want to go to with that man.”
We chuckled again, and then, feeling somewhat better, we ordered lunch and chatted about her son and about her thoughts on going back to school. She enjoyed working in the library but of late, wanted something new and different. I voiced my opinions quite freely on radical changes to one’s life to both lift one’s spirits and to give purpose. At the end of our chat, we were on good terms, and I felt I had gained yet another new friend in Briney Creek.
I left the restaurant a short while later and headed to the used bookstore. I wanted to see Inna. I happened to know she had work that afternoon, and I hoped to cheer her as much as possible. As I neared the store, my cell phone rang, and I pulled it out. Edna phoned. I kept moving since the temperature was so brisk, but I answered.
“Hi, Edna.”
“Makayla.”
I paused. “You sound upset. Is everything okay?”
“I’m fine, dear. It’s just that an old friend contacted me. I’m afraid I’m going to have to put off working with Peony.”
“Oh, no, I’m sorry.”
I could just see her pouting. “That darn Talia will just love this, but I can’t ignore a friend in need.”
“No, you can’t. Do I know her? Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No, thank you, dear. She doesn’t live in Briney Creek anymore. A long time ago, Margot lived in Hillrise with her family, but after she got married, she moved away. I’m going to make arrangements to go to her tomorrow, but I wanted to let you know I wouldn’t be around for a little while so you don’t worry.”
“Ah, thanks, Edna. I so appreciate you letting me know. Safe travel, and I would love it if you called me or even texted once you get there so I know you’re fine.”
“I will do that. You make an old lady feel loved.”
“I do love you, Edna. Help your friend all you can, but come back to Briney Creek as soon as you can. I’ll miss you.”
Edna blew me a kiss and giggled. “I’ll be back to bake you lots of goodies. That reminds me. Poor Margot can’t cook a lick. I’ll have to go to the grocery store to buy ingredients for cake to take with me. Hm, maybe I should leave you with something too.” Her voice trailed off as she considered all she had to do, and I waited for her to remember me in some amusement.
After muttering to herself a few minutes, Edna came back on the line. “I think for Margot, I will make my upside down apple pie. She likes that, and she loves vanilla ice cream.”
My sweet tooth perked up. “Upside down? I’ve never heard of that.”
“No? Then I’ll have to make it for you too. Check! More apples.”
I laughed. “Edna, give me a total price, so I can bring by the money. I don’t want you spending so much on me.” Notice I didn’t say no, Edna, don’t go to all that trouble. You and I both know that would never pass my lips. I was an addict after all.
“Nonsense. What else will I do with my money?”
“Edna.”
“I’ll not hear another word about it, Makayla. I already have you down for upside down apple pie. Is there another dessert you want me to leave you?”
“No, no, I concede. I think my thighs can’t bear more.” With those words said, I first looked down at the offending columns atop my knees and calves then over my shoulder as if I expected Beautiful Nu U to be looming at me, threatening to drag me into its caverns and put me on the elliptical. The last experience with that particular machine still haunted me. Since I had already turned off of Main Street, I was safe. Thank goodness.
Edna and I talked a little more where she shared details about her friend and how she was having troubles in her marriage. I felt sorry for the unknown woman, almost feeling like there was no hope in good relationships anymore. Edna, in the funny and eternally happy way she had, lifted my spirits, and I promised to have lunch with her at her home when she returned.
When I disconnected with Edna, I had almost reached the used bookstore where Inna worked. The door opened to the little establishment before I reached it, and Isabelle strode out with Inna following. I stopped, hesitant because I wasn’t sure if they were busy. Isabelle unlocked a car at the curb and walked around to the driver’s side. Inna climbed in looking unhappy and confused. Isabelle joined her behind the wheel, started the engine, and pulled out into the street. Neither had seen me. I sighed and turned around to head back the way I had come. Maybe I would ask Spencer to check into Isabelle’s background to be at least reasonably sure she wasn’t a dangerous person.
Chapter Seventeen
I was out and about again, having refused to stay indoors. With each day that passed and no new leads, I was getting antsy. So, it seemed, was Spencer. The couple times I had spoken with him on the phone, he had been short. “Nothing new, Makayla,” he had said. “And don’t start questioning patients again.”
“Who me?” I’d infused my voice with an innocent smile. Spencer had not fallen for it, and I ended up causing myself to be lectured for almost half an hour. Apparently, that darn Ollie told Talia who told Spencer that I had continued my interviews.
“If you don’t stay out of police business, Makayla,” Spencer had threatened, “I will have no choice but to arrest you.”
“You wouldn’t dare when I haven’t done anything wrong.”
In no uncertain terms, he left me with the impression that nothing and no one, least of all someone as “hard-headed” as I was, would get in the way of his investigation. Well I never! So I had to endure the lecture, promise to cease and desist, and plan my next attack.
For that evening though, as I left my apartment, I had no direction. Most of the patients I contacted had alibis. Most were distraught to learn what Dr. Bloomberg had been doing, and some I couldn’t read at all. Spencer was right. I wasn’t a detective, nor did I have the skill some had which was an ability to distinguish between a lie and the truth.
Frustrated, I had determined when the evening air turned unseasonably warm at a wonderful sixty-five degrees, to take to the streets to clear my head.
Traffic had died down to one car every now and then along Main Street. When I had walked a mile in the direction of my studio—shocking isn’t it?—I neared the gym and saw that the lights were on. I thought back to Spencer’s and my discovery of just what went on after hours at that place and blushed. Since it was still early though, I assumed the activity must be evening exercise.
“Makayla,” someone called, and I turned around. At the end of the street, just exiting David’s jewelry store, were Inna and Isabelle. Isabelle offered a bright smile and waved, heading toward me. Inna shuffled less than enthusiastically behind her. When Isabelle reached me, she gave me a hug. “Hello, there. Out enjoying this wonderful weather, I presume?”
“Yes, I thought I might as well. Nothing’s getting done inside.” I shifted my gaze from her to Inna. “Inna, sweetheart, are you okay? I wanted to talk to you afte
r the funeral, and I didn’t get a chance to. Did you know Lissa well?”
Inna frowned, anger flashing in her gaze. “As well as anybody in this town. She was a decent person.”
I hugged her, but I sensed her close off from me. The frown remained on her face. “It can be hard to deal with something like this, especially when it comes so soon after…” I didn’t care to complete that sentence. No one needed to be reminded only three months had passed since Alvin Aston’s murder. “I know. Why don’t you come over to my place tonight? Both of you. We can have a girl’s night. It’s the weekend, and I don’t have any clients tomorrow. How’s that?”
Isabelle smiled. “Me too? How sweet of you, Makayla. I would like that. You and I can get to know each other better. How about you, Inna?”
We both looked at Inna, but her phone rang, which she had been holding in her hand. She glanced at the screen and rolled her eyes. “Hang on.” She answered. “What? Jeez, Mom, I’m eighteen. Yeah. Huh?”
Inna strolled off a little ways, still talking on the phone. Isabelle and I waited patiently for her. Today, Inna wore high-top black sneakers that laced all the way up to her knees. Along with them, she had worn a pink pencil miniskirt and a long-sleeved stretchy pink top.
Picking at a spot of something on the shirt, she wandered between parked cars to the edge of the street and leaned on one of them.
“You care deeply for her,” Isabelle said.
I looked at Isabelle. “She’s my friend.”
“Yes, but you see her sort of as a sister, like the one you lost.”
I blinked. “How do you know about Diana? Did Inna tell you?”
“She mentioned her.”
“To answer your question, yes. I think of Inna as a little sister, and maybe it’s because I lost Diana.”
“You won’t lose Inna.”
Her words took me by surprise. “You say some odd things, and Inna thinks you’re a witch. Oh, I shouldn’t have said that. It sounds mean, and I know she likes you.”
Isabelle chuckled and held up her hands. “I’m not offended.”
I noticed she didn’t deny she was a witch. Maybe she didn’t think such a ridiculous statement needed denial, or she could be deluded into believing it herself. Recalling I had just invited the two of them to my house and that I had zero food, I determined I’d better stop by the grocery store. Maybe they might like to go with me, and we could make the selection of food and snacks the start of our party.
I signaled to Isabelle to follow and headed over to where Inna stood just as she disconnected her call. Her mood after speaking with her mother seemed to have plummeted further.
“I know how to fix that frown,” I told her, leaning on the car parked behind the one Inna rested on. “Ice cream. Edna brought me this amazing upside down apple pie that is evilly good.”
“Evil?” Isabelle chuckled, joining us.
“Yes!” My enthusiasm grew. “You have to try it, especially because if you don’t, I will eat the rest of it all by myself. Say you will save my life.”
Isabelle raised three fingers like a boy scout and grinned. “That’s why I’m here, ma’am.”
We both laughed.
“I need to pick up some items from the grocery store though. Do you ladies mind joining me?”
Inna shrugged. “I’ve got nothing better to do.”
“Don’t sound so enthusiastic.” I hugged her. “I promise to talk your ear off with inane drivel all night.”
“Dude, I’ll eat the pie,” Inna teased, and I shook my head.
“I left my car back at the house,” I said.
“No problem.” Isabelle pointed to a car across the street. “That’s mine. We can save the extra trip.”
“Sure, thanks.” I started out across the street with Inna a step behind me. Isabelle was close but still between the parked cars. I’m pretty sure I saw her tense out of the corner of my eye. Seconds after, she called out my name at the same time that tires screeched along the street. I spun to face the sound, but all I saw were headlights shining out of the darkness and bearing down on me.
Inna screamed. I was stuck and unable to move. A hand curled around my arm and jerked me and Inna backward. We tumbled in a heap to the ground. The narrow space between the cars causing us to almost pile atop each other.
The tires screeched again, but this time they were far down the road and turning a corner. With my heart pounding, I crawled out of the pile and stood. “Inna, Isabelle, are you okay?”
I turned to face them. Isabelle’s hand was to her chest, her fingers quivering a bit. When Inna had trouble standing, I bent to help her. She clutched my arm, and I realized she shook from head to toe. Her eyes were wide with fright, and I dragged her to me.
“It’s okay now,” I whispered. “We’re safe.”
I was just as frightened as Inna, but with her to care for, I managed to at least appear calm.
“Did anyone see that car?” I asked.
Isabelle’s expression was grim. “I did.”
“What did it look like?” I urged her. “Who was driving?”
I didn’t expect Isabelle to know who the driver was being she was just visiting, and with the dark night there was no telling if she could make out what kind of car it had been. For myself, all I might be able to tell is it was a vehicle. I know, quite helpful.
“W-who was it?” Inna asked, still trembling in my arms.
“I don’t know who,” Isabelle said, “but the car was a Camaro, a red Camaro.”
My heart plummeted into my toes. I knew who drove a car like that, and I knew Inna knew. We had all been standing there in the rain after Lissa’s funeral when Paul Jacobs drove up to the church in his candy apple red Camaro.
I would never had believed it if Isabelle hadn’t seen the car. For that matter I had seen it, swerving deliberately from the middle of the road toward us. We escaped by a hare’s breadth, and even the car had escaped collision with the parked vehicles. We were lucky to be alive.
“I have to call Spencer,” I said mechanically. Somehow I extricated myself from Inna’s hold to get my phone out of my purse. “Inna, you might want to call your mom.”
She didn’t respond.
I dialed Spencer, and he came on the line right away. “Hello,” he said in his wonderfully deep voice, which I couldn’t enjoy at that moment. “I thought I wouldn’t hear from you.”
“There’s been an incident, Spencer.”
“What type of incident?”
“We were almost run down.” I drew in a shaky breath. Saying it out loud brought the emotions tumbling to the foreground when I had begun to calm. “I think we might need you to come, or we need to come to the station.”
“Where are you, Makayla?” He sounded like he was already on the move.
I told him, and anger and concern radiated in his voice. “Go to Zekey’s. Stay there, stay together. I’m on my way.”
I was about to tell him we would talk to him in the morning, but he disconnected the call, and we were stuck waiting. Spencer, to his credit, banged through the door into the restaurant not five minutes later. I saw the worry in his gaze, but then he was all professional.
“Are you sure it was Paul’s car?” he asked Isabelle.
“Positive, I’m afraid. White phoenix on the hood.”
“Makayla, Inna?” he prompted.
We gave our statements. Spencer took notes. All I wanted was to get home and close my eyes. My energy of a short while ago had drained away, and I knew I didn’t have the ability to lead the party we had planned.
“Who are you?” Spencer demanded rather rudely.
I paused in rubbing my temple to recall we hadn’t introduced Isabelle. She spoke for herself before I could. “I’m Isabelle Givens from Summit’s Edge, North Carolina. My brother is the chief of police there. You are free to contact him to verify.”
Isabelle spoke all of this in a pleasant manner as if she hadn’t just been a part of what happened. I recalled in
that moment how she seemed to have anticipated the accident and wondered if she indeed was a witch. Then I dismissed such silly thoughts.
“I will do that,” Spencer said, writing down her name. “Thank you.”
Spencer asked a few additional questions of us, and then he allowed us to go home. Inna had phoned her mother with reluctance, and Allie Kate arrived in a fervor of worry and fear. Inna was shuffled into her mother’s car and whisked away before I could say good night.
Next, Isabelle assured Spencer she would stick around until he verified her identity. “Am I in some kind of trouble, sheriff?”
“No,” he said, “not at this time.”
She took his gruffness in stride, and accepted a police escort, one of Spencer’s officers, to the inn where she was staying. I was left with Spencer, and he saw me home. He waited while I walked inside and stood in my living room. “I would like to come back after I’ve gone to Paul’s.”
I didn’t hesitate. Truthfully, I didn’t want to be alone. “I’d like that.”
He nodded, hugged me and kissed me, and then he was gone. I sat in relative darkness until he returned, and he followed me to my bedroom where I lay in his arms.
“Aren’t you going to ask me about the case?” he said.
“I don’t have the energy tonight. How about tomorrow?”
“Sure, then maybe I’ll have the energy to tell you to keep out of it.”
I had no intention of dignifying that with a response, and I pulled him closer.
* * * *
We were all at the station, Gloria and Paul, me, Inna, and Isabelle. Another lawyer was also there, a representative for the Jacobs. Anger radiated in Paul’s expression, but for once he was subdued. The reality of his situation must have gotten through.
With an unsettled stomach and confused mind, I studied the man as he spoke. “I’m telling you it wasn’t me,” he said. His attorney laid a hand on his arm.
“Sheriff, we appreciate you not arresting Paul last night and allowing us to come this morning, especially since he has solid alibis as to his whereabouts.”
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