Summer Rental

by Mary Kay Andrews

  The door opened slowly. “They just wanna, they just wanna-uh-uh.” She stepped inside, her hand searching for the light switch.

  He waited until the light was on, then he stepped forward, throwing his forearm across her throat, dragging her into the room, closing the door quietly behind them.

  Her eyes widened in terror, and before she could scream he clamped his hand over her mouth. “Welcome home,” he whispered in her ear.

  * * *

  Ellis grabbed a flashlight from beneath the kitchen sink and hurried out the door towards the walkway over the dunes. How on earth, she wondered, had she managed to leave her phone and keys at the beach? She could have sworn she’d seen them in her beach bag once she’d gotten back to the house, but the day had been so busy, maybe she’d just imagined it.

  She kicked her sandals off at the landing on top of the dunes, and pointing the flashlight at the steps, gingerly climbed down, holding tight to the railing. It seemed especially dark tonight, she thought. Glancing up, she saw that dense banks of purple-edged clouds obscured the moon. The temperature had dropped, and the wind had picked up. Heat lightning crackled over the water, and she heard the low rumble of thunder. She prayed it wouldn’t start raining until after she’d found her phone.

  When she reached the beach, she played the flashlight back and forth until she spotted the forgotten beach chair, with her towel still draped over it. And Ty Bazemore seated in it. She inhaled sharply and grabbed the stair rail, her instincts telling her to turn and run back towards the house.

  But before she could move, Ty was standing up, and he was looking at her, and, wait … Was he smiling? At her? Anyway, it was too late to run now.

  She made herself walk towards him, like it was the most natural thing in the world. But her mind could not form a sentence that wouldn’t sound idiotic. In the end she settled for, “I think I left my phone and keys down here today.”

  Ty held up the phone. “You did,” he said. “They were right here on the chair.” But he made no move to give them to her.

  “I wasn’t sure you’d really come tonight,” he said. “Hell, I wasn’t sure I’d come. But I’m glad you asked me to. I don’t want things to end like this, Ellis.”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked, coming to a dead stop inches from the chair. “Asked you to do what?”

  “Come on, Ellis,” Ty said, feeling his face grow hot. “This was your idea, not mine. Don’t do this.”

  “Ty,” Ellis said. “I really have no idea what you are talking about. What are you doing here? Why did you come out here tonight?”

  He reached out and brushed a strand of her hair, tucking it behind her ear. “I came because you texted me and asked me to. I came because you said if I loved you, I would come. I do love you. I’m here. I’ll meet you more than halfway, if you’ll just give me a chance.”

  “I texted you?”

  He frowned. “What is this? Some kind of sick joke?”

  She took her phone from him, checked the log of text messages. It was empty. She held it up for him to see. “I did not text you today. I swear.”

  “You did, by God,” Ty said. He pulled his own phone from the pocket of his cargo shorts, pulled up the screen, and showed her. “See! Why would I make up something like that?”

  Ellis read the messages, glancing up at Ty, whose face had gone stony. Her own face was beet red.

  Suddenly, she knew. “Julia!” she cried. “And Dorie! They did this. They stole my phone while I was asleep on the beach this afternoon, and they sent these texts to you. I woke up, and Julia was fiddling with my beach bag. I thought she was getting my sunblock out, but she must have just been putting the phone back. And then sometime later, she must have stolen it again, and planted it out here.”

  “And why would they pull a juvenile stunt like that?” Ty demanded. “They’re your friends. Why would they punk you like that? Or me?”

  Ellis wanted to die. She wanted to sink into the sand and disappear from the humiliation.

  “Because,” she said, biting back tears, “my idiot, deranged, meddling friends have this stupid idea that we belong together. They feel sorry for me, because they know I’m a loser, that I have no life outside my job. They know you’re the first man I’ve been with in eleven years, and they probably have this stupid idea that we’re in love.…”

  “Hey,” Ty said softly, catching her hand in his. “That’s not so stupid.”

  She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. “It’s not stupid for them to send you fake texts from my phone to lure you down here?”

  He chuckled. “That part was totally stupid. But it worked, didn’t it? Here I am. And here you are.”

  She sniffed loudly. “Because they stole my phone and my car keys. I thought I’d left them back at Caddie’s, but Julia forbid Dorie to drive back there so I could look. Dorie had this lame-ass story about how she’d seen them down here when she was leaving the beach this afternoon. I should have known. She’s the world’s worst liar.”

  “They wanted you here at midnight,” Ty pointed out. “Because they knew that I’d damn sure be here, especially after that last text of yours.”

  Ellis blinked back a fresh set of tears. “Which one was that?”

  He put his arms around her waist and pulled her close. “The one that said ‘If you love me, you’ll come.’ I do. I did. So what should we do now?”

  It started to rain. Fat, seemingly random drops full of August heat. Ellis rested her cheek against Ty’s chest. Right here, in this moment, safe in the arms of a man who would do anything to make her happy. She had the answer. And all she had to do, she realized, was let him love her. Let go and let love happen. She felt the sand swirling around their ankles, the wind tearing at their clothes, the rain, coming down harder now, and above it all, she heard the crash of the surf.

  She leaned her head back to look up at him, and his hair was already plastered to his head. “I think we better run for it,” she said.

  Ty grabbed her hand, and the two of them raced up the steps over the dunes. Ellis stopped at the top of the stairs to catch her breath, and her eyes drifted past the boardwalk, to Ebbtide, a shadowy gray hulk. The lights were on in the top-floor bedroom, Madison’s room, and silhouetted there, she realized, were two figures. And one was a man.

  “Ty,” she said, pointing. “Up at the house. That’s Madison’s room. There’s a man in there with her.”

  “Good for her,” Ty said, tugging at her hand, pulling her towards the house.

  “No,” she said, stopping dead in her tracks. “It’s got to be Adam. The man she worked with in New Jersey. She was expecting him a couple of days ago, but he never showed. We all thought there was something fishy about him, but Madison insisted he’s harmless.”

  “I still don’t see a problem,” Ty said. “Look, can we have this discussion inside?”

  “How did he get in the house? We lock the place up tight every time we leave. Madison locks her bedroom door, even if she’s just going to the bathroom. Ty, he knows she has all that money. A hundred thousand dollars. She told him. He must have broken in while we were gone tonight.”

  51

  “You still haven’t asked me why I came down here,” Don said, leaning back in the chair to enjoy the sight of the usually cool and composed Maryn fighting the panic he knew she must be feeling. Her face was pale and beaded with sweat.

  “I know why you’re here,” she said, jerking her head in the direction of the briefcase. “You came to get your money back. It’s all there. So take it and get out, why don’t you?”

  “What?” he said in mock disbelief. “My adoring wife doesn’t enjoy spending time with her adoring husband?”

  “Adoring?” Maryn hooted. “You never adored me. You adored owning me, bossing me around, showing me off to your friends. But I was just a thing to you. Nothing more, nothing less.”

  “And you didn’t adore spending my money, living in the home I gave you, flashing that
big diamond engagement ring, honeymooning in Bermuda?”

  “Believe it or not, Don,” Maryn said, grimacing, “I fell in love with you. The nice things were … nice, but for a while there—until I figured out who you were, and what you’d made me—I did love you.”

  “About that ring,” Don said. He lifted one hip and reached for his pocket.

  Maryn flinched. He’s got a gun, she thought. He’s got a gun, and he’s going to shoot me.

  Instead, Don brought out the black velvet ring box. He opened it, and thrust it towards Maryn.

  “It hurts my feelings that you’re not wearing your engagement ring,” he said. “Put it on, why don’t you? As a token of your affection.”

  “Fuck you,” Maryn said, batting his hand and the ring box away. “It hurts my feelings that you’ve been screwing around with Tara Powers. Did you think I wouldn’t find out? Taking her to the same restaurants you took me when we were dating? The same freakin’ motels, afterwards? You’ve got the ring. Give it to your little whore Tara. Let her wear it.”

  * * *

  Ty and Ellis stood, riveted, watching the shadow man reach out and slap the woman in the top-floor bedroom. “We’ve got to do something,” Ellis said.

  “First we’ve got to get out of this rain,” Ty said, and hand-in-hand, they went splashing up the boardwalk towards the back porch. When they were safely under the shelter of the porch roof, Ellis remembered the cell phone she’d stuck in the pocket of her dress only a few minutes earlier.

  “I’m calling the cops,” she said. “Dorie and Julia are inside the house. What if he tries to hurt them?”

  “Nine-one-one,” a recorded woman’s voice said. “You’ve reached Dare County Emergency Services. This line is to be used exclusively for life-threatening situations. If you are calling to report a nonemergency or inquire about county services, hang up and dial the number listed in your telephone directory. If you have a bona fide emergency, please stay on the line until an operator can assist you.”

  A faint hum came on the line.

  “I’m on hold!” Ellis said, listening to a series of beeps. “Damn it, I have a real emergency. Come on, come on.”

  Ty pulled his own phone from his pocket and started punching numbers. “I’m calling Connor,” he said. “He’s still at the bar, but if he picks up, he’s only ten minutes away.” He waited, listened, and frowned. “It went to voice mail,” he reported. “He probably can’t even hear the damn thing ringing.” He waited a moment. “Con, it’s Ty. Look, we’ve got an intruder at Ebbtide, and I think he’s holding one of these women hostage, in the top-floor bedroom. We’ve tried calling 911, but we’re on hold. If you get this, haul your ass over here, right now.”

  “We can’t wait,” Ellis said. “The girls are alone inside the house. I’ve gotta get them out of there.” She started for the kitchen door. “I’m gonna sneak upstairs and let them know what’s going on, and get them out as quietly as I can.”

  “Fine,” Ty nodded. “I’ll stay here and watch the back staircase, in case he tries to take Madison out of there. Stay on the line for the cops. And be careful, okay?”

  “Okay.” Ellis eased the kitchen door open just far enough to slip inside.

  Ellis tiptoed up the stairs, praying her bare feet would avoid the creaking boards, that she’d make it to the second floor undetected.

  She heard water running in the bathroom, saw a flash of light from under Julia’s bedroom door. She pushed into the room without knocking, finding Julia pulling a pink sleep camisole over her head.

  “Julia!” Ellis whispered. “He’s here.”

  “Who?” Julia said, stepping into her yoga pants. “Ty?”

  “Not Ty! I mean, yes, Ty’s downstairs, watching the back staircase. It’s that Adam guy. He’s upstairs, in Madison’s room.”

  “How do you know?” Julia asked, alarmed.

  “We were coming in off the beach because it started raining, and I happened to look up at the window. There are two people in Madison’s room, and one of them is a man. It’s got to be Adam!”

  “How the hell…?” Julia exclaimed. “How did he get in here? How’d he find the house?”

  “I don’t know, but he did,” Ellis said. “We’ve got to do something.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know,” Ellis said. “I’m on hold for 911, and Ty left a message for Connor, asking him to get over here right away. But in the meantime, he’s up there with Madison. We saw him slap her!”

  “Where’s Dorie?” Julia asked. “It would be just like her to go tripping upstairs to have one last gabfest with Madison.”

  They heard the sound of running water coming from down the hall. They tiptoed towards the bathroom. Julia tapped lightly, but there was no answer.

  “Dorie,” she whispered. “Open up.”

  “I’m not done yet,” Dorie called, her voice echoing on the tile walls. “For God’s sake, if you have to go that bad, use the downstairs bathroom.”

  “Let me in, damn it,” Julia whispered hoarsely. “And shut the hell up.”

  Dorie opened the door looking peeved. Her hair was gathered in a purple scrunchy on top of her head, and she was wrapped in a damp towel. “What do you want?”

  “Shut up!” Julia exclaimed. “You’ll get us all killed.” She grabbed Dorie’s arm and yanked her out of the bathroom, herding her down the hall to her own bedroom. When they were inside the room, with the door locked, Ellis pointed upwards with her index finger.

  “He’s here!” she said. “Adam! In Madison’s bedroom. He must have broken into the house while we were at karaoke. Ty and I were coming in off the beach, and we saw him.”

  “Call the cops, for God’s sake,” Dorie said.

  “I have,” Ellis exclaimed. “I’ve been on hold for, like, forever.”

  “Are you really on hold?” Julia asked. “Can they do that, put you on hold for 911?”

  “I’m waiting for the next operator,” Ellis said. “What should we do?”

  “I know what I’m gonna do,” Dorie said, heading for the door. “I’m gonna go put on some underwear. I can’t handle an emergency naked.”

  “Wait for me,” Julia said. “Come on, Ellis. We need to stay together.”

  * * *

  Don Shackleford crossed his legs and sat back in the chair, regarding Maryn with a sardonic smile.

  “You see,” he said, shaking his head. “When you go nosing around in other people’s business, you might find out stuff you regret. You shouldn’t worry about Tara. She was just … convenient.”

  “The same way I was convenient when you met me?” Maryn asked. She let her right arm drift casually to the side of the bed, inching it down until her right hand rested loosely on the edge of the box spring.

  “Not the same thing at all,” Don said. “I married you, didn’t I?”

  “Eventually,” Maryn agreed. “Although you conveniently forgot to mention that you were already married when we met.”

  “Separated, technically,” Don said. “But you never asked if I was married, did you?”

  “You also conveniently forgot to mention your vasectomy,” Maryn said bitterly. “When were you going to tell me about that, Don?”

  He sighed. “You’ve been speaking to Amy, I guess. Such a vindictive bitch. You’d think the fact that I never miss a child-support payment would soften her attitude, wouldn’t you? Anyway, you don’t really want to have a baby, Maryn. You’re too self-involved to be a good mother. And God knows, I’ve been a less than stellar parent to the two brats I did father. No, I won’t be reversing the vasectomy.”

  Maryn inched her fingertips between the mattress and the box spring, silently praying that she’d feel the comfort of the cool, blue steel at any moment.

  “Look, Don,” she said. “You’ve got your money. That’s what you came down here for, right? Take it and go. I’m not going back to Jersey. As soon as I get settled and get a job, I’ll hire a lawyer and we’ll get a nice quiet divo
rce. You and Tara can sail happily off into the sunset. Just leave me the hell alone.”

  “A divorce?” Don tsk-tsked, mockingly placing a hand over the breast pocket of his crisply pressed, pale yellow dress shirt. “Why would I want a divorce? Why can’t we just happy-ever-after?”

  “I’m done,” Maryn said, her fingers searching between the layers of foam and batting. She felt crumbs, and was that a dead fly? Where the hell was the revolver? “I’m not going back. I don’t care what you did back there. The money, whatever went on with Prescott’s? None of my business. I don’t want to know it. I don’t know anything. Not really.”

  Don sighed. “Oh, Maryn, I’m really disappointed in you. Never bullshit a bullshitter, okay?”

  * * *

  Voices wafted from beneath the door of Dorie’s closet.

  “The air shaft!” she whispered, pointing to the door. She tiptoed over and opened the closet door while Ellis closed and locked the bedroom door.

  They heard Madison’s voice.

  “What happened to Adam?” she asked. “He’s coming down here, you know. He knows I’m here. And he knows you threatened me. If anything happens to me, he’ll go to the police.”

  “Don?” Julia whispered. “She’s talking to Don? The husband?” She turned to Ellis. “I thought you said it was Adam up there with her.”

  “It was a guy, that’s all I could tell,” Ellis said, cupping her hand over the cell phone. “We were worried about Adam. How the hell did the husband figure out where she is?”

  “Oh, bad news,” Don said. “Adam won’t be able to make it, I’m afraid. But he sends his regrets.”

  Maryn felt the hairs on her neck prickle. “I talked to him on the phone. What did you do to him?”

  “Me? What about what he did to me? Blackmail is a crime, you know. Did you realize your boyfriend was a filthy little blackmailer?”

  “Adam is not my boyfriend,” Maryn said through gritted teeth. “I know somebody as promiscuous as you might not believe it, but I never cheated on you. Not with Adam, or anybody else.”