It Started With A House: Lizzie. Book 1 (The Westport Mysteries)

by Beth Prentice

  Getting up, I looked out of the window to check for his car. All clear. Even though, if I was him I probably would have changed cars by now. We could pick his black sedan a mile away. Hearing an engine coming down the road, I looked over and saw the delivery van we’d been waiting for driving up the street. Yay. Hopefully the unloading wouldn’t take long and we could get on our way.

  I was feeling really antsy about seeing the photo’s again. Last night my theory had seemed sound, but this morning, in the cold hard light of day, I was wondering if I was just plain crazy.

  Once the van had expertly reversed into my little drive, just narrowly missing the fence posts, Riley ran outside and along with three other men—geez, how heavy was that thing—they unloaded my beautifully restored bath and managed to get it upstairs and into place.

  It looked so nice. The old rust stains and watermarks were gone, the inside of the bath now gleamed, shiny and white. The outside of the old cast iron bath was painted a high gloss black. If I hadn’t known the truth, I would have thought it was a brand new bath.

  “We’ve re-enameled the inside of the bath and the outside has been painted with a high quality marine paint. Look after it and it will outlast you,” smiled the deliveryman. Yeah, with creepy Sedan Man following me around, I didn’t think outlasting me would be all that hard.

  Handing me the invoice, the three men got back in their van and drove away. Looking at the figure at the bottom of the page, I nearly passed out.

  “Shit, no wonder it looks so bloody good. What did they do? Coat it in gold first?” I could have bought three baths for that amount.

  Riley, choosing to ignore my last comment, casually walked back upstairs, over to the bath and started fitting the plumbing to it.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, following him.

  “Making it hold water. At the moment there is a reasonable sized hole where the plug goes. I need to get it fitted and sealed so the bath won’t leak.”

  “Do you have to do that now?”

  “Yes. I have to seal it with silicon, which needs to dry. If I do it now, it can dry while we’re out.”

  “How long will it take?” Geez, how long did a girl have to wait?

  Seeing my impatience, Riley smiled and got to work. Watching him work was really quite mesmerizing. He was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans today and as he moved I could see the t-shirt pull tight across his back and see the outline of his muscles. I watched as his jeans rode low on his backside every time he bent forward.

  “On second thoughts, there’s no need to hurry. Take your time.” I smiled and enjoyed the view.

  * * * *

  We finally made it to the library after lunch. We’d had another stop on our way there to grab something to eat—I’m starting my diet tomorrow, okay?—so you can imagine how impatient I was. Barely able to wait for him to find a park, I fidgeted in my seat, willing the old lady whose park we were waiting for, to hurry up and reverse out.

  “Maybe I should tap on her window and ask her if she’d like me to do it for her,” I suggested.

  “Patience, Lizzie. The library isn’t going anywhere.”

  “Neither are we at this rate.”

  When we finally made it into the library we made our way straight to the section upstairs that held the photos. We both remembered where they’d been filed, so it didn’t take us long to find them. Well, we found where they should have been. All the photos seemed to be there except for the ones we were looking for.

  “Look again in case they’ve been misfiled,” I suggested. I watched as Riley flipped his way through the photos again. Still not there.

  “Why don’t you have a look and I’ll see if I can find someone to help,” said Riley, standing up and handing the box of photos to me.

  I too flipped through them, but couldn’t find any of the photo’s we were looking for. Within a couple of minutes Riley was back with the pretty lady who had helped us the first time in tow. She too flipped through the photos and looked a bit puzzled.

  “Well, we didn’t realize they were missing. I have to say, these old photos have been popular though. You’re not the only ones who have been in to see them.”

  “Really? Can I ask who else has been to look at them?”

  “Well, I don’t know their names of course, but the day after you were here, two men came in and asked for them. I only remember because I was working in this section that day. Of course, I don’t know if they were the exact same photos you looked for, but this section of the library hardly ever gets anybody interested in it.” She sighed. “I’ll have to report them missing.” She walked back down the stairs.

  Waiting for her to be out of earshot, I leaned forward and whispered, “Riley, do you think it’s strange that every time we get somewhere with finding out who Will might be, the evidence keeps going missing? I mean, first my bag gets stolen with the one and only photo I had, then when we may have information from Brian Hogan, he gets killed in a fire and now the photos are missing too.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Riley sat back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ve been wondering for a while if the guy in the black car may be connected to this.”

  “Really?”

  “Think about it, Lizzie. You said you‘d never seen him before you moved into the house and Helen said she’d never seen him before you moved into the house. What if he’s looking for something? Your house did have a break-in, remember?”

  “Yeah, but the house was cleared out before I bought it. Wouldn’t whoever it is have looked through it before I moved in? And the only thing that went missing in the break-in was my underwear.”

  “Ok. How about this? What if whoever cleared the house didn’t find what they were looking for and then you started to do the renovations? If it were me, I’d be wondering if you had found it when you were ripping things apart.”

  “But the only thing we found was the ring and the letters. Why would anybody be after those so badly? I mean couldn’t they have just asked Avis for them when she was alive?”

  “Maybe Avis didn’t hide them. Maybe her mother did. Avis may never have known where they were.”

  This was something I’d never thought about. Sitting quietly for a few minutes, I processed what Riley had said.

  “Well then, if Sedan Man is looking for the ring and letters, why is he stalking me the way he is? Tossing off in my bed isn’t going to make me hand them over.”

  “I don’t know. It’s just a theory. We don’t know anything for sure.”

  Just then my phone rang, gaining me a few death stares from other library patrons. Oops. Oh well, shit happens, I thought, quickly reaching into my bag and turning it to silent. Looking at the caller ID, I saw it was Molly. Getting up, I walked outside to answer it.

  “Hi, Molly, what’s up?”

  “Hey, I was wondering if you’re still living with Riley or are you back at your house yet?”

  Looking back to see if Riley had followed me, I said, “I’m going home today. I just have to get my stuff from Riley’s. Why?”

  “Could you have Harper for me tonight? I’ve just got a call about a job in Loganville and I need to stay there overnight. I don’t want to leave him alone.”

  “Yeah, that’s okay. I’ll just have to keep him away from Cat, that’s all. When are you dropping him over?”

  “Well, I was hoping to come over soon because I really need to get on the road.”

  “Ok, I’m not there at the moment but I’ll head home and see you soon.”

  I went back inside to fill Riley in on what was happening. We got back in his truck and headed back to my place.

  * * * *

  Walking to the front door, we immediately saw the familiar signs someone had been there while we were out. Riley turned to me and handed me his car keys.

  “Take these and wait in the car. Lock the doors. If he comes out before me, drive as far away from here as possible and phone the police,” he whispered.

  Gra
bbing his arm to stop him heading up the stairs, I felt sick in the stomach. When was this ever going to end?

  “Let’s just phone the police and wait in the car until they get here.”

  “No. I don’t think he’s here anymore, but if he is I don’t want to give him the time to get away again. Now please, do as I ask.” Riley looked at me, his eyes pleading.

  “Nope. I’m sorry, but if you are going up there, so am I. Two against one is far better odds anyway.”

  Seeing the determination on my face, Riley sighed, turned and headed for the stairs, motioning for me to stay behind him. I was more than happy to stay behind him. I may be acting brave, but believe me, I was not feeling brave.

  Reaching the top of the stairs, Riley decided to look in the bedroom first. I could feel his body ready to respond, as he slowly pushed the door open and scanned the room. From where I was standing, it all looked normal, but I felt Riley tense as he entered the room. It was as I followed him, my hand holding onto the back of his shirt I noticed the photo that had been placed on the bed. I let go of Riley and silently watched as he picked the photo up and examined it.

  With a sigh of disgust, he passed it to me and whispered, “I’m going to finish searching the house.”

  My hands trembled as I took the photo and looked at the close-up image of me sleeping. I can’t tell you how creeped out and horrified I was that someone had been that close to me and I never knew. All sorts of horrible thoughts started to run through my mind…like…had he touched me? Surely I would’ve known if he had. I could feel the anger and resentment build.

  I’m the kind of person who doesn’t really lose their temper quickly. Usually I have to be pushed and pushed until one day I’m pushed too far. Today, I was getting close to breaking point. I heard Riley walk back into the room.

  “He’s not here anymore,” he said, walking up behind me and placing his hand on the small of my back.

  “Ah! This is so frustrating!” I yelled, close to tears. “What the hell does he want from me?”

  “I think he’s just taunting you.”

  “I want this to be over. I want to know why this is all happening and I want it to stop. I’ve had enough!”

  “Do you have any idea when that may have been taken?” asked Riley, nodding towards the photo. I could hear the hardness in his voice.

  “No. It’s definitely been taken here. I only bought these sheets when I moved in.”

  I watched as Riley pulled out his phone and dialed the police. After a few minutes, he hung up.

  ”They are on their way,” he sighed.

  Walking back down the stairs, ready for their arrival, I saw a silhouette at the door and realized Molly had arrived.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  “Hi Liz. Thanks for having Harper for me. I felt so bad leaving him on his own.”

  “Yeah, he’s no problem. So long as I hide Cat.” I walked into the kitchen and put the coffee on. I really needed something much stronger, but it was still too early in the day for alcohol. Although, maybe I could sneak some in my coffee.

  “I’ve got something for you too,” said Molly, following me into the kitchen. Harper had gone, nose to the ground, looking for any signs of Cat.

  Lifting her large canvas bag on to the table, she pulled out a framed photo about the size of an A3 sheet of paper. It was a beautiful black and white image of my house. The house still looked sad and broken in its state of disrepair, but the light Molly had captured it in, made it look haunting and beautiful.

  “Oh, Molly. It’s really beautiful,” I cried, walking over and taking the photo from her.

  “Yeah, I thought I’d do a before and after shot. If ever you get it finished, that is. I thought they’d look nice hanging together.”

  Looking closer at the photo, I could see it was taken from the opposite side of the street, slightly side on to the house. It had a full shot of the tree in the front yard, without obstructing the view of the house.

  “I had to Photoshop it a bit. Because of the angle I took it on, I got a lot of the cars in the street as well. I took a second photo one day when the street was nearly empty and edited them together.”

  Wow, Molly really had put quite a bit of effort into this. “Hang on a minute. Do you still have the original?”

  “Of course I do. I don’t delete anything. You just never know when you may need it.” Yeah, like now for instance. “Why?”

  “Did you happen to notice if a black sedan was in the street on the original photo?”

  “No, I didn’t notice. But I’ll check my laptop when I get to Loganville. What do you want to know for?”

  “If it’s in the photo, can you see if you can get the license plate number? I’ll give it to Riley and see if his brother Jared can track down the owner. Maybe then I can get my life back.”

  “Is that guy still following you?” Molly still didn’t know the extent of what had been happening and I wanted to keep it that way.

  “Yeah. The police think he may be the one who broke in here. I’d like to be able to catch him so I can sleep better at night.”

  “Well, if that’s why you’ve been staying at Riley’s, why are you moving back now?”

  Good question. I could hear Riley moving around in the bathroom upstairs and knew now was not a good time to get into the whole explanation of how having him so close was torturing me. My hormones couldn’t take much more.

  “It’s complicated,” I sighed.

  “Are you struggling having him so close?” God…another mind reader.

  “Am I that transparent?”

  “Yes. You just have to take one look at your face when you look at him to know how you feel.”

  Sighing, I handed Molly her coffee and sat at the table. “I just need some space to get control again, that’s all.”

  “If it helps, he has the same look in his eye when he looks at you.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said, shaking my head. “He’s moving away, probably as far from me as possible,” I said, feeling that all too familiar lump forming in my throat again.

  “Well then, strike while the iron is hot! Don’t just sit here feeling sorry for yourself. If you want him, go and get him.”

  “That’s easy for you to say, Molly. You are extremely confident about who you are. And after Scott, I’m not even sure if I would recognize that look from someone else. And if I did recognize it, how do I know it’s real?” I could feel the tears prickling the back of my eyes. Looking up I willed my body to reabsorb them before Molly noticed.

  Molly reached over and placed her hand over mine. “You’ll know it, Lizzie. That I know for sure.”

  Hearing Riley running down the stairs, I quickly rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand, while Molly looked at me as if to say well, what are you waiting for?

  “Hey, guess what?” Riley asked without really waiting for an answer. “Jared just phoned to say Shelly had the baby. She had a little girl, Mia Ruby.”

  His face was glowing with pride and happiness, and Molly and I sat back to bask in his glow. In fact, I’m pretty sure for a moment there I could see moisture around those beautiful eyes. Molly was the first to move, getting up and walking over to Riley, pulling him in for a huge Fuller hug, pushing her ample breast into him as hard as she could. I think she was just doing this to make me jealous and to prove her point. Well, I must admit, it was working.

  Humph.

  Pulling away and turning to look at me, she gave me a very calculating little smile. Not to be outdone, I got up, took a deep breath and moved towards Riley.

  “Congratulations, Uncle Riley,” I said, moving to him with my arms outstretched. All of a sudden, he reached out and pulled me to him, surrounding me with those gorgeously toned arms. Lifting me off the ground, so my nose was snuggled into his neck, he pulled me tighter. God, he smelt good. His aftershave mixed with his shampoo and body wash was a complete aphrodisiac as far as I was concerned. Places started to tingle that had absolutely no right t
o tingle here, in my kitchen, with my sister watching.

  On second thoughts, who cares where we are and who’s watching. Taking a few deep breaths and inhaling every bit of his scent, I enjoyed the feel of his breath against my ear.

  After holding on just a little bit longer than necessary, I let go and stepped back. Feeling slightly dizzy, I held onto the kitchen chair for support, wishing with everything I had he would reach down and kiss me. I’m not sure what was going through his mind, but he looked from me to Molly and then back again, running his hands through his hair as he did so. I’d noticed this was a habit of his he had when he seemed to be frustrated.

  “Hey, I’d like to go and visit them as soon as possible. Jared said the family was allowed to visit this afternoon. Do you think that would be okay?”

  “Why are you asking me? Of course it’s okay. Go. Enjoy seeing your newest family member for the first time,” I said, smiling.

  “But I don’t want to leave you alone.”

  “I won’t be alone. I’ll go over to Mum’s for a visit.” I could see Riley weigh this up before saying, “Okay. I’ll call the police back and see if they can talk to you at your mum’s. But please Lizzie, stay away from here until I get back.”

  “Oh, Riley, would it be okay if I got your house key from you. I just want to get some things before I go to Mum’s.” I wasn’t telling him these things were all my belongings that had made their way to his house over the last week or so. I knew I was going to have a fight on my hands. I will admit my heart was not in the move home, but I also knew I couldn’t do this anymore. Having Riley sleeping only meters away from me, with absolutely no walls or doors or locks to prevent me from getting to him, and knowing I couldn’t touch him, was just way too hard. Distance is what I needed.