House of Shadows

by Melissa R. L. Simonin

  I nodded.

  “I won’t.”

  “You won’t talk to me, or you won’t shut me out?”

  He was teasing me, and I was glad. I also laughed.

  “I won’t shut you out, of course! And really, do you think I could possibly go very long, without talking?”

  “I was beginning to wonder. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you quiet for so long.”

  He hugged me, and I hugged him back.

  It was a relief to know we were okay. That could have gone very badly. If he wasn’t as mature as he is, it would have. Miles was way ahead of me in the maturity department, and I was determined to start catching up by listening even when he disagreed, or was upset with me, and by being willing to talk about it, instead of detaching and putting up a wall.

  I was starting to feel very uncomfortable though, and squirmed.

  “I’d like to change,” I told him. Staples will never replace buttons for comfort, especially when being hugged tightly, even if it is by the most gorgeous guy in the world.

  Miles held me back, and looked down at the front of my blouse.

  “Would you like me to call the front desk, and see if they can spare a staple remover?”

  “I think I can manage just fine, thank you,” I replied, ignoring the teasing gleam in his eyes.

  “Are your vaccinations current, or should I get you to a clinic for a tetanus booster?” he asked solicitously.

  I rolled my eyes, and tried to spin on my heel. Fortunately, Miles caught my elbow and steadied me, before I ended up on the floor.

  “Thank you,” I said politely. I exited through the adjoining door in as dignified a way as is possible, with a skirt held together by staples.

  That was a view Miles didn’t have before. As I closed the door, I heard him choke back a laugh.

  Well, better amused, than upset. I never wanted to give him a reason to look so hurt, ever again.

  My blouse was too fitted to pull over my head, and I nearly strangled myself trying. I finally had to give in and pull an Incredible Hulk, and tear it off.

  I examined the mangled garment, and threw it in the trash can. The skirt I could save, but the top was a casualty of war.

  I traded in my fighting outfit for yoga pants and a t-shirt. I checked my hair in the mirror, and used my fingers to smooth it some more.

  At least it wasn’t in my eyes.

  I knocked on the door that separated our rooms, then opened it, and joined Miles.

  He now wore jeans and a t-shirt and sat on the couch, looking intently at the room service menu.

  I curled up beside him, and leaned against his shoulder. He finally tossed the menu aside, and turned to look at me.

  “What am I going to do with you?” he asked softly.

  “Um… keep me?”

  “Yes, I’ll keep you,” Miles said. “Of course, I’ll keep you. But I may keep you under guard, if you keep putting yourself in danger.”

  “Okay,” I said with a sigh. “Just as long as you keep me.”

  “Anika, dear, I do not want to lecture you, but as the guy who very much wants to marry you, I don’t care how many bad guys get away. I don’t want you going after them, ever. What you did was—insane—” he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He fought to keep a straight face, and succeeded. The only look in his eyes now, was concern, and his expression was serious. “Don’t ever put yourself at risk. Never again. I didn’t come back only to lose you. I want to be your husband, and at the rate you’re going, I’m afraid you won’t live long enough for that to happen.”

  I scooted closer, and wrapped my arms around him.

  “Fine. I’ll just let the bad guys get away.”

  “Good,” Miles said. He wrapped his arms around me, and kissed the top of my head. “I don’t ever want to live without you.”

  “I don’t want to lose you either,” I said. “And the truth is, if you confronted George Frank, I would be very upset with you, and in a total panic right now over what could have happened. I never thought about any of that at the time though, what could’ve happened, or how it would make you feel. I just reacted.”

  “You have a tendency to do that, don’t you. Sometimes, reacting to serious trouble has gotten you out of it. Now if you can just learn not to react and get yourself into trouble, you’ll be in good shape, and I won’t worry about you so much.”

  “I’ll try, I really will,” I promised.

  “Good,” Miles said with relief.

  “So, earlier, was that our first fight?” I wondered.

  “I wouldn’t call it a fight.”

  “Well I didn’t like it, so I hope we never do have a fight,” I declared, hugging him tighter.

  Miles laughed.

  “We will. It happens to everyone. We’ll both be in a bad mood at the same time, or have a misunderstanding... we’re not immune.”

  “I can’t imagine you in a bad mood,” I said, considering that.

  “Do you have me on a pedestal? Better let me down, or climb up here with me. No matter how hard I try, someday I’ll forget to take out the trash, or leave the newspaper scattered all over the living room, or let the dogs in after they’ve rolled in mud, or say something thoughtless… I don’t want to disillusion you irreparably, when I disappoint you. I try as hard as anyone, but I’m not perfect.”

  I thought about that.

  “I can’t imagine anyone being more perfect,” I said honestly. “Maybe that’s why I felt like you would lecture me.”

  “Probably so. Spare us both heartache though, and realize I’m human, and I’m going to make mistakes.”

  “Okay,” I said. “I’ll try.”

  We ordered dinner, and in spite of having been severely displeased with my choice of behavior that afternoon, Miles wanted to hear the story several times. Every time, he shook his head and laughed, and said, “I just cannot believe you did that!”

  We spent Miles’ twenty-first birthday sitting in court. We celebrated that evening by having dinner at one of the hotel restaurants. I was disappointed that I couldn’t make the day more special for him somehow, like have a party and invite friends. Miles said he was perfectly happy celebrating it just the way we were. And I admitted, maybe it was just as well. I wondered how I was going to get a hundred and sixty-five candles on his birthday cake. He laughed.

  Finally, the day came that Miles was able to testify. He was very calm and in control on the witness stand, and couldn’t be rattled by the defense attorney. I got the impression the DA refrained from objecting to certain questions, knowing Miles could handle it, and that it would backfire on the defense.

  At one point the weasel-y attorney said, “Isn’t it awfully convenient that the only memory you have in the three years before the accident is of the defendant ‘pushing you off a cliff’?” He rolled his eyes as he glanced at the jury, and used air quotes.

  Miles answered, “Convenient would be remembering how to drive. Having the memory of being pushed from that cliff isn’t convenient, and if you had the nightmares I do, you wouldn’t think so either.”

  The jury chuckled about the driving, and looked sympathetic about the nightmares. So did I, I didn’t know that.

  The defense attorney did more harm for his client than good. Every effort to make Miles look incompetent as a witness, backfired in a huge way. Miles is incredibly likeable, and the only thing I’ve ever seen that can get him ruffled, is if I’m in danger or someone’s trying to make me think I can’t trust him. I kept one eye on the jury and wasn’t surprised to see that with every answer Miles gave, they were more sympathetic toward him, and less tolerant of the defense attorney.

  Alfred Sullivan received the maximum sentence allowed. The DA had so much evidence proving pre-meditation, as well as proof of guilt. It was satisfying to hear the sentence read, and to know that he’d be a very old man by the time he got out.

  “I hope Alfred’s nephew and his girlfriend are on the run, and have given up on us,
especially now that the trial is over,” I said, as we rolled our suitcases out of the elevator and down the hall toward our apartments.

  “Keep your heels at the ready, just in case,” Miles tried to say with a straight face.

  I whacked him on the shoulder.

  “Ow, I can feel that now, you know!” he said, laughing.

  It was the week before finals, and our apartment was study-central, as we prepared for our exams. We were all anxious to get our finals completed and be through with our freshman year of college. Jenny, bless her, kept a supply of cookies and pastries on hand, and our group of friends kept the food delivery people busy.

  Miles and I spent plenty of time during the semester studying and putting the information into long term memory, so we weren’t panicked like we might have been, returning right before finals. We still had make-up work to do for what we missed though, so we were studying as hard as anyone.

  Finals week arrived, and it was a relief to get it over with and be done for the year. I had other things I wanted to concentrate on! We all did well on our exams, which was only fair since we prepared so much for them. Miles of course, aced all of his.

  I checked my reflection one more time. Miles and I were celebrating the successful completion of our first year of college, by having dinner at the Lodge At Whispering Pines. It was special to us because we celebrated our engagement there, but it was also a wonderful place in its own right. The sort of place worth getting a hotel management degree for. It had become our favorite place to celebrate special events, and it was sentimental to us because of the memories we made there.

  I wore a knee length, forest green dress overlaid with black lace. It was sleeveless, with a V-neck, and fitted to the waist. The flared skirt swirled as I turned and twisted, trying to see if the zipper on the back of my dress was fastened all the way. Ordinarily I’d just ask Jenny, but she and Xander left early in the afternoon, for Cedar Oaks. Xander was going to meet Jenny’s mom. It was a big step.

  I was putting on lip gloss when Miles knocked at the door. I ran to open it for him.

  “Wow, you look amazing,” Miles said appreciatively.

  I spun in my dress, and the skirt swirled and flared.

  “In case I need to chase someone down,” I told Miles seriously. “This, I can run in.”

  Miles shook his head adamantly.

  “Don’t you even think about it!” he said firmly. But he also laughed.

  “You look very nice too,” I said, admiring his suit and straightening his tie, which didn’t need straightening.

  “Thank you. Are you ready to go?” asked Miles.

  “I am,” I said, picking up my evening bag. Night sat on the arm of the couch, and I leaned over to kiss the top of his head.

  Note to self, lip gloss and cat hair—not a good combination!

  I grabbed a tissue, and wiped the glossy, hairy mix off my lips.

  “One minute,” I said, as I ran back to my room to reapply.

  As I passed Night the second time, I patted his head instead, as Miles scooped up Pandora and set her on the scratching post before she could manage to sneak out with us.

  Dinner was wonderful. What was even better, was the live piano music. A small dance floor was open, and there were a few couples dancing there.

  “Would you care to dance?” asked Miles.

  “I would,” I said, taking his hand.

  As we neared the dance floor, Miles placed a request in the glass bowl on the piano.

  The next song was Miles’ ring tone, Can I Have This Dance. I love that song, if we had a song, that would be it. Miles and I waltzed to it. The evening couldn’t get more perfect than that. Looking into Miles’ eyes as we danced, my heart was so full, I didn’t know how it still fit in my chest. I was truly the luckiest girl in the world. One year ago, my heart was so broken it could never fully heal. But Miles came back, and made it better than new.

  As we drove back to our apartment building, he reached for my hand, steering the vehicle down the mountain road with the other.

  “I’ll come by first thing in the morning and help you pack, and load the things you want to take with you into the vehicle,” Miles said.

  “I’m all packed and ready, I’ve got my suitcases and things by the front door. I told Mom we would head to the castle in the morning. She’ll join us there the day after tomorrow, to finish the wedding preparations, and bring Chip and Trixie with her.”

  “I hate having to leave them, but we just don’t have the room in our vehicle for all of your things, and the dogs. I appreciate your Mom being willing to take them.”

  “She doesn’t mind,” I reassured him. “Doreen and Tryon love them, and are both so excited to have them spending the next couple of nights.”

  “I talked to Grandma Polly, and she’s already in Cedar Oaks at the hotel. You know how she loves room service.”

  I laughed. Yes, she does.

  Miles continued, “She called the chef back into service, I was glad to hear. So meals are taken care of.”

  I looked at my engagement ring, thinking that very soon it would be guarding my wedding band. I couldn’t wait! Well, I could, I had no choice. Although I could kick and scream and demand to see a justice of the peace, maybe Miles would go for that. But my parents and Polly would be disappointed, not to mention my bridesmaids. The groomsmen probably wouldn’t care. But no, I would wait. I could wait.

  I kissed the back of Miles’ hand, which I held as he drove.

  Miles smiled at me, and I smiled back. No doubt about it, I was the luckiest girl in the entire world.

  Miles walked me to my apartment and kissed me goodnight. I locked the door behind him when he left, and went to bed.

  Chapter 20

  Sound filtered in. Caught between sleep and wakefulness, I listened, detached, to a faint scratching… until my brain interpreted the sound. The apartment door.

  I froze, wide awake.

  The scratching stopped. The front door of my apartment slowly opened, and then closed softly.

  My skin prickled with fear. Jenny was gone. No one should be here but me. I slipped my phone out from under my pillow, and dialed 911.

  Soft footsteps crossed the living room, and into Jenny’s room. I quickly slid out of bed, and shut and locked my bedroom door.

  “911, what’s your emergency?”

  “Someone’s in my apartment, please hurry!” I whispered urgently. “It’s the Branson Apartment building, 715 Branson Avenue, apartment 312, Glen Haven.”

  I clutched the phone, and looked at the wall I shared with Miles. I made a fist and paused, then pressed it hard against my chest.

  I couldn’t do it. If he rushed in and was injured—or worse— I’d rather he be upset with me later for not calling him, than put him in danger.

  I had the police on the line. I wasn’t trying to handle a big problem on my own. I wasn’t putting myself in danger… I was keeping him out of it.

  The 911 operator was talking, asking questions, but I was intent on listening for sounds in the apartment.

  The thought flitted through my head that I’d feel awfully stupid if Jenny came back for something… but no. Not at this time of night. Not without letting me know.

  I scooped up Night and Pandora, much to their displeasure, and locked them in my bathroom. Whatever happened, I didn’t want them getting hurt.

  Footsteps came closer and paused outside my door.

  My heart raced. I hurried around the side of the bed, as far away from it as I could get.

  “Please hurry!” I whispered into the phone. “I’m in apartment 312 of the Branson building! The intruder’s outside my bedroom!”

  The knob turned slowly, and the latch caught.

  “They’re trying to unlock the bedroom door!” I informed the operator. “I don’t know how many there are, just assume they’re armed, and stop talking! They’ll hear you!”

  Feverishly, I searched for a weapon. Why did I leave my jacket in the living
room! What I wouldn’t do for a friendly canister of pepper spray, right now. I slid my phone face down behind my pillow, and grabbed my water bottle off the nightstand and held it like a club. It wasn’t much, but it was the best I could do.

  I wondered how long the lock on the bedroom door would hold.

  Not long.

  The door burst open, and a dark shadow filled the doorway of my bedroom.

  The light flipped on, and Alfred’s nephew, George Frank, stood there. He had an evil leer on his face, much like his Uncle’s. A Red Alert feeling stronger than any I’d had before was screaming inside my head, and the sense of darkness that surrounded him nearly overwhelmed me. He held a Taser in one hand, and a handgun in the other. My throat was so dry I couldn’t swallow.

  We stood and stared at each other for a very long minute as all of the puzzle pieces fell into place. They didn’t want us to doubt each other, they wanted us together. They wanted other people to doubt us, so that what he was about to carry out would be believable. The color drained from my face.

  “So finally we meet,” said George, giving me an appraising look.

  “And you are?” I managed to ask, hoping to buy some time, and wishing I could think of a way to keep Miles from coming to my rescue. Our only chance was for him to stay far away. George needed both of us for this to work.

  A wave of mocking evil washed across his face.

  “Your worst nightmare,” he said.

  “And why’s that?” I asked, my heart pounding as I willed the police to get here.

  “Because you’re in my way.”

  “Oh, well, feel free to go. I don’t want to keep you,” I said, hoping my involuntary smart-aleck response wouldn’t hurry along my demise.

  He laughed.

  “You’ve got guts. I like that. It’s not going to do you any good, though.”

  “I’d still like to know your name, and how I’m in your way,” I said, thinking of the 911 operator. I hope she didn’t hang up when I told her to be quiet!

  George looked at me intently for several seconds.

  “You clearly outgun me,” I said, tapping the water bottle against my shoulder, where it rested. “You’ve got the upper hand. Surely you can spare the time to tell me what I’ve done to get in your way, mister...”