by L A Walton
“No thanks. Andrew already recommended a location to me.”
“And we’re back to Andrew,” Declan smiled. “Did you just blush Laci? Is my sister blushing?”
Laci laughed, “I’m not blushing! I’m too old to blush about a guy.”
“Ahh so you admit you’re old?” Declan said wiggling his eyebrows up and down, causing Laci to lightly hit him on the arm.
“I’m not old!”
Declan laughed and changed the subject, “So did you hear anything about that Henry Meiser guy?”
Laci shook her head, “Not yet. The police are supposed to keep me updated. Can you imagine? If he’s been the guy sending me notes, weird texts, and worst of all the person that killed Marie Ann?”
“Don’t dwell on it too much Laci. There’s no way you could’ve known.”
Laci was going to respond when her cell phone rang. It was George. As soon as she picked up, he began talking, “Listen Laci. I did it for the show. I’m really sorry but your fans are eating it up, right now.”
“Are you also responsible for all of the engagement rumors, George?”
He didn’t respond and Laci groaned, “George how could you? I’m pretty sure this is some sort of harassment. And what were you thinking about...getting some creep to follow me and Andrew around on our date? I thought someone was stalking us! Do you know how scary that was?”
“I’m sorry Laci. I wanted pictures for the website. It doesn’t matter anyway since you two deleted everything he had.”
“If you do something like that again- I don’t care how long we’ve known each other George. I won’t forgive you!”
“Okay…okay. I won’t use anymore subterfuge to promote your relationship.”
“George, I’m serious,” Laci warned.
She could hear George sighing on the other end, “Fine! I won’t hire people to secretly take your picture with Andrew anymore.”
“People? Did you hire anyone else George?”
“What do you take me for Laci? Of course not. It was just the one guy and he failed. If there are any more relationship pictures floating around…it’s not my doing.”
Laci sighed and she and George disconnected the call.
“What was that about?” Declan asked.
Laci began rubbing small circles against her temple, “You don’t want to know.”
Declan chuckled and then changed the topic, “By the way, I’m almost done cleaning the attic out. Are you sure you don’t mind me using it as my studio?”
“Of course not. Did you find a lot of junk up there?”
Declan shrugged, “A lot of old papers, clothes, trophies…stuff like that.”
“Old papers?”
“Yeah about our adoptions and newspaper clippings. Just stuff.”
“Adoption papers aren’t just stuff Declan. They're important.”
“Well I have it all stored away. Just let me know if you need it.”
They both walked to the kitchen and Declan rubbed his stomach, “All this talking has made me hungry. I’m gonna go pick up a pizza. Is that cool with you?” Laci nodded and Declan left the house.
A sense of relief washed over Laci as she thought of her stalker being behind bars. In actuality, Henry had probably already been released from police custody but at least now she had a face to the man that was harassing her. If he truly did hurt Marie Ann he would eventually be in jail and now Laci knew she had enough evidence to apply for a restraining order.
She thought of her conversation with Declan. He mentioned finding adoption papers in the attic. Laci wanted to see those papers. Fifteen minutes later, she walked upstairs and towards the attic’s entrance. It was amazing. He had really cleaned the place up.
Laci walked over to his desk and rummaged through the drawers. A small part of her discouraged her, reminding her that this was her brother’s space and she wouldn’t appreciate him going through her office drawers.
She spotted an unlabeled box to the left of his desk and opened it up. It was full of papers. “Bingo,” she whispered.
The corner of a bright gold envelope at the bottom of the box caught her attention. It was hidden behind a bunch of other papers but she was able to easily pull it out.
Her heart stopped as she recognized the familiar gold envelope. For a moment, she thought Declan had kept one of the envelopes her stalker had left. “No, those are still in my room,” she reminded herself.
Laci slowly opened the envelope to find pictures. Pictures of her from the past few weeks. She gasped as she saw a picture of herself at Marie Ann’s funeral. There was another picture of her having lunch with Kay, Marie Ann, and Amber. The last picture was of her and Andrew leaving the paintball place.
She instantly felt nauseous.
Why did Declan have these pictures?
She was so engrossed in the pictures, that she didn’t see her brother standing in the doorway of the attic. She jumped when she saw him, “Declan!”
“What are you doing Laci?” his eyes were on the gold envelope in her hands.
“I was looking for the adoption papers. I found these,” Laci explained holding up the gold envelope of pictures, “Declan did George hire you to take pictures of me?”
Declan slowly shook his head and walked forward, “No. George didn’t hire me.”
Laci took an unsteady step backward, “Then why do you have these pictures Declan?”
Declan took another step closer and asked, “Why do you think?”
Laci didn’t know what to think. As far as she knew, her world had just turned upside down.
CHAPTER 18
“Declan…why do you have these pictures?” Laci asked her brother who looked upset.
“Why were you going through my things Laci?”
She took a step back, “These are pictures of me Declan. The kind a stalker or some kind of sick voyeur would take. Why do you have them?”
“Why do you think?” he asked.
“I don’t know what to think! It’s why I’m asking!” she was breathing heavily in fear and anger but mostly anger. Laci couldn’t believe that her brother would do something like this. It wasn’t possible. There had to be some plausible explanation.
Declan stopped moving towards her when he saw how scared she was. She unconsciously had one of her hands up in case she needed to ward off an attack from him. He sighed and crouched down to the ground, keeping his face in his hands, “I’m such an idiot.”
Laci stared at her brother in confusion, “Declan…you can talk to me. I’m your sister. Whatever it is…we can work through this together. I can help you.”
Declan laughed, still hiding his face in his hands, “Help me?”
“Yes, I can try to help you.”
“Laci you can’t even help yourself. How are you going to help me? Why do you think I’m even in this mess?” Declan had looked up to Laci and was shouting as he stood up.
Laci tossed the photos onto the desk and asked, “What exactly is going on? What situation?”
“Those pictures,” Declan pointed to them, “They weren’t taken by me Laci. They were given to me.”
“Given to you?”
“I found them in my truck yesterday morning. There was also a note that said if I went to the police they’d kill you,” Declan ran his hands in his hair.
Laci stared at her brother in disbelief, “What did he want?”
Declan looked up surprised, “How did you-“
“How did I know? Why else would he threaten to kill me if you went to the police? He wanted something. So what was it? What did he want?”
Declan shook his head, “I don’t want to talk about it. It doesn’t matter anymore anyway. They arrested that creepy client you have so we shouldn’t be bothered by him anymore.”
“They arrested him for domestic violence not for stalking or blackmailing. What did the note say?”
Declan shrugged, “It said to leave you in the house alone on Monday night.”
“What? A
nd you were going to do it?” Laci rushed forward and began hitting her brother who tried covering himself with his arms.
“Oww…stop it Laci! I wasn’t going to leave you by yourself. Do you think I’m stupid or something?”
Laci stopped for a moment to respond, “You didn’t tell me about the pictures as soon as you found them…so yeah!” She proceeded to hit him until he grabbed her wrists.
“Look I didn’t know what to do alright? I freaked so I called Robert to come over and we talked about it. He was going to come in on Monday and install the alarm.”
Laci attempted to hit him again, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want you to get more scared than you already were. You just went on a date with that psychologist. It was the first time in weeks that you weren’t walking around here on eggshells. How could I tell you that someone sent me their stalker photos of you?” Declan let go of her wrists and took a step back, “Admit it. If I told you about it…you would’ve been worse than you already are.”
“I’m fine!” Laci said loudly to convince her brother but somehow it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself.
“Are you? Because you don’t look fine,” Declan whispered and swiped a tear from her cheek.
Her face crumpled as she leaned into her brother for support, “Why is this happening to me Declan? What did I do to deserve this?”
Declan patted her back as she sobbed against him, “It’s okay Laci. That guy’s in jail and the alarm will be installed soon. It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
“Tell me again where you were that night,” the detective leaned forward against the wooden table that separated him and Henry Meiser.
"I told you I don’t know that woman,” Henry said as he pointed to the picture of Marie Ann Davis. “I wasn’t even in town that week. I was out of town on a business trip.”
“Is there anyone that can corroborate your story?” the detective asked.
“My story? Do you think I’m making this up?” Henry was insulted.
The detective leaned back and appraised Henry, “You’re not a bad looking guy. You make a good amount of money. I bet women throw themselves at you.”
Henry blushed, “I’m married!”
The detective shrugged, “So?”
“So I wouldn’t…wouldn’t do something like…like that,” Henry said, clearly flustered.
“You wouldn’t be the first to stray from the woman he’s been married to for years. Besides, I saw that journal. You know…the one where you wrote all those love letters to your therapist.”
“That was private!”
“C’mon Henry. Throw me a bone. How did you know Marie Ann Davis?”
Henry slammed his hands on the desk, “I didn’t know her! I don’t know her! I don’t want to know her!”
“She was friends with your therapist…you know…the woman you claimed to love in your journal,” the detective smirked.
Henry’s eyes narrowed, “How dare you mock me. Those are my personal feelings that I wrote about!”
“I hate to break it to you but your Dr. Cummings wants nothing to do with you. She’s probably filing a restraining order right about now.”
“I haven’t done anything! For the last time…I’m innocent.”
The detective stood up, “I’ll be right back Henry. You keep thinking of someone that saw you when you were out of town.”
The detective walked out to see Officer Tracy Stewart waiting for him. “Did you find out anything?” she asked.
“Nope. Not a thing. Honestly Tracy, I don’t think he’s the guy.”
Officer Tracy Stewart had told the detective in charge of Marie Ann Davis’s murder all about the stalking of Dr. Cummings and how the same person could be the murderer of Marie Ann Davis. It was all connected but convoluted and Tracy wanted to get to the bottom of it. When Henry had been arrested for domestic violence, the journal he had written his love fantasies in was given to her by his wife Portia.
“Take it,” she said, “I may need it back as evidence for when I divorce him.”
At the time, Tracy just thanked Mrs. Meiser and shook her head at the entire situation.
“I’m sorry Tracy but we’re going to have to let him go. There’s not much evidence to show that he’s the one that killed Marie Ann Davis other than the connection to this stalking business and that's pretty light to begin with. Besides, once he lawyers up, it’ll be easy for him to miraculously come up with an alibi."
Tracy shook her head and thanked the detective. As she walked back to her desk, she spotted her partner Officer Joe Bishop, texting on his phone. He didn’t look up when he said, “I told you it would be a waste of time.”
Tracy nodded. Maybe Bishop was right. Maybe Dr. Laci Cummings really didn’t have a stalker.
Laci was sitting in her living room next to her brother Declan. They were still drained from their argument earlier in the day.
“Are you still mad at me?” Declan asked.
Laci shook her head, “I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed that’s all. I wish neither of us had to deal with this kind of thing.”
Declan nodded. He was about to speak when the doorbell rang. Laci answered it to see Andrew with a box of pizza in his hands.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Declan invited me over,” Andrew smiled.
“Declan?” Laci looked back to her brother who also smiled.
“His exact words were, ‘She wants some pineapple and anchovy pizza.’ At least I think that’s what he said,” Andrew explained.
Laci turned to Declan, “How could you?”
“What? I was hungry,” Declan said as he stepped forward and took the box of pizza from Andrew.
Andrew looked at Laci in confusion until she answered, “Declan is the only one who eats pineapple and anchovies on a pizza.”
Andrew laughed and said, “Then maybe you and I should go out to eat?”
“Smooth!” Declan shouted from behind them. “Laci you should go out with him just for that line alone.”
“Please forgive my immature brother,” Laci said loud enough for Declan to hear.
“He’s helping me spend time with you…so I don’t mind,” Andrew whispered.
Laci smiled and went to grab her purse. Declan whispered to her, “Hey, I’m sorry but I thought you could use a break from all this stalker crap. Relax and enjoy yourself, okay?”
Laci nodded and hugged her brother, “I’m sorry Declan but thank you for always thinking of me. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Probably become a crazy old cat lady,” Declan joked.
Twenty minutes later Laci and Andrew were each eating a burger at a local bar that doubled as a karaoke joint.
“Do you sing?” Andrew asked Laci.
“Yes…badly.”
He laughed, “I was going to ask you if you wanted to sing with me onstage.”
“Oh no way would I do that!” Laci balked at the idea.
“Not even for me?”
“Nope…not even for the President.”
Andrew laughed and asked, “Well if I sing you a song would I get extra points?”
“Points?” Laci asked not following.
“Your brother told me you gave all your boyfriends a point system,” Andrew explained.
Laci felt her face heat, “Declan told you that?”
Andrew nodded and Laci said, “He’s lying! I don’t do that. Why are you asking Declan for information about me anyway?”
“I didn’t ask. He just offered.”
“Well you should never believe him. He’s always joking around.”
“He is?”
Laci nodded, “Yes.”
“I wish I had known that before-”
“Before what?”
“I brought you to this karaoke place. He said you’d love it,” Andrew explained. “He said you loved to sing when you were upset.”
“He said that?”
“Yeah, he said it’s how he knew when it was that time of the month. You’d be singing all around the house.”
Laci wanted to die of embarrassment. She was going to kill Declan. Andrew laughed at her expression.
“Just for that, you’re going to have to sing me a song,” Laci told Andrew.
“What?”
“You heard me. Sing me a song and it better be good.” Laci told him.
Andrew leaned forward and whispered, “And what do I get if I sing well?”
Laci was blushing again and put her hands to her cheeks, “I’ll have to think about it.”
He winked at her and said, “I’ll be right back.”
Andrew ran up to the stage and chose a song. The patrons of the bar quieted when Andrew spoke into the microphone, “This song is for my date…I’m hoping to cheer her up today.”
A few woman in the audience thought he was sweet and Laci could hear them saying, “Awww.”
The beginning chords of the song began to play and Laci smiled. Andrew was singing Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars. As he began to sing into the microphone, Laci giggled when a woman in front shouted, “Woo hoo...dat boy can sing!”
Laci watched Andrew singing on stage, and couldn’t help but forget everything that had transpired earlier that day. All she could see was the handsome man serenading her with one of her favorite songs.
After he was done, the audience gave him a round of applause, some wolf whistles (by both women and men), and some people were even standing.
“My date everyone,” Andrew pointed to Laci and everyone stared at her while she sat in her seat, surprised by the attention.
“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” a man at the bar began chanting. Before she knew it the entire crowd was chanting, “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”
A lady wearing a denim dress pulled Laci to her feet and dragged her to the stage to stand by Andrew. Laci tried hiding her smile and whispered to him, “I’m not one to fall for peer pressure.”
He chuckled, “Then how about you kiss me because you want to not because they’re telling you to.”
Laci looked up at the handsome man before her. He was grinning and he winked at her, causing her to melt. Andrew leaned forward and Laci closed her eyes when she felt his lips tenderly brush up against hers. As the kiss deepened, Laci couldn’t help but think that the past few weeks had been a nightmare filled with darkness and fear…but perhaps there was a light somewhere in the middle of all that darkness. Perhaps that light was Andrew.