by Kate Bell
The horses clip clopped down the street at a leisurely pace and I caught my neighbors peeking out their windows to see what was going on. I snuggled in closer to Alec. Let them look. I was the luckiest girl in the world.
“I think this might be one of the best days of my life,” I said.
He smiled. “Mine, too.”
It took over half an hour to get to Antonio’s Italian restaurant and I was starting to shiver a little by the time we got there, but I didn’t care. I was happy. I was with the man I loved.
Alec helped me out of the carriage and we headed inside. The warmth of the restaurant was welcoming. “Do we get to ride home in the carriage, too?” I asked.
“We had better or we’ll end up walking,” he said as the hostess showed us to our table. The restaurant had beautiful red and white roses on every table and nearly everyone was dressed for the occasion. The atmosphere in the restaurant was one of joy, or maybe it was just me.
After we had placed our order, we sat and looked into one another’s eyes for a few moments. Alec had ordered champagne and I thought that was a good sign.
“So,” I finally said. “Any news on Frito?”
He laughed. “How romantic of you. No. No news of Frito.”
“You know me. I’m a sucker for romance,” I said. “Oh, I think I forgot to tell you. Thad called me and told me he’s proposing to Sarah tonight. I’m going to be a mother-in-law.”
“Well, that’s good news. Thad is a romantic devil, too, then?” he asked.
“He is.”
My stomach flip-flopped. He had said “too.” I tried to quiet my mind. He was really going to propose, wasn’t he? How would he ask me? The carriage ride was more than I had ever expected.
“How soon do you think they’ll get married?” he asked, taking a sip of his water.
“Oh, I didn’t think to ask. I hope they have a long engagement. They need to enjoy themselves before the everyday normalcy of marriage, you know? Just enjoy being young and in love.”
“I think marriage can be romantic,” he said. “It doesn’t end with the I do’s.”
“No, I didn’t mean that. It’s just that it’s their first real love and once they graduate college, the realities of a job and ordinary life responsibilities will set in. I’m sure they will remain romantically in love, hopefully forever,” I said.
“Was your husband Thaddeus the romantic sort?” he asked.
“Kind of. Not horse and carriage on Valentine’s Day romantic, but more in the little things. He’d remember little things I liked and he’d buy them, or do chores around the house that were normally my responsibility. Thad is a little more traditional romantic. I can’t wait to hear what he did for her. But I bet he can’t top horse and carriage romantic.”
Alec chuckled. “Have I got the boy beat?”
“I think you might. When we tell them about it, we’ll have to play down the horse and carriage. I wouldn’t want Sarah to spend the rest of her life comparing her proposal to mine,” I said, taking a sip of my water.
“Comparing your proposal?” Alec asked, looking puzzled. “Did Thaddeus have a horse and carriage when he proposed to you?”
I stared at him wide-eyed for a moment.
My stomach dropped and I sucked in my breath, when I realized my mistake. My cheeks burned red as I continued to stare at him wide-eyed. What had I just done? At the exact moment I realized I had made a mistake, I could see in Alec’s eyes that he realized what I had thought.
“Oh. Oh, I’m sorry, I-I,” I stammered, but I didn’t know what to say. I had just made a fool of myself.
“No. No, no, it’s okay,” he said, staring back just as wide-eyed.
“Oh, Alec, I’m so sorry,” I said, looking away. I needed a great big hole to crawl into, but I didn’t see any nearby.
“No, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” he said, reaching across the table and putting his hand over mine.
I felt tears spring to my eyes. I had just lost my appetite and I wanted to go home, but I was too embarrassed to tell him so.
“I guess I’m your Valentine’s Day idiot,” I said, looking up at him. I cursed myself for the tears in my eyes. I really was an idiot. What had I been thinking? What had I just done?
“No, you are not an idiot. I guess I went over the top with the horses and carriage. I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to make you think—”
“No, I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“You know what? I love you, Allie. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone.” He got up and came over to my side of the table and I knew instantly what he was going to do. He was a gentleman and the fact that he wanted to make things right for me meant the world to me, but I didn’t want it like this. I wanted it when he was ready. He went down on one knee.
“Don’t you dare,” I said holding up one finger. “Don’t make this worse. I made a stupid mistake and you are not going to fix it by doing that. I know you love me. I love you. But I don’t want that until you’re ready to do it.”
“Allie,” he said, and stood up. He leaned down and kissed me. “I do love you.”
“I know,” I said, and cursed myself again for my tears. “Now you go and sit on your side of the table and we’re going to enjoy our Valentine’s dinner and then we’ll enjoy our carriage ride home and I’m going to brag to everyone I know that I have the most romantic boyfriend in the entire world.”
He smiled at me. “Okay. That sounds like a good idea.”
We did our best to keep up the small talk, but my stupidity had put a damper on things. I snuggled up to him on the way home, but we didn’t have much to say. I had ruined one of the best dates I had ever been on.
Chapter Twenty-three
Alec walked me to my door and I turned toward him, willing myself not to cry again. I at least wanted to enjoy my good night kiss. I already had plans to put that gigantic heart-shaped box full of chocolate to good use. The minute he left me, I would drown my sorrows in it. If I gained back the five pounds I had lost, I didn’t care. I was going to eat my sorrows away.
“So,” I said, when he didn’t say anything.
“So,” he said.
“Is that your phone ringing?” I asked.
“It is. I’m trying to ignore it.”
We looked at each other and waited for the phone to stop ringing. When it did, he opened his mouth to say something and it began ringing again.
“You better take it,” I said. “It may be important.”
He pulled the phone out of his pocket and looked at it. He sighed. “Phil.”
I giggled. “Maybe he found Frito and wanted to tell you. That’s an important phone call, you better take it.”
“No. I am not going to take it,” he said, taking a step closer to me.
I stopped smiling. “Are we okay?”
“Of course we are,” he said. His phone stopped ringing and he smiled at me and put the phone back into his pocket.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“I’m sure,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Don’t say that again,” he said. “It never happened.”
His phone rang again. He rolled his eyes and pulled it out of his pocket again.
“Phil?” I asked.
“Yup.”
“You better answer it,” I said.
He sighed. “Alec Blanchard,” he said, answering it, and then he paused. “I’ll be right there.”
He hit end and stuck his phone in his pocket. “Phil says Jenna has broken into his house and is trying to kill him. He’s probably being dramatic, but I had better check on them. Can I use your car? The horses will take too long to get there.”
“Sure. I’m going with you.”
“You stay here and I’ll let the coachman know he can leave,” he said, hurrying over to the carriage.
“I’m going with you,” I repeated. I let myself into the house, locking my door behind me and headed to the garage for m
y car.
The horses were already on their way down the street when I got the garage door opened. Alec jumped in the passenger side.
“You really should stay home,” he said.
“I’m going. Do you really think she’s trying to hurt him?”
“She’s probably just telling him to quit harassing her about Frito, and he’s probably freaking out over it. But I don’t want to take a chance.”
“You have your gun?” I asked.
“Always. You stay in the car when we get there and if anything looks suspicious, you call the police.”
***
Phil’s house was completely dark when we got there and I wondered what was going on. Alec jumped out of the car as soon as I parked it and he ran for the door. The door was unlocked and he let himself in.
I got out of the car and trotted over to the front door. Running in heels on snowy ground isn’t the easiest thing to do.
I opened the front door and stopped. I could see dark shadows and piles of things. I reached for the light switch, but there was no power.
“Alec,” I hissed.
When no answer came, I moved forward, tripping over something, but catching myself before I hit the ground. I pulled my phone out of my purse and put my purse strap over my neck so I wouldn’t lose it. I unlocked my phone, searching for the flashlight icon and turned it on. I shined it around the room and gasped. Phil’s house was piled nearly to the ceiling with junk.
There were piles of magazines stacked up in the corner, along with lots of furniture. There were at least six baby strollers and dozens of floor lamps gathered together in one spot. Another pile held what must have been more than fifty or sixty dolls, all in various states of undress and some caked in dirt. There was a narrow path leading in and around the piles and I carefully moved forward, wishing I had my running shoes on. This place would have made a great haunted house at Halloween.
I heard something fall in another room, and then I heard a scream.
“Alec?” I called.
“Jenna, put the gun down,” I heard Alec say.
“No. I’m not putting the gun down. He has something of mine and I want it now,” she said.
I headed toward a back room, hoping I wasn’t going to fall over something.
“Jenna, put the gun down,” Alec warned.
The toe of my shoe caught on a mounded pile of aluminum cans that was at least four feet high and they came crashing down into the pathway. I screamed involuntarily. A gun went off and I screamed again.
“Allie, get out of here,” Alec shouted from the other room.
I tried to step over the cans, but I slid on one and my shoe came off. I felt my ankle twist. I bit my lower lip at the pain as I landed on my knees, and my phone flew out of my hands.
“I want what’s mine, little man,” Jenna said.
I heard whimpering, and then Phil said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
There was another gunshot and I ducked my head down as I heard something come crashing down in the other room. Phil’s sobbing could be heard above the noise and tears sprang to my eyes as I wondered if Alec was okay.
“Alec!” I called.
There was another crash in the other room and another gunshot. Phil screamed as he came crashing through the living room and tripped over me. His knee crashed into my ribs and I screamed.
“Allie! Call the police!” Alec shouted.
I could see my phone about ten feet from where I was, and I began crawling toward it, shoving Phil out of the way.
“She’s going to kill us, she’s going to kill us,” Phil repeated over and over.
“Shut up Phil. She’s not going to kill anyone,” I said, hoping it was true.
Another crash made me jump and Jenna started cursing Alec. After a minute, Alec emerged, dragging Jenna behind him. I got to my phone and dialed 911.
Alec kicked junk out of his way and Jenna swore up a blue streak as she was dragged to the front door. I gave the operator instructions and hung up before she could ask any questions. I didn’t have time for questions; I wanted to make sure Alec was okay.
Pain shot through my ankle and ribs as I got to my feet. Thankfully, I could put a little weight on my ankle and I hobbled to the front door, leaving Phil laying on the floor, crying.
“What happened?” I asked as Alec stood over Jenna on the front step. Jenna was handcuffed and writhing on the cement step.
“She was going to kill Phil,” Alec said.
“Why?” I asked. I had heard about neighbors going bad over loud noises before, but this was kind of extreme.
“He has something of mine,” Jenna said through clenched teeth. “I’ll kill him if he doesn’t give it to me.”
“What does he have?” I asked.
“My laptop.”
I looked at Alec as we heard sirens in the distance.
Chapter Twenty-four
It was evening, two days later and Alec and I sat in front of my fireplace, watching the logs snap and crackle in the fire. Alec had spent most of the last two days at the police station, assisting Sam with interviewing Jenna and we hadn’t had much time to talk. We sat together, without saying much. He was exhausted from too many hours at the police station and my pride still stung from my assumption that he would propose on Valentine's Day.
“Did she confess?” I asked.
“She did,” he said. “I spoke with Sam when they brought her into the station. I asked him to let me lean on her a little and see if I could get her to confess to killing Spencer Cranston.”
“Why did she do it?”
“That missing laptop wasn’t Spencer’s. It was hers. Apparently she was working on a computer program designed to allow the government to track people in a more precise way than any other program had before. Spencer wanted her to let him collaborate, but she refused. She said he had a way of making sure he got the credit for work other people did. So he stole her laptop to steal her program,” he said. “And then she stole it back.”
“So they weren’t having an affair?” I asked.
“They really were having an affair. Apparently it started after they both moved here. Jenna didn’t actually quit Stanton Industries two days after she moved here. She was working from home. Bart Hicks didn’t want anyone in the office besides Spencer Cranston to know what she was working on, so he told everyone she quit. Spencer would stop by her house to see how the program was coming along and the affair started. Apparently Spencer was the jealous type and thought Jenna had another lover on the side, so for spite, he stole the laptop so he could take credit for her work. Not to be outdone, Jenna murdered Spencer as he sat in his car, spying on her.”
“So why kill him? Why didn’t she just tell Bart Hicks that Spencer had stolen her program?” I asked.
Alec chuckled. “She was in love and he had betrayed that love by stealing her program and claiming it was his. It was a crime of passion. Some people have a funny way of expressing love, I guess.”
I shuddered. “Talk about cold-blooded. And the way she never showed any reaction when we said we had found him dead. I would have sworn she had never met him.”
“At first, she argued and argued with us that she didn’t kill him. It took a long time to wear her down and she never showed any remorse for what she did.”
“I can’t imagine that. Really, I think if I killed someone I loved, I would feel a lot more guilty about that than if I had killed someone I didn’t know. Grieved and guilty,” I said.
“You aren’t the murdering kind. Some people just seem to have a knack for it,” he concluded.
“Seems like it,” I agreed. “And she knew how to use a garrote.”
He chuckled. “Maybe they teach you that in IT school. When she was questioned about it, she just shrugged like it was something anyone would know how to use. I mean, it’s not that technical, I guess anyone who wanted to be a murderer could figure it out.”
I shivered. I couldn’t imagine killing someone
in such an up close and personal way. But then, I couldn’t imagine killing someone at all.
“Meg was right about Jenna, I guess,” I said.
He nodded. “She was.”
“I offered to help Phil clean his house,” I said. “He declined. He said he’d been that way all his life and he wasn’t going to change now. I guess now we know what he was doing in the alleys. He was digging through the trash bins. That’s what he was going to do that night Lucy and I saw him in the alley behind the gun store.”
Alec shook his head. “I don’t understand that.”
“Me either. The good news is Frito has been located.”
“What? Where?” he asked, turning toward me.
“He got lost in one of Phil’s bedrooms. Fortunately there were bags of dog food Phil had hoarded in there and Frito now has an extra three pounds he’s carrying around.”
“Silver lining, I guess,” Alec said.
I giggled. “I think Frito was enjoying himself in there and didn’t want to give himself up.”
“Phil handed over the laptop. He had indeed taken it. He claims Jenna had put it out on the curb in a cardboard box as recycling. I don’t buy that, of course. That program was too valuable for her to be careless with it. He was mad at her, thinking she had taken Frito, and he was Special Ops at one time, so I’m thinking he was able to break into her house and take what he knew was important to her. He’s maintaining his innocence,” Alec said.
“Well, all’s well that end’s well,” I said, snuggling up to him. I loved a good fire, but it was making me sleepy.
“Ayup.”
I was thankful Jenna was in jail. Someone that could be as cold about murder as she was needed to be locked up.
I could feel Alec’s steady heartbeat as I lay against him. “Are we okay?” I finally asked.
“Of course we are,” he said, putting his arm around me.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“For what?”
I sighed. “For embarrassing myself. And you.”
“Stop it. No one was embarrassed. In fact, I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” he said, giving my shoulders a squeeze. “And I’d appreciate it if you would forget about it.”