Laina Turner - The Trixie Pristine Boxed Set

by Laina Turner

  “And?” I asked both nervous and excited for what she was about to tell me.

  “Clean. Clear as a whistle. They didn’t find any evidence that the poison came from my shop.”

  “Whoo-hoo!” I shouted happy for her, though it of course dawned on me that if it didn’t come from her shop it had to have happened at Read-Wine. While I didn’t want Avery’s business affected, neither did I want mine. After this business with Stephen was over, we had to get to the bottom of who killed Harvey. To clear all our businesses’ names. “I’m so happy for you! When can you reopen again?”

  “He said as soon as we want. I’m going to get baking and plan on opening first thing tomorrow. I just hope my customers come back.”

  “That’s wonderful, Avery.” I was really happy for her. “And they will come back. It hasn’t kept them away from Read-wine.”

  “Thanks, I know that puts things right back in your lap…” She trailed off.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it. Clive will get to the bottom of who killed Harvey,” I said with more confidence than I felt.

  “Mom, you just passed Pizza Hut!” Cody yelled from the back seat.

  “Crap!” I said out loud, catching the Pizza Hut sign out of the corner of my eye.

  “What?” Avery asked.

  “I just missed the restaurant where Cody and I are going. Distracted, I guess.”

  Avery laughed. “I’ll let you go. Call me tomorrow.”

  “Okay. It really is great news, Avery. I am happy for you.”

  After turning around, we finally made it and joined everyone else who had been on time. It took a while, but I finally pushed the drama of the day out of my head and enjoyed the company and conversation of the other ladies. The boys talked us into heading out to the Putt Putt golf place and hitting a few rounds before making a stop at the Dairy Queen. A few hours later, a tired Cody only lightly resisted when I told him it was time for bed. Soon I was in the living room, with my feet propped up, and Jack had poured me a glass of my favorite Red Moscato. Slightly chilled, just the way I like it.

  I took a sip and sighed, savoring the good taste.

  “You’ve had a long day,” he said sympathetically.

  I nodded my head in agreement. “Was it ever.”

  “Did you talk to Clive?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  “What’s wrong?”

  As happy as I was that Jack was here, I knew we needed to not ignore the issue between us. Meaning the distance. I didn’t want to keep on with this relationship limbo, and I was sure he didn’t either. Chitchatting like everything was fine wasn’t going to help the situation.

  “Jack, we need to talk.”

  “Uh-oh, that’s never a good opener.”

  I smiled ruefully. “C’mon, don’t make this harder than it already is. You know we need to talk.”

  He hung his head for a minute before lifting it back up. “I know. I just don’t want to.”

  “Me either,” I said

  We sat in silence sipping our wine for about ten minutes. Neither of us wanted to be the first to start this conversation. Finally Jack spoke. “I’m sorry.”

  I shook my head. “What are you sorry for? You didn’t do anything?”

  “I appreciate you saying that, but I’m the one who made the decision to move away,” he said sadly.

  “Just like I made the decision not to move with you. We did what we had to do, Jack. We did what we thought we should in the best interest of us and our families. The timing just isn’t right. It’s no one’s fault.” It sucked, but what I was saying was true. Sometimes circumstances just didn’t work out.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I wish things were different.”

  “We can still talk and be friends can’t we?” I asked.

  He smiled that smile I loved so much. “Of course. Now let’s get you some more wine.”

  Chapter 19

  So we decided to stay friends. No awkwardness, well not much anyways. It was fine. We are both adults who realize that right now things between us won’t work, but we can still remain friends.” I was recounting the conversation with Jack from last night to Berklie, Sophie, Macie—and Rachel whom Sophie had invited along at the last minute. In spite of the circumstances under which we had met her, she was quickly becoming part of the group. We really liked her. We were at the bridal store getting our dresses fitted. Dress fitting is usually not a self-esteem boosting event, much like swimsuit shopping. If only the swimsuit stores served wine to make you less self-conscious like the bridal store did.

  Sophie had paid for two day shipping so as to not run too close to the wedding date. Money she told us was well spent to alleviate stress. She had joked that this wedding planning stuff was a lot more complicated than she had thought it would be. We’d gone shoe shopping earlier and had decided on patent leather gold wedges. Alone, they at first glance looked a little hookerish, and we bridesmaids had been quite skeptical, but Sophie insisted they would look great with the dress. It would give the dress a bit of pizazz, she’d said. The rest of us weren’t convinced, but since she was the bride we went along. Much to our surprise, when we got to the bridal store and tried the shoes on with the dress, she was completely right. The dresses were long enough that you could only see the shoes when you moved around, and they were flashy enough to be noticed peeking through. Sophie couldn’t refrain from saying told you so, which we also accepted because she was the bride and, well, because she was right.

  “How do you feel about that? Really?” Berklie asked.

  “I’m sad, of course, but what can I do? It’s just what it is. We both know that maintaining a long-distance relationship isn’t working, and we’re mature enough to handle it. I’m just glad we can be adults and no one is upset at the other. Just the situation.”

  Berklie came over and gave me a hug. “That’s the spirit.”

  “Jonathan’s got some single friends we could hook you up with,” Sophie said.

  “Thanks, but I’m good for now.” I wasn’t at all in the mood to deal with dating again. The very thought of dating made me cringe.

  “I’m not good. I want to meet some single men,” Macie said good-naturedly, and we all started laughing.

  After we had quieted down, Macie spoke up. “Sophie, I know it wasn’t any of my business, but I looked into the background of your friendly stalker.”

  Sophie’s eyes opened wide. “Oh, I don’t mind, but how did you do that?”

  “I just put the information I had about him into a legal database I have access to and did a little digging. It’s not super hard when you know where to look.”

  “Don’t keep us in suspense. Tell us what you found out,” I said.

  “This isn’t the first time he’s been fixated on someone. He has had two prior restraining orders filed against him by women for his increasing actions of stalking, to the point where they were able to get a restraining order.”

  “See!” Berklie said. “This guy is trouble. He’s not going to stay harmless and just annoying.”

  Macie nodded her head in agreement. “Yeah, this guy definitely has issues. He just seems to do it slowly. I called the police department that monitored one of the restraining orders to see if they would tell me anything and, lucky for us, I got someone rather chatty. When I explained the situation, he was very forthcoming. The story I got was pretty much what you’ve been telling us, until one day he told this woman if she didn’t start to appreciate his gifts she would be sorry. At that time the police still couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything, and honestly I don’t blame the police. So often their hands are tied by our legal system. She of course didn’t appreciate his gifts, and shortly after that he broke into her house and tied her up. Saying he was willing to wait there until she realized she loved him,” Macie said, finishing with a grim look.

  I shuddered at the thought of any woman having that happen to them, and I looked at Sophie who was as white as a sheet.

  “Sophie, what’s wrong. Do
you feel sick?” I asked.

  Sophie just sat there, and I could see she was shaking.

  “Sophie, please tell us,” I implored.

  “I haven’t wanted to bother you all with this because of everything else that’s going on. It seems so insignificant in comparison.”

  “Sophie, what have you not told us!” Berklie said sternly. Not that being stern was called for, but I could tell Berklie was upset, and that’s how she got when she was worried.

  “He sent me more flowers yesterday and admonished me for not being appreciative of his gifts. Appreciative was his exact word. I wasn’t scared before, but after hearing what Macie just said…I know the word choice is a coincidence, but still.”

  “That’s it. We have to do something,” I said. “Macie, what can we do?”

  “I can go to Clive with Sophie and tell him what I found out, which he can easily verify, and maybe that will be enough for a restraining order.”

  “But how much do restraining orders actually work? Can we make him leave town?” Berklie asked.

  “Not legally,” Macie said. “Usually these orders are good for a certain distance but not that far.”

  “But Jonathan can run him out of town,” I added. “Sophie you’re telling him now!”

  “Okay,” she said softly. I thought the magnitude of the situation was finally hitting home.

  Thirty minutes later, we were all at Jonathan’s motorcycle shop, and Sophie was explaining the situation to him. His mouth was set in a grim line, and I could tell he was trying his best to control his anger. Mostly at the situation, but I knew Jonathan well enough to know he was probably a little ticked at Sophie, as much as I knew he loved her, for not telling him sooner. Same way we had all been annoyed with her that she had been so reluctant to take this seriously. Jonathan was a protector. It was how he had always been.

  “Are you mad?” Sophie asked him timidly when she had finished her story. Knowing full well what his answer was going to be.

  “Hell, yes, I’m mad,” he said pounding his fist on the counter. Sophie flinched. “I’m sorry, Sophie. I don’t mean to yell, but why are you just now telling me this? You are in danger, and I didn’t know, so how can I take care of you and our baby? And you two,” he said pointing his finger at Berklie and me. “How did you allow her to not tell me!”

  “Don’t be mad at them, honey. They kept pushing me to tell you, and I told them I would, just at the right time.”

  “That’s not an excuse,” he said, still glaring at us, and I didn’t blame him. We should have tried harder to make her tell him, or just should have told him ourselves.

  “Don’t be mad, Jonathan. She’s telling you now,” I said.

  He glared at me. I shrugged it off. He had a right to be pissed, and he would get over it. I was just glad he finally knew what was going on. He would know what to do.

  “So this guy is in town?” Jonathan asked.

  “I don’t know exactly. Most of his things come via delivery, but he has left a few notes on my front door. So I assume he’s relatively close and not driving in four hours from the city each time he wants to leave me something.”

  “Then I need to find him and make it abundantly clear that he needs to leave you alone, and that he needs to find another hobby besides bothering women.”

  “How are you going to do that?” Sophie asked.

  “Just leave that to me, sweetheart. You concentrate on wedding plans.”

  Chapter 20

  Are you sure he will show up?” I asked Rachel as we were waiting to meet Stephen, shivering in the cleared area at the same place where we had followed George and Lewis. It was almost midnight, our appointed meeting time, and the temperatures had dropped radically.

  “Unfortunately, he’s desperate and his level of desperation is going to outweigh his cautiousness.”

  “It always does with criminals. They tend to think of themselves as indestructible.”

  “Even though your dad said he wasn’t concerned with him?”

  “Don’t let him fool you. My father hasn’t given up looking for him. That might not be why he is here, but trust me, since he found out Stephen is also in the area, he’s looking. Regardless of what he said to me the other night. Criminals also tend to be selfish and will do whatever they need to in order to get what they want.”

  “But is there any real point? Surely your dad realizes he can’t get his money back from Stephen.”

  “Oh, he does, and believe me he doesn’t care about the money. He cares about retribution. Sending the message you can’t fuck with him and live to get away with it. That’s the much bigger picture. In his line of business, he can’t afford for people to think he will forgive these kinds of actions. He has power because people fear him; if that fear is gone he wouldn’t be nearly as powerful.”

  I thought about that for a minute. “I may just be really naïve, and I read in the papers about organized crime when John Gotti was convicted and all that, but it seems so, I don’t know, surreal. That people really kill people to protect their interests. I mean, I know people kill people for a variety of reasons, but this is like just a by-product of doing business. I don’t know, I’m not being very clear.”

  “I understand what you’re saying. It seems surreal to me at times, too, that this is my life. When I was in high school my dad was having conflict with another criminal who had threatened my sisters and me. He had bodyguards take us to school, and we, of course, had to make up some really stupid excuse as to why, since we couldn’t tell the truth. I look back at that and wonder why it took me so long to realize my family wasn’t normal, but rather a bad episode of Mob Wives.”

  “But then what family is? Normal, I mean. There are just varying degrees of dysfunction,” I said.

  She smiled at that. “Our dysfunction is just worse than most.”

  “What are you guys doing out here? It’s freezing!” Berklie said walking over to us. “Come wait in the car with me and Macie.” We had made Sophie stay home against her will, of course. But with her being pregnant and the whole stalker issue, there was no way any of us, or Jonathan, was going to allow her to be in harm’s way. She had enough stress to deal with. Jonathan used the baby card on her to finally convince her she needed to take better precautions.

  “Are Jonathan and Joe all set in the barn?” I asked.

  Berklie nodded.

  Joe was one of Clive’s deputies and was here to arrest Stephen when he showed up. Because of Jonathan’s status with the ATF, they were allowing him to assist in an official capacity. Plus, he had been instrumental in getting Clive to agree to this. Clive hadn’t been too happy we had arranged this meeting without talking to him. He told me if I started going behind his back and interfering in police business, I would end up with more volunteer work and it wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable as my work at the shelter. He muttered something about picking up trash on Highway 37 in an orange jumpsuit.

  There were two more police in on this. One at the end of the road where we came in. The other way dead-ended into woods, and unless Stephen was in fantastic shape and wanted to navigate dense woods by moonlight, we were safe from him going in that direction. The other cop was out in the field behind the clearing. I just hoped it would be enough and that Rachel would be able to help him see reason, and he would turn himself in without a lot of difficulty. Berklie went back to the truck, and since it was almost time, Rachel slipped back closer to the barn where he couldn’t see her when he turned in the drive. We wanted him to be out of his vehicle before he saw her. We all assumed that once he saw her he would know something was going on.

  I felt like I had been waiting an eternity, and my fingers were freezing. I hadn’t thought to bring gloves. It hadn’t been nearly this cold an hour ago, or maybe just standing out in it for this long was getting to me, making me the happiest when finally I saw headlights coming down the road. My heart started racing. It was either Stephen or some kids hoping for a secluded spot away from prying eyes
of adults. I smiled at the thought of high schoolers turning in here hoping for an out of the way spot to drink, or whatever else they didn’t want to get caught doing, and finding a bunch of cops, an AFT agent, and parents already hanging out.

  An older, beaten up gray Malibu pulled in the drive, and the headlights gave me enough light to see that it was Stephen. The engine cut, and the lights shut off. There was still one working floodlight coming off the barn offering enough light for us to see by.

  I wasn’t scared exactly, there were too many people hiding in the shadows to be scared, but I was nervous. Stephen stepped out of the car and didn’t seem apprehensive at all. If it were me, I might have thought I was being set up, and I wasn’t a paranoid type person. But if I were wanted by the police and others, I would be very careful. Though maybe he thought I was too afraid of them to go to the cops, and he would have no idea Rachel had approached me. I was sure something like that hadn’t even crossed his mind. Though he was about to find out.

  He wasted no time when he reached me. “Where’s my money?”

  I paused. “About that,” I said, tilting my head to the left and gave a half smile

  He took a menacing step toward me.

  “Stephen! Stop right there!” Rachel cried from the shadows and quickly walked out to meet us. A shocked look was quickly replaced by confusion at seeing Rachel. I almost felt sorry for him for what was about to come.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Stopping you from making a terrible mistake. Stephen, you have to turn yourself in.”

  “You break up with me, tell me you want nothing to do with me, and yet you show up here telling me what to do? What gives you that right?” he said belligerently.

  “I broke up with you because of your lifestyle. I gave you the option to change and prove you cared more about me than you cared about a life of crime. What did you do? You sure didn’t choose me. So, don’t you dare blame this on me. But regardless of our past history, I still care what happens to you, and I know this isn’t the right path. It’s only going to end badly, and deep down you know that.”