by Laina Turner
“If you cared about me you wouldn’t have left me!”
“Two can play that game, Stephen, and I’m not willing to play. If you don’t want to believe I still care, fine. But you know I’m right about what you’re doing being wrong. You want to be on the run for the rest of your life?”
“I don’t want to be in jail for it. What do you want me to do? I don’t have a lot of options here, Rachel.”
“Well, that’s of your own doing, Stephen.”
Just then a voice carried across the darkness. “Don’t move, Stephen Westner, you are surrounded!” I saw the shadows of Clive’s men coming toward us. Stephen looked incredulously at Rachel, the reality of what was happening dawning on him.
“You turned me in? You just stood here and told me you cared what happened to me, and you turned me in? You bitch!” he screamed. Rachel started crying.
“I did it for your own good. You wouldn’t have been able to run forever, and I didn’t want you to end up dead,” she said through her tears.
Stephen was being patted down and handcuffed by the police and was glaring at Rachel. If looks could kill…I was glad he was being handcuffed.
“Everyone okay?” Jonathan asked as he reached us, Berklie close on his heels.
I nodded, as did Rachel.
“Honey, you did everything you could have for him. He’ll come around. He knows you’re right. It’s just going to take him some time to realize it,” Berklie said, trying to comfort her.
“I know,” she replied grabbing a tissue out of her pocket and blowing her nose. “I just don’t want him to hate me.”
“Berklie’s right,” I said. “I’m sure he doesn’t hate you. He’s just pissed off. He just needs time to come around.”
“I hope so. I don’t want him to hate me,” she repeated.
“Rachel, you did the right thing. Even if he does end up hating you, it’s still what had to be done,” Jonathan said. “You didn’t compromise your values, and that’s an admirable thing.”
She nodded. “Do you know where they’re taking him?” she asked Jonathan.
“To county for now. He will have to be arraigned, and I’m not sure based on his past if a judge will grant him bail. I would assume not, since he’s already a proven flight risk, so he may have to stay there until a trial,” said Jonathan. “He will face the charges against him here before they extradite him to whoever else may want him.”
“Well, then it looks as if I might be staying for a while.” She smiled through her tears. “I told him I would be here for him, and I meant it. I don’t want to leave while he’s still here.”
“If you need a place to stay, you’re welcome to stay with me,” I said.
“Really?” Rachel looked at me. “You would do that?”
“Of course. I have more space than I need, and Cody is only with me part time. I would love the company. Plus, if you get bored you can help us at the shop. Of course we would pay you for that, though not a lot,” I said.
Rachel squealed and hugged me. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! You all are the positive things to come out of this whole mess.”
“Sorry to interrupt,” said one of Clive’s officers. “I need you all to come down to the station to get your formal statement on what happened.”
“Can it wait until tomorrow?” I asked. “It’s late and we’re all tired.”
“I understand. However, it’s best to do this when things are fresh in your head. We’ll try to be quick.”
“Okay.” I sighed, and we walked to our respective cars.
Chapter 21
You look tired,” Sophie said to me when I walked into work the next morning.
“Yeah. Too many late nights catching up with me. Not like I’m twenty-one anymore. I vaguely remember those days of endless energy.” I smiled gratefully as she handed me a cup of coffee.
“Berklie called me on her way home, and then, of course, Jonathan filled me in, too. All’s well that ends well I take it? You must be happy about that. I know I am.”
I nodded, my mouth full of coffee, savoring the taste, and hoping the caffeine would hit me soon. I so needed a pick me up. “I’m relieved at least that drama is over. Maybe we can soon get back to normal around here.”
“And Rachel is sticking around? Berklie mentioned you offering your spare room. What’s that all about?”
“She must really love him.”
“I think she does. I know she feels guilty for being the one to trick him into meeting me. She says she plans on staying for as long as he’s here, which Jonathan seems to think will be a while. I’ve really grown to like her in these last few days.”
Sophie nodded in agreement.
“I take it he was none too happy?”
“Of course not, another reason why I think she feels guilty. Though it’s not like this was completely unexpected. But knowing someone is going to be angry and actually watching them be angry are two different things. I told her, and so did Berklie, she just needed to be patient. That if he was the man she thought he was, he would come around to understand why she did what she did and that it was the right thing.”
“I agree. There’s only so much you can do for a person. They have to come to the realization on their own or it won’t ever be sincere or true.”
“She’s a good person, and for her sake I hope it works out. So what’s on the agenda today?” I asked, wrapping an apron around my waist, feeling a little more awake after the coffee.
“Just the usual. Some books were dropped off you need to go through and take pictures of for me to update the site, and Berklie said she would be in around lunchtime. She has a dentist appointment with the twins.”
“I’m sure after another cup of coffee I will be fully functioning. Berklie will probably need a drink by the time she gets here.” I made a face. “I feel sorry for her wrangling those kids at the dentist.”
We worked quietly through the morning. We typically had a lull between the morning rush and the lunch crowd who enjoyed their afternoon coffee. Today I was grateful for the respite. Even after three cups of coffee I was jittery but still tired. Weird phenomenon. I guess there was no real cure for lack of sleep, except for actually getting sleep.
The librarian in me loved this part of the job. The feel of paper and the smell that only books gave off. I was leafing through books that had been dropped off to determine which ones we could resell and which we should just donate, when I saw a piece of paper sticking out of a well-worn copy of Danielle Steele’s Palomino. This was one of her first novels, and it had always been near and dear to my heart as it was the first romance, adult book in general, I had read. I was about twelve, and I snuck it from my grandmother’s bookshelf one summer when I stayed with her. While there were parts of the book that were way over my head, it was a beautiful story and was what led the transition of my reading from children’s books such as Trixie Belden and the Bobbsey Twins, to the more adult stuff like Danielle Steel, much to my mother’s dismay. My grandmother pretended to be upset I had been caught reading her books, mainly to appease my mother. But secretly it became our thing. I pulled the paper out for curiosity’s sake. It was fun to look at what people stuck in books, typically for bookmarks. Old receipts, grocery lists, doodles, never anything exciting but always interesting.
This one was the size of a steno pad folded long ways. I opened it up. It was a note. I always read them, though sometimes I felt guilty, as it wasn’t my business and thought maybe I should just throw them away. But I always rationalized that it might be important, and I would hate for someone to come in here frantically searching for something they left in the book I had put out in the trash. As I read it, my heart started racing.
The note said If you want to clear your name then you need to keep in mind the saying, ‘keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.’
I read it three more times wondering if it was directed to me, or toward the shop. Was it just a random note that just happened to be relevant
to current events? I also wondered why the hell people kept sending me these secretive notes. Whose books were these, I wondered. Maybe that would give me an answer.
“Sophie,” I yelled, as she was in the back.
I heard her heels clicking on the floor. “What? Is something wrong?”
“Who dropped off these books?”
“Which ones?” she asked peering over my shoulder to see which pile I was referring to.
“The romance, specifically the Danielle Steele.”
“Oh, that was Dawn Baker. You know, Harvey’s ex girlfriend. Why?”
“Read this,” I said, handing her the note.
She, too, read it several times before saying, “Do you think this was meant for us?”
“I’m not sure, but you better believe I’m calling and asking her,” I said reaching for the phone.
“Do you know her number?”
“No, but Donna will. They are in the same bridge club.” I quickly called my friend Donna and got the information I was looking for. Hanging up, I reached for the phone again.
“What are you going to say? Just come right out and ask her if she left us this cryptic note?”
“Why not? If this note was meant for us, then she wanted us to find it and has to expect us to call her to ask about it. If it’s not for us I will just look foolish but not like it’s the first time that’s happened.” I dialed the phone and was disappointed when I reached her voice mail. Leaving her a message to call me back, I went back to work.
Chapter 22
Thanks for driving me to the airport,” Jack said from the passenger seat of my car.
“No problem. I wanted to see you off. It’s the least I could do for you. I do appreciate you coming out here.”
“I was worried and wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said, patting my hand. “I worry about my good, good friends.”
I smiled. “Now I just need to figure out who poisoned Harvey and then the world will be right again. And hopefully we can go back to living a quiet existence.”
“No one thinks you had anything to do with it. Just leave it to Clive. He will figure it out.”
“I know. I’m not so much worried about clearing my name, but rather for justice and to not have this hanging over everyone’s head. Who would want to kill a harmless old man? Doesn’t make any sense.”
We rode the rest of the way in silence, and I finally pulled into the terminal and up to the Southwest Airlines door. I put my flashers on, and we both stepped out of the car to get his luggage from the back. He grabbed his bag and set it on the ground while I shut the hatch, and he wrapped his arms around me. I felt tears once again pricking the back of my eyelids. I was sad to see him leave and sad that circumstances were as they were. I didn’t like things that were out of my control. It just seemed so unfair to find a good guy like this and then lose him through no fault of anyone’s.
“Don’t forget about me, Trix. I still want to know what is going on with you. I expect you to keep me updated.”
“How could I forget about you? And I will keep in touch. That’s a two-way street you know, mister,” I said playfully and pulled away from his embrace.
He slowly let me go. “I know, and I will be calling.” He turned away from me then and walked away. Glancing back over his shoulder before he went through the doors, he smiled and finger waved and then disappeared, doors shutting behind him. I was sad, but I also knew this was the right thing. For us to just be friends. I stood there for a few seconds just thinking until the honking of the cars passing by jolted me out of my stupor.
I got back into the car and heard something vibrating. I glanced at my phone, which had been charging on the console and saw it was ringing. A number I didn’t recognize, but since Stephen was in jail I wasn’t too worried about blocked on unknown numbers.
“Hello?”
“Trixie dear?”
It half sounded like Harvey’s wife, Doris, why would she be calling me? “Yes, this is Trixie.”
“I’m sorry to bother you dear, this is Doris Truedoe. I have a bit of a situation I was hoping you could help me with.”
What could she need my help with, I wondered. I put in my headset and pulled out in traffic before I started a fight with other cars over the parking space. “Sure, Doris, what can I do for you?”
“That trashy woman Harvey was messing with showed up on my doorstep and she won’t leave.”
“I told you, I’m not leaving until I get what’s mine!” I could hear Shree shouting in the background. Her voice I could easily recognize.
“What does she want?”
“Something she claims Harvey was going to give her.”
“Money?”
“Nah, some stupid old pendant of Harvey’s mother’s. Ugly ole thing. She can have it, but I don’t know where it is, and I’m not in the mood to sift through his things right now. But this hussy here won’t leave until I give it to her. Guess she’s going to be waiting a long time,” she cackled.
I sighed. Why was my life turning out to be so strange on a daily basis? “Do you want me to come over and see if I can make her leave?” I assumed that’s why she was calling me.
“Would you dear? That would be delightful.”
“Okay. But it will be about forty-five minutes. I had to drop a friend at the airport, and I’m just leaving.”
“Okay. I can wait.”
Because I have a tendency to speed, I made it to her house in just under forty- five minutes and pulled in the drive to see Shree siting on the front steps. When I got out of my car, she stood up and walked toward me.
“That’s one crazy old lady,” Shree said, hands on her hips.
“Who you calling crazy? You’re the one out here bothering her. Why are you out here bothering her?” I asked.
“She has something that belongs to me, and she won’t hand it over.”
“I already told the hussy she could have it when I got around to finding it. I just can’t be bothered right now. I’m in mourning, ya know,” Doris yelled from the front porch. She must have seen me pull up. I got the sense she was enjoying herself.
Shree snorted. “She’s not in mourning.”
“It doesn’t seem like you are either.” I finally mentioned the thought that had been on my mind since the first night I spoke to her.
“I am,” she said defensively. “I’m just not one of those sappy types.”
“Even so, why are you here bothering Doris? Couldn’t you wait until a little more time passed to remind her that her husband was unfaithful?”
Shree snorted. “Like she cared. She was getting some on the side, too.”
As that image went through my head I cringed inwardly. I just couldn’t even process this drama. It was too weird for me, and yet I was stuck right in the middle of it. If someone told me this situation, I wouldn’t believe it was real.
“I can hear you, and it’s none of your business who I was spending my time with. A woman’s got needs as you well know.”
I knew but didn’t want to hear about it from her. That was definitely too much information.
“Listen, Shree. If I promise to come back in a week or so and get what you are looking for, will you please leave?” I asked, hoping to mediate the situation.
“I don’t know why I should have to wait!”
“Because, legally you don’t have a right to anything of Harvey’s. Whether or not he told you that you could have it. It’s not rightfully yours. So I would suggest you be a little nicer and a little more patient so she doesn’t refuse to give it to you altogether. You need to keep in mind Doris has the upper hand here.”
Shree was silent, and I hoped she was considering what I said. After a few moments, she spoke. “Fine…but I will be back.”
I breathed a sigh of relief as she walked to her car. Crisis averted as least temporarily.
“I will be back!” Shree yelled over her shoulder.
I ignored her, happy she was leaving for now, and walked
up the steps to the porch where just inside the screen door Doris was watching.
“Thank you dear for getting that hussy off my property.”
“Glad I could help. Sorry that she seems to think she has any claim to something of Harvey’s. Unfortunately, she probably will be back.”
“Don’t worry about it dear. I know right where that stupid old necklace is and she can have it. I just didn’t want to roll over so easily.”
I looked at her incredulously.
“I know, I know,” she said patting me on the arm. “You’re wondering why I would give it to her, and if I was planning on giving it to her, why I didn’t just do it.”
I nodded. That was exactly what I was thinking.
“Listen, I know it might not make sense to you, but when you get to be my age you learn not to sweat the small stuff. Harvey and I were over a long time ago. His dalliances didn’t bother me. At least from a jealously standpoint. And I admit I pretended not to know where it was because, well, I just wanted to have some fun,” she said with a mischievous grin. “It’s hard to find fun like this at my age.”
Before I left, I got the address for Dawn Baker, thinking I could drive by and hopefully catch her at home. I wanted to know if she’d left that note and why.
I slowed down in order to see house numbers on mailboxes. Dawn lived in an older subdivision just north of town. It was a very pretty area with mature trees and landscaping. When I got to the right one I turned in the driveway. There was a dark blue Buick LaCrosse in the driveway. I presumed it to be hers, so I hoped that meant she was home. I knocked a few times and heard footsteps walking toward the door. She swung it open and didn’t seem surprised at all to see me standing there.
“Please come in,” she said, stepping to the side to allow me to pass by her. “Can I get you anything to drink? I just made a fresh pot of coffee, and I have some of that French vanilla creamer. I think it’s so yummy, don’t you? Just adds a little dessert-like flavor to your coffee. Although you are probably used to much more interesting coffees, what with your shop and all.”