Annie ignored her. “Please, Trudie. Talk to me.”
Trudie didn’t answer. She hugged her knees and buried her head.
Annie stood there for a moment in disbelief. “I don’t understand,” she whispered, running her hand down the door.
“Annie, I said—”
“I know what you said, Noella.” Annie angrily walked back into the living room. “And if you weren’t Trudie’s friend, I’d punch you right in the face.”
“Well, maybe it’s a good thing that Trudie came to her senses before she learned the hard way what a violent temper you have.”
“You self-serving bitch. You’re happy about this, aren’t you? Yeah, that way you can keep enabling her agoraphobia so you can live her life for her. I’ve seen the pictures in the society pages of you and some celebrity. You get off on standing in for Trudie.”
“I was there right after Leigh was stabbed. I saw what she went through, holding Leigh’s bleeding body in her arms, begging her not to die. There was nothing that I could do to bring Leigh back to her, but I damn sure will do whatever I can now, to make Trudie’s life easier. And that includes getting you the hell out of here. I’m calling the police.”
“Don’t bother, I’m leaving!” Annie shouted so that Trudie could hear her. She walked to the door, but as she opened it, she turned and looked down the hall, hoping that Trudie would come rushing after her. When she didn’t come out, tears welled up in Annie’s eyes. “Make sure she takes her antibiotics,” Annie whispered, and walked out the door. She didn’t wait on the elevator; she took the stairs down two at a time.
Noella walked over to the door and locked it. Then she walked down the hall and tapped on Trudie’s bedroom door. “She’s gone, honey. You can come out now.” When Trudie didn’t answer, Noella opened the door and walked in.
Trudie was lying on her bed in a fetal position, tears pouring out of her eyes.
Noella blinked back her own tears and sat on the side of the bed. She gently combed Trudie’s hair from her face. “It’s for her own good, Trudie. It will keep her safe from the stalker.”
“It hurts like hell,” Trudie whimpered.
“I know, honey.”
***
Annie got in her Jeep and drove out of the city, across the bridge and onto highway 67/167. At first, she just wanted to drive, to get as far away from the nightmare as possible. Twenty minutes into her drive, she realized she was about to enter Lonoke County, where her father was buried. Annie took the first exit and backtracked half a mile on the access road to the nearest liquor store. Lonoke County was a dry county, so there were at least five or six liquor stores located just across the county line. Purchasing a bottle of whiskey, Annie jumped back in her Jeep and drove through the town of Cabot, to the cemetery on the other side.
There were fresh flowers on her father’s grave, and she knew that her mother must have put them there. She would have asked a friend from church to take her to the cemetery because she was afraid to go alone that far from Little Rock. Round trip would have taken an hour. Annie never thought of offering to take her, and her mother never mention wanting to visit, but still, Annie instantly regretted that she hadn’t volunteered.
“Hey, Dad. I, uh, I know you’re not in there, but you always said that if I wanted to drink, not to drink alone. I should come to you, and we could share a drink and watch the game. How I wish we could do that now. Anyway…” Annie pulled the bottle out of the brown paper bag and twisted the lid off. “A toast, to loved ones who are gone, but can never be forgotten.” Annie drank straight from the bottle, guzzling it until it dribbled down her chin. She exhaled loudly, and wiped her chin with the sleeve of her shirt.
“Son of a bitch! This is Trudie’s dead wife’s shirt.” She started to take it off, but realized that she wasn’t drunk enough to walk around naked, so she gulped down another mouth full of whiskey. Her ringtone played the Air Force Song, and she hurriedly dug her cellphone out of her jeans pocket, hoping that it was Trudie. In the two seconds it took to accept the call, Annie was already plotting her trip back to the city, taking all the shortcuts and driving above the seventy-mile-per-hour speed limit, so she could be in Trudie’s arms in a matter of twenty minutes.
It wasn’t Trudie calling.
“Uncle Donny, everything all right?” Annie said half-heartedly. “You don’t usually call me unless… oh, my God, is Trudie all right?”
“Trudie? How would I know?” Donny asked. “Have you been drinking? You sound funny.”
“Jeez, I had two hits off of my whiskey bottle, that’s all.”
“Where are you, and I’ll come get you?”
“I’m at the cemetery with Dad, and you don’t need to come get me. I’m not going to be drinking and driving.”
“No, you’re just going to drink in a cemetery, and what, pass out on your father’s grave? What the hell is going on, Annie?”
“I don’t know what the hell is going on! That’s why I’m drinking, so that I don’t want to know.”
“You got involved with her, didn’t you? I warned you,” Donny chastised.
“Yeah, thanks for reminding me, Uncle Donny. Like that helps me now.”
“Don’t be a jerk. Stop drinking, go home, and we’ll talk about it in the morning.”
“Yeah, yeah. Sure thing,” Annie quipped. She had no intention of going home to that lonely, empty apartment in that crap part of town.
Donny hung up suddenly, and Annie didn’t give him a second thought. Just as she lifted the bottle to take another drink, her cellphone rang again. The caller ID said it was her mother. Son of a bitch. He went and tattled on me.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Annie, honey. Could you come over? I need your help.”
“Did Uncle Donny put you up to this?” Annie asked suspiciously.
“Donny? No. I haven’t spoken to him in days. I need you to help hang a painting for me. I got it at a church yard sale yesterday. Would you mind?”
“No, Mom. I don’t mind. It’ll take me a little while to get over there, but I’m on my way.”
“Thanks, honey. See you in a bit.”
Annie ended the call, wondering why she couldn’t catch a break. It would seem that the fates were toying with her, even with something as trivial as drinking.
Annie had seen the horrors of war, twice. She’d known the struggle to live as she watched her father die, and her mother fight the cancer. But Annie had never before felt the heart-piercing stab of rejection. Her heart continued to break as she drove back to the city, knowing that Trudie was there, in her glass tower.
She pulled in the driveway of her mother’s townhouse and noticed a van parked in front of it. “Damn it. My mother lied to me.” It was Donny’s van. She started to leave when the front porch light came on and her mother opened the door.
“Aren’t you coming in, honey?”
“Yes, Mom,” Annie replied in annoyance.
The second Annie walked through her mother’s door, Donny was apologizing. “I knew your mother could talk some sense into you,” he confessed.
“Et tu, Mom?”
“No, nothing of the sort. Donny came over after I called you. But yes, I would have lied if it meant keeping you from drinking over your father’s grave. What were you thinking, Annie?”
“I just wanted to have a drink with my Dad. Is that so wrong?”
Annabelle’s eyes welled up as she looked at her daughter. “No, honey. That’s not wrong. I just wish you felt you could come to me with whatever’s bothering you.”
“I know I can, Mom,” Annie said remorsefully. “But I had it in mind to get stinking drunk, and I wouldn’t put you through that.”
“Why, honey? What has you so upset that— it’s a girl, isn’t it? Is it the author that you met?”
“Trudie Youngblood, and she lives on the seventh floor,” Donny offered. “She never leaves her condo.”
Annabelle shook her head. “That’s so sad. Why doesn’t she want to
leave?”
“It’s a long story, Mom.”
“Then at least tell me why she has you so upset,” Annabelle requested.
Annie sighed and walked into the kitchen. She pulled a soda from the fridge and walked back to the couch and sat down. “Because she kicked me out of her condo. Well, she had someone else kick me out.”
“Why? What did you do?”
“I don’t know, Uncle Donny. I stayed with her and took care of her through the worst of her pneumonia, and thought we were getting close, you know?”
“Close how?” Donny asked.
“Cold shower close,” Annie quipped. “We were just about to declare our love for one another when that bitch walked in.”
Annabelle shook her head. “Bitch? What bitch?”
“Noella Rutherford, Trudie’s friend and publicist,” Donny inserted. “She doesn’t like Annie.”
“She was supposed to have been out of state this week, that’s why I was looking after Trudie.”
“Why did she come back early?” Annabelle asked.
“I don’t know, Mom. She wouldn’t say in front of me, so like an idiot, I went and sat in Trudie’s office while they talked.” Annie was still fuming over being played the sap by Noella. She had tried to give the woman the benefit of the doubt for Trudie’s sake. But no more. The next time she saw that bitch, she was going to give her a piece of her mind. Hmm, maybe I do have a strong temper? I’ll kick her ass with words.
Donny got a wild look in his eyes and asked, “You don’t think… is the stalker back?”
“What stalker? Trudie had a stalker?” Annabelle asked.
“Yeah, and they think the stalker killed Trudie’s partner,” Donny explained. “That’s why she locked herself up on the seventh floor.”
Donny and Annabelle looked at Annie, who had sat forward and put her elbows on her knees.
“That’s it, Uncle Donny. That has to be it. Why else would she suddenly tell me to leave and refuse to talk to me? She thinks she’s protecting me from the stalker.”
“I would do the same thing, if it were me,” Annabelle stated. “And if that is the reason, I’m glad she did.”
“But, Mom, I’m not leaving her under the control of a stalker and a bitch,” Annie declared.
Annabelle shook her head. “I’m confused. The stalker is a bitch?”
“No, the bitch is Noella. We don’t know who the stalker is yet,” Annie explained.
Donny shook his head. “What can you do about it, Annie? It’s a police matter now.”
“I’m going to rescue the fair princess from her tower, and we’re going to live happily ever after.”
Annabelle looked at her incredulously. “Oh, honey. I think I read you too many fairy tales as a child.”
Chapter Twelve
The next morning, Trudie woke up with a hangover. But it wasn’t from drinking; it was from crying. She was back in a place she thought she would never have to be in again. A place of deep sorrow. For a brief moment, she was happy again, alive again. Then it was all suddenly ripped away from her, again. Now, for the second time in her life, she was lying in a fetal position in her bed, wondering how she could go on.
Nothing was centered right in her mind. She pleaded and then bargained with God to send the stalker to hell. She fantasied about how she would leave the condo and go find Annie the second the stalker was dead. She envisioned it like a movie scene, watching as the stalker painfully died in slow motion. That last one in particular, gave her comfort.
Noella tapped on the bedroom door. “Trudie, are you awake, honey? I made coffee.”
“I don’t want any,” Trudie mumbled.
A moment later, and Noella tapped on the door again. “I’ve got your medicine.”
Trudie grabbed a pillow and put it over her face.
“Annie said to make sure you took your medicine,” Noella coaxed.
A second later the door swung opened and Trudie asked, “Annie said that?”
“Yes, just before she slammed the door in my face,” Noella jibed, and held out the medicine bottle and a glass of water.
Trudie dutifully took her medicine as if Annie would somehow know, and be pleased. “Why does this keep happening to me?” she asked, not really expecting an answer.
“I don’t know, honey. The price of fame comes with its share of challenges.”
“Do you think she’ll ever speak to me again?”
“You should hope that she doesn’t, if you want to keep her safe.”
“I want both. I feel so horrible with the way I treated her. I can only imagine how hurt and confused she must be right now.”
“Not to mention really pissed at me,” Noella said as she retrieved the robe from the bench at the end of the bed.
“And I regret that, too, Noella.”
Most of what Trudie heard last night was muffled. But she heard enough to know that Annie blamed Noella in no uncertain terms. Several times Trudie started to open the door, but each time, she saw Leigh lying dead in her arms. She couldn’t let that happen to Annie, even if it meant sending her away and giving up any hope of ever seeing her again. Trudie tried to convince herself that Annie was seven years her junior and could easily find someone else and move on with her life. But even as she tried, she secretly hoped Annie would find a way for them to be together.
“Don’t be,” Noella said, as she wrapped the robe around Trudie’s shoulders. “I’m a publicist, remember? I have really thick skin.”
“Do you think she’ll ever forgive me?”
“I don’t think that she blames you, Trudie,” Noella said, leading Trudie from the room. “She places the blame completely on me. And for now, I think it’s best that she keeps blaming me.”
“But it’s not fair to you. I should have had the guts to face her myself.”
Noella shook her head. “You weren’t strong enough, Trudie. Not after everything you’ve already lost. You would have held on to her no matter what. No, you did the right thing. Like I said, I can take the heat.”
“I can’t tell you how much that means to me, Noella. Thank you.” Trudie wrapped her arms around Noella and hugged her, and then began crying.
Noella held her tighter and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll take care of you,” she whispered.
***
Annie was eager to get to work in hopes that she might run into Deidra. Somehow she was going to convince Deidra to let her see Trudie, or, if Noella was still there, as Annie suspected she would be, persuade Deidra to give Trudie a message for her. Those three magic words that can changed the world in a heartbeat. I love you.
She stood outside the back door and waited. She knew she would be late clocking in, but it didn’t matter. Deidra was the closest that Annie could come to being with Trudie, so it would be worth losing a few dollars and making her boss mad. Though she hoped he wouldn’t be, as soon as he knew her motivation for being late. He had been very supportive last night, even though he was convinced that there was nothing Annie could do. He’d told her that she needed to move on. For a brief moment, Annie had considered it. And then she scoffed at him.
Annie felt it in her heart that Trudie was suffering, too. Why else would she have Noella tell her? Why else would she hide in her bedroom? If Trudie didn’t care about her, didn’t have feelings for her, she wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to avoid her. Annie was sure that Donny was right. The stalker was back, and Trudie panicked. Annie had to find a way to reach Trudie, to let her know that it was okay to be afraid, just as long as she didn’t give up hope.
Finally, she saw Deidra drive up and park her car in the guest parking. “Hey, Deidra. Got a minute?’
“Sure, just let me get my skates out of my trunk,” Deidra said, as she hit the button that unlocked her car trunk. She pulled a backpack out and put it over her shoulder. “Okay, so what’s up? Damn, you look like shit. Bad night?”
Good, she doesn’t know yet. “Very bad night. The worst night of my life in fact
. Listen, I need your help. It’s very important.”
Deidra eyed her skeptically. “What kind of help?”
“I need you to tell me everything you know about Trudie’s stalker. I know that they never caught the guy, but why did he disappear after he killed Leigh?” Now that Annie thought the stalker was back, her theory about him being after Leigh wasn’t panning out.
“Oh, man. I haven’t a clue,” Deidra said, leaning back on her car. “I was hired about six weeks after it happened. That’s when Trudie bought Lucy. But I have heard Noella and Trudie arguing about it before.”
“What did you hear?”
“Noella said that the police looked at all the recent cases of broken feet at the hospitals and health clinics and did not find anyone matching the criteria. She thought Trudie was mistaken. That she hadn’t broken the attacker’s foot. Trudie swears that she did. She heard a couple of bones crack. If that were true, how would the guy be able to run away?”
“If you have enough adrenalin pumping, you can do anything,” Annie said. “Do you know if the guy has come back, or had any contact with Trudie since that time?”
“No, and why are you so fired up about it all of a sudden? Has something happened?”
“I think so. And before you hate me again, let me just ask one important favor of you.”
“I don’t know,” Deidra hesitated. “If I’m going to hate you again, why should I do you a favor?”
“Because you’re Trudie’s friend. Just tell her that I understand, and I love her anyway. Just tell her that, please.”
“You love her? As in you’re in love with her?”
Annie nodded.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Thank you,” Annie quipped. “It’s my first time.”
“All right then, you’re a virgin idiot.”
“Why do you say that?”
Without thinking, Deidra said, “Because I think she’s in love with— no, never mind.”
“Oh, no. Finish what you were saying.”
“I think she’s in love with Noella.”
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