by Deany Ray
I shook my head. We'd been friends forever, yet I was still finding out new things about her. She knew so many people and I found it completely fascinating that she was still able to surprise me.
"Also," Rosalie said as she plopped back down onto the couch. "I talked to Marie. She's willing to help us. I told her we would be at her office at the phone company at eight in the morning."
"OK, great. We'll be there," I told her.
We spent the rest of the day laying around, watching TV and talking. We ordered Chinese delivery for dinner. Finally, it was time for me to go home. The sun was setting and it had been a nice, relaxing day, spending time doing absolutely nothing with my best friend.
It took me a while to walk home, because I took my time walking. The sunset was so beautiful and I couldn't resist staying outside as long as I could. As soon as I did get home, though, I went right to bed. It had been several days since I'd been able to sleep well and I was exhausted. Luckily, since nothing else terrible had happened, I was able to get half of a night's good sleep. The rest of the night I spent worrying about what, if anything, would happen the following day.
***
The next morning, I woke up and looked at the alarm clock. It was seven am—the perfect time to get in a shower, a quick cup of coffee, and have enough time to drive to the phone company to meet with Rosalie and her cousin Marie. I felt slightly nervous. I was definitely glad at the thought that I might have been about to find out who it was that was harassing me. However, at the same time, that thought was somewhat frightening.
After my shower, I sat at my kitchen table and drank my coffee. I was definitely going to need the caffeine to get through my day. For about the millionth time since everything had started, I ran through my list of suspects in my head.
Finally, it was time to leave. I drove to the phone company and parked in front, right behind Rosalie's car. She was sitting in her car, waiting for me. As I climbed out of mine, she did too. "Good morning," she said with a yawn.
I laughed. "A little too early for you?"
Rosalie shook her head. "No. I didn't drink enough coffee, I think." She smiled. "Are you ready?"
I nodded. "Yes, let's do this."
Together we walked into the building and Rosalie led me to the stairs, which we took to the second floor. As we climbed the stairs, Rosalie told me that she hadn't told Marie exactly why we needed the information that we needed and Marie hadn't asked why.
"She operates on a need-to-know basis," Rosalie said. "She'll always help out my family whenever we need it without asking any questions."
Shaking my head, I marveled again at the amount of people that Rosalie knew. It seemed she always had a hook up when we needed something.
As we reached the second floor, Rosalie pulled open a door with a big, red number "2" on it. We walked through and she led me to a small cubicle. Plastered over the bland walls, Marie had pinned pictures of family and friends.
"Hi, dear cousin!" Rosalie said as Marie stood. They hugged.
Rosalie and I sat next to each other, trying not to act weirdly. We didn't want Marie to become suspicious about why we needed the information. Once we were settled, Marie looked to the left and the right, making sure nobody was watching. She then typed into her computer for a moment. After reading what was pulled up on the screen she nodded her head.
"Okay," she said in a low voice. "It looks like the call came from Lavender Street. Here." She tapped on a point on the map she had pulled up. "There's a phone booth right here. I think that's where the call was placed."
Rosalie and I looked at each other with questions on our face. Neither of us knew anybody who lived on Lavender Street. After a moment, Rosalie shrugged and then stood. "Okay. Thank you for your help, Marie." Marie stood as well and they hugged once more.
Outside of the phone company building, we stood by my car and talked for a few minutes. Rosalie needed to head to work at the bank and I needed to open the café, but we wanted to discuss the information we had just found out.
"I don't know. Obviously they're covering their tracks, hon." Rosalie looked as frustrated as I felt.
"Well I at least want to go check it out. It's our only lead into who's doing this," I told her.
"All right, hon. I'll go with you," Rosalie said. "I'll meet you at your house after you close the café and we can drive together. This is so exciting! Much better than my day job."
Chapter Thirteen
After we said goodbye, we each climbed into our cars and drove away. I arrived at the Blue Bay Café shortly before nine and put a pot of coffee on to brew. I also got started baking the cake of the week: Pink Champagne. Just as I popped the cake into the oven, Maia came through the doors to start her shift. I hated that it once again flashed through my mind that she might have been the one causing all the problems the last few days. I was starting to become suspicious just about everyone.
We worked on getting everything ready for the café to open at ten. The closer the clock ticked to opening, the more anxious I became. I knew that Houston would be at the café soon. Just thinking about him made my knees melt.
Finally, it was time to open the café. Just a few minutes after, a couple walked through the door and sat down at a table. I waited for just a moment before walking up to their table and asking what they would like. They both ordered muffins and coffees, so I set to work gathering those. Just as I placed their food and drinks on the table, Houston walked in and sat at the counter, waving "hi." My stomach jumped with nervousness and I almost ran to the counter to give him his coffee. Realizing that I probably looked too eager, I tried to calm myself down. I needed to keep my feelings under control. Once you get disappointed in a relationship, you're not too eager to just jump ahead again.
"Good morning," he said as I filled his cup.
"Morning," I replied. "How are you doing this morning?"
He smiled and I felt the butterflies in my stomach practically explode. "I'm better, now that I'm here."
I laughed. "I'm glad you enjoy my company."
While he took a sip of his coffee, I grabbed him his usual muffin and set it in front of him. He picked off a piece and popped it into his mouth, smiling. "You have got to be the best baker I've ever had the pleasure of meeting," he told me. "If I stick around here, I'm going to have to spend all my free time exercising just so I don't get fat.”
"Are you planning on sticking around?" I asked curiously.
"Who knows? I really like the company and the view's not too bad, either," he told me.
I couldn't decide whether he meant the view he was currently looking at or the view of the Ouna Bay. Either way, I didn't mind. "Well, I like your company, too."
Houston smiled and took another sip of coffee. "What do you say about extending our time together and going out to dinner?"
This surprised me. The thought of going out with him delighted me, but at the same time I was afraid to fall for another man. After the way my last relationship ended...Well, it was a scary thought. All of this flashed through my mind in a short second before I answered. "Yes, I would love that."
"I'm glad you do. Can I pick you up after the café closes?" he asked. "There's a restaurant I'd like to take you to."
My heart sank just a little. "I can't tonight. I have...something I have to take care of."
"Okay, tomorrow night, then," he said.
I nodded. "That's perfect."
"Great." Houston finished his coffee and picked up his muffin. "I've got some work to do. I will see you later." He stood and brushed his lips against my cheek before leaving the café.
I tried to hide my smile as I turned and noticed Maia watching me. She looked thrilled. "What was that about?"
“Oh, he just...well, we..." I sighed. "He asked me on a date."
Maia squealed and clapped her hands. "What did you say? Did you say 'yes'?"
I smiled and nodded. "We're going out tomorrow night."
The rest of the day passed by without
anything unusual happening. Finally, it was time to close the café. I walked to my car and drove to Third Street and Lavender Street, parking on the corner away from any street lamps at nine pm. It was already getting dark and I didn't want the lights illuminating my car. Rosalie hadn't arrived yet, so I waited. The phone booth was in my line of sight, so I watched it, determined to find out who it was that had been harassing me and who poisoned my friend.
After a moment, Rosalie slipped into the passenger seat of my car. "Hi," she said, quietly.
I nodded my hello, but didn't say anything, still staring at the phone booth. But something to my right caught my eye. I turned and saw Rosalie wearing leather pants, a long black trench coat, black gloves and a huge pair of black sunglasses. Her short brown hair was tied in a mini bun at the neck.
“Good Lord, Rosalie! You look like the female James Bond.” I rolled my eyes.
The corners of her mouth turned up slightly and I could see her cheek dimples forming.
“Just what I was going for,” she grinned.
“Fine. But don't you think the sunglasses are a little bit too much? I mean, it's getting dark outside, for crying out loud.”
“Ah, yes. But you see, this is an outfit so I wouldn't get recognized that easy. It's not for practical purposes.” Rosalie pulled her compact from her (black) purse and put on another layer of red lipstick.
“Oh, now I understand.” Rosalie caught on to my sarcasm and kindly stuck her tongue at me.
Then we both turned our gaze toward the phone booth. About fifteen minutes later, Rosalie spoke. "I feel like we're spies in a movie, sitting here all incognito in your car." I think one of us was more incognito than the other.
I chuckled. "I know what you mean. Except for I have no idea what to do or what to expect. Are we going to see somebody placing another call or are we just wasting our time?"
Rosalie nodded. "Well, this is the only lead we have. We're not professional spies here—just trying to figure out who's been bugging you."
"Yeah, true. Though I would say 'bugging' is a bit of an understatement." I gave her a wry look.
"Okay, okay. Who has been harassing you. Maybe we should also take a look at the surroundings."
Rosalie opened her purse and pulled a pair of binoculars and looked observantly to her right and left.
“Oh my God. Binoculars? Really?” I looked at her purse and wondered where that thing fit in there.
“Well, how do you expect to do surveillance without the proper paraphernalia?”
Again, I rolled my eyes.
“What else do you have stashed in there?” I stretched and glanced toward her purse.
“Oh, just some pepper spray, a laser pen, a nail file and a screwdriver,” Rosalie answered while still squinting through the binoculars.
I blinked twice.
“What do you need a screwdriver for...? You know what? I don't want to know,” I waved it off.
At that moment, I saw a familiar face walking around the corner across from us. Rosalie and I both stopped breathing. It was Angela. She turned from Third Street onto Lavender Street and walked a couple of houses down. Then she walked up to the third house and walked into without knocking. I looked at Rosalie to see if she had seen what I had seen; by the look on her puzzled face, it was clear she had.
"What is she doing here?" I asked in astonishment. "I know where she lives and it's not anywhere near Lavender Street."
"I know," Rosalie said. "But she just walked in, almost like whoever lives there was expecting her."
She turned her binoculars toward the house and leaned forward in her seat.
“Dammit! I can't see anything. The curtains are drawn.”
I shook my head. "This is weird. I can't explain to myself why Angela appeared right here on this street."
My mind was racing. It seemed as though Angela was going to move to the top of my suspect list, but I found that hard to believe. Angela had always been so nice to me. Why would she break my window, put dead flowers on my doorstep, and try to poison my customers? Did she hold a grudge that her cakes didn't turn up that good? No, it can't be that.
I waited with Rosalie for about two more hours, hoping to see more. It was just after eleven pm when we both decided it was time to give up and go home, because nothing else had happened. Angela was still in the house on Lavender Street and we hadn't seen anybody else coming or going.
"I'm tired, hon," Rosalie said. "Nothing else has happened. And my leather pants are starting to itch. Let's go home and try to find out more tomorrow."
I nodded my agreement. Rosalie reached across the center of my car and wrapped her arms around me in a makeshift hug before saying goodbye and getting out of my car. I let her drive away first before turning my car around and heading toward my house.
As I drove, I thought about Angela and wondered why she would be on Lavender Street. It was too much of a coincidence that she was on the exact street where the phone call to my café had been placed.
And whose house had she walked into? Ouna Bay is a small town, but it's not so small that everybody knows everybody else and where everybody else lives. So who would she know that lived on Lavender Street?
The longer I thought about the whole situation, the angrier I became. Somebody was messing with me, somebody had hurt Rosalie – and could have killed her – and had made me fear for my safety. I hit my steering wheel with my hand. Why would somebody do this? And who was it? The more and more I thought about it, the more and more I felt that just about anybody and everybody could have been the culprit. I couldn't stand the thought that I was at the mercy of whoever it was that was trying to hurt me. I couldn't sit around waiting for them to attack again.
I needed to find a way to trap them, to stop them in their tracks and catch them red-handed. Then everything could finally stop. I thought of ways that I could do this and decided that the harasser clearly had an eye on the Blue Bay Café. If I wanted to catch them, the best way – possibly the only way – would be to camp out at the café each night. It certainly sounded crazy, but it was the only solution I could think of.
Since I was almost home, I turned the car around and drove to the café, prepared to spend as many nights there as necessary in order to catch my harasser. I was a woman on a mission and nobody could have stopped me. And the most twisted thing of all was that I've never felt more alive.
The night had already set in and the moon was tucked behind dark clouds. The only lights came from the street lamps.
As I approached the café, I noticed a person walking toward it. They wore a hooded sweatshirt and jeans and were hunched over. The figure looked familiar and it took me a moment to realize that it was Pete, my other employee who had been out of town. He had gone to California for a couple of weeks to visit his grandparents. I thought he must have arrived back into town and wanted to say 'Hi' before slipping into the café for the night.
I parked my car far down the street, up against the curb. I didn't want the harasser to see my car in front of the café and be scared away. After I got out of my car, I walked up to Pete.
"Hey, Pete. Nice to see you're back in town."
He jumped, startled at seeing me.
"Oh, hi, Becky," he said. He quickly looked around and shuffled his feet.
"Did you have a good time in California?" I asked.
"Sure did," he replied. He seemed nervous and kept shuffling his feet back and forth.
"What are you doing alone on the street so late at night?" I watched as he looked around again and mumbled a reply that I couldn't hear.
Both of his hands were in the front pocket of his hooded sweatshirt, but it looked as though there was something else in there – something that he was trying hard not to let me see. At that moment it hit me. I realized Pete's parents had just moved onto Lavender Street the previous month. Pete lived with them.
Chapter Fourteen
My mind was racing. Pete had been walking very conspicuously on Brown Street, right
toward my café. He was wearing dark clothing and was acting nervous, like someone who had been caught doing something they weren't supposed to be doing. His shuffling feet and regular glances around testified to this. I realized, right then and there, that I was standing face-to-face with my harasser. It was Pete that had broken my window, poisoned my friend, and left dead flowers on my doorstep. I think I almost fainted.
I took another look at what it was that Pete had in the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt and saw the tip of a can; it was another can of paint thinner.
Not wanting him to realize that I had just figured out it was him who had been doing everything, I began to slowly back away.
"Well, it's good to see you," I told him. "I've got to get home, now. I'll see you tomorrow?"
It was clear that Pete realized I had figured all out. Just as I turned to run, he lunged toward me and grabbed onto my arm. I tried to twist out of his grip by twisting my arm at the same time I turned my body away, but he held on tight. We got tangled up, but he managed to get a hold of both of my arms. Using his strength, he pushed me back against the wall of the café, my arms pinned to my sides.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked him, still trying to squirm out of his grip. I felt my heart beating against my rib cage and echoing in my ears.
He sneered at me. "Because I need the money."
I shook my head. "I don't understand."
"If Hayes Corporation gets the café from you, they'll make me manager. Along with this will come higher pay and I'll finally be able to get my own place to live."
“What? What are you talking about?” I couldn't believe it. The Hayes Corporation? So Houston's uncle was not that innocent as we thought? And what was Pete's plan now? Obviously he was capable of anything. But what was he going to do? Kill me in the middle of the street? I glanced to my right and left in hope of seeing somebody, anybody. Unfortunately, I had no such luck.
"How do you know they'll make you manager?" I asked, trying to stall for time. "They might just fire you and hire someone else."