by Sherri Hayes
A pang of longing to feel Chris’s arms around her ached in her chest, but he wasn’t here.
“They’re suing you?” Terry said incredulously.
She nodded.
If Terry didn’t know before that she’d killed her husband, he certainly did now.
Chris wished for the millionth time that Paul were here. His brother was much better at tailing people than he was.
He followed Carol through downtown, trying to stay far enough back that she wouldn’t see him but close enough that he wouldn’t lose her. It was a lot harder than it looked in the movies.
She made a few stops but nothing that lasted longer than ten minutes. He wasn’t sure what had compelled him to tail her, but Paul had once told him it was instinct that led to solving cases, and for some reason his gut was telling him to find out what Carol was up to.
Just as he was about to give up and head back to the office, she turned and drove out of town. It didn’t take him long to figure out where she was going. With a sinking feeling, he followed her straight to his house. He slowed down and pulled over, hoping she hadn’t seen him yet.
He’d expected her to drive up to the house, but she didn’t. She pulled off to the side of the road just beyond the house, stopped, and then backed up. It wasn’t until he saw her do this that he realized there was a small clearing almost directly across from the driveway, perfect for a car to slip into. And with the surrounding trees, unless you were paying close attention, you wouldn’t even notice.
He debated confronting her right then, but he decided against it. Now that he knew she was there, he wanted to watch her. He was also going to call Paul and get his opinion.
He waited until a car drove by, hoping it would distract her as he put his truck in reverse.
The drive back into town took longer than he would have liked. Traffic was relatively easy to navigate in Springfield, but the closer it got to five o’clock the more congested it got. It also didn’t help that he had to stop for a train. He thumped the steering wheel the heel of his hand. All he wanted was to get back to Elizabeth.
When he arrived back at the office, he breathed a sigh of relief, parked his car, and practically skipped up the sidewalk. Nothing that happened in the last hour could dampen the joy he felt knowing he was about to see her. Before he could make it inside, she flew out of the door and flung herself into his arms.
He pulled her close, relishing the feel and smell of her. “I missed you,” he said.
“I missed you, too.”
It was only then he realized she was crying. “What’s wrong, baby? Are you hurt?”
She shook her head and clung to him tighter.
He managed to get her back inside and into her chair.
“I’m glad you’re back,” Terry said, startling him.
“What happened?”
Terry handed Chris the papers, and he scanned them quickly. Abigail Carter couldn’t harass Elizabeth in person, so she’d found another way.
Knowing that words would be useless at this point, he didn’t comment. Letting the papers drop to the floor, he pulled her into his arms and cradled her to his chest as her tears soaked his shirt.
It was a while before Elizabeth had calmed down enough for them to leave. Chris hated seeing her like this. She was such a wonderful woman, and although he understood that Mrs. Carter had lost her son, he had a hard time feeling sympathy for the woman when she was intent on causing Elizabeth pain.
After seeing her in distress, he’d completely forgotten about Carol until he was almost to the house. He pulled into the driveway, but as he put his truck in park, he took extra time to scan behind him through the rearview mirror. Sure enough, her car was still parked across the road, barely visible amongst the foliage.
He helped Elizabeth out of the truck and into the house, and once inside, he steered her to Jan’s place instead of going upstairs.
Jan opened the door with a smile that quickly disappeared. “Oh no. What happened?” she asked, ushering them into her living room and over to the couch where he sat down and pulled Elizabeth against his side.
Chris held on to her as she told Jan about her visitor today. Even though he’d heard it before, had seen the papers himself, the rush of anger was still just as strong as it had been earlier.
“I’m so sorry, dear,” Jan said, gathering her into a hug.
He felt the loss of their connection and all he wanted was to hold her and never let go, but he had some things to do. “Jan, is it okay if she stays here with you for a while? I need to make a couple of phone calls.”
“You go on ahead.”
He quickly took his leave and ran up to his apartment. Keeping the lights off, he dug in the back of his dresser drawer until he found the old pair of binoculars he’d bought that one time his father had gotten the brilliant idea for them all to go camping together. While Trent and Chris both worked outside, and Paul and Gage were both used to dealing with the elements, none of them enjoyed camping. Then again, that may have been because his father refused to let them take more than the bare minimum, insisting that they hunt for whatever else they required. Needless to say, it had never happened again. It went down with his dad’s other attempts at male bonding including a weekend on a ranch “rustling cattle” and trying to rebuild an old Ford Mustang.
That was five years ago, and he hadn’t used the binoculars since that weekend, but he was grateful for them now.
Sticking to the shadows, he walked over to his window facing the road. With the moon high in the sky, it wasn’t hard to see her car. And with the aid of the binoculars, he could clearly see Carol using a pair of her own to spy on him. He watched her lower her binoculars and take a bite of a sandwich before going back to her watch. She was clearly here for the long haul; he just wasn’t sure what she was waiting for exactly.
He retrieved the phone from his pocket and dialed his brother.
“Detective Daniels.” Paul was ever the professional, and Chris wondered if his brother ever looked at his caller ID because he always answered the same.
“Hey, Paul, it’s me. You got a minute?”
“Always.”
He told Paul about the wrongful death suit against Elizabeth while he watched Carol.
“It will probably get thrown out if she was cleared of any wrongdoing criminally. From what I read, it was a pretty open and shut case. She had several defensive wounds.”
Chris felt sick as he thought of what Elizabeth had endured at the hands of her husband. It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair. He wished he could kill the bastard all over again.
Paul said, “She should have a good lawyer though, just in case. The Carters have money and connections.”
“I’ll talk to her about it. Could you recommend someone?”
“If she doesn’t have one already, let me know. I’ve got some friends with the Columbus PD, I’m sure they could recommend someone.”
“Thank you, Paul.”
“Anytime. If you haven’t already, you should let Detective Stephens know as well. If the Carters aren’t involved with the items she’s been receiving, then there isn’t much he can do, but it is suspicious that they’ve filed a lawsuit now.”
“I agree. I’ll call him in a minute, but there’s something else I need to talk about.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“Carol is here, waiting in her car.”
“I didn’t think you had anything to do with her anymore,” his brother said, sounding confused.
“I don’t.” Then Chris realized that what he’d said probably didn’t come across just right. “She’s not in the driveway. She’s parked across the road in a small clearing and watching the house with binoculars.”
“What? How long as this been going on?”
“No idea. I saw her today and something told me to follow her. We ended up here.”
“And what time was that?” Paul was in full cop mode.
“About four o’clock.”
Paul
sighed, frustration leaking through the phone. “Call Detective Stephens. Tell him what you told me, even the part about Carol. We’ve been thinking the Carters are behind this because they’re the obvious suspects, but if Carol knows you’re seeing Elizabeth, then she’s just as likely, especially if she’s staking out your house.”
Chris hung up a few minutes later, and immediately dialing Detective Stephens and filling him in on the day’s activities. He wasn’t happy. “I’ll be there within the hour. Stay in the house until I get there.”
When he made his way back downstairs to Jan’s, Elizabeth was curled up on the couch with a mug in one hand and a phone in the other. She looked up when he walked in, and he was happy to see she wasn’t crying. She even managed a small smile for him as he placed a kiss on the top of her head before going in the kitchen to find Jan. He found her standing at the kitchen counter.
“Hey, who’s on the phone?”
“Oh, you’re back,” Jan said, looking over her shoulder. “She’s talking to her friend, Stephanie, I think.”
He nodded before taking a closer look at what Jan was doing. “Wait. You’re baking?”
Jan actually blushed. He’d had never seen her blush before. “I figured we might be having company and that they might enjoy a little snack.”
“Uh-huh.” Chris didn’t press the issue. Jan was like his mother; she liked to take care of people, so that wasn’t what was throwing him. It was the blush. Why exactly was she blushing?
“Did you want some coffee? I made a pot.”
“Sure.”
After Chris had disappeared upstairs, Jan tried to ply Elizabeth with all sorts of drinks and food. She reminded Elizabeth of her own grandmother with whom she’d spent summers as a child. Grandma Marshall had believed food could cure whatever ailed you.
She had settled on a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows. She knew she’d been indulging too much lately, but given the day she had today, she needed the chocolate. Jan had then declared the need for cookies and had been holed up in the kitchen ever since.
Knowing Jan was just in the other room was comforting, but she wanted Chris. On some level it bothered her that she’d become so dependent on him in such a short amount of time, but she couldn’t help the way she felt. She had given Jared everything, and he’d still demanded more. With Chris she felt she could be herself. He didn’t try to change her, or tell her she wasn’t good enough, or thin enough, or that her outfit just wasn’t stylish enough.
Looking back at it now, she wondered how she’d stayed with Jared for so long. In college, he’d swept her off her feet. She’d come from a modest upbringing, and he was flash and sophistication. He was already in law school, showing lots of promise, which only added to the appeal. He’d wined and dined her through her last two years of school and then proposed. Back then, she’d felt she was living a fairy tale.
It hadn’t taken long for the bubble to burst. She forced herself to stop thinking about the man who used to control her and called Stephanie to see if she’d heard anything. Stephanie still ran in the same circles, and if the Carters were building a case against her, surely Stephanie would have heard.
“I just can’t believe they’re doing this to you, Liz.”
“So you heard.”
“Of course, I did. Trudy Shultz was going on and on about it over lunch today.”
“I figured it was too much to hope.”
“So how are you dealing with it?”
“I don’t really know yet. The lawyer just delivered the papers today. I’ll have to find an attorney and see what my options are.”
“Well, you know I’m here. I can always ask Don for a recommendation for you. It’s not his field, but you know how they all know each other around here. Columbus isn’t that big of a town.”
“I know.” That had been part of the problem. Everyone knew Jared whether by reputation or personally. If the police had decided to charge her in Jared’s death, she would have had to look outside of the capital city for representation. No one would have touched her with a ten-foot pole. She wasn’t sure any of them would take her on now.
The conversation then shifted to a dinner party Stephanie and her husband, Don, were hosting this coming weekend, and she was more than glad for the change in topic. She heard all about the fancy invitations Don had insisted on even though everyone on the guest list was already aware of the party. It was something that unless you ran around in certain social circles, you just didn’t understand. Then again, she still didn’t.
The door opened and Chris walked in, looking as handsome as ever. He strolled over to her and placed a soft kiss on her hair. She closed her eyes to enjoy the feel and smell of him so close. She couldn’t wait to get him upstairs.
He ran his fingers across her cheek before he walked into the kitchen, leaving her alone again, and she felt lighter now that he was here.
Only then did she remember her phone call and turned her attention back to Stephanie, who talked about her lunches, dinner parties, and charity functions. It was exactly what Elizabeth’s life had been minus the time spent as a punching bag.
Chris returned from the kitchen and sat beside her, and she immediately shifted closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her, nearly pulling her into his lap.
When the buzzer to the outside door sounded, he got up to answer it, and Elizabeth wrapped up the phone call with Stephanie, telling her she’d call her in a couple of days. Chris may have thought he was being discreet by going upstairs, but she knew he’d called the detective. She just didn’t know what exactly Stephens could do since it was not against the law to file a civil suit against someone. Just as she hit the end button on her phone, Chris came back in, followed by Detective Stephens.
She stood, offering her hand. “Good evening, Detective.”
“Evening, Ms. Marshall.” He walked back over to the seating area. “Mr. Daniels here tells me your in-laws have gotten creative.”
She went over what had happened that afternoon and then showed him the paperwork. He looked it over studiously before handing it back to her.
She said, “I’m not really sure what you can do. It’s not like this is against the law, so I’m sorry you had to drive all the way here for this.”
“That isn’t why I came, ma’am, but I figured since I was here and this does have to do with the case in a roundabout way, I decided it would be good to at least take a look.” Jan brought in a tray of cookies and coffee for everyone. “Why thank you, ma’am.” The detective smiled, and Jan blushed.
”So why did you come?”
Chris cleared his throat, and all eyes were on him, but he was only looking at Elizabeth. “While I was out today, I saw Carol and decided to follow her.”
She didn’t like the direction this was going. “You followed her?”
He nodded. “I would have been back at the office sooner if I hadn’t, but it turned out to be a good thing.”
“Why was that a good thing?” she whispered, her mouth suddenly dry.
“Carol ended up here, across the street from the house, and the last time I checked, she was still there.”
“She’s still there,” Detective Stephen’s said.
Her eyes went wide. “But why?”
“That good for nothing . . . ,” Jan muttered under her breath. Elizabeth knew Jan was not a fan of Chris’ ex, but she’d never heard her say anything bad about her.
“That’s what I’m here to find out. I wanted to come in and talk with you first, but on my way out, I’m going to stop and have a little chat with your voyeur.”
The detective asked Chris a few more questions before getting up to leave, and Jan, jumped up to show Detective Stephens to the door.
Once they were alone, Chris leaned back against the couch and turned to face her. “I don’t want you to think I’ve been keeping things from you. It’s just you were so upset this afternoon and there really wasn’t a lot of time.”
While she was a little disappointed
he hadn’t told her right away, she did understand. She’d been an emotional wreck when she’d seen him. “Don’t worry about it.”
He released a heavy sigh and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you.”
She hugged him back, but it still wasn’t close enough. She crawled into his lap and straddled him, something she would’ve never had the courage to do a month ago.
He must have read her mind and pulled her against him, kissing her, and soon they were both panting. He trailed his lips down her neck as he cupped her from behind.
She couldn’t seem to get close enough. “I need you,” she whimpered.
Chris made a low sound of approval in his chest. He grabbed her hand and pulled her after him, out the door, and up the stairs. Chris was going to make love to her and make her forget, for just a little while, everything that was going wrong in her life by celebrating the one thing that felt right.
Monday morning they’d left the house to find all four of Elizabeth’s tires slashed. Then Tuesday, when they’d arrived home from work, her car was covered with egg goo that had baked on for several hours in the heat. It was stupid, childish stuff, but Elizabeth felt it beginning to fray her nerves.
When Detective Stephens stopped by the office on Wednesday with an update, he commented that the egg and tire incidents felt different to him. The break-in and the newspaper had the lingering feel of hate and vengeance. These new attacks were more like high school pranks.
The first person to come to mind was Carol. She wanted Chris back and was determined to make it happen, one way or another. When she mentioned this to the detective, Chris almost spilled his coffee all over the front of his shirt from laughing. It bothered Elizabeth that Carol seemed to think she could get him back, but his reaction made her smile.
After the detective spoke to both of them about the damage to her car, Chris offered the use of his office so that she and the detective could talk in private. Stephens also wanted her to go over her relationship with her husband from the beginning again.