Love Never Dies

by Loren Lockner

  “So often, I felt you near,” said Julia remembering. “Sometimes, during particularly bad nights, it seemed the very warmth of your soul spread over my entire body and soothed me just as a lullaby might.”

  “You didn’t sleep for a long time,” mourned Simon. “Even as I lay helplessly in my hospital bed, I realized you were in agony. I’m just so grateful you chose to go on. I tried in every way possible to let you know that love never dies; that you had to wait for me. And you did wait Julia; you didn’t let me down.”

  “And now I know and will wait for you forever, no matter what happens.” Her slender fingers tightened over his and they drove, fingers entwined, for a long time until the Presidio appeared upon their right-hand side.

  They sat in the cloudy parking lot of a local fast-food restaurant not five minutes from her apartment sipping hot coffee and contemplating their next move.

  “So what should we do now?” asked Julia, watching Simon keenly. “Once we have the disk it should be simple; all we have to do is forward it to Angus O’Leary.”

  “That’s easier said than done,” said Simon, searching the nearly vacant parking lot. “He’s not answering his phone or his e-mails. Until we know the score with him we’ve got to find a place to camp out. I just wish I knew what happened to Stan.”

  “There’s got to be a place to hide,” murmured Julia, as Simon fretted over Stan’s well-being. Suddenly she snapped her fingers. “That’s it! We’ll camp out! Adam will be searching for us everywhere else: at hotels, my brother’s, and the apartment. We should head north to one of the campgrounds.”

  “You mean literally camp out?”

  “That’s right. When I was a kid, my parents used to take me to the Cachuma Lake recreation area. It’s located about twenty miles north of the Highway 101 on Highway 154. If I can remember correctly, there’s a huge RV park and campground situated among an amazing oak forest.”

  “We’re not equipped to go anywhere like that,” protested Simon, gazing at the cloudy sky. It had stopped drizzling, but the air felt damp and chilly.

  “But we could be! All we need to do is head down the 101 into the center of town; there’s a huge camping and sporting goods store on Chapman Street. It’s probably open by now and we can pick up a couple of sleeping bags, a cheap tent, and a few cooking utensils. Later we’ll stop by my apartment, grab the disk, and hightail it up to Lake Cachuma. There’s no way he’s going to find us up there and it’s only eighteen miles from the main highway so that we can easily venture back, find an Internet café, and keep trying to contact Angus. It’s the perfect solution to our problems.”

  “You just may be right,” said Simon, impressed by her ingenuity. “So direct me to the outfitter’s store.”

  Ten minutes later at Sporting Quest, Simon adjusted his Dodger cap, pulling the brim down to fully cover his white streak and looped his arm through Julia’s.”

  “Camping huh?” he said skeptically.

  “That’s right Smoky; it’s the only way to go.”

  While they tried to go as inexpensive as possible, Simon still ended up spending over $500. They bought a small three-person tent, two down sleeping bags, a ground cloth, a strong flashlight, and basic cooking kit, as well as a hammer to facilitate pounding the tent spikes into the often hard ground.

  “Now all we need is some food and gas and we’re set,” said Julia. “Just around the corner is a quick mart and gas station. While you fill up, I’ll buy us a few basic supplies. Who knows Simon, it might prove quite romantic up at the lake.”

  One of the things Simon adored about Julia was her upbeat attitude and perky nature, and he responded to her enthusiasm.

  “Yeah, maybe if you play your cards right Trixie, you might get lucky! Let’s get those supplies and then head toward your place. Hopefully our luck will hold and we’ll retrieve the disk before Gable even discovers we’ve left LA.”

  Simon eased onto State Street, realizing if he continued north they’d run right into the famous Santa Barbara Mission. Instead, after less than a quarter of a mile, he turned left into a pleasant residential neighborhood and parked his car nearly a block away from her apartment. The suburb was relatively quiet this Monday morning as Simon watched and waited in the shelter of a shady magnolia tree.

  The paperboy whistled as he swung his bike into a driveway, stuffing eight to ten newspapers into waiting mailboxes before quickly peddling down the road. The front entryway to her security apartment opened and Ethel Meeker set down her beloved toy poodle, ushering the dog across the street for its early morning walk. A laughing couple strolled down the sidewalk in the opposite direction, arms around each other’s waist and wrapped in scarves and jackets against the morning chill. So far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Simon scanned the neighborhood for the silver BMW until finally his shoulders relaxed.

  “It seems safe. Let’s go in.”

  “I don’t think that would be a wise idea,” countered Julia. “If I enter my apartment with you my neighbors will be instantly suspicious, especially decked out the way we are. Why don’t you just wait in the car and let me go in alone. I’ll retrieve the disk and be out in five minutes.”

  “I don’t like that idea one bit,” mouthed Simon, shaking his dark head grimly, the baseball cap causing him to resemble some die-hard Dodger fan. “Didn’t I ever tell you that patience wasn’t my best virtue?”

  Julia smiled serenely and shouldered her beige purse. “I’ll be perfectly fine Simon; I have the mace and army knife you gave me, plus the gun. The way I’m decked out, I’m practically a female Schwarzenegger; nothing can happen to me. I’ll be back before you can recite the Gettysburg Address.”

  “Okay,” said Simon reluctantly. “I’ll give you exactly ten minutes before I come in to get you.”

  “The speech lasted only five, but I’ll take the ten and retrieve some fresh clothes,” laughed Julia, leaning over to give him a long hard kiss. “You’re my true love you know,” she whispered, “no matter what your name is.” Her hand slid down to the hidden tattoo seated near his left hipbone. “You are branded as my man, branded forever and ever. After all this effort, do you really think I’m going to let something happen to me?”

  She kissed him once more and gave the itchy wig a final tug before leaving him to watch helplessly as she trotted across the street. Julia disappeared under the shade of a drooping willow tree as a few large raindrops began to thud against the windshield. Damn, the rain would make it harder to keep an eye on her and Simon scooted over to the passenger side, cranking down the window a couple of inches so he could scan the empty street better.

  The apartment building was quiet and Julia managed to climb the rear set of steps that led up to the landing outside of her apartment without being noticed. Her apartment, along with three others, was situated across the top floor of the rectangular apartment building. The security building was fronted by a large glass doorway and could only be opened with a passkey. Julia let herself in, never noticing the lanky man smoking in the shadows beyond the pool. He grinned evilly. She’d returned for the disk just as he knew she would.

  Julia passed by the large turquoise pool situated in the center of the complex’s quad and mounted the granite steps. A couple large round tables covered by huge green umbrellas hugged the pool’s edge, and beautiful brick-edged planters filled with red and yellow hibiscus alternating with bottlebrush trees dotted the front entrance of the ground floor apartments. Her upstairs apartment was a modest two bedroom, though she possessed two separate patios; one each off the master bedroom and kitchen, plus her front entryway, which she’d adorned with healthy potted plants. A heavily scented jasmine sat directly to the left of her doorway while several hanging scarlet fuchsias in beautiful macramé pots dangled outside the patio.

  Julia inserted her key inside the lock. So far so good. Luckily, she’d placed Mira in the kennel, so her overeager dog wouldn’t announce her arrival to the neighbors. An apartment door opened down the hall and F
red Collins stepped out. A heavyset man close to retirement, he owned a successful insurance brokerage near Thornbury Park and had the luxury of setting his own working hours. He stopped abruptly upon observing Julia fiddling with the lock.

  “Excuse me miss, that’s Julia Morris’ flat.”

  “Yes,” answered Julia sweetly, trying to disguise her voice with a Texas accent. “My name is Barbara Woods and I’m a friend of hers. I actually teach at her school and she forgot some very important papers that have to be distributed to her students today and asked me to pick them up this morning because she’s in LA and driving directly to work. She gave me a key.” Julia jingled her noisy chain with the bright pink fuzz ball for him to see. “You’re Mr. …?”

  “Collins, Fred Collins,” he said suspiciously. Fred had combed the few remaining strands of his balding black hair over the huge shiny spot in the middle of his head. It made him look like a used car salesman which probably didn’t hurt his image as an insurance broker one bit.

  “I’ll tell her you called,” said Fred warningly, playing the good neighbor to the hilt as he pushed past her.

  Julia watched as he placed a pudgy hand on the handrail and descended laboriously down the steep steps. Julia hurried quickly into her apartment and closed the door behind her, heart thudding. Before she’d always laughed off Fred’s meddling, but it could have cost her dearly today. The apartment smelt musty and she didn’t bother to turn on a light even though the drapes were pulled for the weekend. She moved unerringly down the hallway to her bedroom, flicking on the overhead light and standing for a moment staring at the beautiful sketch above her bed.

  Julia telegraphed a message to Simon informing him she was inside her apartment, and kicking off her shoes, bounded upon the mattress and removed the sketch, placing it face down upon her bright blue bedspread. Thick brown paper surrounded by heavy duty packing tape covered the back of the sketch and without hesitation Julia dug into her purse, searching the cluttered contents as receipts, pencil, lipstick, and a nearly full packet of gum spilled onto her bedspread before she finally found the large Swiss army knife. She dumped the purse upon the floor and within seconds the small pair of scissors sliced along the paper backing, her heart thudding rapidly. She’d make a lousy James Bond.

  Her instincts told her that the disk would probably have slipped down to the bottom of the painting and she felt about tentatively before giving a sharp cry of triumph as her fingers closed over the incriminating floppy. The otherwise plain label on the black surface stated only one word: Alletti.

  Julia stashed the disk inside her huge handbag along with the knife as the rain started pounding loudly upon the roof and she knew she had to hurry. She smoothed the ruined backing of the picture, wondering if she had time to tape up the nasty looking tear. Deciding against it, she picked up the picture and was about to place it back on its hook above her bed when a low voice hissed from her doorway.

  “I knew it was just a matter of time before you’d wander back.” It was the man Julia only recognized before as Mike Cooper and now knew was Adam Gable. His hair, shiny from the downpour, could use a trim, and he wore a long black leather jacket over a stylish blue turtleneck and dress trousers. His expensive black patent leather shoes had left damp footprints upon her mauve carpet and his right hand remained menacingly in his coat pocket. Instinctively she knew he had a gun.

  “Who, who are you?” she managed to blurt out, even though she knew full well his identity. Julia placed the sketch back down upon the bed and descended unsteadily to the floor beside the queen-sized bed.

  “Just a friend of your deceased boyfriend, Seth Hayes. I hate to tell you this little lady, but he had something that belonged to me and I’ve been thinking for a long time that maybe you knew where it was.” His faded blue eyes remained glued to the painting now resting upon the crumpled bedspread and Julia gulped. Mustering all her strength, she sent out a warning signal to Simon, praying their unusual telepathy would function at this crucial moment.

  “You’re that man,” she stalled, “who asked me about his nephew at school. You said your name was Mike, Mike Cooper. Now you’re telling me you’re a friend of Seth’s. That’s certainly a lie for he’d never have hung around a lowlife like you.”

  The brave words got the desired result as Adam Gable moved closer, pulling his hand slowly out of his coat pocket. His long ugly fingers curving over the butt of the gun, he directed the barrel straight at her heart.

  He snorted, “So where is your new boyfriend; the brother of your dear departed?”

  “Boyfriend? I don’t have any boyfriend; not since Seth died.”

  “Maybe that’s what you want your brother and family to think, missy, but I know you’ve been spending a little extra time with your own personal bodyguard. I can’t imagine what your dead lover would think if he knew you were banging his brother. So where is Simon? Isn’t he around, or have you tired of him already?” Adam cocked an ear to listen. “I don’t hear reinforcements and somehow can’t believe he’d leave his own little lady alone. Nice disguise though, it would have fooled me at a distance, but never close up.”

  “Just what do you want?” Julia asked meekly. The image of the Swiss army knife and the gun secreted inside the dark confines of her bag motivated her and she edged closer to the purse resting upon the floor, hidden by the bed.

  Adam moved to the bed and fingered the discarded contents of her purse, picking up the receipts and gum. He glanced at them a moment before pocketing them.

  “Just the disk sweetheart. You see your boyfriend, the dear departed Seth, was into gambling and owed a whole lot of people mega money. His assets are listed on that disk and will placate those he owed. So where is it?”

  Why he bothered to lie was beyond her. “I don’t believe you. Seth would never have done anything illegal.”

  “That’s what all the guys want you to think. If you’d known the kind the stuff he was involved in, you would have never looked at him twice. Hmm, nice painting, I saw it before when I checked out your apartment a few weeks ago.”

  “You’ve been inside my flat?” blurted out Julia, indignant that this skinny evil man had so violated her privacy.

  “Yeah. I went through everything one day while you were at work. Had to muzzle your damn dog. Those are very pretty undies indeed, in your upper right-hand drawer. You must have really turned that Seth on, and you know it never occurred to me to check out that beautiful painting where he appears so moony about you. Now why have you come back here, taken it down, and destroyed the backing? One plus one is not three, little lady.” He smirked as he moved to the painting, his pale blue eyes searching the ravaged binding of the sketch.

  “It fell down, I was just replacing it.”

  “Now who lies, girlie? Give me the disk now. We both know you have it and if you do, I promise I won’t hurt you.”

  Julia trembled in fear. “Alright, okay, it’s in my bag, there on the floor.”

  Adam clearly didn’t want to stoop over and retrieve the bag. “Pick it up real slowly,” ordered Adam, the Glock handgun now focused upon the spot right between her eyes. Julia realized she only had one chance and bending over, slowly reached inside the bag.

  “I put it in the zip pocket,” she explained, fingers searching for the gun. It was too big and cumbersome for her trembling fingers to grasp and her hand moved to the Swiss army knife. She fumbled a bit, her fingers trying to work a miracle until the ice pick darted out, its sharp point pricking the tip of her forefinger.

  “Put your hands where I can see them,” shouted the suddenly nervous intruder.

  “I’m bringing it out now,” she said. “Please don’t shoot!”

  Adam Gable greedily moved forward, his menacing stare informing her that his promise of preserving her life was but another lie. Julia lunged forward, aiming the poker straight for his eyes, her right foot simultaneously kicking to make contact with his right shin. Adam must have been convinced she wouldn’t fight back, for
he wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of rage propelling the miniature ice pick toward his eyes. He managed to fire that last second, missing Julia by a good two feet as the bullet embedded itself near the vanity backed against her far bedroom wall.

  Adam’s other hand flew up in a purely defensive movement and the poker, instead of stabbing his left eye tore into his earlobe. The assassin gave an unearthly howl as the sharp point of the tiny ice pick skewered the upper cartilage of his ear and rammed into his skull. He shrieked in agony as Julia kicked again, lifting her knee viciously into his groin and pushing her shoulder into the narrow expanse of his chest. Adam fell upon the bed, landing upon the painting, which shattered the glass into a hundred pieces as she dove for the bedroom door.

  Unfortunately, he wasn’t far behind her and as Julia glanced over shoulder, she saw him yank the army knife of his gushing ear and slam it onto the floor. Blood poured down his shirtfront as he aimed again, the shot reverberating throughout the small apartment. Julia recklessly careened through the lounge, heedless of her furniture as she sought the front exit. She nearly made it before Adam’s skinny hand grabbed her arm like a vice and jerked her about just as she reached her doorway. Deciding she was not about to die without a fight, Julia flailed at him, her stinging hands inflicting harsh punishment upon his face and severely damaged ear. Her wildcat actions managed to keep the menacing gun away from her head.

  Simon suddenly appeared through the doorway and giving an angry snarl, did something Julia thought strange at first. Instead of pushing Adam back into her apartment and pulling Julia out, Simon thrust her aside, his hand batting away Adam’s gun as his fingers tightened around Adam’s shirtfront. He pulled forcefully, thrusting himself backward through the door and dragging Adam with him. With one tremendous heave, he lifted the slighter man and hurled him over the balcony railing.