Released

by Kimber Chin

  That Alvar could do. Although fifteen years had elapsed between then and now, the past was crystal clear in his mind. It was all he had to think about in prison. That and Edenia, always Edenia.

  "There's been a fuckin' delay on the evidence." Mr. Santos bit off his words as though it pained him to say them.

  "Evidence, Boss?"

  "The shit the police had," he said like stealing police evidence was the logical next step. "Fuckin' incompetent jackasses." A shake of his Boss' head. "It'll take more fuckin' time."

  Up until now, Alvar hadn't understood why Mr. Santos' employees were so loyal. "Thank…"

  "Don't," Mr. Santos stopped him. "Save your sweet talking for your fuckin' woman. Get her ass in here."

  ~ * ~

  Alvar studied the camera by the front door, his broad face contemplative in the lantern's light.

  "Stigr and I helped install that one," Edenia told him proudly. They worked all day on the installation.

  "You did?" Alvar's eyes twinkled. "You want to be the head of security now?" He pulled her close.

  She nuzzled her nose into his shoulder. "I want the head of security." Last night had been absolutely wonderful. "Is that the same thing?"

  "It's better." He kissed her forehead. "Let’s take this inside."

  "Night Jack." She looked back, straight into the camera.

  Alvar chuckled softly as he held the door open for her. "Jack is a good guy."

  "He is." That laughing Jack was the one watching the house made her feel better. "Was he able to recover the missing data?"

  "No." Alvar's smile faded. "But we'll get the rest of the

  evidence and figure it out. Until we do, we're staying with the Boss."

  This again. "And if we never find out who did it? What then? Are we to stay locked up in this prison of his forever?"

  "It's not a prison, trust me on that."

  Edenia winced at her thoughtless use of words. "So I'll be able to come and go as I please?"

  "I'm going to find the bastard." As she suspected, the answer was no. "The evidence…"

  "What evidence? Except for your confession, the police had nothing. They didn't even find the murder weapon."

  Alvar stopped suddenly. "The Glock." Edenia raised an eyebrow at his reaction. "Stigr has a Glock," he explained.

  He did, at least he had in the past, but how would Alvar know that? "Is he carrying it again?" Edenia grew alarmed. Please no. It had taken her years to convince Stigr not to.

  "Has he before?" Alvar's question was sharp.

  "After Dimas' murder. He was shaken up." Frightened to death. "One day, I walked in and he was looking at the gun and…" She swallowed hard at the memory.

  "You were scared?" Alvar tightened his grip on her.

  "Not for myself." For Stigr. Edenia had never seen someone in so much pain. "He's my best friend, Alvar. I can't lose him. It would kill me."

  "You won't lose him, love." Alvar hugged her. "But if he did it, if he's the one threatening you, if he…"

  "Did it? Kill Dimas? You think… Stigr?" It was a challenge not to laugh. The thought was so ridiculous.

  "He has a Glock, Edenia."

  "Dimas' missing gun was a Glock." She never did find it. Not that she looked hard for it. She hated that gun. "So anyone could have done it."

  "Stigr could have done it."

  Edenia took a deep breath. "Okay, let’s suppose for a second that Stigr, our gentle friend, Dimas' accountant, killed my demonic husband. Why?"

  Alvar studied his steel toe shoes. "He hated Robano," he mumbled.

  "Of course he hated Dimas. Who didn't?" Edenia swept her curls back. "But Stigr? You saw him when you first met. After Dimas' murder, he was a hundred times worse." She placed a hand on Alvar's bicep. "Like his world had fallen apart." That was the man Stigr was, overly sensitive. "Do you think someone like that has it in him? To shoot a man in cold blood?" And not any man, her intimidating brute of a husband.

  "Everyone has it in them. People are capable of anything." Haunted brown eyes caught hers. "I saw that in prison."

  His pain cut her. "Oh, Alvar." She stroked his chest in an attempt to soothe him. "I'm sorry."

  "I'm not, Edenia. I should have done much more." He placed a big hand over hers.

  "You…"

  "I should have killed him for you, love," he declared passionately. "Even Stigr thought…"

  "Stigr doesn't know." She stopped him, stopped the regrets. "You protected me the best you could." She wrapped her hands around his neck pulling him down, giving him a long, tender kiss.

  ~ * ~

  "Denie."

  "Hey Stigr." Edenia opened the Hummer door, waiting patiently as Alvar bundled a sleeping Blue up from her lap, the excitement having worn the hound dog out. "Minor emergency. We had to go to the vet."

  "Denie." Stigr tossed an anxious glance Alvar's way.

  "Don't worry," Edenia rushed to reassure him, jumping down from the vehicle. "It ended up being nothing. Dr. Vitner said he'll live for another twenty years."

  "Dog years," Alvar corrected.

  Which was less than three years. Edenia didn't want to think about that. "I was so proud." She patted the dog's head. "Blue behaved himself, didn't make a fuss. That deserves a doggy biscuit, don't you think?" She baked a batch this morning, leaving them to cool on the kitchen table. "I'll go get…"

  "Wait!" Stigr blocked her progress.

  "Stigr, I gotta go." In more ways than one. She hadn’t taken a bathroom break before the long ride home, Edenia not liking the vet's office any more than her dogs did.

  "You can't enter the house, Denie." There were dark circles under her friend's eyes, his complexion paler than normal. "It's not safe."

  Alvar stopped abruptly on his way to the kennel, his arms full of dog, his eyes flashing. "What is it?"

  "The door was open when I arrived. I thought you might be there. You weren't."

  "Dios." Alvar strode back, shoving a docile Blue into Stigr's hands. Her friend's knees bent under the weight. "Get in the Hummer!" Alvar roared.

  Edenia squirmed, remembering the hours spent there during the previous investigation. "Alvar, Blue needs a nature break."

  "I don't give a…"

  "I need a nature break," she admitted, blushing.

  "You're not going in the house." Alvar's obstinate expression said he wasn't moving on that.

  She tried another location. "The kennel has a bathroom."

  "I looked for you in there first. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary," Stigr confirmed.

  "There, see." Edenia smiled, relieved. "And we'll be surrounded by guard dogs, what could be safer?"

  "The Hummer."

  "Either the house or the kennel, that is your choice." She wouldn't make it.

  Alvar glanced from her to the house to the kennel, his hands on his hips. Finally, decided, he turned to her friend. "Take Edenia and Blue to the kennel." The dark expression on Alvar's face alarmed Edenia. "You still have the gun?"

  "Yes."

  "Alvar?" Guns and death.

  "Good." Alvar nodded, ignoring her. "Go. I'll take care of this."

  "Alvar?" If anything happened to him—

  "I'll be fine, love." He kissed her quickly and gave her a shove towards Stigr. "Go."

  Did she have a choice? Edenia hurried along beside her friend. "Do you think..?"

  "He'll be fine," Stigr reassured her. "I had a look around. Whoever was in there before is long gone."

  "Did they take anything?"

  "No, but…" His gaze slid away.

  "But?" What was it?

  "He shredded Alvar's jacket to ribbons. With a knife, it looked like."

  "His leather jacket?" She shivered.

  "The way it was done, it has to be a message. I think he's after Alvar, Denie."

  Edenia's stomach twisted as she held the kennel door open. "They killed Dimas." Dimas had bodyguards, a security system, and they still shot him. Alvar had no such protection.
/>
  "Is finding the killer so important to you, Denie? That you'd risk his life?" Stigr moved to Blue's box.

  She unlatched the door. "I don't care about that." Alvar did, though.

  "Then talk to him," Stigr pleaded. "Tell him to stop his investigation, leave the past in the past."

  Leave the past in the past. Edenia kept her gaze downcast as she chewed on her cheek. The exact same words the killer used. Could Alvar be right? Stigr? Her friend? "I'll be back. I have to..." She squirmed.

  Stigr smiled at her. Not menacing like a killer. Fondly like a friend. "Of course. I'll take care of Blue."

  ~ * ~

  "I told you there weren't any shoe prints." Alvar glared at Jack. Mr. Santos stood beside him, looking even more pissed than usual, the call coming in the middle of his daily security update. "Nothing that shouldn't be here."

  "And I told you I saw a shoe on the video." Jack awkwardly crouched down, wincing at the painful action. "And here are the prints. What are you, blind?"

  Alvar glanced at the mud. "That's not it. I know who those belong to."

  "I do too. Your killer." For once, Jack's face was serious. "Distinctive shoes. Prada-wearing prick."

  Prada. Stigr. "Dios." Alvar paled. "He's in the kennel with Edenia."

  "Fuck." His Boss spat. "You are a trusting jackass, Alvar." He pulled out his big knife. "Time to take care of this asshole."

  "No." The Boss would slash throats first, ask questions later. This was Edenia's best friend. Alvar wanted to be sure. "I'll take care of this."

  Mr. Santos eyed him. "I'll give you five fuckin' minutes." The knife glimmered in his hand. "After that fuck it, I'm coming in and doing this myself."

  Five minutes should be enough. Alvar stalked towards the kennel, slipping quietly in through a side door. Not that his precautions made a difference. The dogs, catching his scent, yelped a nosy welcome. Blue howled. There was a solid thud against the door of Wiggles' box.

  Stigr sat beside a bewildered Edenia, the gun in his hands. "Alvar." He didn't look up.

  "Stigr." The gun was pointed at nothing and Stigr's finger wasn't on the trigger but Alvar was acutely aware of how quickly all that could change. "Edenia, come here." He pointed to his feet.

  She placed her arm protectively around her friend, jostling Stigr's gun hand, causing panic to pulse through Alvar. "Alvar, promise me you won't hurt Stigr."

  "Edenia, love…" Alvar softened his voice, desperate to separate her from her unstable friend.

  "There's no reason for you to be mad at him." Her full lips pressed into a stubborn line. "This is just a silly misunderstanding. Stigr hasn't done anything wrong."

  "But I have, Denie." Guilt weighed down Stigr's confession. "I have. And Alvar knows that. It was me. I killed him."

  "You?" Edenia's jaw dropped. "You shot Dimas?" A pause. Alvar easily followed the emotions flying across her expressive face. She cared for Stigr, more than was healthy. "And if I hadn't been in the bathroom, you would have…"

  "No!" Stigr's bowed head snapped up. "I waited. I never would have hurt you, Denie, you have to believe me, but Robano, Robano was a monster." He shuddered.

  Edenia studied her friend. "He was." She placed her hand on Stigr's.

  On Stigr's gun hand. "Edenia," Alvar tried again. Although he wanted to believe Stigr wouldn't hurt Edenia, he couldn't risk it. "Go outside and assure Mr. Santos everything is okay." Before the situation got any worse.

  "You won't hurt Stigr?" Her lips pursed.

  "I won't hurt Stigr, I promise." He'd promise anything to keep her safe. "Now go."

  "But…"

  "If you care for your friend at all, go." He ignored the thud coming from Wiggles' box.

  "No one is going anywhere." Stigr waved the gun, a half-hearted motion.

  Alvar sucked back his rage, leveling a patient glance at him. "You want her," he nodded to Edenia, "to hear this?"

  Hesitation and then a sigh. "Denie, you can go but he stays here."

  Concerned brown eyes darted between the two of them. "You won't hurt him, Stigr?"

  Stigr stared at Edenia. She stared back, expectant. "No, I won't hurt him," her friend capitulated.

  "And you won't hurt yourself?"

  Alvar knew Stigr couldn't promise that. "Edenia, in thirty seconds, Mr. Santos is coming through that door and…"

  Her face lit with understanding. "I'm going, I'm going." She hurried up to Alvar, giving him a hug. "Take care of him." She nodded towards Stigr.

  Alvar frowned. Dios. She was asking him to make this right. "I'll try." That was all he could do.

  "Thank you." A kiss on Alvar's cheek and she was gone, the kennel door swinging shut behind her.

  "She'll be back." A humorless smile twisted Stigr's lips.

  "No, she won't." Mr. Santos would assure that. There was another thud. "Mierda. Wiggles is going to brain himself on that door."

  Another broken smile from Stigr. "She loves that stupid dog."

  "She does." His soft hearted, trusting woman. "So now what, Stigr? I promised not to hurt you, you promised not to hurt me, and we're both men of our words."

  "But I didn't make that last promise, did I?" Stigr stared at the Glock in his hands. "To not hurt myself? That is the only way."

  "No, it isn't." It was an unacceptable solution. "You don't want to do that."

  "Oh, I do. I've thought of it often. Ever since that night. You drove me there, you know. That night." That Alvar hadn't known was no excuse. He drove. He was partially responsible. "He held a gun on me, this gun. I thought I didn't have a choice. I thought it would be better to… than to die. I thought wrong."

  "Surviving takes strength."

  "More strength than I have." Stigr raised the Glock.

  "If you care for Edenia at all, don't." Alvar watched Stigr's finger tap against the trigger. "This would break her heart."

  "I won't go to jail, Alvar. You know what will happen to me in there." Alvar did. With Stigr so slender, so pale, so beautiful, he wouldn't stand a chance. "I'd rather die than let that happen again."

  He was a victim, as Edenia had been. Except there was no one protecting Stigr. "Stigr…"

  The gun shook. "No, I can't."

  Alvar could. He could do this for Edenia. For Stigr. For himself. "You won't go to prison." The words said, the promise made. "One of us did time, that's justice enough."

  A pause. "What?"

  "No one has to know." There was no reason to reopen the case.

  A vacant stare met his. "What are you saying?"

  "I'm saying I would have killed him, Stigr. Eventually. You did that for me. What I couldn't do. Let me do this for you now."

  Stigr blinked rapidly. "You don't want to clear your name?"

  He did, but not at this cost. "It doesn't seem to matter to Edenia."

  "It doesn't. She loves you." Stigr set the Glock down on the bench. "If I had known, I never would have…" He bent over, cradling his head in his hands. "I thought you were like him."

  They had both, in their own way, been protecting Edenia. "I know."

  ~ * ~

  "Let me go." Edenia yanked her wrist away. It was no use. She was securely captured, Mr. Santos' wiry build

  holding as much strength as Alvar's bulky frame.

  "Nothing will fuckin' happen. That I know." Alvar's Boss told Jack, ignoring Edenia, his arm held straight out from his body so she couldn't kick him again. "The soft-hearted jackass will let him go." He slapped a crisp dollar down on the hood of the Hummer with his free hand.

  "No way." Another dollar bill joined the first. "The Prada-wearing prick threatened his miss." Jack nodded towards Edenia. "I've never seen Alvar so angry."

  "He didn't threaten me." She struggled, twisting. She hadn't believed for a second Stigr would harm her. "And Alvar won't hurt him. He promised."

  "Fuck. He would." Mr. Santos' face was grim.

  A huge figure exited the kennel, a hyper beagle jumping in circles around him, the door slamming
with a bang behind them.

  "Alvar!" Released, Edenia raced across the yard into his arms. Swung up, she patted his big body all over, searching for damage. Satisfied he was healthy, only then did she peer anxiously around. "Stigr?"

  "He's okay." Alvar slid her down, hugging her to him tightly as they walked away from the kennel, Wiggles yelping at their heels. "But he needs some time to himself."

  Jack groaned. Mr. Santos shook his head, looking disgusted, gathering the dollar bills, tucking them carefully into his pants pocket.

  Stigr alone with the gun. "He won't?"

  "No, he won't." Alvar read her worries. "He wouldn't do that to you."

  "But…" She studied the closed door. Stigr had killed Dimas. Stigr, her best friend, he'd have to go to jail. Another loved one in jail. For years. Her shoulders slumped.

  "We calling the fuckin' cops, Alvar?" Mr. Santos asked the question Edenia couldn't.

  "No. This is none of their business."

  "Fuck." Alvar's Boss seemed to understand.

  Edenia didn't. "Alvar?"

  The vein in his neck pulsed, the way it did when he was nervous. "I'll have a record, love, forever. I'll always be an ex-con. Can you live with that?"

  He would do that for her friend? "Oh, Alvar." She

  wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you."

  "I love you too, Edenia." And then he kissed her, both of them disregarding the muttered 'fuck' in the background and the beagle hurling himself repeatedly against their legs.

  ~ * ~

  "This is supposed to be me?" Alvar pointed to the huge black figure in the drawing.

  Edenia slipped onto his lap, the recently arrived mail in her hands. "I believe so, and there is Wiggles," she indicated a brown and white tube with legs, "and Kelley." Wiggles' new owner. A blonde-haired girl depicted with a wide grin, standing beside her mom and dad, also smiling.

  They did the right thing, letting Wiggles be adopted. Kelley and her parents would take good care of the dog, he told himself for the hundredth time.

  "I'm bigger than the trees." Alvar's attention returned to the giant. Was that how he looked to the little girl? Like a monster?

  "Well, at least you got in the picture." Edenia wrinkled her nose at the junk mail. "Supposedly I'm in the house, baking dog biscuits."

  "Where any good wife should be." He jiggled his knee, making her bounce.