Who Loves Her?

by Taylor Storm

  John chimed in, “What are we in relation? Brothers-in-law, right? You two guys don’t worry. As soon as we register this, hopefully early tomorrow, you two will be able to shout it from the rooftops of Minneapolis, if you want to.”

  They all laughed.

  Nina mischievously ordered Susan, “You may now kiss the groom!”

  The four of them chuckled.

  “Hey, that’s right! Considering that Bob hasn’t said two words about this whole thing until today, I’d say it’s safe to declare him as the shy type. Go on Susan! It’s your right. Oh come on, you want us guys to go to other room, shy bride?” Sarah was really misbehaving.

  John chided Sarah. “Now leave the love birds alone, honey. Just because you want us to practice every weekend for when we have kids, that doesn’t mean everybody wants to take it that fast!” The all laughed. Bob and Susan were sort of squirming and Bob took a sip of coffee to try and figure a way out of the conversation without talking.

  “Nah, it’s okay, we’ll leave that for the time being,” Susan said blushing.

  “Yeah right, look who’s talking. Now who’s leaving the playing field wide open for all of us to start flirting with the Harris brothers, huh?” Nina said, pretending to be really sad.

  “What’s she talking about?” Sarah asked.

  “Never mind, she’s just blue,” Susan replied and they all laughed. John appeared from the kitchen with some champagne glasses. “Well it’s a little backwards, but I guess this whole wedding thing has been a little backwards. Nina already did the toast, so now we can share a little bubbly.” All of them cheered and traded the coffee cups for the champagne glasses. Everyone had a couple of drinks and left.

  As Susan and Nina were getting out of Bob’s car, Bob held Susan’s hand and said, “Everything will be all right, Susan, I promise you. Thank you so much. I…I love you, too.”

  Susan had tears in her eyes and hugged Bob. “Oh Bob, I feel so lucky, this is all so wonderful. It seems like the stars are watching us, guiding us and favoring us until we are still holding on the path to our destiny,” Susan told Bob, looking out of the car window toward the sky. The sun had set a bit ago, but the three-quarter moon was shining bright above them.

  Bob replied: “Yes, I didn’t know love could feel like this. I’m just speechless, I’m so happy today. In fact, today is the best day of my life…of our life.” They all piled into the car, and decided that they would make sure it would all work out. They would sneak back into Alexandria and then get up really early and sneak back up to Little Falls. Nina went back to humming Here Comes the Bride and Susan fell asleep on Bob’s shoulder. She cut the lights about a block from her house when the night was shattered with the piercing and wailing of sirens. Red and blue lights spun around and bounced off the house. Nina’s dad was standing in his bathrobe near the driveway.

  “Shit!” Nina hissed. “Bob! Get down!” Nina popped her lights back on and swung into the driveway. It didn’t look good. “Bob! We’re going to distract them. Stay in here all night if you have to, but don’t let them figure it out! We’ll stall them.” Nina and Susan slowly got out of the car and Nina tried to act as casual as possible. When Susan and Nina turned the corner walking toward Nina’s house, they saw a lot of police cars. “Damnit,” Nina mumbled. Both Nina and Susan’s families were sitting on the front porch of Nina’s dad’s house.

  They both froze, their hearts pounding in their ears.

  “What now?” Nina exclaimed.

  They ran toward the crowd.

  “Where the hell have you two been?” Nina’s father yelled.

  “Susan was feeling sad, so we went out for a walk around the block. That wasn’t enough so we took a little drive to clear our heads. We’ve just been up all night worrying. Why? What happened? Is everything fine? What’s going on?” Nina asked.

  Susan went to her parents and hugged them. She tucked the corner of her blouse in as she pulled away. Her mother looked her up and down and shook her head.

  One of the police officers approached Susan and said: “I am afraid we have bad news Miss Christiansen…Susan. Harris is dead.” Susan felt the ground spin beneath her. Somewhere in the distance she could hear someone talking. What was he saying? She could barely understand.

  “We found his body in his car under the tree next to mile marker three off of Highway 27. We think he was just the victim of a random carjacking because we found the car just over the state line. The stereo was gone along with some other valuables that should have been in the car. His parents have verified the missing items. We have no eye witnesses, but it was probably just kids looking for a way to score drug money. Well, that’s one theory. I’m sorry.”

  “What?” Susan whimpered. The pitiful sounds coming from her body soon turned into sobs of deep pain. “No way! This is so bad, so cruel. Who could have done this?” Suddenly Susan remembered Harris’s parents.

  “I am so sorry.” She hugged Harris’s mother, who was crying very hard. She looked at Bill who had sat down near the sidewalk, crying and breathing heavily, holding his chest.

  “He loved you both so much. He told me so,” she grappled with the right words.

  “Oh God, NO. Why? Why now?” Susan sobbed and sputtered. Her head was spinning.

  Another police officer stepped forward and looked at his partner, who looked down at the sidewalk. “That’s not all there is. I think Joe here is just trying to spare your feelings. Since we have the whole family here, we might as well tell you the gruesome truth. The body was heavily tortured and is deformed; unrecognizable really. This was definitely more than a simple carjacking. Somebody wanted to send a really bloody message, and judging by the evidence, I would say they were successful. I’m sorry, gentleman. I remember that you and some of the people in town had some bad blood. We’ll have to ask you some more questions about your associates. We can do it now, down at the station, or tomorrow morning when you’ve got a chance to sleep a bit and shower. It’s been a rough day on everybody.

  “But what was….how do you….” Bill was sputtering his questions at the police and they saved him the trouble of speaking. “We are running an autopsy on it, and we will get the results soon.”

  Turning to Susan, they started to ask a couple of questions that couldn’t wait until morning. “Susan, there were different calls on his phone from some numbers. One of the numbers was Bob’s number. Do you know if Bob knew Harris in some way? Because your parents told us Bob didn’t know Harris at all,” inquired the policeman.

  Now it was time for both Susan and Nina to be afraid. “Bob and Harris played on the same football team in high school, but everybody knows everybody in Alexandria. They never said two words to each other during school, and when Harris went off to business school, Bob went off to mechanic’s school at ATCC. I mean I haven’t talked to Bob, much, but even back at ATCC he never made any mention of Harris. I’m sure he didn’t know him.” Once again, that same nagging feeling of impending doom creeped into Susan’s consciousness. Even when confronted by his grieving parents and intrusive police questioning, Susan could not deny a strong sensation that Harris was not dead, and something evil was on the horizon for them all. She was jerked out of her thoughts as she heard Bob’s name again. Bob. How had he become a part of this nightmare? Why would Harris call Bob on their wedding day? Or had she gotten that part wrong. Maybe the police had suggested that Bob called Harris? That was possible, wasn’t it? Susan tried to focus.

  “Well, if they didn’t know each other, I’m just wondering why Bob’s phone number ended up on the victim’s phone five times in the last two days.”

  “What?” Nina and Susan chorused. Susan gulped hard as she searched her mind frantically for some kind of information that would make sense. Susan shook her head in defiance of the obvious.

  “No, it must have been a mistake. They don’t know each other. For sure I can not imagine five phone calls on the same day?” Susan looked at Nina imploring her to explain.

&nb
sp; “There could not be even one phone call from Bob. I can assure you.” Susan halted, then said in a calm, overcontrolled voice, “Bob is the kindest man I know. He would never hurt even a fly!” Susan was horrified when she heard her own voice suddenly making up weak excuses for Bob. Had he been charged with a crime? Of course not. It was just a phone call--well three, no five calls to Harris. On their wedding day? She wondered why she could not stop talking. Her weak, pathetic childish stories only made Bob sound more guilty.

  “I remember once Bob started crying when we found a dead rabbit on the way to school. He could never do such a thing.”

  “What thing?” inquired the police with a confused look.

  “We’ve all known Bob since third grade. We know his family. I mean his dad was kind of rough, but Bob was just a sweet guy. No way. This can’t be true. There must have been an error.”

  Susan’s head was starting to spin. Her agitation from this morning was starting to return. All the red and blue lights. Everyone staring up at her. She didn’t even remember the last time she had eaten anything other than the coffee cake she had at Sarah’s house following their marriage vows. She froze in abject fear when she heard the next question.

  “When was the last time you saw Bob?” the officer asked. Time stood still, and Susan knew that all eyes were on her. She also knew that the grieving parents of a dead young man were about to be brought to their knees in angry pain when they heard the truth about Susan and her relationship with Harris.

  “I need to sit down,” Susan muttered, trying to steady herself. Her mother jumped up and grabbed her by the elbows from behind, and half hugged her as Susan found her way to an empty place on the porch. Nina was glancing toward her car and trying to keep track of both places. Damn, Bob.

  “This is all happening too fast, I mean, is this real? It can’t be, it can’t be.”

  Suddenly, the agitation spiked. Susan’s left foot started twitching. Her mother held her in almost a hugging choke hold from behind. The policeman watched with interest, fascinated by the blood spot that suddenly showed up on Mrs. Christiansen’s blouse.

  “Grab her legs,” Mrs. Christiansen ordered, and Mr. Christiansen swiftly obeyed. They looked like two pudgy paramedics who had experience with this sort of thing. Everyone tried to look the other way to preserve their dignity. Nina rushed over and started whispering in Susan’s ear. Susan started shouting at the top of her lungs, her mom quickly came near her and held her, hugging. Susan twisted and turned. Her whole body shook, as her screams pierced the night sky. Now it was the police officer’s turn to be afraid.

  They stepped back and watched as sweet little Susan turned into a raging maniac. Her body would twitch and then go stiff and then limp. She would scream and squeal and cry. The whole time Nina whispered. “It’s all right, we know Bob. You must be right, and it can’t be true.” Her mom held her from behind and as the fit started to subside, her mother started rocking her back and forth and back and forth. Everyone on the porch could hear crickets chirping, by the time it was done. All the ear-piercing shrieks made the normal night sounds, sound more alive and real to their ears. Like someone had focused the sound the way a magnifying glass focuses the light when we are paying attention.

  Susan eventually had one last bolt of electricity stiffen her body and then she went limp, still sobbing softly. She turned on her side as her dad let go of her legs. She let her mother hold her. Susan looked into her mom’s eyes. “Mom, tell me this is not real, please.”

  Mrs. Christiansen held her arms and comforted Susan. Quietly, stroking Susan’s hair she said: “The police are just doing their job. All will be well. I am so sorry, baby, I know how sad and terrible it is. Calm down sweetheart, please. Relax. Somebody get some water for her.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “Seventy-nine ninety-five. Yes, that’s for any room. All our rooms are the same. No there are no smoking rooms. Well, I’m not sure. There’s a Walleye competition coming into town that weekend and so everyone pretty much books up pretty quick.” Susan lied to the woman on the phone to see if she would book the room. The Walleye competition was mostly for locals and anybody that wasn’t local used the R.V. parks sprinkled up and down the highway. She put the woman on hold to feel important, and answered the second blinking light.

  “Skylark Motel. Best skyline in the America’s best little town. Can I help you?”

  “It’s me, honey.”

  “Oh, hi, Mom. Dad doing okay?”

  “Very funny. You know all he does is watch the Vikings statistics and fishing shows.”

  “Maybe he should enter the Walleye competition.”

  “Susan, leave your father alone.”

  “I’ve got another call, Mom.”

  “Honey, I just…”

  “Can you hold please?” she sweetly spouted like a receptionist. She glanced up at the green sign that said, “WE DON’T RENT ROOMS TO MINORS.” She counted to three and picked up the phone again with the other woman.”

  “I’ll take the room. Do you take Visa over the phone?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Thank you for your business. Anytime you’re ready.” The woman read off the sixteen digits and expiration date. Susan wrote down the numbers on the old-fashioned carbon copy forms.

  She begged Uncle Lars to update to one of the internet providers with a really cool website, but he just ran the number through the dial-up and muttered: “Ain’t broken yet, so no reason to borrow trouble and lose money.”

  Susan’s cursor kept blinking at her like some kind of dog wagging his tail so they could go for a walk. As she finished up the room transaction she was drawn to the keyboard, the cursor a homing beacon on a ship. As she settled into her chair she could feel the magic happening. From the Starlight Motel to her wedding day. The transformation was complete.

  “Sorry, Anna,” she mumbled to herself. Furiously, she was typing again with both index fingers. She wished she hadn’t failed typing in high school. Her tongue stuck out in concentration. She scratched her left nostril where the nose ring was itching and wiped the sweat from her forehead with her hoodie sleeve. “God,” she whispered, “Susan must really hate this damn band.”

  ***

  Through the corner of her eyes, Susan saw the same musical band sitting across the street. She immediately blurted. “Mom!” She was sobbing and pointing at the band across the street. “What are they doing there?” Susan saw tears in their eyes as if they knew something horrible had happened to her family. The instruments all just laid there like limp rags and they were laying against each other like stuffed animals waiting on a child’s bed in the darkness.

  “I don’t know, sweetie. Just ignore them. We can’t just tell people not to be here. Why, what is it?”

  Susan just buried her face in her mother’s shoulder, collapsing from the day. Deep heaving sobs came from her soul and she just kept crying, not caring anymore what happened to her eye make-up or what the town thought of “Stir-crazy Susan.” Bill and his wife got up and dusted themselves off. Bill pulled Mr. Christiansen and the officers aside and nodded after the exchange. His wife just stood staring into the darkness at the band, and Bill had to gently take her by both arms from behind. He guided her to their car. He glanced at Susan and then up at Mr. Christiansen one last time before getting into the driver’s seat.

  “I am not sure what is going on here. Someone killed my boy and that crazy girl knows something. I intend to find the truth tomorrow and when I do you all better be ready for the fallout.” With that threat hanging in the wind, he climbed into the car and drove his grieving wife to the privacy of their home.

  Nina had slipped to the side of the house after Susan’s fit had subsided. Unlike everyone else exhausted with the day, Nina was vamped up with worry. Rocking back and forth on the rickety old chair her dad used for shucking corn, she finally plopped to the ground. She sat there with her head resting in her hands on the deserted footpath. Both elbows on her knees, her head was in her hands as if hold
ing onto her forehead was going to stop her racing thoughts. “What the hell are we going to do now?” she whispered to herself, watching the red and blue lights flicker across her dad’s front porch.

  Nina still lived with her dad because after her mom died of breast cancer four years ago, she didn’t want him to fall apart living so far away. He was a big strapping man’s man who loved the Walleye and drank his whiskey neatly after he finished his shifts at the marina. Her dad actually took a liking to Bob in the beginning, since they both had similar backgrounds. Her dad was strong and dependable as clockwork. When her mom died it was Nina’s job to get him his morning coffee and paper. She made sure that the fish and chips or steak was on the table by five-thirty. They attended St. Thomas’ early mass, and even though nothing much made them veer from their routine, he still treated her like she was sixteen and needed a curfew. Maybe that was why Nina clung to Susan so much through all of her craziness. Her dad was crazy in a different kind of way. After they buried her mom, he took down all of her pictures but one and put them all in a trunk that he labeled “Mabel” in the basement. It was like he buried her there a second time. About once a year, Nina would find him down there with the boss’s Christmas present--a fifth of Wild Turkey reserve, crying his eyes out and looking over old photos.