“You are going home.” He rubbed his hands looking around.
“Yes.”
“I can drop you home if you don’t mind.”
“It is just a walking distance.” She smiled in courtesy.
He nodded and went out. Sam had given her a spare key of the main entrance as, from now on, she would be the first person to open the store. She sighed leaving the building with Sam. Her plan of asking any of her coworkers to pretend to be her boyfriend to Flora was a really long shot. The only person, whom Flora would accept as her boyfriend without objection, was Ken, but he was too daunting to handle.
She cursed herself on her way back home for not accepting his offer.
CHAPTER FOUR
First Murder
On the night after her first day on the job, she saw a dream; although, it was not a new dream.
She was in a sleigh, flying through feather white clouds, on a moonlit night, in the sky. The sleigh was tied to a bunch of cremellos with long necks and, like every time, she was not alone. There was a guy sitting next to her with curly brown hairs and her heart was grooving with delight. Regardless of the fact that the sleigh was not fit for two grownups, she was really happy clutching hard on guy’s shoulder to grip when suddenly the dream changed. One of the horses turned his neck and looked at her with his soft brown eyes and jerked his head. She suddenly found herself in a forest, the sleigh was gone so as the guy next to her and the rest of the horses. She had never seen that place before, not even in a dream. She was alone in the middle of a meadow full of sunlight with the horse. The horse turned his neck at her left and nodded as if he was trying to show her something. She looked in the direction and saw an old house, but it was not only old. It looked existing in another time, as if she was looking at it through a time rip.
“I can’t do it.” She found herself saying those words, but she didn’t understand why.
The horse looked at her with pleading eyes for a moment, then turned and walked away. She tried to run after him, but was unable to match his pace. Although he was walking gracefully, Alicia was getting away from him with each step forward and despite of all the might she spent in running after him, he vanished from her eyes.
In morning, she kept thinking about the dream, brushing teeth, trying new top, having breakfast, her mind was totally engaged. She did not notice that the scrambled eggs, Flora made for her before going for work as a treat for her new job, were really tasty. She knew that the guy sitting beside her on the sleigh was Harry but where did the horse come from? I should better ask for a dream locket from Flora for better quality dreams. She jerked her head in frustration.
On her way to the bookstore, immersed in her thoughts, she realized that she had seen that house before, but where, she did not remember.
Working Hours were noon to nine on every day and the wages were double for the weekends. She was calculating her monthly income when she felt the mobile buzzing in her bag, and felt an itch to throw it on the road. She was only receiving promotional offers and sometimes, forwarded messages from Flora. After getting mocked by a bunch of colleagues in the law college group, she left it for good. The worse was that no one asked why she left. Still she unzipped her handbag to take a look, because not knowing was worse than reading spam.
It was Rebecca!
Rebecca was her class fellow in law college and they were merely acquainted with each other. When most of their batch mates left town to seek better career in big cities, she stayed in town, tried to hang out with Alicia. Once she realized that Alicia was not going to pursue a career in law, Rebecca was disturbed with her lack of ambition, but Alicia was unmoved because she was going through a stony phase of self-pity where things like career seemed really mundane and materialistic which ended up with Rebecca slowly drifting away from her company.
She read the message, “are you going to Harry’s party on weekend?”
Alicia felt a tremor rising in her chest. Rebecca knew she had broken up with Harry so what was the point of asking? She put the screen lock and, fuming in anger, resumed her walk to the workplace. If Harry was back in the town, it meant only one thing—trouble.
It had been four years since the last time she saw him, and she never heard back from him. None of her friends and class fellows ever talked about him as if he was vanished from the face of the earth. She chewed her fingernails in anxiety and took a sharp turn.
The area around the shop was remain desolated during the daytime. Customers usually started pouring in after the mid-afternoon, so she was not worried at all, but she was praying that Sam comes early or she would be spending time doing the small talk with supervisors and, like typical locals, they were interested in asking personal questions. On her arrival, she quickly rammed the key in the lock and turned it, but there was something that made her uneasy. Something was not right. She carefully turned to check whether something was unusual, but the street was deserted as far as she could see.
She took few steps back and took a good look at the store, and almost immediately found the reason of her unease—one of the display windows were broken.
Damn!
Alicia quickly slipped inside the store. It was totally dark and she was unable to make out anything. She switched the lights and scanned the premise. The ground floor was secure and she didn’t observe any sign of disturbance anywhere in sight. It was the same way she had left last night. She climbed the stairs to check the first floor. It took her a minute to discover the bookshelf turned upside down. All the books were scattered on the floor forming a huge pile. She was looking at it in worry when she heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Sam coming up.
“The display window … its broken.” He stammered.
“I saw that.” She bit he lips, “we need to clean this mess. Give me a hand.” She didn’t want Ken to notice this mishap on her first day of command.
Together they managed to pull the empty bookshelf back in position, but their worries were far from over, because now they could see a fine pair of boots peeking out of the books pile.
Sam look at her with horror on his face. Her breath became uneven with the anticipation of something severely wrong, but she managed to muster courage to start removing books with shaking hands from the top of the pile. The pair of boots were part of a man who was lying peacefully beneath all the jumble. Alicia had never seen him before nor did Sam. She anxiously looked at his face and hoped that he was just unconscious, but something about his posture was enough to tell her that he was peacefully dead.
Alicia still tried to make sure by checking his breathing, but Sam trembled uncontrollably. She tried her best to stay composed and dragged Sam down to the ground floor.
“We need to call Ken.” After drinking some water and regain their senses, she told Sam who nodded with an uneasy face. As a law student, she knew she should be calling police first, but there was a small part in her heart asked her to do otherwise.
————
Although Ken asked them to do the same thing as soon as he got the news of a body in the bookstore, but he excused himself from coming to the store at that time.
“What? He is still busy?” Alicia was unable to believe her ears. “There is a dead body in the store for God’s sake.”
“He said he could only come after three, but he is sending the cops.” Sam repeated.
“And what are we going to tell the cops?”
“He said Miss Stone will handle.”
“How will I handle them?” She remembered that she forgot to mention in her resume that she had no practical experience of dealing with the police. Her paralegal job was restricted to the administrative tasks.
Sam jerked his shoulders and gave a sneaky look to the stairs as if checking whether the dead body was still dead or reading books upstairs.
The cops were professional and they handled the whole situation in a matter-of-fact manner. They asked routine questions from Alicia and Sam, record their statements and, by the time, Ken showed u
p at the bookstore, they were leaving the premises with the dead body.
“Who is the guy?” Alicia heard him talking to the officers at the doorstep.
“We will update you as soon as forensics come out.” The constable replied.
Alicia observed him when he was climbing the stairs for his office. He was his usual self; the same sad expression and the same shining hair which gave a him the appearance of a saloon model. He was not worried at all which made Alicia really worried. There is a bloody dead body at your workplace. Show some emotion man or I might take you for a psychopath.
As soon as the police left the site, the affairs came back to normal. The onlookers, outside the building, also started to depart; some stayed to gossip about the turn of event. Georgestown was not a place where dead bodies turned up all the time. The last homicide, the locale police had handled, involved a drunken husband killing his wife a year ago.
Alicia was thinking about Ken’s unusual, or perhaps usual, behavior when a supervisor told her that Ken was asking for her. She listened to the sound typewriter was making entering the office.
“Miss Stone,” He said without taking his eyes off the paper he was working on. “You called the repair man?”
“Repairman?” She looked at him in confusion. “For what?”
“To repair the display window.” He was still busy in typing.
“Oh, I am going to call now.” She felt embarrassed for not thinking about it on her own and turned to leave.
“I didn’t call you for that. I wanted to tell you that I liked the way you handled the police.” His eyes were still glued to the paper.
“They were very polite. I really didn’t have much to do.”
For the first time, Ken raised his head, paused his activity, looked at her for a second and then went back to his work.
“Can I ask something?” Alicia asked him with caution.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you use computer?”
He stopped again and looked at her, “Computer can do many things more than typing. The more functions; the more distractions.” He stroked the typewriter like a pet. “It saves me lots of time.”
CHAPTER FIVE
New Development
Alicia spent the entire Friday night and Saturday morning thinking about her boss. There was something definitely off about him; something strange, something scary. She was so absorbed thinking about him that she forgot to send a reply to Rebecca. She had tried taking information about Ken from Flora, who claimed to know the whole town by the back of her hand, but she also came blank about him. She dared not push her much to avoid raising her suspicion.
Harry was Flora’s favorite and, long ago, she had prophesized that he was the one to bring light in Alicia’s life. She was dejected when Alicia and Harry finally parted ways. She kept muttering for days that Alicia was making a grave mistake. Bad omen, very bad omen, was her favorite speech opening those days. No wonder she was rejoicing on his return.
“Alicia!” Someone yelled near her ear taking out of her deep thoughts. Flora was looking at her with a scorn on her face.
“I had asked you to visit a parlor.”
“I forgot.”
Alicia had not told any of her family members about the events at the store. The news of murder had not made it to the public so far, so she also didn’t feel the need to axe her own feet; so far, so good. She knew if the news came out, she would be ordered to leave the job with immediate effect, not even Flora would allow her to work at a dangerous place.
Flora snatched her bed cover from top of her.
“Come on. You are in the bed since morning. With this life style, you would start to look like a middle-aged woman very soon.”
“Nothing wrong in being middle-aged.” She murmured to her pillow.
“Everything is wrong in being middle-aged if you are single.” Flora set beside her on bed and rubbed her hair affectionately. “You should stay in the game for as long as possible.”
“Oh yeah, the game, because the guy who only cares about the age and looks would be a perfect husband for me. Right?” She rolled her eyes.
“You should understand.”
“I am trying.” Alicia said, then she sprung in excitement. “Basically, I thought you should get married.”
“What? Rubbish. Absolute nonsense.” Flora made a face in disgust.
“That’s the problem. You are fed up of your loneliness, but instead of accepting it, you are projecting it on me. When was the last time you dated? Not in the last sixteen years or I would had known.” Alicia felt charged about her brilliant idea. “You should start dating, and, then may be, I will to.”
“Shut up.” Flora smiled at her excitement. “I am fifty-five. Who will date me at this age?”
“I have heard Brad Pitt is single again.” Alicia mocked a thinking style which sent Flora to laughter.
————
At seven o’clock, they set off for the party. Alicia threw glances at her aunt who was driving in a stoic silence. She knew Flora was angry at her for not going to the parlor, but there was no other way round. If she surrendered herself to Flora, she would ask her to beg Harry to take her back. For some reason, her idea of love was extremely subservient which Alicia was happy to acquiesce with before, but it was not long when she realized that Harry was not happy and they were spending more time in fighting. She was scared that they were turning into her parents, day by day. If submission by one side could solve couple problems, her parents would be the happiest couple in the neighborhood. From then on, she had made a mental note to not listen to Flora in the matter of relationships.
I am mature enough to handle an ex, she thought stepping out of the fiat.
Harry lived in a posh area of the city where the streets were wider and the houses had a modern architecture. She had been there hundreds of time during her college days, but this was the first when she was feeling uncomfortable. The house had a fresh paint on it with a little front yard outlined with white picket fence, and it was all shimmering with fluorescent lights.
Flora went to search for the parking space, dropping her at the entrance, as there were lots of cars parked in the alley.
She thought about waiting for Flora entering the front yard in hesitation. There was a big oak tree in the yard with a swing on it which she had been on lots of time. How many times Harry pushed it sending her flying in air like a princess and they both laughed together like children? She wondered was that true love? If yes then, perhaps, true love could happen with a false person. She touched the old tree. Old trees and old people always looked similar to her, like they were hiding a reservoir of memories which they don’t want to share with anyone.
“Alicia!” She turned to find Harry staring at her. He was changed from the last time she saw him. A manly feeling was oozing out of him as compared to the boyish charm he had previously. It was a boy who had left the town and a fully grown man had returned. He was dressed in a dinner jacket and his normal curly hair were now stuck to his scalp glistening under the porch light. His face was also glowing in an unusual manner.
“Are you … wearing makeup?” Alicia frowned.
“This is how you meet people after a long time?” He stretched out his hand for handshake which she completely ignored.
“I thought you were gone for good.”
“And I am back for better.” He smiled like the suave he was.
“Harry!” A girl came out of the house to them and looked at them suspiciously.
“Daisy! Come here, meet Alicia.”
“Hi!” The girl hooted animatedly. She was in an exquisite pink cocktail dress in which she was looking ravishing. Her hair alone would had taken an hour or two to set up.
“Hi!” Alicia had no clue who the girl was, but she was sure that she was not from their college.
“Daisy is the daughter of our new sheriff.”
Daisy gave a meaningful look to Harry, “and…”
“Of course,”
he smiled. “We are engaged for some time.”
“Well. Congratulations.” Alicia didn’t know what else to say.
“We are getting married soon.” For some reasons, the girl was giving all signs of knowing about Alicia and Harry dating each other in past.
“I am delighted.” Alicia forced a smile. She absolutely loathed love triangles and had no intention of becoming a part of one.
Harry suggested. “Let’s go inside.” For some reason, he suddenly looked disappointed.
“I am waiting for Flora, my aunt.” She explained to Daisy. Of course Harry knew Flora very well.
“Dad would be waiting for Harry.” Daisy said formally, put her hand around Harry’s arm and dragged him inside. She stared blankly at their backs. Never had she ever hated being single so badly. She suddenly felt like an old spinster who couldn’t bear to see happy couples around.
Flora found Alicia standing under the oak tree with a weary face. “You met Harry?” She guessed correctly. Alicia looked at her with accusing eyes and tried to walk back to the street. Flora held her hand and pulled her back.
“Come on. You are braver than you allow yourself to believe.”
————
Brightly lit with party lights, the living room was full of people in formal dresses. Alicia was expecting more of a college reunion instead of a PR event, but there were very few people of her age which meant Harry was not looking forward to have a get together. She tried to look for Rebecca, but didn’t find her anywhere. Most of the people were wealthier than the Stone family’s social circle. Harry was not only back for good, but he was also trying to socialize with important people who were active in political canvas. Alicia looked down at her lace black dress in disdain which she repeated everywhere.
Flora had many regular customers across the town who came to her for planetary readings every month and ask for remedies in case of a movement which caused bad luck in their personal and professional affairs. They quickly surrounded Flora and bombarded her with questions on latest sighting of the blue moon and an expected solar eclipse next month. Some women asked for special appointments in hushed tones, but nobody paid any attention to Alicia which she was grateful for.
The Killing Scripture (Alicia Stone Series Book 1) Page 4