“And you must know Mr Harry Davies, the gentleman who put me behind the bars.”
Alicia snorted the meringue on his comment. Harry looked confused on his introduction. He opened his lips to say something, but then felt contented on taking a big gulp of meringue.
“Why are you working at a bookstore, Alicia?” Melanie asked her. “A girl like you would easily get a job in a law firm.”
“Why indeed?” Ken took a sip from his glass looking straight in her eyes.
Alicia had been avoiding question about her career since ages. She felt even more exposed and embarrassed in front of two perfect people. Everybody on the table was looking at her expectedly, but the nature of curiosity was different for everyone. Melanie was mildly interested; she would have heard sob stories of unemployment before. Harry was just waiting to prove her wrong no matter what she said; while, Ken had a different expression. Is it sympathy, she wondered.
“I had worked as a paralegal for six months in a local firm.” She said looking at the table cover. Nobody said anything in reply. They were expecting some elaborate response.
“I wanted to be a lawyer to fight for goodness and I had that teenage idealism that evil should be stopped at any cost.” She said slowly as she was not expecting from any of them to understand it. “What I learnt by experience is that evil comes in many forms and sometimes there is no outsider to fight with. Sometimes looking forward for a tomorrow with hope is a victory of right over wrong. Sometimes not hurting people, while you can, is also a victory of right over wrong. Sometimes you have to fight with evil on a smaller platform than you wanted to, and sometimes when you win, there are no onlookers to clap for you, but you still do it, because you believe in it, and not losing belief is the only victory that matters in the long run.”
Harry chuckled, “Sometimes I think you are a clueless person.”
Melanie didn’t say a word to either of them. She was thinking about what Alicia said. Ken was the only one smiling. His eyes were full of emotions which Alicia liked to see but unable to decipher.
“On clueless, I remember,” Ken asked Harry, “how is your investigation going on?”
Harry’s face turned red on his indirect taunt. “We are still looking for a killer.”
“It has been going on for quite a while.” Melanie looked at Harry with disapproval. “Are you sure that the two homicides are even connected?”
“I am sorry. I cannot answer this question personally.”
“I like what you say, Alicia.” Melanie turned to her. “But, if you can fight with evil, you should always look for a bigger platform. You have no idea how many people have to suffer because there was no one to fight for them.” She gave a curt look to Harry, opened her purse and picked a card out. “In case you ever change your mind.”
Alicia took her card which was engraved with golden letters, MELANIE ROBINSON. PRINCIPAL CROWN ADVOCATE., followed by her mobile number.
“Thank you very much. It means a lot to me.”
Alicia was grateful. Getting a chance to work for Melanie was definitely bigger than winning a lottery for an aspiring lawyer.
“Don’t forget to give a month notice to your boss.” Ken said to her.
“Sure.” Alicia chuckled.
“I have come here to tell you that I am going to London tonight for a week so you will be in-charge from tomorrow.” Ken said.
“All right.” She felt a little sad that she would not be able to see him for few days.
“Do you know Rebecca?” Melanie asked her.
“She was our class fellow.” Alicia replied looking at Harry who was also curious.
“She also wants to come to London so if you two plan together, it would be convenient. London could be intimidating for first timers.” Melanie advised.
“I thought she wants to stay in town to look after her mother,” said Harry.
“Her mother would be staying in an old age home.” Melanie replied.
“That’s great. Parents give sacrifices for their children. My parents are also staying with my brother in York till I move to London.” Harry said. “What about your parents, Ken? We never heard about them.”
Alicia looked Ken in pity. She couldn’t believe that Harry would steep that low. He knew fully well that Ken’s parents were no longer in this world, but still he asked this question. It was obvious that he wanted to hurt her. Melanie answered in behalf of Ken.
“His parents died in his childhood. My father raised him as his own son. He is also a Robinson for all practical purposes.”
Was that a threat Alicia sensed in Melanie’s voice? Ken was silent when she spoke. His face was blank as if she was talking about someone else.
“We don’t see much of Mayor these days.” Alicia tried to change the topic, imagining a child Ken getting consoled by a young Mayor Robinson.
“You can see him on our Christmas dinner, only if you choose to stay here for that long.” Melanie said.
She was mostly silent on her return journey as she had no mood to chitchat with Harry. Harry was also silent surprisingly as he never let a single opportunity to throw an insult at her whenever they were alone.
“So when are you leaving?” Harry asked her taking a right on a signal. It was ten past eleven and the city was submerged in silence. The roads were totally deprived of traffic.
“Where?”
“To the Crown’s office.”
“I don’t know.” There was a time when she could really sell her soul to get a position in Crown’s office, but that was a different girl, a girl who wanted to be a lawyer, a girl who thought she was like every other girl. The girl who worked at the bookstore was someone else; she had no ambitions and no future plans.
“It is big. You cannot get a better opportunity than this.” Harry commented stopping his Volkswagen at Stone Manor.
Alicia stepped out, closed the door and went inside without looking behind, without saying goodbye.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Strikes Midnight
The next morning was one of the worst mornings Alicia had in weeks. She stayed in bed and cried her heart out the entire morning. Around ten o’clock, she heard a knock on the attic door, but didn’t respond. She didn’t want to talk to anyone. Last night could be a memorable night of her life, only if Harry would not be there. He set there with his smug face as a reminder of the worst mistake of her life. She remembered Ken’s glances at her which were full of sympathy. She felt like a freak who could only invoke sympathy in people.
She got up around eleven o’clock for a change despite of having no energy to go to work, but she didn’t want to disappoint Ken. She picked her coat and slipped out of the main door before anyone could notice.
It was still half hour remaining in the open hours of the bookstore by the time she reached there. She locked the entrance door from inside and turned on the lights. She felt a sudden feel of warmth spreading through her body. It was not a place to rest, but she always felt welcomed.
The room was really peaceful like the rest of the bookstore. As Ken was not coming today, she could lay down and close her eyes for a while. There was a brown shawl placed on the back of a chair. Making herself cozy, she wrapped herself in the shawl and almost instantly fell to sleep.
What seemed like after few minutes, she heard her mobile phone ringing. She picked her bag and took out her mobile. It was Sam!
“Hi!” She said in a thick, sleepy voice.
“Where are you?” Sam sounded worried to her.
“I am in the office. Why?”
“Oh my God, what are you doing there? I am calling you since morning.”
“I fell to sleep.” She checked the glass panel which was still covered with blinds. Naturally, no one noticed that she was inside the room.
“Ken had called for you.”
“And what did you say?”
“I said she is sick, will come late.”
Damn.
“Give me five minutes. I am coming down.” S
he cut the call.
It was four o’clock as per her mobile clock. She couldn’t believe she slept that long. It was a sound and dreamless sleep. The bathroom in the office was lavishly furnished that she felt an urge to take a bath and she followed that urge obediently. The water pressure in the shower was heavenly and she felt all negativity cleaning out from herself. She put her clothes back on and throw the shawl on her shoulders to protect her clothes from her damp hair.
Coming down from stairs, she could hear her stomach growling in hunger. Sam laughed at her looks for five minutes straight.
“You are fried.” He said when he heard her ordering a pizza for delivery.
She started to feel cold in wet clothes and with empty stomach. The wait for the pizza guy was another torture. She offered a slice to Sam, when it finally arrived, which he accepted gracefully at that time, but then eyed for more greedily.
“One more.” He pleaded.
“I am fried.” She shook her head in negative. The aroma of oven hot pizza was totally tempting for everybody around. Some of the visitors ogled her with hungry looks.
“Please.” Sam tried again.
“No, one was the limit of my manners.” She picked the last one and waved in front of Sam. He tried to snatch it from her hands, she jerked back and bumped onto someone. Her wet hair smacked him on the face, and a pair of milky brown eyes flashed in front of her. The boss had come back from London.
“I … am … sorry.” She stammered.
“Are you celebrating my day off, Miss Stone?” He asked calmly.
“I forgot to have lunch … and breakfast.” She tried to explain.
“This is your breakfast time? Good, now I don’t need to look for a night watchman.”
Sam was shaking with laughter in silence behind Ken and she felt an itch to throw something at him.
“You were unwell this morning?” Ken asked her.
“I had not a proper sleep last night so having a headache.”
Ken gave her a scrutinizing look from top to bottom and went upstairs.
“So why didn’t you sleep well last night?” Sam asked her printing out the checkout log of the previous day.
“Had a bad evening with friends.” She rubbed her hands together.
“How can you have a bad evening with friends?” Sam asked in amazement.
“Sometimes you have to meet people you don’t want.”
“I would never do that.”
“I will ask you after five years.” She chuckled.
“Alicia!” Someone took her name from behind. She turned to find Daisy standing few steps away from her.
“Hi! How are you doing?” She was surprised to see her.
“I need to talk to you.” Daisy said keeping one hand on a bookshelf near her. Her makeup looked like from the last night and for a moment, Alicia felt she was drunk.
“Sure.” Alicia came closer worriedly. “Is everything alright?”
“Tell me honestly,” she raised a finger at Alicia. “Are you sleeping with Harry?”
“What?” For a minute, Alicia thought she misheard her, but her looks and her words were synchronized with each other. “No, hell, no.”
“Don’t lie to me.” Daisy screamed. Tears spilled out of her eyes on her rosy-colored cheeks. Alicia saw visitors looking at them with curiosity. “He was with you last night and every night before that. He kept sending me London for you.”
Alicia felt numbed with her accusations. Of all the blames she had faced in life, man-stealer was the most unexpected one.
“Daisy! Listen to me. This is not true. I don’t know what Harry told you, but we are not in touch. I would die before getting back with him.” She almost pleaded to Daisy in her effort to make her understand her perspective.
“You are speaking truth?” Daisy came close to her with a strange gleam in her eyes and grasped her arms. Her long nails dug deep in her wet t-shirt. Alicia winced under her grip.
“Yes, I am speaking truth.” Daisy jerked her hands tearing her sleeves into shreds with her nails.
“Oh my God!” Alicia heard Sam’s concerned voice from behind.
“You are lying.” Daisy screamed again. “Everybody is lying to me.” Visitors in the store had left their shopping to watch them; some of them had started recording it on their devices.
“Sam! Call Kripke.” Alicia said without taking her eyes away from Daisy. For a second, Alicia thought Daisy was going away, but she turned with a heavy thousand-page encyclopedia in her hand which she threw at Alicia. She could not aim properly so Alicia easily dodged it.
“Don’t call Kripke. Don’t try to threaten me, bitch.” She screamed again.
“Daisy! Listen to me.” Alicia tried again to soothe her. “You need to calm down to think straight. He chose to breakup with me. He chose to date you. It was his decision all along. There is no need to get mad.”
“Mad? You call me mad?” The only word Daisy heard was mad and she sprang like a cat. She came to Alicia like a hurricane and grabbed her by the hair. “I will show you mad.”
Alicia had never been in a physical fight with anyone since her childhood. Panicked, she tried to get away. Two pair of hands came from nowhere and took out Daisy’s hands from her hair forcefully. Ken pulled Daisy to back from Alicia and Edgar took her to the other side of the store. Ken picked the shawl from the floor and gave it to her.
“You all right?” He asked looking at her torn sleeves.
“I am fine.” She searched for the tissue box. Sam was watching from behind the checkout counter with his mouth still open. Alicia wiped blood droplets from her arms; her wounds hurt slightly. Daisy’s nails could put metal nails to shame. It took fifteen more minutes to Harry who entered the bookstore with an embarrassed face. Ken and Edgar stood guard in that time to not have another round of fighting. They all watched silently when Harry was taking a screaming and kicking Daisy away.
“What happened?” Ken asked her after Harry’s Volkswagen pulled out of the store’s parking lot. He was looking distant.
“She thought me and Harry…” Alicia was unable to finish the sentence. It disgusted her to even talk about it.
“We need to talk, Miss Stone.” Ken said in a slow voice.
In his office, she stared at his black hair which matched with his long black eye lashed while he talked to someone on the telephone set.
Finally, he put the receiver down, and said gravely.
“One more dead body has been found.”
“Where?”
“I didn’t get the details, but Clarke said it is a resident. This is getting worse.” He said looking at the visitors roaming around the first floor through the glass wall. “I am sorry I was on the phone when that girl came to the store. I would have come sooner otherwise.” He added apologetically.
Alicia didn’t understand what he was saying at first.
“Oh. You mean Daisy? Its fine. I can handle people. It was just unexpected. She was totally cool when we had met before. I had no idea she could be violent.” She said wrapping the shawl around her arms to hide her torn sleeves.
“Always expect people to be violent. It would help in developing better reflexes.” He advised.
Alicia thought about Kripke’s theory he told them last night and asked Ken.
“When did it happen?”
“Early hours of morning.” He said
“When did you come back from London?”
“Seriously? You are suspecting me again?” He looked at her critically.
“I need to know. What if the police ask me?”
“I have just come back in front of your eyes.” He waved a hand in front of her.
“Anyone can testify that?” She asked in a pro lawyer tone.
“I was with Melanie at the time of murder.” He looked away blushing pink which actually suit his black and white appearance. Alicia could not even remotely feel envious of Melanie. She was a tall blonde advocate who could have become the future Mayor of Georgestown, a
nd whatever relation she had with Ken, she was glad for him.
“Were you in the same room all the time?” She maintained her professional demeanor.
“Seriously, Miss Stone?” He looked at her ridiculed.
“A lawyer would also ask the same in court to ascertain whether you were in front of her eyes or not.” She pressed her lips to not smile at his discomfort over the direction their conversation was going.
“I was not in front of her eyes. We were playing peekaboo at five o’clock in the morning.” He said sarcastically.
Alicia giggled unable to suppress it anymore. “Well, then you are still a suspect.”
“Thank God, you are not a lawyer. You would destroy some poor soul’s reputation.”
“If it is a murder charge then reputation is a small price to pay. Sometimes suspects fake having affairs to get a fool proof alibi, and why do you feel concerned about your reputation at all? You already have an image of being a solitary person which is enough to raise questions in a small city.” She said remembering her own experiences of last four years.
“Well, you never know. Somebody might be interested in solitary types.” Ken looked in her eyes long enough to make her break the eye contact. She didn’t know what to say. The silence in the room deepened until her mobile rang. It was a message from an unknown number.
“Come to the central park. Need to talk.”
She typed a reply quickly and sent it.
“Who is there?”
Several minutes passed and no reply came. She felt curious as well as scared. Three murders had been happened and the killer was still at large. Kripke thought it was something to do with bookstore and then there was his crackpot theory of a brotherhood. She was deep in her thoughts staring at her heels without realizing that Ken was reading her face carefully. Her mobile phone rang again. It was from the same number and contained only one word.
The Killing Scripture (Alicia Stone Series Book 1) Page 10