Under the Moonlight collection

by MaryAnn Kempher

***

  Tuesday evening, Scott made a surprise visit to Katherine’s apartment.

  “I have news,” he said as they sat on her couch. “I’ve been offered a job in California, near Los Angeles.”

  Katherine’s heart sank. “Are you taking it?” she asked, not meeting Scott’s eyes.

  “Should I?

  Katherine wasn’t sure how to answer. She wanted to shout, No, of course not. Stay here with me! But if he stayed, he’d still be with Verna. She didn’t even want to know if he’d already asked her to move with him. Her heart ached.

  “I think you have to do whatever you think is best. If this is a better job, if you think you’ll be happy there, then you should go.”

  Scott was disappointed and hurt, but not surprised. So they’d shared a few kisses, that didn’t mean she felt anything for him, that she loved him. He hid his feelings with false enthusiasm.

  “Yeah, I’m gonna take it. Can’t wait to hit those California beaches, and the money is much better.”

  Katherine looked away. She didn’t want Scott to see the hurt in her eyes. She wasn’t sure what she felt more: pain that another man had let her down, or anger at herself for actually feeling hopeful.

  “Wow, that sounds great,” she said, barely trusting her voice.

  “I’ll be leaving in about two months. Think you can help me pack up my stuff?”

  “Of course.”

  For a few seconds he watched her, waiting. When she didn’t say anything, he quickly walked to the door. “I’ve gotta go,” he said.

  Katherine didn’t look up. She pretended to examine something on the couch. “Bye.”

  Scott closed the door loudly. He took the stairs three at a time, in a hurry to put as much distance between himself and Katherine as possible. He’d set himself up, telling her he was leaving and hoping she’d ask him not to. She wasn’t in love with him and the sooner he got that through his thick skull the better.

  ***

  Katherine sat up, resting her arms on her legs and staring at the floor. She was stunned, her heart not quite registering what had just happened. In just a few minutes, everything had changed. She placed her hand on her heart. Wow, you really do feel pain when your heart breaks.

  Then a waterfall of tears fell from her eyes and onto her legs. She felt like a wounded animal, pain like waves crashing across her chest. Her only consolation was that she hadn’t told him her feelings, or even hinted at their relationship moving beyond friendship. That would have been humiliating.

  Katherine wiped her cheeks and eyes with the back of her hand and her nose on her shirt sleeve. I’ve wasted far too many tears on undeserving men. If I meant so little to Scott that he can just up and leave, well… good riddance.

  She stood and went directly to the freezer. She spent the rest of the evening in bed, flipping channels and alternating between sobbing like a baby and shoveling chocolate ice cream into her mouth. Sometimes she did both at the same time.

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  “We’ve been here all afternoon - it’s getting dark.” said Spencer. “Either he’s not home, or he’s not going anywhere. Either way this has been a colossal waste of our time.”

  Nolan sighed. The doughnuts and coffee were long gone and at least once an hour, Spencer complained.

  ”It’s my day off, it’s cold, and I’m hungry.”

  Honestly, how the hell this guy made detective is a mystery to me. Still, Nolan acknowledged, in a pinch Spencer had always had his back.

  “Just a little while longer, princess,” said Nolan.

  “Funny. But, I need to get home and make this,” Spencer pointed at himself, “even more studly than usual.”

  “Oh well, you should have told me sooner,” answered Nolan, with feigned concern and just a little irritation. “Do you think you’ll have enough time? Maybe you should reschedule?”

  Spencer pulled down the visor and looked in the attached mirror. He smiled at his reflection. “No, no need for alarm.” He turned towards Nolan and smiled, then said “I’m a natural beauty.”

  Nolan laughed out loud, then put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb, thinking and I’m a monkey’s uncle.

  ***

  Christian sat on his couch, thinking about Jeanette Churchill and what she’d cost him. He’d gone back to her house numerous times over the last four months and still hadn’t found the coin that had been missing from the box. For all he knew, the police had it. But it was very possible that the woman he’d seen that night had found the coin he’d been holding. She worried him. He couldn’t let her bring him and all he’d worked for down. Her youth and beauty had held him back until now, but his unease grew each day. He finished the brandy he’d been drinking and stood. Something needed to be done about her, and now was as good a time as any other. If he was lucky he might be able to get at least one of his coins back. He grabbed his coat and went to his car.

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  It had been a long day. Katherine had found it hard to concentrate on work. She kept reliving her conversation with Scott, hearing him tell her he was leaving again and again. She went through the day moving as if in wet sand, tears never far from her eyes. Feeling even more pain than she had when her marriage ended. Because this pain wasn’t just the result of lost love. Against her better judgment she’d let her guard down and once again she’d been disappointed. She wondered if she should tell him how she felt, but that question was quickly dismissed. No, she felt foolish enough.

  ***

  Once home, she was relieved to read a note Amy had left on the door saying she was out visiting old friends. Katherine just wanted some time alone to think. But she’d no sooner dropped her keys onto the kitchen table when a gloved hand covered her mouth. The intruder held a gun to her head, and she immediately thought of the attack in the stairwell. A male voice, muffled by a mask, said, “You're going to be very quiet. You're going to do exactly what I say. If you're smart, I may be out of here so quickly you'll wonder if I was a dream. If you're stupid, I'll kill you, and I won't stop until I find the coin myself.” He pushed her toward the couch. “Sit.”

  Katherine’s eyes darted around the room, searching for a way to escape. “Who are you? What do you want?”

  “I've replayed that night over and over in my head,” he said calmly, as if she hadn't spoken. “I looked for the coin I lost, and I would have found it, unless you found it first.”

  Katherine felt her chest tighten. For a second, the blood rushed to her head and she felt almost faint with fear. Could this be the moment she’d been dreading? Always watching out the corner of her eye, always half listening for sounds that didn’t belong. Until now, she hadn’t realized just how much she’d been expecting this man’s arrival. She had no doubt he would kill her - hadn’t he been trying for a while? Could this all have been avoided had she not picked up that coin?

  “Was it you who tried to run me off the road? Did you attack me at the mall too?”

  “I don’t’ know what you’re talking about.”

  “Sure you don’t. And what about Jeanette Churchill? What did she do wrong?”

  His demeanor seemed to change. He still spoke quietly, but rage was evident in his voice.

  “She stole them. It was an unforgiveable act of betrayal.”

  The steel in his voice made Katherine cringe. “Are you going to kill me too?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

  He began pacing and waving the gun around as he mumbled to himself. He turned the gun toward Katherine. “Tell me where my coin is! Tell me now!”

  An instant later, without warning, the apartment door crashed open. Katherine screamed. Jack was standing in the doorway, holding a gun.

  “Drop your weapon!” he yelled.

  Christian turned towards Jack. “You don't understand. They're my coins. I just want what my mother gave me.”

  Jack's gun never wavered. Slowly he said, “Place the gun on the floor.”

  Instead of dropp
ing the gun, Christian pointed it towards Katherine as he grabbed hold of her arm.

  “I will shoot you,” said Jack.

  “No. You won’t. Not unless you want to risk her life. Get out of my way.”

  He dragged Katherine down the stairs, his eyes watchful on Jack, who still stood in the doorway.

  “Stay there!” he yelled up the stairs.

  ***

  Katherine was half relieved, half disappointed that the street was empty when they left the building. Christian dragged her along until they got to the corner.

  “Turn around,” he said.

  Holding the gun to her temple, he thought one less loose thread. The sound of sirens was getting louder and louder.

  “I’ll be back,” he whispered in Katherine’s ear, before running off.

  She slumped to the ground, her whole body shaking.

  ***

  Katherine sat on her couch, a blanket over her shoulders. Jack sat next to her.

  “Jack, I don't understand. How did you know I was in trouble? Where did you get a gun?”

  “The gun's mine, Katherine,” he answered. “I'm a police detective.”

  “No you’re not. You're my maintenance man.”

  “I've been on a special assignment, working here undercover, keeping an eye on you. We worried you might be in danger. That whoever killed Jeanette Churchill might come for you. We were determined to be ready.”

  “So I was bait?”

  Jack sighed, then said, “Yes and no. We didn't really know what we were dealing with. We had to wait, see if he’d go after you.”

  Jack wanted to apologize, but what could he say? Sorry we allowed a killer to get so close to you? Oops, even with months of surveillance we still managed to almost get you killed?

  “But what took him so long?”

  “Hard to say.”

  “Okay, but how did you know he was here?”

  “It’s not that I knew it was him, but I heard shouting. I’m no rocket scientist, but I figured you were in trouble.”

  Jack stood and went into the kitchen. A few minutes later he returned. Katherine gratefully took the cup of cocoa he held out.

  “Do you know what he was talking about? The coins he mentioned?”

  “At the crime scene, there was a coin box with two slots. One coin was in the pocket of the victim’s robe, the other was missing.”

  Katherine jumped up and ran to her bedroom, returning with a wrinkled pair of jeans. Looking slightly embarrassed she said, “These have been on my closet floor since that night. They were never my favorite.” She pulled a gold coin from a front pocket.

  “It's been in your jeans the whole time?” asked Jack.

  “Yes. After he’d left, I didn’t leave right away, just in case he was still lurking around. When I finally left my hiding place, the clouds had cleared and the moonlight was quite bright. The coin was on the ground. I just shoved it in my pocket and forgot all about it.”

  Jack held out his hand. “You’d better give that to me. That coin and its twin got one woman killed, and almost got you killed as well.”

  Jack stayed until her door could be fixed, at least temporarily. Katherine made a pot of coffee. They talked about all the times they'd run into each other.

  “I thought you had good taste, since you shared so many of my interests,” said Katherine, half serious.

  Jack took a sip from his cup. “I still haven't recovered from seeing that chick flick,” he answered, “or lived it down. It didn't take long before people started handing me tissues every time they saw me.”

  Katherine tucked one foot under the other, her hands wrapped around her coffee cup, enjoying the warmth.

  “Were you the only one watching out for me?”

  “No, I followed you on weekends, and during the week I stayed here, but I worked on other cases. You didn’t always have someone watching out for you. The department doesn’t have that kind of manpower. Detective Nolan mentioned that you two ran into each other at the mall once. He was technically off duty.”

  “Yes - I think I got him out of some family get-together. Did you ever do any actual maintenance?” she asked, smiling.

  Jack laughed, then said, “Hell no. That’s why I knew it wasn’t me who’d put something on the stairs that time you fell. After that, we knew the killer was getting desperate. I can tell you, a lot of people got their butts chewed out after you were attacked in that mall stairwell. That should never have happened, but who could have foreseen that you’d take the stairs instead of the elevator?”

  Chapter Sixty

  Sunday morning, Katherine was too depressed to get out of bed. She’d begun to rethink the way she looked at her life and the people in it. She knew it was over with Michael, but that wasn’t why she felt lousy. In fact, that didn’t bother her at all. She thought about how close she’d come to getting shot. Memories of places she and Scott had gone and things they’d done played in her mind. They hadn’t known each other long before Verna and Michael had come into the picture, but they’d quickly become close friends.

  Lying there, she made a decision. It was time tell him how she felt, to take the risk. She had to do something. She couldn’t just let him leave without knowing. But before she could speak to Scott, there was something else that needed to be taken care of.

  She and Amy had spoken a few times about the eventual need to clean and pack up their parents’ bedroom. Thanks to Amy, all the other rooms were packed, and the last one couldn’t be put off any longer. It was time to get it over with. She dragged herself out of bed, then woke Amy up.

  ***

  They stood inside the front door. It was strange to see a home that had once been so full of love and happiness now so empty of both. Everything had been either given away or put into storage. Katherine took Amy’s hand and together they went into their parents’ bedroom. It had a musty smell from all the months that the doors and windows had been closed, but otherwise it was much as they remembered it. Their father’s robe was on the bed, his slippers along the side. There was even a book lying on the nightstand. Everything seemed as it should, until you looked at the floor. It was saturated with blood, from the bullet he’d put in his head.

  Nothing could have prepared Katherine for the news that her father had taken his own life. He’d left no note, no explanation, no goodbye. His death, coming so soon after her marriage had ended, had shattered her trust in her own judgment. First, her husband had left her, and then her father. Until recently, she’d been certain she’d never trust anybody again.

  After months of thinking about what her father had done, she was no longer surprised by it. Her parents had been married for over thirty years. When their mother had died of cancer, he’d been devastated. If only they’d caught it sooner. Katherine had been away, temporarily deployed overseas when her mother died. She hadn’t been able to stay long after the funeral, and Amy had lived out of state. Within a week, their father was all alone, living with memories that no longer brought smiles, but instead brought longing. Within months, he’d taken his own life. He’d been gone over a year, and Katherine could finally separate the end of her marriage and his death. Both sources of pain had somehow become intermingled. Ray left her because he was swine, but her father left because he was in pain. She was indifferent to Ray, and had developed empathy for her father.

  When Amy saw the blood, she leaned against the wall and fell to her knees, her face in her hands.

  “I don’t know how you faced this on your own,” she said through her tears.

  Katherine helped her up. “I cried until there were no more tears, and then I closed this door and never opened it again, until today.”

  For the next two hours, they packed away their father’s clothes and all evidence that a once-vibrant man had lived there. Amy left and brought back a bucket of soapy water and a sponge. They washed the blood from the walls and did their best on the carpet.

  Katherine and Amy left the house they’d grown up in wit
h no plans to return, knowing they’d sell it as soon as possible.

  ***

  Scott listened to another message Katherine had left on his cell phone. She wanted him to meet her at Virginia Lake; she had something to talk to him about. He quickly combed his hair and rushed out the door. He hated to admit how much he was looking forward to seeing her. Maybe she would ask him to turn down the job. He allowed himself to hope, then thought guiltily of Verna, deciding that once he was done talking with Katherine, he’d go see her. It was time for them both to move on.

  ***

  Verna arrived at Scott’s apartment as he was leaving. As far as she knew, he didn’t have plans that night. So where the heck’s he going? She followed Scott as stealthily as she knew how, which wasn’t very stealthily at all. Had Scott been less excited about seeing Katherine, he might have noticed Verna’s car not far behind him. She watched him park and walk to the bench where Katherine was waiting. Verna was furious. She wanted to run them both over. Feeling like a fool was something new for Verna - she’d always gotten the job, the promotion, the man…whatever she wanted.

  ***

  As Scott walked toward Katherine, he clenched and unclenched his fists, not because he was angry but because it reminded him to behave normally.

  They stood looking at each other. Scott’s heart was beating fast, but outwardly he looked calm and collected, and so did Katherine. First she hugged herself as if she were cold, and then she kept wiping her hands on her jeans. Scott wanted to smother her with kisses.

  “Why don’t we walk?” said Katherine.

  They walked in silence for a while. Scott cleared his throat, as if to remind Katherine he was still there.

  “So, what’s up?” he asked.

  First she told him what had happened. “He’d been trying to get a coin he’d dropped that night. Stupid me, I found it and didn’t tell the police. But it’s not my fault - I didn’t realize it was his.”