The Finest Hour

by Anina Collins

  The stairs creaked as I tiptoed over each one, hoping to not wake Alex. In truth, I wouldn’t have been upset if he woke up because then I might get a chance to talk to him about what he’d said. Yes, he’d claimed that he didn’t expect me to quit my job and stay home once we were married, but did he mean it? He routinely had a way of saying something and later when he had a chance to give a fuller explanation saying something different.

  I poured myself a glass of cold water from the pitcher in the refrigerator and sat down at the kitchen table. Looking up at the clock above the sink, I saw it was now 10:07. Time never flew when you had things on your mind.

  As I sat there rehashing everything Alex had said, it dawned on me that my father would still be at the bar and more than happy to talk at this time of night. Saturday nights tended to be busy at McGuire’s, but he’d surely pull himself away from his customers for a few minutes to talk to his only daughter.

  I tiptoed back up the stairs and dressed as silently as I could in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before setting off on my short walk to McGuire’s Bar. Cars lined the street in front and the tiny parking lot my father had put in at the end of March behind the building in the yard he never used anyway. Clearly, his second annual Cinco de Mayo celebration a week before had continued to bring in residual business.

  He stood at the far end of the bar talking to a few of his regulars, so he didn’t immediately see me when I walked in. I snuck behind the bar and came up behind him, much to the delight of his customers who kept my appearance a secret so I could surprise him.

  Tapping him on the shoulder, I calmly asked, “What’s up, Dad?”

  His reaction was priceless. He tossed the bar rag in his hands straight up in the air and nearly knocked me over when he spun around, his eyes wide as saucers with a mixture of fear and shock.

  “Poppy! You scared me half to death! Don’t do that to me.”

  The men at the bar in front of us laughed so hard they nearly fell off their barstools, but my surprise had been a cruel joke, so I quickly apologized. “I’m sorry, Dad. I was just trying to have a little fun. I didn’t mean to give you a heart attack.”

  He bent down to pick up the bar rag and began cleaning the space in front of his friends. “You should be more careful. I’m the guy who’s walking you down the aisle. You need me to stay alive for a few more weeks.”

  I wrapped my arms around him and kissed the side of his face. “I need you to stay alive for much longer than that, Dad. But you’re tough. No checking out on me yet.”

  “I have no plans to, honey,” he said, tilted his head so it pressed against mine.

  “Good.”

  “So what brings you to the bar tonight? Where’s Alex?” my father asked, looking around for my other half.

  “He’s home sleeping. I didn’t want to wake him, and to be honest, I wanted to speak to you in private, if that’s okay. Do you have a couple minutes you can spare?”

  My father stopped cleaning the bar and looked at me with concern in his eyes. “Sure. Everything okay?”

  I waved away his worries and smiled. “Oh yeah. Everything’s fine.”

  “Okay. Let’s go into the storeroom. It’s quieter in there,” he said, guiding me toward the door nearby.

  Two cases of vodka provided me with a good place to sit, but my father chose to remain standing, probably still worried that my need to talk that night meant something bad had happened. The man knew me too well.

  Folding his arms across his chest, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly before asking, “So what’s this about, Elizabeth?”

  Oh, he definitely thought something was wrong if he was using my given name. That was reserved for when I got into trouble or when he was worried, both of which usually happened at the same time.

  I smiled and put my hand up to stop him. “It’s okay, Dad. It’s not an Elizabeth kind of talk. I just wanted to talk to someone tonight about something.”

  His posture eased just a little. “Well, that tells me a lot. Talk to someone about something. Want to give me some more details? I might be able to help if I knew what you were talking about.”

  For a moment, I tried to find a way to explain what Alex had said and why it had bothered me so much, but nothing I came up with sounded right. “Well…I guess it’s going to sound stupid saying it.”

  My father stared at me, waiting for some specific details. Finally, when I continued to hedge, he said, “What’s going on, honey? I’ve never seen you at a loss for words like this. Whatever the problem is, just talk about it and I’m sure you’ll see it’s not that bad.”

  I was sure he was right. If I just unburdened myself, it would be much better.

  “Alex and I were talking today. You know, just talking like we usually do.”

  When I stopped, my father nodded and tried to encourage me to continue. “Well, that’s what people do, especially people who are planning to marry in a few weeks. Is this about the wedding, Poppy?”

  Now even I began to feel frustrated at my inability to get the words out. Standing, I began to pace back and forth between the cases of liquor and kegs of beer. “No, it’s not about the wedding. Everything’s fine with that. Well, except for the fact that we still haven’t decided on what we’re going to be serving and we have to pick the cake out on Monday. But it’s not about the wedding. No, that’s fine.”

  “That’s good, honey. I’m glad to hear it. Then what’s wrong?” my father asked, worry lacing each word.

  I walked to the back of the storeroom and turned around to face him, stopping next to a case of champagne he kept for special occasions. “Alex said that if I don’t want to work at the newspaper after we get married that I don’t have to. That I can quit.”

  The serious way I said those words made it sound like some grand pronouncement. I waited for my father to react, but for a moment, he said nothing, as if he was expecting me to continue with something more.

  Finally, he said, “Well, that’s nice. Howard has become more difficult with you in the past few months, putting more and more demands on you to report things about cases he knows he shouldn’t ask about, so I can see where Alex would think that could be something you’d like.”

  “I guess. But then he said something about me not working with him on cases anymore. I hated even hearing him say that.”

  A look of surprise settled into my father’s features. “Are you sure that’s what he meant, Poppy? That he doesn’t want you working with him on cases once you’re married?”

  Shifting my weight from one foot to the other, I admitted that wasn’t exactly what he’d said. “Well, he probably didn’t mean it that way. He mentioned that once we have children that he wouldn’t want me to still work on cases with him too.”

  I looked down at the floor as I waited to hear my father’s response to that, but once again he didn’t immediately say anything. Lifting my head, I saw him smiling, as if anything I’d said was good.

  “What?” I asked, disappointed the person I’d chosen to bear my soul to didn’t see how important this was to me.

  “Poppy, I’m not sure what’s troubling you. I can completely understand Alex not wanting his wife and the mother of his child or children working on murder cases. Having children changes things. I’m sure you know that.”

  “I know, but I don’t want things to change yet. I love working with him on cases. I’ve never enjoyed anything as much in my life as what we do to solve crimes. Why does that have to go away?”

  My father waved me over toward him, so I walked back to my seat on the vodka cases and sat down. He smiled at me, like he would when I was a little girl and he wanted to tell me something he knew I had to hear.

  “Honey, what’s this about? Are you saying you don’t want to have children with Alex? If so, that’s something he deserves to know before marrying you.”

  His question shocked me. Once the surprise of his words wore off and I could speak again, I asked, “What? Why would you say that?” />
  “It sounds like that’s what you’re saying. You want to continue solving cases with him. You can’t do that and have children at the same time.”

  “Of course I want to have kids with Alex. Why wouldn’t I? I love him, Dad.”

  “Then what’s this all about, Poppy, if it isn’t about children?” he asked pointedly, not letting me squirm out of telling him the truth.

  The problem was I didn’t know why giving up solving cases with Alex in exchange for having a child didn’t thrill me. I loved the idea of a baby in my life, a little boy with deep brown eyes like his father’s and his serious nature or a little girl with my spunk and silliness.

  So why did the mere mention of our work arrangement ending once a child came along make me sad?

  “I don’t know what this is about. I don’t. I just know as soon as he mentioned me not coming out with him on cases anymore, I felt lost. I love Alex and I do want children, but does everything have to change so quickly? Can’t we at least have a little time with it just the two of us after we get back from the honeymoon?”

  My father nodded his understanding and smiled once again. “Of course. Maybe you should talk to Alex about this. I get the sense you haven’t yet.”

  “No, I haven’t. I wanted to, but things kept coming up all day, and then he fell asleep early, so I didn’t get a chance to.”

  “I have a feeling once you mention it to him you’ll see he probably wants that honeymoon period too. You’re both young. You have a lot of time to think about kids. In the meantime, just be happy that you found each other. I’ve been thinking about that these past few months. Your mother would be so happy to see you found someone who deserves everything you can give.”

  Standing, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and hugged him to me. “I wish she could have met him. She would like him.”

  “She’d love him because she’d see he loves you. It’s obvious from the first moment you see him looking at you. The sun rises and sets on you for him.”

  I leaned back and saw sadness in my father’s eyes. “Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll still be your little girl, even after I’m married.”

  He cupped my face in his calloused hands and nodded. “As your mother used to say, a son is a son until he takes a wife. But a daughter is a daughter all her life. You’ll always be my little girl, Poppy.”

  Tears began to well in my eyes, so I quickly joked to lighten the mood. “I better get going. Alex probably woke up and is wandering around the house confused where I am. You still need me to work next Thursday?”

  My father’s hands slid from my face as he shook his head. “No. Katy said she could work after all, but you know you’re always welcome behind the bar whenever you want to come by. This place is as much yours as it is mine, to be honest. It’s McGuire’s, after all.”

  “Okay, well I might come over anyway and bug you and Katy for a few hours that night. I’ve been missing hanging out and seeing the regulars. I’ll call you tomorrow after the cake tasting and let you know how it went, okay?”

  He kissed me on the forehead and chuckled. “Cake tasting. As if anyone cares how wedding cake tastes anyway. People are either too drunk once the cake is cut and handed out or gone home.”

  I rolled my eyes at his old fashioned ways. “I love you, Dad. Talk to you later.”

  As I began to walk toward the door out of the storeroom, he said, “Hey, be careful. I know it’s only a few blocks, but you guys haven’t found Samuel Morrow’s killer yet. You still have that pepper spray Alex gave you?”

  The pepper spray sat at the bottom of my purse back on my bedroom dresser, but my father didn’t need to know that. Lying, I nodded and avoided his gaze as I said, “Yeah, yeah. This is still Sunset Ridge, Dad. I’ll be fine. Talk to you later.”

  As much as my father liked to think our hometown had become some dangerous place, I didn’t worry about walking home in the dark. My gut told me whoever killed poor Samuel Morrow wasn’t some mass murderer beginning a crime spree. Just as with every other murder Alex and I had investigated, the likely killer was someone close to him who had motives unknown to us.

  When I crossed Barn Street to get to the side my house was on, I did think about the fact that my wedding band was the only piece of jewelry taken from Samuel’s entire store. Thank God my father didn’t know that detail or he would have insisted I have an escort the few blocks home.

  It had rained while I was at McGuire’s, so the light from the streetlights reflected off the puddles along the sidewalk as I headed home. The air smelled fresh and clean, like it always did after it rained. I took a deep breath in and held it inside my lungs for a moment before letting it out in a rush.

  I saw the bedroom light on through the window and began to hurry toward the house, hoping Alex hadn’t awoken while I was gone and now worried I’d suddenly disappeared from the bed we shared. Breaking into a jog, I reached the house and took the front steps by two, but as I stepped onto the porch out of the corner of my eye I saw something move in the bushes on the side of my house.

  Too big to be a cat or dog, it looked like a figure crouching in the shadows. I called out, “Hello? Who’s there?” but no one answered.

  Suddenly frightened, I hurried to unlock the front door and rushed inside, slamming the door behind me. As I stood there, my heart beating like a jackhammer in my chest, I saw something move outside through the living room window.

  Was this just my mind playing tricks on me?

  “Alex, are you up? Can you come down here right now, please?” I yelled upstairs, still frozen on the spot where I’d seen the figure from inside the house.

  In seconds, he raced down the stairs and appeared before me in just his pants and shoes, his eyes filled with fear from my panicked plea. “What is it, Poppy? What happened?”

  “I was walking home from my father’s bar and just as I got in front of the house, I saw something or someone in the bushes. I hurried inside and I saw the figure run along the side of the house as I stood right here.”

  Pointing out the living room window, I said, “It ran right under the window.”

  Immediately, he sprang into action. “Wait here while I go outside to check it out. I need a flashlight.”

  He rushed into the kitchen to get one and then returned to go out the front door. I followed him outside, and just a few steps onto the porch he turned around to look at me angrily.

  “I just told you to stay inside.”

  “I’m not sure I’m crazy about this Cro-Magnon attitude you’ve taken on. I’m coming with you.”

  Alex sighed and shook his head. “I don’t think it’s Cro-Magnon to want to protect the woman you love, Poppy.”

  I took his hand and brought it to my lips to kiss it. “And I love you for it. But let’s go see what we can find.”

  We walked around the side of the house next to the driveway, and Alex pointed the flashlight back and forth along the ground as we searched for any clue as to who or what could have been hiding in the shadows.

  In the soil near the bushes under the living room window, Alex noticed a fresh footprint. He crouched down and shined the light on it. “This looks pretty fresh.”

  He looked back at my feet and then at the footprint. “I’m going to assume your feet didn’t make this.”

  His lame attempt at a joke amused me. “Not my size sevens. Those are bigger than my feet by a few inches.”

  “Mine too.”

  He took his phone out and snapped a picture of the footprint before standing up and heading toward the backyard. I followed closely behind him and we searched the property, but we didn’t find anything more than that single footprint.

  Alex shrugged and flashed the light around the yard one last time. “Whatever it was, they probably ran through the grass, which is why there don’t seem to be any other footprints.”

  “Do you think it was a they and not an it?” I asked, suddenly wanting to be back inside and cozy under the covers in bed.

  “I
don’t know. Let’s go back in,” he said calmly as he turned toward the house.

  “Are you going to call in the forensic guys from the state police?” I asked as we walked back inside.

  My question made him smile, and he shook his head. “They have no reason to come out. There’s been no crime.”

  “But can’t you pull some strings? You know, throw your weight around and call in some favors.”

  He stopped and looked at me, shining the light in my direction. “For what? Someone walking through the yard?”

  I had to admit that there had been no crime to investigate, but the whole episode had put me on edge. We went back into the house and upstairs to the bedroom to get back to watching our movie, but I didn’t feel as safe as I had when I’d left just an hour before.

  Snuggling up next to Alex, I admitted how frightened it all had made me. “I know I shouldn’t worry, but after Samuel Morrow’s murder and my ring being the only piece of jewelry taken from his store, I’m freaked out.”

  He pressed a kiss to the top of my head and whispered, “I’m sure the two events are unrelated. Don’t worry. I’m not going to let anything happen to my bride right before her wedding day. If someone wants to get to you, they’re going to have to go through me.”

  I sighed and closed my eyes as I lay my head on his chest. He wrapped his arm around me and gave me a gentle squeeze to reassure me I had nothing to fear. I’d never felt as safe and secure in my life as I did in Alex’s arms. As I slowly drifted off to sleep, I wished no one would want to get either of us.

  Chapter Five

  Bright and early the next morning, Alex and I arrived at the police station ready to tackle the Samuel Morrow case. We had no suspects as of yet—well, none that Alex had mentioned to me—but what we did have was the intense desire to bring Samuel’s killer to justice.

  So with coffees in hand and dogged determination, we gathered in his office with Craig to begin the investigation in earnest.

  Alex opened his notebook and looked across his desk at Craig, who sat to my left. “So, how did the widow take the news last night?”