A protective-looking German shepherd was painted on the sign. The words written on the sign were enough to deter her: BEWARE—SECURITY DOGS AT LARGE.
Alicia had been too afraid to even get out of her car.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out if she could get under the bar, so could the dogs at large.
Even if invisible fencing had been used across the driveway, Alicia wasn’t a big fan of invisible fencing. She’d found the golden retriever from two streets over in her yard more times than she could count—his fur thick enough that he didn’t mind the little zap when he bolted through the invisible barrier.
Alicia hadn’t been brave enough to take a chance. She’d driven away and headed back to Woodberry Park.
Tish was her last resort. Tish would know Rick’s cell phone number.
Alicia took a deep breath and got out of her car.
She pushed Tish’s doorbell and braced herself.
Tish’s eyes narrowed the second she opened the door.
For a second, Alicia thought she was going to hit her.
“I can’t believe you have the nerve to even walk up on my porch,” Tish said and slammed the door in her face.
Alicia pounded on the door with both fists.
Tish jerked the door back open.
“I’m one second away from calling the police.”
“Call the police,” Alicia said, and pushed past Tish before she could stop her. “But while we’re waiting for them to get here, you’re going to listen to what I have to say.”
Tish stomped inside after her.
Alicia whirled around to face her.
They stood there, glaring at each other for a minute.
“Okay,” Tish finally said. “But go into the kitchen. I have no doubt this is going to get ugly. I don’t want to wake Joe and the twins.”
Alicia confessed everything: Her deep depression after the divorce. How desperately she’d wanted them for friends. The elaborate plans she’d made for the meeting. How crushed she’d been when they stood her up. Alfie, insane as his plan was, only trying to help.
Alicia also explained that she’d tried to get in touch with Rick and couldn’t. And she was too afraid of the dogs to even dare walk to the building.
By the time Alicia finished what she had to say, she was crying. Tish had dropped the attitude and was actually standing beside Alicia’s chair, patting her back, tissue box in hand.
“And that’s why I came to you,” Alicia told Tish when Tish handed her another tissue. “I knew you would have Rick’s cell phone number.”
Tish said, “I do have Rick’s cell phone number. But Zada made me swear I wouldn’t tell Rick anything, Alicia. She’s already decided if she has to prove to Rick she wasn’t lying, she doesn’t want him back.”
“And how tragic would that be?” Alicia wailed. “Do you really think I could live with myself if Zada and Rick ended their marriage when I could have prevented that from happening, and didn’t?”
She kept staring at Tish.
“Could you live with yourself, Tish? Are you really willing to let some promise you made to Zada when she was upset keep you from saving their marriage?”
“When you put it that way,” Tish said, “no. I’m not willing to keep quiet and let Rick make an ass of himself again. Zada’s taken him back once. I know her well enough to know she won’t do it again.”
Tish walked over and began plowing through a kitchen drawer. A few seconds later, she finally came up with an address book.
“Tell Rick I need to see him face to face,” Alicia said when Tish picked up the phone. “He deserves that much from me.”
The vibration in his pocket put a silly grin on Rick’s face. Until his more than a little inebriated brain realized what was tickling the side of his thigh.
Rick fumbled around and finally pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He raised his head up off the pillow and looked at the phone. Focusing on the screen well enough to see who was calling, however, was a different matter.
Rick closed one eye.
“J,” he said aloud.
Too blurry.
He opened that eye, and closed the other.
“J-O.”
Still too blurry.
Rick held the phone right up to his nose.
“J-O-N-E-S,” he slowly spelled out. “Thas Tish,” he slurred. “Oh, hell no! Not talkin’ to Tish. No way.”
He hiccupped.
Twice.
His head fell back against the pillow.
His arm flopped back on the bed.
“All Lisha’s fault,” he mumbled. “Thas what Tish’ll say. Jus like Zada. Thas their story. I’m stickin’ to it.”
He laughed out loud at his own mistake.
“Not I’m stickin to it. Tish’s stickin’ to it. Zada’s stickin’ to it. I’m not stickin’ to it.”
He held the phone up again and raised his head back off the pillow. “Not answerin’,” he told his still wiggling cell phone. “Not talkin’ to Tish. Not listenin’ to more lies.”
When Jen opened her front door, Tish grabbed her by the arm and pulled her outside on the porch. Jen sent Alicia a mean look, and glanced back at Tish.
“For God’s sake, Tish, it’s eleven o’clock,” Jen said. She looked back at Alicia. “And what are you doing with her?”
Alicia started to say something.
Tish didn’t give her a chance.
“I’ll explain everything on the way,” Tish said.
Jen put her hands on her hips. “On the way where, Tish? You aren’t making any sense.”
“We need to help Alicia find Rick,” Tish said.
“I repeat,” Jen said. “You are not making any sense.”
“Jen, please,” Tish begged. “Tell Charlie you’re going with me and come on.”
“How much Prozac did you take today?” Jen demanded.
“Jen!” Tish said. “Trust me on this. Rick won’t answer his cell phone. And SDS isn’t exactly in the safest part of town. Alicia wants to tell him about the phone calls and the photo. It isn’t safe for her to go alone at this time of night.”
“Exactly,” Jen said. “Ask Joe to go with her.”
“I did that already,” Tish said. “Joe said to wait until tomorrow. And I’m sure that will be Charlie’s advice, if you ask him.”
Jen stuck her nose in the air. “Excellent advice, if you ask me.”
“When tomorrow, Jen?” Tish wanted to know. “Does the Fourth of July party ring a bell? Alicia needs to tell Rick tonight. If she does, Zada won’t have to wait until Sunday to find out if she still has a marriage. And Rick and Zada will be with us. At the party together.”
“We promised we’d stay out of it,” Jen reminded her.
“We lied,” Tish said. “Now go tell Charlie you’re running an errand with me and you’ll be back in a minute.”
Jen still didn’t budge.
“Alicia made a good point earlier,” Tish said. “She asked me if I could live with myself if Zada and Rick ended their marriage, and I could have prevented it, and didn’t. Could you live with yourself, Jen?”
“God, I hate it when you start making sense,” Jen said. She sent a guilty look over at Zada’s darkened house. “I just hope Zada isn’t watching us right now.”
“Are you kidding?” Tish said. “If Zada took those pills like she said she would, we’ll be lucky to get her up at all tomorrow, much less help with the party.”
Two minutes later the dark side of the Housewives’ Fantasy Club—minus one member—was riding out of Woodberry Park in a Mercedes.
Alicia driving, confident she could repair the damage.
Jen listening intently from the front passenger seat.
Tish, leaning forward from the backseat, bringing Jen up to date on why Alicia was no longer considered the enemy.
Alicia brought the Mercedes to a stop directly in front of the SDS security gate, thinking that the later it got, the spookier this placed looked. Th
e headlights gave the German shepherd’s eyes on the sign an evil glow.
Alicia shuddered and looked away.
She glanced back at Tish. “And you’re sure about the dogs?”
“For the tenth time, yes,” Tish said. “Rick Clark treats his dogs better than most children are treated. They’re kept in climate controlled kennels out back. The sign does exactly what Rick wants it to do. It makes people think twice before ignoring that the gate is closed.”
Jen turned sideways in her seat to look at Tish. “And what people are you referring to, Tish? Obviously, not you and Alicia.”
Tish leaned between the seats a little farther.
“Okay,” Tish said. “To appease Miss Politically Correct here, try blowing your horn like you did when you were here before, Alicia.”
“No!” Jen reached out and grabbed Alicia’s hand.
Eyes wide with fear, Jen said, “Didn’t you see those skuzzy looking guys we drove by a second ago standing on the corner? The last thing we need to do is draw attention to ourselves.”
Alicia said, “Then what about flashing my headlights?”
“Yes, Alicia, try that,” Jen said.
Alicia flashed the headlights.
For a good two minutes she flashed her headlights.
No response.
“If Rick’s in there,” Alicia said, “he’s either in the back where he can’t see the front of the building. Or he’s ignoring us on purpose.”
“Oh, he’s in there,” Tish huffed. “And he’s ignoring us on purpose. I’ve been calling his cell phone constantly since we left. And I know his phone is on. It would have sent me directly to his voice mail if he had his phone turned off.”
“I vote we go home now,” Jen said.
Tish leaned forward and handed her cell phone to Jen.
“I vote you stay in the car while Alicia and I walk up to the building,” Tish said. “Keep your doors locked, and keep calling Rick. I logged his cell phone number into the phone. All you have to do is punch number four. If he answers, tell him we’re outside and he needs to let us in.”
Alicia looked over at Jen.
Jen was still craning her neck to look behind the car, on skuzzy guy alert.
Alicia looked back at Tish.
Tish rolled her eyes.
Alicia said, “I just want you both to know how much I appreciate you coming with me. I know I’ve made a mess of things, but I promise you I’ll do everything I can to make things right with Rick and Zada again.”
“Just hurry,” Jen said, motioning them out of the car. “I’m not exactly the bravest person on the planet.”
Alicia left the car.
So did Tish.
Click went the locks when Jen pushed the button.
Alicia made it under the security bar first, but she let Tish lead the way. Tish had been to the center before. Alicia hoped she never had to see the place again.
At least the place had a security light in the parking lot, Alicia kept reminding herself. Even if the light did cast eerie shadows on the building.
“There are some steps that lead up to the second floor at the side of the building,” Tish said. “If I remember right, that’s the most likely place for Rick to be.”
Alicia kept scanning the area with every step.
Despite Tish’s promise about the dogs, she was certain they were only one step away from being mauled to death by an angry German shepherd with sharp, pointy teeth.
Alicia glanced back at the car again.
Jen’s silhouette said she’d moved to the driver’s side of the car—just in case. Alicia was thinking about the “just in case” part when Tish grabbed her arm.
“Oh, God, what?”
“I thought I heard something,” Tish whispered.
They were huddled so close together they could have been standing in the same shoes.
Alicia quickly assessed the situation. They were closer to the building now than they were to the car. Should they run? And if so, which way?
“Put your hands on top of your head, and walk toward the building,” a gruff male voice said, making that decision for them.
Alicia looked back over her shoulder.
She put her arm up to shield her eyes.
The guy had his flashlight pointed straight at her.
“Move it,” the man said. “Before I call the cops.”
“Don’t do it,” Tish said. “If I get arrested, Joe is going to kill me!”
Hands on top of their heads, they moved forward.
“Please don’t call the police,” Tish called back over her shoulder.
“Keep walking,” he said.
“If you’ll just let us explain,” Alicia called out.
“I said keep walking.”
They were getting close to the front of the building.
The man said, “Turn around and put your backs against the wall.”
They both flattened against the wall like wallpaper.
The flashlight hit Alicia in the face again.
He did the same to Tish.
He lowered the flashlight and walked forward.
He stopped—hands at his waist, legs spread apart.
Alicia could see him clearly now.
He was older. Tall, well built, and dressed in fatigues. The look on his face said he was anything but amused.
Tish said, “You’re Scrappy, right?”
“What of it?” he said.
“We’re Rick’s neighbors,” Tish said and let out a nervous little giggle.
He didn’t crack a smile.
“And that gives you permission to trespass on private property?” he growled.
Alicia said, “Sir, like I said before. If you’ll give us a minute, we can explain.”
He held his arm out and tapped his watch.
“Start talking. You have one minute. I’m timing you.”
Alicia was over it.
She squared her shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. “And you have one minute to go inside and ask Rick to come out here!”
Intimidated, he wasn’t.
In fact, he grinned.
“Not possible,” he said. “I haven’t seen Rick since he left the center this afternoon.”
Alicia heard the sirens first.
Then she saw the red-and-blue flashing lights.
“Oh. My. God.” Tish said. “He did call the police!”
Scrappy turned around to see what was going on. He immediately resumed his military stance. When two patrol cars zoomed up to the security gate and stopped, Scrappy looked back over his shoulder.
“Just for the record,” he said. “I didn’t call them.”
Two police officers started walking in their direction. One had a nightstick in his hand. The other had a radio to his mouth.
Jen was running along behind them, wringing her hands.
Alicia looked over at Tish.
Tish looked over at Alicia.
Tish said, “Promise you’ll slap me if I ever give Jen my cell phone again.”
“Well, what did you expect me to do, Tish!”
Alicia looked in her rearview mirror.
Jen was sitting in the backseat, arms folded across her chest, lips pressed in an extremely thin line.
Jen said, “I saw a man step out of the shadows and walk up behind you and Alicia. There was enough light to see it wasn’t Rick. I didn’t know that Scrappy person lived at the center full-time. The first thing that ran through my mind was that it was one of those hooligans we passed on the corner.”
Tish said, “You mean one of the hooligans that would have had to walk in front of the car you were sitting in, in order to go under the security gate?”
“Hello?” Jen snapped. “I wasn’t exactly leaning back in the front seat, leisurely waiting while you and Alicia took a stroll down the yellow brick road! I had a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel, Tish. Completely terrified that two of my friends were going to be murdered or worse!”
&n
bsp; Tish turned sideways in her seat. “And worse than murdered would be?”
Jen yelled, “Dammit, you know what I meant!”
“And it never crossed your mind,” Tish said, “that the police might be a little pissed off that you called 911 to have the trespassers protected from the security guard?”
Alicia hadn’t missed the “two of my friends” part.
In Jen’s defense, she looked in the rearview mirror at Jen and said, “Don’t worry about it, Jen. I would have done the same thing.”
“Thank you, Alicia,” Jen said, glaring over at Tish.
“Liar,” Tish whispered.
Alicia said, “Well, at least Scrappy was nice enough not to press charges. I gave him my cell phone number. He said he’d have Rick call me the second he saw him.”
Jen said, “I hate to bring this up, but we’re really going to feel foolish if Rick is already back home, and that’s why he wasn’t at the center.”
Tish said, “You’ll be calling 911 again, Jen. I will personally kill Rick with my bare hands if he’s at home when we get there.”
Jen said, “Something else we need to decide is what we’re going to tell Zada.”
Tish laughed. “You mean about us technically breaking into Rick’s business? Almost getting arrested? And purposely breaking our promise to stay out of her business? Nothing, Jen! That’s what we’re going to tell Zada. Absolutely nothing!”
Tish looked over at Alicia. “But I do think you need to tell Zada it was your brother who was responsible for the calls and the photograph, Alicia.”
Alicia said, “Let’s focus on telling Rick first.”
Tish said, “There’s no reason why you can’t do both. The Fourth of July party doesn’t start until noon. I want you at my house at ten. Jen and I will be there with you when you tell Zada everything you told me tonight.”
Chapter 19
Zada stood in front of her bathroom mirror on Saturday morning, rehearsing the speech she was going to give Rick when he came home on Sunday to tell her that he did want the divorce.
She cleared her throat.
Several times.
“Rick,” she said, looking at herself in the mirror, “if you don’t know in your heart that I would never cheat on you, then I agree. We don’t belong together.”
Your Bed or Mine? Page 22