Every Step You Take: A Psychological Thriller

by Avery Lane

  “I’m sorry my mom got you involved in this mess,” she said, finally. She meant it. Gabriel didn’t know Judy the way Riley knew Judy. So how was he to know that this would happen?

  “Nah, it was my fault how this played out,” Gabriel shrugged. “I was the one who told her that my brother gave me a spot in his building for my business and she mentioned that you’d be moving in and that we should perhaps meet up. But then she never followed up on that. But then she got really worried about you after Evan split and asked that I make sure you were okay. It was all very vague on her end. I’m the one who messed it up by using her concern as a dating service.”

  Ohh…

  Evan’s brother was the owner of their building. It made a whole lot more sense that all of Judy’s city connections belonged to a single family.

  “Alright,” Riley smiled. “I get it.”

  “She means well,” Gabriel said.

  “I mean, sure,” Riley shrugged. “But good intentions don’t always have good outcomes.”

  “Yeah, don’t I know that now,” Gabriel laughed. “Listen, I’m sorry again. Really. For everything. I’m sorry to and for Judy as well. I didn’t mean to drive the wedge further. That was the last thing I wanted to do.”

  “And I’m sorry I thought you were some shady gigolo my mother hired to be a janky P.I.”

  “What?” Gabriel’s jaw dropped. “That’s what you thought was happening? Jesus, no wonder you were so upset.” Riley laughed, finally feeling her muscles relax a little. She almost felt like she was on that date with Gabriel again.

  “I have one more question,” she asked. “How’d you know Evan was in my office? How’d you know something was wrong?”

  “I heard you,” Gabriel replied. “All my students were gone and I was closing up shop so it was quiet and the vents we share are like those cup and string telephones we made in elementary school. I can hear stuff from my end too. But only when there isn’t a class in session”

  “Did you tell my mom about any of that?” she asked. “About how we went on a date? Or Evan breaking in?”

  “Of course not,” Gabriel scoffed. “I’m not about to scare her like that.”

  “I think she’d like the part about us dating.”

  “That part I didn’t tell her because I wasn’t sure where we stood,” Gabriel smiled. “Didn’t want to get her hopes up. She loves me, you know. I’m pre-vetted.”

  “You understand that the fact that you’re so close to my mom is a huge disadvantage for you.”

  “Yeah, I figured,” he said, frowning in an exaggerated manner. He leaned back just a bit, drumming on his belly. A silly grin spread across his face. “Oh well. I tried.”

  14

  Riley’s dreams were always vivid, which didn’t bode well for her when she was having nightmares.

  She already knew there was no hope for her having a normal night of sleep. Not after all these sudden revelations. But she hadn’t expected to doze off into that weird mid-slumber purgatory where she was both dreaming and somehow semi-conscious.

  Everything she had learned about Gabriel and Judy and Margaret was unsettling. Every single aspect of it. She felt tortured thinking about Judy being alone upstate, isolated from everyone she knew. She thought about what a wonderful son Gabriel was and how Riley would never be able to do that for Judy should she need her to.

  Riley also felt ashamed over Gabriel bearing witness to what an awful daughter she actually was. Maybe it was selfish for her to be so low contact with Judy. But oftentimes, it felt like that was the only way she knew how to survive.

  Finally, after an entire life under the oppressive grasp of her mother, the stress of college, and then her husband, Riley was able to live on her own terms. And she could do that if it weren’t for the entire world working against her.

  In her semi-lucid sleep, she recognized that whatever state of consciousness she was in would not be the restorative type. Riley was just desperate to get one single night of proper rest so she could be on her game for her meeting with Brighton and Sierra the following day. She was determined to keep her business and personal life as segregated as it used to be, but it had been difficult considering her relationship with the couple started with them witnessing the catalyst to the most challenging and confounding weeks of her life.

  But she could still change things from here on out. She didn’t have to bring in her grouchy, exhausted stinkface to work and subject her clients to the aftershocks of her complicated personal life.

  Things always worked best that way.

  Riley was still dreaming, even as her body tried to awaken.

  She could see fuzzy images of familiar objects and faces, snapshots of memories taken from random parts of her mind. Like her chopsticks twirling ramen earlier that day. Gabriel’s forearms. Margaret’s old magenta hair. Margaret’s white hair. Milkshakes. Cheesecake. Evan’s gritted teeth. Her phone hitting the floor.

  A loud crack rang out in her head, syncing with the image of her phone as it crashed.

  She could feel her body flinch.

  Another loud crack and her eyes shot open.

  Riley sat up, thankful to be a hundred percent awake now. There was nothing particularly scary about what she was seeing, but it was uncomfortable to be in the in-between state for as long as she was.

  CRACK.

  Again.

  Riley froze.

  The sound was coming from outside her bedroom door.

  She grabbed hold of the five-pound dumbbell she kept under her bed. Dust had collected on the rubber coating. It had been awhile since she had cleaned and even longer since she last worked out.

  Riley gripped the dumbbell hard, clutching it to her chest.

  Before she could change her mind, she swung open her bedroom door and switched on the lights in the living room. She held her breath, which only made her heart rate shoot up that much higher.

  She did a quick look around, her eyes darting about so sharply she could feel the tug behind them.

  Her living room and open kitchen were contained in a simple square, like many city apartments. There weren’t many nooks and crannies because there simply wasn’t the space for it. It was certainly convenient in situations like this one, where a single vantage point allowed Riley to survey the whole situation.

  There was no one there, as far as she could see. Nothing seemed out of place. Nothing had been knocked over or fallen, which Riley actually hoped for because then she’d have some sort of physical explanation for the sound.

  But there was something off.

  She couldn’t pinpoint it quite yet, but she knew it was there.

  It was just one of those things you sensed when you’d known a space for so long. Kind of like those puzzles that she did as a kid where two near-identical photos sat side by side and you were tasked to find the subtle differences. Riley was always just a tad bit slower than her classmates in spotting all the items, but when she saw them, she would usually see them all at once.

  Just like she did now.

  It jumped out at her like a big red marquis arrow had suddenly lit up and pointed it out.

  The lock on her front door stood vertically in the unlock position. The chain lock was unchained and swayed ever so slightly. It wasn’t even cut. Just unchained. Just slid off the bar, undamaged.

  How on earth…?

  Riley dropped the dumbbell, running towards the door to lock and chain it once again. She grabbed the chair that sat next to her shoe rack and stuck it underneath the doorknob.

  Then, she called the police.

  15

  “If they didn’t take anything, there’s nothing we can really do.”

  Officer Thomas was a young woman, much younger than Riley was. At least a decade. Far too young to be talking to Riley like she was a kid. I didn’t even realize children were allowed to be police now.

  Her partner, Officer Lee, was still circling the apartment, looking for “anything out of place,” as if he’d even kn
ow.

  “Are you sure you didn’t leave the door unlocked,” Officer Lee declared more than asked.

  “Yes, I’m sure,” Riley replied. “I wouldn’t call you if I wasn’t sure. You have to understand, I think it was my husband. He’s been acting really different – like in a bad way. And it’s a little more than concerning. He broke into my office the other day and he tried to restrain me.”

  Officer Thomas looked more concerned now. She scribbled something into her notepad.

  “Did you file a report?” she asked, not looking up.

  “Uh…no,” Riley frowned. God, why didn’t I? She really should have. But she was too distracted by Gabriel’s whole reveal that night. “But listen, he stole my keys from the office. I took them back, but I think he may have made a copy to come back in.”

  “You can file a report with me now, if you’d like,” the officer said. She almost sounded bored. “Tell me what happened that night.”

  Riley recounted the night as best she could, ending with the fact that Gabriel had stopped Evan from doing any more harm.

  But she had no evidence to provide.

  Surprisingly, there were no visible bruises on Riley’s arms. The security cameras in the building were only in the halls and not in the office itself. It would only show that Evan had let himself in with keys in his possession, which he could easily explain away since they were still married and it wouldn’t be unheard of that her husband might have keys to the office.

  All the video would show was Gabriel forcefully dragging Evan out. Violently. Which could get Gabriel in trouble.

  Knowing Evan, he would concoct some story about how Riley was cheating with Gabriel and he was some jealous lover who couldn’t handle the fact that Evan wouldn’t grant Riley the divorce.

  “Alright, ma’am,” Officer Thomas said, her voice indicating that they were concluding their session, whether or not Riley was ready to. “I’m sorry we couldn’t do more for you today. If you feel you are in any sort of danger here, we highly suggest that you stay somewhere else tonight. Definitely change your locks. And if your husband trespasses or becomes physical with you again, you let us know right away.”

  Great, Riley thought. I have to wait to be terrorized again before I can even do anything.

  She opened the front door to let the officers out.

  In the hallway, she could hear her neighbors stirring in their apartments.

  It was officially morning.

  16

  Riley sat in her office, head buried in her hands as she sat behind her desk.

  After the police left, she had gotten dressed and headed for the office, knowing full well she would not be going back to sleep.

  The apartment felt like an active threat to her now.

  She cursed herself for forgetting to show the officer the photo of her front door that Evan had taken. That cryptic note he had left.

  That was evidence.

  She could’ve shown them that.

  But it all seemed kind of kooky. Like something she could be accused of creating herself. For attention or something. Like one of those crazy people who make drama in their own lives because they’re bored.

  She wanted to tell them about the fact that she felt like she was being followed, that someone was perhaps watching her from across the street. But the more she ran these lines in her head, the more Riley realized that she did in fact sound completely insane. That perhaps Evan was not the only one unhinged.

  Where the apartment felt like an active threat, the office wasn’t a whole lot better. The only thing that was of comfort to her was knowing that Gabriel was nearby. She was in no place to be denying his help, as much as she wanted to.

  She had just about dozed off when Marco finally came in, surprised to see she had beaten him there. He presented her with her coffee and breakfast sandwich, then watched her with concern from his own desk, as if afraid to ask her what was wrong.

  He could probably guess.

  Everyone could guess, looking at her worn out face. Her exhausted body.

  She wanted to tell Marco about everything that had happened. Riley wanted to talk to anyone, anyone that was not a part of this shitshow. Just to vent. Just to get a third party opinion.

  Just so someone, somewhere could hold onto her story should something more happen.

  But she had vowed to keep work life and personal stuff separate, and Marco was work life. He had already seen too much.

  God, did Riley wish she had kept any of her friends from college.

  Mindy was her freshman and sophomore year roommate and the only true friend she ever had. She was the only friend Riley had ever made on her own (if you didn’t count the fact that they were randomly assigned by the university). Everyone before that was apparently bribed by Judy and everyone after was either introduced by Mindy or Evan.

  In fact, her relationship with Evan was all Mindy’s doing. He was her study buddy and Mindy spotted sparks the first day she brought him back to their dorm. It took forever for the two of them to finally get together, but when they did, Evan made a concerted effort to edge Mindy out. By the time it was graduation, Riley barely spoke to Mindy. And despite the fact that she had introduced them, Mindy never ended up getting an invitation to their wedding.

  The friends she met through Mindy obviously sided with Mindy, and so Riley lost her lot of friends and became completely dependent on Evan’s.

  And when they split, she lost that lot to him too.

  A knock on the door shook Riley from her stupor. For a second, it struck fear in her heart – like her body had been trained to be nothing but on alert and afraid these days.

  Marco answered the door, letting in Brighton.

  A light scent of patchouli and sandalwood entered with him.

  He was dressed like he had just come from work in his lightweight, light blue flannel-print shirt with the sleeves rolled up to show off his toned forearms. Hints of sawdust on his jeans proved that to be true.

  Brighton’s beard had grown in just a bit more, making him look scruffier and more rugged than usual. When he spotted Riley, he lit up, like he was seeing an old friend.

  “Hey,” Riley greeted him, picking up their binder as she walked towards him. She peeked out the open door down the hall. “Where’s Sierra?”

  “She’s not coming today,” he replied. Riley cocked her head.

  “How come?”

  “She just had something she needed to do.”

  “We could’ve rescheduled,” Riley frowned. “Today’s an important day. She should be here to help make decisions.” They were scheduled to sample food at Bisset’s today so they could put together a menu.

  “She didn’t want to trouble you,” Brighton shrugged. “Just because the schedule is already pretty tight. She trusts me to know her taste.”

  “Okay, then.” Riley nodded. It was unusual for the bride not to want to be involved in something as important as the menu, but she had also noticed that couples getting married in their thirties seemed a lot more casual about the affair than those who were younger.

  And Brighton sure seemed whipped enough to make the right decisions for the both of them.

  17

  Brighton took the tasting quite seriously, taking notes in a small notebook between each bite of the chateaubriand, chicken fricassee, and salmon rillettes that Adeline Bisset presented him.

  Adeline seemed oddly delighted by Brighton’s careful consideration of all her cooking, peeking over his shoulder to read everything he had written. Whatever it was seemed to please her.

  Riley watched from across that long family dining table that had so impressed Brighton that first day she had taken them to the location. She had happily sampled the food along with him as everything came out, relieved that he was content with her barebones level of participation. Couples normally liked to bounce their thoughts off of each other before asking Riley her opinion as well. Brighton seemed fine doing everything solo.

  In fact, Riley coul
dn’t help but notice again that he was markedly different without Sierra by his side. He was chattier. Smiled more. He just seemed more present – more willing to engaged.

  She wondered if Brighton was more apt to flourish in solitude, like she suspected of herself. When Sierra was around, it seemed like everything was deferred to her. On his own, a personality would emerge and opinions were expressed.

  But she could just be projecting.

  With only one person at the helm, Riley was surprised how quickly they were done with their tasting. She had heard from other wedding planners that when both halves of the couple were present (and sometimes even mothers, mother-in-laws, maids of honors, and best men), decisions were made and changed at least a dozen times before anything could be settled.

  But Brighton, all on his own, was in and out just like that.

  “I had you scheduled in for a whole other hour so I don’t know what to do with myself now,” Riley joked as they stood waiting for their Uber back to the office.

  “I thought it would take longer too,” Brighton shrugged. “But that food was so good that I know there wasn’t really a wrong decision.”

  “So are you heading back to work now?” she asked. “I figured that’s where you were coming from before.”

  “Yeah,” Brighton replied. “Sawdust tipped you off, right? Sorry about that. Sierra hates that I track it all over the place.”

  “No, it’s fine,” Riley laughed. “I was just curious. Where exactly do you work?”

  “Right near you, actually,” he said. “Just a few blocks away. Sierra and I rent a studio together.”

  “So you guys work in the same place and live in the same place?” Riley raised an eyebrow. “That’s a lot of time together.”

  “Yeah, well,” Brighton smiled. “It’s a good thing we like each other.”

  “I’d hope so, since you’re getting married,” she teased.