“Here goes nothing,” I said, punching in the first number.
Nate squeezed my knee and offered up a smile. It didn’t help, but I appreciated the effort.
Grandma Verda wasn’t home when I called. But I got through to everyone else. I told my parents and then my brothers that I didn’t know where Alice was. I explained the condition of her apartment and that the police were there. I told them she’d called me upset and asked me to come over.
Nate spoke to each of them as well, asking the same questions I’d been asked. He impressed me, this cop I’d met so unexpectedly. His voice was warm, reassuring, and stabilizing as he talked to my family. Before he hung up, he asked everyone to stay at home, in case Alice showed up or contacted them.
On a different day, for a different reason, I would have laughed at this. Telling my family to stay put was, for lack of a better phrase, a complete waste of time. I gave it thirty minutes, forty-five on the outside, before the entire Raymond clan barged in the door at Alice’s.
“They’re not going to stay home. They’ll be here within the hour.”
Nate frowned. “We don’t want people trampling over possible evidence.”
“So you do think something happened to her, don’t you?”
“It’s not that, but we have to preserve the scene—” He broke off, a flustered expression crossing his features.
“The scene of a crime, right?” My chest tightened again and another tear rolled down my face. “I can’t comprehend this. It doesn’t make any sense. Who would want to hurt Alice?”
“We don’t know she’s hurt, Lizzie. Worrying about things that might have happened isn’t going to help. Focus on the facts. That’s all you can do right now.”
I excused myself and went to the restroom. I washed my face and used Alice’s brush to comb through my hair. I looked around the small blue-painted room and tried to find a reason to stay. Going back out there meant seeing the remnants of what ever happened again. I didn’t want to.
But because it was expected, I went back out. I’d barely sat down when the door opened and Officers Thomas and Neuman entered. And then, right behind them, a bedraggled Alice followed. Everything shifted back into focus as soon as I saw her.
Bolting off the couch, I ran to her and hugged her tight. “Where were you? Are you okay?” I demanded. “I’ve been frantic, Alice. Tell me you’re not hurt.”
She hugged me quickly and then pulled herself free. Her eyes were rimmed in red, and her pale face was blotchy from crying. “I’m fine. Why did you call the police?” she whispered.
“I was so scared when I got here and found your apartment like this. You left the door open and all this broken stuff. Where were you? What happened?”
“I’ve already explained to the officers,” she said, her voice stiff. “You shouldn’t have called them. This is private. I called you.”
“But you weren’t here. What was I supposed to think?”
Alice opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, all hell broke loose. My parents entered the apartment with a bang. The tension emanating from my sister amplified instantly. They made record time; they must have left the second they hung up the phone. My mother took one look at Alice and started to cry, so that made three of us. The expression on my father’s face went from fear to concern. Next, Scot ran in, and, right after him, Joe. The only person missing was Grandma, and I suspected that was only because she hadn’t been at home when we’d phoned.
With a shaking hand, Alice tucked her hair behind one ear in a nervous gesture. Her eyes questioned me as my mother exclaimed over the shattered glass and my father spoke to the police. Nate came up behind me and put his hand on the small of my back, as if letting me know he was there, supporting me.
It helped. A lot.
“I’m not sorry for getting the police involved. I didn’t know where you were. I didn’t know what happened. You were supposed to be here. You called me and wanted me to come to you. What was I supposed to think?” My voice quavered with emotion.
Averting her gaze, Alice said, “As you can see, there’s nothing wrong with me. I’m sorry I worried everyone, but now I’d just like to be alone.”
“Not until you explain what happened,” my mother said.
“Did someone hurt you?” Scot asked.
“Where were you?” my father interjected.
“What’s the deal?” Joe asked.
“Your sister was just worried,” Nate added.
I didn’t say anything. I didn’t feel bad for calling 911, but I felt lousy as I observed my sister trying to take everything in. What ever happened had shaken her up, and then coming home to an apartment filled with people while she dealt with it couldn’t have been easy.
Alice burst into another round of tears and raced out of the room. Her bedroom door slammed shut, followed by the unmistakable sound of a lock turning. She wasn’t normally one for melodramatics. I was scared all over again.
“Can you explain what’s going on?” my father asked Officer Thomas.
The officer shook his head. “She hasn’t been hurt, and she’s not filing a complaint, but what happened should come from her.”
Officer Neuman added, “I gave Alice my card. She knows how to reach us if she changes her mind.”
They said their good-byes and left.
My family reverted back to their normal positions. My mother got a broom and started cleaning up the mess. My father and brothers went into the living room to hash things out. I had a feeling none of them would go anywhere until Alice rematerialized with an explanation.
I wanted one, too, but I needed a break.
“I’ll be right back.” I went outside. I needed fresh air. I needed to come down from the tension in the apartment. And I needed to dispel the horrific images that had started forming in my mind before Alice finally came home.
I sat down on the step outside of the building and wished I hadn’t quit smoking three years previously. I really wanted a smoke. Biting my lip, I leaned against the railing and rubbed my arms against the chilly air. I’d left my coat on the couch upstairs.
Nate came through the door and knelt next to me. “How are you doing?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“She’s home and she’s safe.”
“Thank God,” I said. “She’s mad at me.”
“She’ll get over it. Once she’s calmed down enough to realize how it looked, she’ll get over it.”
“Promise?” I asked.
“I promise.”
And when I looked into those green eyes, I believed him, so I exhaled all the pent up frustration in one whoosh. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“You know, just being here.”
“Anytime, Liz. Anytime.”
How’s that for a guarantee?
Chapter Seven
The now familiar electrical buzz swept through my body, casting an odd glow from me to the mixer to the bowl. I didn’t jump away from the energy; I basked in it, opening my body to the power swirling thickly around the room. When the last tingle disappeared, I switched off the mixer and poured the batter into the prepared cupcake tins.
“I thought everyone left, and then I heard you banging around.” Alice padded into her kitchen, opened a cupboard, and pulled out one of the few glasses that were still in one piece.“Everyone else took off, but I wanted to stay. Even if you don’t want to talk yet, I didn’t want you to be alone.” After sliding the pan into the oven, I noticed her eyes were still a little puffy but not nearly as bad as before. “Do you mind?”
Sipping the orange juice she’d poured, she shook her head, and her eyes narrowed. “You’re wearing my clothes.”
“I came here straight from the gym. When everyone left, I grabbed a shower. These were in the dryer,” I said, motioning to Alice’s lime-green polka-dotted pajamas.
“They’re too long on you.”
I wanted to hug her, but by the way she held herself, it was fai
rly obvious she didn’t want to be touched, so I resisted the urge. “Are you hungry? I have cupcakes baking for dessert, but I can make us some dinner if you want.”
“Pizza. I want pizza with everything on it and regular soda. No diet.” She looked at me as if I would argue. Not likely, I love pizza.
“Where do you usually order from?”
“Vito’s. I’ll get the number.” Swiveling on her heel, she gave me a hug. “I acted like an immature brat. I’m sorry I scared you.”
“You should be. I’m relieved you’re okay. You’ll need to call the folks tomorrow, you know.”
She frowned. “Yeah, I will. That will be fun.”
“Feel like talking about what happened yet?”
“Nope. You order the pizza, and I’ll find a movie. You’re staying the night, right?”
I’d already called Jon, and he’d ordered me to take the next day off to hang with Alice. “I planned on it, but if you’d rather I leave, you can kick me out.”
“Stay. I could use the company. Just no nagging. Deal?”
“I never nag.”
“Yeah, right.”
The next several hours passed quickly. We watched an older Steve Martin flick, ate pizza, drank sodas, burped from the sodas, and laughed at Steve Martin and Martin Short. When the credits rolled on the movie, Alice clicked the TV off and angled herself on the couch so she could face me.
“I feel really silly,” Alice said.
“Why?”
“Because I’m a fool and, when I tell you this, you’ll know I’m a fool.”
“Now you’re being silly. Look at who you’re talking to. Like I haven’t made a complete idiotic mess out of my life with some of the choices I’ve made?” I squeezed her hand. “I’m the one person you don’t have to worry about coming off as a fool to.”
A smile skimmed across her expression, quickly gone. “Well, that’s true.”
“Hey! You didn’t have to agree so fast!”
“You said it.” Some of the tension dissipated. If she could smile, it couldn’t be too horrible.
“I’m listening.” I curled my legs beneath me and leaned back against the cushion.
“You remember when I told you I met someone? And that he was staying here for a while?”
“Yes. You didn’t tell me anything else, though. I wish I’d pressed you more for details.”
“It sounds stupid now, but I thought I was protecting something special. I didn’t want to bring in the craziness of our family until we had a chance to settle a bit.” Alice’s eyes glazed over. “It all happened so fast.”
“He?”
“His name is Troy. I met him at the club almost a year ago.”
“That long?”
“Well, that’s when things started becoming serious. But we dated for six months before he started staying here a lot. You were having a rough time with Marc, and I didn’t want to make you feel worse because I’d found the love of my life.” Alice fidgeted. “What a joke that is.”
“I don’t understand. Where does the broken glass come in? And your phone call to me today?”
“I’m getting there. Be patient. This is hard for me.”
“Take your time.” I mimed zipping my lips shut. “No more interruptions.”
“While we were dating, things were really great. Troy made me happy. And I felt special to him. It was incredible. So, when he told me he’d lost his job and needed a place to stay, I naturally said he could stay here.”
“Naturally.”
She glared at me.
“Sorry.”
“Then he needed money to fix his car so he could look for a job. He needed money to pay bills. He needed money to pay his club dues. He never asked me for money, but I wanted to help him. I loved him. I thought we were going to have a life together. Anyway, I gave him my savings,” Alice admitted.
“Oh honey, no.”
She held a hand up. “Wait. It gets worse. Then, he said his ex-wife was coming down really hard on him and he had to come up with some extra money.” Averting her gaze from mine, she added, “To pay for stuff for his kids.”
I bit my lip to keep from exploding. Instead of shaking her by the shoulders, or pulling her into my arms (I simultaneously wanted to do both), I simply nodded for her to continue.
“Liz . . .”
“You can tell me.”
“I took out a loan. And I gave it all to him.”
Exhaling deeply, I asked, “How much?”
“Only five thousand.”
“Only?!” I tried to think about it from her point of view, but I couldn’t really get a handle. I mean, none of us had even met this man, and she was bending over backward to fill his pockets. It pissed me off.
“I know. Stupid. But Troy was so happy about it, and he promised he’d pay me back. I was smart enough to ask him to sign a contract stating he would, once he found work.”
“Did he?”
Mutely, she shook her head no. “He said he was going to. Maybe he just didn’t get around to it.”
“Then why did you give him the money?”
“Told you. Stupid. But I’ve picked up a few extra hours at work and managed to sell one of my paintings last week, so I figured no big deal. You know, once we were married, it would be our money, anyway.”
“Married? He asked you to marry him?”
“Not exactly, but he talked about it all the time. Not that he could have married me, it turns out.” Her voice broke, and her eyes began to well up.
“What do you mean?”
“Today, I got home and walked into an argument between Troy and this strange woman. There was broken glass everywhere, and she was really laying into Troy. So I asked what the hell was going on.”
“And?” I prodded.
A tear rolled down her cheek. “The woman—it was his wife, as in current and not ex.”
Pain sliced into me. “The bastard! Oh honey, I’m so sorry.” I squeezed her hand again, little good though it did.
“So this woman was in my home arguing with her husband, who barely came home anymore, and was throwing all my stuff at him. When she saw me, she came after me. Called me a home-wrecker and a slut and honest to God, Liz, it was horrible.” Alice shuddered and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“She didn’t believe I didn’t know. Told me I could keep his sorry ass, that he’d drained all of their money and left her penniless with a houseful of kids and bills to pay.” Alice slumped, as if the weight of her words was too heavy to handle. “She stormed out.”
“What did you do?”
Alice’s brown eyes darkened to almost black. “I kicked the jerk out and told him never to come back. Then I called you.”
“Good girl. Why didn’t you wait for me?”
“I got overwhelmed. I didn’t plan to be gone for so long. I just couldn’t deal with the broken glass and everything else. I couldn’t sit in here and wait for you. I figured I’d go for a quick drive and then come back to talk to you, which is why I left the door unlocked. I lost track of time.”
“The door wasn’t just unlocked. It was hanging open.”
“I thought I closed it, but I wasn’t exactly rational at the time. I still can’t believe he’s married and I gave him so much. And that I believed every word he ever told me.”
The tears fell harder, and I opened my arms. She crawled into them, and I held her while she cried. It reminded me of when we were kids and she’d sneak into bed with me at night after having a bad dream.
After a while, she pulled herself away and once again wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Do you hate me?” Her voice wobbled with the question.
Startled, I replied, “No. Of course not. Why would you think that?”
“Because I slept with another woman’s husband, just like Tiffany did with Marc.”
“Are you serious?” At her nod, I said, “Sweetie, there isn’t a comparison. Tiffany knew Marc was married, and she didn’t care. That isn’t what happened here. You
were deceived and betrayed by a man you love.”
“I had to make sure. I couldn’t live with myself if you hated me.”
“Of course I don’t. But what are you going to do about Troy?”
Her expression went blank. “It’s over. There’s nothing to do about Troy.”
“You should press charges. He stole money from you.”
“No, he didn’t. He didn’t even ask me for money. I naively just gave him money when he said he needed it. Elizabeth, he never once asked me for a dime. Ever. Which makes this entire situation even more ludicrous.” She stood and then began pacing.
“You still might be able to press charges. I’ll look into it for you.” Nate might know. If not him, the attorney I used for my divorce maybe would.
Shaking her head vehemently, Alice said, “Even if I can, I don’t want to. I want to forget this mess and move on. That’s it.”
I sighed. “Are you sure? I’ll help you in any way I can.”
“I’m positive.”
“What about your lock? Does Troy have a key?” A shudder whipped through me at that thought.
“Shit. Yes.” Alice blinked as the implications took hold.
“Don’t worry! That one’s easy. We’ll call for a locksmith tomorrow and get it fixed. And, until it is, we won’t leave.”
“Thanks, Liz.”
“You feel like one of my super duper double dark chocolate cupcakes?”
“Definitely! I even have milk, which is a rarity. But Troy liked it, so I tried to keep it on hand.” Alice pulled me up.
Hopefully, the spell I’d cast when baking the cupcakes would work, and quickly, too. Alice could use a little magic right now. Of course, now that I had all the facts, I could think of another batch of cupcakes I’d love to make in the near future.
Peeling the paper wrapper off mine, I asked, “Hey, Alice, what’s Troy’s last name?”
She popped a bite of cake into her mouth. “Bellamy. Why?”
I shrugged. “Just curious, that’s all.”
“How horrible!” Maddie exclaimed. “I hope Alice goes for the jugular.”
“She won’t, but I might. You think you can get some information on him with just his name?” Maddie and I were at the mall. I was shopping for a new skirt to replace the totaled one, and she’d come along because . . . well, because she’s Maddie. Maddie loves to shop.“Of course I can! Who do you think you’re talking to? An amateur?”
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