by D E Dennis
“Mari!” she yelled.
“Kali, quick!” I shouted back. I turned up the volume on the TV. “Come in here.”
There was a live news broadcast. On the screen, surrounded by reporters, was an astonishingly beautiful young woman. She looked to be in her late twenties, maybe a little younger. She was standing in the doorway of what must have been her house.
“...Breyfogle,” she was saying clearly into the camera. “That psychic woman’s accusations against him are completely false. Mayor Tad Breyfogle did not murder his wife. He couldn’t have.” She looked directly into the camera, directly at me. “Because he was with me.”
“I DON’T BELIEVE IT,” I said stubbornly. Cora, Kali, and I were gathered around the kitchen table while Daniel played with his new kitten, Oscar. “He refuses to say where he was at the time of the fire. Lies to the police. Only for this woman to pop up out of the dirt saying she was with him the whole time? I don’t buy it. This woman, Sophia Bell, is lying.”
Kali propped her head up on her hand. “But what if she’s not? Maybe he lied to the cops because he didn’t want anyone to know he was fooling around with another woman when his wife was killed, and the only reason she’s coming forward now is because her lover is in danger of being charged with murder.”
Cora nodded. “It’s possible.”
“Or,” I replied, “Veronica Breyfogle was right about her husband all along. He had found himself a younger, prettier woman and was done with his current ball and chain. He starts prepping for his new life, changing his will and plotting the best way to get rid of her. He gets the idea to set fire to her building because of the arsonist on the loose and the blame would be pinned on them.”
I abruptly sat up in my seat. “She must have been the woman in the black dress!” I cried. “She was the lookout to make sure no one saw him go in or out. She covered herself up in the big shades and scarf because people would surely remember a face like that. They expected to get away with it, but then I outed him in front of the world. She has no choice but to give him a fake alibi to get him off murder charges.”
I nodded firmly, secure in my logic. “That’s what happened.”
Kali and Cora shared a look. Reluctantly, Cora replied, “It’s possible.”
Kali drummed her fingers as she thought, chewing her lip, but eventually, she said, “It does make sense, especially when you take into account what Oliver Breyfogle said about him taking secret phone calls and coming home late all the time.” She sighed. “An affair gives us what we’ve been missing: a motive.”
I stood up. “I’m calling Arnie.”
“Wait, Amari,” she said quickly. “You said you were going to stay out of it just last night.”
“I am staying out of it,” I said as I dialed. “I’m giving the police vital information like a good citizen, then I’m going back to my dinner. No one could be mad about that.”
ARNIE WAS MAD ABOUT it.
“You said you were done, babe,” he growled.
“I am,” I hissed into the phone. Cora and Kali were openly staring, so I turned my back on them. “I just saw that woman on the news and I wanted to make sure you guys weren’t fooled by her fairy tales. She has to be the woman in black.”
Arnie sighed deeply. “Mari, I know you’re convinced the woman in the black dress has something to do with the fire, but both Yuri Stevens and Sandy Lake say she never went inside the building. They also didn’t get a good look at her face. We have no reason to think that woman was Sophia Bell.”
“Are you at least going to question her?”
“Of course, we’re going to question her.” I could sense how hard he was trying to keep a level tone. “I’m just saying I don’t want you to get your hopes up. I especially don’t want you to get involved. Understand? Whoever is behind this is dangerous.”
“Yes,” I said. “I understand.”
“Alright,” he said. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He lowered his voice. “I want to see you. Can we have dinner tomorrow night?”
“Yes, I would like that.”
We hung up and I turned back to my dinner companions. “He said they’re going to question her.”
Cora clapped her hands. “There. You see? Police will handle it and we can finally put this awful business to rest.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “That would be nice.” I put my phone back on the table. “Will you guys excuse me for a minute? I’ll be right back.”
I strode into my room and let my carefully schooled expression fall away. That Kali didn’t follow me in here, meant I had succeeded in keeping my micro-expressions to myself—for once.
Kayla tsked. “You’re not going to put this awful business behind you, are you?”
“I have to talk to her, Kayla,” I insisted. “I’ll get farther reading her emotions than Arnie will with a voluntary chat. They have no proof and she’s hardly going to offer any up. If I ask her where she really was at the time of the fire then—”
“Then what?” she cut in. “You’ll read her guilt? That only works when the person actually feels guilty. She might be perfectly pleased with herself and her lover for pulling off the perfect crime.”
“Then I’ll sense that!” I snapped. “No decent person would be happy at the thought of six innocent people dying in a fire. If she is pleased then I’ll know she was involved. Either way, I have to speak to her.”
“And what about Arnie?” she asked.
I looked away. “Arnie will forgive me. He’ll understand.” I turned my back to her and headed for the door.
“He always does,” she said softly. With difficulty, I didn’t address her comment. I yanked open the door, plastered a smile on my face, and made a beeline for the living room. I planned to stay out of range by staying near Daniel and Oscar. Until my emotions settled, I couldn’t have Kayla empathing all over them.
IT TOOK ME NO TIME at all to find Sophia Bell’s home address. Seriously, I typed her name in a search engine and it spat out four Sophia Bells in Zinnia Springs. I then took their addresses and put them in the GPS and used the street view to get proper looks at their abodes. Once I matched up the GPS rendering with the home the woman on the news was standing in front of, I was good to go. The entire task took less than ten minutes. It’s actually kind of scary how easy it is for perfect strangers to find out where you live.
I dismissed how creepy it was or how upset Arnie would be with me. The next day, I made the ten-minute drive to Sophia Bell’s house and firmly knocked on the front door. It took her a while to open it. When she did, she pulled the door open only a crack and stuck her head in the jamb.
“What?” she hissed, glaring at me.
“I see you know who I am,” I said wryly, “so I won’t bother with introductions. I need to talk to you about Tad Breyfogle. May I come in?”
Her scowl deepened. “No, you can’t come in! Go away!”
She tried to slam the door in my face; but instinctively, my hand whipped out and pushed back against the door, and right into her.
Sophia screamed.
Thud!
She collapsed to the floor, whimpering.
“Oh my goodness!” I cried. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” I slipped through the open door and crouched down beside her. She was clutching her wrist, the anguish of her pain made me cringe as I fell into it. “I didn’t mean to—”
I got a proper look at her wrist. It was purple and swollen, probably from a break. A break my little door shove hadn’t caused, but it was definitely exacerbated when the two made rough contact.
“The pain is killing you,” I said. I clambered to my feet. “I’ll get some ice.”
“No, just go!” she said through gritted teeth, but I ignored her. I ran into the tiny kitchen and snagged an ice tray and towel. She was sitting up when I came back, leaning again the wall.
Her breaths came in short pants. I knelt down beside her and gently took her arm. She didn’t try t
o fight me. We sat there in silence while I iced her broken wrist.
“I’m sorry,” I said after a minute. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“It’s not your fault,” she said softly.
I gave her back her arm. “What happened to your wrist?”
She stiffened. Anger, fear, and sadness competed for dominance inside her. “Nothing. I got in a bike accident that’s all.” She was looking away from me so I couldn’t read her face, but her tone on the other hand spoke for her.
“Did Tad Breyfogle do this to you?”
Surprise.
“What? No!” she cried.
I held my hands up. “Okay, okay. I’m just trying to understand how he got you to give him a false alibi. If it wasn’t by force then I’m guessing you two were in it together.”
Initial emotional reaction: surprise. But it was quickly followed by anger. And a lot of it.
“In on what together? Killing his wife and all those people?” She scoffed. “I had nothing to do with that terrible fire and neither did Tad. I told the truth. He was with me, miles away, when Best Foot Forward was burnt down.”
“Alright, then where exactly were you two?” I said, even though I didn’t believe a word.
She suddenly became tight-lipped. “None of your business.”
I sighed. “I wish this wasn’t my business. I really do. But sadly, it became my business when Veronica Breyfogle came into my office and asked me to help prevent her murder. Here’s what I think happened. You two were together but not miles away. You were actually only a few feet away. You were the woman in black that the witnesses saw. You kept an eye out to make sure no one in or out of the store noticed Mayor Breyfogle slipping inside. You covered your face so no one could point you out. And Tad Breyfogle knocked his wife out, doused her office in gasoline, and slipped right out the back.”
“You’re insane,” she whispered. “Absolutely none of that is true. He didn’t kill her. I didn’t help him kill her! Why don’t you believe me?”
“Because, Sophia,” I said calmly, “I’m pretty sure you’re sleeping with him and you both got rid of his wife so you could bring your relationship out of the shadows.”
That was my trump card. Reveal my knowledge of the affair and use her reaction to confirm the motive. I was ready for whatever emotion she was going to throw at me...or so I thought.
Sophia’s head whipped around and she looked me full in the face. “Sleeping with him?!” Her pretty face was twisted up and waves of such deep disgust were rolling off her, it actually made me feel queasy.
Cradling her injured wrist, she clambered to her feet and yanked the door open. “That’s enough of this,” she spat. “Get out or I’m calling the police.”
I wanted to argue, but she didn’t look like she was playing around. “Okay. I’ll go,” I said. “But you should know my boyfriend is a detective with the ZSPD. I’m going to tell him what you two did and he’s not going to stop coming after you both until he proves it.”
This reaction was one I was expecting. Fear.
She looked at me, wide-eyed and trembling, but still refused to speak.
“Have a nice day, Miss Bell.”
The door slammed behind me as I walked down the stone path.
I WAS A BIT PREOCCUPIED when I returned home. Some would think it’s an amazing gift to be able to sense people’s emotions, but in my opinion, that was only true if you could read the complex ones. Sometimes being an untrained empath was as good as not being one at all. Were the general feelings I picked up from Sophia Bell enough to tell the whole story?
It was distracting thoughts like these that shouldered the blame for why I didn’t notice his car parked on the street, when I turned into my parking lot.
“Kali?” I called when I opened the door. “You home?”
“Nope,” a male voice said in response. I jumped. “She went out with a couple friends.”
“Paxon?!” I cried breathlessly. “Don’t scare me like that!”
He strolled out of the kitchen, glass of milk in hand, and grinned at me unrepentant. “Sorry.”
“I’ve told you a thousand times to text me if you’re coming over. And give me my house key!” I snapped.
He shrugged and reached into his pocket. He placed the key into my outstretched palm without argument.
My eyes narrowed. “You have more copies, don’t you?”
“Nope,” he said and sipped his milk.
“Are you lying?”
He snickered. “Yep.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You’re impossible.” He laughed some more. “What are you doing here?”
His arm snaked around my waist and before I could protest, he pulled me in for a hug, despite myself I leaned into the embrace. “I just wanted to see you.” He kissed the top of my head. “Make sure you were okay.”
I stiffened. “Did Kali say something to you? Did she tell you to come?” Did Kali sic Paxon on me, so he could be the one pestering me to see a shrink instead of her?
“No.” He stepped back. “But why does the thought of that make you angry? Did something happen?”
I looked away. “No.”
“And by that, you mean yes.” He reached out and grabbed my hand. “Want to talk about it?”
My throat bobbed as I swallowed thickly. “No,” I said softly. “I don’t.”
“Okay,” he said easily. “Are you hungry? I was just about to make lunch.”
I just nodded.
“Well then get comfortable, Moon. You’ve got a Paxon special coming your way.”
I cracked a smile. “What’s a Paxon special?”
He tsked, wagging his finger. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
I smiled wider. “Okay, I’m intrigued. A bit scared but intrigued.”
We were still holding hands.
“SO EVERYTHING I SAID surprised her,” I said around a mouthful of fish. I should have slowed down to do important things like chew, but I was practically inhaling my Paxon special, which turned out to be honey soy salmon with a mushroom risotto. It was out-of-control good. I took a sip of wine before continuing. “She couldn’t believe I figured out their whole plan.”
“So what are you going to do now?”
I shrugged. “I’ll have to talk to Arnie about it over dinner tonight.”
Paxon froze, his spoon halfway to his lips. “Dinner?” he said carefully.
I cringed when I realized what I had said. “Um, yeah,” I said slowly. “Arnie and I are back together...I figured Kali would have told you.”
He shook his head. “Apparently, she doesn’t tell me everything.”
I frowned. “Good. It’s not her business to tell anyway.”
“I know.”
“We aren’t together, Paxon.”
“I know that too,” he said calmly.
His reaction unsettled me. “You don’t have any right to be upset,” I told him.
“That’s true, Moon.” He picked up his wine glass and downed it. “That’s very true.”
He pushed himself away from the table and picked up his half-eaten food. “I’m going to head out.”
“What?” I blinked. “But you just got here.” I stood and followed him into the kitchen. He was scraping his food into the trash.
“I’m going to check into a hotel,” he said stiffly.
I sighed. “Paxon, please don’t do this. You don’t have to leave.”
“Yes, I do.” He placed his dirty dishes in the sink and tried to sidestep me. I blocked his path.
“No, you don’t,” I said firmly. “I’ve been very clear that friendship is all I want and a friendship is what we have. Please don’t throw that away.”
He scoffed. “This”—he pointed at my mouth— “has been clear, but this”—his finger moved down to where my chest was housing my heart— “has been contradicting every single word. You love me, Amari. I know that. You know that.” He turned away, pacing. “I’ve waited for five years
for you to be ready and I—”
He took a deep breath. “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”
My heart clenched. “But...you said...” I trailed off, speech deserting me.
He came closer and gently moved me out of the way. I was too numb to fight him. “I need some time to think.”
I was quiet as he padded into the living room, picked up his overnight bag, opened the front door, and walked out.
“Wait,” I squeaked. But it was far too late.
“Amari!” My head snapped around. “Why are you just standing there?!” Kayla yelled. She pointed at the front door. “Go after him!”
I snapped to attention. I raced to the front door and shoved my feet into my sandals.
Ring! Ring!
My phone. I ran back to the kitchen table and snatched it up. “Paxon?!” I shouted into it without looking at the screen.
“Miss Moon?”
That voice did not belong to Paxon, but I did know who it did belong to.
“Mr. Breyfogle?” I said, anxiously. “How did you get this number?”
He clicked his tongue. “From Nadia of course. You said to get your number from her if I want to talk, and I definitely want to talk,” he growled.
I looked back at the door Paxon had left from. “What about?” I said.
“You know what about!” he snapped. “I know you went to see Sophia Bell today. Harassing her, threatening her, slandering me all over the news. Well, all that is going to stop. My lawyers suggested a restraining order, but you’ve got more influence in this town than I realized. Friends and colleagues I’ve known for years are giving me a wide berth and refusing to take my calls. I’ve got the chief arson investigator showing up on my doorstep and Sophia is in tears.” I didn’t need to be standing next to him to know he was steaming mad. “The damage you did is done and the only way to fix it is for you to tell the world you’re a lying fake. Veronica never said I was going to hurt her and you’re going to admit it.”
I snorted. “Fat chance of that happening.”