Death by Fountain

by Jennifer S. Alderson

  Lana paused midstep, trying to understand his train of thought. His friends had already told her their theories about his accident, but she was most curious to know what Randy believed to be true. “That’s horrible, but why do you think Rachel was responsible for your accident?”

  “It was no accident. The clasp let loose as soon as I stepped onto the second rung. That doesn’t just happen. Rachel must have bent it enough to hold while I was placing the ladder, but not enough to carry my weight. The police couldn’t prove it, which is why it’s officially an accident. But my boss was so concerned about Rachel’s possible involvement that he grounded her. I thought permanently, but apparently it was only for one season.”

  Lana considered his words. “Even if someone did weaken the safety latch, why do you think Rachel tampered with your gear? Isn’t Heather responsible for the equipment?”

  “Because of the timing. Rachel was supposed to place that ladder, but she suddenly came down with food poisoning, so I had to take her place at the last minute. She’d already gotten the gear from Heather and could have easily bent the clasp with a tang. Rachel had never been sick at work before; it must have been a lie to get me out on that ladder.”

  When Lana remained silent, Randy pulled on his hair. “It was a setup—she sabotaged the ladder intentionally so that it would collapse, but in a way that would have been impossible to find afterwards. Don’t you see? Rachel was convinced we were meant to be together. If she couldn’t have me, then no one could.”

  Lana cocked her head at her friend. “You know I think you’re a great guy, but I still don’t understand why Rachel is so obsessed with you.”

  “Because I dared to dump her. Rachel is incredibly manipulative and controlling. She refused to accept that our relationship was over. Considering her behavior tonight, she still can’t accept it. I can’t believe she showed up here! I have to go to Gloria. After that fall, I was so full of rage and frustration. Yet Gloria stuck by my side through it all. When I was able to walk again, she was the one who encouraged me to apply at Wanderlust Tours. It’s thanks to her that I’m not stuck in a rut and drinking my life away. She really is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I’m not going to let that psychopath hurt her.”

  Lana pulled her friend in for a hug. “You do whatever you need to do. I’ll take care of your friends. Please let me know what Gloria says, and send her my love.”

  11 Paranoia

  “Where’s Randy?” Heather asked as she looked around Lana and up the empty staircase.

  “He’s checking in with Gloria. Since he might be a while, he said we should go to dinner as planned. He’ll join us as soon as he can.” Lana hated lying to his friends, but Randy needed time to deal with this Rachel situation.

  Heather folded her arms over her torso. “I would rather wait for Randy. He might need our help.”

  “If we do, we probably won’t have time for a full meal,” Lana counseled. “Let’s give him space to talk with Gloria. He’s pretty upset about Rachel showing up and needs to talk to his fiancée about what he’s feeling.”

  “Craig and I are here—he could talk to one of us,” Heather pouted.

  Heather is definitely having trouble letting Randy go, Lana thought. Why was she unable to accept that Randy had a new best friend—one he wanted to marry? It was as if Heather refused to see that he was moving on with his life. Yet Lana still didn’t see the romantic infatuation that Craig did. To her, it seemed as if Heather was used to being the one Randy relied on and confided in, and she wasn’t ready to give up her place in his inner circle.

  “I’m ready to go to dinner now,” Jake said.

  “Do you mind if I take a minute to freshen up before we head over?” Katherine asked.

  “That’s a great idea,” Lana said. “I’m going to do the same. Can we meet back here in fifteen minutes?” Popping back up to her room would give her time to check on Randy without the others wondering what she was up to.

  “Do you want to join me?” Katherine asked her boyfriend.

  “Sure,” Bruce said as he leaned in to peck her cheek.

  Katherine blushed, clearly reveling in the affection.

  Jake stood up and looked around until he spotted a reading table at the back of the lobby, its surface covered in magazines and newspapers in several languages. “I’m going to wait over there,” he said.

  “There’s a church I want to see before we have dinner. It’s close to the restaurant. Anyone want to visit it with me?” Craig asked.

  “No thanks. A good meal sounds better than sightseeing right now,” Bruce said, garnering nods from the rest.

  “Okay, well, I’ll see you at the café,” Craig said and headed towards the lobby door.

  “Have fun. We’ll see you soon,” Lana said.

  “I’m going to grab a mineral water from the hotel bar and meet you back here in a few minutes,” Heather said, and Lana smiled in acknowledgment.

  Bruce took his girlfriend’s arm and guided her towards the stairs.

  “See you in a minute, Jake,” Lana called out and trailed after them.

  When Katherine walked past the lobby door, her head turned sharply and her lips puckered down, as if she’d spotted something disagreeable. Lana’s guard went up. Was Rachel lurking outside? Lana followed Katherine’s gaze but didn’t see anyone familiar.

  The three of them continued upstairs. Luckily, their rooms were on different floors. When she returned to hers, Randy was standing outside her door.

  “What did Gloria say?” Lana asked after she’d let him into her room.

  “She is terrified, which is not how you are supposed to feel right before you get married. At least, not for this reason. She and her parents want me to come to the vineyard right away. Lana, they are talking about forbidding my friends from attending, for fear that Rachel will follow them. They don’t even want Alex to come!”

  Randy looked so distraught. She knew how important it was to both brothers that Alex be present at Randy’s wedding.

  “I’m so sorry. It’s horrible to have to make that drastic decision, but if Gloria’s family is worried about your safety, then we won’t come to the wedding. Period.”

  Randy cast his droopy dog eyes to the floor. “That isn’t how I want to get married. I invited you all over here because I want to share this moment with you. Let me get to the village so I can talk with them face to face, before we decide how to proceed.”

  Lana’s heart went out to him. “I feel terrible for you and Gloria. If there is anything I can do for you…”

  “Keeping everyone occupied tonight would be great.”

  “I’m already on it. We’re going to walk over to the restaurant in a few minutes, and I’ve told them that you hope to join us later.”

  “That’s perfect. I’m going to go to the train station and change my ticket. Please don’t tell my friends that I’ve left until after dinner. That should give me enough time to get out of the city. I don’t know how Rachel found out about the wedding, but one of them must have told her.”

  Poor Randy, Lana thought, he is so upset that he is becoming paranoid. “I promise not to say anything. Do what you need to do to care of your fiancée. I’ll keep the rest busy.”

  “Great,” Randy said, but Lana could tell he wasn’t really listening. His thoughts were already traveling to Florence and then to Gloria’s village beyond—somewhere in Tuscany.

  “Thanks, Lana. You’re a lifesaver.” He gave her a quick hug, then fled the room.

  Lana hoped he wasn’t being literal.

  12 A Chase Through Rome

  Lana touched up her makeup before pulling on her Straight Up jacket and grabbing her purse. When she switched off her bedroom light, intending to leave and round up Randy’s friends, the pinkish glow of the setting sun drew her to the window. The streaks of oranges and purple lit up the sky dramatically behind the tiled roofs of the Roman skyline. It was quite a glorious sight to see.

  Lana sighed,
wishing again that Alex were here with her. As she turned towards her hotel room door, two women engaged in an argument down on the sidewalk caught her attention. The woman facing her was Katherine, Lana quickly realized. She squinted against the setting sun to better see the other person. It was Rachel!

  What the heck is she doing down there? Lana wondered. Had Rachel been outside waiting for Randy this whole time? Or had her sister asked her to come back to their hotel?

  Whatever it was they were discussing, their body language made clear that it was not a pleasant conversation. Lana opened her window to try to hear what they were arguing about, but their voices were drowned out by the traffic noise. The quarrel intensified when Rachel jabbed a finger into Katherine’s chest. Lana figured Katherine would back down, but instead she slapped her sister hard, sending Rachel’s head reeling backwards.

  “You will pay for that!” Rachel yelled, loud enough for everyone in the street to hear.

  “If you don’t leave me and Bruce alone, you’ll be the one who pays, dear sister!” Katherine screeched before storming back inside the hotel.

  Rachel started to follow, but quickly stopped and retreated into the shadows created by the setting sun.

  Lana went to close the window, figuring the show was over, when she noticed Randy exiting the hotel. Her heart began to pound when she noted how dangerously close his path was to Rachel’s current position.

  However, Randy was walking at a clipped pace while talking on the phone and seemed oblivious to her presence. Moments after he passed Rachel, she stepped out behind him, matching his stride.

  Oh, no! Lana thought. This was exactly what Randy was afraid might happen—that Rachel would follow one of them to the train station and discover the location of Gloria’s village.

  Lana leaned out the window and screamed to her friend, “Randy—look behind you!”

  However, the street noise must have muffled her voice because neither Rachel nor Randy reacted.

  Lana grabbed her phone and dialed his number, but he didn’t answer. “Rachel is following you, Randy! Be careful,” she spoke into his voicemail, making her tone as urgent as possible.

  After a moment’s indecision, Lana skipped down the stairs and burst through the front doors, racing to catch up with her friend and his stalker. She had to warn Randy that Rachel was tailing him before he made it to the station. The last thing anyone wanted was for Rachel to find out which train he was going to take. If she somehow boarded it and confronted Randy, Lana was afraid he might throw Rachel off of it.

  When she arrived at the main street, she scanned both sides but didn’t see Randy or Rachel. The sidewalks were far less busy than during the day, and only a handful of tourists were walking around.

  The changing weather was probably encouraging visitors to stay indoors, Lana thought, as tiny drops of rain splattered onto her jacket. She looked up to see the previously clear skies were quickly filling with angry, dark clouds. She pulled her jacket collar tighter around her neck and jogged along the pavement towards the Tiber River, hoping Randy was walking to the train station instead of catching a cab. As she approached the river’s edge, Lana spotted Rachel crossing the Ponte Cavour, a wide bridge connecting the Prati neighborhood to the city’s center.

  “Rachel! Stop!” Lana screamed, but her prey didn’t break stride. Instead, Rachel continued sprinting over the bridge before turning right.

  Lana ran to catch up, but by the time she’d crossed the Tiber River, she’d lost sight of her. And there were three streets leading off to the right. Lana chose the last option, running down the Via di Ripetta while frantically searching the crowds for any sign of Randy or Rachel. As she passed the Palazzo Borghese, she spotted a Straight Up jacket in the distance.

  “Wait up, Randy!” she screamed, but the long sprint had taken the force out of her voice. When she began to jog towards him, the person glanced backwards. Yet he didn’t stop and wait for her, instead tearing off down a side street. When he turned the corner, Lana saw the person clearly in profile. It wasn’t Randy.

  “Jake?” she called out, unsure whether her eyes were deceiving her. She bent over to catch her breath, before charging onward.

  When she reached the next intersection, Lana scanned the crossroads for the person in the jacket. She didn’t see him anywhere.

  “Drat!” Lana fumed aloud before quickly consulting her map. The train station was on the other side of town. Because of the mazelike structure of the inner city, it was easier to navigate by landmarks than roads. Lana chose Trevi Fountain as her next destination. As she folded up her map, the skies opened up, and a sheet of cold rain poured down on her.

  “Great,” Lana mumbled as she set off through the heart of Rome’s expansive city center. The rain didn’t let up but seemed to increase in intensity, to the point that she could barely see her hand in front of her face. Motivated by the increasing downpour, Lana ran towards her destination, keeping the signs pointing towards the fountain in sight as she did.

  When she heard the sound of rushing water, Lana knew she was getting close. Thanks to the bright spotlights shining on the statues and pools of water, the Trevi Fountain was even more majestic than it had been in the morning, even through the sheets of rain pouring down from the skies.

  Lana ducked under an awning and shook off her clothes before she consulted her map again, searching for the next landmark. When she looked up to orient herself, Heather jogged past, but didn’t seem to notice her. The rain was streaming off of her Straight Up jacket, yet she made no effort to shield her head.

  “Heather?” Lana called out. The girl turned towards her voice, but as soon as they made eye contact, the younger woman darted away. Lana shoved her map into her pocket and ran to catch up, but Heather was already out of sight.

  What the heck is going on? Lana wondered. Why were Jake and Heather following Randy, as well?

  Lana pulled out her phone and dialed Randy’s number. Again, her call went to voicemail. “Randy, I lost Rachel, but I know she is following you. If she tries to confront you, walk away. She’s not worth it. Be careful, buddy!”

  She felt powerless, but there was nothing more she could do to help him. Was Rachel following Randy in order to discover his wedding’s location? Or did she want to try to convince him they should be together? And if he refused to listen, would she harm him? Or would Randy lash out again?

  Lana continued on to the train station as a fountain of questions rumbled through her mind. Despite the stillness of the streets, the station was incredibly busy. The whistles of conductors announcing trains’ departures echoed through the vast hall as tourists of all nationalities crossed her path.

  After walking past the multitude of ticket machines dotted around the massive station, Lana made her way to the platform where trains to Florence arrived and departed, but didn’t see her fellow guide. It looked like there were several trains traveling between the two cities each hour. Maybe Randy had already left, she thought. The only light point of the night was that during her wanderings around the station, Lana had not seen Rachel. Maybe she gave up, Lana hoped.

  Unsure as to what else she could do, Lana decided to return to the hotel. She retraced her steps, using the signs for the Trevi Fountain as her guide. This time, however, her approach was hindered by a strand of police tape.

  “What now?” she muttered.

  An ambulance was parked in the middle of Piazza di Trevi, effectively blocking off the staircase leading down to the basin’s edge. A row of officers pointed her towards the street running along one side of the fountain. Lana did as they asked and slowly walked away, pausing at the fence to better watch the macabre scene unfolding before her.

  Through the decorative fence, she could see that several paramedics and policemen had waded into the main basin. They were bent over, as if they were trying to pick something up out of the water. Lana’s stomach tightened when she noticed a cloud of red flowed and ebbed around their legs.

  Whatever they
were tugging on soon came loose, and then they were guiding it towards the pool’s edge. Lana sucked in her breath when she noticed that it was a pair of legs they were holding onto. The person’s torso and head were still out of her view, blocked by the jagged rocks filling the fountain’s basin.

  As the officers slowly moved the body to the open water, a medic stopped their progress and gently turned the corpse over. When they did, the victim’s long dark hair cascaded over her lifeless face. As the strands parted, Lana felt a scream race out of her throat as she grabbed onto the railing for support.

  “Rachel!”

  13 Police Escort

  Lana pulled her jacket tight around her shoulders, trying in vain to shield her skin from the cold evening breeze. The investigating officer had questioned her for more than an hour about her connection to Rachel, yet still seemed unsatisfied with her answers.

  She understood his frustration. Lana couldn’t tell him Rachel’s last name, where she was staying in Rome, or why she wanted to disrupt Randy’s wedding. It didn’t help that some of her explanations were intentionally vague. Until she knew what had happened between Rachel and Randy on the way to the train station, she didn’t want to cast her friend’s actions in a bad light.

  After a brief pause to confer with the policemen still combing the scene, the officer was back again to ask her the same questions.

  “Ms. Hansen, you claim the victim, who you only know as Rachel, was in Rome to interrupt Randy Wright’s wedding. Can you further enlighten me?” The officer paused dramatically and cocked an eyebrow at her.

  “I wish I could, but I cannot. As I already told you, I only met her a few hours ago. She surprised our group when we were down in the hotel lobby. And I’d never heard Randy mention her before. I can tell you what her last name is as soon as I check our itinerary, which is back at the hotel. I assume she and her sister, Katherine, share the same family name. ”