2 Maid in the Shade (28 page)

“You have a
phone; you just don't want me to see.” I said from behind his shoulder.

“Not until you have to.”

“I'd rather get it over with.”

“Fine,” he snapped and opened the door. The bath was full of water, rose colored water. Tinted, I imagined with the blood that ran down one side at the opposite end of the faucet. Right where you would slit your wrists, I supposed, if one was so inclined
. There was a razor blade conveniently placed where the blood began. It was staged, as similarly as possible to, “The Dunbarton,” I said aloud. “The suicide at the Dunbarton.”

Facebook Post:
“My town is so small the entire sheriff’s department arrives in full force for everything from a murder to a missing goat.”

Chapter
19

O
f course the entire sheriff's department came and they couldn't resist using their lights and calling a few friends because what is the point in being a lawman in a sleepy town unless you can curry favor by passing along the rare scoop? As I sat at the kitchen table looking out the window I saw a sea of faces behind the yellow tape.

T
he sheriff himself sat down to interview me personally. Evidently Jared was too close to “the situation.” Oh how this town does talk. They had put two and two together and probably come up with Pi. I bet they enjoyed imagining it all too, Jared with his tanned muscular frame, straight white teeth, high cheekbones and square jaw was the best thing this county had produced in a long time. No wonder he hadn’t moved away. Even with his Chapel Hill education it would be hard to leave and give up being the most exotic fish in a very small pond.

W
hen I asked what they had found in the bathroom beyond what we had seen Sheriff Hensley was evasive. At his request, I went through the evening, the fact that no, I had not gone with Jared but my friends had elected to stay at the bar and Jared was absolutely just giving me a ride home until we saw the door was ajar.

O
ur stories squared, which was going to be a big disappointment to the village. I finished telling him the tale for the second time then I asked him if I could use my phone.

“Sure,
” he said. “Want to call a friend?”

“Not exactly, but I will only be a minute.”

“You're not calling the press are you?”

“The press
?” I looked at him blankly, “You mean the weekly coupon paper with the town hall minutes in it?”

He
smiled, “I should have remembered that, you’re not exactly a publicity hound are ya? Go ahead, I hope you're not calling Lucy but I can't stop you.”

I
went into the downstairs bath for a little peace and resurrected Harlan's number from the time he dialed me from his cell. Abusing the privilege I know, but I had made him a promise, so I thought I should tell him what had happened.

“
Harlan Hodges here” he answered irritably “who's this?”

I
couldn't speak for a minute and then I said hoarsely, “Gretchen Gallen sir, I don't know if I should have called.”

“Well now
you have, let me be the judge of whether you shoulda called. What's happened?”

I
related the events of the last twenty minutes as succinctly as possible and he grunted.

“So what did the dog smell
?”

“They want to keep that to themselves sir, and I hope I'm not causing problems by calling you first, but this looks as close as possible to your case so--”

“Put Bud on the line.”

“Bud
?”

“Walk your phone over to the
sheriff and hand it to him and say Harlan's on the line,” he said slowly and carefully, “You in shock?”

“No sir, just never heard him called Bud.”

“I'm beginning to wonder what would put you in shock.”

“Let's hope we never find out,” I replied and handed the phone to the
sheriff, “Sir, Harlan wants to speak with you.”

“
Harlan? You called Harlan Hodges?”

“Yeah
.”

He
shook his head quickly in something that looked like amazement and answered. “Harlan, what the hell you got to do with this business? Ah, even a dumb county sheriff can figure out Miss Gallen must have something to do with a case up there. I
deduced
that when she
told
me.”

“Yep,
you know this gal is like a lightning rod for trouble. No, I'm not ungrateful. She did have everything to do with us cleaning up that mess awhile back. I wasn't implying she causes trouble damn it! Stop acting all offended. Now can you get to whatever you wanted to tell me?”

“Uh huh, I knew all that. Yeah
, there's a little bit more we wanted kept quiet, just in case it’s the start of something new and I hope to God not... So you think it really all stems from that? Bit of a stretch don’t ya think? How 'bout this? You find” he looked at me, “the other and I'll copy the file and send it to you personally.”

“No, I don't think we need one of your boys here. Say what
?” His face blanched as he listened and he looked at me with a flare of interest then something akin to pity. I felt an anger rise up in me. I was infuriated by his sympathetic look. “Okay Harlan, I'll call you back.”

“Miss Gallen,
Harlan said that you might have something to share with me in private.”

“I don't know what that would be, since everything that particularly applies to this crime scene has been told.”

His voice became gentle, almost fatherly. “Harlan said he would never ask this of you if it wasn't important.”

“T
ell me where there is any privacy in this house now you've got the place swarming with deputies and I'll think about it.”

“How about I clear the house
?”

“You can do that
?”

“They are my deputies.”

“Can I have a cup of coffee?”

He
hesitated.

“DID SOMETHING HAPPEN TO MY COFFEE MAKER
?”

“No Ma'am we just haven't cleared the scene but that is fine, it is more than fine
,” he said in a tone I would use to gentle a horse. You go right ahead now and get yourself to your kitchen.”

I
stood up and looked at him angrily, “Do you want a cup?”

W
ell who the hell could pass up a gracious invitation like that? Evidently the sheriff, because he just shook his head no.

I
got up and hurled myself into the kitchen. I opened the cabinet and reached for a cup and saw my hand shake. I stood there and looked at it curiously, as if it was some object unrelated to me. Then a hand covered mine and got two cups out. He put one under the nozzle and we stood there watching it, his hands on my shoulders. Jared added a good bit of sugar to the first cup and left the second one black.

“Don't you take it blonde and bitter like your women
?”

“It's fine, you should have sugar. Probably best
not to touch much else in here,” he said calmly before adding, “I've never thought of you as bitter.”

“Put milk in your coffee Jared,” I demanded.

He opened the fridge and obediently poured some milk in his cup.

“And I am about to turn into a very bitter woman, I may never turn back from it, and you know what? This is going to solve all of our problems, and maybe answer all your questions so you may as well watch
it happen.”

W
e walked back over to my breakfast nook where the sheriff was still seated. He looked up, “Thanks, if you'll step out Jared, Gretchen and I are going to have a word alone.”

T
he room was cleared except for some muffled sounds up in the loft bath. Good enough, I decided.

“Jared
can stay,” I said. “Do you want to question me or do you want me to just tell you what Harlan knows?” I asked coldly.

“Why don't you just tell it,” he suggested mildly.

I sat down, closed my eyes took a sip of coffee, and set it down carefully. I looked around, Jared was leaning against the wall by the window and I motioned for him to sit.

I
had to close my eyes and block them both out for a moment before I could speak. “Before I moved here I was a first year with Micheaux,” I said numbly. “While there, I tried to initiate a merger on my own, which just isn't done, but I had an old family connection to a CEO. I was waiting for the news on whether it would go through and I was anxious, I would look like a colossal fool if it failed. A man I worked with gave me sedatives and I took one. Then the merger went through, I took another pill, they threw me a little party, it was the end of the workday, still winter. I had a drink which I don't, I actually cannot, do and I walked home,” I paused.

B
oth men both looked at me as if I had told a joke and left off the punch line.

“On the way home a man pushed me down, face down, and raped me.”

I looked at their blank faces. “You look dissatisfied.”

I
took a deep breath, “I never saw him, I never reported it, I started doing poorly at my job because I got more pills for anxiety, it affected my performance at work and I got fired and moved here.”

N
ow as the story sunk in Jared was doing nothing to hide his sad and shocked expression and at that moment I hated him for it.

“I'm sorry to put you through this but
Harlan wanted you to tell me what was said to you by your assailant.”

M
y tone was hard as I replied, “My assailant. That sounds much cleaner somehow doesn't it? My rapist? But apparently he isn't that either. He belongs to lots of girls, girls like me. Probably some who handled it better than me.”

I
gave them both a steely look; “Okay, what he said was: If I got up or turned around he would “make sure the last thing my right eye took in was my left one rolling away.” So, coward that I am, I didn't look. I couldn't have described him because I wasn't brave enough to look even when he got further away. I probably remained on that pavement for fifteen minutes.” 

“
I'm sorry,” I continued, “If I would have made a decent witness I would have reported it and gotten a rape kit, I didn’t know if they would take blood samples too and I didn’t want the sedatives to show up. If I hadn't been so nervous that day I might not have taken the pills and been such easy prey. It’s sort of my fault isn't it? That these other girls have been hurt. I should have looked at him; I should have at least done that.”

T
he sheriff said, “I don't think you should feel that way, I for one am awful glad you didn't look at him. His words were that the last thing your right eye took in was your left eye rolling away?”

I
laid my head on the table for a minute, closed my eyes, then lifted my head and put my chin in my hand and regarded him evenly.

“Yes.
”

“The body part that your dog there sniffed
?”

“Yeah
?”

“It was an eye.”

Tweet: “Perhaps a key difference between the British and Americans can be found in their choice of hot beverages. In a crisis tea is like a bandage, coffee is like ammo.”

Chapter
20

I
took a sip of coffee and gazed at the sheriff steadily.

“So he kills them now
?”

“Not all of them, probably the ones who can identify him.”

“But he sees me as a threat?”

“It's the only explanation. Okay, now that you told me, I'll call
Harlan back, I guess his case just spilled over to ours because...”

“Because of me
. The rapes, attempted abductions and maybe a staged suicide, they were all just in Charlotte right? Until now?”

“None reported here
. And still none reported. This looks personal. You must know more than you think. There is no reason to believe he is going to switch counties. He is very specific, it’s always young women, downtown Charlotte businesswomen. We don’t really have those here.”

“I see
,” I said and then started laughing. “I didn't mean to say “I see,” but an eyeball? Seriously?” I couldn't stop laughing, until I wasn't laughing and I felt the tears streaming down my face and I was choking with laughter and sobs. The sheriff tried to pat my hand awkwardly but I snatched it away. I wiped my face with my hands and looked down at the black smudges on them. I got up and my chair fell over. I started toward the front door, opened it and staggered back. My floodlights were on. Maybe the deputies had turned them on to look for footprints or something.

P
eople were holding up smart phones and it seemed as though every square inch of my yard was covered with people, automobiles, deputies and their cars. A news van slid back and parked. People were shouting questions. I felt as though they were ripping off my clothes, pulling at my brain, devouring me with their prurient interest. I looked at Bessless, the distance to her, with a moat of curiosity hounds was impossible to bridge. I stood at the door for hours or seconds or a nanosecond, until a firm grip pulled me back and shut and locked the door.

I
jerked out of his grasp and backed away. It was hard to breathe,

“I have to get out of here.”

“Where is your father?”

“
I don’t want him to know, I’ve kept this from him and,” I swallowed, “and Ben. I have to think. Lucy!” I thrust the phone at him. “Will you call?”

He
took the phone away from me carefully and put it in his pocket.

“Can I just tell you how sorry I feel...”

“I don't want your pity.” I interrupted.

“I don't feel sorry for you. I feel sorry this happened to you, I don't understand how you keep all this inside, how you behave normally, get through days, not just days but days filled with tragedies, everyone else's tragedies
. And you laugh and make love and dance and I don't know if that's really a good thing or not but I'm amazed by you.”

I
looked over at Jared’s boss. “Sheriff? Can we have a minute please?”

Bud
nodded heavily and flipping his notebook closed went out onto the back porch.

J
ared led me over to the couch and settled me on his lap, cradling me carefully as I put my head on his shoulder.

“So
,” I said. “Now you know.”

“Yes
,” he said. “Now I know. I wish I had known before.”

“I don't understand why you would wish that. You're just going to see me as this broken thing you can't fix
. Any man I'm with who knows about this will make it my nucleus. I don't want someone reading aloofness or my silence or a simple reluctance to have sex, as coming from that. Once you know you can't unknow it, and you won't be able to help studying me for signs of stress, or a hard day, a bad mood and pin it on that event.”

“Maybe you're right, but
by not telling the people closest to you, doesn't that make the relationship a little less real?”

“
Let me ask you something,” I said slowly. “How would our night together have been affected if you had known about this before?”

He
was silent.

“
You would have been thinking about it, and I would have known that and it wouldn’t have been the same. So he would have been part of that whole experience. Can you understand I just can’t let him have that and take ownership of the rest of my life?”

He
finally spoke, “If this is too personal a question then tell me but, was the night with me the first time since you were raped? And it was fine? You weren’t -…acting? I mean, it wasn't just a reminder after...”

“Yes, it was the first time since then. You made love to me, there's a big difference between being kissed on the cheek and punched out
. I know the difference between sex and rape, but I will say I'm glad it was you.”

“T
hen, I'm glad it was me too.”

“Okay we should let the
sheriff in, but where do I go? I can't stay here, but even if you run them off, as soon as I get off my land I'll be fair game.”

“Lucy's? Mona's
?”

“Neither, it
’s not fair to bring that plague of press down on them, plus I think anybody who knows them would spread the word I might be there already.”

“Okay
, let's see if we can scatter them long enough to get you out of here.”

T
hey did manage to clear the property and within twenty minutes I had Mosey in Bessless with me.

I
had packed myself in a flash and Jared asked “Where to?”

“Ben's,” I said firmly.

“Are you crazy? The rapist haunts Charlotte but made a special trip here to threaten you. Maybe plan B was to kill you. You're just saving him a commute.”

“
I still have to work,” I argued. “Ben's place won't be on anyone's radar.”

“If you need money…”

“Of course I don’t need money, money I have plenty of, I do need to keep going though and work is a way to do that.”

“
I'm going to follow you up. Walk you in, get the dog past them somehow,” he said firmly.

“Ben registered me as an occupant when he bought the place. He registered Mosey as a trained companion dog, showed them the old paperwork.”

“Ben is awesome,” Jared said sardonically.

Clearly he
wasn't pleased about my choice of accommodations, but he seemed happy I was allowing him to come and get me settled.

T
he sheriff’s department was as good as their word, dismissing the hoards of the curious. One deputy drove my car off to a nearby shopping center as Jared smuggled me into his truck from the back of the house.

I
laid my head on his lap as we drove to the strip mall to get my car. As soon as we got to the lot I jumped in Bessless with Mosey and Jared followed me to Queens Towers, Ben's building.

I
came up from the parking deck, fob in hand as Jared come in the front. He seemed impressed by the entrance, every wall a waterfall ending in a modern minimalist trough scattered with lotus blossoms.

T
he concierge staff knew me, and pressed the button so the glass doors slid apart into the elevator waiting area. A flat screen was on each wall in case you were multitasking to such a degree you wanted to watch the news while you scrolled through your smart phone for mail and messages and waited for a lift. Everything now seems designed to keep you from thinking. Not a bad thing at the moment.

I
flashed Ben's fob across the elevator eye and without a button being pushed it carried us directly to the twenty-fourth floor.

“Nice building,” Jared said.

I nodded and watched the panel of buttons track our silent ascent to Ben's floor.

“What happens if you need to go visit someone on a different floor here
?" He asked curiously.

“They have to give you a code.”

“If you insist on staying here in the city I suppose this is as secure as you can get.”

T
he elevator stopped and the doors quietly opened. I walked over to the hallway and turned right, Jared following just a few paces behind me. I turned the key and was looking at Jared, studying his reaction as I pushed the door open.

J
ared’s face did not reflect anything I expected; he looked confused. I followed his gaze into the foyer of the luxury condo and gasped. The place had been ransacked. We walked through the ruins in shock. The upholstered furniture had been shredded, the cabinets emptied, even the coffee maker had been taken apart. “I can’t even tell if anything is gone,” I finally said.

J
ared bit his lower lip and looked at me steadily. “Do you have the address of his new office? A number besides his cell phone?”

I
shook my head, “I never needed it.”

“Well I have officially lost track of who is a
fter whom now, but I do know one thing,” Jared said. “We need to call your buddy Harlan again.”

Harlan
arrived quickly, but a team of men in suits showed up almost immediately afterwards. They had words out in the hall, then seemed to reach some agreement because they came in together, asked me a few questions about Ben’s work and this trip in particular and dismissed us after making sure they had all of our contact information.

Harlan
squeezed my shoulder, “I sure am sorry Gretchen, you’ve had a hellish night.”

“Can you tell me who those men are
?” I asked in a hushed voice.

“I can’t, I wish I could but you know Feds, they don’t trust anyone,”
he winked.

“Gotcha. C
an I ask who will let me know when they know something?”

“
Now that I do not know, it depends on your relationship with Ben.”

T
hey both looked at me patiently while I pondered. Great question what was my relationship to Ben? Was he my stepbrother, friend, beloved?

I
took a deep breath, “I’m going home.”

J
ared and Harlan protested at once, I stood there listening to them but it all amounted to sounds that did not signify.

F
inally I interrupted, “Look, no one expects me to return home so soon, I will be fine.”

Harlan
and Jared exchanged a look; obviously they had anticipated this and had made some agreement about it.

“I know y’all think you’re in charge of my personal safety but actually I am, and I say it’s just
as safe to be home as anywhere. I mean, this place is a fortress and someone got in. I appreciate your concern, but I’m going to my house. Hopefully the tape is down and I can clean up. I have got to think. I cannot be expected to process this when everything is in shambles.”

T
hey nodded, which meant somehow I was being circumvented.

I shrugged and spun on my heel and was out the door before they could respond
. I sped from Charlotte to Bridle Springs and turned into SkyHaven’s entrance rather than the back road which had a driveway that led directly to my place. The gates, which we rarely used, had been closed for the night. I had no doubt my news about the intruder was responsible for this and about half the neighborhood would be mad about it.

I
punched in the code. As I pulled in a truck tailgated in behind me and followed me to my house. I wouldn’t need more than one guess to discover who this was. I got out of my car and let Mosey out of the back. Instead of investigating the yard the dog walked to the porch steps and stood there, apparently to block my path. I definitely felt hemmed in.

Jared got out and leaned against his truck, his arms folded
. I looked down and rubbed my forehead. “What’s the plan?” I asked.

“
I stay here or you come to my house.”

“No sex.”

“Didn’t ask for it.”

“I’m driving myself.”

He nodded, “Grab some dog food, I’ll wait.”

I
pushed past Mosey and went inside. My dog followed me and was blocking the stairway now. It was an interesting breech of protocol when his instincts should have sent him back to the target. But Sweet Jesus, I could feel Mosey’s tension. He could definitely still sense it.

I filled some Ziploc bags full of dog food and some
lingerie and a few bits of clothing from the laundry room. I threw them all in a grocery bag and grabbed him by the collar. I locked the back doors then the front as I departed.

W
hen we got to Jared’s I let Mosey out for a final time and stood looking over at the pond until he came bounding back to me. When we came in Jared was filling bowls with dog food and water, Mosey settled in easily beside the stone hearth comfortably.

“I appreciate this,” I said finally.
“Where should I sleep? I can take the couch.”