Devil Mail (21 page)

She wondered who was at the door when the doorbell rang suddenly. It was one of her neighbors.
  “The blue Honda is yours, right?” he asked with some urgency.

“Yeah
,” Angela replied hesitantly, “why?”

“The window’s been smashed. There’s glass everywhere,” he reported
in an alarmist manner.

“G
reat! That’s all I need!” she exhaled, running behind her neighbor, still in her pajamas. He hadn’t been exaggerating. Shattered glass was strewn across the adjoining parking spaces and a good amount had collected on the back seat of her car. Her stenotype machine was still on the partially drenched back seat where she had neglectfully left it on Friday night. She stood staring at the damage as if frozen in time. The voices around her faded into the background. She was numb.

One gentleman asked,
“Have you called the police, Miss?” Angela looked at him and then back at her car and shook her head. “You gotta call the police, Miss,” he persisted. “You can use my phone.” He stretched his arm towards her offering the use of his cellphone.

“Thanks, I have a
phone,” she finally replied. Only then, from the bizarre stares that she garnered, did she become fully conscious of the fact that she was standing in a puddle of muddy water, sporting gray pajamas that featured randomly printed pink teddy bears and hearts. Against the advice of the kind gentleman, who was afraid that she would cut herself on the jagged glass that remained in the car door, Angela reached inside the car and removed her stenotype machine before retreating to her apartment.

In the midst of her devastation, only one name sprang to mind - Kieran. She had to call Kieran. He’d know how best to handle the situation. The previous night’s altercation had no bearing on the matter. When it came down to the wire, she knew that he cared about her and would be there for her.

“My car’s been broken into,” she reported when he answered his cellphone.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Is anything missing?”

“I don’t think so; my stenotype machine was still on the back seat. I can’t believe I left it there all weekend.”

“And you didn’t have any other valuables in the car?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Have you called the police?”

“No, not yet.”             

“
Okay, wait until I get there. I’m on my way,” he announced, swooping into action and coming to her aid as expected.

By the time she
showered, got dressed and made herself a cup of coffee, Kieran had arrived. “I saw the damage on my way up. It’s ugly. The police will probably ask you if you know who might’ve broken into your car and why. What’ll you say?”

Angela looked at him blankly.
“I don’t know any thugs or vandals who would’ve done it. And why didn’t my alarm go off?”

“
Pssh, anyone who’s handy with a screwdriver can break into a car without setting off the alarm. Okay, so you didn’t have any valuables in the car, on the back seat was your machine and Aiden’s transcript, they left those, so why else would someone do this?”

“
NO!” Angela gasped. “The transcript! The orange file with Aiden’s transcript wasn’t there.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! The only thing on the back seat was the machine, right where I left it,” Angela yelled panic-stricken. “I can’t believe he’d go this far!”

“Hold on, you
have to be careful about what you say to the police; you can’t prove it was Aiden.”

“Who else would break into my car and just steal his transcript - the same transcript he’s been coming to my office and harassing me for? They’ll have a record of that at least. And if I tell them he’s now stalking me that should be enough for them to see that he’s spiraling out of control.”

“
Mhm,” Kieran agreed.

“Wa
it, that doesn’t make any sense,” Angela rationalized, “He was going to get a copy of his transcript anyway. Why would he steal it?”

“So he wouldn’t have to pay for it, perhaps?”

“But why? He’s an accountant; the cost of the transcript wouldn’t dent his pocket.”

“Maybe to
pay you back for rejecting him; or to get you into trouble at work?”

“Well, he’s certainly done that! How am I going to explain to Sharon that I
carried my Italian take out into the apartment instead of my machine and the file? She’ll think I just didn’t do the work. This is going to get me a written warning. Great! I’m well on my way to being fired!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll sort it out.
I’m not gonna let this guy get to you. Everything’s going to be alright. I promise.” His warm embrace, sweet scent and calming words transported Angela to a place of peace. She believed him.

He
handed her an envelope. “I’m sorry about last night,” he whispered. “I should have told you.” Inside the envelope was a card bearing the photograph of a naughty, but adorable little boy standing in the time-out corner of a room, holding up a “Sorree” sign he had obviously ineptly written himself. In the card, Kieran had simply written,
“John 8:7”
.  Angela didn’t know that Bible verse off by heart and was not in the frame of mind to go look it up at that moment.

“
Forgive me?” He looked intently into her eyes.

“Yes, it doesn’t matter now. I
have a bigger mess to sort out.”

“At least you’re not alone.
” He kissed her softly on her lips.

        
CHAPTER FOURTEEN

K
ieran sat beside Angela as she completed the police report following the break-in of her car. He took her to a mechanic he knew who replaced her broken window at a discount. He was there to advise her when Aiden called and left a message on her answer machine vehemently denying that he had anything to do with it, professing that he cared too much for her to do something like that and was hurt by the mere suggestion being passed on to the police. Kieran was her comforter when she received a written notice at work for not being in a position to produce Aiden’s transcript.

“I feel horrible about the situation
.” Sharon continued empathetically, “The break-in wasn’t your fault, but leaving the file in plain sight in your car, was. And the fact remains that our client and others were depending on that transcript. I won’t even mention the position this puts us in with that wretched young man who caused so much trouble over his blasted transcript.”

Kieran promised Angela that he would do everything in hi
s power to get it back for her. “Don’t do anything illegal, Kieran,” she pleaded, “it’s not worth it.”

“I won’t, but I’m not gonna
sit by and watch this coward ruin your life.”

As the days turned into weeks the relationship between Angela and Kieran solidified, spattered with unpredictability in the form of surprise dinners for two, unexpected notes and cards, small, yet pricey, gifts and thoughtful gestures like foot massages after long days at work. Their status as a couple became known in their social circles, including the singles group at church.  Sasha, although displeased, was not discouraged. Kieran told Angela that he avoided Sasha like a sauna on a hot summer’s day in Orlando. Angela was embarrassed for her and couldn’t understand how she could continue to flaunt herself in the face of flagrant rejection. Kieran and Angela sat together in church, they attended singles events together, they were seen around the city together, but Sasha appeared not to care. Amidst her relentless attempts to win Kieran’s affections, she reputedly told a friend that as long as that long, gorgeous ring finger on his left hand remained vacant, he was still available.

The one major concern that nagged Angela was the absence of steady work and Kieran’s lackadaisical approach to
wards getting his business off the ground. He had been given the contact details of people at the church who might have been able to assist him, but was slow in making an effort to call them. Julia had given him the telephone number of a friend of her boss, who was willing to help him with the legal aspects of establishing his business, but he failed to make contact before misplacing the number, which he hadn’t gotten around to putting into his list of cellphone contacts.

Kieran was a welcomed
dinner guest at the Craddock house on quite a few Sunday afternoons and on one such occasion, Angela inquired of her mother as to her reasoning behind inviting the director to dinner on that unforgettably awkward Sunday afternoon.

“Actually,” her mother looked almost abashed, “the invitation was extended only to Kieran. I was
surprised when Sasha accepted also, but it would have been discourteous of me to refuse her self-invitation, so I had to go along with it.”

“Mom, we’ve never known you to crumble when backed into a corner.”

“Well, the only way out was to be rude and rudeness would have been out of place; especially after such a moving sermon that day.” 

Angela was pleased that her family liked Kieran.
Although not a prerequisite for a relationship, it undoubtedly made life easier. Julia felt comfortable enough to accept Kieran’s offer to babysit Trey on the Monday that Mrs. Craddock had a doctor’s appointment that would take longer than Trey could be kept occupied for.

However, the events of the Saturday prior to this, threw a spanner in the
works. It was approximately nine o’clock when Kieran was rousing, having spent the night on Angela’s sofa. Angela had just come out of the shower when the doorbell rang.

“Would you get that, K
ier?” she called from her bedroom.

Kieran pulled on his pants and answered the door to a startled Mrs. Craddock who was clearly disgusted at having been affronted by his bare chest. She blinked excessively, closed her eyes and rotated her head away from the
troubling sight. “Where’s my daughter?”

“Good morning. S
he’s err…” Kieran fought to find words that would not sound like a confession. “She’s in the shower.” Faced with Mrs. Craddock’s elevated chin and look of disdain, he took corrective measures.  “I mean, she was in the shower…..alone….. She’s out now; she’s in her room.” Kieran watched Mrs. Craddock spin on her heels and head towards Angela’s bedroom. Her purposeful gait proclaimed her sentiments. Hurriedly, he put on his shirt. Following the initial hushed mumblings, he could hear disappointment and tetchiness in the raised voices emanating from the bedroom.

“It’s not what you think, Mom, he slept on the couch!”

“You’re a grown woman, I can’t tell you how to run your life, but if I see you heading over a cliff, I’ve got to say something – and this is one cliff that will land you in the fire of hell once you’re over it!”

“Thank you for your advice, as always
.” Angela calmed herself and bit her tongue so as not to escalate the matter and offend her mother with what she really had on her mind.

As she exited the bedroom, Mrs. Craddock dropped a plastic bag onto the floor. “I cam
e by to bring you a few things I picked up at the farmer’s market. Enjoy!” She wheeled out of the apartment without so much as a glance in Kieran’s direction.

“Wow! I guess there’ll be no roast beef for
Sunday dinner for me tomorrow then,” he sighed as he closed the door behind Mrs. Craddock.

“Don’t jok
e about it, Kieran,” Angela rebuked, while repressing a chuckle that would have eased the tautness in her body. “I hate that she just jumps to conclusions. We haven’t done anything wrong.”

“I think I should talk to her. I don’t want to
be the one to come between you and your mom.”

“Maybe when she’s calmer.”

“Mmm, and preferably before Sunday dinner tomorrow,” he quipped. This time, Angela did laugh.

But there was to be no roast beef or any other meat for Kieran on Sunday afternoon. Mrs. Craddock elucidated
the fact that the door to her home was always open to Angela, no matter what, however, the same courtesy was not extended to Kieran who was instrumental in leading her astray, into the abandonment of her Christian values. Angela decided to forsake what she anticipated would be a tense Sunday afternoon at her mother’s, for a more relaxing one at home with Kieran, who rustled up a pot roast for her.

Mrs. Craddock
objected to Kieran babysitting Trey, but Julia contended that whatever Angela and Kieran chose to do in their private time, had no bearing on Kieran’s ability to babysit Trey, who had become quite attached to Kieran and was already hyped up about the prospect. Consequently, Julia was left with the task of dropping Trey off at Angela’s apartment on her way to work, since her mother had washed her hands of the whole affair.

Kieran was already there to receive Trey, although he hadn’t slept over the night before.
Ushering both Julia and Angela off to work, he declared that the ‘two men’ in the house would be just fine. “Won’t we Buddy?” He rubbed Trey’s head.

“Yeah, we’re gonna play superheroes!”
Trey roared.

Angela was assigned a short hearing that morning. She hadn’t received assignments to cover any high profile trials
since the theft of Aiden’s transcript. She had effectively been demoted, and everyone in the office knew it.  Her workload was tedious and uninspiring. She often entertained thoughts of kick-starting her career again or re-inventing herself.

She
was about to call home to check on Kieran and Trey, but opted to swing by her apartment and surprise them instead. It was she who got the surprise when she pulled into her allocated parking space. It is said that when faced with a terrifying scenario, some people are preconditioned to spring into action, while others will freeze. Before today, Angela might have placed herself in the category of the freezers, but when terror gripped every ounce of her body, at the sight of Trey partially hanging over the railing of her balcony, she sprang into action. She leapt from the car, engine still running, and raced to the building, so that she stood directly below him, in the midst of the begonias. The top half of his torso protruded over the railing, while his legs dangled in mid-air above the balcony floor.

Cognizant of the fact that it might well be counterproductive to scream at him to get down, she spoke as
loudly and calmly as she could in the given circumstances. She knew the dangers of breaking his concentration, and diverting his attention to her, but that was the lesser of two evils in her opinion, as there was no guarantee that she would make it up the stairs in time to pull him back onto the balcony from behind. A fall from even the second floor could be life-altering for such a small child. “Hi Big-T, what you playing?”

“Hulk, I’m gonna jump
and smash all the bad guys.”

“Where’s Kieran? Isn’t he playing with you?”

“No, he’s sleeping.”

“Can you get down and wait for me in the apartment? I’ll be right up. We can play together.”

“Okay.” Trey pushed his upper body backwards, landing on his feet on the balcony as if it was nothing. He shook Kieran awake. “Aunty Angie’s coming, she’s gonna play with me.”

“Oh, crap
!” Kieran exclaimed, as he jumped up off the sofa and ran into the bathroom where he washed his face in an attempt to refresh his slightly bloodshot eyes. Angela, was in the apartment in record time. She threw her arms around Trey and held him tightly as the panic began to drain from her body and the adrenaline rush subsided. He wriggled to be released, so that they could get on with the game.

“Give me a minute, Big-T.” S
he scanned the apartment.

Kieran emerged, pulling up the zipper of his pants.
“Hey, Babe. What a nice surprise!” His exerted enthusiasm was almost credible.

“Shall I tell you about a surprise? Surprise is when you pull up and find your nephew about to jump off the balcony!”

“Argh! I just left him to run to the bathroom, I forgot to close the balcony door. Stupid! It was stupid of me.” He gave himself a face palm, as if really expecting to get his brainpower circulating or to knock some sense into his head.

“He
said you were sleeping, Kieran!”

“Sleeping? Oh
, no, that was part of the game; I was pretending to sleep while he hid, then he was going to burst out and get me.”

“Well, he hid on the railing out there!”

“I’m sorry, Babe, I should have locked the door before going to the bathroom.”

“Okay, we all make mistakes. I’m just grateful I got here in the nick of time, otherwise we could have had a terrible accident on our hands.”

“I’m grateful you came home too.” He gripped her with both hands and pulled her in, kissing her longer and more passionately than he ever had. The intensity with which his tongue searched for hers, wiped away every element of blame that she had laid at his feet. She yielded. Caught up in intemperance, her hands began to explore him, moving rapidly over his toned chest.

“Come on, Aunty Angie, let’s play now
.” Trey tugged at her skirt and reminded her of where she was.

She was flushed and a little giddy.
“Oh, Big-T, I’ve got to go back to work, but Kieran’s gonna play with you now, okay?” She would never have dreamed of behaving this way in front of anyone, let alone her three-year-old nephew; but she didn’t dare think about the consuming fire that Kieran’s kiss would have sparked had Trey not been there to rescue her.

Trey was unconcerned about who played with him, as long as someo
ne attended to the task quickly, because he had a whole lot of smashing to do. Angela returned to work reluctantly, Kieran having assured her that he would not let Trey out of his sight for the rest of the day.

Julia seemed somewhat miffed
when she called later. “I called earlier this morning and no one answered the phone.”

“Oh we were out,” Kieran responded
. “O
ut cold
!” he muttered inaudibly through the side of his mouth while covering the mouthpiece of the telephone.