It Started With A House: Lizzie. Book 1 (The Westport Mysteries) (22 page)

The first thing
I noticed was my bed was unmade. Strange, I knew I’d made it yesterday. I’d
been up early and trying to fill in time. Approaching the bed with caution, I
pulled back the sheets and looked down...and suddenly understood all the
personal questions.

My pillow was laying
half way down the bed with what looked like a patch of white sticky goo stuck
to it. It had started to dry and had a slight crusty edge to it, but mostly it
was quite fresh. It also had an unmistakable odor. I looked at Riley, bile
rising in my throat.

“Is that what I
think it is?” I whispered.

“Yes. I’m
assuming it’s not left over from any activities you may have engaged in.”

Shaking my
head, no, I pushed past Riley and ran for the bathroom. Damn, still no toilet. Holding
my hand over my mouth and fighting the gagging reflex, I ran for the upstairs
toilet, making it just in time. So much for the lovely egg and bacon burger I’d
had for breakfast.

I could hear
Riley on his phone, probably calling the police and after a few minutes, there
was a small knock on the door. I sat on the floor next to the toilet bowl, back
to the wall, trying to control the shaking that had taken over my body.

Riley came and
sat next to me, pulling me into him for a hug. I felt him hold on tight and
kiss the top of my head, letting out a very long sigh. When the shaking finally
stopped, the anger rolled in. Standing up, I started to pace the room.

“Why the hell
is this happening?” I asked, more to myself than to Riley. He was still sitting
on the floor, head in his hands.

“I don’t know,”
he answered quietly.

“I don’t know
what I’ve done to encourage this guy. I don’t even know who he is!” I said,
agitation growing with every second.

Hearing a car
pull up out the front, I walked over to the window and looked out to see a
police car in my drive.

“The police are
here. I’d better let them in,” I said with complete lack of enthusiasm.

By the time
that I reached the bottom of the stairs Officer Wilkins and Officer Helms stood
on the doorstep. Opening the door and letting them in, I guided them into the
kitchen and sat down heavily at my little table. Riley quickly filled them in
on what had happened.

“Was there any
sign of forced entry?” asked Office Wilkins. Riley shook his head.

“Not that I
could find. I checked every window and door and all were locked, just the way
we left it.”

“If this is the
same person who broke in the first time, could he have taken a spare key you
keep lying around?”

“No. After the
first break in I changed all the locks in the house, so even if he did take a key
it wouldn’t work now anyway,” said Riley, looking really tired.

“We’ll take the
pillow in as evidence and start our investigation,” said Officer Helms, “but
this isn’t like TV. We don’t have a big forensic lab that will test it and give
us an answer in a hurry. Unless we catch this guy, it’s not likely we’ll find
him. I suggest you don’t stay here alone until this is over,” he said, looking
at me.

“She isn’t
staying here at all. Is it okay for us to take anything Lizzie may need?”

“Yes. You can
do whatever you want.”

“I think I’ll
start by burning the bed,” I said, still feeling sick in the stomach.

I knew the police
were doing their best, but I wanted them to come in and solve this within the
hour, just like on NCIS. Officer Wilkins gave me a small smile.

“Lizzie, this
is my phone number. If you’re worried at all, just call that number and I’ll
come right over, whether I’m on duty or not. If its life threatening I’d still
advise you to call emergency services first. They can get here faster than I
can. Phone me second though.”

She reached out
and touched my arm. It was only a small gesture, but one I appreciated. Looking
into her eyes, I felt like someone really understood how I was feeling.

“Thank you,” I
said taking the card and holding it like it would be my lifesaver.

After they left
I gathered up some more clothes, my laptop and got Riley to help me with some
client files. I felt extremely guilty carting it all into Riley’s home. It
looked and felt like I’d taken over his space.

Chapter
Twenty Two

Things
were pretty quiet between Riley and me for the rest of the afternoon. I’d tried
to get some work done, which was extremely difficult on Riley’s kitchen table. The
particular file I was working on involved lots of little receipts I had spread
in piles everywhere – on the table, on the chairs, on the floor –
you get the picture. Riley was doing his best to accommodate me but by six
o’clock, I could tell I was getting under his feet.

“I’m ordering
Chinese in for dinner. What would you like?” he asked.

“That sounds
nice. I’ll have the lemon chicken please. Oh and some fried rice with those prawn
cracker things. I love them.”

“I didn’t think
anybody loved them,” said Riley with a shrug, his face reminding me of a
brewing storm.

While we were
waiting for dinner to be delivered, I cleared away all my crap and tried to
hide it out of sight as much as possible.

“I might have a
quick shower now, if that’s okay?” I said to Riley. He’d sat down and had the
evening news on TV, waiting for some information on the shopping center fire. Looking
over his shoulder, he gave me a small smile. “Yeah, whatever. Knock yourself
out.”

I still was
having trouble shaking the events of this morning from my mind, and along with
the Scott debacle, I was feeling quite grotty. On the one hand I had a man who
I thought cared about me, sleeping with an older woman because I was so
unattractive, and on the other hand, I had a complete stranger, breaking into
my house and tossing off in my bed. What did that say about me? Maybe if I
cleaned myself up a bit and put on my nice jeans and top for dinner I might feel
a bit better about myself.

By the time I
emerged from the bathroom, dinner had arrived. I’d spent a bit of time applying
make-up and fixing my hair, so I should feel pretty good about myself. But I
didn’t. Still, not to be one to dwell on unpleasantries, I pushed all thoughts
of Scott to the back of my mind where I would deal with it later. There were a
few other issues back there that needed to be dealt with as well, but all in
good time.

Riley had
poured two glasses of wine and handed one to me as I walked into the kitchen. The
TV had been turned off and his iPod was playing a mix of current hits and some
oldies. Sitting down to eat, Riley’s mood improved greatly as we chatted for
hours about our childhood memories, about our families and about what we hoped
to do in the future. Sitting here with Riley, it was easy to forget all the
crap that had been happening lately. Billy Joel’s
This Night
started playing on the iPod. Riley stood up and held out
his hand to me.

“Could I have
the pleasure of this dance?” he asked, laughter playing on his voice.

We’d finished
off the bottle of wine and my senses were not what they should be. “I’m not a
very good dancer,” I said, the room spinning slightly as I stood.

“That’s okay. I
am, according to Gran, so I can lead you,” he laughed.

He had a
wonderful laugh, and a wonderful smile, oh and wonderful eyes, oh and a
wonderful body. Actually, thinking about it I couldn’t really pick a fault. Sighing,
I allowed him to pull me in so close I could feel his heart beating through his
shirt. I felt the warmth of his hand on my waist and the heat seep right into
my skin. His other hand took mine as he started to lead me in a slow waltz.

His gran was
right. He was an excellent dancer. The music seemed to fill the room as the
world consisted only of Riley and me. I felt like my heart was about to jump
right out of my chest, it was beating so hard.

What was
happening here? Looking up at Riley, I could see his eyelids had gotten heavier
and as we spun around the room, his eyes never left mine. As the song reached
its climax, Riley spun me around and dropped me into a dip, supporting me the
whole time so I felt completely safe. His face was so close to mine, if I
moved, just slightly, our lips would touch. Riley’s gaze drop to my mouth and
my palpitations kicked up a notch. If he was ever going to kiss me, it would be
now.

But I never
found out. My phone had started ringing. Crap! Crap and double crapping crap!

I felt Riley
sigh. The moment broken, he pulled me up to standing and turned his face away. God
help the person on the other end of the phone! This had better be life
threatening.

Pulling my
phone out of my bag, I saw the caller was Molly. For a brief moment, panic ran
through me. Looking at the time, I saw it was after eleven and Molly never rang
me this late. Pressing the answer button I said, “Molly, what’s wrong?”

“Oh my God,
Lizzie. Have you seen the late night news?”

“No, why?” What
on earth could be on the news that would be so urgent?

“What’s wrong
with your voice? You sound all husky.” I could hear suspicion in her voice.

Clearing my
throat, I said, “That better?”

“Hmm. Well,
they just named the person who was killed in that fire at the shops today.” Her
voice was now void of the panic I’d heard when she first spoke. Now she was
just curious.

“Really? Who
was it?” I asked, not really caring.

I mean, there I
was just about to be kissed by Riley, when she phones to tell me about
something on the news? What could be that important? Looking at Riley, I kept
thinking about what could have happened. He still had his back to me so I
couldn’t see his face. Maybe he was regretting ever asking me to stay.

“It was Brian
Hogan. The jeweler. Wasn’t he the one you took the ring to?”

I felt my blood
run cold. “Are you kidding me?” I asked, even though I knew there was no way
Molly would joke about a thing like that. “Did they say what happened?” Molly
now had my full attention.

“Only that a
fire broke out in the jewelry store this morning. They evacuated pretty quickly
but he must have been overcome with smoke.”

“How come he
didn’t get out?” Riley had turned around and had his head close to mine, trying
to listen to the conversation. “Hang on, Molly. I’ll put you on speaker.” Putting
the phone on the table, we both leaned in so we could hear properly.

“I don’t know. I
just thought it was an interesting coincidence, don’t you. Where are you
anyway?”

I hadn’t told
my family about my run in with Sedan Man. The last Molly knew was when he
followed me through town the other day.

“Umm…I’m
staying with Riley for a few days.” There was silence on the other end of the
phone. I could just imagine what was going through Molly’s head right about
now. I just prayed she censored it before it came out of her mouth.

“O...kay,” was
all I got back.

I also hadn’t
told anyone about my break up with Scott either, so I knew what she was
thinking.

“It’s okay,
Molly. Riley is just putting me up for a few days, while we sort a few things
out with the house.” Well this wasn’t a total lie. I did need to sort a few
things out and it did happen at the house.

“Yep. Whatever
you say. Well, I’ll let you get back to it then, shall I?”

Hanging up, I
looked at Riley. There was nothing to get back too. In fact, whatever there
was, it was now filled with awkwardness.

* * * *

After
a night of tossing and turning and not getting much sleep, I decided at five-thirty
am to give up. Getting up, I headed straight for the shower and after the usual
routine, I emerged to find Riley sound asleep on the bed. Tiptoeing down the
stairs, I made a pot of coffee and sat on the couch, waiting for the caffeine
to kick in and do its thing. The couch still had Riley’s sheets on it and they
were still warm. Picking up his pillow, I put it to my nose and took a deep
breath. It smelt of his aftershave.

“Morning,”
Riley said from behind me, his voice husky from sleep. I jumped so high I spilt
coffee all over his pillow. Shit. How the hell I was going to explain this had
me stuffed. I looked around to see him smiling at me, still wearing his boxer
shorts and nothing else.

“Morning,” I
mumbled, jumping up, dropping his pillow and thinking I may be able to clean it
later without him noticing.

“Sorry, I
didn’t mean to startle you. You’re up early.”

“Yeah, I had
trouble sleeping. I kept thinking of Brian Hogan.” Riley looked a bit dark
under the eyes this morning so I wondered if he’d had much sleep last night.

“Me too. Sorry
I fell asleep up there. I was waiting for the bathroom but must have been more
tired than I thought.” He smiled, walking into the kitchen.

“Why don’t you
go back to bed and get a few more hours sleep?” I suggested. “You look really
tired.”

“No, I’m fine. I’ll
admit the couch isn’t the most comfortable thing I’ve ever slept on, but I’m okay.”
I watched as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Riley, do you
think the fire yesterday was really an accident?”

I didn’t want
to know the answer to this but it was a question which had been on my mind all
night. I didn’t need to wait for his answer though, as
no
was written all over his face.

“I don’t know
what to think,” he said with a shrug, “It’s a pretty big coincidence if it
isn’t.”

“I think so
too. But I just can’t figure out how.” The caffeine hadn’t kicked in yet and my
sleep-deprived brain was having a hard time piecing this together. I just
wished Brian Hogan had told me the story of the ring on the phone the other day
and hoped his death was not connected to our search for its owner.

“Me either. Maybe
we should tell the police about our conversation with Brian and leave them to
do their job. If there’s any connection, surely they will figure it out.”

“Yeah, you’re
probably right,” I said, putting my cup in the sink. “What are your plans for
today?” I was amazed at how fast my mind could change gears.

“Well, I really
need to get back to your house and finish the tiling. The bath should be ready
early next week and I had a call yesterday about a big renovation job I need to
quote for,” Riley said, never really meeting my eyes. “How about you? What are
your plans?”

The thought of
Riley moving on was another issue I’d pushed into the
to be sorted
bin in the back of my mind, all to be dealt with at a
later date. It’s funny how these things can force their way back out again,
just when you least expected it.

“Oh! Well, I
guess I need go into the office and give some of these files back. Where is the
job you have to quote?”

“It’s in
Loganville.”

“But that’s
hours away. You wouldn’t be able to drive there every day.”

“No. I know. I’m
thinking if I get the job, I’ll move there for six months and rent this place
out for a while.”

Any thoughts
I’d been having of breakfast had suddenly vanished. My appetite just deserted
me.

“It’ll be worth
quite a bit of money and it’ll be great for my business to get such a big job,”
he continued in way of explaining.

“What about
your family? Won’t they miss you? And what about Ruby?” I asked, a familiar
lump forming in the back of my throat. Riley just shrugged.

“I don’t know. I
guess I’ll just see what happens.”

* * * *

To
say I was apprehensive to go back home was an understatement. I was physically
dreading what I might find. I was also regretting having too much to drink last
night and my headache was just a constant reminder of it. On the drive I kept
replaying our evening and hoped I hadn’t said or done anything to upset Riley. His
mood had been really odd this morning. It seemed he was avoiding me as much as
possible and, when he was around, he wasn’t making much eye contact. I know our
near kiss may have left him uncomfortable and I wanted to tell him I was sorry,
I didn’t mean to make him feel that way, but I just didn’t know how to start. Pulling
up in my driveway, he turned to me.

“I’m sorry
about last night, Lizzie. I’d had a few too many drinks and I was really out of
line.” He stopped and took a deep breath, looking at the roof of the truck as
if it would give him the right words to say. “I enjoy your friendship and I
don’t want to do anything to make you uncomfortable.” He shifted in his seat,
looking out the side window and avoiding me altogether. I felt like someone had
dumped a bucket of cold water over my head.

“Yeah, me too,”
was all I could say. The whole
I enjoy
your friendship
bit really stung. I couldn’t help it. I’d fallen for this
guy and to hear he valued my friendship just sucked. Well, I valued his
friendship too, obviously, but I wanted so much more than that. Riley turned
and looked at me for a minute then got out of the truck, slamming the door
behind him.

Okay, I could
understand he was uncomfortable, but angry? What was that about? “Riley!” I
called, stumbling out of the truck and running after him. “What’s wrong?”

I caught up
with him at the front door. Lucky for me it was locked or I don’t think I would
ever have caught him. I looked up at him and could see the anger simmering in
his eyes.