Grace’s cell phone rang, waking her out of an amazing dream. About Zach again.
Mark’s slurred speech brought her to full awake. Something was very wrong. Her bones told her. They ached with anticipation and not from her erotic fantasy.
“Mark? Are you drunk?”
What was going on with him? It was as if the world had leaned a little on its axis. Nothing was as it should be. She hated being confused.
“Yes, I’m sitting on the beach, toasted in several ways.”
“What’s wrong?”
She hadn’t known Mark to be a drinker. The occasional beer was the most she’d ever seen him consume. Something awful must have happened to him.
“I love you,” he said, with finality.
The words hung in her ear like a crouton that was too dry to swallow. This was not a problem she needed right now.
Her eyes fell closed. This was all happening too fast. She knew he felt this way, but why was he calling so soon? “What? Mark, what’s wrong? Tell me.”
“That’s it, Gracie. I love you and always have. I’m trying to prevent a murder, here. I’m so wracked with guilt.”
“Mark, calm down. Who is going to get murdered?”
Not another one. She’d had enough of dead bodies in her 29 years. She couldn’t handle another one.
“Oh, Gracie. You know. You always knew. Sometimes before I did.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I wish I didn’t love you. My phone’s dying.”
He severed the connection, leaving Grace with a pounding heart and a confused brain. She punched in his phone number, but his voicemail answered. “Mark, call me when you get this thing charged.”
What could all this mean? Did Mark have something to do with the puzzle of Dolores’ death? She couldn’t figure out how he could. She shook off the eerie chill that had descended on her.
Knowing full well sleep was not going to happen, Grace pulled on bike shorts and a t-shirt to go for a run. When she finished, she walked the last block, her mind still whirling from what Mark said.
“He couldn’t mean Dolores? He doesn’t even know her and why would he kill her?”
She ran a hand over her sweaty face and turned down the driveway, stopping dead for a moment. Someone stood looking up at her apartment. The moonlight illuminated him, but not enough for her to make a description.
Her cell phone came off her belt and she dialed the police, then Zach.
“How’d you get my number?” he said.
Shit. She’d forgotten she didn’t know that yet. “Uh, Dolores gave it to me in case of emergencies. This is one. There’s a guy standing on our driveway.”
“I’ll be right over.”
Grace hid behind a tree across the street but kept eyeing the man. He didn’t move, just stood and stared as if studying the place. What would she have to steal?
A patrol car cruised up the street, no lights or siren, then pulled into Dolores’ driveway. The man stared into the headlights, and then ran.
Grace walked over to the cop. “I’m the one who called.”
“I’m Officer James, Ma’am. You live here?”
“In the apartment above the garage. Didn’t you see that man? He ran away?”
The cop eyed her. “I didn’t see anyone.”
“He looked familiar.”
The cop pulled out a notepad. “You know him?”
“Can’t say for sure.”
Her head spun. This wasn’t how it should work. What had she done differently to make a change in the events?
The man didn’t resemble Mark. Who else would be here?
The cop asked a few more questions then promised he’d look around the neighborhood.
Zach was waiting for Grace when she got out of work. Same stance he’d had before, but two days earlier than she expected.
He wore khakis and a blue button-down shirt. Wet hair, slicked back from his face, ended in a riot of curls at his neck. Steely eyes stared through her over mirrored sunglasses. With his jaw set, his face looked to have been carved from granite.
She supposed that countenance could intimidate many, but she wasn’t buying. Her lack of sleep and inability to solve this murder took precedence over his ego.
“Howdy.”
His scowl deepened. She found him more attractive when he smiled. Now he was cop-like.
He pushed away from her car. “How’d you get my phone number?”
A bird flew overhead and squawked as if laying claim to some morsel of food no one else could see. Parking lot gulls she called them.
“I told you. Dolores gave it to me.”
“She says she didn’t.”
“She did. Maybe she forgot. She is pregnant.”
His hands clenched to fists, but she felt no fear. He wouldn’t hit her. “She told you that?”
“Yes. And I think you and I need to talk. Can I buy you a drink? I’ve had a rough day looking in a dumpster for someone’s ear.”
His stare went through her again. You’d think she’d asked him to strip naked in the parking lot. Not that she wouldn’t have enjoyed a private showing of the Zach Holten show. She missed his touch, even if it sent her brain into a frenzy of colors.
“Okay,” he said after a long silence.
He met her at the coffee shop next to the Robber Baron in downtown Mill Hall, a borough just south of the Glen Hills.
She led him to a table in the back corner of the smoke-free coffee bar. The place was in the lull between people on their way home and those coming out for dessert. This place had the best cheesecake she’d ever tasted.
Grace ordered a cappuccino, but Zach only wanted seltzer water. She wondered why no coffee? That’s what he’d ordered last time.
“So speak.”
“You’re going to think I’m nuts, but I believe that Dolores is in danger.”
He didn’t flinch. His expression didn’t change. Only his eyes flicked from his hands to her face. A small smile formed, indicating he liked what he saw. He visibly shook himself, reforming his expressionless face. “Danger from what?”
“From whom. I don’t know. She’s going to be murdered.”
If she could only kiss him and make him remember what they’d shared, maybe he’d believe her. Everyone else had amnesia. Not her.
He almost stood. She could see it in the stiffening of his spine. “Are you threatening her?”
“No, and I know it seems that way, but I’m not. Someone is going to kill her.”
Zach looked around the well-lit shop as if he were afraid someone heard her. He leaned closed so she could smell peppermint breath. “How do you know this?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“That’s obstruction of justice. Aiding a felon, too perhaps.”
“Zach, just listen. I realize you aren’t going to believe me, but I need to talk to your ex-boss.”
“My old boss? How do you know who my boss was?”
“I just do.”
“Miss, this is nuts. Why do you need to talk to my boss?”
“Because he might be the father of Dolores baby.”
He smacked his forehead then rubbed a hand down his face. “He’s a happily married man.”
“Humor me.”
Zach’s head shook, sending his now dry ebony curls in all directions. “No, you will not sully his reputation with these half-assed ideas. Did Dolores tell you he was the father of her baby?”
“Not exactly.”
Well she did, but not in this go round. Of course he wouldn’t understand that. She searched his face. There was no recognition of her, none of the tenderness they’d shared. Her heart hurt.
She’d never wanted to rewind again. Maybe after today became tomorrow and she turned thirty she wouldn’t have to, but would Zach ever fall in love again?
“For your information, I’m the father of her baby.”
If he were so sure, he wouldn’t be looking at Grace as if she were the only woman in the room. “You’re not.”
“I think Lors should know and she told me I was.”
“You aren’t. She’s too pregnant.”
“What? How can you know that?”
“I can’t answer that.”
The drinks arrived and Grace took a healthy swig of hers. The liquid scalded her throat like the reality she was facing. This part wasn’t getting any easier. Zach thought she was even nuttier than he did last time she was through this.
He sipped at his seltzer then set it on the table as if it were fine china. His long fingers traced a circle around the condensation on the glass. “Look, I don’t know what your game is, but maybe you need some help.” His hand snaked across the table and covered hers. She braced for the colors to come. They did, but she was able to keep her focus on his words.
“You didn’t need to concoct such a convoluted story to get me to go out with you. Grace, you seem like a sweet person, but I’m not the white picket fence type.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You think. That I.” She struggled to finish her sentences. “I didn’t do this to ask you out. If I’d wanted that, I would have asked the question, point blank.”
He withdrew his hand. “Then this isn’t a guise to get me alone.”
His face fell a little as if he’d been hoping that she had been interested in him. Could she use this to her advantage? Her mind searched for ideas to no avail.
“Zach, I’m telling the truth.”
His face hardened. “You haven’t told me much, Grace. Just some suppositions. Look, I’m hungry. I’m going home to eat.”
He stood and dropped some bills on the table.
Grace was at the bottom of a hill with no transportation to the top.
Zach finished his yoga, but his mind wasn’t settled. When he’d touched Grace’s hand he felt a warmth and sincerity he’d never seen in anyone. Not even Dolores and he’d married her.
His brain still not silent, he went for a walk in a local park.
Grace sat slumped on a bench, gripping her cell phone, a frown creasing her face. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so harsh on her.
“You okay?”
She jumped at his voice, then her eyes narrowed. He wasn’t welcome here. Dusk was settling all around them. The park goers had long left the swings still. No children laughed or screamed. The park was ready to go to sleep.
“Fine.”
She didn’t move to leave him so he sat next to her. She wore running shorts and a t-shirt damp with sweat.
“You run?”
She nodded still staring at her cell phone.
“Does it do tricks?”
“What?” She glanced at him.
“Your cell phone. You’re staring at it as if you expect it to come alive,” he said.
She tucked it back into her case on her shorts. “No. Just expecting someone to call back.”
“A lover?”
He didn’t know why he asked. That made no sense to his rational side.
Then he remembered that Dolores’ was carrying his baby. What did he owe her? She didn’t really want him back. She just wanted someone.
For now he’d just enjoy the company of the woman on the bench.
“No, but you made it clear you weren’t interested.”
“So did you.”
She chuckled. “I just said I didn’t make up the story about Dolores being in danger to get close to you. I really believe she’s in danger.”
He looked deep into her sea green eyes and knew she was telling the truth. At least as she saw it. “From whom?”
“Don’t know, but I think it’s the father of her baby.”
“Don’t go near my former boss. He’s a respectable man.”
“You’d be surprised what respectable men can get up to.”
“Not Kent Winger. He wouldn’t. He loves his wife. Oh they had a bad patch, but they’re back together.”
“Men can be seduced.”
“You seem pretty confident in that.”
She frowned and looked ahead. “Not personally or at least I’ve never done it.”
He mulled that over and decided she probably hadn’t. But he’d bet someone had seduced an ex-boyfriend. The hurt in her eyes spoke volumes. “So what’s with the phone call?”
“A friend called me drunk.”
“They do that sometimes. She just get dumped?”
“He, and I don’t think so. He doesn’t drink usually and to hear him drunk worries me.”
Especially because she knew he was probably in town. The why of his presence she could not figure out.
“Is he close by?”
“California. I think. His phone went dead at the end of the conversation and he hasn’t answered me yet.”
“Call the police out there.”
“I don’t know where he lives. He moves around a lot.”
“Doesn’t sound like a steady friend,” said Zach.
He knew he’d be on the internet looking into this guy when he got home.
“Oh, he is. Or at least has been in the past.”
“And now?”
“Now, I’m not so sure.” She took in a deep breath raising her shoulders. Her shirt lifted up from her belly to hint at what was underneath. He looked away enjoying the sight too much.
Who was this stranger, this woman who had somehow wheedled her way into his thoughts? What was it about her that was different? Maybe because she wasn’t hanging all over him because he was a cop.
Grace stood. “I’ve gotta go.”
Before he could say anything, she strode away from him.
He caught up to her before the parking lot. “Let me walk you to your car.”
“Not a safe place?”
“Too many hiding places.”
She said, “Goodbye,” when she slid into her car. Zach didn’t press, just let her go.