Murder and Mayhem (53 page)

I turned and laughed. “Which one?”

“My oh my… you have been a busy girl, Bee. All that
slice and dice.”

“Heavy on the slice–not so much on the dice,” I said
grinning.

He laughed a deep belly laugh
that seemed completely incongruous with his stature–although it was growing in
my eyes with each passing minute. “Don’t know where you get the energy. Just
cutting up steak leaves me weak in the knees these days.”

“I find that hard to believe,” I said with a touch of
admiration.

“Don’t worry–your secret is safe with me.”

“And, what secret would that be?”

“That you not really a serial-killer–just a writer
with a killer instinct.”

“Thank you.”

“I was kinda hoping for a replay of you in that
‘Grease' outfit. You were one hot mamma.” He started to walk towards the
dressing room, stopped midway, turned and pursed his lips in a cheeky kiss–and
was gone.

I touched my cheek as though it had landed there, and
felt the heat rise.

“Well, this certainly has been a day filled with surprises,”
I said to Rosie.

“Just goes to show you never can tell a book by its
cover,” she said.

“No, you certainly cannot, Hon,” I said fanning my
face with my hand.

Rosie looked at me sideways and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Just waiting for my morning HRT dose to kick in.”

THIRTY-THREE

After Rosie had gone to bed, I stayed up late, working
well into the night, trying to get the story finished. With Ross away I
wouldn’t be disturbed.

“Now that Danny has gone back to Oz what’s going to
happen? Is he coming back?” Rosie asked the following day.

“After a day filled with surprises I thought you’d
like a surprise here too,” I told her.

*****

She clipped her hair onto the top of her head and
climbed into the tub, lay back and rested her neck on the smooth porcelain rim
and felt the warm water wash over her. Nicola closed her eyes and listened to
the gentle patter of rain on the window pane and thought about Danny. She
conjured up a picture of him thinking about every curve and contour of his
face, his soft gray eyes, smiling–always smiling–and the way his mouth turned
up when he laughed.  She thought of his powerful body and how the muscles moved
sensuously when he moved. And the way he made her feel when he made love to
her. Sex between them was hot, erotic and incredibly exciting. It was something
she had never experienced before. She never knew making love could be so
wonderful. As the memories came flooding back she felt a warm, tingling feeling
between her legs. When her hand touched her breasts they felt tender, her
nipples hardened, aching for his touch. She smiled. Her periods had always been
regular and now she was nearly two weeks late. She hugged her body savoring the
thought that she may be carrying Danny’s child.

She was so excited she had nearly blurted it out at
the airport but she wanted to be sure before she told him. Nicola rubbed her
hand across her belly–Danny’s baby.

Suddenly the candle on the window ledge flickered.
Nicola’s eyes flew open when she heard the soft footfall of sneakers on the
floor.

“Who’s there? Is that you, Danny?” Her heart pounded
as she stared through the open doorway into the hall.

“Hello, Nicola.”

“How did you get in?”

He held up a key. “You really must find somewhere more
imaginative than under a rock to hide your spare key.”

Nicola grabbed a towel and climbed out of the bathtub.
“What are you doing here?” she asked her ex-husband. “What do you want?”

Steven leaned against the frame of the bathroom door,
his black jeans and T-shirt creating a shadowy figure backlit by the hall
light.

“I missed you,” he said softly.

“What are you talking about?”

Steven laughed. “You didn’t think I was going to let
you get away with it, did you?” The cold steel of his eyes was hidden in the
shadow of his cap as he came towards her.

As Nicola backed away she almost fell into the
bathtub. She reached behind and grabbed the edge of the tub to steady herself.
“How did you find me?”

“It was only a matter of time. I went to your old
employer in L.A. When he told me you’d moved to San Francisco I looked you up
on the internet. The Wide World of the Web is a truly amazing thing isn’t it.
Oh, but you know that already don’t you?” he said sarcastically.

Nicola shook her head, clearly confused.

“Well, you didn’t think you were going to get away with
it, did you?” Steven’s words were filled with menace.

Nicola’s first moments of panic gave way to annoyance
as she pushed past him. “What are you talking about, Steven? Why are you here?”

He followed her into the bedroom, leaned his tall,
muscular body against the doorframe, folded his arms and crossed his legs,
making it almost impossible for her to get past. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. We’re finished. We
finished a long time ago.”

Nicola turned her back and discarded the towel,
grabbed her clothes off the chair and hastily dressed. She could sense Steven’s
eyes roaming over her body.

“I’m not talking about now. I’m talking about a couple
of weeks ago.”

 Nicola was clearly confused. “What do you mean a
couple of weeks ago? I wasn’t here a couple of weeks ago.”

“I mean before you left on your little err… vacation.”
Steven’s lips curled up in distain.

“I came by to talk to you and as I pulled in up the
road I saw you get into your car and drive off. So, I followed you. I wondered
where you were going. I nearly lost you a couple of time on the freeway and
when you pulled into the airport parking lot I wondered what you were up to. By
the time I’d parked and followed you inside I was just in time to see you meet
up with lover-boy. What a touching scene that was,” he said with a sneer.

Nicola shook her head. It was like a bad nightmare.

“Then I followed you back here and hung around for a
couple of hours wondering what was going on–him with his luggage and all. Just
as I was about to head back to the hotel I saw you and lover-boy come out and
drive off. So I followed you but when I realized you were giving him a guided
tour of the town, I got bored and left.

“The next morning I came back and parked up the hill
and waited to see what was going to happen.” Steven stopped, enjoying the
shocked look on Nicola’s face.

“I don’t understand. Why would you do that?” Nicola
said.

“I wanted to know what was going on between you and
your… friend. I wanted to know if he was just passing through–or going to hang
around for a while.”

Nicola was clearly annoyed. “Who I invite into my home
is none of your business.”

Steven shrugged. “Anyway, a short time later I saw you
and your…house guest…”

“Danny,” Nicola interjected. “His name is, Danny, although
I don’t see what business is of yours!”

“Whatever,” he said, dismissively. “Anyway I watched
him load the luggage into the car while you dropped an envelope into your
neighbor’s mailbox. When you drove off, I retrieved the envelope and opened it.
Imagine my surprise when I found the note describing where you hid your spare
house key.”

Nicola was shocked.

“So, I let myself into the house and found the love
letters and emails you’d printed up giving details of your trip and reservation
at the Comfort Inn in Philadelphia.

“I was surprised you were going to Philly and wondered
what you were up to so I went back to the Holiday Inn, grabbed my things, and
was on the next flight to Philadelphia.” He laughed.

Nicola was shocked. “You followed me to Philadelphia?
Why?”

“Not just to Philly. I followed you all over the
countryside. A couple of times I thought you knew I was there so I changed the
rental cars so you wouldn’t spot them every couple of days when you stopped for
the night.”

Nicola was shocked. “So that was you I saw! All those
cars I thought were following us -was you!” Her legs suddenly felt like jelly.
She leaned against the bedside table to steady herself.

“When I was in the Perkins Restaurant outside Port
Jervis and lover-boy walked past I thought he was going to see me sitting in
the booth behind a group of bikers but then I realized he didn’t know who I
was, so I pretended to be reading the newspaper and he walked right past
without giving me a second glance.”

“Where did you get the money from, Steven? The last
time I saw you you were broke. And you owed a lot of money to a lot of people.
I remember your mother refused to help unless you got a job and started acting
responsibly.”

“Yeah, well, she died and left me a shit-load of
money. After all, who else did she have to leave it too?” Bitterness bled from
his words.

Nicola was saddened to hear this. She liked Steven’s
mother.

“What do you want from me, Steven?  Just tell me what
you want and get out,” she said trying to keep her anger under control and not
provoke him.

“I just want us to try again, Nicci. That’s all I’ve
ever wanted. I still love you. I’ve never stopped loving you. Now that your
boyfriend has gone back to wherever it was he came from there’s nothing to stop
us from trying again and now that I’ve got my mother’s money, things will be
different. We could go on a second honeymoon. Or we could buy a yacht and sail
around the world. We could live anywhere you want; Paris, London, New York.”

Even though his words enraged her, she tried to stay
calm.

“It’s over, Steven. There’s nothing between us
anymore. Now, would you please just go?”

Steven shook his head and started towards her. As he
got closer she could help noticing the welts etched into the shadowy stubble on
his beard. When she saw the faint red outline of healing marks on the backs of
his hands Nicola remembered all the newspaper headlines and television reports
that seemed to follow them as they traveled across the eastern states. She felt
the blood drain from her face.

“My God, Steven, what have you done?”

“It was your fault. You made me do it, you and that
boyfriend of yours. What did you expect me to do, sit back and let him take you
from me without a fight?” His temper, raging out of control brought back
frightening memories of his violent past.

Nicola knew she had to get away. As she made a run for
the door, Steven tried to grab hold of her, but she was too quick. Nicola
shoved him with all the strength she could muster. Steven lost his balance and
stumbled against the small table by the door. By the time he’d gained his
balance, she was gone.

Nicola raced through the redwoods in the back garden
to Sam’s house and pounded on the door. Even though the house was in darkness
she kept pounding, calling out as loud as she could in the hope that someone
would hear her.

“Sam, Sam, help me. Oh God. Someone help me.” Nicola
screamed. She heard footsteps behind her and saw Steven coming through the
garden his face distorted with rage.

Nicola ran through the trees to the Dipsea steps and took
them two at a time. She could hear Steven pushing through the dense undergrowth
behind her and quickened the pace. But the heavy rain caused her bare, bleeding
feet to lose purchase on the slippery steps as water cascaded over them in a
miniature waterfall. She stumbled and slid down several steps then righted
herself and grabbed hold of the rail. Nicola glanced behind and saw Steven
stumbling in the dark on the unfamiliar terrain, his sneakers getting a firmer
hold than her bare feet.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs she raced
across Cascade Drive and over the wooden bridge, seeking refuge in the darkness
of Old Mill Park. Her heart pounded, her lungs felt like they were going to
explode. She tried to scream–but nothing came out. Nicola ran through the park,
tripped on a tree stump, and fell face down in the mud.

Steven came up behind and tried to grab hold of her
but she slipped out of his grasp and ran into a grove of Redwoods where she was
knocked to the ground by a startled deer. 

Breathless, Nicola tried to scream as Steven grabbed
hold of her. She tried to fight him off but he was too strong. In the struggle,
Steven lost his cap. As a lone car drove along the road at the top of the hill,
their fleeting images were caught in the flicker of headlights, but it was too
far away for her screams to be heard over the noise of the storm.