by Amy DeMeritt
“Brooke, please tell me she didn’t do this. Please.”
“I don’t know. They’re not ruling out foul play. Do you really think she would be capable of this?”
“I’ve known her for years and I want to say no, but with the way she has been acting, I don’t know. What he did to her may have been enough to push her to this. If she did this…”
She stops, unable to finish the sentence.
“If Isabell killed Jared Coffman, and they are able to link her to it, she will go to prison. A judge may be lenient on her because of the mental trauma he put her through, so it may not be life. She may be able to get away with an insanity plea from post-traumatic stress or something as the reason she did it, but she will still do time – just in a mental hospital instead of a prison. Either way is horrible.”
Hannah starts crying.
“Why didn’t I say something to her when we thought she was up to something? I should have confronted her and told her not to do anything stupid.”
“Hannah, if she did this, which we don’t know if she did, it’s not your fault. Even if you had said something, if she had something like this planned, she may not have listened to you at all. How was she today? Was she acting weird?”
Hannah’s brow furrows into confusion.
“No, actually, she was acting very normal. Like she was before you realized she was the woman in those photographs.” I sit down next to her and take her hands. “Hannah, one thing I learned while working with the police department, is that a lot of the time, it’s not the obvious person. The clues add up, but that doesn’t mean they point to this.”
“But you feel something in your gut, don’t you?” I frown and look down for a moment. When I look at her, we both nod once. “Do you think I should ask her about her weekend to try to feel her out?”
“No. When someone is guilty of a crime, and they feel like someone is closing in on them, they become reckless and end up providing the evidence and motive that would have gone unnoticed if they didn’t get freaked out.”
Hannah just looks at me for a moment with a little surprise.
“You would let her get away with it if she did it?”
“Yes, I think I would. What he did to her is worse than taking a life. She has to spend the rest of her life reliving what she went through on replay in her memory. She can’t get rid of that. Plus, she will probably have trust issues and insecurities for the rest of her life as well. Death is kinder than what those memories probably do to her every day.” Hannah lifts my hands to her lips and kisses them. “Brooke, I love you. I don’t know what to feel or think right now. This is just all too much all at once. Between what happened with your mom and Isabell, I just feel so uncertain and confused. Plus, your boss is on you about dating me and you could lose your job soon. How are you so calm?”
“Because you need me to be. You were strong for me this weekend, now, it’s time for me to be strong for you.”
“But you haven’t even had time to properly heal.”
“There will never be enough time to heal from this. It may dull over time, but the pain will always remain.”
“I’m sorry you have to deal with this on top of what you have going on.”
“Well, we may not have anything to deal with. She may not have done anything. Let’s just try to keep an eye on the news and see if they release any more details. You and I both saw him with a wine glass in his hands. He may have just had too much to drink and fell.”
“Or, he was pushed.”
“Yeah, that’s possible too. Should I have kept this to myself?” She shakes her head. “No, I’m glad you told me. We went to that expo together with the intention of stopping her or him or whatever. Now that something has happened, I want to be together with you through this. Whatever happens.”
“Do you want some dinner?” She inhales deeply, sits up straighter, and starts folding the paper. “Ok, let’s do dinner.” She looks at me for a moment, as if in thought, and then asks, “Would you still have anyone at the police department that you could try to feel out? Maybe see what they know?”
“No, I haven’t talked to anyone on the force since I left over three years ago. But if I did, it would probably be a bad idea. People that come asking the police questions that aren’t part of the media typically become top suspects. There were camera’s all over that convention center. If I popped up asking questions and they see us circling that exhibit for too long, they may start to look at us. They couldn’t pin it on us, but it would bring them closer to Isabell.”
She frowns and looks down.
“Ok, I guess I didn’t think about that. I just hate not knowing what the police are thinking and whether or not she was involved. They may never post any updates in the news while they’re investigating. This could go on for a long time.”
“He’s a slightly higher profile individual so the case will move a little faster than if it was just a regular person. The media won’t rest on this case. They’ll get their information and facts and provide updates as often as they can. Come on babe, let’s get some dinner and try not to think about anything bad.”
“Ok, can you just hold me for a minute?” I smile and wrap my arms around her. Hannah rests her head on my shoulder and gently kisses the side of my neck. “You are an amazing woman, Brooke.”
“So are you, beautiful.”
She squeezes me and kisses my neck again. We cling to each other for a few minutes and then stand to figure out what to do for dinner. We look in my fridge, but then Hannah closes it and wraps her arms around my waist.
“Can we order in? I just need to be in your arms. I don’t want either of us having to cook and clean up afterwards.”
“Ok, where do you want to order from?”
“Lorenzo’s? They have really good pasta.”
“Ok. I won’t have any because I don’t want to fall asleep on you, but I have a couple bottles of wine in the cabinet if you would like some. They were Christmas gifts from clients who didn’t realize I’m not really a drinker.”
“Actually, I would like that if you don’t mind. ”
While Hannah orders dinner, I get the wine out and open a bottle for her. Both bottles are very expensive, high quality reds. One is an import from France and the other is an Italian import. One was from a liquor store client and the other from a fancy hotel in town. Since she is ordering Italian, I open the Italian red for her.
I hand her a glass after she hangs up the phone and she takes a small sip. She savors it on her tongue and then smiles.
“Wow, your clients must really love you. This is the best red wine I’ve ever had.”
“I do get spoiled by a good portion of my clients. I’m glad these are finally going to get used though. I felt bad that these expensive bottles of wine were probably going to be wasted on me. I tried to give them to Felicia, but she doesn’t drink wine. She says it gives her really bad headaches.”
We go sit on the sofa and I wrap an arm around her while she slowly sips on her wine. While we wait on dinner, I tell her about lunch with Felicia to try to take her mind off of Isabell. She’s really happy, of course, to hear Felicia’s big “I love you” news.
“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself today. Felicia was very sweet to take you out. I definitely want to check out the live performances there sometime. It sounds like a cute place that I could fall in love with. I could totally see you and I spending hours in there looking at books and reading them in the little reading nooks you described.”
“We should go this week. We both need a mental vacation. What better way to get one than in a bookstore?”
“I agree. It’s a date. You, me, and rows after rows of written vacations.” I smile and kiss her lips. Hannah grabs my neck as I start to pull back, and pulls me into a real kiss. The taste of the wine on her mouth is sweet and smooth. It’s a nice kiss. When she pulls back, she smiles, and says, “Thank you.”
“For what? ”
“Everything.”
> Before I can respond, there’s a knock at the front door. I leap up and grab my wallet so I can pay the delivery person.
I bring the food to the kitchen and dish us up some stuffed shells, meatballs, salad, and some garlic bread. I top off Hannah’s wine and then we settle back down on the sofa to eat together. I could really get used to this – having Hannah with me every night.
We watch TV, mostly in silence, while we eat, but having her sitting next to me, hearing her occasional laugh, is extremely comforting and wonderful. In this moment, I feel like I am being wrapped in the softest blanket.
After we finish eating, I take our plates to the kitchen, refill our drinks again, me with water and Hannah with wine, and Hannah snuggles in close to me. She loops her arms with one of mine and leans her head on my shoulder.
“Hannah, do you want to stay here tonight?” She presses in closer to me and kisses my neck. “Yes.”
I smile and shift some so she can lay her head on my chest and I can wrap my arms around her. As her smiling blue eyes lock on mine, my heart sings a happy song and makes my body hum. She kisses my lips and then settles down on my chest, wrapping her arms around my waist.
If the apocalypses were to start outside right now, I wouldn’t give a damn and I would still be smiling. My entire being is so deeply immersed in Hannah’s heart that everything else seems so small and insignificant right now.
Chapter Eighteen
It’s a full week after the death of the photographer Jared Coffman before the newspaper releases new details about the case. Hannah has been so jittery and nervous that I decided to take a small trip to the spa to have lunch with her today. I only texted her two minutes ago to let her know I’m outside, and she is already coming out of the door dressed in her bright blue scrubs. She looks both ways before stepping out past the first row of cars and then jogs over to my car.
When she gets in on the passenger side, she leans over the center console and pulls me in close, kissing me fully on the mouth. Our lips and tongues move together briefly in a loving greeting and then Hannah pulls back. She takes my hand in both of hers and leans back into her seat.
“Thanks for coming all this way. Are you sure you have time to stay?”
“I’m sure.”
“What happens now that they ruled this a homicide?”
“Well, they have probably already questioned staff at the convention center, so now they will start to question quests and other artists to see who he was with that night, if they haven’t already. They are reporting the death somewhere around midnight. So, anyone who was still in that convention center at that hour would be a suspect. They will review the camera footage and try to match names to faces and watch their behaviors and such.”
“Only certain people have access to the area he was in, right? So, whoever did this would have either had the same access, or he took them back with him. There were so many women hanging around him when we were scouting for Isabell. Do you think he could have brought one of them back and there was a struggle or something and it was just an accident? Like maybe he tried to force himself on some woman and they fought him off and he just fell down that stairwell?”
“That is an extremely likely scenario given his history of what he did to Isabell. It’s also possible it was a fellow artist or an agent or something. How has Isabell been? Has she said anything to you about his death?”
“No, and that makes me nervous. Either she doesn’t know anything about it, or she knows everything about it and thinks by not saying anything we won’t suspect her.”
“Her silence on this is very disconcerting.”
We both jump from a loud rapping of knuckles on Hannah’s window. We look over to see Isabell standing outside, leaning down waving, and smiling in at us. I quickly put the window down and she beams in at me.
“Hey, stranger. I haven’t seen you in a while. I’d have thought after you two hooked up that I’d see you around the spa more.”
“Hey, Isabell. How are you doing?”
“Not bad. Actually, pretty good. I’ve been working with a mortgage broker to buy my first home and I sign the papers tonight. I’m pretty excited about it.”
“Wow, that’s great. How long have you been looking?”
“About a month. I found a place I fell in love with pretty quickly, but there was lot of back and forth stuff with the bank, the owners, and home inspectors to get a couple things up to code. It’s been a hassle, but after tonight, it will be finalized. You and Hannah will definitely have to come to my house warming in a month or so.”
“I’ll be there. I’m surprised you were able to get all of that done in a month. The homeowners must have been anxious to sell.”
“They were. The house has been on the market for a while. I was able to get a quick-sale deal, which knocked off quite a bit off the appraised value and mortgage interest rate. Anyway, I won’t take up your whole lunch, I just wanted to come say hello.”
“It was good seeing you. I’m really happy for you.”
“Thanks. Ok, see you.”
She waves again and starts heading back to the spa. I put the window up and Hannah looks at me with a small relieved smile.
“So, does this give an explanation for her weird behavior and we can rule her out as a suspect?”
“I don’t know, Hannah. I mean, it explains the calls, possibly, but it doesn’t explain the ID. She never mentioned to you that she was home shopping?”
Hannah shakes her head and looks down at her lap for a moment.
“No, which kind of bothers me because we are good friends. Why wouldn’t she tell me something like that? And why did she come out here to tell us together?”
“Maybe she wanted to tell you on break, but since you came out here, she had to come looking for you to tell you.”
“But she could have just waited for me to come back in. You are the one that saw that fake ID. Maybe she suspects you are piecing things together and wants to throw us off. For a split second, I felt like maybe this was over and that she didn’t do it, but I am still just as confused and concerned.”
“Now that they have released that this was definitely a homicide, more facts about the crime scene should start coming out soon. They’ll probably try to leave out possible suspects though, unless they bring someone in for questioning that they are pretty sure did it. Once we know the facts that led them to the conclusion this was a murder and not an accident, we may be able to figure out if it was her.”
“Part of me really wants to know for sure if she did this, but another part of me doesn’t.”
“Isabell doesn’t seem like a ‘premeditative murder’ kind of person. If she did this, it was probably the scenario you proposed – it was the result of a struggle that ended badly.”
“I really hope so. I know everyone is capable of horrible things if given the right pressures and situations, but if she had planned it out before going there, that makes her a more dangerous person than most.”
“Especially since they still haven’t arrested any suspects. Nowadays, a week is actually a long time to go without any real break in the case. If it was premeditative, they knew what they were doing and had a good plan.”
Hannah looks at me with pinched worried eyes while she chews on her bottom lip. I gently grab her chin and tug her lip free from her teeth.
“Don’t you chew that beautiful lip up and make it sore. I like this mouth.”
Hannah smiles and blushes a little bit. I kiss her lips a couple times and she inhales deeply against my lips and rests her forehead against mine.
“I wish I could stay with you for the rest of the day. I miss your arms around me and smelling your shampoo.” She nuzzles in my neck and starts trailing feathery kisses up and down my neck. “I miss your skin and lips on my body.” I feel my body heat rising, a pulsing has started between my legs, and my breath is caught in my chest. “It’s been too many days since you’ve been in my bed. ”
“I spent the night a few ni
ghts ago.” I can barely get the words out as her hand moves up my thigh and rests between them, just a few inches below my center. “Can you come over tonight? I’ll cook dinner.” Her lips are hovering above mine, waiting for my answer. I breathlessly give her a, “yes”, and she presses her mouth to mine.
She engages me in a kiss that is entirely too sexy when we have to say goodbye in a couple minutes. Her hand squeezes my thigh, making me moan. Hannah presses in closer to me, nearly climbing over the center console. My hand instinctively grabs her right thigh and pulls her over more. Hannah moans as I squeeze her cheek. Suddenly, she pulls back and laughs a little.
“Baby, I don’t know how you do it. Every time I’m stressed out and worried, you put me in a much better mood, without me even realizing you are doing anything. That gentle tug on my bottom lip with your thumb nearly unhinged me completely. I really wanted to go down on you right here.” I blush and swallow hard. “Oh, my god, I love you.” Hannah laughs and gives me a peck on the lips before climbing back over to her side. “Then you will really love me later when I actually get to do something to you.”
“You are really making me want to speed away from here with you. Want to play hooky with me for the rest of the day?”
“You have a meeting with a client when you leave here.”
“I’ll cancel.”
“Do you know how sexy it is that you are willing to toss your whole career away for me? You are such a real professional and really good at what you do. It makes me feel, I don’t know, powerful and loved or something that you would risk it all for me.”
“You are the beautiful golden-haired damsel in the tower and I am the honest fearless knight ready to face down certain death in battle with the great dragon that holds you captive.” Hannah smiles broadly and giggles. “I should totally get you a chainmail bikini to wear for me.” I laugh really hard and my face blushes deep red. “What are you going to wear for me?”
