by Alexa Verde
Argh.
She closed her eyes and tossed and turned again. Now they couldn’t even be friends.
Finally, her mind drifted off and she surrendered to a restless slumber…
Julia woke up with a start and glanced at the digital clock on her nightstand, its fluorescent numbers bright in the darkness.
One in the morning.
She must’ve dozed off for a while, but something woke her.
Julia peered into the darkness and listened intently. Nothing looked wrong. Nothing sounded wrong.
But she sensed something was wrong. It was as if she felt the danger touching her with cold fingers, and goose bumps erupted over her skin.
Maybe she was just paranoid?
Mari and Lydia had offered to stay with her, with Mari sleeping on the couch in the living room and Lydia taking a small bed in the guest room. Julia had refused, wanting her friends to get a normal night’s rest, especially pregnant Mari.
Julia closed her eyes, but sleep eluded her.
Hold on.
Yes!
Julia realized what was different. Judging by the light breeze, a window in one of the rooms might be open. Normally, she was meticulous about closing them. She’d probably forgotten tonight, with all the stress of the funeral.
She wished she could call Ivan. Once upon a time, he’d had an amazing ability to calm her fears by simply holding her and stroking her hair. And all her fears would go away then, including the worst ones, the ones that had haunted her since she’d been a child.
Never before had she felt as lonely as in that moment.
No, she was wrong.
God was with her always.
The vice that painfully gripped her heart released a bit. She’d learned to take care of herself when she’d been a little girl. She could take care of herself now, without Ivan’s help.
She needed to get up and close the window.
Simple.
The problem would be solved.
A click sounded in the guest room in the far end of the house, as if the window closed. The breeze vanished.
A floorboard squeaked in that room. Then another one. Her heart jumped in her throat. Somebody was in the house!
Julia flung back her covers, her gut twisted with fear. She grabbed her phone from the nightstand and dialed 911.
“What’s your emergency?” a tired female voice answered.
“I believe I have an intruder on my property,” Julia whispered and rattled off the address. “Please hurry.”
She disconnected, her mind frantically searching for anything that could be used as a weapon. Now she regretted she’d never let Mari and Lydia buy her a small gun like they’d wanted to. Fear spurred Julia on.
Avoiding the floorboards that she knew would squeak, she sprinted into the kitchen, right near her bedroom, and snatched a large skillet from the stove.
She thanked God the intruder was at the far end of the house.
Forcing herself to stay silent, Julia stared in the direction the sounds had come from. She listened intently but heard nothing.
There was no third squeak of a floorboard or the sound of anyone else’s breathing. Controlling her own breathing wasn’t easy.
Dear Lord, please save me. In Jesus’s holy name. Amen.
Calmer after a prayer, Julia analyzed the situation. Maybe she was terrified over nothing. Why would anybody want to harm her in the first place? She’d seen plenty of hateful gazes at the funeral from Seth’s family, but breaking into her home would be taking that hatred way too far. And considering that she lived modestly, there was no reason for a burglar to break in here.
Sometimes a house produced noises that were difficult to explain, right?
At that moment, a figure moved from down the hall. Julia couldn’t distinguish a face, nothing more than a shadow. A dark figure that shifted toward her bedroom. Then the black figure stopped moving. Ice filled Julia’s veins. Had the intruder noticed her already?
God’s got this.
Her grandma’s words, the ones she’d used when Julia had been in a tough situation, rushed through Julia’s mind. She repeated them again and again.
God’s got this.
The dark figure moved forward. Barely breathing, Julia took several cautious steps. Her hands shook, but her fingers tightened around the skillet handle.
Her heart thundering in her ears, Julia lifted the skillet.
Dear Lord, please help me. In Jesus’s holy name. Amen.
Chapter Three
The shrill of sirens split the air in the distance.
The shadow winced and turned toward the door.
Using the moment, Julia struck in the darkness but missed. Before she knew what had happened, she was shoved aside.
Thwack!
Julia dropped the skillet, hit the floor, and flinched as her palms connected with the hard surface. Sharp pain radiated through the rest of her body.
The back door slammed.
As Julia struggled to lift herself up, she distinguished the low growl of a motor through the blaring of sirens. But soon that sound disappeared. She managed to sit up, her hands still hurting, when the sirens stopped.
A loud knock on the front door made her look up.
“Police! Open the door.” Ivan’s worried voice filtered through the wood surface.
Julia scrambled to her feet, which felt like a pair of large noodles, wobbled to the entrance, and opened the door. A wave of relief—and something she wouldn’t dare to name— flushed inside her at seeing Ivan. The Rios Azules Police Department was small, so she shouldn’t be surprised that Ivan had been the one to respond to her 911 call.
But she couldn’t forget the doubt in his eyes when he hadn’t found the black sedan. How could she prove that there had been a break-in attempt to a person unlikely to believe her?
Her shoulders sagged, as if she carried a mountain on them. She missed the old Ivan, the one who used to look at her with trust and what she’d once considered tenderness and affection.
Ivan stepped inside, and his gaze swept over her. “Are you hurt?” Despite everything, he seemed to be truly concerned about her.
Her silly heart warmed a fraction. “I’m okay now. There was an intruder inside the house who got spooked by the sirens. Thank you for getting here so quickly.” Her voice trembled as she thought about what could’ve happened if he hadn’t.
“No need to thank me. That’s my job. I’ll check the perimeter.” Ivan left.
She cringed. Of course, he hadn’t arrived quickly because he cared about her but because he’d been doing his job. It would be foolish for her to think otherwise.
He returned soon. “All clear. No intruder hiding outside or in any of the rooms.” Worry flashed in his dark eyes. “Are you sure you’re not harmed in any way?”
Shrugging, she tried not to read too much into his question. “Just my hands a little. I fell when the intruder shoved me aside on the way out.”
Ivan took her hands in his, gently, like he used to do years ago. A pleasant wave ran through her. He turned her palms up and studied them. “Would you like me to take you to the doctor for a checkup?”
The air seemed to be charged with awareness, and she resisted the urge to move closer to him. Why was she still reacting to Ivan this way? She’d had a crush on him once upon a time. But she was wiser and older now. There was nothing between them anymore, not even friendship. Not when Ivan kept blaming her for his brother’s death.
She eased her hands out of his and stepped back, putting much-needed distance between them. “I’m fine. No need for a doctor.”
Ivan’s gaze darkened at her dismissal. “Right. Tell me everything that happened.”
She gestured for him to sit down and took a seat on the couch. He claimed a chair farthest from the couch, as if he didn’t want to be too close to her.
Julia told her story with as many details as she could remember. She mentioned the breeze, possibly from an open window.
&nbs
p; Ivan frowned. “I checked all the windows. They were closed and locked.”
His doubt cut deep.
“I heard a click. Whoever climbed in must’ve locked that window.” Julia lifted her chin in defiance.
“But there were no signs of glass forced inside or cut out. How did the intruder open the window from outside in the first place?”
Julia didn’t have an answer to that question. She swallowed a hard lump in her throat.
“Continue.” Ivan’s voice was neutral now. “And please tell me everything you remember about the intruder.”
Her voice flat, she told him the rest of the story. She gave the best description of the intruder she could, including a medium build and an approximate height, taller than Julia was, but shorter than Ivan was. But the perp’s face had been hidden by the hood, and it was too dark to notice any details.
The thought of Ivan not believing her hurt more than the experience she’d just gone through.
He stood up. “I’ll talk to your neighbors. Hopefully, somebody heard or saw something.”
Julia closed the door behind him and dropped onto the couch, fatigue taking over. Minutes ticked away. Why had Ivan come back to his duties so soon after his brother’s death? Why did he work double shifts? Maybe he wanted to bury himself in work so he wouldn’t have time to think about losing Seth. Julia shook her head in response to her own thoughts. Bury wasn’t a good choice of word.
When Ivan returned, his drawn expression made her stomach clench. She waved to the space near her on the couch.
Ivan sat down in the chair again. “The neighbors said they were asleep and didn’t see anything suspicious until the siren woke them up. One of your neighbors has a dog. I asked if she heard her dog bark. She didn’t.”
To think about it, Julia hadn’t heard the dog barking either, which was strange. Julia pursed her lips. “Didn’t you see a car driving away?”
He nodded. “I saw lights in the distance.”
“But you don’t believe me, do you?”
“I don’t let my personal feelings interfere with my job. I believe the facts.”
“And the facts are there’s no evidence to back up my story.” Julia sighed. “I know the number of violent crimes in my neighborhood in the last seven years was zero. It’s supposed to be safe and quiet. That’s why my grandparents moved here.” She’d inherited the cottage from them, and while she’d added several modern furniture pieces and a fresh coat of paint of cappuccino color, she’d changed little otherwise.
“So why do you think somebody would break into your home?”
“I don’t have a clue.” Julia looked him straight in the eye. “You’ve known me for many years. Have I ever lied to you?”
Ivan’s eyes narrowed. “People change. Especially after a traumatic experience. Are you sure it wasn’t a bad dream?”
The heat of indignation rose inside her. “I’m sure.”
“It would be a good idea to stay with one of your friends.” He paused, as if he wanted to say something else. Concern flashed in his eyes.
Julia hesitated. If she called Mari or Lydia, they’d be at Julia’s place in minutes, either one of them carrying a weapon. But the last thing Julia wanted to do was to put them in danger. Especially now, when Mari needed peace and quiet during a difficult pregnancy, and Lydia was fighting shadows of her past again.
Julia shook her head. “I don’t want to wake them up in the middle of the night. They’ve done enough for me already.”
“I’ll drive by as many times as I can. I’ll warn the next shift.” Ivan’s voice told her he still cared about her.
It stirred something deep inside her heart.
“Thank you.” Julia leaned closer to him, using the opportunity of having his full attention. Who knew when she’d be able to talk to him again? “Listen, I don’t want to hurt you. But I can’t help thinking about Seth. I wonder if his death in some way is connected to the death of Hank Gallagher, Seth’s mentor and boss, five days ago.”
Ivan winced at her mention of his brother, then seemed to consider her words. “My brother owed his position as the vice-president of Rowena’s Gourmet Chocolates to Gallagher, the founder of the company. But Gallagher’s drowning in his own swimming pool was ruled an accident.”
“Based on Seth’s conversations with me, your brother seemed to think that Gallagher’s drowning was a bit… suspicious.”
Ivan rubbed his forehead. “He talked to me about Gallagher, too, though probably not as much as he talked to you. We weren’t as close as we used to be before I joined the army.” Guilt appeared in his eyes. “The day before Seth died, he asked me to look into Gallagher’s death.”
Hope grew inside her chest. Despite his doubts and suspicions about her, Ivan could agree to them working together, for the sake of truth. “Did you have a chance to do that?”
“I started to but didn’t find anything suspicious. I made an appointment to talk to Gallagher’s widow, but it’s too late now. Maybe I let my brother down.”
Julia longed to reach out for Ivan’s hand to comfort him. But fear of being rejected held her back. The truce between them was too fragile to risk a wrong move. She chose her words carefully. “We both let Seth down. But now we need to find out what exactly happened. I know it must be difficult for you. But would it be possible to look through Seth’s papers? Maybe through his phone and laptop if we could guess the password?”
There was a pause. Then Ivan said slowly, “I’ll try.”
Deep inside his eyes, she glimpsed the Ivan he’d been before Seth’s death. The one who’d held her close at her grandfather’s funeral. The one who’d brought her medicine when she’d been sick with the flu. The one who’d touched her hand at the movies and made her breath quicken.
The one who’d kissed her with such sweet abandonment when they’d been fifteen that she’d been naïve enough to believe they could have a future together…
Ivan got up, and she rose to her feet, as well, and stepped to him.
For several long moments, no words passed between them. Julia stared into his brown eyes, without blinking, silently asking him to trust her. She wanted to be there for him the way he’d been there for her. She couldn’t take away his pain, but maybe she could make it a little more bearable with emotional support. She knew how much it hurt to lose a loved one. The memory she’d worked so hard to forget flashed in her mind, another death mirroring the way Seth had died.
Her father sunken in a chair, a puddle of blood near him, and her own shriek deafening her…
Holding her breath, without saying anything, Julia pleaded with Ivan to believe her.
She guessed the exact moment something inside him shifted, making the intense gaze of his dark eyes a fraction softer. He laced his fingers through hers, and a jolt passed through her at his touch.
Julia released her breath. “I’m glad you believe me and not that letter.”
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, because his eyes hardened again. Ivan let her hand go and moved away. Her heart dropped to the floor. Ivan was there with her, but at the same time, he was further away than when he’d been stationed overseas.
“Good-bye, Julia.” A moment later, he was gone.
She winced as he closed the door, the sound echoing through the emptiness inside her.
***
The next day, on Saturday morning, Julia glanced out the window. Clouds hung heavy with the threat of rain. Julia’s mood matched the weather.
Well, her mood had improved slightly after Mari and Lydia had brought breakfast to cheer her up. The scents of tortillas, barbacoa, and coffee still hung in the air, even half an hour after Julia’s friends had left, with the promise to check on her later.
Why was she always losing people she loved? Some of them died, and some of them— like her mother and Ivan—had walked away. It didn’t take a genius or an analytical mind like hers to figure out that she’d developed a fear of abandonment.
Julia thr
ew the empty containers in the trash, wishing she could discard her fears as easily. She’d been grateful for the Danger Girls, but a feeling of premonition squeezed her rib cage painfully.
Julia said a prayer for Ivan. After a hesitation, she prayed for her mother. Her grandma had always said that the best way to forgive someone was to pray for them. The tight band around Julia’s lungs let go a bit.
Then she brushed her hair and studied her reflection in the mirror. With long red hair, large eyes, and a lovely face, she knew she was attractive. But Julia wasn’t a raving beauty. And neither did she have her mother’s flirting skills or her penchant to jump from one relationship to another. On the contrary, Julia had avoided relationships, worn modest clothes and little makeup, and hadn’t flirted with guys.
Therefore, she didn’t get why she’d gained the reputation of a heartbreaker in high school. Julia had been unable to shake that reputation no matter what she’d done. If she’d refused to go out with a guy, she’d been labeled a heartbreaker. If she’d accepted an invitation only to find out she’d been a trophy to show off to other boys and had broken off with that person, she’d been called the same. Julia had heard many girls in school, then in college, had envied her popularity among guys. But often she’d wished she’d been less pretty and people would just let her be.
The situation had gone from unpleasant to dangerous when the biggest bullies in school had started to ask her out. Surely, Julia would’ve gotten beaten up for refusing them if not for Ivan or Mari. Ivan had made it clear that anyone who’d dared to even look at Julia the wrong way would have to deal with him first. And Mari’s loyalty to the Danger Girls and her karate skills had been legendary.
Julia put the brush aside and headed to the couch. Somebody had used her notoriety as a heartbreaker to throw the blame on her in Seth’s death. And because she’d dared to challenge it, the same person might be after her to silence her forever.
A shiver ran down her back, despite the warm day.
Julia sank onto the couch, events of the night before running through her mind. She wished she’d had a chance to see the intruder better, as well as the car parked behind the fence that the perp had used to get away.
