* * * *
Getting back to the truck, we realized we were one seat short, so I got in the back and scrunched up next to Molly. Luckily Mum and Dad’s house wasn’t too far away.
“I’m actually glad you came when you did. Ben wasn’t showing me a good time, if you know what I mean. Those pink tablets aren’t what they are cracked up to be,” said Mabel.
“What pink tablets Grandma?” I asked.
“You know, the ones that make his bits stand to attention.”
“Do you mean the blue tablets?” asked Danny.
“Oh. Maybe that’s why they didn’t work then,” she said thoughtfully.
This was all way too much information for me.
“Grandma, doesn’t the Church frown upon sex outside of marriage?” asked Molly.
“Well, the rules are more like guidelines at my age. You’ve just got to take the opportunity when it’s there. I mean, he could be dead tomorrow.” There’s a thought.
By the time we’d dropped Grandma home and got back to my place it was nearly midnight. As I was waving everybody goodnight, I noticed the black sedan pull away from the curb and slowly disappear into the night.
Chapter Eighteen
Standing in my shower, the following morning, I looked out over the back yard and groaned. That was it, this grass had to be mowed. I could put it off no longer. Another one of the disadvantages of showering on the back deck is that I have to look at the grass. And the weeds. And the crumbling fence. It didn’t make for a good start to the day.
I decided I needed to borrow Dad’s mower and would ask Riley if I could borrow his truck so I could pick it up. I also decided that once this job was over, I would have to give Riley a huge bonus. He’d done so much more for me than we’d originally agreed on. Luckily for me, Riley was very easy going and agreed to pick me up at nine am.
By the time we had picked up the mower, I’d listened to a lecture from Mum about the way ‘I look at Riley and please remember I have a lovely boyfriend’, and made it back to the house I was even less enthused about starting the job at hand. Plus, starting Dad’s mower was always a bitch. I’m pretty sure the mower’s as old as I am and only likes to be started by a male. I’d long ago realized that was because the ripcord was longer than my arm and I just couldn’t pull it far enough to start the damn thing. However, not one to be beaten, I gave it my all today. Twenty minutes later, I was kicking the stupid mower and cursing when I heard my neighbor call over the fence.
“Yoo Hoo,” called Hazel with a little wave. Great.
“Hi, Hazel, how are you?” I called back. She waved me over to where she was standing. Looking around, I could come up with no excuses not to go, so I reluctantly walked over to her.
“I was wondering if you’ve seen a large, ginger cat hanging around?” she asked.
“Why’s that?” The large, ginger cat in question was at present sound asleep on my bed.
“Well, I happened to be looking out my back window the other night and saw him toileting in my garden again. If I catch it, I’m calling the pound,” she said with a huff. Looking at my garden and then at hers, I could understand why Cat preferred hers.
“I’ll keep my eye open for it,” I smiled, making a mental note to keep Cat inside for a while.
“I hope you don’t mind me saying,” she said, leaning in towards me and lowering her voice, “but you are a busy girl on the man front, aren’t you? I don’t know how you have the energy.”
What? Was she kidding? It’s been that long since I’ve had a man—except for that one unmemorable night with Scott recently—that I can hardly remember what passion felt like. Dreams involving Riley do not count, okay?
“What do you mean?” I asked, a bit confused.
“Well, it’s not good for the neighborhood, you know. Oh, don’t look like you don’t know what I’m talking about. First there’s the Mercedes, then there’s this one,” she said, pointing to Riley’s truck, “and then there’s the black car that’s always parked out front.”
Whoa, slow down a minute. “Which black car are you talking about?” I asked.
“The one that always parks opposite your drive. I know he’s with you because we never saw him before you moved in, so please don’t deny it.”
“How often do you see this car?” I asked.
“Well, most nights since you moved in. I see this truck move out and the black one move in. You’re not running some sort of business are you?” she asked, looking horrified.
What the ...? “No!” What sort of a person did she think I was? I mean I know she didn’t like me that much, but seriously?
“Well, you don’t exactly conduct yourself properly, do you? First I see you take your pants off at the front door, and then we have to put up with you showering outside. I mean, my husband doesn’t want to see you naked in the backyard. And I’ve seen some of the people you entertain.”
“What do you mean by that? The only people who come over are Riley and my family. And if your husband doesn’t want to watch me showering—in my swim suit I might add—then tell him to stay inside at seven in the morning and six in the evening.” With this I turned on my heel and stomped towards the house.
“Riley!” I yelled. I could hear him banging around in the bathroom upstairs, so up I stomped. “When is my bath coming back?”
Riley sat back on his heels. He’d been tiling the bathroom floor. “They said it would be about a week. Why, what’s wrong?”
“My neighbor is a pervert and his wife is a bitch!” I said. I’m not sure Riley was taking this seriously as he had a big smile on his face. “And the black sedan has been parked outside every night since I moved in.” This removed the smile. I retold the conversation I’d just had with Hazel.
“Can you believe the nerve of her? She actually asked me if I was running a business selling my body!”
“Maybe I should have a chat with her. See if she got the license plate number.” He was obviously more concerned about the sedan than my reputation.
About twenty minutes later he was back. “Hazel seems like a nice lady.” He smiled. “She invited me in, gave me a coffee and cake.”
“Maybe she wouldn’t be so upset if it was you showering on the back deck,” I snarled.
“Lizzie, Lizzie. There’s no need to be jealous. She’s not my type,” he laughed.
“Did her snooping come to any good?” I asked, referring to the license plate.
“No. She thought it was just another of your boyfriends. She was a bit concerned that I didn’t know about the others.” He started to chuckle. I have to say it is a particularly sexy chuckle, all deep and throaty.
“Geez, I should be so lucky,” I said, more to myself than Riley.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“Seriously though, this guy worries me. Too many things have been happening for all this to be coincidental. I’m going to talk with Jared again. Keep your doors and windows locked when you’re alone and don’t shower unless I’m here.”
“Do you think this guy wants to hurt me?” I asked, suddenly scared, real fear creeping in.
“No, I think he’s just watching you for some reason. As for the shower, from what your neighbor tells me, it’s a pretty good show.”
Chapter Nineteen
The rest of the weekend went pretty quick and uneventfully, and before I knew it, Monday had arrived. Stupid me had organized with Molly to go shopping in the city for a new bag, wallet and phone to replace the ones which were stolen. Don’t get me wrong, it could be fun shopping with Molly, just as long as she was the one spending the money. But it could also be a bit stressful. Sometimes I felt like her bag lady, my only purpose in life being someone to hold and carry everything she bought, while I followed her around like a lost puppy. By the time we were heading home, my feet were killing me, my back was aching and I had a serious tension headache brewing behind my eyes. The traffic was busy, but I didn’t care. Sitting bumper to
bumper with the bus in front of me, I let out a contented sigh. I had survived another shopping day with Molly.
“How’s the hunt going for the owner of the ring?” she asked, closing her phone and turning towards me.
“Not great,” I admitted. “Riley gave the ring and letters to his brother Jared to see if he could dig anything up, and I lost the only photo I had when my bag was stolen. We did take the ring to Brian Hogan for a valuation, though. Do you remember him, Molly? Mum used to go in there when we were kids. He still remembered who I was and I haven’t been in there since Billy bought me that friendship ring when I was fourteen.”
“I remember that ring. It was seriously ugly,” scoffed Molly. I laughed.
“Yeah, I know. At the time I thought it was so romantic and beautiful, though.”
“Whatever happened to Billy?”
“He broke my heart and moved to Canada with his family about a month after giving me that ring. He was the first in a long list of men who broke my heart, but he was the only one who bought me a ring.” I shrugged, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel, getting a little impatient, as I’d been stuck behind a bus for the last ten minutes. “I’ve still got it, you know.” I laughed, indicating and changing lanes, hoping to get around the bus before he stopped at the next bus stop. Looking in my mirror, I noticed about two cars back was a black sedan that looked awfully like the one that had been stalking me. I felt my heart skip a beat.
“It’s funny how we hang onto those things, isn’t it? I’ve still got my first piece of jewelry a boy ever bought me as well,” said Molly, completely unaware of my erratic heartbeat.
We were in the city, so surely it couldn’t be the same black car, I thought. There must be hundreds of them driving around. And how would he have found me? Though, my car was pretty easy to spot. Driving around the bus, I pulled back into the lane and watched my rear vision mirror to see what happened. Sure enough, it followed me, all the time keeping at least one car between us, meaning I couldn’t get a look at the driver.
Hmm. I could hear Molly chatting away about one of her ex-boyfriends, but I wasn’t exactly listening. My mind was on full alert to see what the black car would do.
A few minutes later, he’d done nothing. He was still there. Okay, stop being so ridiculous, Lizzie. How the hell would the driver of that black sedan have followed me? Molly and I had been in loads of shops today, there was no way we’d been followed. Even I had trouble following Molly around and I was right next to her.
Taking the next left turn, I checked my mirror just in case. Two seconds later, I noticed the black sedan make the turn. There were no other cars between us now, but it was still too far behind me to see the driver. So I slowed up a bit to allow him to get closer. But he kept the same distance back.
Now that alone made the alarm bells in my head start to clang. Everyone, and I mean everyone, in the city was always in a hurry to get somewhere. There was no such thing as a slow driver.
Taking a deep breath, I thought, okay, let’s see if it is him. I’d been living and working here for the last ten years and I knew these streets pretty well, so at the last minute, I pulled into a small one-way street on the right. Just as I was turning, I looked in my mirror and saw the black car pull across two lanes of traffic, cutting off anybody in his path. Okay, it was him. Damn. What the hell was I supposed to do now?
Molly was still chattering about some ex-boyfriend, but I had absolutely no idea who she was talking about. First of all, my mind was solely on the black car following me and second, Molly had that many ex-boyfriends I couldn’t keep up.
Reaching the T section at the end of the street, I made a quick decision and turned left, earning me the blast of someone’s horn as I cut them off. Once around the corner, I started darting between cars at every chance I got, hoping I would lose the car tailing me. Sure enough, the black car followed.
“What the hell are you doing?” asked Molly, holding on to the door handle on one particularly sharp turn.
“I’m being followed by that black sedan,” I replied, my heart racing. “I’m trying to lose him.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Lizzie. Why would anybody be following you?” Molly attempted to look over her shoulder, but I was changing lanes and turning corners so quickly it was hard for her to turn around.
“Yeah? Well watch in the side mirror and see what happens when I do this.” I jerked the wheel to the left and jumped into another bus lane. At the first opportunity, the black car did the same. I took a few more left turns, pretty much driving in one big circle and watched as he stayed behind me the whole way.
Molly had gone quiet. I think she was just hanging on and maybe saying the odd prayer when finally, the driver of the car had enough. Stopping at a red light, the black car pulled up alongside me. I watched as the passenger window rolled down, and I looked in to see that the driver was the same bald man who had been involved in the minor car accident. The same one who I thought was my neighbor. Only this time, hanging on his rear vision mirror, was a very expensive pair of pink Victoria’s Secrets panties. The same ones that had gone missing from my house at the time of the break in.
Feeling the blood drain from my face, I looked back at the man to see him smiling. Reaching over, he unhooked them from the mirror and pulled them towards him, caressing the fabric as he did so. I felt like the world had slowed down and everything was moving in slow motion as I watched him pull the fabric towards him and inhale deeply, all the while keeping the self-satisfied smile plastered to his face. As the light turned green, he dropped them in his lap, blew me a kiss and sped away.
I took a few deep, shuddering breaths and tried to relax my fingers which were now white-knuckled on the wheel. The cars behind me honked their horns for me to move, but my brain wasn’t sending the right signals to my feet. In fact, my brain wasn’t really doing much. I just sat and stared after the car as he drove away, trying desperately to control my breathing. Molly, who’d been sitting very quietly, reached over and grabbed my hand.
“Lizzie, we have to move. You can’t stay in the middle of the road.”
Cars were pulling around me and a few people were giving me impolite hand gestures. Finally my brain started to function once again and I managed to move my little car out of the way. Pulling over to the side of the road, I placed my head on my hands and tried to control the shaking.
“What the hell was that about?” yelled Molly.
I quickly explained the situation with the black sedan and how it had been stalking me for a while. “I don’t suppose you got his license plate number?” I asked.
“No. Why didn’t you tell me about this before now?” asked Molly, her voice going up a few octaves.
“Because I didn’t really believe it. Why would someone break in to my house and follow me?”
“When did all this start happening?”
“Not long after I moved into the house.”
“Do you think this has something to do with the house, or do you just have an admirer?”
“Well, if he’s an admirer he has a strange way of showing it!” I hadn’t told her about the panties being mine. That was freaking me out more than anything else. Putting the car back into gear, I started the drive to Molly’s house, checking for the black sedan the whole way there.
* * * *
It was dark by the time I dropped Molly home and drove into my street, and tonight the moon was hiding behind the clouds. It was actually one of those beautiful nights when the nearly full moon backlights the sky behind the dark black clouds so that the edge of the cloud is illuminated and casting an eerie glow. I would have liked to have sat for a while enjoying the effect, but the anxious feeling sitting in the pit of my stomach was totally ruining it for me.
It was darker in my driveway than normal, adding to my anxiety, as the streetlight was out, and as I turned off my headlights and sat looking at my house, I thought how dark and uninviting it looked. Just the idea of leaving the safety of my car didn�
�t hold appeal but I knew I couldn’t sit there forever. However, as I was contemplating the walk to my front door, the clouds miraculously parted and lit up the sky, giving me enough light to notice the black sedan pulling into the street behind me. It had no headlights on and was almost silent. If it hadn’t been for the unexpected moonlight, I would never have seen it until it was too late.
Shit. What the hell was wrong with me? I’d spent so much energy trying to lose him this afternoon, I had actually forgotten he knew where I lived. Of course he was going to turn up here eventually.
Watching my rear-view mirror, I saw the car door open and the bald-headed man start his walk across the street. Okay, if I was ever going to panic, now was the time. Quickly locking my doors and using two hands to put my key back in the ignition, I started the engine and put the car in reverse. It was as my heart was drumming a beat even Led Zeppelin would be proud of, that I planted my foot on the accelerator and squealed my way out of the drive, nearly running over the rubbish bins sitting at the curb in the process. Bald man realized what was happening and ran back toward his car, but my little Mini was too quick. Rapidly changing through the gears and barely slowing for the corners, I sped away from my house as quickly as humanly possible, not stopping until I was completely sure I’d lost him.
“What am I going to do?” I asked out loud, nearly crying. I’ll be honest and tell you that there was that much adrenalin pumping through me, I was barely able to slow down. My mind was racing at a million miles an hour. In the past I’d never had to choose between the fight or flight thing, but I now knew I was excellent at the flight part.
Okay, like Mum always told me, deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth. I practiced this for a few minutes and tried to think clearly. If he’d been following me long enough he knew where my parents lived and would probably go there looking for me. The same with Danny and Molly’s, and I didn’t want anyone to get hurt in any of this, which left me really unsure of my next move.
The Westport Mysteries Boxed Set Page 15
