The Westport Mysteries Boxed Set

by Beth Prentice

  Riley looked at me and smiled. “If it’s okay, Allison, I’m going to stay with Lizzie for this visit.”

  “Of course it’s alright. I’d love to have you.”

  I bet she would.

  Walking ahead of them both, I entered the little room and sat down on the chair provided, and looked around me. I’m not sure exactly what I expected but this wasn’t really it. The room was painted a very subtle latte color with a plush chocolate-colored carpet. The chairs were white, high-backed and comfortable, with a small glass table between myself and where Allison would sit. The white shelving on the wall behind her held an assortment of books, flowers and a burning candle that filled the room with the overwhelming smell of gardenia.

  Now I usually liked the smell of gardenia but as there was not a single window in the room, I could feel my eyes sting and a headache start. But then, the headache could be from my unusually high blood pressure at the moment. Riley sat in the chair next to me and I watched as Allison sat and crossed one long leg over the other, her peep-toed Jimmy Choo showing her pedicure to perfection.

  “Now Lizzie, what brings you here today?”

  “Umm…I’m…umm...having some nightmares,” I said, my voice croaky. I cleared my throat, hoping I sounded a lot more confident than I felt.

  “Really? Well, why don’t we start with some basic information about yourself. What’s your family situation, where you live, that kind of thing?”

  I spent the next ten minutes telling her my life story including what happened with my stalker. “To be honest with you, until I bought the house, I’d never had nightmares before.”

  “Okay. What we are going to do is...” she responded, opening a folder on her lap “…I’m going to give you this questionnaire. I want you to fill it out for me, and then I’ll get a better indication of how you’re really feeling.” she explained, passing me some paperwork. I flicked through it and noted the forty-two questions.

  “I want you to answer them and circle the statement that applied to you most in the past week. And there’s no right or wrong answers. Just be completely honest.”

  I picked up the pen from the table and started to read the questions. Allison turned her attention to Riley and lowered her voice.

  “So Riley, did you ever marry?” she whispered.

  I noted Riley shake his head.

  “I tried it once,” she continued. “Didn’t go for it much really. He just wasn’t the right man. I think the right man got away from me years ago.”

  What? I looked up from the paperwork I was meant to be filling out. Allison ran her fingers through her hair and I watched as it fell back into place perfectly, her white smile locked onto Riley.

  “Oh sorry, Lizzie. Please keep writing,” she said. “Maybe we should step outside Riley and let Lizzie concentrate. That questionnaire is very important to her treatment.”

  Riley looked at me, worried.

  “Sure.” He stood and took my hand. “I’ll be right outside. Yell out if you need me, okay?”

  “No, you don’t have to go. I can concentrate just fine,” I said, holding his hand tightly.

  “Really, Lizzie,” interrupted Allison. “You shouldn’t have any distractions.” With that, Riley squeezed my hand and she ushered him out the door, closing it behind her.

  Damn. I’d already decided I didn’t like Allison and that I probably didn’t want to tell her my darkest fears, so what was the point of filling out this stupid questionnaire? I stood and opened the door. Allison had her back to me, standing right between Riley and myself.

  “Are you okay?” asked Riley, realizing I was staring at them.

  “Yes, but I just remembered I was supposed to do that thing for Mum. Maybe I could rebook this appointment and come back another day?” I had every intention of cancelling the rebooking.

  “What thing?” asked Riley.

  “Oh, you know…I told you about it last night.”

  Shit. Why did men have to be so slow on the uptake some days? Surely Riley could tell I was trying my hardest to make something up just to get out of here. He looked at me, his eyes soft. He knew.

  Allison moved towards me. “Lizzie, it’s really important you put your health before anything else. I’m sure your mum won’t mind waiting a little longer for you to do whatever it is that needs doing.” She moved to close the door again. “The quicker you answer those questions, the quicker it will be finished and you can go and do whatever you need to.” She walked close to me, forcing me backwards into the room. When I was in far enough, she smiled and closed the door.

  I sighed and sat back down. Maybe I should send Riley a text message asking him to help me out of here. Quickly pulling out my phone I sent a text to Riley. Get me out of here, I typed and pressed send. I jiggled my leg as I waited for the door to open. Instead my phone vibrated, indicating I’d received a message. I swiped it open.

  No xoxo.

  Bloody hell. Now what? I sighed again and looked at the paper still in my hands. As much as I hated to admit it, maybe Allison was right—the sooner I completed it, the sooner I could go home.

  All right…here goes. It had a rating scale, zero meaning it didn’t apply to me at all and three meaning that it applied to me very much. Okay, this didn’t seem too hard. I started to read the questions but I could hear Allison’s voice from outside the room.

  I tried to shake off the jealousy and concentrate, my breathing getting shallow and rapid.

  She laughed, the sound resembling a tinkling bell. My heart missed a beat.

  Concentrate Lizzie.

  Okay. Question one—I find myself getting upset by trivial things. That’s definitely a zero. Not me at all.

  Riley’s laugh echoed through the walls. The palpitation caused my breath to hitch.

  This questionnaire was really stupid. No I didn’t have a dry mouth. I reached for my glass of water. Well, not usually anyway. I circled a few more zeros.

  The outer room had gone silent and I wondered what they were doing. It was so obvious they had a history, and I imagined Allison’s long legs wrapped around Riley as the thought of her kissing him made my stomach flutter.

  I stood, moved to the door and pressed my ear against it. I could hear Riley’s voice, low and sexy and my imagination went into over-drive. I knew what it felt like to have that voice whisper in my ear, I knew how it felt for him to look at me with that intimate smile he has. Yes, his mega-watt smile was enough to stop me in my tracks, but the small intimate smile stops the world turning. Had he ever given her that smile?

  My heart was palpitating at an alarming rate as my breathing became ragged. Stop Lizzie, and concentrate on the questions.

  I sat back down and looked at the paper. Okay. Question six—I tended to over react to situations…zero.

  I hurriedly circled answers, not really caring about what I was doing.

  Question twenty—I felt scared without any good reason. Nope.

  Question twenty-eight—I felt I was close to panic. Never.

  Question thirty-nine—I found myself getting agitated. Not until I came here! I circled the zero so hard I ripped the paper. Damn.

  Question forty-one—I experienced trembling (e.g. in the hands). I noticed the pen shake as I circled zero and had a moment of thinking I really should go back and answer these questions again. But it didn’t matter anyway. I wasn’t ever coming back here. As far as I could tell, I felt a lot more stable before I walked in this door so obviously counseling wasn’t for me.

  Circling my last zero, I threw the pen on the table and stood. I pulled the door open in a hurry and braced myself for what I would see, my mind filled with images of Allison’s blonde hair running through Riley’s fingers as he looked at her intimately.

  I stepped into the waiting room to find Allison quietly clicking on her keyboard and Riley to be noticeably absent. She looked up as I approached.

  “Have you finished already?” she asked, her perfectly shaped eyebrows furrowing.

&n
bsp; “Um…yes. Where’s Riley?” I asked.

  “He had to make some calls so he stepped outside. He said to meet him in the car when you’re ready.”

  Oh, so I really had nothing to worry about? “Well, I answered all the questions,” I said, handing her the paperwork.

  “That’s great. I’ll make another appointment for you and we’ll go over the results then. That gives me time to evaluate this and write a plan of how your treatment should go.”

  “Oh, don’t hurry,” I replied as she flicked through the questions, a confused expression on her face. “In fact, I’ll call you and make the booking when I’ve consulted my diary,” I said hurriedly, grabbing and turning the door handle. “It was lovely meeting you,” I lied as I quickly opened the door and made a hasty retreat.

  Sucking in the fresh air, I took a deep breath and instantly felt my heart rate decrease.

  Chapter Six

  Tonight Danny, Andrew and Molly were all coming to my house for Friday night get-together. I had told them that Riley and I were sleeping at his house now, but Danny wanted to sit back and watch the groups of people gathering around my now famous hole in the ground.

  We were all sitting on the back deck, a large pizza on the table between us. Thankfully the hordes seemed to have better things to do this particular Friday night.

  “You know,” said Danny, picking a piece of pepperoni off his pizza and feeding it to Harper, “I can’t believe all the secrets held by this house. I thought you said the previous owner, Avis, was an old spinster.”

  “Yes, she was. I guess it doesn’t mean she was boring,” I replied.

  “Danny, stop feeding Harper! He’s on a diet,” chastised Molly.

  “He’s fine. Leave the poor little thing alone,” said Danny, giving Harper a pat.

  “Have you ever found out any more about Avis?” asked Andrew.

  “Not since we found who had given her the engagement ring.”

  “Maybe you should do some investigating. Find out some of her history,” suggested Danny, sneaking Harper another piece of his pizza. “Maybe you’ll find out why those bones were there. I figured she would have lived here at the time they were buried.”

  “Lizzie needs to leave it all alone,” warned Riley, his body tensing next to me. “Let the Police do their job.”

  “Yeah, but aren’t you curious?” asked Danny.

  “I guess so,” I replied thoughtfully. Riley looked at me, his brow creased.

  “Please leave it alone,” he said quietly. “It’s history. It doesn’t matter to us why they’re there.”

  “It probably can’t hurt,” I said.

  “You’re still having nightmares about the last time this house uncovered a secret, remember?”

  “Oh, that’s right,” said Molly. “How did the counseling session go?”

  I looked at Riley. He still thought that Allison was going to call me to book another appointment.

  “Oh, you know…fine,” I replied, not looking him in the eye. “Does anyone want another drink?” I jumped up and moved towards the door, hoping to quickly change the subject.

  “Yes please,” answered Andrew. “But something non-alcoholic. I’m the designated driver tonight.”

  “Just bring the bottle out here,” called Danny to my retreating back.

  I closed the kitchen door behind me and moved to the refrigerator. I was about to open it and grab the bottle of wine when something caught my eye. I moved closer to the table and put my empty glass on it, and looked down at the floor. Sprayed over an area of about two square feet, was blood. Now I don’t mean a couple of little droplets like someone had cut their finger, I mean it was sprayed from one wall to the next. Just like the night I’d had the nightmare.

  I jumped away from it, looking around wildly, wondering where it had come from.

  “Riley!” I screamed. “Riley, come here quick!” Thankfully Riley was fast on his feet and was next to me within seconds, followed by Danny, Andrew and Molly.

  “What the…?” he asked.

  “Is that blood?” asked Molly.

  “It looks like blood,” said Danny, his face screwing up as he spoke.

  “But where did it come from?” asked Andrew.

  “It’s your mystery dead body,” said Danny seriously. “It’s not happy you dug it up.”

  “I didn’t dig it up!” I yelled. “Harper did.”

  “Doesn’t matter, it’s not happy.”

  “It is not from the dead body,” answered Andrew, exasperated.

  “Well, how else would you explain it?” replied Danny.

  Molly remained quiet, but she did pick Harper up and cradled him under her arm.

  “I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation,” said Andrew.

  I really hoped so.

  “Go ahead then, tell us what it is,” challenged Danny, his hand on his hip.

  Andrew was stumped. He honestly had no idea what it was from.

  “It looks like someone has put it in an aerosol container and sprayed it,” commented Riley, crouched down, looking at it closer.

  “Well that’s a stupid thing to say,” said Danny. “Who would have done that?” He looked around our group, his eyes stopping on Molly.

  “Don’t look at me!” said Molly. “I didn’t do it.”

  “Is it definitely blood?” I asked, hoping this was some sort of practical joke.

  “I think so. I mean, I’m not positive, but I think it is,” said Riley.

  “I told you it’s the ghost of the dead body,” said Danny.

  I stood and looked at him silently. Of course, I knew it wasn’t a ghost that had done this, but that didn’t stop the hair on my arms rising to the occasion.

  * * * *

  Later that night, tucked up next to Riley on his couch, I thought over the events of the last few days, and about all the secrets my house held.

  “Lizzie, sit still please,” said Riley, placing his hand on my knee to stop it jiggling.

  “Sorry.”

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked, muting the ads on the television and turning to face me.

  “Oh, you know, just how much I want to sell that house.” I smiled weakly as Riley took my hand and squeezed it.

  “It’s nearly finished. I reckon another month and I’ll have the kitchen out and the new cabinets in. Once we tidy up the garden, it’ll be finished.”

  “But who’ll want to buy it with a ream of police tape strung across the yard?”

  “That won’t be there forever.”

  “The fact that the body has now been removed, does that mean that it’s no longer someone’s grave?”

  “It’s no longer a grave,” Riley reassured me.

  “How long do you think it will take until they find out who it belonged to?”

  Riley shrugged. “No idea, but it doesn’t really matter does it?” he said, turning his attention back to the television and pressing the remote as Spiderman shot webs across the screen.

  “Of course it matters,” I said. “How can you think it doesn’t matter?”

  “The body’s gone and as soon as the police have finished, the tape will be gone as well. Then we’ll fill in the hole and plant some trees.” This all seemed so easy for Riley.

  “Riley, someone was buried in my back garden. Of course it’s a big deal.”

  “Lizzie, it happened years before we were even born.”

  “Yes, I know that, but it matters. Whoever it was, they were still human and deserved to be buried appropriately.”

  Riley turned and looked at me, his eyes softening. He put his hand on my knee and squeezed. “I’m sure the police will find out who it belonged to and contact any family that may be around today. They’ll see to it that it’s buried appropriately. If it makes you feel better we’ll go to the funeral. Anyway, when’s your next appointment with Allison? Maybe you could talk to her about it.”

  I shrugged and chewed on my thumb nail.

  “Lizzie, you are going
back aren’t you?” Riley looked at me, his eyebrow raised.

  “You know, you’re really cute when you do that,” I said, smiling.

  “Don’t change the subject.”

  Hmm, I needed another tactic. “I’m not. It’s just that you look kinda sexy when you do that eyebrow thing.” I moved closer and nibbled on his ear. If all else fails, you know what they say?

  Thankfully, it worked a treat. Riley shivered and moved his mouth to mine. All thoughts of Allison forgotten.

  * * * *

  It took until Monday, but Allison did start calling me. If only I’d known about her and Riley when I’d filled in my personal details, I would have given her someone else’s number. Also I should have saved her number to my contact list, as when she rang all my caller ID showed was a phone number. So I stupidly answered the call.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Lizzie,” said a voice I didn’t recognize.

  “Who’s calling please?”

  “It’s Allison. Allison Greene.”

  “Oh, hi Allison.” Shit. “What can I do for you?” I asked.

  “Well, I’ve just checked my diary and you haven’t rebooked your appointment yet. I have a cancellation tomorrow morning and I was hoping you’d be free to take it.” She sounded really friendly, and I told myself to calm down and not over react. “Riley told me you’re still having nightmares and I wanted to help you. I know that with a bit of time and the right techniques, we can make them stop.”

  “Oh really?” I thought of last night and how I really did want the nightmares to end. I just didn’t want Allison to be the one to help me.

  “The sooner we start the better,” she continued. “So I’ll put you into that spot tomorrow at 10.30. Try to arrive about five minutes early, that way you can relax before we start our session. See you then.”

  She ended the call before I even had a chance to say bye. But hang on a second…did she say Riley had told her? Why was she talking to Riley about me? And why didn’t I just say no to the appointment? Damn she was good.

  I threw the phone back into my handbag and sighed. I’d have to have a chat with Riley later and ask him why he was talking to Allison, and maybe get some more information as to how involved the two of them really were. That was not a conversation I was looking forward to. My stomach churned at the thought of it.