Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love

by Lora Lindy

  “Babe, he will make a mistake, they always do, right? I also know one of the reasons you are upset is because it involves me.”

  “Absolutely that’s true.” Mike finished organizing all his papers in an order so he could easily get to them. “How about we get something to eat?”

  “Sounds good to me,” she said.

  He took her hand as they walked in the kitchen and Mike grabbed plates for both of them. They scanned the leftovers and it was sparse; six pieces of chicken, two cups of beans and no coleslaw. Lana quickly grabbed some dressing out of the fridge and whipped a little more coleslaw.

  “You know Lana, you keep cooking like this and these guys will never catch this guy.”

  As they fed their faces, they shook their heads and mumbled that they would catch him.

  She honestly felt like a little kid amongst these strong pistol packing tall men. “Good grief guys, I thought they made them big in Texas, but you all take the cake. What did your mom feed you guys?”

  They just laughed and kept on eating. They grabbed all their goodies and went into the living room. Mike looked in the bucket of chicken and whispered. “I bet you’re a breast woman?”

  She smiled at him and whispered back. “No you are. Or at least you were earlier.”

  “What would give you that idea?”

  “I wouldn’t know.”

  “Can we talk since we are all alone?” Lana asked looking around to make sure no one could hear. The guys were great, but she needed their conversation to be private.

  “Sure baby.” Mike was all ears, but answered without missing out on one bite of the baked beans.

  “Why do you think this guy is after me? I know after seeing that video he probably is or why else would he be at the airport and go through all the trouble.” She played with her food.

  “I don’t know why honey. As soon as we figure out who he is, we will be able to determine more.”

  “I think I understand about the stalker and how he had his eye on me before the airport. I don’t understand why he’d go through this much trouble when I live alone. He could just wait until I got home.”

  “We can’t imagine what goes through their crazy minds. For him it might be the chase, for another stalker could watch for months or years and never bother the person they stalk. Some stalkers it escalates and some stalkers just go away and some shoot presidents.”

  “Are there any other alternatives besides stalking?”

  “We know it’s not an old boyfriend because you might know. We check spouses to see if he possibly hired a hit man. We also check close family members to see anything abnormal in their lives.”

  She was shocked by that statement. “Like what?”

  “This would not pertain to you, but it might be someone involved with drug dealing, or someone on drugs. I will assure you that while we sit here and I look at you and adore you, we continue to investigate. We have people in the office who are running checks on people close to you.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Don’t get upset, we have saved many lives by doing this. Most people don’t even know we are checking them out and you would have never known about me checking on you if I wouldn’t have told you.”

  “I don’t believe anyone I know and especially love could have anything to do with someone trying to kill me.”

  “I agree, but look at the bright side, they will be eliminated. They won’t even know we looked at them.”

  “Promise?”

  Mike pushed his plate to the side and put his elbow on the table and looked her in the eyes. “Promise, I told you I would tell you everything and I am. I told you I would protect you and I am. I told you I would never leave you and I haven’t.” He took a deep breath and finished. “And I told you I love you very much and I do forever.”

  “I love you to infinite.”

  About that time the men came into the kitchen one by one and brought their plates in and cleaned the kitchen. She was so impressed with them. Literally within five minutes the kitchen was spotless.

  All the men but Mike ate some cake and excused themselves to go home. Joe told Mike he needed to get some shut eye in the guest bedroom.

  Chapter 29

  Day 9

  4:30 a.m.

  The loud snoring woke Lana. Years of growing up Lana listening to her dad snore and it reminded her of a train. The family picked travel destinations and imagine their dad snoring took them to exotic places. She giggled remembering how they were tricked into learning the world map. Maybe it was her mom’s way of teaching her girls the different countries. Today she picked Italy as their travel destination. If Mike’s snoring was a train they would be in Rome by now. Going to Rome with him would be a dream come true. Maybe they could go there for a honeymoon. She felt sorry for Kathy, if he slept that hard when the babies were little, she was the only one who heard them cry.

  Even with a little nudging his snoring wasn’t going to stop. No one seemed to be stirring in the house. Lana thought about making a pot of coffee and enjoying the quiet.

  The house was dark and quiet so she crept around the kitchen, trying not to wake anyone. While waiting for the coffee to brew she rummaged through the fridge to see what she could munch on when Joe walked in from his bedroom. “Hey Joe, I made coffee, and I’m starving. I’m trying to find something to munch on, would you like to join me?” He was dressed nice, to her surprise. All the while she thought he was sleeping, he must have been showering. Jiminy crickets, these guys are early birds. She wondered if they ever slept.

  “I thought about running to the donut shop and buying some pastries. Everyone will be here shortly and when they get here they’ll eat everything in sight. If I get some now we can enjoy them. Any particular kind you want?”

  “You are right about that. Anything sounds good, what does everyone else want?”

  “They’re guys, they’ll eat anything.”

  She laughed and nodded knowing exactly what he meant. Instead of grabbing his coat and leaving, Lana noticed him shuffling his feet and lingering. “I can tell something is on your mind. Do you want to talk about it?”

  “I have something to ask you on a more personal note,” he said while his face turned red.

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s about a girl I’m dating.”

  “What about her?”

  “This is something I want to ask you and get your opinion from a woman’s perspective.”

  “I’m all ears.” She wanted to give Joe her undivided interest so she raised her finger to say hold on a minute. She poured them a cup of coffee and they both sat down on barstools.

  He stood in the kitchen and squirmed trying to decide to ask her or not. He trusted Lana would tell him the truth, and that’s what he needed. “I met this girl a few months ago and I was attracted to her from the minute we met.”

  “Where did you meet her?”

  “A party, a friend from college was having a fourth of July BBQ and she was there. I noticed her right away.”

  “Do you think she noticed you right away?” Being raised with sisters and having many male cousins. She knew those first glances were important. Then her heart fluttered as she remembered her first time seeing Mike. She was definitely right about that first glance.

  “I don’t think so, it was about an hour into the party and I kept looking at her and I never noticed her looking at me. I did notice her friends glance my way and they whispered to her. They probably told her I had been watching her. So she knew I had an interest in her.”

  “How did you meet her?”

  “I asked my friend to introduce us. We seemed to hit it off and I asked her for her number and she put her number in my cell phone. I called her and we went out a few times and then we started to date. But lately she hasn’t been returning my calls or it will be a few days later. And it seems she makes excuses not to go out with me.”

  “Have you discussed this with her?”

  “Yes.”
/>   “And what did she say?”

  “She told me she was really busy and she wanted to continue to date me and I needed to give her some space.”

  “What do you feel in your heart?”

  “I don’t think she wants to date me.”

  “So why do you keep calling her?”

  “Because when I’m with her I feel so alive and happy. It’s like you and Mike, when you two look at each other you can see so much love and happiness? I want what you have.”

  “Between Mike and me do you see the love and happiness as mutual?”

  “Yes, there’s no doubt in my mind. When Mike first mentioned you and I could tell he was smitten. In all honesty, I was worried. He never fell for anyone before, I’ve been with the team five years and you are the only one he ever showed an interest. I was afraid you didn’t feel the same. But when I saw the two of you together and there is so much care and love, I didn’t worry about it again.”

  “So what are you asking me?” She could see he cared for this girl and it’s so hard to deal with that first love especially if it’s one sided.

  “She told me she wanted to continue to see me, but her actions speak opposite, at least in my mind. From a woman’s perspective what do you recommend I do?”

  “Joe I think you have already answered that yourself. Since you want my opinion, I think you should move on and find another girl, one who appreciates you. If Mike calls me, I answer right away, or return the call immediately. He wouldn’t have to wait two or three days. Are you willing to live like this for a lifetime? She’s not going to change.”

  “I know,” he muttered almost whispering. He was whipped.

  “I will give you some advice from my life’s experience, and you can take this to the bank. A one sided relationship will not work. Only one party would be working on the relationship. If she cared for you like you care for her, she would be like you. She would feel alive and happy when she sees you, sees your number pop up on her phone, when she hears your voice, when the day ends and she knows she will get to see you. That’s how a relationship should be, to both people. One other thing I want to promise to you, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart. No matter how much it hurts you now, you will meet someone that has the mutual feeling. It may be five years, five days or five months, but it will happen. If you never talk to this girl again, it may hurt now, but later you will be glad.”

  “You’re right.”

  She could tell that might not have been the answer he had hoped for, but she wanted to be honest. “Who’s to say if you give her space, she might give you a call later when she realizes what a great guy you are. I hope by then you meet miss right.” She wanted him to have a little hope even though she knew in her heart she wasn’t the right girl for Joe.

  “Me too, I guess I just had to hear from someone I trusted to be honest.”

  “I bet if you told the men about this they would tell you to just get in her britches and move on to the next girl.”

  He laughed so hard while rolling his head back. “You are right. That’s exactly what they said.”

  “Joe, it is okay to give yourself some space to reflect. I think if you spend time away from her, you will look at everything differently. Now back to the problem at hand. I think chocolate covered donuts for the guys and I want cream cheese.” Seeing his face so sad reminded her of a beaten puppy.

  “Mike likes cream cheese too,” Joe said.

  “See another thing we have in common.”

  Joe teased her. “Height is not one thing you have in common.”

  “Hey now,” she barked at him.

  Out the door he went, laughing.

  Joe was a sweet kid, and she was right about her initial judgment of him. He was kind hearted without hesitation to show it.

  *****

  Mike crossed his arms and appeared to be deep in thought while scanning their suspect board. “Joe.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Let’s think about removing the three guys in jail and Tony from the board. Before we take them off have Sara cross check these guys one more time. Also run a check on family and friends to see if any piece of paper connects them to Lana.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “I don’t think they will find anything, but I would rather be safe than sorry. One more person I want Sara to check, Peter Waters. I want everyone and every account checked on him too. Maybe he knew who stole his identity.”

  “You got it.”

  Chapter 30

  9:14 a.m.

  Mike’s phone rang and he immediately pushed the green button. “Hi Sara what do you have for me?”

  “I have tons of stuff. Mike and you are working me to death.”

  “Hopefully your hard work paid off,” he answered while digging out his pen and pad to take notes.

  “As far as Tony, I cross reference everything I could find including every man, woman and pets. I found nothing out of the ordinary. I looked to see if any family or friends used credit cards or cell phone any place but here. They haven’t. I checked the other guys and looked where they were supposed to be, and they are clear too. All cell phone records confirm their whereabouts. As a matter of fact, all this information helped them more than hurt them. I hope this helps.”

  “What about Peter Waters?”

  “That’s a little harder. He was a salesman so he used his phone a lot and it will take awhile. Most of his calls were to strangers, but I’ll let you know as soon as we’ve checked out every caller.”

  “Thanks Sara as usual you are the best.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you have any news on the DNA?”

  “Nope,” she replied almost mad at them. They knew that information wouldn’t be in for a couple more days.

  “Then I take back the compliment you are the best.” The guys laughed.

  “I hear you guys,” she teased.

  “Keep me informed,” Mike said.

  “I sure will.”

  Mike looked at Joe and Raymond. “What do you think?”

  Raymond spoke first. “I don’t think these guys committed murder. The only crime they committed was being stupid.”

  Joe shook his head in agreement.

  “I think we need to put them in the not guilty file.”

  Everyone agreed.

  Chapter 31

  4:14 p.m.

  Lana could tell he was getting anxious to solve this case. He would stand and stare at their board for thirty minutes at a time. Sometimes he stood back and looked. Sometimes he got up close and looked at it. Right now he sat in the chair leaning back staring at it with his arms crossed. His yes fixated on the board and she could see his mind cranking. Lana walked over to the chair and started to message his shoulders.

  “Hey baby was that your sister-in-law on the phone yesterday?” Mike asked without taking his eyes off the board.

  “Yes, she wanted me to meet with the family about James’ will. Why do you ask?”

  “So what did you tell her?”

  She could tell he was a little nervous but she didn’t know why. “I told her I didn’t want anything of James’, and I would sign papers to give everything to her. Then I told her to overnight the papers to me. I need an address to email her. I forgot to ask you about that yesterday.”

  “How about we mail the papers to the Boston office and I’ll make sure it gets to you. I’ll write down the address and leave it by the computer for you.”

  “That sounds great.” She understood why she couldn’t receive papers at the beach house. Mike didn’t want anyone at this end of the road. Later she would email her the address. “Mike, how did you know I talked with Sharon yesterday?”

  “ESP, I’m just kidding. I opened the bedroom door and I heard you say Sharon. I didn’t want to interrupt your conversation, so I just shut the door quietly. I know you don’t get to talk to your family much considering our hectic week.”

  “Honey, you could have interrupted. You wanted to know about how
many cans of beans to open, didn’t you?”

  He smiled and answered. “Now how did you know?”

  “ESP, I know because I would have done the exact same thing. That’s another thing we have in common, ESP,” she giggled.

  He couldn’t help smiling at her. He leaned his head back to give her a quick kiss, and she obliged. “Honey you are so funny,” he said.

  “What are you doing? When I walked up you were intensely looking at the board.”

  “I’m trying to put everything together for Ken so we can figure out the next step or at least what’s going on in the killers mind.” The board was covered with people’s pictures, names and dates.

  “Well I’ll leave you alone and watch some TV.”

  “Baby, you don’t have to leave me alone.” He pulled up a chair next to him for her to have a seat. “You sit right there so I can sneak a kiss now and then.” He didn’t want her to be across the room watching TV. He wanted to be able to reach over and feel her warmth and see her smile. Mike had never felt love like this before, and he like it. Everything about their love was perfect. They had so much common ground. Neither smoked, both were educated, both had a sons and a daughter, and they both owned a Dodge truck. But most importantly they shared values, beliefs, spirituality, and love. Lana’s love went a step further, she loved everyone. Maybe that’s because she taught school or maybe it was because of her upbringing. Either way, he loved that part of her. He also noted they were opposite in some ways. She was outgoing and liked to meet new people, he didn’t. She took everyone and everything at face value, he didn’t trust enough for that. She’s extremely sensitive, and he’s not except with Lana and his children. For the first time in his professional career he thought about retiring. The past several years since his wife’s death he poured his life into his job. He didn’t want to do that anymore. His life now belonged to Lana.

  “Okay, I’ll help if you want me to, but I’m not sure if I can help much.” She sat down and her legs were short enough to crisscross on the chair.

  Mike thought she was adorable. “I will certainly ask when I need some help you will be the first one on the list. I just have to think about all that is happening and trying to get a jump on him.”