by Robin Janney
Good God, what had she gotten herself into?
Holstering her 9mm, Nikki looked at the shifting shadows in the small glen. It didn’t matter how the shadows shifted, the fleeing woman left a path a blind man could follow. And Nikki wasn’t blind.
She was patient though. And willful. She’d follow the New York snob’s plans, but not her timetable. This was her revenge, and she’d do it as she saw fit.
No matter how afraid she was of the shifting shadows, she knew which ones were on her side.
40
C raig put off checking his email until after he’d finished eating. With foreboding, he opened the video file from his young brother-in-law and let it play. With all that had happened the night before and the angry call from his brother-in-law only an hour and a half ago, Craig highly suspected he was in for a teenaged reaming out.
“Hey Craig,” Jared began, flipping dark auburn hair out of his eyes. The window looked dark behind him. “First, let me say that you’re like a big brother to me, and so yeah, I love you like one. Even before you and my sister got together, you always treated me with respect. You never talked down to me like some adults tend to do, and I’d like to remind you how you requested me as a chaperone for those first few times at your house. I’ve never been sure why you needed that, all Angie ever said was she hoped I never understood. But, in a lot of ways, the two of you are together because I was there in the beginning.
“That said: I am pissed at you right now, Craig. Pissed isn’t even a strong enough word. I don’t know all the details, like why you didn’t take her with you to New York or send for her…Angie’s kept that to herself.” His thin hand slapped the desktop he was sitting at.
“Your absence is hard on my sister, and you knew it was going to be before you left. You knew it, Craig! She hasn’t slept the past two nights. I have no idea how many other nights she’s missed.
“Angie shared last night how you threatened to cheat on her with this chick in the pictures some asshole’s been sending her. I didn’t believe it at first. So,” Jared drew the word out long, “I hacked into your security system and pulled up the vid for your bedroom. Which by the way, you might want to have that checked because if I can get in, so can someone else.
“You guys were okay for a bit after her little strip show, God that was torture for me, but then Angie mentioned the pics she was sent of that girl kissing you and you flipped on her. No, that’s not strong enough. I can’t find a strong enough way to say this, so you will understand why my sister reacted the way she did after…dammit Craig, you fucking flipped on her.” The teen pointed an accusing finger toward the camera.
“I know you didn’t get what Angie was saying, I could see that. But you didn’t even give her a chance to explain. You took it all like she was accusing you of crap and she wasn’t. She wasn’t, Craig. She just wanted to know what was going on. My sister is smart enough to know someone’s trying to stir things up and come between you two, somebody on your end since the pics come from a New York number. Yeah, I managed to trace that too. It’s a prepaid phone with an automated voicemail message…somewhere in the same building you’re staying in. But when Angie tried to talk to you about it – damn it, Craig, if you can’t trust your wife’s instincts, then you’ve got problems. No one’s right all the time, Dad and Angie taught me that. But one thing I’ve learned is Angie’s right more often than she’s wrong. And she knows when she’s being played.
“If you’re still watching at this point, I hope that means I’m getting through to you. Because now I’m going to splice in the vid from your chat. I want you to see what you looked and sounded like. See if you disgust yourself as much as it did me.” Jared clicked a button off screen and the image wavered.
Craig, chastened and already grieved, watched it all over again from a different angle, from a different perspective emotionally as well. The camera in the bedroom was placed in the corner above the mirrors, and he could see her laptop screen clear enough. It may have been torture for the brother, but the boy had included the entire dance Angela had done just last night. His Angel’s sweet striptease made his heart beat harder all over again. His body reacted as it had last night, how it hadn’t even moved when he’d been kissing Katie. Apparently, he and his body agreed that Angela was the only one he wanted that way. He wiped at the corners of his eyes.
There was the flirting that followed. And then he watched his face contort in anger as he spewed at her. And it was ugly. He had been ugly. And the words he said in the heat of the moment, he could never take back, they would be imprinted in her memory forever. When it was done, and he ‘hung up’ on her, her trembling body dressed herself and took herself quickly to the bathroom. He could hear her being sick.
Jared came back onto the screen, his eyebrows drawn so tightly in his anger they were almost one. “I’m disgusted you stooped low enough to threaten to cheat on her; which if you did, I will never forgive you.” The accusing finger pointed again. “There are things I can’t tell you, Craig…some things you need to learn on your own…that’s not me being meddlesome…it’s just the way it is. Even Nan agreed with me on this. Angela asked us not to tell everything, and we’re respecting her wishes.”
Jared picked something up off the desk, Angela’s iPhone, and waved it at the camera. “And just to let you know, I’ve had her phone for a while now, so Angie hasn’t heard your message yet. And don’t think she’s ignoring you. She’s sleeping.”
The video ended, and Craig had to wipe the corners of his eyes again. Jared was right. He had known all along his absence was going to hurt Angela, and he hadn’t meant to be gone longer than a week and here it had been half the summer. And the entire ordeal with Katie made him even sicker to his stomach. How he wished he could take the last two days back. The last few weeks even. Erase them as though they never happened.
Craig had to go home. No matter what trouble it would get him into with the police. Maybe his father could run some interference there? It wouldn’t be the first time.
He rose from his seat on the bed, and that was when Veronica stepped into his bedroom. In a thin, silky, and pink dressing robe which hung open in an all too familiar way.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” was the only thing he could think to say.
L es wasn’t sure what to think when his wife brought him a glass of red wine after the detectives left. Was she back to her old tricks? Tim had tried to warn him.
“You look so anxious, darling,” Veronica said, sitting the glass on the table next to him. “I’m sure everything will be just fine.”
He nodded and picked the glass up. It was barely lunch time. And it was red wine. “Is there any takeout left? I think I’d like some if Craig didn’t eat it all.” He touched the glass to his lips, let the cold liquid touch his lip.
“I’ll check,” his wife replied, before sashaying to the kitchen.
Lowering the glass, Les felt his stomach churn. A conversation with Tim came back to him:
“It was the wine, Dad. Veronica said the nights she gave you a second glass of red wine herself with your dinner was the night we could expect her to come to our room. That’s how we knew. She stopped coming to my room when I was seventeen and I knew she’d turned on Craig. I found him throwing up one night, and knew he’d never be able to take it. He’s too soft. And Dad, I’m sorry but I wanted my little brother to stay that way, so I convinced the bitch to come back to me…”
He drank red wine often enough that he’d never thought anything of her bringing him a second glass after an evening meal, even though a second glass had always made him sleepy. The days had been long back then. He didn’t dare drink this now, but what was he to do with it? His wife would be coming back soon. Les looked around the room, wondered what to do. And decided to pour some down into the diaper he wore to guard against the occasional accidents which happened, and some on his clothes. Then waited for her to return.
“Here’s some…” His wife came back with a plat
e and looked pleased. “Oh, must be someone liked his wine.” She set the plate in front of him and patted his shoulder. “You must be so tired right now.”
How was he supposed to act? He wasn’t sure, not even Tim had known what she’d dosed him with. He nodded. He reached for the wine glass and managed to knock it over onto the table so that the remaining wine spilled on the off chance she tried giving it to him. Had she ever done so before? He would have to ask one of his sons; if they were still talking to him after this.
“Oh, you poor thing…” Veronica cooed, her face smug. “Do you need some help to the bedroom?”
He remembered this, like a memory of a memory, and nodded his head. He let her wheel him into the bedroom, pretending to try to help her. It was awkward enough, but they made it to the bedroom without him breaking character. His wife helped him into the bed and what a fun struggle his feeble attempts to help made it. She left without even taking his shoes off.
Once the door shut, and he was sure she was gone, Les opened his eyes and pulled the tray table with his laptop over to himself. He’d be caught if she came back in just now, but he didn’t think that would be happening. He had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.
It took him longer than he wanted to log into the internal cameras he’d installed shortly after Veronica had confessed her crimes against his sons to him. His gut told him where she was going now, so he clicked immediately on the feed from his son’s bedroom and let it fill the screen.
Craig was sitting at his old school desk, watching something on his laptop. Les couldn’t quite hear what was playing, but his son looked even more remorseful than he had this morning. He watched as his son wiped at his eyes, then stood to his feet and stopped cold.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” his son said.
His soon-to-be-ex-wife wasn’t on the screen yet, but her voice was clear enough.
“Your father’s napping, Craig, know how he likes his wine.” As Veronica came into view, his bile rose at the sight of her. The silky robe she wore hung open, revealing the pink lacy teddy she wore…she presented herself to his son as she so often had to him. “I’m tired of playing games. It’s time I reminded you…”
His son had begun backing up as she approached and looked frightened when he backed into the wall. “That you’re a sick woman? Consider me reminded.”
Her laugh was deep and throaty, apparently taking delight in his discomfort. “I’m not sick, son. All I am is a woman who knows what she wants and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it…and to keep it. You’re mine, Craig. Just like your father and your brother.”
“I think you need a different therapist,” Craig commented lightly. His hands tapped anxiously at the wall behind his back.
Veronica laughed again, and her delight was an unpleasant sound. “Come now, Craig. I’m still an attractive woman, and I work hard to keep this body fit. And you’ve been gone from your Angel for such a long time that I’m sure she’s found someone else to keep her company instead of her brother, just like you did.”
“Don’t call her that,” Craig growled, and Les hoped his son could hang onto the fighting spirit. “She’s not like that. She’s better than I am.”
“Has she told you about the pictures she’s received? You and Katie at the park, the museum, the clubs, last night’s kiss? Going to the hotel room with Katie on your arm, your hands all over that dainty body. Imagine what pictures I could have sent had you not chickened out. Katie would still be alive if you hadn’t, but such is the price of failure.” She was maybe halfway across the room, her approach seductively slow and measured, no doubt to give Craig every chance to look at her body.
“Son of a bitch. You’re the one who sent those pictures to Angela? Why?”
“Because jealousy seemed to be the best way to run her off, certainly the easiest. Angela’s such an insecure little thing, don’t you think? Hasn’t it been exhausting trying to ease her fears?” Veronica shrugged, finally stopping in front him. Her eyes roved up and down Craig’s body as she let the robe drop to the floor. “Why are you hesitating, Craig? Don’t you want to show me how much you’ve improved since college? After all, you’ve been practicing with your Little Angel for the past few years. Surely that pretty young thing has taught you a thing or two about control by now.”
“What are you trying to do?” asked Craig, his face fearful.
Les saw it though. His wife kept changing her verbal attack to keep her stepson confused. Had his son even caught the implication about Katie’s death being his fault? Les fervently hoped not.
“I’m reclaiming my son.” Her hands reached out and slipped up his son’s shirt. “Oh,” she purred against his neck. “This feels as nice as it looked the other night. I’m not the only one who’s been working out. Do you really think your Angel will take you back once I’m done with you?”
Craig’s head fell back against the window behind him. His head turned away, his eyes sliding away from his stepmother. Was his son already trying to dissociate himself from what he saw as inevitable? He looked so frightened. “I didn’t sleep with Katie, and I’m not going to sleep with you either.”
One of her hands massaged the front of his pants, and she laughed in amusement. “Are you sure about that, Craig? I can feel how your body is responding to me.”
“Please stop…”
But Veronica didn’t. Her hands unbuckled her stepson’s jeans with practiced ease, and she lowered herself…kissing his stomach and moving lower, going so far as to give the impression of submission by dropping to her knees before him.
“Mom, please…stop…” Anguish filled Craig’s voice. His face crinkled, and he kept repeating himself. Begging her to stop.
Reaching out for the phone, Les didn’t know whether to call 9-1-1 or Detective Rodriguez. Which would get the police here the soonest?
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
“I need to report a sexual assault in progress…”
41
S hame filled Craig at the pleasure his body was experiencing. He wanted to vomit even as his mind was already thinking of the ways he could show this woman exactly what his wife had taught him in their years of coupling. He was trapped. How was he ever going to be able to tell his wife? Was she even going to want him back after any of this?
“Was that so bad?” his stepmother asked after, kissing his stomach and rising again to her feet. Kisses moved higher as she lifted his shirt higher, and he knew her intent was in undressing him. He couldn’t let her do that, refused to even raise his arms, but he felt so helpless as her mouth teased his nipples.
“What…what are we going to tell Dad?” He wasn’t going to do this, was he? How had he ever thought himself free of this woman?
“Oh, we’re not going to tell him anything, sweetie. Once your wife is dead like Katie, you and I…”
Craig didn’t remember moving. One moment he was helpless under her spell, the next he had her arm twisted behind her back and her front pressed against the wall. “What have you done?” he demanded, his voice harsh.
“What needed to be done,” Veronica answered. She looked shocked but spoke calmly. “Katie…”
“I don’t care about Katie! What have you done to my wife?”
“Nothing you can stop!” Her gray eyes turned cruel in their humor.
Craig swore and released her. Righting himself and fixing his clothes, he walked back to his desk and picked up his iPhone. He had it calling his wife again. Surely, she had her phone back from Jared by now.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Veronica calmly righting herself and donning her fallen robe. Angela’s phone went to voicemail, so he disconnected and tried the call again. “Damn it, Angela, pick up!”
“Craig, she’s not going to answer. I’ve made sure of it.” Her hands patted at her hair, twisting loose tendrils around her fingers. The smirk on her face was ingratiating.
He glanced coldly at the woman in the room with him. Panic was boili
ng in him, but some part of his brain was telling him to get her to talking. “Did you kill Katie?”
“I arranged for it. It’s easier than you think, given some of your father’s clients.” She approached him again, her hands coming to rest around his arm. Her smile turned gloating. “I even arranged for your father’s shooting. I had to get you out here somehow. I suppose I could have come to you, but I wanted you in my own territory. You’re so afraid of losing your wife, I knew you’d never bring her here.”
“Why?” he asked again, pulling his arm away from her. “I don’t understand any of this! My father loved you! He never denied you anything! He trusted you to raise his sons!”
She sighed, raised another hand to his face. “He denied me children of my own, Craig, so I took his away from him. And when he shifted money into a trust fund for your wife, I knew I had to get rid of her.”
Craig pulled away from her. Did he have enough to convict her? He didn’t know. There was too much going on and he didn’t even know what to do next. Was this how Angela felt before an anxiety attack kicked in? If so, no wonder she needed help to remain calm. He felt a renewed compassion for her.
One thing at a time. That’s what he always told his wife and…he returned his attention to his iPhone. What if this woman was telling the truth and Angela couldn’t answer? He pulled Jared’s number up and waited for the other to answer.
On the third ring, his young brother-in-law answered. “Hey, Craig. Did you…?”
“Not now, Jared. I need to know exactly where Angela is.”
“Uhm, the note she left us this morning said she was going on a trail ride. Craig, what’s wrong?”
His wife usually left her iPhone on a shelf in the stable office when she was with her horses. But even if she had it with her while on a trail ride, it would be turned off. She didn’t like leaving it on for fear of spooking the horses. The same could not be said of the ranch hands who’d be shadowing her on the trail. “Find Rick. Now. I need to know who has eyes on her.”
