“You’re right, she does look really happy there,” Annie said, wishing that she could put that smile back on Trudie’s face. “Alice, when is your next conference with Trudie, and can I join in?”
“Yes, of course you can join in. We choose by lottery until the twenty slots are filled, but I always keep a few spots open, for special guests like you. Our next was supposed to have been today, but Trudie emailed me that she couldn’t make it.”
“Really? Did she say why?” Annie asked, as she bit into a French fry.
“No, just that something came up and she’d have to reschedule,” Alice elaborated.
I wonder what that’s about. Probably Noella had something more important for Trudie to do.
“Well, just let me know when it’s rescheduled, and I’ll—” Annie’s cellphone rang and the caller ID convinced her to answer it. “I’m sorry, but I need to take this,” she said as she hit the accept button on the phone. “Hey, Uncle Donny. What’s up? ... Already? … Okay, be right there. Thanks.” Annie ended the call and put the phone back in her pocket. Then she pulled out her billfold. “I’m sorry, Alice, but I have to go. I’ll pay the bill on the way out. It was nice meeting you.”
“You, too. I hope that we can connect again sometime.”
“Count on it,” Annie replied.
Chapter Fifteen
“For someone who has been kicked out of here, you sure keep coming back a lot,” Donny sniped good-heartedly, as he emptied the coffee grains into the trash can.
“I know, right?” Annie laughed. “It’s weird, like that dolly zoom effect they do in movies. There’s someone very important to me who lives here, and I think it’s her heart that keeps pulling me back. I’ve thought about going up stairs and ringing her doorbell, but I haven’t got the guts.”
Donny shook his head in annoyance. “Yeah, well, you’d better not ring that doorbell or Noella will have you arrested, and I don’t have the money or the inclination to bail you out either.”
“I hear you, Uncle Donny. So, you said the fax came in from that private investigator?”
“Yes, it’s there on my desk.”
“Thanks.” Annie picked up the fax printouts and flipped through them. “Five pages? That’s it?”
“That’s all they sent. From what I read, it’s a summary of findings, not the actual bits of evidence. I don’t think there’s anything in there to help you, Annie.”
“You’re probably right, Uncle Donny, but I’m still going to study it and see if anything pops out at me. Thanks again for letting me use your fax machine.”
“I don’t recall you asking for permission,” Donny quipped.
Annie didn’t hear him. She was already engrossed in the profile the detective put together of the suspect.
Eleven months post-murder analysis – prepared by Dwayne Stedman, PI
Note: I purposely did not read the police profile on the killer prior to developing my own profile after surveying the crime scene and acting it out. Result - both profiles are very similar.
Delusional stalker- Believe that the suspect is the stalker who pursued victim’s partner, author Trudie Youngblood, approximately four years prior to assault.
Premeditation- Suspect knew the blind spots of the side street where the victim exited building. No street cameras or heavy foot traffic. Suspect waited at least an hour based on candy wrappers left on the ground. Suspect had a getaway plan based on quick disappearance, even with a broken foot.
Method- The coroner had determined that the suspect used an eight-inch chef’s knife, stabbing the victim seven times. The knife was not found at the scene.
Manner- According to the witness, Ms. Youngblood, the suspect screamed, “You can’t have her! She’s mine!” repeatedly. Suspect may have been in a dissociative state, which would account for the lack of contact post assault, because they would have no memory of the assault. But this would not account for the premeditation.
Annie shook her head. “Okay, that’s confusing as hell. Either they dissociated or they didn’t… right?”
Donny laughed. “You came to the dissociated part, didn’t you?”
Summary and assumption- Ms. Youngblood’s fan base consists mostly of middle-aged women with varying degrees of education, marital status, and sexual preference. Drawing a profile from these known factors, and the premeditative method and violent way in which the victim was killed, the suspect is female, middle aged, highly intelligent, with a dissociative disorder.
“I don’t believe it was dissociative because the murderer is back and threatening Trudie again. But the highly intelligent, middle aged female, would eliminate several people from my list, based on their age.” Annie sighed. She had suspected Deidra at first, but the more they talked, the more she thought she was innocent. However, Noella certainly fit the profile. And so did the two doctors, and probably the maid. Annie knew nothing about the maid.
“Uncle Donny. Do you know anything about Trudie’s maid?”
Donny shook his head. “Now why would I know that? The tenants hire their own maids.”
“Grasping at straws here. Okay. It’s my fault that the crazy bastard is back, and I have to do something about it.”
“Annie, are you sure he ever left?”
“No, I don’t think he left completely. I think he’s been leeching off of Trudie’s emotions, basking in the glow, so-to-speak, since the day he killed Leigh. But Trudie didn’t know that. She thought he was lurking outside, and she could feel safe in her own home. But now, he’s come into her home, and I know she’s got to be terrified up there. I can’t stand that thought. I have to help her.”
Annie looked at Donny and suddenly had an inspiration. She rushed out of his office without so much as a goodbye.
***
“I came as soon as I got your message,” Noella said the second Trudie opened the door. She looked at Trudie’s tear-stained, puffy face, and disheveled clothes, and the open suitcase on the couch with the cat sitting in it, and she panicked. “Oh, my God, what’s going on, Trudie?”
Trudie walked over to the counter in the kitchen and picked up the card next to the flowers. “This came with the roses,” she said, handing Noella the card.
Noella read the card and frowned. “Damn it!”
“He knows where I live now,” Trudie whimpered.
When Trudie first began receiving cards and undesirable gifts at her fan mail address, Noella had her assistant check through everything first, with instructions that only the positive letters be forwarded on to Trudie. Gifts were donated to the local shelters, and a thank you card was sent to the gifter from Noella’s office.
“I have to move out. I have to get out of here before he comes in and—” Trudie shook her head as if shaking the unthinkable from her mind. “I’ve booked a flight to Italy. I leave Tuesday afternoon to join my parents on their European vacation before they set sail for Greece. I don’t plan to come back, Noella. I plan to stay in Italy. I’m going to ask Deidra if she will bring Bruno and Lucy over once I get settled and perhaps be an exchange student there for a while. I’ll pay for it of course. I’ll have my lawyer sell the condo—”
“Stop. Just wait a minute, please. I don’t think you’ve thought this all the way through, Trudie. Getting away for a vacation is a wonderful idea. I’ve been after you for years to do that. But moving there permanently is not the solution.”
“Then what is the solution, because I’m out of options. I’m not safe here anymore, and I’m not safe anywhere else. So what option do I have?”
Noella sighed. “I hate seeing you like this, but, honey, you can’t even step out on your balcony. How will you make it all the way to Italy?”
“I’ve thought that part through. I got the idea from the cough syrup. I’ll take a strong sedative, and fifteen hours later, wake up in Italy.”
“Honey, don’t be silly. Little Rock doesn’t fly straight to Europe. You have to connect in Dallas first.”
“Yes, if I were
going commercial. But there’s no way I could do that without having all those stopovers, so I’ve rented a private jet.”
“Okay, I see you’ve thought of everything… except getting to the airport and to that private plane. I know in Los Angeles the airport has celebrity VIP services to get you through almost sight unseen, but Little Rock doesn’t. They’re going to want you to be awake when you go through security.”
Frustrated, Trudie balled her hands into fists and said, “Damn it, Noella. Why are you fighting me on this?”
“Because you’re a very intelligent woman who’s talking crazy. I mean, my God, are you listening to yourself? You can’t even step outside without being drugged. You’re not being rational. Look, let me put a big, burly guard on your door. He’ll stop anything and anyone from getting past him. You’ll be safe, I promise you.”
“For how long? The rest of my life? I can’t live like that. I’m tired of living like that,” Trudie stated regretfully.
“I know, honey. But you’re already living like that. What does your shrink think of this idea?”
“I don’t know; I didn’t ask her permission. But I would think that she’d be thrilled if I left the apartment.”
“We all would, but on your own two feet, not being carried out unconscious on a gurney.”
*
“Good afternoon, Deidra.”
“Back again, Annie?” Deidra pulled her backpack out of the trunk of her car and then slammed the trunk shut. “I don’t know what you want and I don’t want to know. Leave me out of whatever is going on between you and Trudie.”
“All I want you to do is return these clothes to Trudie for me.” Annie had Leigh’s clothes in a plastic bag, draped over her arm. “She loaned them to me when I was nursing her through the pneumonia. I just got them back from the cleaners.” As soon as Annie left Donny’s office, she’d rushed the clothes to the nearest dry cleaning shop, and waited while they cleaned the jeans and shirt. Then she rushed back to her apartment, before coming back to Trudie’s apartment building to wait an hour on Deidra.
“I guess I could do that,” Deidra said, taking the clothes from Annie. “But that’s it. I’m not going to be your go-between anymore.”
“Understood, and thanks. Just let me put this on there.” Annie reached in her back pocket and pulled out an envelope. She had planned to ask Deidra to deliver it to Trudie along with the clothes, but now she wasn’t so sure that Deidra would be willing to, so she stabbed a hole through the end of the envelope using the tip of the hanger, and slid it over the hook. “Just a short note for Trudie,” she explained.
“Whatever,” Deidra sniped.
Annie watched as Deidra carried the laundry into the building. “Step one completed. Now for the hard part,” Annie said to herself as she jumped in her Jeep and drove off.
Deidra got off the elevator and rang the doorbell, then waited to be let in. Noella unlocked the door and ushered her inside.
“Deidra, you’re early today,” Trudie said.
“Yeah, I’ve got finals on Monday, so I’m going to pull an all-nighter studying and wanted to get everything done before then. Listen, I ran into, or rather she was waiting for me when I drove up, and—”
“Who’s she, and is that Leigh’s clothes you’re holding?” Trudie asked.
“Yes, Annie asked me to deliver them to you. She said you had loaned them to her, and she just got them back from the dry cleaners.”
Trudie’s eyes crystalized a dark purple. Annie was here.
“She was here?” Noella asked suspiciously.
“Uh, yeah, like I said, she was waiting for me when I pulled up outside.” Deidra handed the clothes to Trudie. “She put a note for you on the hanger.”
Trudie tore the envelope off and pulled out a folded sheet of paper.
There once lived a beautiful princess who locked herself in a glass tower, so terrified was she of the evil troll lurking without. But the monster cast a wicked spell and found a way inside the tower, frightening the lady-in-waiting so badly that she ordered all suitors be banished from her bedchamber. There was one willful admirer who loved her so much that she could not obey her command. She conceived a way to draw the troll from its lair, so that she might smite it down. She begs patience of the fair princess, and faith that her champion will prevail. For what may seem like lunacy on her part, is actually a cunning plot to set the princess free once and for all. Have faith, my princess.
Tears ran down Trudie’s face as she laughed with happiness. In her deepest, darkest hour, Annie brought light into her prison, and warmed her heart, lifting her soul. She knows why I pushed her away, but she didn’t leave. God, I love that woman.
“What’s it say?” Noella asked.
“It says my knight in shining armor will be rescuing me soon,” Trudie replied, kissing the note before reading it again. Suddenly she dashed over to the window, hoping she could catch a glimpse of Annie, but Annie had already left. She hugged the paper to her chest.
“Oh, brother. She’ll get herself killed, you know. Why couldn’t she just let it go?”
Trudie turned to Noella with a smile on her lips. “Because she loves me, that’s why. And I love her with all my heart.”
Deidra shook her head. “The heart wants what the heart wants and the brain has no choice but to follow.”
Noella tilted her head questioningly at Deidra, then shook it in annoyance. “Did you just make that up?”
“Nah, heard it on television. It’s appropriate though, isn’t it?”
“It is in my case,” Trudie laughed.
“So does this mean you’ve changed your mind about moving to Italy?” Noella asked.
“You’re moving to Italy?” Deidra asked excitedly. She’d always dreamed of traveling to other countries and seeing the sights.
“Not anymore,” Trudie replied. “I have faith that Annie knows what she’s doing, and I have decided to help her in any way I can.”
“And if it gets you killed?” Noella questioned.
“Then I will die a happy, free woman,” Trudie answered, kissing the note again.
“Hey, there’s another envelope inside the plastic,” Deidra said, pointing at her discovery.
“Let’s see it,” Trudie requested, rushing back to the kitchen.
Deidra handed her the envelope and Trudie excitedly tore it open. Coins dropped to the floor, along with tens and twenties, and a one hundred-dollar bill. The note inside read, Medical bills = $100,126.39. IOU = $99,126.00. Love, Annie.
Chapter Sixteen
Annabelle dropped her fork on the plate, sending scrambled eggs everywhere. “You did what?” she asked incredulously.
“I sent a photo of Trudie and me from the book signing to the Celebrity Inquisitor,” Annie explained. “It’s a national rag that loves to pass along celebrity gossip before it checks for accuracy.”
When she wasn’t working, Annie always had Sunday brunch with her mother. During her mother’s illness, Annie would do all the cooking. Now that Annabelle was stronger, she enjoyed cooking again, and Annie preferred her mother’s cooking over her own.
“What on earth for? Does Trudie know?”
Annie shook her head and held a finger up to indicate she was chewing. “No, she doesn’t know, yet. I expect she’s not going to be too happy with my plan.”
“And what exactly is your plan?” Annabelle asked as she picked up bits of egg from the table.
“To lure the bastard…, oh, sorry, to lure the stalker out so I can catch him.”
“Okay, so, based on what you’ve been telling me, the police couldn’t find him and the private detective couldn’t either. Why do you think it will be so easy for you?”
“Because, Mom. I’m the bait.”
Annabelle shook her head. “You know, when you were walking patrol in a war zone, I didn’t sleep at night.”
“I thought that was because of the chemo?”
“Shut up and listen,” Annabelle ordered. “I’m
trying to make a point here.”
“I know what your point is, Mom. But you don’t have to worry; I’m a trained cop, and can take care of myself.”
“As I understand it, Trudie’s partner was, too. And she was even a higher rank than you.”
Annie chuckled. “Yeah, well, in spite of that, she miscalculated on who she could trust. I won’t make that mistake, because I only truly trust Trudie.”
“Why? Why are you risking your life for her, Annie? You only just met the girl.”
“Is there a set amount of time to fall in love, Mom? How long did it take you to fall in love with Dad?”
Annabelle thought for a moment and then smiled. “The second I saw him.”
“It must run in the family then,” Annie concluded with a grin. “I fell in love with Trudie the moment I saw her, even before I knew how intelligent, compassionate, and courageous she was. She is all those things with so much more that I have yet to discover. And, Mom, I want to spend the rest of my life learning all there is to know about Trudie.”
“Honey, if she’s anything like your father, a lifetime isn’t long enough.”
“Did he, uh, ever forgive me for being a lesbian?”
Annabelle looked at Annie somberly. “I’m so sorry you two didn’t come to terms on that issue. No matter how he felt, honey, he was proud of you and he loved you dearly.”
“I know, Mom. I just wish… never mind. It’s too late for that now.”
“Oh, sweetheart. Just because I don’t know how he felt, doesn’t mean he didn’t come to accept you before he died. It’s just as easy to believe that he did, right?”
“Right,” Annie said quietly.
Annabelle looked at her daughter skeptically. The one contention in their lives had been Annie’s sexual preference. Annabelle knew Annie was gay almost from the moment she was born. It was a mother’s instinct. But Annie’s father apparently wasn’t aware of it until Annie came out to them when she was sixteen. They had a heated argument over it, where Annie assured him that she had tried both sexes, and girls were much more preferred over boys. At sixteen, it was hard for her to articulate why that was, just that it was.
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