Oh, it felt so good to go to work and get out of that house. I was wrong about Steve. He had good intentions, but I really hated being around him so much.
It was different with Dylan and even Chris. I never got sick of being with them even if we were doing nothing. I missed the days when it was just Emily and I eating Cup of Noodles by ourselves. I missed the basement room I had rented back in the Lower 48. Even though it had the horrible smell of the mildew in it, the apartment was all my own. It’s funny how you take the simplest things for granted.
One evening, we finally got a storage unit and unloaded the trunk. As Emily and I were walking into work, a woman startled me outside the entrance. “Nicole?” she asked.
I stopped, startled for a moment. Who was this lady? How does she know my name?
“I’ll meet you inside Nikki.” Emily hurried in the door.
I had spent the day playing in the snow with Jess, and my winter coat was hanging in the closet to dry. The jacket I had on did little to protect me from the cold, so I was eager to get inside as well.
“Nicole?”
She seemed familiar. The woman wore a gray scarf around her head that covered her hair, but I could see short blonde hair peeking through. Her eyes were covered by tinted glasses, which I thought odd because it was dark outside. There was something about her though—I felt like I had seen her before. Or maybe it was her voice. “I’m sorry to just come up to you like this, but I wanted to talk to you.”
“I’m so sorry, but do I know you? You seem really familiar. Have we met?”
“You are dating my ex-husband.”
What? Dylan never told me he’d been married.
“I was hoping we could talk. I promise not to take much of your time. I can’t stay long, anyway. Could we go to the restaurant across the street?”
“Sure, sure. I don’t have to be in for an hour. I was just going in early to make a little extra money, but we can grab a quick coffee.”
Dylan had been married? Wow, did he have any kids? Maybe that is why he was so wonderful with Jessica. The woman appeared to be older than he was. I examined her as we crossed the street. Why wouldn’t he have told me he had been married? I had so many questions. We walked into the restaurant, grabbing a booth in the corner.
I motioned to the waitress. “Two coffees, please. And can I have extra cream and sugar?”
She nodded, took the order and walked away. I couldn’t wait. I had to ask.
“So you were married to Dylan?” I wondered if she could see the shock plastered across my face. “I didn’t know he had been married.”
“Dylan? Who’s Dylan? No, Steve. That is what you call him, right? Steve is my ex-husband.”
“Steve? What made you think I was dating Steve?”
“He has told everyone you are together.”
“What? Steve said that?”
“Yes. I didn’t believe him at first, but you are driving his car, and you moved in with him.”
“I bought the car,” I answered defensively. “He said we were dating?” A really sick feeling came over me. I was so disgusted by the thought. He was telling people we were together?
“He said you are getting married.”
“Married?” I almost spit out my coffee. “No way. I just rent the basement apartment.”
“He said you all were going to fight to get custody of our kids.”
Ok, let’s back it up a moment. “He told me he has full custody. He’s got their bedroom upstairs with the Thomas the Tank Engine covers.”
“Are there any clothes in the closet? Are there any clothes in their drawers? I have full custody. He hasn’t seen them in years. He has tried to kidnap them, but failed. I have a restraining order against him. I’ve had to go into hiding.”
“I thought the kids were with his parents.”
“They are with me.”
“I thought they were coming up with the nanny. He said I could use the nanny for my daughter—that is the main reason I moved in.” The reality of the layers of lies started to hit me.
“Nanny? He tried to use that one in court. The nanny who has trouble with Immigration and never shows, that nanny? She is a school teacher, right? Perfect? She doesn’t exist. He probably used that so you would move in with him.”
“I just let him borrow five thousand dollars to bring her up here. There were complications, and they needed the money.”
“Why would you let him borrow five thousand dollars? You will never get that back.”
I finally remembered where I had seen her before. She was the lady in the videos. But her hair in the video was different—she had long dark hair like mine.
“He has no money.”
“But the videos of all of your houses throughout the world . . .”
“He showed you that? Those are all model homes. We were just playing around when we made that. We would go in random model homes and pretend they were our homes. We never owned anything.”
“Oh my god, I feel so stupid. He showed us the videos to make us think he had money so he could steal from us? I trusted him. We just moved in there because he had a perfect nanny, and when I saw the gingerbread house he built, I knew my daughter would love it there.”
“He is extremely manipulative. He told you he built that? It came with the house he’s renting. He hasn’t built a thing in his life. He has a gift of swindling people. You are lucky it was only five thousand dollars.”
She took out some pictures and some letters from her purse. “You look a lot like I did when I married him.” She paused for a moment as if in thought. “He always seemed so easy going, but soon I realized he was fine as long as he was in control. I started to notice things when the kids were born. We need rules, you know. I wouldn’t let him smoke in the house, and I began making more money than him. He was so pathetic. He was supposed to be setting an example. We fought more and more, but when we fought, it was mostly me doing the arguing. He would just go for his drives and stew. But then one day I caught him with my little sister! The monster! My sister! We left. I took the boys and left.” She the pile of letters in her hand, stopping as if she didn’t want to relive any of the terror. “These—these are the letters he has been sending to some friends of ours. They know he’s unstable, so they gave them to me.”
I thumbed through the pictures. They were pictures from when we had all gone out as a group together, but he had cropped them to make it seem that it was just Steve and I. I rummaged through the letters for a moment.
“Wait, this letter is dated a month before I met him.” I thumbed through the pictures some more. “These pictures, these are from before I met him also. These, these are pictures from the day I went ATVing. It was him. Oh my god it was him. I saw him, I knew I saw someone! And this one, I had taken my daughter to this store alone. I thought I saw him, but he walked away. All of these are cropped and altered so it seems like we were together, how?” I sat for a moment in silence. “He has been stalking me.” The realization sent a tremor up my spine.
In a letter dated before we even met, Steve talked about how we were so in love. It said I would be moving in with him soon. “He planned to deceive me even before I met him?” The thought really scared me.
Acid entered my throat. I could taste it in my mouth. I knew I was going to throw up.
“Nicole, he raped my little sister. I will die before he finds my kids. I want him in jail where he belongs. He’s a sick man. Look between his mattresses if you don’t believe me.”
I shook my head in disbelief, “He told me you were the drug addict, he told me . . . oh my god. I have been so stupid. I brought my daughter into that home.”
I ran to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet in time. I couldn’t take anymore. I was shaking. I felt so stupid, so betrayed, so disgusted. She walked in behind me helping me hold my hair away from my face in the small stall as my insides emptied unwillingly. I spit in the toilet and went to the mirror to clean myself up, spitting in the sink to tr
y and get rid of the taste of vomit in my mouth. I washed my face.
“He is a sick man, Nicole. You should really get out of there before you see that side of him.” She handed me a picture of herself in the hospital. Black eyes, broken bones, hooked up to an IV.
I held my stomach. “What have I done?”
“I’m here in Alaska to identify him in a line-up. I’m helping a police detective find him. The detective has been following him, and he’s going to surprise him and arrest him tonight. Detective Jackson asked me to be here to identify Steve and then leave right away. I was very nervous, but he assured me Steve will be locked up and I would be safe. Eugene confirmed you were living at the house and found out where you were working. I realized I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t warn you. Steve’s real name is Dennis Walters. He has been on the run for two years. We finally found him. If you find anything or can think of anything I can use in court to help me, please call.”
She handed me a business card. Eugene Jackson.
“This is the number of the private investigator. Dennis is wanted in Florida. Nicole, he is wanted for murder. After I won custody in court, he tried to kidnap my kids. I ended up in the hospital in ICU, and he killed everyone else in the house. He grabbed them, but somehow they were able to break away from him and run. I have relocated three times. He keeps finding us. He is dangerous, Nicole. You shouldn’t stay in that house. I’m leaving town again in the morning to go back into hiding. I think he may know we are staying in Oregon, so I have to relocate again. Get the hell away from him.”
Tears poured from my eyes, I had been so stupid. I had been so naive. She patted me on the back and hugged me. I was still shaking. She stood with me there in the ladies’ room until I could regain my composure.
“Be careful, Nicole. Be careful. We are having him picked up tonight, so if you need to get anything out of the house wait until tomorrow to get it. He is a master manipulator, so they may let him back out but you will be safe if you go tomorrow. If you can think of anything that will help keep him behind bars, please call Detective Jackson.” She pointed to the pictures. “You can keep those. We have copies in case we can use it as evidence.” Once she walked out of the bathroom, I looked at the pictures and almost threw up again. Hysterically, I began ripping up the pictures, disgusted by the thought I had trusted such a sick man.
Chapter Forty-one
After a few hours, I finally pulled myself together enough to get to work. I needed to get Jess back to the East Coast. Running over to Emily, I told her what I had just discovered.
“You gotta come with us, Nicole.”
“I’ll be right behind you all. He is supposed to be locked up tonight. I will get the rest of our stuff out of there when he isn’t home and fly out.”
Before I clocked into work, I was able to call and get Jessica and Emily a flight out in the morning. The plane wasn’t full so we just had to pay a fee for changing the date. I booked us a hotel room in town so we were close to the airport. There was no way we were going back to that house if he was there.
I looked around the bar for Katie. Where was she? I needed to find out if I could crash at her place. When Brad walked in the bar, and I hadn’t even taken off my jacket off yet.
“That’s not all you wore, is it Nikki?” He glared at me like I was crazy.
“My winter coat is at the house, soaked. Jess and I were playing in the snow.”
“Have you heard of something called hypothermia? Maybe you don’t have to worry about it in Maryland, but you sure as hell have to worry about it here. How many times have I told you? You gotta dress warmer, Nikki. I’m serious. You can die here from the cold . . . if something happened to your car or something and you were stuck out there. I really am serious. Tomorrow’s gonna be crazy cold.”
I knew he was trying to help, but the last thing I needed right now was a lecture. “You’re not my father, I snapped at him and walked over to hang up my jacket. A tear invaded my eye, but I was able to wipe it away before anyone saw it. What was I going to do? How could I have been so stupid? The woman’s words haunted my mind. How could I have been so blind? I collected myself. I couldn’t allow myself to start crying again. I needed the money. I had to work. I took a couple orders, reluctant to go to the bar. I had never snapped at Brad before, and my timing really sucked. I realized I needed his help. I had no one else to turn to.
“Bradley,” I fidgeted, pulling out the detective’s card from my pocket. Can I use your phone?” I put the card on the back counter by the phone and dialed the number the woman had given me. There was no answer.
“Hi, my name is Nicole Carlisle. I was given your number by a lady tonight. I forgot to ask her name. Well, um, can you call me if you get this message? It’s extremely important. The number here is 907 234 4341. ” I hung up the phone, and I turned to Brad. “Well, if he calls, it’s for me.”
“You okay, Nikki? You seem a little . . . I don’t know . . . a little upset or something.”
“Yeah, you can say that.” I stood at the bar for a moment in silence, biting at the inside of my cheek to gather my thoughts. “Bradley, I was wondering if I could ask you a big favor?”
“You always do, Nicole. What would be different?” He smiled.
“No, really . . . this is . . . well it would just be for a little bit. Until, well . . .”
“What’s up, Nicole?”
I exhaled, “I hate to ask. I just don’t know who else to ask. I need a favor.”
“What is it? You know you can count on me.”
“Can I?”
“Can you what?” He used his hands to gesture spill it out.
“I need a place to stay, and I wondered if I could stay with you for a little bit.”
“You need a place to crash. That’s what this is all about?”
“It’d just be for a little while. You won’t even know I’m there.”
“Emily said she was leaving tomorrow, so just you and your daughter?”
“Just me. Emily is taking Jessica to my parents. We got a hotel for tonight, but if it’s okay, can I stay there starting tomorrow?”
“Of course, Nicole. You know I can’t say no to you.” He smiled again. “And you were afraid to ask me. Why?”
“I don’t know.” I was afraid he might say no. I fidgeted for a moment. Do I tell him what I just found out about Steve?
“I . . . I better get these drinks to the customers. Thank you so much, Bradley. Oh yeah, and one more thing, if it’s okay.”
“Yes, Nicole?”
“Jess flies out tomorrow, and I’ve got to pick her up from your sister’s and bring her back to Anchorage tonight . . .”
“Yes, you can leave early.”
“Thanks for understanding.” He was a good friend. And with Dylan and Chris gone, he was the only person I could trust.
I started thinking about what Steve’s ex-wife said and started to get upset again. I wanted to have made it here in Alaska. I wanted a fresh new start. Instead, I moved in with a murderer, lost everything, and was worse off then I started.
I wondered if I should ask Brad to come with me to the house. I approached the bar. “Bradley, are you busy tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’ve got to help my sister with something. What’s up?”
It will be daytime. Steve will be locked up. I’ll grab only what I need from the house. “Nothing. Never mind.” I convinced myself I’d be okay.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Katie stagger through the door. She had obviously been drinking a lot. I excused myself and went over to her, hoping to get to her before she was discovered.
“Katie, you can’t come in here like this. You are going to get in trouble.” I tried to guide her to the door to hail down a cab for her. She slurred something I couldn’t understand. She stumbled, barely able to stand up.
“Where do you live, sweetie?” I asked her. She was ranting about something.
“He’s dead.”
“Who? What are
you talking about?”
“He’s dead. Alan’s dead!” I staggered back, staring at her. She started balling. I hugged her. Almost all her body weight pressed against me. For someone so thin, she weighed a ton.
“What are you talking about?”
“They found him, Nicole. They found his body. He was stabbed to death.”
“What? What happened?”
“It was on the news. Someone cut him up and left him in the woods.” She was hysterical. “He’s dead, Nicole. He’s dead!”
“How do they know it was him?”
“It was on the news. They identified the body as Alan Thibodaux from Louisiana.”
“Are you sure?”
“I knew he wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye. That man owed him money. That guy you live with. I bet he did it. He killed him. That monster killed him.” Goosebumps waved over me, sending a chill through my body. She finally calmed down, and I was able to get her address out of her.
“Can you make sure she gets inside okay?” The cab driver nodded. “How much will it be?” I paid him in advance.
Alan is dead? When I went back inside, I was quiet. I was expressionless. I needed to ask Brad to come with me. I shouldn’t go alone. I walked to the bar. It seemed like an eternity away. Could it be true? I tried to convince myself that it was a mistake. I knew Alan. He’s gone?
“Brad?”
“You okay? You’re so pale. What’s wrong? You don’t look too good,” he responded.
“Bradley?” I focused on the empty glasses sitting on the bar. “Your sister, is it the sister that lives in Wasilla?”
“Yeah, I’ll be at Karen’s.” He handed me the directions to his place in case I had forgotten how to get there, and he gave me a key.
I fiddled with the key in my hand. “I have to get my stuff out of Steve’s house tomorrow. We thought we were just coming to work, so we left all our crap over there. The worst part is, like an idiot, I left some really important paperwork and my address book. My parents moved because of Ronald and their number is unlisted. I still haven’t memorized it. I need to get that book. It has all my account info in it. It has my life in there. Is there any way you can come with me?”
The Impostor, A Love Story Page 25
