by Charly Cox
‘And then the aliens dropped in and speared their prisoners with their laser eyes, and everyone lived happily ever after,’ he said.
‘That’s good…’ she blinked rapidly. ‘Wait, what? Who lived happily ever after?’
Brock walked over and removed the washcloth from her hand and draped it over the sink. ‘While you’ve been cleaning the same spot for twenty minutes – it’s clean now, by the way – I was discussing when work should begin on the project. What’s on your mind? And if you scrub that spot any harder for much longer, there won’t be any counter left,’ he said in response to her protest that she wasn’t quite finished cleaning up as he pulled her into the living room where he dropped into the loveseat and dragged her down beside him.
She snapped the rubber band on her wrist. ‘I’m sorry. I should’ve been paying attention. You’ve worked hard to snag this deal.’
He laid his hand on tops of hers to stop her compulsive rubber-band snapping. ‘I know you can’t discuss specifics, but do you want to talk about what you can share?’
Thundering footsteps interrupted anything she was about to say as both her children flew into the room, Holly collapsing into the recliner which forced Isaac onto the sofa. ‘You knew I was going to sit there,’ he grumbled.
Holly shrugged and grinned. ‘Beat you to it. That’s what happens when you’re too slow.’ Then she turned to her parents. ‘So, no one bought the Zeller house, did they?’
Something akin to panic reached in and grabbed hold of her insides, and Alyssa shot an anxious-ridden look at her husband, instantly tense. Had Mabel changed her mind and purchased the vacant home a couple of houses down? Frowning, he shook his head, and relief made her exhale loudly. While her children might be thrilled if her mother-in-law lived that close, the thought alone had Alyssa on the verge of hyperventilating. ‘Not that I know of, why?’
Her daughter shrugged. ‘No reason, really. It’s just I’ve seen someone over there the last few days. He was parked in front of the house Friday night when I was headed to Sophie’s, and I thought I saw him coming from the Zellers’ yard yesterday and this morning, too when I left for school. But I didn’t see the guy’s car, so it’s probably nothing.’ She smiled at her mom. ‘Paranoia from my mom’s career choice must be rubbing off on me.’
‘Better paranoid than dead,’ she said, her standard reply when either of her kids accused her of being paranoid. But as soon as it was out of her mouth, she wished she could take it back as an image of first Timmy’s then Callie McCormick’s body flashed in her head. She tapped her husband’s thigh. ‘That reminds me, we really need to get that security company out to fix the alarm. I haven’t had time to contact them. Do you think you could give them a call tomorrow?’
‘I can probably do that,’ he said.
To Holly, Alyssa said, ‘Maybe someone’s just looking at it, but next time I’m home and you see him, will you let me know?’ If someone was purchasing the vacant house, she wanted to know who. She may not speak to her neighbors regularly, but she knew them all by name.
‘Sure,’ Holly agreed. ‘Well, I’m going to binge-watch Big Little Lies since there’s no school tomorrow.’
Before she could go, Isaac scooted to the edge of the sofa and cleared his throat. ‘I have something to tell everyone since you’re all here,’ he said. The sudden seriousness in his voice alarmed Alyssa, and she found herself searching for her husband’s hand.
‘What is it?’ she asked. When he refused to look at them, she pasted on a reassuring smile. ‘Isaac?’
Still avoiding his parents’ gaze, he mumbled, ‘You remember that girl I liked and asked out to the dance about a month ago?’
‘April?’ Alyssa clarified.
Hands clasped in front of him, he said, ‘Yeah, that’s her.’
‘Oh-kay. What about her?’ Alyssa’s palms were beginning to sweat.
‘Well, um, so, um…’ Isaac stood and began pacing. Finally, he stopped, took a deep breath, and blurted out, ‘You’re going to be grandparents.’
Alyssa and Brock both exploded off the loveseat as she felt the world drop out from beneath her. ‘What?’
And then it was Isaac’s turn to explode, only in laughter. ‘April Fool! Get it? April? And it’s April Fools’ Day? Oh my god, you should see your faces right now.’ By then, he was doubled over in laughter, even as his mother slapped him and his father collapsed back onto the loveseat.
One look at her husband’s face, and Alyssa couldn’t tell which was the more prominent expression: relief or pride that his son had just pulled off a classic prank.
She grabbed the nearest throw pillow and aimed it at her son’s head as he easily ducked to avoid it. ‘Brat, go to your room. And never give me another heart attack like that again. Until you’re at least twenty-five!’
Still laughing, Isaac and Holly bumped fists as they went back upstairs. ‘Good one,’ she said to her brother as they left the room.
Later, as she climbed into bed beside her husband, Alyssa felt twin twinges of guilt: that she’d been able to mentally set aside her case for a brief amount of time and feeling shame that she’d done so. It was a double-edge sword she frequently cut herself on.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Tuesday, April 2
Weighed down with six hulking bags of groceries, Alyssa wrestled with the doorknob before finally turning it enough to bump the door the rest of the way open with her hip. Much like her father before Timmy’s death, she was of the ilk who refused to make more than one trip from the car to the house. She could always find a way to lug it all in two arms on one try, and the kids often took bets on how many bags she could carry and how many things would crash to the floor before she could safely heft the items to the counter. Eggs breaking or jars shattering were bonus points. To date, she’d not had so much as a dropped jar of pickles or a crack in an eggshell.
Since schools were closed for an In-Service Day for teachers, and she was driving herself, Cord, and Hal crazy as they waited for a call back regarding a hit Hal had received on Hunter Jenkins, she’d decided to grab some groceries. Because it was such a dreaded chore in her household, it wasn’t uncommon to completely run out of everything before someone finally caved. She figured it was her turn and she needed to get out of the precinct before someone cuffed her and tossed her in a cell. Or more specifically, before Hal did. After an hour of snapping the rubber band on her wrist, and asking him if he’d heard anything back yet, the normally patient man had had enough, and he’d even gone so far as threatening to run her over with his wheelchair if she didn’t ‘get out now.’ One look at his irritated face, and she believed him, so she told him where she was going and made him promise to call her the second he heard back.
She walked to the foot of the stairs and yelled up. ‘Isaac? Are you home?’ She already knew Brock and Holly were out since both their cars were gone. When she didn’t get a reply, she figured Isaac was with one or the other, so she returned to the kitchen to put things away, disappointed because she would’ve appreciated the help, and her son’s company would’ve helped keep her from going crazy while waiting for information.
She’d just finished putting the canned goods in the pantry and separated the mass packages of chicken and pork into more suitable family-sized portions when she thought she heard shuffling footsteps above her. She stopped whistling and listened, shrugging it off as house-settling noises when it remained silent.
She was labeling her freezer storage bags when she heard boards creaking overhead, even louder than before. Isaac must be home after all. He’d probably fallen asleep with his headphones on, listening to mind-numbing lyrics he insisted she just didn’t get, and hadn’t heard her calling for him.
Before walking to the foot of the stairs again, she washed her hands of the raw meat she’d been handling. She labeled the Ziploc bag with the date and contents and stuck it in the freezer, then yelled, ‘Isaac?’ No answer. She tried again, louder this time. ‘Isaac!’ The creaking sto
pped.
How many times had she told him blasting his music like that would rupture his eardrums, rendering him deaf? Apparently, not often enough.
Exasperated, she headed upstairs and stalked to her bedroom door, which was shut. Odd, she thought. What could he possibly be doing in there?
She pushed the door open and jumped back, letting out a little yelp when it was pulled from her hand.
‘Ahh! Jeez, Mom! You scared the crap out of me!’ Isaac screeched as he stumbled backwards.
Her hand covered her pounding heart. ‘I scared you? You just shaved a good five years off my life! What are you doing in my room, and why didn’t you answer when I hollered for you?’
Isaac fixed his baseball cap and pulled both earplugs out of his ears, letting them dangle around his neck. Alyssa could hear the grating noise emanating from them all the way across the room. ‘I never heard you yell for me. When was that? And why are you even home?’
She looked at her watch then back at her son. ‘Maybe fifteen minutes ago. I yelled several times. And I’m home because I picked up some groceries. I’m heading back after I finish putting things away.’
Her son’s cheeks turned a slight shade of pink and he mumbled, ‘Sorry. I didn’t hear you.’
‘Yeah, I kind of gathered that.’ She looked pointedly at his iPod and said, ‘I don’t doubt in the least little bit that you didn’t hear me. As loud as you have that garbage blasting in your ears, I’d be surprised if you heard an explosion right outside your room. How can you even understand what they’re saying? Are they even singing – and I use that term very, very loosely here – in a language you understand?’ She shook off her irritation and said, ‘Never mind, it doesn’t matter. I need to get back downstairs and finish putting the groceries away.’
His face filled with glee as he followed her out of the bedroom. ‘You bought food? Score! Did you get –’
Interrupting his inquiry, she repeated. ‘So, why were you in my room in the first place?’
‘Um. I fell asleep in there.’
‘You don’t have a bed of your own? Last I checked, you still had a queen-size pillow-top in your room. It may be hard to find, mind you, under all that mess, but you definitely do have one. I specifically remember paying for it and lugging it up the stairs.’ They entered the kitchen and Alyssa said, ‘Wash your hands. You can help me finish up here.’
Isaac rolled up his sleeves, squirted soap into his hands, and obediently cleaned up. ‘I thought I heard Dad or Holly come home earlier because I thought I heard the door beep. When are we getting the alarm fixed? Anyway, no one came upstairs, and Dad didn’t yell up for me, so I figured I was hearing things and went back to my room.’
‘It was probably a beeping in your brain telling you to turn your music down,’ Alyssa replied in a snarky tone.
‘Ha ha, very funny, Mom. Do you want to hear this or not?’ he grumbled.
‘Actually, I think it was funny. It was a rather clever comment, if I do say so myself. But I’ll shut up now. Please. Continue.’
Isaac rolled his long-lashed green eyes, so much like her brother’s had been.
‘Don’t roll your eyes at me; they’ll stick that way.’
‘I thought you weren’t going to interrupt anymore,’ Isaac said, raising his eyebrows at her.
‘Oops. You’re right. Sorry. Not another word until you finish, I swear. See? Locked up tight.’ She turned the pretend lock on her mouth and threw the imaginary key behind her.
‘Anyway,’ he continued, ‘I went back in my room and about, I don’t know, ten or fifteen minutes later, I thought I heard Dad walking around in your room. I was surprised he didn’t let me know he was home because he always does, you know. I had to ask him something, so I went to your room, but he wasn’t in there. I figured the house was making those creepy settling noises again, and I started to go back to my room when I realized Dad forgot to turn off the TV.’ He put the packaged meat she handed him into the meat drawer of the freezer.
He continued, ‘I went to shut it off, but then that funny insurance commercial came on – you know the one where that guy breaks in? So, I watched that, and then some show came back on, and I stood there watching it a few minutes. Raiders of the Lost Ark? For an old movie, that one’s pretty good. Anyway, before I knew it, I was kicked back on your bed. Next thing I know, I’m waking up and you’re scaring the hell – heck – out of me.’
‘Well, at least you remembered to turn the television off.’
‘Nah. It was off when I woke up. I must’ve rolled over on the remote or something.’
‘Hmm. Well, tomorrow’s laundry day, so guess you can wash my bedclothes along with yours, and get that dirty, sweaty, teenage boy stink out,’ she teased as the two of them finished storing the rest of the freezer items. ‘Did you just roll your eyes at me again?’ she asked in mock anger.
‘I don’t know. Did it look like this?’ Isaac asked comically, giving a dramatic repeat performance. ‘If so, then yes, yes, I did.’
Alyssa couldn’t help but laugh. She snapped his leg with a wet towel. ‘Brat,’ she said.
Her phone rang, and she snatched it off the counter. Cord. ‘Tell me,’ she said by way of greeting.
‘Hunter Jenkins was arrested for a petty misdemeanor in Michigan over twenty years ago for shoplifting a candy bar. The judge let him off with a warning since it was his first offense,’ her partner said.
She heard more in the silence that followed than what he’d said. ‘There’s more. What is it?’
‘Thing is, Hunter Jenkins died earlier that year in an ATV accident.’
‘So, you’re telling me that someone else has assumed Hunter Jenkins’ identity?’ Alyssa asked.
‘It’s possible,’ Cord said. ‘I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear – none of us did. But for my money, I’m thinking we’re finally moving on the right track with this guy, at least for the McCormick case.’
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. ‘Damn it,’ she muttered. ‘Well, the alias throws a monkey wrench into the works, but I agree that we’re on the right path because innocent people don’t assume someone else’s identity unless they’re hiding something.’
‘Before you hang up, I wanted to tell you Lynn Sharp came by looking for you.’
The only reason Alyssa could think of for the medical examiner wanting to speak to her would have to be in regards to the McCormick case. ‘Why didn’t she just call me?’
‘She was already here for something else, so she decided to try her luck and drop in. She found a hair that didn’t belong to Callie McCormick, as well as enough skin cells beneath the fingernails that she thinks there’s a good chance she can extract a DNA profile. But she said it could still take a while to get the results back. In other words, patience is key here.’
‘In other words, don’t be myself. Is that what you’re saying?’
‘You said it, not me,’ Cord said.
Patient or not, her pulse quickened at the news. This could be the break they’d been hoping for. ‘Okay, I’ll finish up here and head back. Should be there in less than twenty.’ When she hung up, she automatically checked to see that her gun was still holstered, and then grabbed her keys from the wall hook.
‘Um, Mom, do you think you could drop me off at Trevor’s on the way? I’d walk, but, since you’re heading the same direction…’
‘Sure, get your things, and let’s go,’ she said as he sprinted up the steps to grab his phone to text his friend he was on the way.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Tuesday, April 2
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Evan allowed the steady pattern of his shoe hitting the wooden floors to help calm him. He checked his alarm system for the third time since walking through his front door a little over an hour ago.
That was close. Way too close. Closer even than when Alyssa’s husband had come home unexpectedly. How was he supposed to know schools were closed today? When he woke this morning with that familiar
burn in his stomach, he knew he wouldn’t stay away, despite the risk that returning presented. The harder he tried to convince himself it was too dangerous, the more impassioned he became to see her, to touch the things she loved, the place she slept.
After being caught off guard yesterday, he decided to wait until late morning. Discarding his usual disguise, he pulled on a pair of running shorts and a tank top, becoming a regular guy out for his morning run.
When he rounded the corner to Rancho Blanco where Alyssa lived, her husband was just leaving. The detective’s car was already gone. He waved as Brock Wyatt drove by, watching until he saw him turn right out of the neighborhood. When he reached the vacant house, he veered left and ran into the backyard.
There he waited ten minutes to make sure the coast was clear before hurrying over to Alyssa’s house where he slipped through the gate and entered the house through the back door.
He wasted no time exploring the downstairs again. His aim was upstairs. He trod quietly down the hall past the children’s closed rooms where the door to the master bedroom stood ajar. Eyes bright, he wet his lips and re-entered Alyssa Wyatt’s most private domain.
His focus was so complete, the voices didn’t register right away. When they did, he spun around, looking for any place to hide. A nervous titter escaped when he realized the sound was nothing more than the television mounted on the wall above the dresser. He found the remote control and turned the volume down, making a mental note to return the level to twenty-two before he left.
He entered the bathroom first, opening cabinets, picking things up and replacing them exactly how he’d found them. He wasn’t looking for anything in particular; he just enjoyed touching the detective’s things… and her not knowing it made his hands tingle.
He peered behind the bedroom door and went through the closet, touching her clothes, but resisting the temptation to take anything else. His fingers trailed over her silky negligees draped around padded hangers, and he rubbed some of the silkier ones across his stubble, becoming aroused as he did.
