Taken By You

by Carlie Sexton

  “Yes, Mr. Statton. It won’t happen again. I just thought that you were too busy for whatever drama she has going on.”

  “Drama. You think that she is some kind of drama queen? Not that it is any of your business but a friend of hers was murdered. His body was found and she just learned about it today. Does that sound like drama to you?”

  “Oh, I had no idea. I’m so sorry, Mr. Statton.”

  “Laura, you don’t get to decide if I have time for her or not. I will always have time for her. That will be all,” he said with a terseness Laura had never heard before.

  ***

  The minute Kate walked in the door, she called Dr. Cox. She didn’t want to go to his office. She hoped that he could talk to her on the phone. To her surprise, he answered on the third ring.

  “Hi, Dr. Cox, it’s Kate Simmons. I was hoping to have a phone session, if you have the time.”

  “You have good timing, Kate. My afternoon is free with Thanksgiving being tomorrow. What do you want to talk about today?”

  “I found out that Mark’s body was found. He was killed because of me, Dr. Cox,” she sobbed quietly into the phone.

  “Kate, do you control Roger?”

  “No, I obviously don’t have control over him but I can’t help feel some guilt over this.”

  “Kate, don’t go there. This is not your fault any more than David’s death. You are only responsible for your own actions. You didn’t invite Mark to your home and you certainly didn’t want Roger to kill him. It was the wrong place at the wrong time for Mark,” Dr. Cox insisted.

  “I know you are right but I am just so saddened by this. I’m also scared for Neil. What if Roger finds us and does something to Neil?”

  “Have you talked to Neil about your concerns?”

  “Yes, I spoke with him earlier today.”

  “What did he say when you expressed your fears?”

  “He said that he would increase security. A guard will now be assigned to him as well. He was very reassuring.”

  “Do you trust Neil? Do you believe that he can protect you?” Dr. Cox asked.

  “I do trust him but this new information has proven that Roger is even more dangerous than I thought. I now believe that I know two people that he has killed.”

  “It’s completely understandable that you are scared. Most people never have to deal with being stalked by a suspected killer. You are going to have to be extra careful. I’m glad that you have security to protect you,” he said in his familiar fatherly fashion.

  “Thank you, Dr. Cox. You always have a way of calming me down. I should go. I want to lie down for a while.”

  “You’re welcome. Call me any time that you need to talk. I’m here for you, Kate.”

  With that, they said their goodbyes. Dr. Cox had again helped her to realize that she didn’t control other people. He had been invaluable in his assertion that she was not to blame, nor responsible for others’ behaviors. This was still difficult to swallow at times, but she needed to apply this logic to keep her head from the guilt that plagued her.

  Chapter 17

  After Paulina dropped Jacob off at school, she decided to stop in at Starbucks for a latte and to surf the web on her laptop. She had always found the atmosphere there to be relaxing and she loved the delicious scent of coffee brewing. The aroma brought her back to being in her grandmother’s kitchen. She smiled at the thought of the many mornings spent cooking together.

  It had also been her experience that it was a good place to meet men. She had met Roger there many moons ago. Even though things did not work out for them romantically, being Jacob’s mother had made it worth it. Since Roger was preoccupied with Rose, it was time for her to find a new man.

  She was still an attractive woman and managed to turn heads wherever she went. Also, her accent seemed to draw men to her like bees to honey. She wanted to meet someone new and have what she thought everyone deserved—a marriage and a family. She wanted her own happily ever after.

  Once she got her pumpkin spice latte, she sat down in a comfy chair and fired up her laptop. The chairs on either side of her were empty, just waiting to be filled by an eligible man. She allowed herself to daydream for a moment, before glancing up at the woman standing in front of her.

  “Paulina, is that you?” Darcy asked, a smile spreading across her face. “It’s been so long. I thought that you moved back to Germany.”

  “Oh my gosh, Darcy. It’s so great to see you. What an unexpected surprise!” Paulina answered, getting up to hug her old friend. “I did move back to Germany, but Roger convinced me to return to the states,” she said. “Do you have time to sit and catch up?”

  “I do have some time. How long have you been back?”

  “Just a few weeks. We’ve been staying with Roger until I can get on my feet. How are you and Rick doing?”

  The smile on Darcy’s face evaporated. “How long are you planning on staying with him?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure. It might be a while. I’m surprised that I haven’t seen you and Rick yet. Where’s Roger been hiding him?”

  “I wish I knew,” Darcy breathed, crossing her legs. “Obviously, you don’t know.”

  “Huh?”

  “Rick went missing last May. The police presume that he is dead but they can’t find his body.”

  “I had no idea, Darcy. You and the girls must be beside yourselves. I don’t understand why Roger hasn’t told me.”

  “Okay, brace yourself,” Darcy said. “He probably hasn’t told you because he is the primary suspect in Rick’s disappearance. He was the last person to see Rick alive.”

  “What? That can’t be. Roger would never do anything to hurt Rick. They were like brothers. What’s going on?”

  “Well, it’s quite a long story. How much time do you have?”

  Paulina looked at her watch. “I have until three o’clock when I need to pick Jacob up from school. Please fill me in.”

  “Rick found out that I was having an affair with another man. It was heartbreaking to see how devastated he was when I finally admitted it. Rick was so hurt and angry with me. He had good reason to be; I broke our marriage vows and betrayed him. He was desperate to know who this man was. I refused to tell him who it was, but Rick wasn’t stupid. He stormed out of the house, heading for Roger’s place, bent on inflicting a world of pain on him. I followed him in my car.

  “I knew that Rick would kill Roger, that’s why I had followed him, to try to calm him down,” she continued. “I didn’t want my children to grow up without their father. I didn’t want matters to become worse by seeing Rick spend the rest of his life in prison. Never in a million years did I think Rick would go missing, or worse probably be killed. He saw me pull up behind him at Roger’s apartment, ordered me to go home. He had been planning all day to confront Roger, since he had suspected that Roger was the man I was sleeping with.”

  "So, you were actually having an affair with Roger?” Paulina asked, her eyes blinking in disbelief.

  “Yes, we’d been having problems for some time. Rick had become so vicious, his anger toward me seemed unyielding. He wanted full custody of our kids and he would stop at nothing to get it. He was being vindictive and cruel and hurting me had consumed his life. I ended up taking comfort in Roger’s arms. In the end, I realized that I deserved Rick’s wrath. I had cheated. I had torn our lives apart. He had wanted to go to counseling to work on our marriage, but I wasn’t interested. I wanted other men to find me attractive and interesting. My husband had become boring and predictable after twelve years of marriage and I wanted, no I needed, something more.”

  “Wow, Darcy. I had no idea that things had become so bad between you two. I’m so sorry,” Paulina said, reaching out to her.

  “Unfortunately, I didn’t give much thought to the consequences of my actions. Rick had been away on business and I took the opportunity presented before me, one that was delicious at the time, but which ruined my entire life, afterwards. Now Rick�
��s gone. My worst fears of losing my children has been usurped by Rick’s disappearance. The last person to see him was Roger.”

  “Do you really believe that Roger could have something to do with this? You really believe that’s possible?”

  “I believe that Roger knows more about Rick disappearance than he has told anyone. His story kept changing. Roger had told me that Rick probably ran off to get some perspective about our lives. He told the police that Rick could have been a victim of domestic violence, implying that I could have done something to him, that I actually could have hurt Rick or hired someone to make him disappear. Luckily, the police didn’t buy into Roger’s story. They thought that Roger was the most viable suspect since he was the man I had been having an affair with.

  “But,” Darcy added, “there was no evidence of what had happened or any trace of where Rick could have gone. The one thing I know for sure is that Rick would never walk out on his children.”

  Paulina nodded. “Rick was a great father. I find it hard to believe that he would desert his kids.”

  “He wouldn’t. He had been abandoned by his mom when he was ten. She left him and his brothers behind to run off with another man. He had cried himself to sleep every night for a year. He had prayed that God would bring his mom back home and restore his family. He had worked extra hard to be a good boy. But nothing brought her back. What was worse is that the man she ran off with didn’t like her children. He rarely saw his mom or had any contact with her. He was devastated by her betrayal. It had a profound effect of how he saw marriage and family, and he was therefore, committed to being the best father he possibly could be. He coached the girls’ soccer teams. He played games with them, took them to the movies, read them bedtime stories and most importantly, he taught them right from wrong. He knew that spending time with them now would pay off in the future. He wanted his children to grow up being responsible, caring adults. He seemed to have this image in his mind of the perfect family. The family that he never had. The family that he would try to create at all cost.”

  “Wow, poor guy. No wonder he wanted to have a family. He needed to fix what had been broken in his life,” Paulina said, tilting her head to one side.

  “Yeah, but his view of marriage was a different story. Thanks to his mom’s abandonment, Rick didn’t trust women. I didn’t realize this when we met and dated. My eyes were opened when we were married. After we said ‘I do,’ he became very controlling and wanted to track every move that I made. I had to account for my time every day. If I was at the grocery store too long, he came looking for me. I had to work from home because he didn’t want me out in the world where I could develop relationships with anyone. The only friend he allowed me to have was my sister. Carla was my only confidant. She was the only person he would let me see or talk with. I felt trapped and hated being controlled all of the time. My despair grew over the years. His distrust became a self-fulfilling prophecy. He drove me to cheat through his constant suspicions and accusations.”

  “That’s terrible. I had no idea that you had endured so much.”

  “Now he’s gone and there’s nothing I can do about it. I don’t know if he’s dead or alive. It’s been torture. I don’t know if this is a game or if he is in real trouble. There’s nothing I can do but wait and hope that somehow he’ll return or that the police will find him. Our children deserve a father even though I cheated. I still care about him and I don’t want the worst to be true.”

  Paulina took Darcy’s hand. She didn’t know what to say. It was an overwhelming conversation and her heart went out to her.

  “How are the kids holding up?”

  “This morning I heard sobs coming from my younger daughter’s room. I went to her and joined her in bed. Since Rick has been gone she’s woken up most days in tears. She misses her daddy. I try my best to comfort Tiffany, but sometimes she just can’t be consoled. She’s terrified that her daddy is dead and that she is never going to see him again. All I can do is reassure her that her dad loved her very much and would do anything to be with her if he could. I don’t know what else to say. My older daughter has completely shut us all out. She never talks about Rick and I’m so worried about her as well.”

  “This is so much to take in. I am so sorry that you and the girls are going through all of this,” Paulina said. “If there is anything that I can do to help, just say the word.”

  “The only thing you can do is help yourself and Jacob. Get away from Roger as soon as you can. He is dangerous. I just know it,” Darcy said, looking Paulina square in the eye. It was a bit unnerving for Paulina.

  “I really don’t think that Roger could hurt me. He wouldn’t do anything that would cause Jacob pain.”

  “I’m sure that Rose probably thought the same thing.”

  “What do you mean? Rose and Roger broke up over a month ago. Strangely, he met a new woman named Rose.”

  “They did not break up. Rose was murdered. The police found her arm and leg in North San Diego. They didn’t have enough evidence to arrest anyone.”

  Paulina thought she was going to be sick. Why would Roger lie about breaking up with Rose? “I don’t understand,” she said. “Rose is dead?”

  “Yes, she’s dead.”

  “You said that there wasn’t any evidence. Are there any suspects?”

  “Who do you think the suspect might be?”

  Paulina didn’t want to utter his name, but it was the only name on her tongue. “They suspect Roger? Roger is the one they think did it?”

  “Yes. When they interviewed me about Rose, they told me that he was the primary suspect, but they didn’t have the evidence that they needed to arrest him.”

  Paulina sat there. She was stunned. Her mind was blank and she had no idea how to respond to the information that Darcy had laid out for her. Darcy didn’t say anything either. She wanted to give Paulina time to digest everything.

  “Paulina, do you have somewhere else to stay? Do you know anyone that Roger doesn’t know?” Darcy asked with great concern.

  “No and no,” she said, closing the lid to her computer. She wasn’t going to spend any time on the web now.

  “You could stay with us, but if he found out, both of us would be in grave danger,” Darcy said, taking out a pen and paper from her purse. She wrote on the paper and handed it to Paulina. “Here’s my phone number. If you want to stay with me, we’ll find a way to work it out. You may have to leave in the middle of the night. It’ll be risky, but I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  “Thank you. I’ll think about what you have said and I’ll let you know. I’m sure that everything will be okay.”

  Paulina wanted to believe her own words, but they seemed to get stuck in her throat.

  Darcy smiled. “I understand. Call me if you need anything.” Looking at her watch she said, “I’ve got to go. Talk to you soon?”

  “Yes, I’ll call you.”

  “Okay, bye,” Darcy said, standing and beginning to walk away.

  “Bye.”

  Paulina sat there for a long time, trying to process what Darcy had told her. She didn’t know what to think or what to do. But, two questions bothered her immensely. First, why hadn’t Roger told her that Rick went missing? Second, why had he said that he and Rose broke up when she had been murdered? Her conclusion to these questions terrified her. Had she just moved in with a killer?

  Paulina was brought out of her trance when a handsome man asked if the seat next to her was taken. She shook her head. His broad smile indicated that he might be interested in her. Normally, she would have engaged him in conversation, but she wasn’t in the mood. She looked at her watch and realized that she needed to pick up some groceries. She packed up her things and promptly left Starbucks, wishing that Darcy had been wrong about Roger.

  When Paulina got home, Roger was already there. She was terrified of him but she couldn’t let it show. She had to be careful, for her sake and Jacob’s. Jacob ran to his room to put his things away. P
aulina brought in the groceries and put them on the table.

  “Are there more groceries in the car?” Roger asked.

  “Yes, I got everything on the list for Thanksgiving, so there are many more bags.”

  “I’ll go down and get them.”

  “Great. I’ll put these away.”

  Roger left the apartment to go downstairs and Paulina busied herself in the kitchen. She took in some deep breaths in an attempt to calm her rapid heart rate. How did he seem so normal? She never had any indication that he was capable of murder. She would do her best to stay out of his way until she could sneak out with Jacob. She had some money in the bank and could stay at a motel until she could get a flight back to Germany for herself and her son. She didn’t want to jeopardize Darcy’s safety by staying with her.

  Roger returned with the bags, placed them on the table, and went back out for the rest. Jacob joined him to help. Paulina opened a recipe book and began organizing her timeline for making all of the fixings for their holiday meal. She had made it clear to Roger that she didn’t want Rose to come but maybe she had been too hasty. If he asked again, she would relent to make him happy. Having other people around meant she and Jacob would be safer, didn’t it?

  Chapter 18

  It was Thanksgiving and Kate knew this was going to be the biggest day of Charlie’s life. She was so excited for her best friend. She called Mitch to give him support and ask if there was anything that she could do to help him make this day even more special. He said that he had it all under control. He was planning on serving her the ring for dessert at her parents’ home. He would present her with a plate that had a covering over it. When she lifted the cover, she would find the ring inside its box and he would drop to one knee and propose. He had been preparing what he would say for the last week. Since Charlie was so close to her family, he knew that she would want to share their special moment with them.