ROMANCE: Mr. Mystery: (New Adult Bad Boy Romance) (Contemporary Mystery Short Stories)

by Viva Fox

  “Who is that sick?” She finally murmured. Rick shook his head.

  “I don’t know. Lizzie…it might be time to call the police.”

  “And tell them I’m weirded out to be alone in a big old house? They’ll laugh me out of town.” She realized exactly what he’d said. “Your brother asked me if anyone called me Lizzie.”

  “Oh. I didn’t even realize I’d said that.” Rick gave her a half smile. “You don’t shorten it, do you?”

  “Well, I mean, I guess. But Daniel brought up Lizzie Borden.” She waited for a reaction from him. “Don’t you think that’s a little odd?”

  “Not really. Lizzie Borden’s a historical figure-especially in New England. It’s not really that big of a thing.” She felt bad for bringing it up. She was paranoid and she didn’t want to start bringing his brothers into her paranoia-even if he did creep her out.

  “Yeah. I’m sure it’s just-.”

  “You don’t want to be called Lizzie?” Rick’s gentle smile had returned. “That’s ok. You look more like an Elizabeth anyway.”

  “Do you think I should call the police?”

  “It might not hurt to talk to them. Just tell them. At least about the rabbit. Tell them you thought it was a simple prank, but now things aren’t calming down.” Rick patted her hand. “It’ll at least make you feel better.”

  “You’re right.” She leaned up for another kiss. He did not hesitate. The kiss began to deepen. Elizabeth let the worries ease off for the moment. There would be plenty of time for that in the morning.

  She had been fully prepared to call the police, but suddenly there appeared to be no need to. The sounds in the house stopped. There were no longer strange shadows out in the yard, or anywhere else. Elizabeth suddenly felt oddly better.

  The house work was coming along nicely. Her things finally arrived, and with Rick and Daniel’s help she loaded it into the guest house. She thought she would have too much, but her things filled it up nicely. For the first time she finally felt like she was home.

  They had just begun the process of sanding the floors. As soon as the floors were finished, she could begin the process of buying furniture and designing the rooms. She’d painted them all in different colors. She thought someday that she would give them different names, but for now they would simply be the Blue Room, the Green Room, the Lavender Room and the Attic Room. She would charge the least for the attic room.

  Elizabeth was finally excited about her new business. She felt like she was on the big of a great adventure. The fun part of house design had just begun. She’d be in business in no time.

  And Rick seemed to be very excited about the prospect of being close to her. The two spent as much time together as possible. They had dinners together during the week, and on weekends. He slept over regularly. She often wondered if that was because he was worried about what she had told him. He seemed protective.

  Elizabeth had given up sleeping in the main house. She felt safer this way, and she slept far better in the guest house. She still worked late in the house some evenings. This Wednesday night was no exception. She’d been working on a closet in the Green Room. It was the one directly over the parlor. She’d just stepped back to admire her work when she heard the strange scratching sound downstairs.

  It was the same scratching that she remembered from a few weeks back. She hadn’t heard it in a while. It made her curious. Frowning, Elizabeth trekked downstairs.

  She spun around the corner into the parlor. She looked in the direction of the scratching sound.

  A face was staring back at her.

  Elizabeth thought she was hallucinating. It wasn’t really a face. Was. Wasn’t. No, it was. But it was different. She sucked her breath in hard when she realized that it had what appeared to be a pillow case over its head. Two eye holes were cut in the fabric, through which two familiar eyes were staring back at her. A rope was loosely knotted around its throat to hold the white fabric in place.

  Elizabeth screamed. She heard the sound long and loud in the echoing silence of the house. Her hand fumbled frantically for the back pocket of her jeans. She struggled to get the phone out. Her hands trembled as she pulled up “emergency call.”

  It didn’t fully occur to her that she had dialed 911 until the police were in the house. She was stammering over her words as she told them exactly what had happened. One officer sat in the house with her as another roamed the exterior of the house.

  But there was no one there. There wasn’t even anyone in Philip’s house. There wasn’t even a trace of someone. She’d seen him. She knew that.

  “Elizabeth?” A voice was suddenly calling from the front door. Elizabeth looked up, surprised.

  “Rick? What are you doing here?” She was confused. She hadn’t called him. At least she didn’t think so. Was it possible that she had called or texted him in a fit of panic and not realized it? No, she was sure that she hadn’t.

  “I was on my way to check on my dad and I saw that police.” Elizabeth merely stared at him.

  “But your father isn’t home.” She motioned to the police officer. “They checked. There’s no one in his place.”

  They all saw the look on Rick’s face. It was surprise, followed immediately by fear. His eyes widened and he sighed.

  “Well, maybe he went out for a beer.” He was suddenly smiling. Elizabeth arched a brow. She had never heard Rick mention that his father drank. And from what she had observed, Philip was always in at night.

  “I…oh. Ok.” She nodded. Her lips tried to form a believable smile. But it wasn’t quite happening.

  Just a half hour earlier, she had seen an unidentifiable masked man standing outside of her window. Then there were those eyes….those eyes which were so familiar. Now Rick had appeared out of nowhere. On the nights when Rick slept over, there were no mysterious sounds. Rick had avoided telling her any real stories of the house’s supposed hauntings. Was that because there were none? Did Rick know more than he was letting on? Elizabeth was suddenly horribly uncomfortable. And she didn’t like the reason why.

  She was not in a good mood as she hung curtains the next morning. She’d been up most of the night listening. But of course, no sound had come. She had figured that was what would happen.

  Maybe she was being paranoid, but it felt valid to her. If it was Rick, if he was involved in all of this, had he decided not to risk his exposure a second time? She hoped not. She truly hoped not. She wanted to believe in Rick. She wanted to think that he was the good man she had come to know over the last few weeks. But too many oddities were adding up.

  There was a soft knock on the door. Elizabeth looked up to see Rick standing in the doorway. She immediately felt herself tense.

  “Hey.” He smiled at her. “How are you today?”

  There wasn’t as much work to do lately, so the men were only coming when a specific task needed performed. The electrician was coming tomorrow, so she wasn’t entirely sure why Rick had come today.

  “I…didn’t realize you were stopping over.” She folded her arms over her chest. Rick looked taken back.

  “I thought I’d stop by to check on you.” He took a step forward. His fingertips came to rest on her arm. “I was worried about you after what happened last night. Are you ok?”

  “I’m fine.” Elizabeth pushed a handful of hair out of her eyes. The conversation wasn’t making her feel much better. She wanted him to leave so that she could keep thinking. “Rick, I-.”

  “What?” His fingertips were rubbing up and down her arm. “Talk to me. Tell me what you’re thinking?”

  “It’s just….” She shrugged, not quite knowing how to say it. “Where were you last night?”

  “Where was I?” He echoed. “Why do you ask?”

  “Well it’s just that-.” She didn’t finish.

  “Elizabeth, I told you I was on my way over to check on my dad.” The look on his face told her that he knew why she was asking. “Why? Where did you think I was?”

&
nbsp; “Nothing ever happens when you’re here.” She answered meekly. Rick’s eyes flashed in understanding as his hand moved from her arm.

  “I see.” He gave her a firm nod. “If that’s the case, I’ll be heading off. I….I guess I’ll see you tomorrow when the electrician shows up.”

  “Yeah.” She nodded. She felt terrible for suspecting him. But this had gone on long enough, and she was more frightened than ever.

  “By the way,” Rick turned to face her, “do you really think I’d show up and out myself if I’d been lurking outside of your window last night?”

  Elizabeth lowered her head. Rick set his jaw.

  “As I thought. Bye, Elizabeth.”

  She tried to go back to her own house and relax. But after her conversation, she was too on edge. She tried to fix tea, but decided that she was simply too keyed up. Sighing, she trudged back over to the house for some more work.

  She hadn’t been there long when her phone rang. The screen clearly declared that it was Rick. Frowning, she swiped it open.

  “Rick, I-.”

  “No, Elizabeth, listen to me.” He sounded upset. Well, not so much upset as…worried. “Elizabeth, I’m coming over. There’s something that I need to tell you.”

  “Rick, I don’t think that’s such a good-.” The line went dead. Elizabeth sighed. She didn’t realize that he would take her words so hard. She would do everything she could to let him down gently.

  It had not been long when Elizabeth clearly heard footsteps on the stairs. Sighing, she turned.

  “Ok, Rick, let’s talk-.” Her words broke off when she saw who stood in the doorway. The masked man from the window stared back at her from behind his white mask. Elizabeth took a step backwards. A lamp clattered to the floor. She didn’t exactly know where she was going-there was nowhere to run. But she had to get away from him.

  “Rick…please.” She whispered frantically. “I’m sorry.”

  He ignored her. He was moving slowly across the floor to her. Elizabeth backed up as far as she could go. Suddenly, she realized she could go no further. Her back was literally against the wall.

  Rick was in front of her. His body pressed hers into the wall. She whimpered softly. There wasn’t much else that she could do. His hand moved up, closing around her throat. Elizabeth felt the long fingers dig into her skin. She could do nothing but make a weak squeaking sound. She watched as her hands came up. They tried to ply his fingers away, but it was no use.

  I’m going to die here, she thought. Had she come all this way to die?

  Suddenly there was a flash behind Rick. Another Rick was behind him. Wait, no… that was Rick. Her Rick. He was grabbing the man holding her, throwing him to the floor. Elizabeth shrank into a corner. Her hand raised to her throat. It was already sore and she was certain that she had bruises.

  Rick was holding the masked man down on the floor.

  “Elizabeth! Call the police!” She did not hesitate.

  Rick held the man down on the floor until the officers arrived. Elizabeth gasped as she saw the mask pulled back.

  “Philip?” She whispered. Sure enough, it was Rick’s white haired father which the two officers were pulling to his feet. “But why?”

  “That’s what I was on my way over to tell you.” Rick got up. “Something has been going on with my dad. I just found it tonight.”

  He reached into his back pocket. He held out a folded piece of paper. Still trembling, Elizabeth took it. She opened it and read the words.

  Philip,I am terribly sorry, but I have to reject your offer. I understand the sentimental attachment to the property that you and your family would have, but it is mine. I have owned it for many years now. I hope this will not impact our friendship.

  Yours,

  Thelma

  Elizabeth looked up at Rick. “I don’t understand.”

  “I’m sure that you don’t.” Rick nodded. “I just found out myself. Apparently my grandfather’s family built this house. When your grandmother went into the senior complex, my dad offered to buy the property. Of course Thelma said no. She wanted you to have it. But-.”

  “But your dad wasn’t ok with that.” Elizabeth looked back at her grandmother’s signature.

  “No,” Rick sighed. “He went off on a rant the other day which I didn’t understand. Then Daniel and I started looking around-.”

  “Daniel…helped?” Rick gave her a bit of a smile.

  “Daniel’s sorry if he freaked you out. But he’s really a decent guy.” Rick’s smile faded and his jaw tightened. “My dad’s plan was apparently to frighten you out of the house, and then buy it himself.” He looked apologetic. “Elizabeth, I never had any idea-.”

  “I’m sorry.” Elizabeth was still frightened, but she did feel bad for him. “Your father needs help.”

  “That he does.” Rick looked down the stairs. He held out his hand for her. “We should both go and have a talk with the officers.” He ran his fingers over her neck. “You’re bruised. You should see a doctor.”

  “Later.” Elizabeth took his hand. “Come on.”

  It had been two weeks since the incident in the house. Since that night, Elizabeth no longer saw or heard anything strange. She’d offered to not press charges against Philip, but the local police were hearing none of it. Philip had crossed the line between simply trespassing and causing harm. While Elizabeth hadn’t been seriously hurt, she knew she’d never be able to get the incident out of her mind.

  Philip had confessed to everything. While Elizabeth had thought he was a sweet old man, his statements were revealing a different personality. He was bitter and angry with Thelma. He claimed the two had an agreement over the years for her to sell him the house. But then, suddenly, she’d supposedly changed her mind.

  Philip was furious. He’d done so much work on the property which he believed was rightfully his family’s, and now he’d have no claim to it. When he’d heard that a single woman was moving into the property, he’d figured it would be incredibly easy to get her out of the house.

  He’d left the monkey doll the first night. It was a family heirloom that Philip’s family claimed was cursed. He’d thought it might send a message-given that it was so ugly.

  Elizabeth had proven better than he thought. And then she’d become involved with Rick. Elizabeth wondered if he’d watched them in bed. She did not want to think of it.

  Rick and Daniel had both been incredibly apologetic over their father’s actions. As strange as Daniel had originally been, he had become just as pleasant now. Elizabeth had even agreed to let him move into the caretaker’s house. He’d now be her neighbor.

  Rick did not need to move in with him. He was still spending his time with her. She could not blame him for his father’s actions. She’d told him that-in many ways.

  It had been a rough start, but Canver had been just what she’d needed. She could only imagine the future she had ahead of her.

  THE END

  Immortal Awakened

  Castor hadn't really thought about what it meant at the time. He saw her sink against the crumbling cement wall, muffled noises breathed into her hands in short bursts as she struggled not to cry, and all he could think was that he felt something. Unidentifiable, but it existed and that was all that concerned him.

  She had been coming and going for the past several nights without

  ever indicating she was aware of his presence. He was cautious at first, staying on the floor above and only listening to her movements throughout the warehouse. She would snap photographs in each room, shuffling through fallen cables and deserted canisters and parts, often stopping for a cigarette.

  She made comments aloud occasionally, and this is what had initially piqued Castor's interest. He had stayed hidden in the warehouse for the better part of a year, tucked away behind large panels of drywall he himself had used to carve out a small but comfortable room, concealed practically in plain sight should anyone happen to wander that far into the decrepit building. Squatte
rs had come and gone, but the building had developed a certain reputation with the junkies and the gutter punks after the first few bodies had been found out on the ninth-floor landing. He hadn't seen anyone in months.

  Her voice was clear, ringing out beautifully through Castor's lonely cement palace. "What the hell am I doing?"

  She sighed, slowly sliding down the wall, every motion and breath reverberating infinitely in his heightened perception of sound. And that's when it started. That's when Castor wasn't content to stay upstairs only listening anymore. He moved light and easily down to the eighth floor, practiced enough to know she wouldn't detect the slightest disturbance. In life, he'd been rather conspicuous, features strange and alien and uncomfortably noticeable for someone with his temperament.

  One of the only things he relished after the change was the impossible stillness he'd managed—the inherent slyness of wretched things like him. He watched her from behind the broken slat of a door. Her face was unassuming but fresh and sad and everything he thought he might miss about before.

  She returned every evening, sometimes taking photographs, sometimes only flipping through a book by the light of a small gas lamp probably meant for camping. She brought a sleeping bag a few evenings, rolled it out and sometimes cried herself to sleep. Castor sat nearby for all of it—sometimes moving around and with her as a shadow, mimicking the stretch of her arm as she reached for her camera, the directionless pacing from room to room, her huddled position against the wall as she was overwhelmed again by whatever exhaustion seemed to plague her.

  It was the most interaction he had had with a human in years. He imagined briefly that some tiny mechanism inside him had clicked and moved, was building the desire and speed to work. Ana's presence in his home upon waking every night over the last two weeks had given him connection and interest—the will to exist.

  Somehow the scent of her blood was never a problem, greatly overshadowed as it was by his growing curiosity in what had brought her here and what had made her so sad. There were plenty of stragglers, drunks and addicts on the streets nearby for that. Though Castor didn't waste time with guilt anymore—his moral compass had shifted slightly askew out of necessity some long and resounding time ago—it seemed unfeasible to him to think of her as anything other than his unwitting and inviolable companion.