Chapter Fifteen
Stan hadn’t been in church much over the past twenty years. Although for the two years before Grant and Alison were baptized, he’d been there every week. But when his grandparents wouldn’t let him be baptized, he’d stopped going, and they hadn’t pushed him either.
Sure, every so often, Sybil would convince him to go with them, but only a few times a year.
So, he wasn’t certain what to expect today. But he sure was glad he had his best friend back here in the dressing room with him. Grant was a much needed calming influence on Stan right then. He sure was nervous though. What if he slipped or opened his mouth when he was under the water and came up coughing and spurting?
Alison was out there. She was there for him. Just the thought of that warmed him inside. He had no family. His parents had died in a car wreck when he was eight. The only family he’d had after that was his grandparents and they had both died a few months apart not long after Stan had graduated from high school. So, he’d been alone for twelve years now.
No more! The dinner at Sarah’s house last night had brought that home to him. Not only was he gaining a wife, but he was getting a whole new family. He smiled when he thought about the fact that he wasn’t just getting the Thompsons either. He was getting the Newcombs too. They were already including him in all family functions. It was great!
Pastor Caldwell stuck his head in the door and said, “It’s time Stan. Are you ready?”
Stan looked at Grant who just shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I am. Are there many people out there?”
The pastor smiled and said, “No more than usual.”
Stan wasn’t sure what the usual was so that answer didn’t help much. Then he realized that he was better off not knowing. If he kept his eyes on the pastor, he wouldn’t have to know how many people were out there.
When Stan was back in the dressing room a few minutes later, soaking wet, Grant was laughing at him. When he stepped in front of the mirror and saw himself, he had to laugh too. He looked like a wet puppy.
By the time he and Grant made it back out into the sanctuary, the service was over. Alison was the first to come up to him and she leaped into his arms.
“I’m so proud of you and so happy for you too.”
All the rest of the Thompsons and the Newcombs including Leo were right behind Alison. All were congratulating him too.
That was when he looked over Alison’s shoulder and saw Sonia standing at the back of the group. Not too long ago that would have bothered him, but now it seemed right for Sonia to be there. She was becoming a part of their lives too.
Alison saw the direction of his gaze and said, “Isn’t it great. Sonia is a member here too, and I didn’t even know it. The Newcombs have invited her to join us for our celebration dinner at their house.”
That was when he noticed someone else standing off to the side behind Sonia. Spencer Baldwin! Stan had never been around the guy much but he didn’t have to know the guy well at all to recognize the look of pure hatred that was on his face. And it was directed at him.
It made Stan so angry that he had the sudden urge to rush over there and punch the guy in the face. Then Baldwin was gone and Stan directed his attention back to Sonia. She still hung back, but he noticed that Kelly and Grant were now standing with her. Good.
The trio approached Stan now. Sonia stood in front of him and with heels on, was a little taller than he was.
“Congratulations Stan. I’m happy for you.”
She was smiling and he knew it was a genuine smile. But her smile turned into a frown. Stan turned around to see what she was staring at. Wayne Newcomb!
Kelly, always so observant, stepped up beside Sonia and said, “He promised not to bother you, Sonia. Please don’t stay away because of my brother.”
Sonia looked indecisive for a moment then she said, “Okay, I guess I’ll chance it.”
Stan had to turn away to keep his laugh from being noticeable. It was rather comical after all, at least to him it was. Wayne was like a teenager with a crush and Sonia was a tough as nails police detective who wanted nothing to do with any man but especially not Wayne. He could only wonder how that was going to turn out.
On the way over to the Newcomb’s for dinner, Stan and Alison were alone in his pickup again. Of course, Grant and Kelly were right behind them again.
Alison turned sideways in her seat. “Stan, I’m so excited now. There’s nothing to stand in the way of us getting married next Saturday. Think of it. That’s less than a week away now.”
Stan glanced over at her smiling face. How did he ever get so lucky? Here he was marrying the girl he’d loved for so many years. It just seemed too good to be true.
Then Alison frowned. “Stan, I don’t know if I should say something or not.” She shook her head. “But I saw Spencer there this morning. He didn’t say anything when I said hello to him earlier.”
She didn’t say anything else for a minute but seemed to be staring off at nothing.
“Stan, I’m wondering about Spencer more and more now.” When Stan turned his gaze toward her again, she said, “I saw him again after the service when we were all standing around congratulating you.”
She paused again, and he knew what was coming and braced for it. “He didn’t see me watching him, but he was looking at you like he wanted to tear you to pieces.”
Stan tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Yes, I saw him too. We’re going to have to try a little harder to convince the chief to let us at least talk to him and find out where he was when all the attacks happened.”
They were at the Newcomb estate then and neither said any more about Baldwin.
* * *
As soon as Alison walked into the Newcomb’s family room with Stan at her side and her brother and Kelly right behind them, she felt something strange. It was something she didn’t think she’d ever felt before, at least not in quite the same way. It took her a moment to recognize what it was. She felt . . . peace! Peace with herself. Peace with Stan and their upcoming marriage. Peace with her mother. And most of all, peace with this expanding family she was now a part of. And it made her feel wonderful.
Stan gave her a look with a smile on his face that told her that somehow he knew what she was feeling and he was feeling it too. Oh my!
Maria, the housekeeper, greeted them as they entered and asked what they wanted to drink while waiting for dinner to be served. When she went to get their drinks, Alison turned to Kelly and hugged her.
When they pulled apart, Kelly giggled and said, “Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”
Alison knew she’d never be able to explain how she was feeling right then. “I guess you could call it a ‘thank you.’ Thank you for being you. Thank you for loving my brother. Thank you for bringing me into your family.” She looked at Stan. “And Stan too.”
Kelly’s eyes grew moist. “You’re welcome Alison. But I need to be thanking you too. All of you have expanded my family and made it a much more wonderful family in the process. I was very much alone until I met Grant. I never had a best friend. Now, I hope I can call you that.”
“Oh yes, Kelly, I would love for you to be my best friend. I feel so comfortable with you. It’s like I’ve known you all my life instead of less than a year.”
Grant stepped up to them and threw an arm around each of them. “I’m glad you two get along so well. Frankly, I wasn’t so sure about it for a while last year.” He gave Alison a knowing look which she ducked.
Sybil and Sarah came through the door and Alison and Kelly joined them to form a group a few feet away with Sarah and Beth Newcomb who also had Sonia in tow.
Harold Newcomb came over to Grant and Stan with Leo and Wayne right behind him.
Alison tried not to laugh, but Wayne wasn’t paying any attention to the men’s conversation. His eyes were glued to Sonia. Well, at least he shouldn’t be bothering her anymore now that he had his sights set on Sonia.
She’d
better pay more attention to what the other women were saying. She’d missed something that Kelly had just said to Sonia, but had only heard Sonia’s reply.
“Yes, I have three brothers, Sven is the oldest. He’s six years older than me. Lars is next, four years older than me. Then there is Bjorn, two years older.”
Kelly laughed. “That’s a lot of macho male, I’d say. How’d you survive growing up with all that?”
Sonia snorted. “You don’t know the half of it.” She motioned toward Leo. “They’re all as tall as or taller than that man over there.”
Kelly laughed again and said, “That’s Leo. It’s hard to explain who he is in just a few words.” Her eyes took on a faraway look. “You see, he was my father’s orderly in the Air Force, and he promised my father that if anything ever happened to him, Leo would take care of his wife, Sarah.” She motioned toward Sarah. “And that’s how he came to be here. Now, I’m not quite sure what his relationship is. I think there might be something brewing between him and my mother-in-law. I can say that he’s going to be the new head of security for Newcomb Motors, though.”
Sonia only nodded and they both turned to follow the conversation going on among the other women standing there.
That gave Alison the opportunity to find Stan with her eyes. He was standing in the middle of the group of men with Grant on one side and Wayne on the other. Interesting! He and Wayne seemed to be deep in a conversation. Not long ago, the two of them almost came to blows over her. Now they were talking like old friends. Strange!
* * *
Stan was wondering how he was going to get out of this conversation with Wayne. Or at the least, maybe he would be able to get Wayne off the subject of Sonia.
Wayne was talking. “Don’t you think she’s the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen?”
When Stan didn’t agree or disagree, Wayne said, “She may be a tough police detective, but to me she’s all woman, and what a woman. As tall as she is, she must intimidate most men who try to date her, but not me.”
Stan thought he needed to say something so he came up with the first thing he could think of. “How tall are you anyway?”
Wayne grinned. “I’m six four, and I think that’s just right for a woman like her. What is she? Six even?”
“Yeah, that’s about right. She’s just a little bit shorter than me and I’m six one.”
Maria came into the room and spoke to Mr. Newcomb who then turned to the group and announced, “Shall we all head into the dining room now?”
There was no opportunity for Stan to talk with Alison alone after that. This time, he was relieved to see that Sarah was on Alison’s other side at the table. It sure did make his meal much more enjoyable. And as he thought about it, probably Alison’s too. He also noticed that Sonia and Wayne were on opposite ends of the table. That was probably for the best too.
As seemed to be his habit, when the meal was over Mr. Newcomb stood and spoke. “Well, I think that another toast is in order, two in fact.” His smile was directed at Alison and Stan. “First, I would like to toast the newest member of our church, Stan Becker. Congratulations Stan.”
Everyone echoed his congratulations.
He cleared his throat and said, “Now, another toast. To Alison and Stan. May their marriage be long, fruitful, and loving.” When everyone else had followed suit, he said, “Welcome to the family Stan.”
Stan was choked up and his eyes grew moist. Alison knew and she leaned over to hug him and whispered in his ear. “Isn’t it great to have family, but don’t forget. I’m your immediate family now, and I’m hoping that soon there’ll be more of us.”
He knew she meant children, and he couldn’t be happier as he hugged her back. He never wanted to let go of her.
Chapter Sixteen
On Monday morning, Alison was surprised to see Kelly admit a petite woman in her mid-thirties with short brown hair to her house. Kelly introduced the woman to her as Linda Johnson, the detective who would be with her during the day from now until they caught the attacker.
On the way to the office in Linda’s unmarked car, the woman talked the whole time. It surprised Alison, since the only detectives she knew were Grant, Stan, and Sonia. None of them talked this much, and she had assumed that all detectives were the quiet observant type. She didn’t think they would be as talkative as Linda seemed to be.
Once at the office, Alison showed Linda to the desk that first Stan and then Sonia had used while guarding her. Then she went into her office to prepare for her weekly sales meeting and to give her ears a break. She also thought about the fact that after the sales meeting just two weeks ago the whole nightmare she was mired in had started.
When the sales meeting was over, Alison was sitting at her desk contemplating her life. In spite of the drama in her personal life, the office was doing quite well. In spite of all that, she had even listed a new house, wrote a contract on one, and had another one close the past week. The others were all listing and selling too. Her business was doing great.
She also had to admit that at least a part of her personal life was going well. She was marrying Stan on Saturday. So, if it wasn’t for someone trying to hurt her and Stan, things would be great.
All of the good was almost enough to overshadow the bad, but not quite. It still hovered over her like a dark cloud since the attacker had said that she would be next.
She was very thirsty and she didn’t want any more coffee. She left her office and told Linda she was just going to the break room. That was no cause for alarm since the back door, which was in the break room, was always double bolted with security locks and she had the only two keys, one at home and one in her purse.
Alison was bending over and had just pulled her soft drink out of the machine when a hand with a cloth in it covered her face. She tried to struggle but as she breathed, she realized that there must have been something on the cloth because she grew weak then lost consciousness.
* * *
When Alison regained consciousness, it was dark. As her senses slowly returned to her, though, she realized that she was blindfolded. So it could have still been daylight. She started to reach up to take the blindfold off but her hands were tied behind her back. She tried to stand but her ankles felt like they were tied to the chair she was sitting in.
She had no way of telling how long she had been out. Apparently, long enough for her captor to have transported her from her office to wherever she was now. Whatever had been on the cloth, she didn’t think anything like that could be long lasting.
So, her conclusion was that she couldn’t be more than a few minutes away from her office. She could only hope that would help the police to find her faster. Then she remembered that just before she lost consciousness, she had felt a pinprick in her right arm. That would change things. If she had been drugged, she could have been out for hours.
She didn’t know how long she sat that way not awake, but not sleeping either. It was as if her mind had gone on hold. She couldn’t think about anything for more than a few seconds at a time. She tried to think about Stan and the fact that she knew he would find her and rescue her. But her mind wouldn’t sustain any thought long enough to even complete the thought. She must still be under the lingering effects of whatever drug she’d been given.
“Well, well, well looks like sleeping beauty’s finally awake.”
She knew that voice but her mind just couldn’t clear long enough for her to remember.
“I doubt that you’re alert enough to talk to just yet, so I’ll wait a while longer before we have our little talk about the future. But first, I can’t have you screaming or crying out.”
She felt a soft cloth on her lips, which forced them and then her teeth to part by the force being applied to the cloth. Then she felt his fingers on her neck. He was tying it tight. Her mouth was forced partly open. She couldn’t open her mouth any more or close it now. She was trussed up from head to foot.
She heard his footsteps fade away
and a door close. The silence enveloped her once more and she lost track of time again. It was as if she was floating through a tunnel filled with a thick fog.
Alison was dozing when she was startled awake by the sound of the door opening. Then she heard footsteps coming toward her again. She waited, not knowing what to expect. She couldn’t see him, but she could sense him just standing in front of her.
Then she felt fingers on the back of her head and the blindfold came off. The light in the room was a shock to her sensitive eyes. She tried to focus on the man standing in front of her when he started laughing. She’d know that laugh anywhere. Wilson Monroe!
Recognition must have shown in her eyes because Wilson said, “Okay, now that you know who has you, we can talk about what happens next.”
Alison didn’t like the malicious smile or the almost evil glint in his eyes.
“Oh, I almost forgot. You can’t talk right now, can you?” His laugh was loud and menacing. “That’s okay, you don’t need to talk since there isn’t a thing you can say or do to change what I have planned for you.”
She was trying to stare at his chest instead of his face. She avoided his eyes, which were frightening her.
“I think you’re going to like what I have in store for you.” He laughed again. “Oh, maybe not at first, but I’m sure it’ll all grow on you.” He laughed loudly again. “Maybe I should say that I will grow on you.”
She tried to shut out his laugh but had little success. She had to keep her mind clear and think of some way to either escape or alert someone who could help her.
Wilson cut his laugh off and said with a grin. “You see, I’m a pilot and I have my own plane. A friend of mine is getting it ready for a three-hour flight. Yes, that’s how long it’ll take us to get to Mexico. Nobody will be able to bother us down there.”
She tried to shout at him but with the gag in her mouth, she only made moaning and groaning sounds.
Accepted Memories (Sycamore P.D. Series Book 2) Page 22
