In Love with a Stranger

by Rose von Barnsley

  I asked Stuart, my PI, to look more into Marvin’s relationships with those around him. Report number three was again disappointing. Marvin worked as an accountant at the same company as his brother, Norman. They were both in accounting, and Stuart was pretty sure they’d been making math jokes over lunch, but he didn’t get them.

  “I’m okay with regular math, but the stuff they were laughing about had roots and integers. He seems nerdy, but normal. From what I gathered online about him, he’s in a few comic book fan groups, and he plays a lot of online games. I’m pretty sure that’s his social life. I do think the receptionist at his work has a thing for him, though. He hasn’t noticed her yet.”

  “Have you talked to any other women who deal with him? Do they feel uncomfortable around him?”

  “He doesn’t have any complaints launched against him at work, sexual harassment or otherwise. I did notice a few women step away from him. He has an issue with standing inside other people’s personal space. He doesn’t seem to notice. He might have some kind of mental issue that makes him good with math and bad with people. I tested it out. I stood closer than needed on the train he takes to the bookshop, and he didn’t move away. It was like he didn’t even notice I was there. The guy’s weird, but I haven’t found anything damning yet.”

  “Were you able to get into his apartment?” I knew it wasn’t exactly legal, but I was sure if Marvin was up to something, evidence of it would be there.

  “I took some long-distance pictures. He seems fairly neat. Besides the comics he’s got laying around and a few empty plates by his gaming console, there was nothing out of place.”

  Report number four also shined no light on Marvin. Stuart focused on his income, to make sure there were no unusual payoffs from anyone. All we learned was that Marvin received a steady paycheck twice a month and lived off it conservatively. He had a good-sized retirement nest egg that had grown steadily over the past seven years, without any deposits of odd or unaccounted-for large sums of money. Stuart reported that Marvin lived more modestly than his means. “With his income, he could vacation in foreign countries and drive fancy cars. From what I’ve found, he’s only just recently gotten his passport.”

  “Recently?” I worried.

  “Yeah, he and his brother turned in paperwork for them. From what I could see online, there’s some sort of comic book convention in Japan that features the books they’re into. They had a few flyers lying around. I’d bet money that’s where they plan to go.”

  It was looking more and more like Marvin was just an awkward nerd who made girls feel uncomfortable. He wouldn’t be the first or the last guy who did that. I was glad I hadn’t told Hannah the full extent of the investigation, or she’d be yelling at me and rubbing it in my face that she was right. Marvin might’ve creeped her out, but he was harmless, at least on paper.

  “Do me a favor and try to hook him up with the receptionist. Maybe if he’s distracted by her, he won’t have time to come around and freak Hannah out every week.”

  Stuart laughed. “Will do.”

  ~*~

  We fell back into our normal routine. Duncan and I settled things with our U.S. contacts. Only one jewelry consigner was hesitant to sign with us, because it was our practice to have them acquire pieces and then see if we were interested in purchasing them. I eventually convinced them to inform our other contacts when a prospective piece that was out of their price range became available so it could still be acquired, with the promise of a small commission to them for the find.

  I helped Hannah in her shop in my free time, while we planned our wedding together and waited for Penny’s passport. With expedited processing, it only took two weeks to get it processed. We were thrilled and excited it’d been handled so quickly.

  I’d not given my investigation of Marvin much thought. Hannah seemed a little more at ease with him, but I could’ve been mistaken. I knew she was worried she’d forgotten Marvin and most likely felt bad about it.

  I questioned my findings on him, until I realized he’d overheard a phone conversation with my mother.

  “It doesn’t matter. I plan to marry her either way,” I defended my choice to my mother. She was back to pushing a prenuptial agreement at me.

  “She took the money before,” my mother argued.

  “You don’t know that. The money was never spent. It wouldn’t make sense for her to take it.”

  “She most likely felt guilty for her betrayal.”

  “She didn’t betray me! She didn’t take your money. She doesn’t want it. Have at it and offer her more and see where that gets you. I doubt you could make her disappear from my life.”

  “I know you want to be a part of your daughter’s life, William…” she tried to sympathize.

  “Leave Penelope out of this, she has nothing to do with my relationship with Hannah, or the supposed money.”

  Marvin cleared his throat, alerting me to his presence. When I looked at him, his hard glare and wild eyes let me know he’d heard my half of the conversation. What I’d said wouldn’t have sounded good.

  “If you harm one hair on Hannah’s head, you’ll be sorry. Hurting her isn’t allowed on my watch, and she’s always on my watch. She was then, and she is now. I won’t let you hurt her again!” Marvin snapped.

  He was gone before I could make sense of what he’d said. He was unsettling at the best of times, and now it seemed he was full-on mental. I called Stuart to have him follow Marvin again. I didn’t trust him to not have something up his sleeve.

  Chapter 18 – Coming up Empty

  HANNAH

  We planned to be in Scotland for two weeks. The first week would be with everyone, and the second with only our little family of three for our honeymoon. I had to get everything in order for Shawna to cover the two weeks. We’d have to shorten the store hours for the time being, but it needed to be done. It really was just too much for her to handle on her own.

  The bell over the door chimed, alerting me to a customer, so I came out of the back room to help them. It was Marvin. It was his regular day, but he was a few hours early.

  “Good morning, Mr. Marvin,” I addressed him and kept my distance at the same time.

  “Ms. Hannah, it’s so nice to see you working. I was afraid only Shawna would be in, and I’d miss you. I’m happy to see that’s not the case.”

  I gave him a forced pleasant smile. “Are you looking for something in particular today?”

  “No, I’d just like to browse the historical section. It’s important to know your history, or else you’re bound to repeat it. You’ve heard of that saying, haven’t you, Ms. Hannah?”

  I was about to answer, but was thankfully interrupted by Ophelia. “Tonight you’re mine, woman!”

  I let out a sigh of relief and gave her an amused smile. “What are you talking about?”

  “The boys are staying here tonight, and the girls are going to the hotel. It’s party time.” She did a little dance.

  I giggled, but we were interrupted by Marvin clearing his throat.

  “Did you need help finding anything?” I asked, hoping he’d hurry up and leave.

  “Now that I think about it, I’m going to have to do a little more research before I can make my selection.”

  “Alright, well, have a good day,” I said, waving goodbye.

  Once he was out the door, Ophelia visibly shivered. “I was wondering why I had the heebie-jeebies, but I was too excited to care.”

  “Alright, spill it, why are you excited, and why are we going to the hotel room?”

  “Your bachelorette party! The guys are doing one here for William. I’ll come get you at closing, and we can all get dressed at the hotel.”

  As crazy as it sounded, I was really excited for my bachelorette party. I obviously had never had one before, and I’d never actually attended one, so I was looking forward to seeing what one entailed.

  William came in a while later with Duncan and Carter. Carter had a case of beer under his
arm, and Duncan had a supersized bag of chips. William carried a silver case filled with poker chips. I’d played poker with Carter using those chips. I also knew the deck in that case was covered in naked women. “Those better be the only naked women attending tonight.”

  “Cross my heart, Hannah,” Carter promised. Duncan’s shoulders slumped.

  “If you guys watch the store for me, I’ll whip up some snacks for you. I can make some bean and cheese dip. Oh, I think I have some chicken I can throw in the oven with barbecue sauce, too. It’s not hot wings, but…”

  “We were going to order pizza,” William said, kissing my head. “You don’t need to worry about us.”

  “Hold on, let’s not be too hasty. If she wants to make us some sauced chicken…” Duncan tried to be the voice of supposed reason.

  “The girls have their own party to get ready for, Duncan. I’ll not have her busy tending to us, when she should be at her own party.”

  “If he really wants…”

  “We’re good, Hannah. If Duncan really wants some chicken, we can order some wings with the pizza,” Carter said, glaring at Duncan, silently telling him to keep his mouth shut, but there was no need to. He seemed excited about the wings they’d order.

  “Beautiful, why don’t we watch the store for you, while you get yourself ready,” William offered.

  “I don’t really need to get ready. Ophelia said she’d be by to pick me up to take me to the hotel. We’re just going to hang out in your room.”

  “Ophelia said they had other plans for you before you crash for the night. My mom will be watching Penelope,” Carter said with a mischievous grin.

  “There’d better not be a stripper involved.” I didn’t want one for myself, either.

  “I don’t think there’ll be one, but I honestly don’t know much about what they have planned. I only know you’re sleeping in the hotel room, and you’ll be having dinner at the hotel restaurant. It’s upscale, so dress nice. I need to put this in the fridge,” Carter said, holding up the case of beer.

  Duncan followed, giggling like a silly little girl, and William pulled me into his arms. “It looks like we’re both in for an interesting night.”

  “You’ll still text me, right?” I hoped he wouldn’t get too distracted.

  “Of course, beautiful, and I’ll expect timely responses of my own. Let me know where you are, too.”

  “Hey, William, we’re ordering pizza!” Duncan shouted down the stairs.

  I pulled William down to me for a kiss. “Have fun.” He actually looked excited for his little party.

  “You, too, and keep your phone on you.”

  “I promise.” I kissed him a few times more and then was pulled away from him by Ophelia. “When did you get here?”

  “Four moans and two gropes ago. Let’s go, girl, time to party!” Ophelia whooped, and William stole one last kiss, before I was dragged out into the night. I was looking forward to the fun to be had, but there was an ominous feeling creeping up on me. I looked back at my store fading in the distance and said a prayer that we’d all have fun and make it through the night safely.

  ~*~

  WILLIAM

  It was the night before we were to leave for Scotland, and the night of my bachelor party. All of our luggage was packed and already at the hotel, so we could leave from there in the morning, since it was closer to the airport. Our travel papers and important documents were safely tucked away in the new designer laptop case Camille had gotten Hannah for the trip, which she’d also taken to the hotel. I received a call from Stuart, letting me know Marvin was watching the shop. I called him after the girls had left and was relieved when he told me Marvin hadn’t followed them. I didn’t know what he was up to, but I didn’t like it. I gave Stuart the hotel address and asked him to keep an eye on the girls. Marvin might not have been causing them trouble, but I didn’t know if I could fully trust my mother to keep things from my father.

  Duncan had a new obsession with hot wings and had ordered every flavor available. We also ordered a couple of different types of pizzas to be adventurous. I would’ve liked to say I was surprised, when Duncan pulled out a pornographic video and deemed it my “stripper,” but I wasn’t. I politely declined, and Carter snatched it up and started laughing at the title. “The Librarian?” The catch line was there was more romance on the shelves than what was in the books.

  “Really, Duncan?” I laughed, sadly amused.

  “There are bookshelves, I thought you could use a few pointers,” he smirked, making a few obscene hip thrusts.

  “Please tell me you weren’t in on this ploy,” I begged Carter.

  “No, I brought my own version of naked women.” He held up the deck of cards we were to play poker with. There were scantily-clad women, some topless, featured on the cards. The pack read “Poker Hard Core.” Duncan read the package and giggled at the innuendo.

  “Hannah knows about these,” Carter waved the deck. “They’re the only deck I have, and she’s played with them before.”

  Duncan found his last comment hilarious and laughed louder.

  “I’ll take the cards, but not the movie,” I compromised.

  We were five hands in and half the food gone, when I smelled something, but couldn’t identify it. “What’s that smell?” I sniffed.

  I looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from.

  “It smells like something’s burning. Check the power strips,” Carter suggested. The three of us sniffed around the small apartment, looking for the source of the odor. We followed it to the door that led to the shop downstairs. I grabbed the handle and burned my hand.

  “The shop is on fire!” Smoke started to seep under the door, and I realized we were in trouble. The sounds of popping and crackling became evident, and the building moaned.

  “We have to get out of here!” Duncan was looking out the window and told us flames were shooting out of the shop below.

  “Help me with this!” Carter was shoving on a huge loaded bookcase located on the back wall. I wanted to chasten him. Now was not the time to rearrange furniture.

  The floor in the bedroom gave way, and we watched in horror, as flames shot up through the hole.

  “We have to move this, now! It’s the back door out!” Carter yelled, shoving on the bookcase frantically. Duncan and I helped shove the heavy piece over, exposing an old, nearly-rotted door. The fire was climbing the walls quickly, and the room had caught as well. The three of us kicked at the door, having no spare time to find a key. Duncan reared back and barreled at it like a bull, finally busting through it. His momentum sent him tipping over the rail of an old rusted metal staircase, falling to the ground below. We rushed down to him, barely making it out of the building in time to avoid the flames shooting through the vacated doorway behind us.

  Sirens were blaring, signally the fire department’s arrival. Carter and I dragged Duncan around to the front of the building. I was sure his arm was fractured, and the three of us struggled to breathe, having inhaled too much smoke.

  “Is anyone else in the building?” a fireman asked us.

  We all shook our heads no. I was so thankful the girls had decided to spend the night away from home. An ambulance took the three of us to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. Duncan’s arm was indeed broken. We were lucky to have made it out alive. I had no idea how I was going to tell Hannah her shop was gone. It’d been her home and her livelihood, and now it had been destroyed. She’d be heartbroken. I hoped I could find a way to make it up to her.

  Chapter 19 – Out of the Ashes

  HANNAH

  We were all piled up on the hotel bed, with my laptop propped up on my legs. We were ordering some adult bedroom items, which would be delivered shortly after we arrived home from Scotland. We’d erupted into another fit of giggles, when we came across another pleasure stick with a ridiculous name. I didn’t know who was in charge of this company’s advertising, but they seemed to have an obsession wi
th bad puns.

  We were laughing so loud that we almost didn’t hear Ophelia’s phone ringing. She was about to hit ignore, but stopped when she saw it was Carter. “Maybe they’re drunk dialing. This could be interesting,” Camille hoped.

  Ophelia answered with a smile, but it dropped quickly. I jumped off the bed, worried something might’ve happened. She schooled her expression and grinned at me. It was forced. “Of course, Carter, we’ll be right down. We don’t mind giving you all a ride.”

  “They went out and got drunk? Tell them to call a cab,” Camille ranted.

  “I thought they were staying in?” I wondered what’d changed.

  “Well, no matter what, they need a ride. I’m driving.” Ophelia grabbed her purse and keys and didn’t say another word. She was definitely hiding something, and it was starting to worry me. I was right to be. I lost it, when she turned into the hospital parking lot.

  “Ophelia, what happened, what’s going on?” I shouted at her.

  “There was a fire at the store…” I didn’t let her finish. She was not fully parked, when I jumped out and went sprinting across the parking lot. I couldn’t lose William. I’d just gotten him back. I’d blocked the fire exit, the door…that damned rotted door that was falling apart, the door I’d never gotten around to replacing. The secluded alley entrance to my apartment that scared me was blocked for supposed safety and might’ve killed William. I’d never forgive myself. “William!” I screamed, as I skidded in through the emergency room doors.

  I was frantic, but was immediately met by Carter. “He’s fine, Hannah. They’re a bit busy, so he’ll be out in a few minutes.”

  “Where is he? Carter, I’m so sorry. I blocked the door.”

  “I know. I helped you, remember? Good thing I knew where it was.”

  “Hannah?” I heard William looking for me. Once his eyes landed on me, his smile was huge. “Hey, beautiful, are you alright? I’m so sorry about your shop. There was nothing we could do. By the time we realized the place was on fire, it was too late.”