AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When hell broke loose two weeks ago, Tripp said he was praying for me and I wanted to punch him in the face. I didn’t needprayers.I needed action. Investigation. Evidence. Now, Maddie Ellis, a woman I barely know, tells me she—and I assume her goofy husband, because she saidwe—is praying for my jacked-up self, and I’m pleased. Grateful.
The last few days have seen a shift in me that has me scratching my head. I’m an easygoing guy who doesn’t let things get to me. Sure, things aremuybad back home, but I’m starting to think my troubles run far deeper.
I head out of the neighborhood and drive toward the ocean. I find the water and parallel it until I’ve completely lost track of time. When I notice the sun lowering in the sky, I turn the truck around. Sunset comes and darkness falls. I am exhausted.
Returning to the Walkers’ place for anything other than collecting my things feels wrong. I’m a traitor, so enjoying their hospitality seems almost criminal.
They say that’s what I am.
A foul odor hits me when I enter the kitchen, and I spend the next thirty minutes disposing of spoiled groceries and cleaning stinky chicken juice from where it dribbled across and down the cabinets. Mentally and emotionally, I’m depleted, but I know I won’t sleep, so I wash sheets and clean bathrooms. Regardless of my betrayal, I am a good and thoughtful houseguest.
My every intention is to leave in the morning, but once it dawns, I’ve lost steam. I wander the shore, aimless. Even the beach bunnies hawking their wares don’t move me.
Maddie texts in the evening. Annalise has turned the corner, and the doctor is talking release in a few days. Even though I choose a sofa for my bed so as not to dirty fresh sheets, I sleep like a baby, the best rest I’ve had in two weeks.
Midday, my phone rings while I’m cleaning up after my meager lunch. I swipe my hands on the dish towel and answer. My attorney is brisk, brusque, and to-the-point. Police investigators want another go at me. Harvey, however, has seen after my interests by covering his. He and his wife are off on some European riverboat cruise, and since his presence is imperative for any further interviews, he has negotiated a reprieve. Mostly that’s good news, but floating in limbo is more tiring than it sounds.
One more night, I swear, that’s all, and I’ll be gone.
I spend sunset on the beach, then shower off in the cabana and decide to take advantage of the laundry facilities while I have the chance. Everything I brought is dirty, so I sort it all into two piles and start a load. When the doorbell rings and I see my favorite newlyweds on the fancy schmancy security monitor, I retrieve my fishing shirt off the pile of whites and answer the door.
Moths divebomb the happy couple as they smile and greet me. Smiles. That’s a good thing, right?
“Hi, Marco.” Maddie’s greeting is warm and makes me feel like a friend. Bless her for that. “Annalise asked us to come by and get a few things for her.”
“Oh, uh, sure. Of course.” I step aside for them to enter. Brett offers his hand, and yet I don’t get quite the same friend vibe. Who knows what Annalise has told them.
Maddie jogs up the stairs as if she knows the way, leaving me and her pencil-neck hubs to make awkward conversation and dance around the elephant in the room.
My guilty conscience might be making me imagine the last part.
Brett rocks onto the balls of his feet. “So. Everything cool here?”
“Sure. Yeah. Just enjoying the beach and all. Holding down the fort.”
He nods, his gaze flitting around the foyer as the uneasy silence returns.
“How is Annalise today?”
“Better. Much better. The doctor might release her on Tuesday if all her bloodwork looks good.”
“Good, good.” I feel like a big goof as I nod spasmodically. For sure, Mr. Cool has checked out and left me in his place, but all I can think about in this moment is that this man, this missionary-man-of-God knows. He knows many now consider me a coldblooded killer. I can live with that, but worse somehow, he knows I picked Annalise up in a greasy hamburger joint and would have cast her out as easily the next morning, all things being equal.
Lots of men do this. Women, too, obviously. So he can just keep his judgy little…judgments…to himself.
“So, I want to thank you for taking care of Annalise.”
Say what?What’s his game?
“She told Maddie how she was lying in bed figuring she must be dying but didn’t have the strength to get her phone. And I know you stayed with her at the hospital. Looked out for her.”
Oh. “I’m just glad I was there.”
“I’m glad, too. She and Maddie have been friends since second grade. Maddie would have been devastated if something had happened to Lise.”
I’ve about revamped my assessment of this guy when he says, “How much longer will you be sticking around?”
A backhanded suggestion that I toddle on out of here, a place I clearly do not belong?
