A Fatal Romance Read online

  This situation was awful. I considered going to fill up my truck with gas while she prepared for her trip to Texas but then stopped myself. I wasn’t going to leave her alone now. I could fill up my tank along the way with her safely inside my vehicle. Same for getting something to eat.

  But would she be safe during that trip? She was right. I didn’t know how to drive in large cities, and the one where her daughter lived wasn’t tiny. I could mount my GPS on my dash, but that thing often distracted me and had me driving a distance away from where I’d been headed. Possibly, I could have Eve drive my truck once we reached Houston. Surely Nicole or her husband Randy would later direct me back toward south Louisiana.

  I stepped to Eve’s room, ready to make the suggestion. At her door, we almost bumped into each other.

  She grinned at me. “Want to help me finish getting my things together?”

  “Of course. Would you mind driving my truck once we’re about to reach Houston?”

  She shook her head. “We don’t need that. You’re not driving me there.”

  “Who is?” For some reason, I almost dreaded the answer.

  “Jacques. He’s leaving soon.”

  “Your ex-husband Jacques?”

  “Yes, and his new wife.”

  Chapter 16

  I assisted my sister with placing bright colorful panties and bras in her suitcase for a ride I didn’t believe she should take. She squeezed in a couple more pairs of shoes. We placed garment bags over the dresses and tops she chose to bring.

  “Don’t worry so much,” she said.

  I felt the frown lines that remained between my eyes ever since she told me her plans to ride with them. “I need to worry. You need to stay safe.”

  She patted my arm. “Okay, we’ll both do what we have to do.”

  “So Jacques was the only one you could think of to call for your son-in-law’s new cell number?” I threw an emerald green nightgown atop the other things in her luggage.

  “Yes.” She pulled the silk piece out, folded, and replaced it. “I didn’t want to just show up out there, and Nicole’s phone was off. I’m sure she’s teaching. I left a voice message and a text that she hasn’t responded to. The number I have for Randy isn’t working anymore, and if you want me to go there today, I am not making you drive me.”

  “So you figured since Jacques and his wife were in town a few days for Zack Snelling’s funeral, they would be heading back to Texas soon and you might catch a ride?”

  “No. I forgot if you even told me how long they’d be around. His name just came up first in my mind when I wanted Randy’s number. Jacques sounded pleased to have me call, and he offered a ride there.”

  I wore a grim smile. “I wonder if they were planning to leave right when you wanted to go, or if he changed their plans.”

  Eve shrugged, followed by the doorbell’s ring, making both our heads swerve toward the front entry. She and I looked at each other. My sister lifted her suitcase, and I took her overnighter and dresses. She unlocked and opened the door before I could issue another warning.

  Jacques Thibodaux stood right outside, his broad smile widening while he devoured her with his eyes. “Hello, Eve,” he said, leaning in to her for a hug.

  “Thanks for offering to bring me,” she said, drawing back from him.

  His gaze swept down her body. It rounded her face. “You hurt yourself.”

  “Not bad.”

  I withheld the impulse to shove him back and remind him of his marriage, which was no longer to my sister.

  “Hello again, Jacques,” I said.

  “Sunny.” He nodded as though he’d just noticed me. Seeing what I held, he seemed to get the message and grabbed Eve’s things. “I’ll take this.”

  His wife sat in the front passenger seat, facing ahead in their fine Audi. Jacques popped the trunk open and moved items around to squeeze in my sister’s gear, while she stood still. Melanie turned her head and made eye contact with Eve. She swayed her gaze across my sister’s body, inspecting her down to her heels.

  My discomfort swelled, urging me to shield Eve with my arm. I’d start with blocking her breasts, where the younger woman sizing her up seemed to want to make the most comparison. Eve stared back at her. Neither woman changed expression or spoke.

  Jacques slammed the trunk and returned to Eve’s side. “This is Melanie.” He tilted his head toward the car. “And, honey, this is Nicole’s mother, Eve.” He knew, of course, that his wife and I had met at the supermarket.

  The tongues of all us females seemed frozen since not one of us said a thing. Eve and Melanie didn’t reward each other with any sort of acknowledgement. Jacques opened the door for my twin to sit behind him.

  “Did you take your pain meds?” I asked.

  “Yes, and I’ll be fine.” She gave me a swift hug.

  “Give my niece a hug for me.”

  She nodded, and Jacques shut her door. His newest wife glanced back over the seat, fixing Eve with her stare.

  Have a good trip, I almost said, but there was no way Eve would unless somebody knocked out the woman in front. The chill would have Eve freezing. When Jacques invited her on the trip, had he known he was also inviting major trouble? Or had he believed Melanie was as content with his gifts to my sister as she’d pretended to be with me when we’d met at the store?

  I released a breath. The best I could wish for was that the pain pills might knock Eve out, and she would remain that way for the trip. At least she would stay physically unharmed.

  Or possibly, I realized, Eve might even find it amusing to make the other woman so uncomfortable.

  Once they drove out of sight, I connected with Dave and used a snap in my tone. “You can come to my sister’s house now to fix your defective system.”

  “I’m in the middle of a meeting. I can be there in forty-five minutes.”

  “Fine.” Getting weak from hunger, I knew there would be little left here except a few diet items in the pantry or fridge. I scuttled across the street and between fences to my house. Inside, I threw ham between crackers and ate a couple of these sandwiches.

  Taking only enough time to drop my used dishes in the sink, I rushed back toward Eve’s place. Right before I reached her house, I slowed, pulling back, wondering if someone could have already broken in. It made no sense that a burglar might smash a window or door here moments after I dashed off, but all of the dreadful things that occurred these last days defied logic. Someone had smashed the door to Eve’s art room right after she left for the gym. And waited to kill her once she walked next door.

  This is ridiculous. No way to live, I told myself as I took measured steps around her house, phone in hand. I swung my head one way and another, searching for thugs hidden on one side, the patio, and the opposite side of Eve’s home. I was reaching the driveway out front when Dave pulled in.

  Before he’d taken two steps from his truck, I said, “My sister was almost killed because of your malfunctioning product.”

  His forehead creased, lips went tight. “Did it shock her? Possibly there was an unusual short in a wire.” Real concern gripped his face.

  “Not that I’m aware of. What I do know is that your system didn’t work when an intruder came.”

  “Another one? Somebody else broke into her house?”

  “He didn’t actually break in.” What did I want to tell him about what happened? Not about a man out back with a gun pointed at her. Suppose it was him? That thought flashed into my mind, but I didn’t really believe it. I searched inside myself for my feelings and believed the chance was extra-slim to none.

  He looked at me with his thick eyebrows raised. He was still waiting for me to give him more facts about the intruder.

  I chose not to. “Come in and see for yourself.” Digging the key out of my purse, I unlocked Eve’s front door.

  Dave didn’t step forward. Instead, he stood with his head cocked, his focus appearing to reach in
to distant spaces. He drew his head back straight over his neck. “The alarm’s not set now,” he said, and I knew he’d been listening for it to go off.

  “It’s not. But even when it is, the thing doesn’t work.”

  “That really is strange,” he said, stepping inside with me. He glanced toward the studio. “Did something happen in there again?”

  Yes, I walked into it and saw my sister outside walking to her patio from a neighbor’s house. Opposite her, I watched a man’s hand come up with a gun.

  A flutter came from my chest worming its way up my throat. Aware of it, I clamped my lips shut.

  “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire?” He eyed me with a curious expression, confirming I’d just hummed aloud.

  I shook my head. “Eve’s studio is good. Just find out what’s wrong with her system and fix it, or else pull the thing out so she can get one that works.” My bluntness may have surprised him, but I was concerned about my sister.

  He shut the front door and stepped to the nearby alarm box. “I remember the numbers she wanted in here,” he said, still not asking why the owner of this house wasn’t around. As his finger stabbed numerals in the box, my righteousness remained surfaced. That emotion gave way to warmth when he turned back and reached. His hand grazed my thigh. Our gazes gripped each other.

  “Sorry,” he said, moving his arm to his side. “I need to try the door.”

  I stepped out of his way, and he grabbed the handle on the front door he’d just shut. Dave yanked the door open.

  “See?” I said. WAAA-WAAA-WAA-WAA WAA the alarm wailed before I could chew into him and add, It’s broken.

  He shut the door, glanced back to the den as though looking for something, and unclipped his phone from his belt.

  “What did you do that’s different?” My words competed with the noise blast.

  He lifted a hand as though asking me to wait and punched a number in his phone. “It’s Dave,” he said into it seconds later. “I’m just testing a system.”

  My chest rose as I sucked in more air, ready to lift my voice to a scream above the screeching through my sister’s home. Before I could speak, a deafening silence descended. I waited long moments. Would it come on again?

  “Your sister doesn’t have a landline?” Dave asked. I shook my head, and he started tapping numbers into his phone.

  Mine rang. I grabbed it from my purse that hung on my arm.

  “The alarm went off at my house!” Eve shouted.

  “Yes, but it’s okay.”

  “No. The company just called me. Somebody set it off!”

  “Eve, everything’s fine. It was just Dave.”

  “Wait. He’s calling me.” Her click put me on hold.

  I heard him speaking in his cell phone. “Eve, this is Dave Price. I set off your system. I’m inside your house with your sister because she wanted it tested to find out if it worked.” His eyes lifted toward me. “My company always calls the homeowner right away when an alarm goes off to make certain it wasn’t them. It’s automatic, so I wanted to let you know what happened.”

  He listened to her, nodded, and spoke a little quieter, taking steps away from me.

  “Hey, Sunny.” My twin’s now calm voice followed a slight click on my phone that signaled she’d hung up with her caller. “Dave said the alarm’s working fine. He’ll make sure you know how to use it.”

  Annoyance slammed to the surface. Words of protest came to mind. Then I relented, concern for her winning out. “Y’all both showed me and told me about it right after they installed the system. I know how to make the thing work. For some reason it just didn’t when that guy was out back, ready to shoot you.”

  She stayed quiet. So did I. The moment I’d seen a pistol pointed at my sister returned. I squeezed my eyes shut, blinking the image away.

  “It’s okay, Sis. I appreciate that you’re having things checked.”

  “I know how to do it.” I wanted to protest as much as I’d yearned to do when an elementary student down the hall filled with students yelled and said I was dumb.

  “I’m sure you do. Just remember this. You were really snappy when Dave was showing you.”

  I recalled the situation. I’d felt as though I’d intruded into an intimate moment between them. Then he had suggested I write the alarm code, even though it was so short a seven-year-old would recall it. My eyes flitted toward him now. He turned his face from mine and stepped farther away as though not wanting to pry into my conversation any longer.

  Eve released a yawn. “I’ve been so sleepy.”

  “How’s the trip going? Has Melanie talked to you?”

  “Not at all.” She spoke quieter. “It got really tense in here, but that pain med put me to sleep. What woke me up was that automatic call telling me my house alarm went off, and then she and Jacques both asked what happened while I was frightened and speaking loud, so I did get to hear her voice.”

  How uncomfortable she must be with that tension from her ex who still cared about her and his wife. Sympathetic thoughts went out to Melanie, too, with her husband doing all he did for my sister.

  “How’s your head?” I asked. “And the rest of your body?”

  “I’m okay. None of it really hurts right now. That medicine works great.”

  “Good. I need to go see what Dave wants to show me. Take care of yourself. Call me.”

  “I will,” she said, and we clicked off.

  Replacing the phone in my purse, I gave my attention to the man now facing me.

  “Ready?” he asked, and I nodded. We moved to the alarm box near the front door, and I waited to learn what part of the setting process I’d missed the first time.

  “I see that it’s not set.” I stared at the obvious green glowing message: System disabled.

  “That’s right. So now you’d just put in the code.”

  I pressed nine, one, six, two. “And because we’re in the house, I would press Home and Enter so it won’t start blaring whenever one of us moves.” After I did that, I pressed more buttons to tell the system no one was here.

  I glanced at Dave, watching me without speaking.

  A minute later, I yanked the front door open and held it that way more than ninety seconds. “See? It doesn’t work.” Righteous anger rose inside me.

  He kept his gaze level at my face. “You put in the wrong code.”

  “What? There are only four numbers. I know what they are, and I know how the rest of this thing works, too, but this one isn’t working right.”

  His face showed no emotion.

  He didn’t follow me when I stepped outside and shut the front door. I called Eve. “What’s your code?” I asked without a greeting.

  “Six, one, nine, two. Is that what you put in?”

  “Are you sure it isn’t nine, one, six, two?”

  “Sunny, you were really upset when we told you the numbers and wanted you to write them, remember?”

  “Never mind.” I clicked off. When I marched inside, Dave stood near the sofa. He said nothing while I proceeded to the alarm box and started the setting process over. I stabbed in numbers my sister told me. Alarm Set glowed in green, and I grabbed the front door handle and yanked the door open. Seconds later WAA WAA WAA WAA sounded.

  I slammed the door, rushed to the alarm box, and shut it off. Eve might get an automatic call that her system had gone off, but she’d know what caused it. My humiliation grew as I faced the man in the room who phoned his office and said it was just him trying a system again. My face had grown warm.

  “Do you want to check out the box near the backdoor and the one to the room where your sister paints?” he asked me.

  I shook my head. “I made a mistake. I’m sure they all work fine.” It was me who didn’t.

  “All right. But don’t hesitate to call anytime if you have a problem with the system, or if you have any questions.”

  “I’m good.” I thrust the door open wide so
he had no question about why I did so. “Thank you for coming.”

  He paused in front of me as though wanting to say something. I turned my face away, and he stepped outside. I reentered Eve’s house and slammed the door before hearing him drive off. I threw myself onto the sofa and sat with elbows on knees, gripping my head. Dumb, dumb, dumb kept swirling inside my mind, along with pressure building in my chest, and an anvil slamming through my scalp. I couldn’t even remember a short alarm code, and I’d thought I could solve whatever happened at my twin’s house and a murder or two?

  Dragging myself off the sofa, I locked the front door and plodded back to my own place. Drained of spirit, I went to bed and put my dull brain to sleep.

  Morning didn’t break any better. I shuffled around, considering my fate. My sister was gone. So was our business. And I couldn’t recall four numbers, so maybe my brain was gone, too.

  I needed to check on Eve. She answered on the third ring. “How are you doing?” I asked.

  “I’m good, Sunny. How’re you?”

  She meant because I’d messed up. “Fine. And Nicole?”

  “It’s strange to see my daughter with a stomach so large. The pictures she sent didn’t do her justice. It’s wonderful being with her again. I can’t wait for that baby to arrive.”

  “I’m sure they were glad to see you.”

  “Yes, but after she and Randy saw the knot on my head and my scratches, you would swear I was an invalid. I want to help with Nicole, not the other way around.”

  “That’s okay. Stay safe,” I said and disconnected before she could mention yesterday’s incident with Dave and the alarm.

  Fear for my sister made my arms tremble, pulling me back to a day I never wanted to revisit, a moment that changed my life, that slung it to hell. The low hum in my chest wanted to blast into a full-blown holiday tune.