The Man Next Door

Chapter 12

ZONA WALKED THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR to find two very upset women waiting for her. Louise was on the couch, unharmed but teary-eyed, and Gilda was right there at the door, looking as if the world had ended. If she’d been a Samurai, she’d have fallen on her sword.

Panic rained down on Zona, sending her blood pressure skyrocketing. “What happened?”

“Darling is lost,” Louise wailed.

“It’s all my fault,” Gilda said. “I’m so sorry. I put him out in the backyard and the little stinker dug a hole under the fence and escaped.”

Zona groaned.

“I’m sorry,” Gilda said again. “You can fire me and I’ll understand.”

“I’m not going to fire you,” Zona said. “You couldn’t know.”

“Your mother tried to tell me. I only put him out while we were having our lunch. I was tripping over him in the kitchen. It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes.”

Houdini dog had probably accomplished his escape in five. “It’s okay,” Zona said. “I’ll go look for him.”

She opened the door to begin her search and found Alec James standing there, holding a whimpering Darling by the collar. Again.

Startled, she yelped and backed up a step. “I didn’t expect to find someone on my porch.”

Before she could thank him, he said, “I didn’t expect to be here. Again.” The downturned lips and cold eyes told her he was in no mood to be as tolerant as he’d been the last time he’d returned Darling. Alec James revealing the man behind the friendly mask.

“He got loose,” Zona said. Nothing like stating the obvious. “I was gone and . . .”

Gilda stepped forward. “It’s my fault. I left him out back.”

Alec James replied with something that sounded like a cross between a sigh and growl and handed Darling over. “Take your damn dog.”

Louise joined them, leaning on her crutches. “We’ve been looking all afternoon.” She was smiling gratefully, as if their neighbor had done a good deed. As if she’d forgotten that he was not a nice man.

“Next time, just look on my front lawn,” Alec James said. Not graciously. “He’ll be there, taking a dump. And you’d better hope I don’t find him,” he said to Zona, making her heart give a nervous skip.

“Well,” huffed Gilda.

Louise lost her look of gratitude and glared at him.

Zona stepped outside and shut the door behind her, determined to defuse his anger. “Obviously, your patience is at an end, but we’re really trying over here.” Why was she bothering? He was in no mood to be reasonable.

He sigh-growled again. Looked heavenward. Praying for patience? That would definitely require an act of God.

Then he spoke. Tersely. “You can get a fence barrier on . That will keep him in and keep us all happy.”

“I’ll order one tonight,” Zona promised. Tersely.

“Good.” He gave her a curt nod and then marched back down her driveway.

“That is a mean man,” Gilda announced when Zona came back inside and joined Louise and Gilda in the living room.

“He’s got issues,” Zona decided as she toed out of her shoes. She slumped onto an easy chair and stretched out her legs. The day was over, and the dog was back, and all she wanted was to sit like a lump for the rest of the evening.

“I’m glad you got your dog back,” Gilda continued. “I’m really sorry I left him out.” She looked apologetically at Louise.

“It’s okay. Don’t feel bad. Darling is back and all is good,” Louise told her.

“I tried to call him.”

“He doesn’t always come when you do,” said Zona.

“You should take him to obedience school,” Gilda advised.

Right. In her spare time. Zona would get right on that.

“I’ll take him once my cast is off,” Louise vowed. “Right now I’m just glad he’s okay.”

“He probably hadn’t gone far,” Zona said.

Darling had settled himself right next to Louise. As if he knew they were talking about him, he laid his head on her lap and looked up at her.

“I wish our new neighbor hadn’t been the one to find him. I don’t like to be in his debt,” Louise said.

Debt. Zona tried not to cringe at the word.

“Of all the people to end up with as a neighbor,” Louise finished with a frown.

“He is an awful man. You should put him in your book,” said Gilda before raising her eyebrows with a new thought. “Never mind. He might come after you.”

“I doubt that,” said Zona, acting as the voice of reason.

“You never know,” said Gilda. “When I was growing up, we had a neighbor who fed our other neighbor’s dog ground hamburger with glass in it, all because the dog kept pooping on his lawn. No one could prove it, so he got away with murder.”

Zona shuddered. Gilda was a ghoul. “Our neighbor wouldn’t poison Darling.” He was too straightforward. He’d simply kick the poor dog.

“Men are beasts,” Gilda said, shaking her head.

“He must be rich,” said Louise.

“If he was rich, he’d be living in Bel Air or Beverly Hills,” said Zona.

“Maybe he wants to be near his work,” Gilda hypothesized.

“Not every millionaire flaunts his money,” Louise insisted. “He’s got some and I’m sure that’s why that young woman is with him. Earlier today I saw her hauling in a bunch of shopping bags. That’s the second spending spree she’s been on.”

The sound of a key in the door signaled that Bree was stopping in for a visit. Darling bounded over to her, tail wagging, and jumped on her, and she gave his ears a rub.

“Am I in time for dinner?” she asked.

“Haven’t even started it,” said Zona.

And she had no desire to. But, of course, what you wanted to do and what you had to do rarely matched up.

“Good, ’cause I ordered pizza. It should be here in ten minutes,” Bree said, and went to kiss her grandma.

A pizza repeat sounded fine to Zona. She smiled at Bree. “Bless you. You get the good daughter award.”

“And the good granddaughter award,” added Louise. “But you shouldn’t have splurged.”

“It’s okay. I made good tips today and I had a Groupon. How are you doing, Gram?” Bree asked, perching on the other end of the couch.

“Better,” Louise said. “Although we had some adventures today. Gilda let Darling out and he dug a hole in the backyard and escaped.”

One more thing Zona would be taking care of after ordering that fence barrier.

“Only for a few minutes,” Gilda said in her own defense. “I need to be going.”

“Darling, what is your problem?” Bree said to the dog as Gilda scrammed.

“He probably gets bored,” said Zona.

“Get Gilda to walk him,” Bree suggested.

“She told us right from the start that wasn’t in her job description,” Zona said.

Bree didn’t say anything, but the look on her face showed what she thought about a health care worker who wasn’t willing to double as a dog walker. “I can come over a couple times a week and walk him after work,” she offered.

“No, you have enough to do,” Louise said, letting her off the hook. “Martin’s helping. I just think Darling gets bored.”

“I could take him to the beach with me,” Bree suggested.

“Not the beach,” Louise said quickly. “He might run away, and once of that was enough. Poor Gilda must have spent an hour looking for him.”

“How’d you find him?” Bree asked.

“We didn’t. Our neighbor did,” said Zona.

“We were just talking about him. He is not a nice man,” said Louise. “It’s a shame. I’d had such high hopes when he first moved here.”

“You were wasting those hopes on me,” said Zona.

“Thank God,” Bree said heartily.

Louise sighed. “I’m so sorry Cupid’s been cruel to you, Zona.”

Zona shrugged. “It’s in the past. We’re moving forward now.” She was dropping as much money as she could into the savings account she’d set up for Bree’s school. “I’m sorry your plans got delayed,” she said to Bree for probably the hundredth time. “And I’m sorry you’re having to work so hard.”

Bree nodded. “I’ll get there.”

“We’ll get there,” Zona corrected her.

“You’re both working hard,” said Louise. “But there’s more to life than work. You need some kind of social life. And you shouldn’t give up on love. You know what they say, Zona. The third try’s the charm.”

Bree looked horrified. “No more tries, Mom. You’re a magnet for losers.”

Sad but true.

“Your mother has a right to be happy,” Louise said sternly.

“I’m happy,” said Zona. Sort of. Most of the time. She spotted their DoorDash delivery person coming up the walk. “Looks like dinner’s here.”

They moved on to dinner, Louise showing off her skill with her crutches as they went to the dining table.

“You’re getting pretty good with those, Gram,” Bree observed.

“Nothing to it,” said Louise. She handed over her crutches to Zona, who propped them against the wall, and then lowered herself into her chair with a groan she tried to hide.

“Nothing to it, huh?” teased Bree.

“Clomping around with this thing does tend to wear me out,” Louise admitted.

“By end of summer you’ll be up and dancing,” Zona assured her.

“I’m ready,” said Louise.

Although by the time they were done eating, the only thing she was ready for was bed. Bree took off and Zona helped her mother get settled in with the latest mystery she was reading.

“I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this,” she said to Zona.

“You’re the one who’s having to deal with it,” Zona replied, and kissed her cheek. “But you’re strong. You’ll get through it.”

Louise smiled. “Yes, I will. Now, you go relax. You’ve had a long day.”

And it was going to be longer. Zona ordered a fence barrier online, then went out back and filled in Darling’s latest hole. The faint sound of raised voices drifted over to her from next door.

She remembered the angry set of the man’s jaw when she’d seen him storming into his house. What was he doing to that woman? Who knew? Who wanted to know? Not Zona. She wanted to stay as far away as possible from the man next door.

Finished with her hole repair, she took Darling for a walk.

Then she came home, showered, and fell into bed.

She picked up the book from her nightstand, a World War II tale about a woman spy who was smart and tough and invincible.

Oh, to have any of those traits. So far, she’d been stupid, wimpy, and vulnerable. Well, no more of that.

“The only way you beat back the darkness is to get up and rise above it,” claimed the novel’s heroine as she spoke to her terrified younger sister. “Don’t you dare give up. And don’t you dare trust anyone but yourself.”

Those words hadn’t simply been written for a fictional little sister. They were for Zona. She was putting her life back together. She was done being stupid and she was done being wimpy and she was done being vulnerable. And she was certainly done trusting anyone made up of muscle and testosterone.

“AND TO THINK I thought that man was nice when I first met him,” Louise lamented the next day as Gilda set out her breakfast. She was usually so good at reading people. She’d sure misread Alec James. “Of course, what can you tell from someone just saying hello, right?”

“Men like that put up a false front,” Gilda said. “They can seem real nice until you cross them. Then look out.”

“There’s something off about this one.” You couldn’t trust a man who didn’t like dogs. “And the poor woman with him. Zona’s heard raised voices over there. I’m afraid he could be violent.”

“So much goes on behind closed doors,” Gilda said knowingly.

“Everything can look so normal and yet once you shut the door it’s all darkness and evil.

You saw the Deathline episode about the man whose wife fell off a cliff when they were hiking, didn’t you?

He kept claiming it was an accident. Everyone said they were the perfect couple until all these little things started coming out.

Like the woman’s girlfriend who said he’d hit on her at a party once.

He claimed he’d just had too much to drink. ”

“Right,” scoffed Louise.

“And then the neighbor saw him clear on the other side of the city having lunch with another woman. It’s always about money or lust.”

“Or rage,” added Louise.

“You’d better keep an eye on your neighbor,” Gilda advised.

“I intend to, believe me,” Louise said heartily. “We could be living next to a potential murderer. Like in Rear Window.”

“Or The Woman in the Window,” said Gilda.

“A good reminder to be watchful,” Louise said. “Truth is stranger than fiction.”

They were discussing how Louise could keep a watchful eye on her neighbor when Martin showed up, bearing a gift for Louise.

“I thought you might like this latest book by Karin Slaughter,” he said, as he settled in at the table with the two women.

“Thank you, Martin. That is so kind of you,” Louise said.

“It might give you ideas for your novel,” he suggested.

“I’m always open to ideas. I’m going to set it on a cruise,” Louise told him.

“A cruise, huh?” he said thoughtfully.

Louise frowned. “I’d hoped to do some research while I was on the boat.”

Martin shied away from following her down that conversational path. “What’s going to happen? Is someone going to get thrown overboard?” he asked.

“Poisoned,” said Gilda.

Martin nodded thoughtfully. “Poisoned on a cruise. That could work.”

“It could. I just have to figure out everything else. I need inspiration.”

“I bet you’ll find it next door,” Gilda predicted.

Martin raised a questioning eyebrow. “Next door?”

“Alec James,” Louise clarified. “There’s something not right over there.”

Her words made Martin frown. “What on earth makes you think that?”

“He’s got suppressed violence,” Louise said. “He was downright ugly to us. And made a veiled threat to harm Darling.”

Martin’s brows pulled together in disbelief. “When was that?”

“Yesterday,” said Louise. “Darling got loose.”

“That was my fault,” Gilda added.

“I’m afraid he might have left a little something on Alec’s lawn again,” Louise admitted.

“That can make people upset,” Martin said in Alec James’s defense.

“That man’s thermostat is set to anger all the time. You can tell,” Louise insisted.

“I agree,” said Gilda.

“We hardly know him. Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Martin cautioned.

Jumping? It only took a baby step to conclude that Alec James was not a nice man. Who knew what he was capable of?

“He bears watching,” she said.

And she was.