Chapter 14
ZONA TURNED AND LOOKED QUESTIONINGLY AT Louise, who looked back, baffled and concerned.
“Get. In. Here,” snarled Alec James over on his side of the fence.
“I won’t! And see how you like it when something you need gets taken away.”
“Don’t even think about it. Get inside. Now!”
“Stop! You’re hurting me,” squealed the woman, which started Darling barking again and racing to put his front paws up on the fence to see what was going on.
He wasn’t the only one. Zona was trying to find a spot between the boards where she could see.
She jumped a couple of times, trying to see over the fence.
She caught a one-second glimpse of the couple at the edge of the pool, the woman pulling to get away from him and him glaring at her as he tugged on her arm.
“What’s going on over there?” Zona called sharply.
The couple next door was too busy to reply.
Suddenly Alec James roared, “You bitch.” Zona could hear the woman laughing hysterically. This was followed by a big splash. Was he drowning her?
Zona stooped with her eye to a tiny hole in the fence. Darling joined her and she nudged him away and squinted through the sliver of space. She could see Alec James climbing out of the pool, dripping water. Was that a phone he was holding in his hand?
So, Ms. PT Cruiser had pushed him in. If the arguing hadn’t been so violent, Zona would have laughed, but this was no laughing matter. His expression was fierce. If looks could kill. Suddenly she truly understood the meaning of that expression.
Where was the woman? Zona moved down the fence as quietly as she could and looked through another slit and saw her standing on the patio, hugging herself and biting her lip.
Alec James appeared next to her, dripping wet and furious.
He grabbed her arm and started dragging her in the direction of the house.
“Let me go! I hate you,” she cried and tried to pull back, but he kept moving her forward. Darling began barking again, rising up on his hind legs and scratching at the fence.
The pair moved out of Zona’s line of vision. She tried to look through the next space between the boards, but Darling was in the way.
The noise evaporated to the faintest muffled voices through the sliding glass doors. Zona turned and looked at Louise. What to do?
“This time we should call the police,” Louise said.
“And tell them what? He yelled at her, and she pushed him in the pool?”
“Probably in self-defense.”
Zona joined her at the patio table.
“Something bad is happening over there. He could be beating her even as we’re sitting here,” Louise fretted.
The woman was back outside again, crying. Zona moved along the fence, trying to find a place she could peek out to get a good glimpse of the poor victim. “Are you okay over there?” she called. “Do you need help?”
“He’s a monster,” the woman wailed.
Zona finally saw her. She was crumpled onto a patio chair, her face buried in her hands as she cried.
“Let us help you,” Zona called.
The woman shook her head and ran back into the house. Yikes! Right back into the lion’s den.
“We really need to call the police,” Louise insisted.
Next door a big engine sprang to life. Alec James’s truck.
“I’m going over there,” Zona said.
“No, it’s too dangerous,” her mother protested.
“He just left. I’ll be fine. I’ll get her and bring her here,” Zona said, and went out the backyard gate.
The truck was gone from the driveway, but the red PT Cruiser remained parked in its usual spot. What was that woman still doing inside the house? This was her chance. She needed to get away. Zona crossed his lawn and hurried to the front door, all the while wondering what she could say.
Her heart was thudding as she rang the doorbell. What if Alec James came back while she was there?
The woman didn’t come to the door. Zona rang the doorbell again and then knocked. Still, the woman remained inside. Afraid to answer?
“Please, let us help you,” Zona called. Could the woman even hear her? Maybe she was off in a bedroom, crying. Or packing.
Zona rang the doorbell again and pounded on the door but still got no results. Unsure what else she could do, she gave up and went back home.
She reentered the backyard and Darling bounded over to greet her, jumping up and putting dirty paws on her chest. “Down, Darling,” she commanded, taking a step back. Darling barked happily and jumped again, and she gave him a gentle shove back onto all fours.
“What happened?” Louise asked as Zona joined her at the patio table.
“He’s gone, but she wouldn’t come to the door.”
“Too embarrassed,” Louise surmised.
“Probably,” Zona said, and sighed. There were way too many rotten men in the world.
“There must be something we can do to help that woman,” said Louise.
“When someone’s determined to stay in a relationship, there’s not much you can do to help her until she’s ready to leave.”
What was the deal with this woman? Was she so in love with Alec James that she couldn’t let go? What was keeping her there?
What kept any woman in an unhealthy relationship? The hope that things would change? Fear of repercussions if she left?
Zona was still mulling that over when she heard their neighbor’s truck pull back into the driveway sometime after midnight. She went to her bedroom window and saw him walking back to his front door. He didn’t seem as angry, but what would happen once he was inside?
She wished she’d never taken over cookies. He didn’t deserve them. Maybe she needed to bake another batch laced with crushed sleeping pills so she could get that poor deluded woman out of the house and to a shelter.
THE TROUBLE NEXT door was escalating and Louise was now on high alert.
“Things are not right over there,” she told Martin when he stopped in the next afternoon to see if she needed anything from the store. “Alec James and that woman had a terrible fight last night. I’m sure he hit her.”
Martin’s brows pulled together. “What makes you think that?”
“Because of all the commotion. Plus, Zona went over later, and the woman wouldn’t come to the door. Her car is still sitting outside, but we haven’t caught a glimpse of her all day.”
“She could be embarrassed that you’d heard them fighting,” said Martin.
Honestly, Martin was so naive. “Embarrassed about a black eye, more likely,” Louise argued.
Martin was not swayed. “Louise, people fight all the time. Sometimes they even raise their voices.”
“This wasn’t your average argument,” she insisted. “Zona and I both heard. It was scary. She even pushed him in the pool.”
“Who, Zona?” Martin asked.
Louise frowned at him. “No, the woman.”
“Violence always escalates,” said Gilda, who had returned with a glass of Zona’s homemade raspberry lemonade for him.
“If this woman was able to push him in the pool, she’s probably perfectly capable of taking care of herself.” He sampled the drink. “This is good. What all has it got in it?”
If he thought he was going to change the subject that easily, he was very much mistaken. “I’m sure he hit her once he got out,” Louise said. “Maybe you could go over there and talk to him.”
Martin’s brows furrowed. “And say what? Are you beating your girlfriend?”
“Just feel things out.”
He shook his head. “Louise, unless you know someone is being hurt, what goes on between two people is nobody’s business. I’ve talked to the man a couple of times. He seems like a nice guy. And this woman clearly doesn’t want your help.”
“Looks can be deceiving,” Gilda said as she settled in with her crocheting.
“I really think you should stay out of the man’s business. Which is exactly what I’m going to do.” Martin finished his drink and stood. “Are you sure there’s nothing you need?”
“I need you to go talk to Alec James.”
“I meant from the store.”
Louise frowned. “Nothing. Zona shopped the other day.”
“All right. I’ll be going then. You ladies have a nice afternoon.”
“Wimp,” Louise muttered as he went out the door. “I need to find out more about what’s going on over there,” she said to Gilda.
“How are you going to do that?” Gilda asked. “Martin does have a point. You can’t go over and ask your neighbor what’s going on with his girlfriend.”
“No, but I can at least let him know that I’m watching him. Maybe when he comes home from work I’ll be out checking my mail. I can certainly make it to the mailbox. Let’s watch for his truck. He sometimes beats Zona home, and if he does, I’m going to be ready to have a little talk with him.”
COME FOUR THIRTY in the afternoon the two women were seated at the dining room table, watching out the window. “As soon as we see his truck coming up the street, I’ll go out,” said Louise.
“Don’t you hurry with those crutches,” Gilda cautioned. “I don’t want you falling and breaking a hip on my watch.”
“I’ll be careful. Oh, wait. Here he comes now. He’s early. Hand me my crutches!”
Gilda obliged and hurried to open the front door, then grabbed Darling’s collar so he wouldn’t make a break for it.
Louise swung her way over and out the door, then carefully made her way off the porch. She managed to arrive at her mailbox just as he was getting out of his truck.
“Hello, there,” she called as if she hadn’t heard the commotion of the night before.
He gave her a nod, then walked to the back of his truck and fetched his toolbox.
“How are you settling in?” she called.
“Okay,” he called back. Not warmly.
Louise swung her way a little closer to his yard. “It looks like you’ve got some company staying with you.”
“Just someone who needs a place to stay for a while,” he said, his voice cooling a few more degrees. He had his toolbox and was starting toward the house.
“We heard some commotion over there last night,” Louise called.
That stopped him in his tracks. Had his face gone pale? He was so suntanned it was hard to tell.
“Is your friend all right?” she asked.
“She’s fine. I hope your leg heals soon,” he added, then picked up his pace.
“If you need anything,” she called after him.
He pretended not to hear and went inside.