Chapter 12
I MANAGED TO STAY AWAY FROM SUNNY THE REST OF THE DAY, AND ALEX was either over at Ruth’s or working in his office. Dinnertime came and went, and I slipped down to the kitchen and warmed up some leftovers Ruth sent from her house. No one was around and the house was eerily silent.
Up in my room, I wondered about Mary. There’s a small desk with a few random items in the top drawer—scissors, a dried-up glue stick, pencils.
The dressers were empty, the closet too, except for a box on the top shelf.
I thought about looking through it, but it was taped shut and I didn’t think it would be right to rip it open, so I left it alone.
Sunny’s words run round and round in my head.
Mary died here and I wonder what happened to her.
Why would a twenty-one-year-old just die in her bedroom?
I’m walking back to my room after washing up for bed when my phone vibrates in my pocket.
I pull it out. Unknown caller. I decline the call.
My heart beats in heavy thumps. Back in my room I shut the door, sit on the side of the bed, staring at my screen.
The voicemail notification pops up. With trepidation, I reluctantly click on it.
A strange, yet familiar, voice emerges. The same man who had been calling me back in Albany.
Mrs. Shrader, time is running out and we need to be paid.
We know you left town, but we have ways of tracking you down.
Your husband told us that you got a nice bank account and have the money to take care of this debt.
It would be in your best interest to get this taken care of ASAP.
Call me back on this number and we’ll get this all straightened out pronto.
I shiver, my mind whirling. I told Ben to go to the police right at the beginning, but he said he couldn’t do that.
These guys would hurt him if he did. I can’t believe he involved me in something like this.
When I said that I was going to go to the police myself, he begged me not to and said he’d take care of it.
I don’t know what to do. Would they really be able to find me?
My throat is parched, and I feel like I’m going to choke, so I head downstairs for a glass of water. I use the back staircase, my hands on the walls since there is no railing. It’s a little claustrophobic, but I don’t want to run into Sunny.
I’m surprised to see Alex in the kitchen making a cup of coffee this late at night.
“Emma. You’re up late. Couldn’t sleep?”
“Just thirsty.” I reach into the cabinet for a glass, my hand shaking.
“What’s going on?” he asks. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“It’s nothing.”
He tips his head. “Let’s sit a minute. I just came in for some coffee. I know it’s late, but I’m writing, and I usually get a lot done at night. That’s when the creative juices tend to flow best for me.”
“Me too, sometimes,” I say, as I sit at the table with my water.
Alex sits across from me. “I know this isn’t what you or I expected for your first visit. Poor Simon. But hopefully, the cops will wrap this up quickly and we can put Simon to rest.”
Again, no mention of the circumstances of Simon’s demise. “I hope so.” I clear my throat and sip my water.
“Is there something else?” Alex asks.
I blow out a breath. I might as well tell him, although I feel ashamed for some reason to have been involved in something so underhanded, even peripherally. But I feel alone with this problem. And Alex has been so kind. I need to tell someone, so I spill the whole story.
Alex nods along. He asks me a few questions, but there’s no judgment in his words, only a building anger that some criminal is threatening me.
“Jesus, Emma. I wish you’d told me sooner. So, you’ve been carrying this around for a month?”
“Yes.” I sniff back tears. “It’s my problem, but,” my voice cracks, “I just don’t know what to do about it anymore. I was hoping my ex would’ve found a way to pay these guys back and it would go away.”
“He sounds like a real loser, your husband, if you don’t mind me saying.”
I see Ben before me with his deceptive boy-next-door grin and his charm. I nod and can’t help but smile as I wipe a tear from my cheek. “He is a loser,” I manage.
Alex sips his coffee. “How much does he owe these guys?”
“Eighty-two thousand dollars.”
Alex whistles. “You have the number they’re calling from?”
I pull up my call record on my screen and slide my phone over to Alex. He takes a little notebook from his shirt pocket, clicks a pen that he’d had behind his ear. “I’ll get my lawyers on it. Don’t worry about this anymore.” He looks up, his gaze catches mine. “Okay? No more worrying about this.”
The breath flies out of me in a heavy sigh. Could Alex really make this go away? “Really? You’ll help me?”
“Absolutely. I’ve got a great legal team. They’ll get this sorted out.”
“I can’t ask you to do that. I should just call the police.”
Alex shakes his head. “No need, Emma. It’ll just get more complicated getting the law involved. We can handle it ourselves.”
“I can’t thank you enough.”
“No problem. It’s the least I can do after missing out on your whole life.”
I wipe a tear from my cheek. It’s a strange and delirious feeling to have someone looking out for me.
Even when my mother was alive, I never truly felt protected or nurtured growing up.
She had so many of her own problems that I was sometimes more her caretaker than the other way around.
Maybe because she had me so young and alone, but also her personality, I think, made mothering hard.
Her parents, she said when she reluctantly spoke of them, had been stern, judgmental people.
There wasn’t much warmth or nurturing in her house, so I don’t think she quite knew how to be a mother.
We were more like sisters when I think about our relationship.
We were close. We had a bond, but I never truly felt like a daughter.
I never had anyone in my life who I thought would look out for me.
“Thank you, Alex,” I say again. “I know things are difficult right now with Simon.”
He rubs his hand over his mouth. “That’ll get sorted out, too. Simon was in poor health, and I didn’t expect he’d be around much longer, so this wasn’t totally unexpected.”
He smiles at me. “But if we stick together, we’ll get through all of these problems. We’re family, after all.”