Behind Closed Doors (12 page)

Could he give whatever this was between them a chance?

He opened the main door to the large Victorian as he thought about the possibilities, but before he made it to the stairs, he heard Elizabeth scream. He raced up the stairs, bursting through her door.

Hearing a noise coming from her bedroom, he raced in to find her kneeling on the floor and surrounded by broken glass.

She was staring, transfixed. Something was covering her window. He walked over to get a closer look. He was no expert, but it looked like blood and small pieces of flesh running down the smooth panes of glass and onto her floor.

Someone had been in her apartment, in the house. His mind raced, thinking of the implications. Alarms would need to be installed. He couldn’t let anything happen to her or Jan.

He knew not to touch anything and, turning his back on the mess, he went to Elizabeth. She was clearly shaken, but he needed to get her out of there. He wasn’t about to make her stay there looking at that window. Without thinking, he knelt down and scooped her up. She didn’t fight him; just lay stiff and unresponsive in his arms.

He carried her up to his apartment. Once inside, he dialed 911. The dispatcher informed him that, since no one was in any immediate danger, a police officer would be there in an hour or two.

He hung up the phone and glanced over at Elizabeth. She hadn’t moved. Her legs were still slightly bent, her back against the arm of his couch, her head tilted to the side leaning against the cushions. Just exactly how he’d left her.

She was in shock, and he couldn’t even imagine what was going through her mind right now.

He walked into his kitchen and got her a glass of water. When he returned, she didn’t even acknowledge him. “I brought you something to drink.”

Nothing.

“Elizabeth?” he said, touching her shoulder.

She turned around sharply, eyes blazing, muscles tense, ready for a fight.

“Easy. You’re okay. I thought you might want something to drink.”

She looked down at the water in his hand, but it was almost like she didn’t recognize what it was. A few seconds later, he saw her shoulders relax as she reached out. “Thank you,” she said, taking the glass from him.

She took a sip and then brought it down to rest in her lap. “I called the police. They’ll be here later to look at things and take a report,” he said. She just nodded, so he stood and went over to the chair across from her to sit down. All they could do now was wait.

After spending the day volunteering at the senior center, the first thing Jan noticed when she pulled up in front of her house was a police car.

She’d checked her phone after leaving the senior center and noticed Chris had called. Since he hadn’t left a message, she hadn’t been concerned. Now she was wishing she’d called him back.

Given that Jan and her husband had not been blessed with any children of their own, she’d always looked after Chris as if he was her own son. The thought of anything happening to him, or Elizabeth for that matter, sent a jolt of fear through her.

Both Chris’s truck and Elizabeth’s car were in the driveway nearly blocked by the police cruiser. Her mind was flooded with awful scenarios, but she knew she needed to calm down and stop jumping to conclusions.

She grabbed her purse, rushed inside, and up the stairs, her heart skipping a beat when she saw the open door to Elizabeth’s apartment.

Quietly, she took the last few steps up to the landing and looked inside. Chris was standing just inside the entryway, his arm around Elizabeth as if supporting her weight. They both stood with their backs to the door.

Her attention shifted as a police officer in full uniform walked out of the bedroom. In one hand, he held a plastic baggie with a specimen cup filled with some kind of red blob, and a camera in the other. “I’ve got everything I need. I’ll get this to our forensics lab and have it analyzed. I’d be surprised if it’s human, though. Looks more like someone was just trying to scare you,” he said, looking directly at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth just nodded. The poor thing truly looked frightened, and Jan wondered just what in the world had happened.

The officer reached into his pocket and handed a business card over to Chris before giving a curt nod to Elizabeth. “Someone will be in touch when we know something. Call us if you think of anything else.” Then he turned and came to the doorway where Jan stood. “Ma’am,” he said, nodding to her before going around her and out the door.

Jan watched as the man descended the stairs before turning back to Elizabeth and Chris. “Are you two all right?”

Chris said, “Yeah. We’re okay.”

“What happened?”

Instead of answering he said, “I called my security guy, the one I use on job sites. He’ll be here in the morning to take a look at what we need.”

It took Jan a second, but then she understood. “Someone broke in? How?”

“Don’t know. There was no sign of forced entry.”

Jan went over and pulled Elizabeth into a hug. “I’m so sorry, my dear. Is there anything I can do?”

Elizabeth allowed Jan to hug her, but didn’t return it. When Jan released her, she leaned back against Chris, and he immediately put his arm around her shoulders. No matter what he said, Chris wasn’t as impartial to Elizabeth as he’d wanted Jan to believe.

“I need to clean it up,” Elizabeth said in a dead voice.

There was one thing Jan was sure of, whatever the mess was, she didn’t need to be dealing with it. “You don’t worry about that, dear. Chris and I will take care of it. Why don’t you just sit down and relax?”

“No, I couldn’t—”

“Jan’s right,” Chris said. “You don’t need to be dealing with cleaning up that mess. Come on, you can wait upstairs.”

As soon as they were out of sight, Jan walked into the bedroom. One look and she knew why Elizabeth had been so shaken up. Jan had grown up on a farm, and her dad had a room in the back of one of their barns where he’d slaughter their pigs. What was on her far wall looked like the stuff that was left on the concrete floor after her father was done slaughtering a pig.

Whatever it was, it was not a house-warming present. This looked personal to her. Someone was trying to send a message, but who would want to hurt a sweet woman like Elizabeth?

Elizabeth was numb. She hadn’t felt like this in a long time. Not since the night she’d killed Jared. Chris had helped her upstairs to his apartment and guided her to his couch. After giving her another glass of water and making sure she’d be okay alone for a while, he’d gone back downstairs with Jan.

There was a part of her that knew she should be the one cleaning it up and not them. They were too good to her, and she didn’t deserve it. She just stared at the glass of water until Chris returned and knelt down in front of her, frowning as he took the full glass from her hands.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

She shook her head. She didn’t think she could eat anything right now if she tried.

“Tired?”

Yes. She was tired. Although she knew it was only midafternoon, she felt as if she’d been up for days. She nodded and the next things she knew, Chris had lain her down on the couch and covered her with a blanket. She began to cry. It had been so long since anyone had taken care of her.

Chris said, “I’m right here. You’re safe.” Calloused fingers brushed lightly against her face as she let sleep take her.

By the time she woke from her nap, the sun was going down, and she sat up, unsure where she was.

Looking around, she located Chris sitting at a table surrounded by paperwork. Memories of what had greeted her in her bedroom came rushing back. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Safe. No one was trying to hurt her right now.

Her eyes opened again. Chris hadn’t noticed that she was awake, and she enjoyed a moment of just watching him.

She watched his hands sort through the pages and remembered the feel of those fingers on her face, in her hair. She recalled the gentle pressure of his hand on her back as he’d kissed her. A shiver ran down her spine. Only hours ago she was having trouble feeling anything. But now, seeing him across the room doing something as simple as sorting through paperwork created that fluttery feeling in the pit of her stomach. What was happening to her?

Her gaze traveled up to Chris’s lips. His mouth was open slightly. It was something she’d noticed he did when he was concentrating on something. She couldn’t help but remember the feel of his breath against her lips just before he’d kissed her. And no matter how wrong the moment was, she wanted his mouth on hers again.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t realize Chris had caught her staring until he shifted his position. She glanced up and her eyes met his heated stare.

Gone was the fear she used to feel in his presence. Now, there was this need to be closer to him.

Even though she’d run from him, he’d helped her, comforted her. He’d let her lean on him when everything just seemed like too much. And he’d brought her into his home when the thought of being in hers had terrified her.

The invisible pull toward him was getting stronger. Then, suddenly, Chris pushed back from the table and their connection was lost. She immediately felt empty.

He doesn’t feel it.

“Jan brought some dinner if you’re hungry. Chicken and noodles.” He walked toward what she assumed was his bedroom, given the layout of her own apartment. “I’m going to go grab a shower,” he mumbled and then disappeared behind a closed door. She stared at the door until she heard the shower.

Reluctantly, she pushed herself up from the couch, folded the blanket she’d been using, and shuffled into Chris’s kitchen. It was the exact reverse of her own, and the crockpot filled with Jan’s chicken and noodles was on the counter by the stove.

She located a bowl and refilled her glass of water. Finding the silverware was easy enough, and once she’d scooped a healthy-sized helping into her bowl, she went to the table and sat down.

The food was good, but that wasn’t a surprise. Jan was a great cook. She was still hungry once she’d polished it off, so she went to get more.
That’s the last thing you need.
She ignored her inner voice and scooped another large portion into her bowl.

Finally after fifteen minutes, the sound of water cut off, and it seemed like forever before Chris came out, not looking at her as he found a bowl and filled it. He seemed to debate whether or not to come sit with her at the table before remaining at the counter. Not sure what to do, she switched her focus back to her own food and finished eating. The second bowl didn’t taste quite as good as the first.

After they were both finished, she was at a loss. She knew she should really go back down to her apartment. It was getting late, and she was sure Chris would want to go to bed in the not too distant future. But the thought of being alone in her apartment right now sent chills up her spine.

She was still trying to give herself a pep talk when Chris left the room and then came back with a pillow under his arm. He walked to the couch she’d been lying on earlier and threw the pillow down at one end. “I made up the bed with clean sheets for you. I also laid out a toothbrush in the bathroom for you to use.” Chris stretched out on the couch and turned away from her.

As much as she didn’t want to, she had to say it. “I can go back downstairs. You don’t have to give up your bed for me.”

He turned and his stare was hard, determined, and somewhat angry. “No. Until the alarms are installed, you stay here.”