Behind Closed Doors (26 page)

He nodded before taking a closer look at what Jan was doing. “Wait. You’re baking?”

Jan actually blushed. He’d had never seen her blush before. “I figured we might be having company and that they might enjoy a little snack.”

“Uh-huh.” Chris didn’t press the issue. Jan was like his mother; she liked to take care of people, so that wasn’t what was throwing him. It was the blush. Why exactly was she blushing?

“Did you want some coffee? I made a pot.”

“Sure.”

After Chris had disappeared upstairs, Jan tried to ply Elizabeth with all sorts of drinks and food. She reminded Elizabeth of her own grandmother with whom she’d spent summers as a child. Grandma Marshall had believed food could cure whatever ailed you.

She had settled on a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows. She knew she’d been indulging too much lately, but given the day she had today, she needed the chocolate. Jan had then declared the need for cookies and had been holed up in the kitchen ever since.

Knowing Jan was just in the other room was comforting, but she wanted Chris. On some level it bothered her that she’d become so dependent on him in such a short amount of time, but she couldn’t help the way she felt. She had given Jared everything, and he’d still demanded more. With Chris she felt she could be herself. He didn’t try to change her, or tell her she wasn’t good enough, or thin enough, or that her outfit just wasn’t stylish enough.

Looking back at it now, she wondered how she’d stayed with Jared for so long. In college, he’d swept her off her feet. She’d come from a modest upbringing, and he was flash and sophistication. He was already in law school, showing lots of promise, which only added to the appeal. He’d wined and dined her through her last two years of school and then proposed. Back then, she’d felt she was living a fairy tale.

It hadn’t taken long for the bubble to burst. She forced herself to stop thinking about the man who used to control her and called Stephanie to see if she’d heard anything. Stephanie still ran in the same circles, and if the Carters were building a case against her, surely Stephanie would have heard.

“I just can’t believe they’re doing this to you, Liz.”

“So you heard.”

“Of course, I did. Trudy Shultz was going on and on about it over lunch today.”

“I figured it was too much to hope.”

“So how are you dealing with it?”

“I don’t really know yet. The lawyer just delivered the papers today. I’ll have to find an attorney and see what my options are.”

“Well, you know I’m here. I can always ask Don for a recommendation for you. It’s not his field, but you know how they all know each other around here. Columbus isn’t that big of a town.”

“I know.” That had been part of the problem. Everyone knew Jared whether by reputation or personally. If the police had decided to charge her in Jared’s death, she would have had to look outside of the capital city for representation. No one would have touched her with a ten-foot pole. She wasn’t sure any of them would take her on now.

The conversation then shifted to a dinner party Stephanie and her husband, Don, were hosting this coming weekend, and she was more than glad for the change in topic. She heard all about the fancy invitations Don had insisted on even though everyone on the guest list was already aware of the party. It was something that unless you ran around in certain social circles, you just didn’t understand. Then again, she still didn’t.

The door opened and Chris walked in, looking as handsome as ever. He strolled over to her and placed a soft kiss on her hair. She closed her eyes to enjoy the feel and smell of him so close. She couldn’t wait to get him upstairs.

He ran his fingers across her cheek before he walked into the kitchen, leaving her alone again, and she felt lighter now that he was here.

Only then did she remember her phone call and turned her attention back to Stephanie, who talked about her lunches, dinner parties, and charity functions. It was exactly what Elizabeth’s life had been minus the time spent as a punching bag.

Chris returned from the kitchen and sat beside her, and she immediately shifted closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her, nearly pulling her into his lap.

When the buzzer to the outside door sounded, he got up to answer it, and Elizabeth wrapped up the phone call with Stephanie, telling her she’d call her in a couple of days. Chris may have thought he was being discreet by going upstairs, but she knew he’d called the detective. She just didn’t know what exactly Stephens could do since it was not against the law to file a civil suit against someone. Just as she hit the end button on her phone, Chris came back in, followed by Detective Stephens.

She stood, offering her hand. “Good evening, Detective.”

“Evening, Ms. Marshall.” He walked back over to the seating area. “Mr. Daniels here tells me your in-laws have gotten creative.”

She went over what had happened that afternoon and then showed him the paperwork. He looked it over studiously before handing it back to her.

She said, “I’m not really sure what you can do. It’s not like this is against the law, so I’m sorry you had to drive all the way here for this.”

“That isn’t why I came, ma’am, but I figured since I was here and this does have to do with the case in a roundabout way, I decided it would be good to at least take a look.” Jan brought in a tray of cookies and coffee for everyone. “Why thank you, ma’am.” The detective smiled, and Jan blushed.

”So why did you come?”

Chris cleared his throat, and all eyes were on him, but he was only looking at Elizabeth. “While I was out today, I saw Carol and decided to follow her.”

She didn’t like the direction this was going. “You followed her?”

He nodded. “I would have been back at the office sooner if I hadn’t, but it turned out to be a good thing.”

“Why was that a good thing?” she whispered, her mouth suddenly dry.

“Carol ended up here, across the street from the house, and the last time I checked, she was still there.”

“She’s still there,” Detective Stephen’s said.

Her eyes went wide. “But why?”

“That good for nothing . . . ,” Jan muttered under her breath. Elizabeth knew Jan was not a fan of Chris’ ex, but she’d never heard her say anything bad about her.

“That’s what I’m here to find out. I wanted to come in and talk with you first, but on my way out, I’m going to stop and have a little chat with your voyeur.”

The detective asked Chris a few more questions before getting up to leave, and Jan, jumped up to show Detective Stephens to the door.

Once they were alone, Chris leaned back against the couch and turned to face her. “I don’t want you to think I’ve been keeping things from you. It’s just you were so upset this afternoon and there really wasn’t a lot of time.”

While she was a little disappointed he hadn’t told her right away, she did understand. She’d been an emotional wreck when she’d seen him. “Don’t worry about it.”

He released a heavy sigh and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you.”

She hugged him back, but it still wasn’t close enough. She crawled into his lap and straddled him, something she would’ve never had the courage to do a month ago.

He must have read her mind and pulled her against him, kissing her, and soon they were both panting. He trailed his lips down her neck as he cupped her from behind.

She couldn’t seem to get close enough. “I need you,” she whimpered.

Chris made a low sound of approval in his chest. He grabbed her hand and pulled her after him, out the door, and up the stairs. Chris was going to make love to her and make her forget, for just a little while, everything that was going wrong in her life by celebrating the one thing that felt right.

Monday morning they’d left the house to find all four of Elizabeth’s tires slashed. Then Tuesday, when they’d arrived home from work, her car was covered with egg goo that had baked on for several hours in the heat. It was stupid, childish stuff, but Elizabeth felt it beginning to fray her nerves.

When Detective Stephens stopped by the office on Wednesday with an update, he commented that the egg and tire incidents felt different to him. The break-in and the newspaper had the lingering feel of hate and vengeance. These new attacks were more like high school pranks.

The first person to come to mind was Carol. She wanted Chris back and was determined to make it happen, one way or another. When she mentioned this to the detective, Chris almost spilled his coffee all over the front of his shirt from laughing. It bothered Elizabeth that Carol seemed to think she could get him back, but his reaction made her smile.

After the detective spoke to both of them about the damage to her car, Chris offered the use of his office so that she and the detective could talk in private. Stephens also wanted her to go over her relationship with her husband from the beginning again.

Detective Stephens was silent as she went over the ups and downs of her relationship and then marriage to Jared Carter until she reached the part about her leaving him.

“Did you know who the other woman was?”

“No idea. I didn’t get that far. At the time, I didn’t care.”

“How did you find out about the affair?” he said, shifting.

“I went to visit him at his office. He wasn’t expecting me. I knocked, walked in without waiting, and found him sitting at his desk in a rather compromising position.”

“And you didn’t see the woman?”

“No.” She shook her head. “She was underneath the desk, and I didn’t stick around to find out.”

The detective made some notes on his small notepad. “Is there anything else you remember about the woman? Perfume? Hair color?”

“No. I’m sorry. Like I said, I didn’t see her, and I was so furious that I just stormed out.”

“Do you recall any changes in his behavior over your marriage? Did he start staying out late where he hadn’t before, or maybe taking long business trips?”

“No. Jared rarely went out of town on business. His cases were all in town or the surrounding counties. He did work late a lot, though. Sometimes he’d stay at his condo instead of coming home.”

“When did that start?”

“A few months before my parents died, I think. I’m really not sure. He had a high-profile case, lots of overtime. It was a long time ago, and he handled those types of things. I wasn’t involved. Is it important?”

“If this woman felt she belonged to him in some way . . . it could be that he was supporting her financially, or it was just an emotional connection. Either way, you killing him took that away from her.”

“Oh.”

“Do you think whoever is doing this is a woman?”

“It’s hard to say for sure, and I don’t want to rule anyone out, but it is a distinct possibility.”

Before he left, Detective Stephens recommended a few locals for legal representation since Elizabeth was having trouble finding someone in Columbus. It appeared that the Carters were using their influence once again. Both Chris and Paul offered to help, but she’d felt the need to try to do this on her own. It wasn’t working out the way she’d hoped.

The detective also advised Chris to have cameras installed on the outside of the house. The property was too far out in the country for a neighbor to notice anything suspicious.

After the detective left, Chris said, “You okay?”

“Yeah. I just wish it would all go away. I want to live my life and be happy. Is that too much to ask?”

Chris pulled her closer to him. “No, it’s not,” he said, giving her the softest kiss.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He smiled, resting his forehead against hers. “You’re welcome.”