Behind Closed Doors (34 page)

She grabbed Elizabeth by the hair, pulling her to her feet, and brought her to the cast iron railing. At thirty stories up, taking a fall from this height would be more than enough to kill her.

Elizabeth gasped when the cast iron dug into her waist as Stephanie moved behind her, pressing her against the railing. She could hear the bustle of the city around her, feel the heat from the sun beating down on her. The tall concrete and brick buildings of the city she’d called home for nine years surrounded her. She wondered if this was really it.
Will this be the last thing I ever see, feel?

Then a sharp point at her wrists brought her thoughts back into focus. She wasn’t dead yet, and she wasn’t giving up.

“Say good-bye, Liz. You never were good enough,” she said, slicing the bands around her wrists.

The moment she felt the bands snap, Elizabeth used the momentum to push both her palms against Stephanie. It was enough to give her a little room to move. She twisted around and shoved Stephanie hard, pushing away from the railing.

She made a run for the door, but only made it a few feet before Stephanie charged her causing them both to lose their balance. Before she knew what was happening, she felt the railing pressing against her side as Stephanie’s forward movement hurled them both toward the edge. Elizabeth’s feet lost their feeble purchase and she found herself airborne. Reaching out, she grabbed hold of the hard metal rail beneath her. She felt the weight of Stephanie’s body beside her, then her fingers, pulling and biting into Elizabeth’s skin as she too tried to hold on to something, anything.

Inch by inch she felt Stephanie slide lower. “Help me!”

Even if Elizabeth wanted to, she couldn’t. She put all her effort into holding onto the one thing that was keeping her from hitting the pavement below.

Then, the weight was gone.

There was a scream, but it sounded far away to her ears. And then nothing.

Everything was suddenly still. She felt suspended in time as she hung from the railing, hoping that she could hang on long enough for someone to see her up here and get help.

“Elizabeth!”

Relief washed through her. “Chris!”

His face appeared over the edge of the railing and she couldn’t stop herself from crying. She was safe. She would survive. “I’ve got you,” he said grabbing her arms.

“Whoa!” said Paul as he helped Chris pull her back onto the balcony.

As soon as she was safely on solid ground, Chris enveloped her, holding her tightly. “Are you all right?” he asked. “Please, tell me you’re all right?”

“I’m fine,” she said, crying and never wanting to leave his arms.

“Police are here, and an ambulance will be here soon,” Paul said. “How are you feeling?”

She didn’t answer him right away. Her head was spinning as she came down from her adrenaline rush. “Is she dead?” she asked instead.

The question was directed at Paul, but Chris answered. “Yes. She’s dead.”

She nodded and leaned back into Chris.

Paul patted his little brother on the shoulder. “I’m going to go downstairs to direct the paramedics.”

Chris tilted her head up and kissed her. “Don’t ever do that to me again. I thought—”

“I know,” she said, trying to sooth him. “I told you I’d never leave you. Did you think I’d go back on my word?”

Chris pulled her close again. “No. Never.”

Their little bubble was soon broken, first by the police and then by the return of Paul and the paramedics. Chris stood to the side and allowed them enough room to do their job, but he refused to go more than a few feet. He knew they needed to question and examine Elizabeth, but he also had a hard time not being in direct contact with her. His eyes told him that she was there in front of him, and that she was okay, at least physically, but he needed that sense of touch to confirm it. Just to verify that his eyes weren’t deceiving him.

The medics cleared her with nothing more than a few bumps and bruises. The two police officers that arrived with Paul and Chris questioned Elizabeth. She was amazing, remaining calm through it all. Sentence by sentence, she relived the last two hours of her life in detail.

Stephanie was the other woman, and he couldn’t say he was all that surprised. From what he’d learned of Jared, the man was all about appearances, and Elizabeth wasn’t fake. He couldn’t see her ever truly fitting into the world in which the Carters and Stephanie Manning lived.

“We’ll be in touch if we have any more questions, Ms. Marshall.” The two detectives stood to leave, and Paul walked them out.

“Are you okay?” she said.

Chris turned to see if she was serious. “You’re asking
me
if I’m okay? Shouldn’t that be the other way around?”

She blushed, glancing down at the floor. “Well, I know how
I
am.”

He chuckled and pulled her down with him onto the couch. “And how are you?”

She sighed and leaned back into him. “Confused. Angry. Relieved.”

“Relieved?”

“I never understood her friendship with me. Now, it makes sense.”

“You’re relieved to know that she was only your friend because she wanted to keep tabs on you?” It didn’t make sense to him.

“No. Well, yes. Sort of. More, I’m relieved to finally have the mystery solved.”

“Yes. And no one is trying to come after you anymore.”

“Except for John and Abigail,” she said.

“I’m not so sure about that. The judge didn’t look all too happy with them when I left. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find out they had a hand in this. That would get them out of our hair.”

She twisted in his arms. “But I don’t think they had anything to do with this. I mean . . . Wait. How
did
you find me?”

Chris brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, before hugging her close again. “Their lawyer, Mr. Haines. He knew about this place and figured that’s where Stephanie must have taken you.”

“Shawn? Wow,” she said. Then out of nowhere, the tears started flowing again. “I didn’t think he would ever go out of his way to help like that.”

“Hey,” he said, increasing his hold on her. “You’re safe now. Everything’s okay.”

“I know. I don’t know why I’m crying.”

“You’ve had a stressful day. It’s completely understandable. As for Mr. Haines, I wouldn’t go thinking him overly noble, if I were you.” He chuckled. “After hearing what was going on, the judge told the Carters that if they knew something, they’d better be forthcoming or face being charged as an accomplice. I do believe it was self-preservation on his part.”

She laughed. “Yeah, that sounds more like Shawn.”

Paul walked back into the room. “They need to get in here and catalog evidence, and I’m sure you’d like to rest, Elizabeth.” He guided the three of them to the front of the building and away from all the commotion happening with the cleanup of Stephanie’s body.

A cab took them to the hotel, and Chris led Elizabeth to their room. Paul followed, stopping only long enough to take his own bags and disappear to his own room next door.

“How does a bath sound?” Chris asked.

She gave him a shy smile. “That’s sounds lovely. Thank you.”

Disappearing into the bathroom, he turned on the water to fill up the tub. Wanting to make sure she had everything she needed, he removed a large towel from the rack and placed it beside the bathtub along with soap, shampoo, and conditioner.

He heard movement at the door, and glanced up to find her standing in the doorway. Her clothes were gone, leaving nothing to cover the ugly purple bruises along her wrist, waist, hips, and thighs. Knowing that someone had done this to her angered him, but seeing the evidence of it made him want to weep. She was beautiful. She was precious. She deserved to be taken care of and cherished.

She walked into his arms. He couldn’t let go of her. He just couldn’t. “Marry me.”

“What?” she asked, pulling back to look into his eyes.

Nerves coursed through him. He shouldn’t have asked. This wasn’t the right time. What was he thinking? She’d nearly died today and . . .

“Did you just ask me to marry you?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yes.”

“Wow, I must look better naked than I thought.” She laughed, but stopped as she searched his face.

“Did you mean it?”

Do or die, he was going to answer her honestly. He didn’t regret asking, just the when and where. “Yes.”

She smiled. “Well then, yes.”

He stood there not moving, trying to process what just happened. “Yes? As in, yes, you’ll marry me?”

She nodded. “But I insist on being clothed when I do.”

He laughed, pulled her to him, and kissed her. “I love you!” he shouted before kissing her again, slower this time. She responded with the same passion she always did, and it gave him hope.

When the kiss finally ended, she looked at him with such love. He didn’t want to leave her side.

“Join me?”

Slowly, she helped him remove his clothing, and they lay in the bath until the water cooled.

As he held her in his arms that night, he thought how lucky he was to have found her. This woman had not only opened his heart to love again, she’d changed his life. He would never let her forget how special she was.

They spent the next few days in Columbus tying up loose ends. When they appeared before the judge again on Friday afternoon, the verdict was swift. The Carters had no real case against Elizabeth, civil or otherwise. They were also given a strict warning not to waste this court’s time in the future with frivolous lawsuits.

Saturday morning they drove home, eager to once again sleep in their own bed. Jan was waiting for them, peppering them with questions, and fawning over Elizabeth.

Detective Stephens surprised them by showing up Sunday afternoon. He joined them for dinner and listened as Chris and Elizabeth relayed the events in Columbus including Carol’s visit.

“I was going to talk to you about that,” Stephens said. “A store clerk placed her there buying two dozen eggs the morning your car was egged. He also remembered seeing her the morning your tires were slashed. It’s circumstantial, but with what she said to you it should get her a slap on the wrist at least, maybe a fine.”

“All I want is for her to leave us alone.”

“A restraining order might not be a bad idea, just to be safe.”

As it turned out, a restraining order wasn’t necessary. When Carol was brought in for questioning on the vandalism charges, she decided to turn on the charm. This time, however, she took it too far by actually offering the officer guarding her “a good time” if he let her go. She was promptly charged with soliciting. By the time she was released from jail and paid her fine, she’d lost her job and was thrown out of her apartment. She was too busy trying to salvage her own life to mess with theirs.

Perhaps the most surprising development since their return was that of Detective Stephens himself. When he’d joined them for dinner that first Sunday afternoon, Chris had thought the timing had been random and Jan was just being polite inviting him to join them. He’d been wrong. Since that day, the good detective had been a constant presence at their Sunday dinners. Apparently,
Robert
and Jan were dating.

One afternoon, Chris and Elizabeth were heading back up to their apartment when he said, “I want to take you one a real date.”

“That really isn’t necessary, you know.”

“Humor me. And yes, it is. You’ve been on a date with my brother, but not me. How is that fair?”

“Fine, fine.” She threw her arms unceremoniously around his neck. “So where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see,” he said.