Which is why in the days before her death, he began pulling away altogether, refusing to go inside her house for a coffee or a quick bite. Not only was he worried about the appearance of impropriety, he was worried about getting himself tangled in a web he couldn’t get out of.
He still regretted the events of that last day. It was precisely because he was trying to keep their contact to a minimum that his judgment had been clouded. That day, she came to the car and begged him to come inside. She said Peter had called her and she was afraid for her life.
Reluctantly, he had gone inside, checked the house and the property. Finding nothing amiss, he became frustrated. Melissa was clearly trying to seduce him again.
Still, there was something in her voice that evening when she pleaded with him not to leave her, not yet—a hint of fear in her eyes that was genuine. If he had only believed her. Stayed a little while longer. Trusted his instincts. But he hadn’t. He figured she was manipulating him, and he left her even as she begged him with tear-filled eyes not to go.
An hour later, he was back at the house, staring in disbelief at her lifeless body. Peter had shot her, then shot himself.
The ensuing mess was ugly. Peter had left a note saying he had been driven to such drastic measures because his wife had been in love with and was having an affair with someone else. It went on to say he hoped the guy was happy.
There had been many questions about the note, and after a couple of days, Marcus confessed to his
captain that he was the man Peter had referred to. He told him how he had flirted with Melissa, had gone into her house on more than one occasion and spent time with her when he should have been outside, watching the house. He admitted to Captain Greer that he had been flattered by Melissa’s attention, which had contributed to his lapse in judgment, but he also promised him that he had
not
had an affair with her, only that the husband was deranged enough to believe he had.
In the end, nothing had come of it. Marcus hadn’t been reprimanded because there simply wasn’t enough evidence. But in his heart, Marcus knew he was guilty of crossing a line. If he had kept things on a strictly business level with Melissa, she might very well be alive today.
The whole ugly incident had proved to be a learning experience. He would never compromise his role as police officer again. And he would keep a level head around pretty women.
He wasn’t going to make another mistake.
With that thought, his mind came back to the present. Back to Alice. She definitely exuded a powerful sexuality, one he had been trying to ignore from the first moment he’d seen her again. But something inside him had stirred when he’d seen her tonight in a way it hadn’t before. Maybe it was the fact that her beauty seemed to shine from the inside out.
Marcus gazed out at the water as he drove north along Lake Shore Drive toward his home. He didn’t care if Alice looked good in a burlap sack. He wasn’t going to lose perspective around her.
She’d once been a good friend, and he didn’t mind working to rebuild that friendship. But that’s all this relationship was about.
Nothing else.
If someone had asked her two months ago if she’d consider teaching a class of children the basics of acting, Alice would have said no. It simply hadn’t been part of her vision in terms of an acting career. But to her own surprise, she found she was enjoying the job tremendously.
Two weeks had passed since the tire incident, and nothing else had happened. The parents all seemed pleased with her efforts, with the exception of Terry, who always grumbled and complained about something. So Alice felt comfortable chalking the tire incident up to a childish prank.
Alice clapped her hands together to get the children’s attention. After forty minutes of role playing, they’d become restless, so she’d given them a break. They were slowly making their way back onto the stage.
“Come on, everybody,” Alice said. “It’s time to get back to work.”
They congregated around her, sitting cross-legged on the floor. In the first couple of weeks, they had taken longer to settle after a break, but as the classes had progressed, the children had become more serious. Probably because last week Alice had let them all know that they would have to audition for parts in the summer play—the best actors would get the best parts. She had worried that the concept of competition might cause disputes among them, but they were all acting like little professionals.
Alice sat on the stool. “All right. We’ve been doing a lot of role playing and improv, which you have all been wonderful at. But right now, I want to try a different kind of exercise. It’ll still be role playing, but with a twist.” Her glance took in the whole group. “I want you to think of someone you don’t like.”
“That’s easy,” Devin said.
A few of the children giggled, and Alice gave them a stern look to quiet them once again. “This is serious,” she explained. “Now, this can be someone at your school, someone on your street, someone from anywhere. But it has to be the person you like the least.”
“What if they’re old?” Jenna asked. “There’s this really mean old lady on my street.”
“If that’s the person you like the least, that’s fine.”
“What do we get to do? Act out what we’d like to do to them?” Brian’s eyes danced with mischief, and his comment made the children laugh once again.
“There’s this girl in my class I’d like to—”
“No, that’s not what you’ll be doing,” Alice
quickly interjected, wanting to quell the kind of negative thoughts that had given her this idea. During the break, she’d walked past Linda and Carrie, and she’d overheard them talking negatively about another girl. What she’d heard had made her think of her own childhood, how people had shut her out because she was different and how she wished they could have spent a day in her shoes. That’s exactly what she had in mind for the children now.
“In fact, you’ll be doing the exact opposite. You are going to pretend to be this person. You have to imagine what it’s like to be them, try to feel what you think they feel and think what they think.”
Clearly surprised, the children looked around at each other, mumbling words Alice couldn’t quite hear. She had the sense that the thought of pretending they were their least favorite person was not a popular one.
“The fact is, when you work in plays or in the movies, sometimes you have to play the part of someone who is totally different from you.” Her eyes scanned the group, settling on Brian. “For example, suppose you know someone who’s a racist, so you don’t like them because of that. But what if one day you get hired to play a bad guy who
is
racist? How would you do it? You’d have to get inside the head of that person, even though in real life, you’re nothing like him.
“So I want you to take a few minutes to think about that. Then, we’ll discuss who you’ve chosen and go from there.”
“What about you?” Michelle asked. “Are you gonna choose the person you like the least as well? That way, you can show us exactly what you mean.”
Michelle’s question gave Alice pause. In proposing this idea, she had never expected the tables to be turned on her. It was an exercise she’d thought of spontaneously, and given her own past, it seemed fitting at the time.
“Yeah,” Devin chimed.
“Well…” she hedged. “I’ll think about that while you all think about it. And we’ll see.” But the thought of getting into the mind of her least favorite person was harder than she’d imagined. There were several people she could choose, but Tanisha stood out above the rest because she had a calculating, manipulative way about her. Slimy, like a slug. To your face she could pretend she liked you, when behind your back she did what she could to make your life miserable.
Not that Tanisha had ever gone out of her way to pretend she liked Alice. Only when Marcus had been around. When he hadn’t been, she had consistently picked on her like the other students had. But she’d been able to fool Marcus, because she’d been a good actress.
Knowing that about her, and remembering the way Tanisha had tried on more than one occasion to sabotage her friendship with Marcus, Alice didn’t particularly want to get into her head. Never in a million years would she understand why Tanisha had been hellbent on making her life miserable, and at this point in her life she didn’t even want to try. Because trying meant remembering. And remembering meant pain.
Tanisha had done her best to make Marcus choose between her and Alice. If Marcus told Tanisha he was going to walk Alice home because
some guys had been picking on her, Tanisha would suddenly be ill. There was a time Marcus had promised to take Alice to a movie on a Friday night, just a friendly date, and she’d had a rough day at school and home and was looking forward to an evening where she could pretend Marcus was hers. He’d called that evening to tell her that Tanisha had some crisis and needed him. Marcus was always apologetic when breaking a date with Alice, but he hadn’t recognized the pattern in Tanisha’s manipulation.
“Okay,” Alice said. “Are you ready?”
Suddenly the theater was pitched in blackness. Excited shrieks erupted from the children, followed by laughter.
“Everybody stay where you are,” Alice instructed them. She fully expected the lights to come on at any moment, but in the meantime she didn’t want any of them getting hurt by wandering around when they couldn’t see a thing.
She waited several seconds, and when the lights didn’t come on, she called out into the darkness. “Hello? Anybody out there?”
More giggling. Then, “Woo.”
Damn. This was not her idea of fun. Well, she would have to do
something
. She didn’t trust herself to go down the side stairs, but she could probably find her way to the back of the theater in the dark and open the door. “Okay, guys,” she said to the children. “Take a seat and
stay
seated. I’m gonna go see what’s going on.”
Boy, was she glad she was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Going down on all fours, Alice crawled in the direction of the stage’s edge. Once there, she
went onto her butt and slid off the edge to the floor below. It was a short distance, but as she landed, her legs wobbled. The darkness had disoriented her.
She walked forward slowly, feeling for the first row of seats. Her knee made contact with a chair before her hand did and she stumbled. Recovering, she felt her way around to the aisle, then continued on. She didn’t like this one bit, and as she carefully made her way to the back, her heart did a series of somersaults in her chest.
Her shoulder brushed against something, and Alice screamed. A few of the children roared in laughter just as she realized she’d collided with a body.
“Alice?”
“Marcus!”
“Yeah.”
Marcus’s voice was coming from a distance away. So if he wasn’t the one who’d bumped into her, then who was?
She felt a swoosh of air as the body moved past her. Was that one of the students, or someone else? And was someone deliberately trying to scare the crap out of her?
Goosebumps popped out over her skin. “Marcus, where are you?”
“Here.” His voice was closer. “Keep talking.”
“I’m about halfway up the aisle on the right.”
“All right. I’m almost there.”
Alice’s heart thudded so hard in her chest, she was certain the sound reverberated against the theater walls. “Marcus?”
“Right here.”
One strong hand touched her breast, and she jumped about a foot.
“Sorry,” Marcus said, a hint of embarrassment in his tone. “I didn’t see you.”
“I know.” But her heart still raced from the brief contact. Marcus’s hand on her breast had made her body tingle all over.
“What happened to the lights?”
“I don’t know. I was heading back to open the door.” But if Marcus had just come in, why hadn’t she seen a stream of light when he opened the outside door? “When did you get here?”
“I’ve been here for a while. I was watching you with the kids, then I went to the back office. The lights went off there and I figured I’d come out here to see if the theater was dark too. That’s when I heard you scream.”
“Someone brushed against me, Marcus. That’s why I screamed. I thought maybe it was one of the kids, but they didn’t say anything.” She giggled nervously. “Maybe I imagined the whole thing.”
“You’re okay?”
“Yeah. But I’d be better if I could see something.” Alice linked an arm through his and held on to him tightly. She was relieved he was here.
“All right. Let’s get to the back door and let in some light.”
“Yes.” Alice clutched Marcus tighter. “Let’s.”
Marcus’s heart raced. He liked the way Alice felt against him, her breasts pressed against his arm. Hell, he’d liked the charge that shot through him as he accidentally touched her. But mostly, he liked the way she held him so tightly, which made it clear she trusted him to protect her. And he knew he would do anything to keep her safe.
God, he had to get over his complex with beautiful but vulnerable women.
As Alice and Marcus moved up the aisle, the back door opened. The silhouetted shape of a man appeared. After her encounter with the unknown person in the aisle, Alice found she was more afraid than she wanted to admit. Instinctively, she clutched Marcus’s arm a little tighter.
“Hold that door open,” Marcus said. But the very next instant, the lights came to life.
Terry stood in the doorway. “What’s going on in here?”
“The lights went out,” Alice explained a bit defensively. Every time Terry looked at her, she felt like she’d done something wrong and needed to justify her actions. “Why are you here so soon?”
“It’s almost four o’clock. I came for my son.”
Alice glanced at her watch. It wasn’t quite three-thirty. She’d given the parents strict instructions to drop their kids off and give her the three hours for the class with them alone. When the parents were around, the children were more easily distracted, as was she. Terry was the only one who gave her a hard time on the issue.
As an afterthought, Alice realized she was still clutching Marcus’s arm. She loosened her grip, smiling at him sheepishly.
“I’m gonna head to the back,” Marcus said. “Check the breaker switch to see if I can figure out what happened.”
“Okay.” She walked toward the stage and the children—then paused midstride as she saw Willie. When had he gotten here?
Apparently, Marcus was wondering the same
thing, for as Willie approached them, he asked, “Did you just get here?”
“No, I was in the office when the lights went off.”
“I didn’t see you back there,” Marcus said.
“I was with Tanisha. Ask her.”
Marcus wasn’t sure what to believe. Willie could be telling the truth. He had been in the wardrobe room, not in the office, so he couldn’t account for Tanisha’s whereabouts nor Willie’s.
Perhaps he was making too much of this. But something in his gut told him something was wrong.
He wrapped an arm around Alice’s shoulder and led her several feet to the left, out of earshot of Willie and Terry. “Alice, I think you should wrap up the class for today. I don’t like this.”
Alice met his eyes with concerned ones of her own. “What? Do you think—”
“I don’t know what to think. But I’d rather not take any chances.”
“Oh.” She spoke casually, though Marcus’s concern had her scared. She knew he was considering the possibility that the lights going out hadn’t been an accident.
Which made her remember the person she’d brushed against.
She shivered, and to her surprise, he cupped her chin. Her gaze flew to his, wide and curious. He held her gaze, his eyes dark and mysterious. Alice’s pulse raced with the realization that she wanted him to trail his fingers along her skin, tangle them in her hair, kiss her senseless.
Marcus suddenly glanced away, dropping his hand to his side.
Leaving Alice with more questions than answers.
“Go on,” he said. He was back to being the professional cop. “You round up the kids. I’ll go to the back and see if I can’t figure out what happened.”
“Sure.”
As Marcus made his way to the back office, he tried to push the question of why he had spontaneously touched Alice out of his mind. Instead, he focused on Tanisha. Where had she been in all of this? And where was she now?
He found her in the office, sitting at her desk.
“Marcus, what happened?” she asked as he walked toward her.
“I thought maybe you could tell me.”
“Me?”
“Don’t try to pretend you sat at your desk the entire time the lights were out.”
“Actually, I did. Willie had just left the office, and I certainly couldn’t see a thing back here. I figured I was better off staying where I was.”
“What’s up with Willie anyway? I thought you fired him.”
“I did…but we had some things to iron out.”
“I’ll bet,” Marcus said, his tone sarcastic.
She batted her eyelashes. “Excuse me?”
“Forget it.” He’d known for a while that Tanisha and Willie were sleeping together. He certainly wasn’t jealous, but he did wonder when his ex-wife was finally going to grow up. And he wondered if her involvement with Willie had gone sour and if that was the reason she’d fired him as the theater’s teacher.
The way he saw it, the children had gained when Willie had walked out. He’d never been as gentle
with them nor as encouraging as Alice. Watching her today, he’d seen a side of her he hadn’t expected. She treated them as if
they
were the most important people in the world, not herself. She laughed while she instructed them, something he’d never seen Willie do. She gently placed a hand on their shoulders, or framed their faces when they had difficulty getting the exercise right. Willie was known to bark out orders to control them, while Alice simply gave the children a look and they calmed down.