Who Loves Her? (14 page)

“We’re fine, Dad.”

“Well, you just make sure.  I’ve already lost one of you and I won’t survive if I lost both of you.”  Surprisingly, her dad kissed her on the top of the head and went into the house.  Nina didn’t trust it totally, so she kept her voice down as she rocked Susan.  “Now don’t do anything stupid.  We need to figure this out.  Bob called.”  Susan didn’t budge.  Nina continued.  “Nod yes into my shoulder if you understand.”  Susan nodded.  “Now what you’re going to do is go in quietly and ask my dad if you can use the restroom.  He’ll be sitting in his Lazyboy and watching the highlights of the game.  I’ll be in there in just a second.  Nod if you understand.”  Susan nodded.  “And one more thing.  I know you are exhausted and upset, but you’ve got to pull it together a little because we don’t know why Harris is dead and we don’t want to get in the middle of it.  Understood?”  Susan nodded quickly and then started to cry again.  It took Nina a little while to get her calmed down again.  “It’s okay.  We’ll just take it a step at a time.  Now dust yourself off and go into the bathroom.  Meet me in my bedroom is a few minutes.  I’m going to make dad his snack.”  Susan nodded. 

Susan stood up and opened the screen door
.  Nina could hear their muffled voices and then heard water running in the downstairs bathroom.  She waited a couple of beats and then walked on into the kitchen to make her dad his snack.  His diabetes hit him earlier than all his sisters and even though he didn’t take great care of himself, at least he knew he needed a little food in his stomach to keep his blood sugars up.  Nina tried to keep sweets out of the house, but it was a lost cause.  He would just always bring in candy after his shift, so she gave up.

“Her
e’s your roast beef on rye, Dad,” she offered, putting it down on his TV tray.  His glazed eyes just tried to maneuver around her so he could keep watching the news.

“You got th
e coffee with the sweetener?” he grumbled.

“Just like you like it
.  They say it causes cancer, you know.  Maybe you ought to try drinking more water. It might be healthier, and you just might live longer.”

“Everybody’s got to die someday
.”  It was a standard joke between the two of them, but he kind of readjusted his weight in his chair after the words came out, realizing what the police were on his front porch for. “Sorry, honey.  That just slipped out.”

“Don’t worry, dad
.  We’re all a little out of sorts.  I’m just going to go check on Susan.”  Nina turned and watched her sweet old Dad for a moment and realized how lucky she was.

“Thank you Dad
.  Earlier when you invited Susan to stay with us, that was a good thing you did-for her and for me.  Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it honey, but be sure you make some good decisions tonight
.  Your life may count on it.” Nina marveled at her father’s ability to stay out of this terrible business she had gotten them both into.  She did not want to tell him anything because it might make him culpable in the eyes of the law.  For certain, he did not ask for information because that would make it impossible for him to offer help legally to his daughter and her troubled friend.  Nina again paused for a quick thank you to God for giving her such a good, strong dad.

When she got to the bathroom, Susan was al
l but passed out on the floor.  The washroom sink was already running, but Susan had sat down in the middle of the floor in exhaustion.

Just to be safe, Nina turned on the shower so her dad couldn’t hear
.

“Susan, Susan
!  Please wake up.  We have to talk.”  She looked up at the door as she shook her friend by the shoulders.

“What’s wrong?”
she mumbled.  Susan sound pitiful as Nina took a washcloth and softly, but gently wiped her best friend’s face.  The rivers of tears had piled up a couple of streaks on her cheeks, and her eyes were puffy and red.  Susan whimpered as reality pushed viciously into her conscious thoughts.  Susan just continued.

“
Oh Nina, how could things be any worse than they are?”

“They c
an’t get worse,” Nina whispered, “now listen up!  This is serious!”

“Bob
is calling.”  Susan’s cries suddenly softened and her body stiffened.

“What?”

“Yes, he is on the phone, thank God I switched it on to vibrate!  He has been calling even with the police here, but I could not answer.  It is still ringing in my pocket every now and then, but I don’t know what you want to do.” 

“Well, what should I do?”
  Susan was suddenly sitting upright against the tub and trying to track the conversation.

“I don’t know, whatever you
can think of.”

“What do you mean, whatever
I can think of?”

“
All I know is that if I was the one who suggested you contact him and they trace his phone to my phone, then I’m in deeper shit that I already am.”

“What do you mean, I would be the one?”

“Well, I did tell you to marry him.”

“So?”

“Well if Bob has been murdering people, my whole family is far worse than busted, sweetheart.”

“No, Bob
didn’t do that.  He’s not like that!” Susan sat up as she felt a new resolve forming inside her.  “We have to think.”

“
Keep your voice down.  Yeah right, what about the calls being made to Harris?”

“I don’t know
.  It might be some mistake.  Come on, you know him too.”

“Yes, that’s what I am afraid of.”

They both, while talking and moving slowly, and hugging each other, got up and tried to fix what was left of their make-up.

“Well, should you answer your
phone?”

“Well, you do it
.”

Susan took both her pinky fingers and tapped on her puffy eyelids
.  She grabbed a brush off the counter and tried to make sense of her tangles in the mirror.  She was coming back to the land of the living after the episode, and her voice was quiet but stronger.

“Listen Nina, I know Bob
.  I love him and it is weird, but I am his wife, no matter what.  I know, he is innocent, okay, so you need to please help me out of this.  It could be something planned from the Isaksen brothers.  That’s what my Dad thinks.  Anything is possible.  If you’re acting like this, then the next thing I know, you’ll think it was me.  For Pete’s sake give me your phone, Nina.  My husband is calling!”

“Seventy-nine, ninety-five, like I told you last time, Billy.  It doesn’t matter that you are using that technology Darth Vader thing to mask your voice.  You call me every couple of weeks to see if you can rent a room and the answer is no!  If you don’t stop calling me, then I’m going to call your mother and tell her that you want to sleep with Angeline.” The voice on the other line dropped the techno voice.

“No
!  You can’t call my mother!  She’ll call Angeline’s mother and I’ll look like a douche!  Come on!  I’m your cousin.  Didn’t you do something like this when you were a kid?”

“Y
es, that’s why I’m telling you now.  Just because we all did something stupid in the past doesn’t mean you have to repeat it.  I mean it, Billy.  Stop calling me here.”

Wow, I’m almost all the way through Mom’s casserole
.  I suppose that was supposed to last me a couple more days until I get paid by Uncle Lars.  Got to love the old skin flint.

You’d think those copper pennies were pennies from heaven the way he hordes them away
.  I tried to tell him that they won’t allow cruise ships on Lake Carlos, but he just ignores me.  He’s going to take Aunt Sheila on that Alaskan cruise and buy his new fishing boat if it kills him…or at least if I die of starvation trying to squeeze pennies out of this place.”  Where was I…”

***

Nina was getting skittish.  “But promise me, after you have a word with Bob, you will tell that weird officer out there that you have spoken to Bob and called him here.  If Bob is involved somehow, we don’t want to be implicated in the crime just because you two wanted to get married today on the spur of the moment.  There is no need to hide facts.  Please Susan, try to understand this damn situation.  We don’t want to get busted, but we’re getting in too deep.  We’ve got to come clean.”

Susan kept adjusting her hair in the mirror and was quietly brushing as if the mirror
was the window to some other world.  Not meeting Nina’s gaze, she answered.  “Got it.  No need to hide my husband anymore.”  Susan started humming, and then pulled the brush through her hair in a steady rhythm.

Nina called Bob’s number
.  “Hi.  It’s me.  Sorry it took so long.  Susan’s going to clear it all up.” She handed the phone to Susan, who put the brush down to answer, assuring Nina it was all going to be okay.

“Hi, yes, Bob, yes, okay
, right, aha, fine, I will do that, great.  Bye,” and handed the phone back to Nina after she hung up.

“What now?  What?  What did he say?  Why didn’t you tell him what has happened?  Damn it!”
  It was Nina’s turn to freak out.

“
Well I’m going to at least say that it’s good news.”

Susan slightly smiled, and started to
turn out of the bathroom to make her way to Nina’s room, waving at her dad, who was still glued to the TV.  She paused and stepped back in.

“Let me just come
take a break and pee.  After all it’s a bathroom, all right?  I haven’t been there all day.  I mean since morning, everything is happening so fast that the day got really long, huh?”

“Whatever,” Nina replied
, stepping out into the hallway.

“Okay
, just wait, and I will be out in no time,” Susan assured her.  The water was still making all the racket, and Nina was looking out at her dad to find him not even paying attention.

“Fine
.”

For a while Nina waited patiently, b
ut then knocked at the bathroom door.  “Susan?  Are you okay?  Honey?”

She didn’t want to arouse her dad’s suspicions, so she hissed through the door
.  “Susan!  This is Nina!  Open the door!”  There was no answer.  Nina panicked and started banging the door, but there was no sound.

Nina ran outside
around the back of the house.  Ten minutes passed.  Still no Susan.  No answer. “Shit!” Nina was muttering to herself.

“Hey
!  Hey!”  Nina’s dad yelled and hurried into the hallway to find Nina throwing all her weight against the bathroom door.  “Don’t tear down the door!  Let me get the key!”

He shuffled into the kitchen to find all of his extra internal door keys
.

Nina pounded on the door with the flat of her hand
.  Suddenly remembering their giggling about sneaking out, she bolted out the front door and ran around the back of the house.  Sure enough, there was the little wisp of a curtain finding its way outside.  The window was open.  Nina’s dad had the door open and poked his head out the open window.  “Remember what I told you about when you were a kid?”  He shook his head.  Susan was gone.

Susan, on the other hand
, was giggling with glee.  She did exactly what Bob said she should do, and even though there was a small tear in her blouse from the window jamb, she had made it out without a scratch.  She scurried down the alley and joined Bob who picked her up.  They were on the road speeding toward Highway 29.  He had successfully snuck out of the back of Susan’s car and made it back to where he left his pick-up.  After pulling his pick-up just out of sight in the alley, he took up a place in the bushes where he could watch all the action on the front lawn and then later where he could try and listen in on their conversation.  He took a small risk in giving his buddy the okay to make the call when he heard Nina give her dad the sandwich, but he was pretty sure Susan wasn’t going in the living room with Nina’s dad watching the game’s highlights.  He chattered like a kid who pulled off the senior high school prank of his life.  Susan’s eyes lit up as she listened to him.

“Yes, Susan, a
buddy of mine made that call.  He told me that he has seen Harris.  Actually Harris didn’t know the fact that some of our friends could know each other.  He kind of assumed that just because he was all ritzy with his business degree that none of his buddies would associate with a boat mechanic.  My friend, Mike, and I had grown up together and played some little league.  Turns out I’m one of the best boat mechanics in the area, so when Mike needed some work done, we connected again.  Been drinking buddies ever since.  He comes down to the tavern on Friday and tells me different things.  I mostly just listen, but we’re great friends.  He partied with Harris mostly around business deals, but with the wedding coming up, Mike ended up at his bachelor party.  The party got a little out of control and Mike had had enough so he was about to leave.  What he did remember, though, was that when he looked at his watch it was way past midnight and Harris was still going strong.  In fact, Mike called to tell me that he was spouting all sorts of mean things, and even though it was his wedding day, at four o’clock in the morning he had hooked up with some high-end whores in the basement of one of their other work buddies.”

Susan was a little hurt, but at least it reassured her that she made the right choice by choosing Bob
.  She pestered him with some questions.  “That is really freaky.  What do you think they might have been up to?  I mean Harris and his buddies?  And where did Mike and Harris meet up in the first place, if they were so chummy?”

“Over the internet
.  I was really worried when Mike first started telling me some things about Harris.  I mean I really cared about you.  But Mike is a great salesman for his company and he can really hook you into a story for whatever he needs to do to make a sale.  I kind of just tucked away the information in case it was just another one of Mike’s tales.  I told a couple of guys down at the marina about Mike and just hinted around about some of the stories.  Finally, Mike sent me a picture of Harris, Mike and a bunch of other corporate types at a retreat and award ceremony they had down in Minneapolis about a month ago.  One of my other buddies who works on all sorts of boats down there, whistled and pointed to two or three bigwigs in the picture I didn’t recognize.  I confirmed it with Mike and kind of pressed him to weed out all the filthy details.  Mike, called and told me he has connections--big time.  But then again, so does Harris.  Mike told me.  How do you think I get such big accounts?  It doesn’t come easy, sport.  Don’t sweat it.  It doesn’t do my business any good to rat out a guy like Harris.  I’m not going to lie.  There’s quite a few people that don’t trust the SOB, but that’s because they mostly associate him with his dad, Bill, and some different sweet deals around Lake Carlos.  I mean, all of us like a little competition when we’re making a buck.  That  just spices things up.  But nobody likes it when a deal smells fishy.  And in the land of ten thousand lakes one thing is for sure--we know what smells like fish and we know what just flat stinks.  I’m telling you, Bob and Harris don’t have tons of friends out there in the business world.  He said if I were you, I’d stay the hell away from Susan and that Harris character.  I’m sure she’s sweet, but I just don’t know what’s in the wind for Harris.  Mike’s spoiled, but he’s honest when it comes down to it.”

“So you think he is an enemy rather than a
friend of my father or Harris’ father?”

“
I don’t know, Susan.  He didn’t threaten me or anything.  I just couldn’t let anything happen to you.  We’ll hide somewhere and let the dust settle.  I don’t want this shit to get any worse.  The people who are into it would probably try to ruin everything.  I don’t know, I can’t predict.”

“
But did you tell Mike about Harris missing since today?”

“
Well that’s the weird thing.  Mike and I talked on the phone two or three times as the day went by.  Yes, I did tell him that Harris was missing.  That’s when Mike spilled his guts about the bachelor party.  There was another time he told me not to worry because he was going to touch base with all his big connections on how to help us get it all smoothed out without all the families getting embarrassed by Harris.”

Harris’ mother, who was also crying hard
.

“Well, where are we going now, to
Little Falls?

Yeah, something like that, can’t tell
.  Now you just wait.  Everything will be okay.  Never wanted or expected such disaster, but now that it is happening, I am here with you and will sort this out once and for all.”

After a while
, Bob took a road from the highway.  It led up a long driveway along a white fence toward an older farmhouse.  The gravel and snow crunched a little bit under the tires.  Alexandria was having an early thaw that year around the lake, but some of the outlying areas were still filled in with snow.  A cow mooed in the distance.

“This is where his cousins are.
I met them once a while ago.  We all used to come here during vacations.”

Bob parked the car and they both got out.

There were lights on and sounds coming from the house, and Susan could see that there were people inside.  A man opened the door and they both went in.  There were three people inside.  One of them got up and approached Bob.

“Hi there, Bob
.  Mike told me what’s going on.  Don’t worry, we’re going to get the bastard soon. It’s probably just a scare tactic.  These guys here are my friends and bodyguards.  Feel at home.  You have my word that we’ll work on it.  Goes deeper than the police can try and figure out.

Mike
got up, came around the corner and slowly nodded.  Susan greeted him with a small nod.  Bob shook his hand.

They came out of the front entrance and walked back into the
living room.  One of the guys was sitting there watching TV and making sure to glance at the driveway once and a while.  He had on a dark suit and didn’t look like he was there to play cards or be friendly.  Mike escorted them to a back room where he told them they both could rest.  The whole atmosphere was very reassuring.  Susan noticed, though, that the music that was being played on the sound system was almost identical to that music the band had played that had been haunting her throughout the day.  She ignored the sound and sat there beside Bob on the bed, hugging him.

They hugge
d each other for a long while.  It seemed like forever, assuring each other in soft voices and whispers that everything would be all right, and at the end of the tunnel there is a bright light waiting for them.  Then Bob pulled her a little away from him, looking into her deep lovely eyes.  He slowly came closer to kiss Susan…

Suddenly the door smashed open and there, standing with all
the others was Harris himself, looking at them both; smiling and holding a double-barrel shotgun which was resting on his shoulder.

“Well, well, well, look who’s here, huh? 
Stir-Crazy-Susan.”  Harris laughed aloud, wickedly.

Susan was shocked and frozen, speechless, numb, afraid, almost dead, her breath paused and her face
spun around frantically to look at Bob.  She unconsciously straightened up her ripped blouse and adjusted her hair again.  There were still small streaks of mascara from the tears of the day.

Then the largest shock
.  Bob slowly stood up.  Then, peeling her fingers out of his hand he adjusted his coat and walked away from Susan, joining Harris.  They all smirked and Harris patted the shotgun on his chest.

Susan
felt like she was having a heart attack, she could feel her pulse dropping.  Her heart was pounding in her ears and her head throbbed in pain.