Shadow of Death (17 page)

“We met at a party,” he'd explained. “I didn't expect to communicate with her again after our initial hookup, but we did. I think we sort of got comfortable with each other because we had a lot in common.”

“Like what?”

“Well, for starters, we were both interested in law enforcement, which was motivated by our passion for justice. You know I always carried some guilt because of what happened with Elana.” The disappearance of Troy's best friend's eight-year-old sister when Troy and Elvin were eleven had haunted him for over three decades. Elvin, along with Troy, was supposed to be looking after Elana that morning while their mother went out. Elana had been getting on the boys' nerves and they picked on her until she ran out of the house crying. Hours later, when Elvin and Elana's mom returned home, Elana was nowhere to be found. It wasn't until thirty years later when her body was discovered that Troy was finally able to help find answers regarding Elana's mysterious disappearance, though, in the end, the quest for justice brought the family more pain.

“Cheryl's drive resulted from the things that had happened in her childhood. When she was nine, someone broke into her home and murdered her parents and two younger brothers. Cheryl hid with her baby sister in the dryer. Obviously, I wasn't there, but the way Cheryl told the story, she was so happy to have a baby sister that her parents let her name her. When we were dating, Cheryl talked a lot about finding Chyanne. She said that she used to get up in the middle of the night, get her baby sister out of the crib, and sneak downstairs to the laundry room to play with her so their parents couldn't hear. That's where they were the night when her family was killed. Afterwards, she and Chyanne were placed in different foster homes. My guess is that the baby got adopted eventually, but I know Cheryl was raised in a group home. It bothered her a great deal to lose her family. To my knowledge, no one has ever been held accountable for their murders.”

“That's sad. Did she and her sister ever reconnect?”

“Nope. It was something Cheryl had hoped for, though. She always said that she wanted to find Chyanne one day. We were both drawn into law enforcement because of things that had happened in our past. I became a cop because of Elana; she joined the FBI because of what happened to her family.”

“Humph. I wonder why she's gone to such great lengths to make it look like you guys were involved or that you've done something to her. Did you do something to anger her when y'all were together, or did you give her any kind of false hope that there would be a chance for the two of you when y'all reconnected while working on the Bible Butcher case?”

“The answer to both of your questions is no. If I did do something to her back in the day that's caused her to have a grudge for over twenty years, I haven't a clue as to what. When it became clear to me that she wanted more than I was willing to give her, I ended our relationship.” He recapped the night of their breakup to his wife.

“Why won't you tell me you love me?”

“Because that won't be enough. You'll want more.”

“We've been dating for over a year now and you can't even say you love me. Elvin and Nicole haven't been together as long as we have and already he's proposed to her.”

“We are not them! I don't want to get married because my best friend is.”

“But you will spend seventy-five dollars on a stupid stuffed animal to keep up with him.”

“I am not ready.”

“Do you love me?”

He looked down at her petite frame, wishing he had never allowed their contact to extend beyond their one-night stand. But, she'd called
him the next day and before he knew it, they were dating. She was a nice
person whom he'd had a lot of fun and great sex with, but she wasn't someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. “I can't give you the answer you want.”

“So what are you saying?”

“This is obviously an issue that won't go away. Maybe it's best that we end things.”

Cheryl went into a hysterical rage, screaming how much she loved him
and wanted to be with him forever. She punched him repeatedly until he'd finally grabbed her arms and held her to his chest. To be so small, she hit hard. He felt horrible, but he refused to lie and play with her heart, or any woman's for that matter, by admitting to feelings he did not have. He apologized profusely for hurting her. She kicked him out of her apartment.

“That was the last I'd ever seen or heard from her until she helped with the case a couple years ago, and I certainly didn't give her any hopes that we could rekindle the past then.”

“What stuffed animal was she referring to?”

“I won it at Cedar Point at one of the carnival games. If it weren't for my stupid ego, I wouldn't have gotten the stupid thing.”

They'd been at the amusement park since it opened and ten hours later, they were all roller coastered out. Not yet in the mood to make the
two-hour drive back to Columbus, the couples decided to play some games
. They spent about an hour or so in the arcade where the testosterone competition between Elvin and Troy had begun. It spilled over into the carnival games where each friend tried to one up the other. They were at their last game, and had planned to get on the road whenever the other was ready to quit. They'd both wasted money, but they were neck-to-neck on wins at the carnival games until El got lucky.

The object of the game was to throw a ring on top of the bottle. If success
ful, the prize was a giant stuffed animal of choice. Troy had thrown his last ring and of course, it didn't make it. Elvin flung his and it bounced from bottle to bottle and somehow miraculously landed around the neck of one.

“We have a winner!” the game attendant announced.

Nicole beamed. She had already picked out the one she wanted in the event that her boyfriend won. Elvin gloated. He was “the man.” They were headed back to Columbus and he'd won the ultimate prize for his girl. Cheryl was leaving with nothing but a few cheap souvenirs. Troy was not listening to this all the way back home. “Eh, man, hook me up again,” he said to the game host. Ring after ring, Troy tossed only to be disappointed when he'd run out of turns and had to fork over another five dollars to play again. Seventy-five dollars later, Cheryl had a bear.

She jumped into his arms, hugging and kissing him like he'd just asked
her to marry him or something. Troy hadn't realized how badly Cheryl wanted one of the stuffed animals and he was glad that he had been able to make her happy. More importantly, he was glad that Elvin wouldn't have one up on him.

“I won mine first,” El whispered as they were walking to the parking lot.

“Yeah, but Cheryl's looks better.”

“It wasn't too long after that day when we broke up.”

“Do you think it's possible that you did love her, but were afraid to admit it, similar to how things happened with us?”

Troy had to take a deep breath before responding to his wife's inquiry. The argument he and Cheryl had had about his feelings, or lack thereof, was eerily similar to one that had transpired between him and Natalie when they were dating. However, there was no comparison between the two women when it came to which of them had actually captured his heart. Natalie had needed the reassurance and he'd wanted to give her such. Gently, Troy lifted her head so her eyes met his and held her face so it would be impossible for her to turn away if she tried. “Babe, I have never been in love with any woman besides you.” He'd admitted his foolishness in almost letting Natalie get away from him. “When Cheryl and I broke up, I went on about my life like she'd never existed. When you and I split, I fell apart. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about you. When we got back together, I swore it would be for keeps. I'm not letting you go, Natalie. And no one from my past or in the future will be able to take me away from you.”

With those words, Natalie had leaned into his chest and the two of them eventually ended up in bed. It wasn't about sex. As a matter of fact, Troy was still waiting on his test results, so making love wasn't an option. Rather, they lay together and Troy took pleasure in holding her tightly until they both drifted off to sleep. That, in and of itself, was more than Troy thought would happen when he returned from his interrogation. He woke up this morning with a new sense of thanksgiving and appreciation in his heart. From now on, he would try to be more open with Natalie about everything.

Troy smiled as he watched his wife lay in his arms. He had to pee, but held it for as long as he could simply because he didn't want the moment to end. When it got to the point that he couldn't wait anymore, Troy tried to gently finagle his arm from underneath Natalie as not to wake her.

“I'm not sleeping.” She startled him when she spoke and lifted her head so he could break free. He was surprised. It was only a few minutes after seven and they had been up until well after three.

“What were you doing?”

“Thinking.”

“Uh oh, let me go to the bathroom first. I have a feeling this could take a while.” Troy hurried to take care of business. When he came out, Natalie went in to do the same. They met again under the comforter and Troy asked, “What were you thinking about?”

“Everything that happened yesterday. I don't want to rehash the details. I'm very thankful that today is a new day.”

The chime of Troy's cell phone alarmed them both. Troy was concerned that it could possibly be Cheryl with some sick, twisted text message and he suspected Natalie may have thought the same. He checked it breathing a sigh of relief when it wasn't from Cheryl.

“Saw the news last nite. U good? How's Natalie?”

“Who's that?”

“RJ,” he answered while responding,
“Yeah, all is well. We r both good. WorkN thru this 2gether. Will talk 2u l8r.”

“I've never heard you call him that before?”

“Call him what?”

“RJ. You normally call him Robert.”

Humph.
Troy thought he'd said Robert. “I'm liable to call anybody anything with only two minutes of sleep under my belt.”

“I know, right. I want to go back to sleep, but as soon as I do, I know one of the kids will get up and it'll be time to report for mommy duty.”

“Go ahead. I'll take care of them.”

“That's sweet, honey, but I know you have business to handle.”

By “business,” Troy knew Natalie had meant getting down to the bottom of Cheryl's latest charade so he could clear his name and get back to work. He'd been placed on paid administrative leave until further notice. His first course of action probably needed to be contacting Richard's attorney friend for advice.

Troy and Natalie continued to lie in bed for another half hour or so. Neither said a word. They simply held each other, enjoying the moment until their solitude was interrupted, not by one of their children as had been anticipated, but by loud banging on the door.

Not again!
Troy thought to himself as he jumped up and looked out his bedroom window.

“Who is it?”

“I don't know. I thought it might be Nugent, but I don't see a vehicle. Stay here. I'll be back.” He slipped on some sweats and grabbed his personal firearm for good measure. With Cheryl on the loose, one could never be too sure. “Coming!” he yelled as the knocking continued and he raced down the stairs to meet their persistent early morning visitor. After seeing who it was through the peephole, Troy secured his weapon in the back of his sweats and greeted their guest with irritation. “Charla, does the doorbell not work?” he asked sarcastically and pressed it to prove a point. “It's okay to ring the bell and wait for someone to come to it instead of nearly breaking the door down.”

“I'm so, so sorry, Mr. Troy. Please don't be mad. I'm here because I need to borrow some lunchmeat? My mom's making me a sandwich and she ran out of meat.”

Charla spat her words out so fast that it took a second for Troy's brain to comprehend. “Yesterday she didn't have bread and today no meat. Interesting.”

“She forgot she didn't have meat. She told me to come over and get it, or she said if you have bread, you can make the sandwich for me; she doesn't mind.”

“It's way too early in the morning for this. Goodbye, Charla.”

“No, wait.” She put her foot in the doorway. Troy could have easily overpowered her, but he didn't' want to hurt her. “There were a lot of people here yesterday. Police and more people. Did Miss Natalie die?”

“No! Why would you ask such a thing?”

Charla shrugged. “I didn't see her after you left with the police. Her lady friend came with the kids, she left and came back and then you came, but I didn't see Miss Natalie.”

Common sense should have indicated to Charla that the “lady friend,” also known as Aneetra, would not have left Nate and the twins home alone. Then again, common sense wasn't one of Charla's strong points.

“Not to worry, Charla. I'm alive and well.” Natalie descended the stairs in a short, silk house robe. Troy hadn't gotten a good look at her hair earlier. Its disheveled appearance turned him on. That's how her hair sometimes looked after they made love. Boy, Troy was anxious for those test results! “There was a lot of commotion around here yesterday, but it's because it was a busy day for us,” Natalie explained. “Thank you for checking to make sure everything's okay. You should probably get home so you don't upset your mom again.”

“I like you, Miss Natalie, and I don't want you to die. Can we borrow some peanut butter?”