Shadow of Death (20 page)

“You look gorgeous,” Troy said as he extended his hand to help her down the final few steps and relieved her of her overnight bag. He, himself, had on a suit that was starting to feel warm now that his internal temperature arose at the sight of his wife.

“Wow, Natalie. You are so beautiful.”

“Yeah, you are bootiful!” Nate mockingly echoed Corrine's sentiments. He knew how to pronounce the word. He was being silly.

Natalie laughed lightheartedly. “Thank you guys. I had a hard time finding something to wear since I still have this baby weight. The dress doesn't look too tight, does it?” Thankfully, she was asking Corrine because Natalie had to know better than to solicit his opinion.

“No. It's fine.” Corrine chuckled when Troy gave her an overexaggerated wink and a thumbs-up behind Natalie's back.

“What?” Natalie turned to see what he had done.

“Nothing,” he said in a sing-song manner. “Let's go, babe, or we'll be late.” Before leaving, Troy gave Corrine firm instructions about keeping the exterior alarm on at all times. “There's been reports of a prowler in the neighborhood,” he said regarding Cheryl. “Call me immediately if you see or hear anything strange.”

“Yes, sir.”

As he escorted his wife in the passenger side of his truck, he looked across the street and noticed a big gape in the front blinds at the Harrows' house. He waved and immediately they shut. Between the security alarm, the surveillance system, and the Harrows, Troy was confident that Corrine and kids would be safe.

•  •  •

Dinner could have not gone more perfectly. The atmosphere in Skyler's was romantic. Equipped with soothing sounds of classical music and an attentive server dressed in black slacks, a white shirt, and a tie, Troy felt good about his decision to come here. No one, not even the owner who had been there upon their arrival, questioned whether or not Natalie had a right to be there. Both men and women did a double-take upon seeing her. The men, because they wished for a moment they could trade places with Troy; the women, because they secretly wanted to hurt her for drawing their other halves' attention away from them. At least that was Troy's perception. He proudly walked alongside of Natalie as they were led to their table.

The meal was great, the conversation good, and the mood was sensual. There was no question that they would tear into each other the minute they got to the hotel room. The entire evening, there had been no mention of Cheryl or any of the craziness of that week. It was as if it had never happened. They talked about their upcoming wedding anniversary and reflected on that day they got married nearly six years ago.

“I was so nervous. I know I probably hurt Earl's arm by holding it so tight.” Earl was one of Natalie's uncles and the person who walked her down the aisle. “I was afraid I would trip. Oh, my gosh, can you imagine? That would have been so embarrassing. I would have run out of the church.”

“I'm sure you would have fallen gracefully…right into my arms. Then I would have carried you out and we would've skipped the reception and went right to the honeymoon for some baby-making practice.”

She shook her head amusingly. “Whatever. You are crazy, you know that?”

“Crazy in love.” Completely out of character, Troy started singing the “uh oh” part of the chorus to Beyoncé's “Crazy in Love” song. He even put his back into it a little as he subtly did the moves.

The delightfulness of hearing his wife laugh made embarrassing himself worth it. “Okay,
okay
!
I get the point. Please stop. You're going to get us kicked out of here.”

Seconds later, when the waiter came with the check and said, “I can take this for you anytime, Mr. Evans,” Natalie gave him a “see, I told you” look. Troy winked at her as he gave the man his debit card. Skyler's was the type of place where one didn't know how much the meal would cost until the bill came. Based on the $125.97 total, he and Natalie had eaten well. “I'll be right back, sir.”

“Where are we staying tonight?”

“I thought you might like to stay at the Hilton in Polaris.” Polaris was an area on the far north side of town that had been built up quite a bit over the last decade or so. It was equipped with all the amenities and attractions his high-fashioned wife would enjoy. “Tomorrow afternoon, we have an appointment for a couples' massage and then we can hang out and maybe go to the mall until Corrine summons us home.” The idea of going shopping with Natalie was painful. She could spend all day there and either buy nothing or more than needed. Not his thing. Her eyes grew big, but not because he'd mentioned going shopping as he'd thought.

“You're
getting a massage! Wait…you requested a female, didn't you?”

“You know it.” Troy was still a typical hardcore man's man. The idea of having a dude's hands caressing his body didn't sit well with him, even for therapeutic reasons. “We both have females.”

“That's not fair. How come you get to have a female, but I can't have a male?”

All she needed to do was find a mirror and her question would be answered. “When you and Aneetra go, you can have whomever you want, but when I'm in the room, that ain't happening, Mrs. Evans. There's no way I could relax while another man touches all over you. Um, did you see how you looked in that dress?”

“Okay. I see how you are. That's why I hope you get a big burly woman named Brunhilda with an Adam's apple.”

Troy cracked up. Unfortunately, the waiter came and interrupted them before he could think of a clever comeback. “I'm sorry, sir. This card was declined. Is there another I can try?”

“That's weird. It should have gone through. Here, try this one.” Troy gave him his credit card instead and soon the guy was returning with the same results. In all, Troy had given him four cards—the debit card from their account, two separate Visas and his only-use-in-case-of-an-emergency MasterCard. All were declined. Natalie hadn't brought any cards with her; only her ID.

“Troy, what's going on?” Natalie looked terrified. Troy could only imagine the déjà vu thoughts going through her mind from her last encounter here.

“I don't know.” He pulled up the app on his cell phone to transfer money from their savings to their checking account. What he saw made his heart sink.

T
he ride back home was not pleasant. Instead of joining forces and being upset with Cheryl for this latest incident, Troy and Natalie turned their anger on each other.

“Are you sure that you didn't sleep with her?”

“Yes, I'm sure!
Why do you keep asking me the same questions! I didn't do anything inappropriate with Cheryl!”

“Well, she's definitely a woman scorned for some reason. I admit that the pictures were fake, but it's hard for me to believe that she'd be that stuck on you after all the years of y'all not being together. Something happened to make her mad. I can't help but wonder if you're still keeping a secret.”

“Don't talk to me about secrets. We've been having conversations all week and not once did you mention taking the money out of our savings account.”

“Yeah, well, if I hadn't done that, we'd be flat broke right now and no way to pay RJ back for coming to bail us out.”

She had a point there, but Troy was too bullheaded to concede. They had some other investments that he prayed hadn't been infiltrated. When he'd checked their accounts online, everything had a zero balance and all of their credit cards, except the MasterCard, had been closed. Its three thousand dollar limit had been maxed out, all within the last thirty days.

Not knowing what to do, the couple dismissed the idea of calling Corrine. If Cheryl was anywhere in their neighborhood, it would be difficult and dangerous for Corrine to load three sleepy kids and their car seats into a sports car in which they wouldn't all fit safely anyway. Natalie's call to Aneetra went straight to voicemail and thus, RJ had been Troy's last resort. He quickly came to their rescue. After the bill fiasco, the mood had been ruined and neither Troy nor Natalie thought about going to the hotel. Not surprisingly, Corrine, who happened to be in the kitchen at the refrigerator when they walked in, was startled to see them home so soon. She nearly dropped the orange juice container. “Whew! Y'all scared me. What are you doing here?”

“Troy's girlfriend stole all our money!” Natalie hissed and stomped up the stairs.

“I don't have a girlfriend.” His rebuttal was more to Corrine than Natalie because his stepdaughter had a “what-in-the-blank” look of confusion on her face. “Did you have any problems making the reservations earlier?”

“Yeah, I did. It wouldn't go through, so I used my card.”

“Why didn't you tell me?”

“It wasn't that big of deal,” she said defensively. “I figured I'd copied down a number wrong or something. I was planning to get the money back from you later. What's going on, Troy?”

Troy and Natalie tried hard to keep the kids out of their issues. Though Corrine was technically an adult, she was still Natalie's daughter, but since Natalie had opened the door to much speculation in Corrine's mind by telling her he had a girlfriend, Troy wanted to set the record straight. Thus, he gave her an extremely condensed version of the week's events. “Her latest stunt was stealing our money.”

“Wow.” Corrine looked at him for several minutes. “I don't know what to say.”

“Join the club.”

“Can't you call the police?”

“And say what? That the woman I'm suspected of having kidnapped and possibly harmed has stolen my money? It's not going to get me anywhere.”

“It's identity theft, isn't it? She can go to jail for that.”

He would love to have seen Cheryl in jail; better yet, the morgue. “Yeah, but it has to be proven.”

To Troy's knowledge, this was the first time Corrine had ever witnessed a fight between him and Natalie. She sat silently for a few moments. Eventually, she said, “I'm going to go so y'all can have some privacy and talk. Tell Natalie I'll call her later.” Before leaving, Corrine did something that she rarely did with Troy; she gave him a hug. “I hope everything works out.”

He was touched by the gesture. “Thanks.” After his stepdaughter left, Troy decided he wasn't chasing Natalie this time. He was so angry that he wasn't wasting another breath trying to convince her that he didn't do anything with Cheryl. Instead, Troy went down to his man cave, plopped on the couch, and fired up the Xbox.

•  •  •

Natalie buried her head in the pillows, expecting Troy and/or Corrine to come up at any moment. She was relieved when neither did. When the door slammed, she hadn't been sure if it had been Corrine or Troy who'd left, but an incoming text brought clarity and a half smile.
“Idk what's going on, but 143.”

“1432,”
Natalie replied. It was thoughts of Corrine, Nate, Ebony, and Ean, that, once again, kept her from falling apart. She lay thinking of them until she drifted off to sleep.

Saturday morning, Aneetra called to apologize for missing Natalie's call. Her battery had died. After Natalie explained what had happened at Skyler's, Aneetra, who was already out and with her girls, offered to come by and sit with the kids while she and Troy went to the bank to handle business. That was a huge help. They closed their accounts and opened new ones together with the money from Natalie's severance that she had withdrawn earlier in the week. The ink wasn't even dry on her paperwork and already she closed her personal account to once again combine finances with Troy. She prayed she wasn't being foolish! Additionally, they filed reports about the credit cards, and Troy disputed all the charges on the MasterCard, which included several astronomical charges from the gym for personal training services. The money that was in their joint checking and savings accounts had been wiped clean, but luckily, none of their other investment funds had been touched. They took safety precautions anyway.

The ride to and from the bank was eerily silent. The tension between her and Troy was noticeable and thick. Aneetra tried to remind Natalie that her anger toward Troy was misdirected.
What
ever!
Natalie wasn't trying to be preached to at that moment. Not even her pastor's sermon the next morning about unconditional love did much to sway her. She'd never stopped loving Troy. And though she still teetered back and forth between believing his story and not, it didn't stop her from being mad at him for the mess they were currently in. She believed her anger was justified.

With the exception of going to the bank together, Natalie and Troy distanced themselves from each other the entire weekend. He stayed in the basement and she was upstairs with the kids. Troy didn't even bother to go to church with them Sunday. Natalie returned home from service to find him missing in action. He came home about an hour later with no explanation of where he had been, and she didn't bother to ask. She wasn't going to worry herself with the whereabouts of her husband who was giving her the silent treatment like she had done something to him!

On Monday morning, Natalie took Nate to pre-school. Troy had been gracious enough to come from the basement when it was time for Natalie to leave and say that Ebony and Ean could stay there with him. She'd gotten them up and dressed since she had no idea what his mentality would be. Had he come up even a half hour earlier, she wouldn't have had to wake the twins, but she kept her sarcastic comments about him waiting until the last minute to herself. When Natalie and Nate left, the twins were eating breakfast and Troy was at the table with them reading a book.
Seriously!?!
Their lives had been turned upside down and all of a sudden, he decided to become a reader! That man was losing it, she was sure.