The Ninth Floor (24 page)

Roses are
red, violets are blue,

You can’t
see the dead, but they can see you.

I handed Aiden
the note and removed the tissue paper. Inside was a vase filled with rose stems
with no flowers. I stared at the macabre bouquet. “Do you think he knows Bee
died?”

Aiden looked
inside the box and shook his head. “It’s possible.”

Something
shiny caught my eye. I reached in. Thorns scratched and tore at my arm, but I
kept going until my fingers clasped the thin metal object. I eased it out—but
dropped it on the floor as soon as I saw what it was.

Aiden picked
the cross pendant up and dangled it from his finger. “Does this mean something
to you?”

I explained
that it was the cross I’d put on Bee. I told him the whole story about visiting
the chaplain. Aiden leaned back in his chair as he listened, the cross still
swinging from the end of his finger in a small circular pattern.

“So whoever’s
doing this has definitely been coming to the hospital.”

I snorted. “That
narrows it down.”

“It does. Only
a limited amount of people have been in and out Bee’s room.”

“Well, she isn’t
exactly available to answer our questions.”

“Ryan, you
were there most of the time with her. The two women who died were her nurses.
Make a list of everyone who came in while you were there. We’ll start with
them.”

“What if he
didn’t come during visiting hours? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say
my
stalker
probably doesn’t care about rules.”

“Rules, no.
You? Yes. I think this person has wanted you for a long time. He wouldn’t miss
an opportunity to ingratiate himself to you. However, if I’m wrong, it won’t
hurt to eliminate those it couldn’t be before we worry about unknown others.”

I had two
names jotted down when Vivian burst through the door, making the dogs bark. She
ignored them. “I just heard. I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you tell me?” She stopped
when she saw Aiden. “Who are you?”

“Vivian, this
is my bodyguard, Aiden.”

She pressed
her lips together. “And you just forgot to mention that you have a bodyguard?”

“Have a seat.”
I explained everything to her. “I swear, I didn’t know I had a stalker before
you moved in. I’m sorry.”

She brushed my
apology away. “I don’t know if now is a good time or not, but I should show you
what I found.” She picked up the scrapbook and handed it to me. I made Sid and
Nancy get down from couch so she could sit beside me.

“First,” she
said. “Did you look through the whole thing?”

“Yeah, mostly.”

“Did you add
anything to it?”

I frowned. “No.
Why?”

“Look.” She
nodded to the book.

I looked down
and it took a second for my eyes to focus. It was a newspaper article. I was
about to say “So what,” when the picture caught my eye. It was Peggy. I scanned
the headline and the date. This was new. I flipped to the previous page. It
held an article about Leigh. I looked at Viv. “How is this possible? I got the
scrapbook before they died.”

“I don’t know.
It’s fucked up.”

Aiden frowned.
“You got that from the stalker?”

“Yeah.” I
stared at the book. It couldn’t have updated itself. A terrible thought made
roots in my mind. What if my stalker left me the book and was updating it for
me? I shuddered.

“There’s more,”
Vivian said.

“Of course
there is.” I tried to smile, but it felt ghastly.

She handed me
a yearbook from the year we graduated with a page marked. Aiden moved to the
other side of me so he could look too. I opened it to the senior class. I
scanned all the names, but nothing stood out to me. “What?”

She handed me
another yearbook with yet another page marked. I looked at the new group of
pictures and names. “Viv, I’m not getting whatever you want me to see.”

She held up a
finger. “Don’t ruin the reveal.” She handed me still another yearbook—six years
older than the first one. I opened it to the marked page of the senior class,
only this time I recognized the faces—but the names were different. I reopened
the first yearbook and compared. “Why are they the same pictures?”

Vivian picked
up the scrapbook and brought it back to me. She opened it to the pages of
obituaries for the babies that died and started pointing to the names that
matched.

“Holy crap.
They faked graduating classes. Why?”

“I have no
idea, but it’s pretty fucked up, isn’t it?”

“I was
thinking that Aiden might want to take the other room.”

She let out a
relieved sigh. “I can’t think of a better roommate. How the hell did those
articles get in that book?”

“I took it to
the hospital with me once and forgot it there overnight, so that’s a possible
way. However, I also lost my purse for a little while and one night when I
couldn’t sleep, the dogs and I thought we heard a noise out here.”

“You failed to
mention that to me,” Aiden said.

“Well, I
thought it might’ve been Vivian—and I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“So this
stalker could have keys to our house. Great.” Vivian was trying to hide it, but
she looked terrified.

“I’ll change
the locks today.” Aiden stood up and cracked his knuckles. “Is there anything
else you forgot to mention?”

I shook my
head.

“Vivian, go
back down to the store. You’ll be fine there. It’s a public place. Ryan and I
will hit the hardware store.”

We were back
in twenty minutes. Aiden worked on the door, and I went to hang out with
Vivian. While she helped customers, I sat behind the counter and people-watched
through the window. Jack’s car pulled into a parking spot outside. I went out
to meet him.

“What are you
doing here?” I asked as he walked toward me.

“We have a
date.”

I’d forgotten
all about it with everything going on. It was also a little strange that he
would assume I’d still want to go out. “I don’t know that I’m feeling up to it.”

“It will do
you good to get out tonight.” He leaned in to kiss my cheek. “I’m so sorry
about Bee.”

I closed my
eyes, my heart squeezing. It was easier to not think about it. “Thank you.” I
knew what I needed to do, but I hadn’t planned on doing it today. I took a step
back. “I don’t think we should see each other romantically anymore.”

He gazed at me
for a moment before nodding. “I thought you might say that.”

“I’m sorry.”
Guilt settled in with the grief and made me want to cry again.

He brushed a
hair off my forehead. “You don’t need to apologize. It’s fine. We had a good
time, but things just didn’t work out.”

I nodded and
sniffled. “Thank you for understanding. “

He seemed
about to kiss me one last time, but then he gently traced my cheek with his
finger instead. “I’m sure we’ll see each other around.” He squeezed my shoulder
and walked away. I trudged upstairs, no longer wanting to be in the shop.

Aiden was
finishing with the lock, both my dogs lying at his feet. The fact that the dogs
didn’t hate him made me trust Aiden even more. I poured myself a glass of wine,
settled on the couch, and pulled my knees up underneath my chin.

He looked at
me and flipped the toothpick in his mouth. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Jack
stopped by. I told him we shouldn’t see each other anymore.”

Aiden looked
back at the door and tested the locks with both keys. He then shut the door and
handed me both sets. “You decided on Briggs then?”

I shook my
head. “I decided on neither of them.” I took a drink. “So how do we do this?
How do we find out who’s behind everything?”

“We set a
trap.”

Before I could
question that, my phone rang. “Hello?”

“Sweetie, I
think you should come home.” My father paused. “You belong with us.”

I bit my lip. “I
just want to be alone right now.”

“I really don’t
think you should be.”

“Aiden’s here
and Vivian’s downstairs. I need to process everything that’s happened.”

“Just … please
talk to me before you do anything.”

I made a face.
I might have understood why they did what they did, but I had a hard time with
him thinking he could just come back into my life like nothing happened. “Dad,
I want to change the arrangement with the security company.”

“You have to
keep the guard until this person is caught.”

“That’s not
what I mean. I want them…” I didn’t really know how to verbalize it. “More
involved.”

My father was
quiet for a moment. “What happened?”

“Nothing
really. I’m comfortable with Aiden and want him to stay with me.”

“Whatever you
need to feel safe.”

“Thanks. Bye.”
I hung up and looked at him. “So how did you feel about Three’s Company?”

He chuckled. “We’ll
make it work.”

“Now what was
that about a trap?”

Aiden, Vivian, and I vegged out
and watched movies. Vivian and I were finishing a bottle of wine when there was
a knock on the door.

Aiden looked
at me. “Are you expecting someone?” he mouthed.

I shook my
head, and he held up a finger for us to stay as he went to the door. Vivian
paused the movie.

“Who are you?”
I recognized Blair’s voice and hopped up.

“Hey.” I went
around Aiden, hugged Blair tight, and introduced him. “How are you doing?”

Blair shook
his head and I understood.

Vivian patted
the couch beside her. “Christian Bale can take your mind off anything. Come
watch the movie with us.”

I smiled. “Can
I get anyone a drink? Blair? Aiden?”

“Water,” Aiden
said, and Blair said that he was fine.

He sat between
me and Vivian and we finished the movie. Aiden volunteered to take the dogs on
a walk and Vivian went to bed. Blair looked over at me.

“So are you
going back?”

I rested my
head against my knees. “I was actually thinking about staying for a while. I
want to get to know all of you better.”

“What about
Briggs?”

I shook my
head. “I don’t think that’s going to work out.”

He nodded. “Wherever
you go, don’t cut me out again.”

I squeezed his
hand. “I promise.”

When Aiden
came back, Blair left to go home, and I went to bed with both dogs. A few hours
later I was awakened by my phone. I fumbled around for it and answered.

“Hello?”

“Ryan, there’s
been an accident,” Ashley said.

*

Aiden drove Vivian and me to the
hospital. No one said a word in the car, and I couldn’t stop fidgeting. He had
to be okay. Before the car was even fully stopped, I flung my door open and ran
toward the emergency room entrance. I spotted my dad first and raced to him.

“Is Blair
okay? Ashley didn’t know.”

He hugged me
hard. “I don’t know. He’s with the doctors now.”

“What
happened?”

Someone cleared
their throat and I looked up. Deputy Perry was behind my father. “I was just
about to get to that before you came in.”

Dad and I
turned to him, and Vivian took my hand. Aiden hung back.

“He missed a
curve and ran off the road. It appears the car rolled until it hit a telephone
pole. There were no skid marks. He was unconscious when he was extracted from
the vehicle.”

I squeezed
Vivian’s hand and Dad tightened his arm around me. “Extracted” sounded extra
bad. Ashley and Melissa were there now too. Only Mother was missing. Deputy
Perry asked a few questions and then left us to wait. “Where’s Mom?” I asked.

“She was at a
fundraiser, but she’s on her way,” Dad said. He cleared his throat. “Are you
going to introduce us to your friends?”

It took me a
second to know what he was talking about because I was focused on the fact my
mother would go to a fundraiser the day her sister died. “Oh, sorry. This is
Vivian. We were roommates at school.” I hooked a thumb toward Aiden. “The big,
quiet one is Aiden, my bodyguard.”

He gave a half
wave but didn’t crack a smile or shake anyone’s hand. Instead, his eyes
continued to scan the room for threats.

Ashley’s
eyebrows went up so high that if he had hair for them to get lost in they would
have. “You changed your mind pretty quickly. Did something happen?” He watched
me carefully.

I nodded and
went to stand by Aiden. I didn’t want to talk about the scrapbook or the
yearbooks with them yet. I leaned toward Aiden and asked quietly, “Do you think
Blair’s accident could have anything to do with me?”

Aiden’s brown
eyes met mine. “Do you think it could have?”

“I don’t know.
Why didn’t he brake?”

Aiden
continued slowly surveying the room. “It’s possible.”

That wasn’t
what I wanted to hear. I stood up and paced the waiting room until I thought I
might go crazy. Then I headed outside. Aiden was right behind me. “I’m just
making a phone call,” I said.

“Go ahead.” He
stood about four feet away.

I called
Briggs to make sure he’d left town. I didn’t want to date him, true—but I also
didn’t want him hurt or killed because he was close to me. He didn’t answer.

“Have you
followed me the whole time?”

“I’ve only
been assigned to you for three years.”

“Do you have a
family?”

He raised a
thick eyebrow.

“If you’re
going to go everywhere with me, I’d like to know you better.”

“No family.”
Aiden didn’t look at me. Instead he stared out into the parking lot. “This isn’t
going to stop. You know that, right? Not until the person is caught.”

He was talking
about his plan to trap the stalker. I didn’t love the idea of being bait, but
putting my family in danger wasn’t an option either. “I know.”

“I’ll be with
you the whole time.”