Who Loves Her? (12 page)

“
I’m sorry, honey.  It looks pretty grim,” said her mother.

Then turning to the rest of the crowd, he got their attention and
offered a prayer for Harris right there in front of the church.  The whole crowd mumbled “amen,” before making their way to their cars, already whispering their own theories to one another about the fate of the handsome prince of Bill’s Chevrolet.  Most of them stopped by the front steps of the church to console Susan.  When everyone had finally left the parking lot, Susan’s dad sat her down for a heart-to-heart talk.

“Pumpkin, there are
a couple of things I need to tell you.”  Mr. Christiansen sighed and looked at the reflection of the setting sun off of the back of the speed limit sign out in front of St.  Olaf’s.  “Sweetie, there’s the possibility that Harris was kidnapped.”

“What?”  Susan asked, covering her mouth
.

“Well,
sometimes things are not what they seem in business.”

“Daddy
, what are you talking about? You are scaring me now.  Of all the weird things happening to me, please don’t tell me that you also have changed.  Just tell me in a cold, specific way what you are talking about.  I can’t stand any more emotion or mystery today.”

“Susan,
when you do really well in business, you not only make a lot of powerful friends, you also tend to make a lot of powerful enemies.  Alexandria may be the
Best Little Town in America,
like the sign says, but quite a few of the families here know that when you and Harris get married, and our family fortunes are tied together, we’ll have the most votes on both the city council and the chamber of commerce boards.”

Her dad continued,
“I’m not saying someone on the street just grabbed him.  No, we’re all Minnesota-nice up here.  You know, better than I do, that some people around here still fume that we got the best spots around Lake Carlos and set up the resort to block out the small-time competitors.  Bill had the money, and by the time the two of us had sweet-talked our way into that deal, the Isaksen boys blew their stacks.  They got so mad George looked like a tomato about to explode, his face was so red.  He actually picked up a chair to throw it at Marjie, who was calmly explaining that there was nothing they could do.” Her dad took a big breath of air and continued as if in teaching a course at the junior college.”

“
The Isaksens ran through quite a chunk of their dad’s fishing business cash to sue us, but Bill’s pockets were too deep.  They had to fold the lawsuit, and with it nearly all of their business.  They have been limping along ever since.  I am pretty sure that there is not an end to their anger nor their raging fits.  The police won’t say it, but if I put my money on it, I’d say Harris was in the bottom of some smelly Isaksen boat.”  Susan blinked at her father as if he had just given birth to a cow.

“What?
What are you saying to me, Dad?”

“If I am right, honey, Harris will turn up dead, and
Bill will be getting a call here in the next couple of days.”

“Well, what will happen to us, then?”
Susan suddenly felt ashamed at her selfish thoughts.  Really!  How could she be with Harris for so many years and then suddenly feel nothing for the guy.  At the least she should be frightened to death for the poor guy.  Instead she had an uneasy feeling that Harris was not all he seemed to be.  And that tiny little sense that lives deep inside every woman would not let her believe that Harris was gone.  In fact, she believed he was very much alive and would soon make himself known in a not-so-nice way.

“Don’t you worry,
Pumpkin.  We’ll work it out.  Bill and I didn’t get where we are by being pansies.  Bill served in the Special Forces, and even though he may have a bit of a pot belly and silver hair, I’m sure he has a few tricks up his sleeve.”  Susan shook her head imperceptibly as she was lost deep inside her own thoughts.

“
You need a ride home sweetheart?  I’ve got to go inside and help your mother, but I’m sure I could swing you by the house.  You’ve had quite a day.”

“Um…
no thanks, Dad.  That’s sweet, but it’s been hard on all of us.  Mom needs you more.  I’ll just get a ride with Nina.

As her Dad disappeared in search of her distraught mother, Susan motioned for Nina
.  They made their way to the car and slipped inside without a single word to one another.  In unison, the girls strapped their seatbelts on.  They sat and listened to the familiar song drifting up from the car speakers.  It felt so normal.  Sitting there together after the bizarre, terrifying day; this simple exchange of unspoken words was a reprieve.  Finally Susan looked at Nina and spoke.”

“You won
’t believe what my Dad just said.”  Nina smiled.

“Just try me.”

They all left the church and Susan left for Nina’s house as planned.  Nina had been calling Bob and updating him on all the police reports.  Susan filled in the gaps about the Isaksens and how everyone was mumbling about it being a kidnapping.  When the coast was clear, Nina and Susan crawled out of Nina’s bedroom window just like when they were in high school.  There was something about the familiarity of their actions that made the crazy events of the day evaporate with the wind.

“Remember that night, Dad almost caught us?” Nina whispered, giggling as they climbed down the tree
.

Susan said, “Yea, and you got the brilliant idea to throw a rock at the McGregor’s garbage can and have me meow really loud
.  I have to say, I’m not as flexible as I was in high school.  All that office work is going to my butt.”

They both laughed and made their way to the
rendezvous point with Bob.  He had changed clothes and was smiling with a small bouquet of flowers.  He brought flowers.  He acted like they were all going to the prom.  Nina grabbed the flowers out of Bob’s hands playfully and tossed them into the front seat as she slid behind the steering wheel.  Susan and Bob piled into the back seat of the car, and the wild group drove two blocks down the street without turning on any headlights.  When the coast was clear, Nina cranked up the radio, and fired up the headlights.  She let the windows down and the wind whipped through the car making them all feel young and alive again.  Nina was humming “Here comes the bride,” and Susan and Bob were sitting in the backseat holding hands, but were kind of quiet.

“You two are acting like it’s
your first seventh grade dance.  Are you sure you want to get married?”  Bob smiled.  Susan made the first move by scooting a little closer. “Welcome to Little Falls!” Nina looked at the couple in her rearview mirror and smiled.

“Well that didn’t take long
,” she thought to herself.

“Okay
, you two lovebirds.  Save something for the wedding night.”  She smiled.  Susan came up for air and straightened her hoodie and blouse.  She was smiling self-consciously as she pulled her hair back out of her eyes.  Bob was very quiet and seemed to be a million miles away.  Susan looked at him, feeling frustrated. 
What the hell is wrong with everyone in this crazy town! 
she thought to herself, but she let the words stay safely resting on her tongue.

Nina pulled into the driveway of one of the new split levels
.  The development was just off the highway, and even with headlights you could see that it had a nicely trimmed lawn and tasteful small trees planted.  Eventually it would snuggle down cozily into one of the millions of suburban cookie-cutter houses that everyone dreams of when they are little.  Well, at least not all of the people get stuck living in dives or apartments, like Bob.  Susan thought it was a cute little house, about the size of their summer house just off of Lake Carlos.  Sarah came out and squealed with delight when she saw Nina, hugging her tight, and pulling her by the hand into the front door.  Her fiancé, John, smiled warmly and gave Bob a hearty handshake.  He was dressed in a polo shirt and had on khaki shorts.  The school ring on his finger was the only thing conspicuous about his dress, and if he was a high-powered lawyer during the day, the sandals definitely let everyone know he was off duty for the evening.

They sat down and had the requisite coffee cake and coffee
.  The highest sin in Minnesota is to refuse someone’s coffee cake.  The second highest sin is to not offer it when you have guests.  Toward the end of the small talk, John got up and excused himself to the den.  Bringing out a manila envelope, he extracted the papers they needed.  Bob and Susan shyly glanced at each other and signed on the dotted line.  Sarah gave everyone a big hug and John slapped Bob on the back.  Everyone took turns congratulating the new couple.

Nina lifted her coffee cup and proposed a toast
.  “We come from a long line of long-lost lovers, and even though I’ve had to watch you two pretend about this your whole life, I have to say, Bob and Susan are one of the cutest couples I’ve ever seen in history!  To Bob and Susan!”  They all cheered, clinked the coffee cups, and took a sip.  “And even though today has been a small fiasco, we’ll just chalk it up to fate.  Since we’re all family, or about to be, one way or the other, I welcome you, Bob.”

John chimed in, “
What are we in relation?  Brothers-in-law, right?  You two guys don’t worry.  As soon as we register this, hopefully early tomorrow, you two will be able to shout it from the rooftops of Minneapolis, if you want to.”

They all laughed.

Nina mischievously ordered Susan, “You may now kiss the groom!”

T
he four of them chuckled.

“Hey
, that’s right!  Considering that Bob hasn’t said two words about this whole thing until today, I’d say it’s safe to declare him as the shy type.  Go on Susan!  It’s your right.  Oh come on, you want us guys to go to other room, shy bride?” Sarah was really misbehaving.

John chided Sarah
.  “Now leave the love birds alone, honey.  Just because you want us to practice every weekend for when we have kids, that doesn’t mean everybody wants to take it that fast!”  The all laughed.  Bob and Susan were sort of squirming and Bob took a sip of coffee to try and figure a way out of the conversation without talking.

“Na
h, it’s okay, we’ll leave that for the time being,” Susan said blushing.

“Yeah right, look who’s talking
.  Now who’s leaving the playing field wide open for all of us to start flirting with the Harris brothers, huh?” Nina said, pretending to be really sad.

“What’s she talking about?” Sarah asked.

“Never mind, she’s just blue,” Susan replied and they all laughed.  John appeared from the kitchen with some champagne glasses.  “Well it’s a little backwards, but I guess this whole wedding thing has been a little backwards.  Nina already did the toast, so now we can share a little bubbly.”  All of them cheered and traded the coffee cups for the champagne glasses.  Everyone had a couple of drinks and left.

As Susan and Nina were getting out of Bob’s car, Bob held Susan’s hand and said, “Everything will be all right, Susan, I promise you
.  Thank you so much.  I…I love you, too.”

Susan had tears in her eyes and hugged Bob
.  “Oh Bob, I feel so lucky, this is all so wonderful.  It seems like the stars are watching us, guiding us and favoring us until we are still holding on the path to our destiny,” Susan told Bob, looking out of the car window toward the sky.  The sun had set a bit ago, but the three-quarter moon was shining bright above them.

Bob replied:
“Yes, I didn’t know love could feel like this.  I’m just speechless, I’m so happy today.  In fact, today is the best day of my life…of our life.”  They all piled into the car, and decided that they would make sure it would all work out.  They would sneak back into Alexandria and then get up really early and sneak back up to Little Falls.  Nina went back to humming Here Comes the Bride and Susan fell asleep on Bob’s shoulder.  She cut the lights about a block from her house when the night was shattered with the piercing and wailing of sirens.  Red and blue lights spun around and bounced off the house.  Nina’s dad was standing in his bathrobe near the driveway.

“Shit!” Nina hissed
.  “Bob!  Get down!”  Nina popped her lights back on and swung into the driveway.  It didn’t look good.  “Bob!  We’re going to distract them.  Stay in here all night if you have to, but don’t let them figure it out!  We’ll stall them.”  Nina and Susan slowly got out of the car and Nina tried to act as casual as possible.  When Susan and Nina turned the corner walking toward Nina’s house, they saw a lot of police cars.  “Damnit,” Nina mumbled.  Both Nina and Susan’s families were sitting on the front porch of Nina’s dad’s house.

They both froze, their hearts
pounding in their ears.

“What now?” Nina exclaimed.

They ran toward the crowd.

“Where the hell have you two been?” Nina’s father
yelled.

“Susan was feeling sad, so
we went out for a walk around the block.  That wasn’t enough so we took a little drive to clear our heads.  We’ve just been up all night worrying.  Why?  What happened?  Is everything fine?  What’s going on?” Nina asked.

Susan went to her parents and hugged them
.  She tucked the corner of her blouse in as she pulled away.  Her mother looked her up and down and shook her head.

One of the police officers approached Susan and said:  “I am afraid we have bad ne
ws Miss Christiansen…Susan.  Harris is dead.”  Susan felt the ground spin beneath her.  Somewhere in the distance she could hear someone talking.  What was he saying? She could barely understand.

“
We found his body in his car under the tree next to mile marker three off of Highway 27.  We think he was just the victim of a random carjacking because we found the car just over the state line.  The stereo was gone along with some other valuables that should have been in the car.  His parents have verified the missing items. We have no eye witnesses, but it was probably just kids looking for a way to score drug money.  Well, that’s one theory.  I’m sorry.”

“What?” Susan
whimpered.  The pitiful sounds coming from her body soon turned into sobs of deep pain.  “No way!  This is so bad, so cruel.  Who could have done this?” Suddenly Susan remembered Harris’s parents.

“
I am so sorry.” She hugged Harris’s mother, who was crying very hard.  She looked at Bill who had sat down near the sidewalk, crying and breathing heavily, holding his chest.

“He loved you both so much
.  He told me so,” she grappled with the right words.

“Oh God, NO
.  Why?  Why now?” Susan sobbed and sputtered.  Her head was spinning.

Another police officer stepped forward and looked at his partner, who looked down at
the sidewalk.  “That’s not all there is.  I think Joe here is just trying to spare your feelings.  Since we have the whole family here, we might as well tell you the gruesome truth.  The body was heavily tortured and is deformed; unrecognizable really.  This was definitely more than a simple carjacking.  Somebody wanted to send a really bloody message, and judging by the evidence, I would say they were successful.  I’m sorry, gentleman.  I remember that you and some of the people in town had some bad blood.  We’ll have to ask you some more questions about your associates.  We can do it now, down at the station, or tomorrow morning when you’ve got a chance to sleep a bit and shower.  It’s been a rough day on everybody.

“But what was….how do you…
.”  Bill was sputtering his questions at the police and they saved him the trouble of speaking.  “We are running an autopsy on it, and we will get the results soon.”

Turning to Susan, they started to ask a couple of questions that couldn’t wait until morning
.  “Susan, there were different calls on his phone from some numbers.  One of the numbers was Bob’s number.  Do you know if Bob knew Harris in some way?  Because your parents told us Bob didn’t know Harris at all,” inquired the policeman.

Now it was time for both Susan and Nina to be afraid
.  “Bob and Harris played on the same football team in high school, but everybody knows everybody in Alexandria.  They never said two words to each other during school, and when Harris went off to business school, Bob went off to mechanic’s school at ATCC.  I mean I haven’t talked to Bob, much, but even back at ATCC he never made any mention of Harris.  I’m sure he didn’t know him.”  Once again, that same nagging feeling of impending doom creeped into Susan’s consciousness.  Even when confronted by his grieving parents and intrusive police questioning, Susan could not deny a strong sensation that Harris was not dead, and something evil was on the horizon for them all.  She was jerked out of her thoughts as she heard Bob’s name again.  Bob.  How had he become a part of this nightmare? Why would Harris call Bob on their wedding day?  Or had she gotten that part wrong.  Maybe the police had suggested that Bob called Harris? That was possible, wasn’t it? Susan tried to focus.

“Well, if they didn’t know each other, I’m just wondering why Bob’s phone number ended up on the victim’s phone five times in the last two days.”

“What?”  Nina and Susan chorused.  Susan gulped hard as she searched her mind frantically for some kind of information that would make sense.  Susan shook her head in defiance of the obvious.

“No, it must have been a mistake
.  They don’t know each other.  For sure I can not imagine five phone calls on the same day?” Susan looked at Nina imploring her to explain.

“There could not be even one phone call from Bob.
I can assure you.”  Susan halted, then said in a calm, overcontrolled voice, “Bob is the kindest man I know.  He would never hurt even a fly!” Susan was horrified when she heard her own voice suddenly making up weak excuses for Bob.  Had he been charged with a crime? Of course not.  It was just a phone call--well three, no five calls to Harris.  On their wedding day? She wondered why she could not stop talking.  Her weak, pathetic childish stories only made Bob sound more guilty.

“
I remember once Bob started crying when we found a dead rabbit on the way to school.  He could never do such a thing.”