The Guardian (39 page)

Still standing in the kitchen, Julie looked away. "I knew you'd be mad . . ."

Mike snorted, but she went on as if she hadn't heard him.

"But more than that, I knew it would hurt your feelings, and there was no reason to do that. I swear to you-nothing happened at all. All he did was talk."

Mike stood up straighter, then finally turned around, his expression angry. Hard.

"That was the night of our first date, wasn't it?" It was also, he remembered, the night he'd first tried to kiss her but she hadn't let him.

Julie nodded. "Nice timing, huh?"

It wasn't the time for jokes, and she regretted it immediately. She took a step forward. "I didn't know he was going to stop by. I was just thinking of heading to bed when he came to the door."

"And what? You just let him in?"

"It wasn't like that. We had an argument because I told him I didn't want to see him anymore. It got kind of heated, and then Singer . . ."

She paused. She didn't want to go into this. She didn't want to go into this at all, because it seemed so pointless.

"Singer what?"

Julie crossed her arms and shrugged. "Singer bit him. When I tried to close the door, he stopped it with his hand and Singer went after him."

Mike stared at her. "And you didn't think any of this was important enough to tell me? Even after everything that's happened?"

"That's just it," she pleaded. "It wasn't important. I told him I didn't want to see him and he got upset."

Mike crossed his arms. "So let me get this straight," he said. "He comes to the door, you have a fight, Singer goes after him, and then you invite him in to spend the night. Correct me if I'm wrong, but your story doesn't seem to make a lot of sense."

"Don't be like this, Mike. Please . . ."

"Be like what? Someone who's a little upset that you lied to me?"

"I didn't lie to you."

"No? Then what do you call it?"

"I didn't tell you because it didn't matter. It meant nothing, and nothing happened. It's not like all this is happening because of that night."

"How do you know? Maybe that's what set him off in this direction."

"But I didn't do anything but listen to him!"

Mike said nothing, and Julie saw the accusation in his eyes.

"You don't believe me?" she asked. "What? Do you think I slept with him?"

Mike let the question hang for a long moment. "I don't know what to think anymore."

Julie flinched. Part of her wanted to lash out immediately, to scream at him or demand that he leave, but she resisted those instincts, Richard's words echoing through her mind.

I'll bet that you haven't even told him that you let me spend the night at your house. How do you think he'd feel about that?

She suddenly knew that this, too, was part of Richard's plan. He was playing them, just as he'd played Pete Gandy. The way he had at the Clipper. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to keep her voice steady, without anger.

"Is that what you think of me, Mike? That I'd sleep with a man I barely know on the same day I told him I didn't want to see him anymore? After I'd told you that I didn't even like the guy? After all the years you've known me, do you really believe I'd do something like that?"

Mike stared at Julie. "I don't know."

The words stung, and Julie felt her eyes tear. "I didn't sleep with him."

"Maybe not," Mike finally said. He reached for the door. "But it still hurts to think you didn't trust me with this. Especially after all this stuff started happening."

"I do trust you. But I didn't want to hurt you."

"You just did, Julie," he said. "You just did."

With that, he reached for the door and opened it, and for the first time, Julie realized that he was going to leave.

"Wait-where are you going?"

Mike raised his hands. "I need some time with this, okay?"

"Please," she said. "Don't go. I don't want to be alone tonight."

Mike paused and took a deep breath. But a moment later, with a shake of his head, he was gone.

Richard watched Mike make his way down the walk and slam the door as he got in his truck.He smiled, knowing that Julie would finally understand the truth about Mike. That she couldn't rely on him. That Mike was a person who acted on impulse and emotion, not reason. That Mike wasn't worthy of her, nor ever was. That she deserved someone stronger, smarter, someone equal to her love.

In the tree, Richard couldn't wait for the moment until he led her out of this house, this town, this life she had let herself become trapped in. Raising the camera again, he watched Julie's shadow through the curtains in the living room.

Even her shadow was beautiful.

She did what?" Henry asked."You heard me," Mike answered. "She let him spend the night."

In the fifteen minutes it took to reach Henry's house, Mike had only grown angrier. They were standing in the front yard. Emma had opened the door once to ask what was going on, but Mike had stopped in midsentence and stared at her, certain that she already knew what Julie had done. Henry raised his hand.

"Just give me a second, will you, Em? Mike's pretty upset right now."

Before going back into the house, Emma gave Henry a look that clearly said, I'll close the door, but I expect a full report later. Henry turned back to his brother.

"She told you that?" Henry asked.

"Yeah, when the police were there. . . ."

"Hold on," Henry said, "the police were there?"

"They just left."

"Why were the police there?"

"Because of the locket. Richard put his pictures in there. What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

Henry tried to follow along but was only getting more and more confused. He finally reached for Mike's arm.

"Now calm down, Mike. Maybe you better start from the beginning."

"So how long are you going to keep up the silent treatment?" Pete Gandy asked.They were cruising slowly through downtown in the squad car, and Jennifer Romanello hadn't said a word to him since they'd left Julie's house.

Jennifer turned toward the window at the sound of his voice.

"You still mad about that Mike Harris thing?" he asked. "Because if you are, you gotta learn to get over stuff like that. Our job isn't always easy."

Jennifer glanced at him with an expression of distaste. "It might not be easy," she said, "but you don't have to be a jerk, either."

"What are you talking about? I wasn't being a jerk."

"No? Then what was with that little comment you made in front of Mike? There was no reason to do that."

"You mean about Richard staying over?"

She didn't answer, but she didn't have to. Even Pete knew that was what was bothering her.

"Why're you so upset about that? It was true, wasn't it?"

She decided she absolutely despised this guy.

"But you didn't have to say it in front of Mike," she said. "You could have taken Julie aside and asked her about it. Then she could have explained it to Mike."

"What's the difference?"

"The difference is that you caught both of them off guard, and you probably started a major argument in the process."

"So? It's not my business if they're not honest with each other. I was just trying to get to the bottom of things."

"Yeah"-Jennifer nodded-"and that's another thing. Just how did you find out that he'd spent the night? Did you talk to Richard or something?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I did. I bumped into him at the gym. He seems like a nice guy."

"A nice guy."

"Yeah," Pete said, sounding defensive. "He's not going to press charges, for one thing, and that says something, right? He wants to put the whole thing behind him and forget about it. He's not going ahead with the civil suit, either."

"And just when were you going to share this with me?"

"What's to share? Like I said, the case got dropped, and besides, it's not your concern. You're still learning the ropes."

Jennifer closed her eyes. "The problem is that Richard is stalking Julie and she's scared to death. Why can't you see that?"

Pete shook his head. "Look, Richard told me about the locket, okay? He mentioned it in case something like this came up, and he told me that he put the pictures in there when he spent the night with her. And remember, even Julie admitted she hadn't looked at it since then, so who's to say he was lying?"

"And you don't care about anything else she's mentioned? About him following her? You don't think all this is a little too coincidental?"

"Hey," Pete protested, "I've talked to the guy a couple of times now-"

He was interrupted by the radio crackling to life. Still glaring at Pete, Jennifer reached for the radio and picked up the mike.

Sylvia, a dispatcher who'd been with the department twenty years and knew just about everyone in town, spoke as though she weren't sure what to make of things.

"We just got a call in from a trucker heading down the highway. He said he saw something strange in a ditch and thought we might want to send a car over."

"What did he think it was?"

"He didn't say. I think he was in a rush and didn't want to stick around to answer questions. It's just off Highway 24, about a quarter mile past the Amoco station on the north side of the road."

"We'll check it out," Jennifer responded, thankful for something to make Pete shut up.

Mike had been gone for half an hour, and the house was eerily quiet. Julie went through the house, making sure the windows and doors were locked, then paced around the living room, Singer at her side. Outside, she could hear the sound of crickets chirping and a light breeze moving the leaves.Julie crossed her arms and looked toward the door. Singer sat beside her, his head resting against her leg. After a moment he whined, and Julie began to pet him. As if knowing what was going on, he hadn't left her side since Mike had walked out.

She was certain that Richard hadn't put the photos in the locket on the night he'd stayed over. He'd just come from a funeral, for God's sake. And was it plausible that he just happened to be carrying two little pictures of himself on the off chance that he'd be able to put them in the locket while she was in the other room sleeping?

Not a chance.

No, he'd been there. Inside her house. Looking around, opening drawers, rummaging through her things. Which meant he knew how to get inside.

And could do so again.

Julie's throat constricted at the thought, and she hurried into the kitchen, grabbed a chair from the table, and wedged it beneath the front-door knob.

How could Mike have left her? With Andrea missing and Richard stalking her? How on earth could he have left her alone tonight?

So she hadn't told him about Richard. So what? Nothing happened!

But Mike hadn't believed her. She was angry with him for that, and hurt as well. But of all the nights to desert someone . . .

Moving toward the couch, Julie began to cry.

"Do you believe her?" Henry asked.Mike glanced down the street and drew a long breath. "I don't know."

Henry stared at him. "Sure you do."

"No, I don't," Mike snapped. "How can I know if I wasn't even there?"

"Because you know Julie," Henry offered. "You know her better than anyone."

After a long moment, Mike's shoulders relaxed slightly. "No," he finally said, "I don't think she slept with him."

Henry waited a moment before responding.

"Then what's this all about, then?"

"She lied to me."

"No, she didn't. She just didn't tell you."

"It's the same thing."

"No, it's not. Do you think I tell Emma everything? Especially things that don't matter?"

"This mattered, Henry."

"Not to her, Mike."

"How could it not matter? After all that's been going on?"

He had a point, Henry thought. She probably should have said something, but there was no reason to argue that now.

"So what are you going to do?"

Mike took a long time before answering. "I don't know."

Richard could see Julie's shadowed image as she sat on the couch. He knew she was crying, and he wanted to hold her, to comfort her, to take her pain away. He brought his finger to his lips, as if trying to hush a small child. Her emotions had become his, and he felt it all: her loneliness and fear, her heartbreak. He'd never been moved by the sight of someone else's tears before.He hadn't felt this way after watching his mother cry in the months following his father's funeral, he remembered. But then again, by the end, he'd come to hate her.

Mike left Henry's, heading for home, his head still spinning.The road was a blur; images he didn't seem to recognize passed on either side of him.

Julie should have told him, he thought again. Yes, he would have been upset, but he would have gotten over it. He loved her, and what was love without trust or honesty?

He was angry at Henry, too, for skimming over what had happened. Maybe he'd feel differently if Emma had cheated on him, the way Sarah had to him a few years back. Once burned, twice shy, the old saying went.