Chapter 30

 

Ava

 

 

NOT KNOWING HOW long we’d be looking at houses, I put on the new dress and fixed my hair and makeup. This time, I didn’t go as crazy with the hairspray and opted for more of a natural look.

After one last glance in the mirror, I went into the bedroom, grabbed the gun, and loaded the clip with bullets. My hand was shaky as I shoved it into my purse, along with the box of bullets. I still didn’t know what the hell I was planning on doing, but it felt right to bring it.

I arrived a couple minutes early to Peyton and Tarot’s place. It was a split-level home with a huge yard and a three-car garage. It was a few years old, but looked like it had been freshly painted and I could see that there was a fence in the backyard.

As I was getting out of my car, I heard the rumble of a motorcycle in the distance. Noticing that it was getting louder, I looked down the road and saw Tarot approaching. He pulled into the driveway and shut off the engine.

“Hi,” I said, trying not to feel so intimidated by the cold-blooded killer. 

“Hi.” He smiled at me as he got off of his bike. “Excited about looking at houses?” he asked, removing his sunglasses.

Still a little weirded out by his resemblance to Andrew, I nodded. “Yes. Very.”

“Good. I know Peyton mentioned that she had a couple for you in mind earlier. Come on in,” he said, walking toward the house.

I followed him inside, where we were met with a Siberian husky he called Chilly, and a little girl with dark hair and light blue eyes. After calming the excited dog, he picked up Ruby.

“How’s my big girl?” he asked, carrying her into the living room.

“Good. Who’s that?” she asked, looking at me over his shoulder as I followed them.

“That’s Candi. Candi, this is Ruby,” Tarot said.

“Hi,” I replied, feeling a little sick to my stomach as I leaned forward to pet the hyper, young Husky. Not having been around many dogs in my life, I wasn’t sure how to handle her, and she kept jumping on my dress. Luckily, Tarot noticed and ordered her to get down. Chilly whined a little, but obeyed.

“Chilly does that to everyone,” Ruby said. “She’s still a puppy, even though she’s as big as a moose.”

I smiled. “It’s fine.”

“Speaking of growing, you need to slow down. You’re going to be taller than me pretty soon,” Tarot asked, tickling Ruby.

Ruby squealed and laughed.  From the way she was staring at Tarot, I could see how much the child adored him. It was a pity that he was a piece of shit when he wasn’t teasing his daughter or playing fetch with Fido.

“So, is your name is really Candi?” Ruby asked, her eyes wide. “That’s cool!”

Hating that I was lying to a little girl, I could only nod.

Peyton suddenly appeared in the living room, looking very professional in a black pin-striped suit and pointy heels. Her reddish-brown hair was pulled into a soft chignon and she wore dangly, tanzanite earrings and a matching necklace.

“Hey, Babe,” Tarot said, setting Ruby down. He gave her an appraising look. “You look like you just stepped off of Wall Street, sexy mama.”

She laughed and shook her head. Then she turned to me and her smile faded. “Hi, Candi. You look really pretty this evening.”

I glanced down at my dress and brushed away some of the white dog hair. “Thanks. I don’t usually dress like this. I have a date with Jayce tonight. I just didn’t know how long we’d be and wanted to make sure I was ready to go when he picked me up later.”

“Hollywood?” she said and then turned to look at Tarot.

“Yeah.” I thought Peyton was acting a little strange, although I didn’t know the woman very well.She seemed a little uptight compared to the other night.

“He mentioned something about it to me, too,” Tarot said. “He’s bringing you to the bash later, huh?”

I nodded. “Are you two going?”

“I am,” he replied. “Peyton is staying home with Ruby.”

“Yeah. Those parties get pretty crazy,” Peyton said.

“We’re going to watch a movie, right?” Ruby asked.

Peyton smiled at her. “Yes. Your dad is going to help you pick one out later. You can surprise me.”

Ruby’s face brightened. “Yay! I know just the one, too.”

“Remember, no scary ones. I don’t like them,” Peyton said and looked at me. “Last time she wanted to rent Annabelle, not that she could have watched it anyway. She’s way too young.”

“That was scary,” I replied, looking at Ruby. “I saw it. You didn’t miss much. Maybe a few nightmares.”

“What about IT?” Ruby asked.

“Pumpkin, you know you’re too young for that one,” Tarot said. “When you’re old enough, I’ll watch it with you, though. I want to see it myself.”

She let out a dramatic sigh. “Fine.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a good one. We should get going,” Peyton said, looking at her watch. “I’ll be right back.”

 “I wish I could come,” Ruby said, as Peyton disappeared down the hallway. “I love looking at houses. I’m going to be a realtor just like Peyton when I grow up.”

“I thought you wanted to be a doctor?” Tarot replied.

“I’m going to be a house doctor,” she explained. “Like on those shows where they fix houses up and sell them.”

Smart kid, I thought.

“She loves watching home remodeling shows,” Tarot said to me. 

“I like those shows too,” I replied, smiling at Ruby.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Speaking of, what do you do for a living?”

“Mostly waitressing.”

Studying my face, he frowned. “You’ve done some acting too, haven’t you?”

Acting?

My heart skipped a beat.

“No. I’ve been told I look like this one actress, though.”

“Jessica Alba,” he said, nodding. “Yeah, you do. But, are you sure you’ve never been behind a camera before?”

“Well, yeah. I’ve been behind a camera, but have never acted,” I said, chuckling. “Although there was that one time on spring break…”

He just stared at me, either not amused or still trying to figure me out.

Thankfully, Peyton walked back in the living room with her purse and a manila folder. She kissed Tarot and Ruby goodbye.

“Keep in touch,” he said.

Peyton nodded. “I will.”

We walked out of the house and got into her car, which was a gray Cadillac CTS.

“Wow, this is nice,” I said, putting my seatbelt on. It was so refreshing to be getting into a luxury car again and not the rusted out Malibu.

“Thanks. Dom bought it for me last winter. So,” she said, opening up the folder. “After talking to you yesterday, I found a couple homes I think might have what you’re looking for. I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of making appointments to actually view them inside.”

“Sounds good,” I replied, looking at the information she’d printed out.

“This one right there is in Gem Lake,” she said. “It’s small, but very private. A good distance from the neighbors, which is what you were looking for, right?”

“That’s exactly what I was looking for,” I replied.

“Good.” She gave me a strained smile and then started the engine.

“Is everything okay?”

She glanced at me. “Yes. Of course. I… I just have a little headache. That’s all.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you want to do this another time?”

Peyton waved her hand. “No, no, no. I took some aspirin. I’m sure it will kick in very soon.”

Her excuse sounded logical and yet, I still felt as if something was off.

As we backed out of the driveway, I took one last look at the house and noticed Tarot staring at us through the window. His expression was grim and I had to wonder if he’d figured out who I was. Realizing there wasn’t much to connect me with Andrew, I brushed it off to paranoia.  

Peyton’s headache must have been getting better, because she talked a mile-a-minute on our way to look at the first house. When we arrived in Gem Lake, I was only half-listening to what she was saying, my mind on other things. Like… how was I going to get a confession out of her without giving myself away?

“Here we are,” Peyton said a few minutes later as we pulled up to a small cottage-style house.

“Nice,” I said. It was cute, but obviously I wasn’t really there to shop for homes.

We got out of the car and headed inside. She started giving me a tour of the place and that’s when an idea hit me.

“I wish this had a security system,” I said, walking over to the sliding glass door in the kitchen. I reached into my purse, ready to turn on the recorder. “I had some crazy guy stalking me last year, and one night, I caught him staring at me through one of these. It freaked the hell out of me.”

“Wow, that’s creepy,” she replied. “Did you know him?”

“Not really. I mean, I saw him around town. He was always staring at me. Anyway, he moved from just being a weirdo to a total stalker.”

“Did you call the police?”

“I did, but I couldn’t really prove anything. Anyway, he did it a few more times and that’s when I had some friends take care of it. Or, I should say him.”

Her eyebrows raised. “Oh?”

“Yeah. I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but I feel like I can trust you.” I gave her my most honest smile. “Anyway, I don’t know exactly what they did, but he never came around again. Thank goodness.” I looked down, feigning shyness. “They belonged to a biker club, too. My friends.”

“Which one?”

I made up a name. “Silver Daggers. They’re not well known,” I said. “But, they kind of remind me of your man’s club. You know?”

“How so?”

“Just that they’re so close to each other and know how to ‘fix’ things when they need to be fixed,” I replied.

“To be honest, I don’t really know what goes on in Tarot’s club,” she said. “Where did you say you came from?”

Remembering what I’d told Jayce, I told her the same thing. “Vegas.”

“Do you have family out there?”

“I was in foster care most of my childhood,” I replied. “So, I didn’t really have anyone.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” she said, her eyes softening.

I shrugged. “Anyway, is this a good neighborhood?” I asked, looking out the window. “Not a lot of break-ins or crime?”

“It is,” she replied.

I was getting frustrated, although I didn’t exactly expect her to tell me about Andrew. I knew it was probably time to start pressing her.

“I was talking to Jayce and he mentioned that last year, you had an issue with some guy stalking you,” I said, walking over to the kitchen’s island separating us.

Her eyes widened. “He mentioned that?”

“Yeah. We were talking about my crazy admirer and that’s when he told me.”

She turned away to look out the kitchen window and that’s when I reached into my purse and turned the recorder on.

“What exactly did Hollywood say about it?” she asked quietly.

“That the man broke in and tried hurting you.”

“More like rape and kill me,” she said in a bitter voice. “I managed to escape… but then he came back again when I had Ruby. It was… terrifying.”

“But, you obviously escaped,” I said. “What happened to him?”

“The neighbor shot him,” she answered, still looking away.

“Who was the guy?”

She shrugged and turned around to face me. “Some asshole who called himself Blade.” She grimaced. “He told me that he liked cutting people. Can you believe it? God, he was… a horrible, horrible man.”

The person she described didn’t sound like my brother Andrew.

He liked cutting people?

That was fucked up.

Either, she was lying her ass off, or he’d changed into someone else over the years. A monster who got off using a knife. 

No. I refused to accept that.

I began to wonder whether there was more going on here than I knew about. Was it possible the guy who’d tried attacking her was someone else and that my brother had taken the fall? I had to dig further.

“I’m surprised Tarot didn’t want to kill him, considering what Blade had done to you. You mentioned getting away from him once?”

“Believe me, he wanted to destroy the guy. I’m glad he didn’t, though, because with his luck, he’d have ended up in jail. Fortunately, the neighbor was a cop and took care of the guy.”

How convenient.

“I heard Blade was affiliated with another biker club. Was he going after you in some kind of retaliation thing? Because of your relationship with Tarot?”

“Probably. Look,” she sighed. I’m sorry. I’d really rather not talk about this anymore. It was a horrible experience, as you can imagine.”

“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be badgering you,” I replied, seeing that she wasn’t giving me anything else. Things had changed, however. I truly did believe that someone had terrorized her. I just didn’t know who, and I still refused to believe that it was Andrew.