Celia's Puppies Read online

  “I’ll walk you out, Sergeant,” Samantha said. “This place is like a maze. You can easily get lost here.”

  “I remember when it was a burned out crack house. It was a maze then.” The detective nodded. “Marlowe? He’s not going anywhere.”

  “He’s not.”

  “Just so you know. The Ashforths have hired attorneys to sue in civil court.”

  “The Ashforths or just ...”

  “They seem to have reconciled their marriage,” the detective said. “As Mr. Marlowe said, near death brings clarity.”

  “Or greed,” Samantha said under her breath.

  She walked the detective to the side entrance, then watched as he weaved his way through the paparazzi. Shaking her head, she turned into the main Castle living room to check on Jacob.

  “Are you coming with us?” Valerie asked Samantha. Valerie Waters smiled at Samantha. “We’re going for a run in the mountains.”

  “I don’t have anything to wear,” Samantha said. “Plus who knows what other police might show up? I mean I came to help Aden then...”

  “They can wait. Jacob’s out cold and Aden’s not here,” Valerie said.

  Samantha smiled at Valerie.

  “What?” Valerie asked.

  “I’m glad you’re here.”

  Valerie tugged on Samantha’s arm. “Wear my clothes. You have shoes in your car – you always have shoes in your car.”

  Samantha nodded.

  “It’s really good to be home. Isn’t it?” Valerie beamed at her.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Monday mid-day

  “I was SO hoping to see you today.” Lexi said to Sandy. Lexi’s slim form was balanced in a tree pose behind the counter as she checked IDs at the gym entrance. “Aren’t you glad I warned you away from Aden the Awful??”

  “I....”

  Lexi checked in a couple more gym patrons that were standing behind Sandy.

  “I saw in the paper that Aden the Awful was arrested last weekend!” Lexi’s eyes lit up with malicious glee. “Here I saved it for you.”

  Lexi gave the paper to a stunned Sandy. Sandy stood reading a Denver Post article that said Aden’s kids were in the custody of social services and Aden was in jail.

  “But...” Sandy wasn’t sure what to say.

  “I heard he’s lost his kids for good.” Without looking at Sandy, Lexi continued checking in patrons. “About time, I say. Social Services is really behind if Aden the Awful can keep his kids.”

  “That’s not what I heard.”

  Sandy’s head jerked up from the article. Tanesha.

  “I heard you were a skanky ho,” Heather said. Heather came to stand next to Sandy. Heather’s hand touched Sandy’s forearm in silent support.

  “A skanky trainer-ho who thrives on the troubles of others while making her living doing horizontal aerobics.” Tanesha accentuated her words with a thrust of her hips.

  Lexi’s bright blue eyes became slits of indignation.

  “You don’t know anything about Aden Norsen. You should mind your own business.” Lexi sniffed. “Sandy and I know Aden the Awful is a horrible man and father.”

  Sandy heard an intake of breath near the door. Her eyes jerked up to see Aden standing next to the door. His face was a wash of betrayal. Clearly he thought she and Lexi were gossiping about him. She shook her head at him but he looked away from her. Her heart dropping, Sandy opened her mouth to say something when Tanesha spoke.

  “I hate liars,” Tanesha said. “Jill? Did you hear what Miss Thing here said?”

  “I did.” Jill walked in the door behind Aden. She touched Aden’s shoulder as she walked by. “I’ve known Sandy since she was eight years old and she would never say a bad word about anyone. Especially someone who was her friend. But I know you love to spread evil lies and gossip about people, Lexi.”

  “I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Heather said.

  “Plus.” Finding her voice at last, Sandy said, “I was there. And this article is wrong. Aden wasn’t arrested and the kids are home… are home with us.”

  Sandy went around the counter to stand with Aden. She stretched up on her toes to kiss his lips.

  “Hi honey,” she said.

  Aden looked at Sandy. His shock and insecurity vanished in her warm smile.

  “Ready to work out?” Sandy asked.

  “You can be with your friends,” Aden said. “Girls day and all.”

  “Nah,” Jill said. “We came to spa.”

  “And deal with this skank,” Tanesha said. “Listen Ms Thing, you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us.”

  “And we don’t like being messed with,” Heather said.

  “Spray weed killer on love? And the gardeners get pissed,” Jill finished.

  “That was good,” Tanesha said. She and Jill walked around the counter. “Weed killer and gardeners.”

  “I thought so,” Jill smiled.

  “Damn, Sandy, I forgot how cute he was.” Tanesha nodded then entered the gym.

  “He’s really cute,” Heather said before turning into the gym.

  Aden and Sandy stood holding hands at the counter.

  “I’m sorry, Lexi,” Aden said. “I’ve tried to make it up to you. You have your career, your car, the life you said you wanted, and I’ve been happy to help.”

  Surprised, Sandy’s head jerked to look at Aden. She had no idea that Aden had tried to make anything up to Lexi. Certainly, Lexi hadn’t mentioned it when she told her all that awful stuff about Aden.

  “But we still have this animosity. It’s been a long, long time. What’s it going to take to let this go?”

  “You’ll be sorry, Sandy. He’s nothing but trouble.” Lexi made a sour face.

  “I’ll take my chances,” Sandy said.

  Tugging on Aden’s hand, she led him around the counter to the aerobic equipment. Aden stopped to say something else to Lexi, but Lexi looked away from him. He shrugged.

  “I need to change into my workout clothes,” Aden said.

  “I’ll start warming up on the treadmill.”

  Aden was half way across the gym when he ran back to Sandy. Picking her up, he held her in a crushing embrace.

  “Thanks,” he whispered in her ear.

  “This is not helping my widening ass,” Sandy repeated her work out joke.

  “I love your ass.” Aden kissed her then went off to change.

  “He’s really cute,” a woman said as she walked by Sandy. “And that woman is a bitch. I’ve seen you guys workout here. Six years or so, right?”

  Sandy nodded.

  “You’re very cute together.”

  “Thanks.” Sandy blushed then turned on the treadmill.

  Aden was cute.

  And he loved her.

  Yeah.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Monday evening — 5:20 P.M.

  “HOME!!” Katy squealed.

  Running through the door, Katy ran straight into her room. Scooter barked and danced behind her. Calling the name of every doll and touching every toy, she squealed and jumped up and down. Scooter barked with glee. Jill looked in to see that Katy had piled all of her toys onto the ancient twin bed where she was telling them all about her adventures. And her new Daddy. Of course, Scooter needed a personal introduction with back story of each toy, doll and stuffed animal. Lying on the floor next to Katy’s big girl bed, Scooter seemed to listen to every word.

  Katy’s happy chatter formed a back beat to Jill’s movements.

  Jill opened the sliding glass door to let some of the stale heat out of the apartment. At least now that she had a job... Was a spokesmodeling a ‘gig’? She could afford to run the air conditioner. She turned the air conditioner knob. Nothing.

  Does the air conditioner run?

  She kicked the side of the box. It made a noise then rattled. Shaking the knob, the ancient air conditioning unit started to work. Jill was instantly sorry it did. The unit pushed a part mold, part cigarette smoke, and part ind
efinable dead thing smell into the apartment.

  She flipped the air conditioner off. She’d rather be hot.

  Yep, she could see why she wanted to be away from the clean, beautiful, and cool Castle.

  But the dead thing smell didn’t go away.

  Wandering out onto her minute balcony, Jill saw the destruction. All of her potted plants had been smashed. Her small tomato plant had been yanked from the soil. Pressing her hand to her forehead, Jill reeled from the destruction. She had bought old seeds for 10 cents a packet, then nurtured them in Dixie cups. Sometimes, with love and care, they grew into plants. She even created a little watering system to keep them going when she was working. All of that was wrecked.

  Her nose followed the smell. A dead cat. A dead cat on her balcony. Jill went back into the apartment to find a plastic grocery bag to dispose of the animal. Returning to the balcony, she bent to pick up the poor animal when she saw a note melted into the rotting flesh.

  “UR NEXT BITCH.”

  Jill blinked. Without thinking another thought, she wrapped the animal in the bag. Carrying the rotting carcass into her apartment, she wrapped it another grocery bag. Then another bag. She called for Scooter to guard her most precious possession, Katy. With Scooter on guard at the front door, Jill ran down the stairs to the dumpster and threw the dead cat away.

  When the animal hit the bottom of the dumpster, she said a prayer. She prayed that the poor cat hadn’t suffered. She prayed that she would never get another message like this. And, more than anything, she prayed that Trevor would never, ever come back from Thailand.

  Running back up the stairs, Jill double locked the door. She was halfway across the small apartment when she noticed that she’d splashed cat rot on her clothing and hands. After making sure the door was locked, and Katy was safe, she hopped into the shower.

  Stepping out of the shower, she realized that the cat wasn’t the only message from Trevor. The steam from the shower revealed a message on the mirror.

  “U BELONG TO ME”

  Jill gasped. Dripping, she ran naked to Katy’s room. Scooter looked up from his post. Katy was laughing at something her doll said.

  “Mommy? Why are you naked? Silly Mommy.” Katy laughed. “Mommy, what happened to your pretty long hair?”

  Jill reached for her hair and found it falling off in clumps. Running back to the bathroom she saw her perfect long hair was melting in the mirror. In an effort to stop the melt, she grabbed nail scissors from the drawer and clipped her hair in ragged chunks. It had taken her all of Katy’s life to grow her hair out.

  And now it was gone.

  Sandy will cry when she sees this.

  Feeling a burning on her back, she turned to check it in the mirror. Red blistering spots appeared on her back. She ran the shower on her back. The hair burning stuff must have been in her super-expensive-help-your-hair-grow-long-gift-from-your-best-friend special conditioner.

  Reaching for towels, she saw that the hanging towels had feces mashed into them. She smiled at herself in the mirror. Outside of ‘I need a clean towel,’ Trevor never paid attention to the towels. She reached under the cabinet for a clean towel. Wrapped in two fluffy clean towels, she went into her bedroom.

  Not trusting the clothes in her closet, Jill dressed in clothes she bought for dating. She was so freaked out about dating that she hid them. The skinny black jeans, thong underwear, pushup bra, and low cut top were clean.

  Time to go through the apartment. Her bed had been soiled with blood. Her clothing splattered with bleach. The refrigerator she intentionally emptied was refilled with chicken and milk then unplugged. She slammed the refrigerator door against the smell.

  Her television was gone as were Katy’s precious cartoon videotapes. Every photo in her albums had nasty Sharpie comments. And...

  How was she going to check Katy’s room? Sticking her head in the door, she saw Katy playing and laughing.

  “Mommy?” Katy looked up from her game.

  “Yes, Katy-baby,” Jill said. Her eyes scanned Katy’s room for any disruption or soiling.

  “I’m so glad to be home,” Katy said. “Can we stay here tonight?”

  Jill opened her mouth, then closed it.

  “Of course, Katy-baby. Of course.”

  Jill went the kitchen where Katy couldn’t hear her. The old Jill, the one who belonged to Trevor, would have curled up into a ball and cried. For two days. At least.

  But this Jill was pissed. Knowing Jacob was asleep, she called Mike.

  “Yeah,” Mike said.

  “I need help,” Jill said. “I’m at the apartment.”

  “I’m on my way,” Mike replied.

  “Katy can’t know.”

  “Got it.”

  ~~~~~~~~

  Tuesday early morning — 2:12 A.M.

  “Where’ve you been hiding?” Jacob asked Mike.

  Jacob had opened his eyes an hour earlier. He lay in bed aching for Jill until he couldn’t stand himself. He wandered to the Castle main kitchen for some cereal. He was right in the middle of some quality self pity when Mike sauntered into the kitchen.

  “How did you know I’ve been hiding?” Mike asked.

  “I’ve hid from this Hollywood crap for years.”

  Mike nodded his head. Pulling a bowl from the cabinet, he poured some Captain Crunch. He held the box for Jacob. Jacob nodded and Mike filled his bowl. They ate in silence.

  “What I don’t get...” Mike started then took a bite of cereal.

  Jacob looked up at Mike.

  “Why didn’t you give Jill another room in the attic? I mean, you’re just in a small part… like nine hundred square feet or something. The attic is...”

  “Twenty-nine hundred square feet,” Jacob said. “Listen man, Jill wanted to go home.”

  “She wanted some space of her own,” Mike said. “Everyone likes to have some space to themselves. I need it. Val needs it. And you have rooms and rooms...”

  “Jill was here for a week,” Jacob said. “She could have moved in to the other space if she wanted to. She told me she wanted to go home… was rather insistent about it.”

  “I doubt Jill knows there’s more space in the attic. She’s a very concrete person. If she doesn’t see it, it doesn’t exist,” Mike said. “In fact, she asked me a couple times if I had the key to the bathroom closet. I didn’t pay any attention because there ...”

  “Isn’t a closet in the bathroom,” the men said together.

  “Oh.” Jacob said. He stood from his seat to put his bowl in the kitchen sink.

  “Do you have the key to the door?”

  “Sure,” Jacob said.

  “Let’s go show her the rest of the attic,” Mike said.

  “Jill’s here?”

  Jacob rushed toward the door. In a breath, he was up the stairs and holding Jill. She nestled her head against his good shoulder.

  “Yes,” Jill said.

  “Yes?” Jacob asked.

  “I’ll marry you.”

  Chapter thirty

  Sheer brilliance

  Tuesday morning — 8 A.M.

  Jacob looked across his dining table at Jill. He’d worried that last night’s disaster would catch up with her today.

  But she seemed happy.

  Her matted hair was covered in a yellow bandana which brightened her face. She was beautiful. When he came up the stairs to have breakfast with them, she and Katy cheered. Jill set out bowls for cereal then settled Katy on her booster seat.

  “What cereal would you like?” Jacob asked.

  “I like the one with the smiley guy on it,” Katy said.

  “This one?” Jacob pointed to the box. “Captain Crunch.”

  “Uncle Mike calls it ‘The Cap’n.’” Katy clapped her hands together as if she made a joke.

  “You have good taste,” Jacob said. He poured her a bowl of cereal. “What would you like, Jill?”

  Standing next to Katy with the milk in her hand, Jill looked up to smile a
t him. Her arched eyebrow sent a shiver through him.

  “Mommy?”

  “Just a second Katy,” Jill said. She tapped her top lip as if she was making a difficult decision. “I must decide what to have.”

  “But Mommy, you have to look.”

  Jill’s head jerked to Katy. After last night disaster, Jill was on alert for any potential danger. Katy pointed to an object in her cereal.

  “There’s something in my cereal.”

  Jill took Katy’s bowl away from her.

  “Is it poison?” Katy giggled. “Paddie says sometimes people get poisoned. He will be so jealous if I get poisoned first!”

  “Poison?”

  Jill puzzled at Katy’s bright face. Paddie was Katy’s best friend at Catholic pre-school. Katy and Paddie played together last night when his father, Homeland Security Agent Colin Hargreaves, visited her apartment. Jill shook the bowl to see if she could see what Katy was talking about.

  “Maybe it’s the prize,” Jacob said. Peering inside the cereal box, he said, “There’s another one.”

  Jill snatched the box from him. She shook the cereal from side to side until she saw something. Using her spoon, she dug out the object.

  “Mommy! It’s a pretty ring!” Katy squealed.

  “Look at that,” Jacob said. “I wondered what happened to that.”

  “I’ve looked for it with the other diamonds.” Jill flushed. She hadn’t wanted to admit that.

  “That ring belongs to me.” Jacob held his hand out and Jill dropped it in his left palm. “This diamond is the only diamond found in the Marlowe mine. Or so they say. There’s no record of a diamond find in Colorado. So who knows? But that is the legend. These aquamarines are indeed from the Marlowe mine. This ring has adorned the left hands of at least three generations of Marlowe wives. It’s called ‘The Marlowe beauty’. Of course, there has never been a more beautiful Marlowe bride than you.”

  “What does it mean, Mommy?”

  “It means we’re getting married,” Jill beamed at Jacob. “But...”

  She fished around in Katy’s bowl to find a child’s size imitation of her ring.

  “I know it’s stupid, crazy, but we’re all getting married,” Jacob said. “I had it made. That’s why the Beauty wasn’t in its box at the hospital.”