Gace Emery sat at her desk staring at her computer screen, she worked for the midnight post a medium sized weekly newspaper, she wrote for what was called the crime beat. At the moment she was writing about Piper Grayson a socialite in the city of Huntsville Alabama. She had been found murdered and the man accused of murdering her was Masen Grayson her husband, supposedly for her money. She had been a millionaire and famous for the parties she hosted and the charities she was involved in. The case was a nightmare she had been following from day one. She was poisoned in her own home in her after dinner sherry and the bottle with the poison in it had been found in there liquor cabinet with Mr. Grayson's fingerprints all over the bottle. It was him that served it to her every night so of course his fingerprints were all over the bottle. The trial wasn't going well for Grayson Mayson there was a lot of evidence against him for killing his wife, he had gone broke for one thing his advertising firm did not survive the Covid 19 epidemic and the help they had made damming evidence against him it looked hopeless. To Grace there was no smoking gun she didn't believe Mr. Grayson had killed his wife as far as she was concerned the whole trail was a sham and should be thrown out of court they only had circumstantial evidence. But they kept parading person after person into the court room that said he had hated his wife and wanted her gone.

 

  Now as she sat at her desk she yawned; it was time to go home the newsroom was empty except for a few late nighters like herself. She looked at her watch and was surprised to see it was seven thirty already, she hadn't eaten anything since noon and she was famished. She would go to the corner deli and get a ham on rye. She decided to take the elevator just this once, she was Closter phobic and hated being in closed spaces. Her hunger got the best of her and she decided not to take the stairs like she usually did, she wanted to get to the deli before it closed at nine. She had plenty of time as long as she took the elevator.

 

Getting up from her desk she ran her hands through her long black hair, putting it behind her ears, it tended to fall into her face she was always combing it back with her fingers. It was a warm June night in Huntsville but she had to wear a jacket in the newsroom it was always freezing in there. Her high heels made a clinking sound across the tile floors as she walked to the back of the news room where the elevators were. They were on the twelfth floor of the fifteen-story building. She pushed the down button for the ground floor. She heard footsteps behind her and a man stopped to stand beside her at the elevator. She couldn't help but give him a once over; he had short black hair with stubble on his square jawline, he had high cheekbones and eyes so dark they almost appeared black, he had nice curved lips. He was lanky and stood at least six feet tall to her five feet three and even in her three inch heels she barely made it under his chin. She couldn't help but notice he was giving her a once over as well, she had a small heart shaped face with big green eyes and a rose bud month almost in the shape of a heart, she was slender and weighed about a hundred and ten pounds.

 

The doors finally slid open and they both got in, they were supposed to wear face masks and stand six feet apart which was imposable in an elevator only four people were allowed in at one time and they all had to wear face masks. She had taken hers off after hours because the room was mostly empty and she had forgotten her mask in her desk drawer. The man standing next to her must had forgotten his too. The door slid closed and the elevator began to descend. Grace stood as far away from the man as she could get.

 

Suddenly the elevator came to a screeching halt and the overhead lights blinked out.

 

Grace cowered against the wall and put her hands over her face trying not to scream. The generator must have kicked in because the light came back on but dimly.

 

The man pushed the call button. "This is Colton Hudson, when will you get us out of here?"

 

A voice crackled over the intercom "As soon as we can the generator does not have enough power for the elevators and your stuck between floors six and seven we will get you out as soon as we can."

 

A sob tore through Graces lips with her hands still over her face, she was embarrassed in front of the man, but she couldn't help it she was terrified. Oh, why didn't she take the stairs like she usually did?

 

The man must have leaned over her because she heard his deep voice close to her ears.

 

"You alright miss? Don't worry it shouldn't take long for them to get us out of here."

 

She parted her fingers so she could look at him in the dim light. "You must think I'm a coward" She said sniffling "Acting like this but I'm terrified of closed spaces because I was once locked in a small closet for hours by my big brother Nick, and just never got over my fear." She slid to the floor and closed her fingers over her face again.

 

"It's ok I understand just take deep breaths and try to relax a little, can you take your hands off your pretty face? It's hard to talk to your hands."

 

She took her hands away from her face with tears still running down her face, she must have ruined her makeup she thought as she looked up bleary eyed at the man.

 

He sat down beside her and gave her a big smile which made him look even handsomer.

 

She gave a shaky smile back doing as he said taking deep breaths and trying to get herself under control.

 

"So what is your name?" He asked "You already know mine but you can call me Colt that's what everybody else dose."

 

"I'm Grace Emery it's nice to meet you Colt." She gave him a shy smile because when she talked to him, he looked her right in the eyes which was disconcerting, it was like he was looking into her very soul with those deep dark eyes of his. They were close enough to see each other's faces even in the dim light and every now and again the voice crackled from the speaker asking if they were ok and it was always Colt who said "fine!"

 

She was surprised that in such a short time she was no longer panicking as much, Colt had calmed her down a little.

 

"So what's your favorite sport?" Colt asked her.

 

"Tennis I love playing tennis."

 

"Mine is baseball but I can only watch it in reruns on television which sucks." He laughed. "What is your middle name?" He asked. "It might seem like a strange question but I have always been interested in middle names

 

"Leah." She answered

 

"Mine is liam."

 

They fell silent It seemed as if an eternity had passed by and still they were locked in, her heart began to race up again and she started gasping for air.

 

" We are never going to get out of here." she cried. "I can't stand it any more I feel like the walls are closing in on me." She stood up and went to the elevator door. She started pounding on the door and shouted "let me out! Let me out!"

 

She felt Colts presence behind her and without a word he wrapped his arms around her and whispered; "It'll be ok I promise nothing is going to happen to you."

 

She started to sob at his touch and leaned her head against the door trying to get her breath back. They stayed that way for a long time until the crying stopped and her breath had grown even again.

 

He let her go and she went into a corner at the back of the elevator and sat down closing her eyes.

 

started to breath deep. She was touched by the kindness of the man trapped with her, most people would have just been annoyed at her.

 

  Colt went and sat beside her again and sighed. “Even I am getting tired of being stuck in here I had a date with the television and dinner.”

 

   She opened her eyes and gave him a weak smile.   “I know what you mean I had similar plans.” She sighed. “I hope we don’t have to spend the night in here I think I’ll lose my mind if we do.”

 

   “Tell you what, after this ordeal I think we should swap phone numbers and we can talk tell each other horror stories about what it was like growing up with older siblings” He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a pen and notebook. He laughed “A reporters must have. “

 

    She pulled out her notebook and pen and wrote her name and number on it and they swapped numbers. We’ll never meet again she thought to herself.

 

She smiled at him.  “Thank you.” And stuffed the piece of paper he had given to her in her pocket and he did the same.

 

  They sat in silence, Grace having finally gotten herself under control. They both began to doze as the hours passed.

 

  Suddenly the light overhead got brighter and the elevator starting whirring downward again. When the doors slid open Grace was the first one out.

 

   “Oh thank god!” she shouted as she looked at her watch. It was two in the morning they had been trapped for about six and a half hours.

 

   “Sorry about that folks.” The night guard said “Someone rammed into a poll and knocked a powerline down it’s taken them this long to fix it.” He was a rotund man with graying black hair and he smiled at them as she and Colt headed for the swinging doors.

 

  They both stopped on the sidewalk and shook hands.

 

“It was nice meeting you Grace Leah Emory.” His hand ingulfed her small one

 

She smiled back. “Nice meeting you Colton liam Hudson.”

 

“ Well I gauss it’s time to head home and  get something to eat before bed.” He smiled at her one last time and started heading toward the parking garage across the street. She lagged behind him her car was parked there as well.  They walked their separate ways in the garage apparently there cars were not parked in the same place. Her heels echoed off the concrete walls as she walked up to the third level where her red Carola awaited her.

 

   She lived in an apartment near the space and Rocket center it took her about 45 minutes to get home with hardly any traffic. She worked in Madison which on a good day took her about an hour to get home on a bad day it took about an hour and a  half.

 

  She rubbed her pounding head as she fished in her purse for her keys. Unlocking the door she was met with silence, she lived on the second floor of a four story apartment building and sometimes she could hear footsteps above her.

 

   She changed out of her work clothes and into a pink modest cotton nightgown, she washed her face put moisturizer on her face and body  and brushed her teeth. It was now three thirty in the morning and she wasn’t sleepy after her ordeal. She took some aspirin for her head and warmed up some milk in the microwave and put a dash of cinnamon in it and poured it in a mug and went to sit at the small kitchen table.

 

   She put her head in her hands. What a fool she had made of herself, but he had been just so nice and understanding as if he talked to hysterical women every day. She liked him and remembered his number in her suit jacket, she would probably never call him but the thought made her smile. After about thirty minutes she began to feel sleepy she set her alarm clock for six am only a few hours away. She went hungry that night.

 

     The next day found her tired and she drank three cups of coffee before leaving the apartment. She put on her ray bans as she got in the car, it was going to be a sunny rainless day with temps in the high eighties according to the man on the early morning news on the radio. Today was going to be busy she was going to interview the family of the man accused of murdering his wife.  Mason Grayson. She wondered if his parents did that on purpose making his name rhyme.

 

   His wife Piper Grayson had been very pretty she had been at least ten years younger then her husband. She had platinum blond hair always up in a French twist to show her face in all it’s glory; she had big light green eyes with full lips high cheekbones and a nose job. She was almost painfully thin and stood about 5’8 her makeup was done in subtle  tones except for the bright red lipstick she always wore. Her picture was pasted all over the place in newspapers online and in the six-o clock news. Her husband on the other hand was not much to look at, he had balding gray brown hair a punchy stomach a pudgy face and was shorter than his wife, no one could understand what Mrs. Grayson had ever seen in him.

 

  On her way to the mansion were all her children now resided at least until after the trail from what she was told. She had her tape recorder and her notepad with her she wanted to catch every nuance of her conversations with them. Oh yes and there were the cameras she mustn’t forget that. Living way up on the mountains of Huntsville it took her a while to get there and when she finally did arrive, she was awed by the sight before her. There stood a huge sprawling white mansion with long steps that led up to the white door. It was made up of angles and was just profuse with rooms after rooms.

 

     The news team had already arrived and she found them under a shade of a huge tree sitting on folding chairs with a table they were all relaxing at and drinking iced tea from a carafe sitting in the middle of the folding table. An unknown woman was sitting with them and she graciously stood up and introduced herself.

 

“Hi I’m Jane Easton the daughter of the late Piper Grayson.” She looked nothing like her mother she was   voluptuous and in a plain blue dress with no makeup  and sensible shoes. Grace held her hand out to her “Nice to meet you I’m Grace Emery, I’m the one who will be interviewing you all today and my crew will take pictures.” They pulled up a chair for her, as if out of thin air then she saw what looked like a servant  dressed in a black dress and a white apron walking away from them.

 

  Grace pulled the chair around to face Mrs. Easton. “Is it alright if I interview you now it won’t take long then you can bring other family members outside. Is it ok?” 

 

  Mrs. Easton smiled shyly “sure what you want to know?”

 

Grace took out her micro recorder and pen and paper. “Do you mind if we take pictures and I record you it’s just for my records so I can keep things straight.”

 

“Sure, that’s fine.” Mrs. Easton replied.

 

Grace put the recorder on the table that was near by and she turned to a fresh page in her notebook..

 

   She wondered how much money each of them got when Mrs. Grayson passed away, but she wasn’t about to ask that question.

 

    She asked about their childhood growing  up what it was like living in the great big mansion, things of that nature this was  a background interview and she wrapped it up in about forty five minutes the man with the camera snapping away as they talked. The rest of the interviews went much the  same as their sisters they got along well there parents  as did their mothers relationship with there Dad. There had been no fighting and they didn’t believe their father had killed their mother.  Both brothers resembled there mother with blond hair and light green eyes one was very handsome the other just gave her the creeps. His hair was slicked back and wore all white even his winged tip shoes were white.

 

    Grace left the mansion with a story of the picture-perfect family, yet she knew better every family had problems and even fought on occasion. She had to talk to the sister alone to get more information then she was willing to tell on the tape recorder.

 

    A few days after the elevator incident Grace received and unknown phone call but she answered it anyway. She was sitting in her small Livingroom watching television. It was Colt and she was surprised to hear from him after the catastrophe in the elevator. He sounded nice and easygoing asking about her day, they talked about sports again and more about her job at the midnight post he told her he was a writer in the sport’s section of the same newspaper, they talked for about twenty minutes. After they hung up, Graces heart started to beat a little faster she was excited that he had thought enough about her to call her, they had spent some intimate time together after all. He had asked if he could call her again and she said yes anytime he wanted to. After that they talked every couple of days about nothing much just chit chat she admitted to herself that she had a hard time opening up about herself and liked keeping it on a light level. After a few weeks of talking Colt asked her to come eat dinner with him at his apartment since it wasn’t safe to eat out. They made a date for Saturday night just three days away and she was excited and terrified at the same time that  there relationship was moving to a more intimate level. 

 

  It took her an hour and a half to get ready she did her make up in twenty minutes it was her hair and clothes that were the problem; dress or pants? Hair up or hair down? she finally decided on a blue sundress it brought out the blue in her eyes and hair down. With a half hour to make it to his place she put his address in the GPS and was on her way. The closer she got the more nervous she became she wondered what did he expected from her. She had a hard time with relationships especially the last one where she had been hurt badly and that was three years ago she didn’t even remember how to date anymore. She almost talked herself into turning around and going home, but she got stern with herself and told herself she would have to stick it out no matter how she felt.

 

     She arrived just before seven which was the time they had agreed on. Taking a deep breath, she got out of the car she had parked on the curb and walked up to his first-floor apartment.

 

He opened the door promptly and gave her one of his winning smiles and she couldn’t help but smile back as he led her into a tastefully decorated living room everything was done up in hues of blue, light blue velvet sofa dark blue drapes with a beige carpet, dark maple coffee table and end tables at each end of the sofa. For a man the Apartment was very tasteful the walls were a pale blue.  Her dress almost matched his apartment she thought nervously as she sat down on the sofa. Colt disappeared into the kuchen for a few minutes then came back  with two flutes of red wine

 

  “We are having lasagna and bread sticks with salad and ranch dressing hope that’s alright with you.”

 

She smiled at him. “Sounds great I love lasagna.”

 

“So,” Colt said. Sitting on the other end of the sofa. “Tell me about yourself where did you grow up? Did you have a happy childhood, how did you end being a columnist” His dark eyes met hers and he looked at her expectedly.

 

“Well I grew up here in Huntsville in the poor part of town we were not on welfare but mom couldn’t afford a nice place to live, she was a maid and often worked overtime just to make ends meet, my father was never in the picture he left when Mom was pregnant with me and my brother Wyatt was about two and a half.” She took a sip of wine and continued. ”I gauss you could say I had a normal childhood our mother was always absent not showing up on some evenings. Wyatt and me had to fend for ourselves I learned to cook at an early age since I was a girl Wyatt thought I should be the one to cook even though he was older then me. My brother tortured me as much as he could growing up, he threw house spiders on me squirt me with a high-powered water pistol stuff like that. I worked my way through night school at a community college and majored in English, which led me to taking writing classes and then I decided I wanted to become a journalist. It was though at first, I had no Esperance so I wound up writing ads in the local ad agency. Then started writing freelance about happenings around town nice places to eat, out of the way place that few people knew about I did a lot of research instead of traveling to those places I couldn’t afford it. Now I’m doing the work I love and hope to keep on doing it for a long time.” She finished aware of Colts eyes on her.

 

He got up then and said :”Gotta check on dinner.”

 

A few moments later he announced “dinner is served.”

 

“You can go sit on one of the stools I’ll bring out the plates of food since I have no place in here to serve it here. First out came the salad bowls and salad plates then the bread sticks and then two plates full of the lasagna.

 

  The food smelled great she had to admit and she was starving she usually ate sooner then seven. They ate mostly in silence with Colt making remarks here and there.

 

To her surprise she ate the large portion of lasagna plus two bread sticks and the salad.

 

“Colt that was great did your mother teach you to cook?”

 

Wiping his face with a paper napkin he answered. “She sure did she was Italian so she knew how to cook good Italian food.”

 

  Colt took the plates and salad dishes to the kitchen and soon returned and motioned for her to sit on the sofa again and he sat on it too but a safe distance from her.

 

The rest of the evening went by fast she and colt talked easily to one another and he told her stories about him being the youngest of five brothers and how he had to fight for everything. She learned he grew up in Minnesota and had moved to Huntsville a few years ago for his dream job to become a sports writer.

 

Before she knew it, it was eleven at night and she had to get up at six so she stood up and smiled at him.                “Thanks for the great dinner and conversation I have to go now but I had a great time.” And she slung her purse over her shoulder and headed for the door. Colt was beside her in two seconds flat. “Don’t forget this.” And he leaned down and moved his head toward hers and before she knew what was happening they were locked in a deep kiss and the fire started in her loins and burned it’s way all over her body. By the time the kiss ended she was weak in the knees and had to take deep breaths. Boy was that some kiss she had never had a reaction to a man like this before and she was slightly embarrassed by her reaction to him. He let her go and opened the door for her and on weak knees managed to walk to her car without her legs collapsing onto his nice green patch of lawn.

 

  This had never happened to her before an instant response to his kiss her body had been set on fire and as she drove home she still felt the longing for him for more then a kiss. That night she took her handful of medications and had a hard time sleeping for thinking of Colt that lean body and of  those dark eyes that looked into her soul every time he looked into her eyes. It scared her because the emotion  made her feel out of control and she didn’t like it at all. In the weeks that came and went she threw herself into her work about to wrap up  her  series of columns about Piper Grayson. She refused all calls from Colt and refused to talk to him when he found her in the news room and tried to talk to her. She took her handful of pills in the morning and at night they were the only thing that kept her sane.

 

  One stormy night she was curled up on the sofa and watching a nature show when someone started banging on her door at about eight and whoever it was, was impatient to get in.

 

Putting the security chain on the door she opened the door as far as the chain allowed and it was Colt and he was soaking wet and looked miscible.

 

“Whatever I did to turn you away from me I’m sorry please let me in”  His face was stumbled as if he hadn’t shaved for days and he had this pleading look in his eyes.

 

She closed the door unlocked the chain and opened the door for him.

 

“You are soaking wet and dripping all over my carpet go into the bathroom and take your clothes off and towel yourself down I’ll get you some clothes from an old boyfriend and lay them in front of the bath room door.”

 

   She was siting on her dusky rose velvet sofa which sit in the center of the small Livingroom, the walls were cream color there was matching drapes in the same color as the sofa with a rocking chair in one corner with light oak wood end tables and small round coffee table with big screen television on the wall in front of her the carpet was  a neutral beige

 

    She finally heard him come out of the bathroom which was on the right of the living room between the bedroom and short walk way that led into the Livingroom, the kitchenette was to the left of the living room, the apartment was very small but all that was needed for one person.

 

Colt sat down on the opposite corner of where she was sitting and sighed. “Thanks for the dry clothes not quiet my style but will do for now.” He was looking down at a pair of ripped jeans and a black t-shirt her old boyfriend had been a little smaller than him so the clothes didn’t fit him well.

 

She smiled over at him “They are a bit small but all I have.’ She said shrugging her small shoulders, even though it was only eight-thirty at night she had put on her jammys  a cotton pink oversized t shirt with red hearts all over it, that fell to her knees.

 

Look.” Colt said turning to face her.

 

  ”I don’t know what I did to have you  runaway from me so fast it’s only been a month of us knowing one another but I get it closeness seems to ruffle your tail feathers.” He joked. He looked deeply in her green eyes and said; “I’ve grown attached to you every since we got stuck in that elevator, I didn’t feel sorry for you nor did I pity you I simply reached out to someone who needed understanding. When I hugged you, I felt some deep connection to you it wasn’t sexual it was more then that I just wanted your pain to stop and I wanted to protect you.”

 

Her gaze never left those dark eyes of his she was starting to get used to him always looking into her eyes and seeing his facial features as he talked it was convincing and she knew he wasn’t lying to her he looked to deeply into her eyes for that.

 

She broke the trance and got up  “ I feel like a cup of hot cocoa would you like some or would you prefer coffee I have a one cup brew system takes no time at all to make, I even have all kinds of flavors.”

 

    He grinned at her letting her get away from the distraction.” I’ll take a flavor coffee you pick the flavor I’m sure I’ll love whatever you pick I like a tablespoon of creamer if you have it and two teaspoons of sugar”. 

 

      A few minutes later she came in rattling a tray laden with two mugs one white and one black she gave the black one to him. Handing him his coffee and setting the tray down on the coffee table she went to her side of the sofa and sat down sipping on her hot chocolate.

 

   “When are we going to talk about why you suddenly blew me off?” Colt blurted out.

 

   Startled Grace looked over at him. “Well……You want the truth or the story I made up?”

 

     “The truth.” And he held her blue eyes to his dark ones.

 

   She sat her mug down on the coffee table looking away from him and looked at her bare feet.

 

    “Well at the time it was fine we were just friends but when you kissed me you made it clear you wanted something more and I wasn’t sure I was ready for the next step.” She wasn’t about to tell him because he had made feel to hot to fast.

 

  “ Well what about now?”  he asked softly.

 

   She jerked her head up to look at him. She was flustered, didn’t know how to deal with him or what to say.

 

  Then suddenly he was there looming above her and he put his large hand over her small one.

 

  “Don’t worry I’m not pressuring you I can’t make you do something you don’t want to do, I’ll leave if that’s what you want.” 

 

   She looked up at him and suddenly realized  she didn’t want him to leave.   She smiled at him and said softly. “Stay.”

 

  He sat down next to her and leaned in close he gently touched his lips to hers and then starting kissing her and she kissed him back and the heat began to rise up in her body again, but this time she didn’t back away from it she laid her hands on the back of his hair and put her bare legs over his in the  he started taking his clothes off.

 

So just like that the slow love dance began.

 

  Still kissing he took her night shirt off she wasn’t wearing a bra but she was wearing underwear.

 

  ‘Do you want to go to the bedroom?” She breathed into his ear. They were both breathing hard and his answer was to push her down onto the sofa.  They explored each other’s bodies with hands touching thighs and backs and Colt worshiped at her breast which were full without being to big.

 

   She had never experienced anything like this before her hands had a mind of there on and her lips longed to kiss him all over.  They were both very aroused and finally after they had spent a long time just touching and kissing, he entered her and her reaction was immediate her body went up in flames and she pushed against him as if her life depended on it. They both rode the waves together each feeling the intensity of it. Then both there worlds exploded at the same time and she moaned in complete ecstasy.

 

  “Wow.” Grace breathed out. “That was amazing.” She could tell by the look on Colts face that he felt the same and his dark eye explored her face as he got off her and they both sat up on the sofa naked.  

 

  They were both still breathing hard and the rain continued to lash against the windows as the storm continued it’s own intensity.   

 

  You want to stay the night or go home?” She asked laying on her side with her head propped up on the sofa pillows.

 

  Colt blinked ran his hands through his dark hair and looked over at her. “Do you think I do this all the time? This is the first time in a year I have had sex I don’t know what it means to you but I like you a lot and wouldn’t mind a relationship. So it’s up to you rather I stay the night or not.” He smiled at her and his dark eyes looked into her blue ones with something like a challenge in his eyes.

 

  She smiled back at him. “I haven’t slept with anybody in two years and I don’t know if I want a relationship or not but wow, we sure have chemistry between us.” She sat up and got up from the sofa and put her night shirt back on.

 

  “You can stay the night but out here on the sofa I’m not used to sleeping with anybody in my bed anymore.”

 

  Colt winced “Isn’t that the point? You getting used to having someone in your bed? If we are going to have a relationship then we should get used to sleeping together and that’s a big If I know you said you weren’t sure you wanted a relationship.” 

 

  She sighed. “Well if you put it that way maybe you should just go home.” Her voice had a chill in it.

 

  Colt got up from the sofa and  went into in the bathroom and quickly put his wet clothes back on and stormed out of the apartment without saying a word.

 

  She sagged her shoulders and regretted how she had treated him after they had slept together, it hadn’t been her intention to act that way it just sort of came out that way. She was used to holding people at bay she was friendly with her co workers but was friends with no one she kept her private life  separate from work.

 

  She did not sleep well that night regretting how she had treated Colt she liked him but she really wasn’t sure if she wanted a relationship with him.

 

  The next day found her in a bad mood and she trekked up the stairs in her tennis shoes and when she got to the twelfth floor, she changed her sneakers to high hills put the other shoes in a freezer bag in her oversized purse they did not have lockers. She never ran into Colt in the news room because he worked in a cubical on the others side from her.

 

   She was just about to go to lunch when her phone rang, she snatched it up while changing back into her sneakers she had to walk down the stairs to go to the little Italian restaurant. 

 

   It was Jane Easton and she wanted to meet she had something important to talk to her about, forty-five minutes later they were meeting at a little table in the back of the Italian restaurant where they wouldn’t be disturbed.

 

Jane looked smart with her hair pinned up in French twist and she wore a yellow jumpsuit that actually accentuated her curves she looked totally different then when she was interviewed just a few weeks before. She still looked more like her father then her mother but she looked pretty and she had just a hint of makeup on.

 

  After they got there drinks and ordered there lunch they both got the eggplant parmesan, Mary leaned in real close to her and talked in a whisper.

 

  “There are things you need to know about my family but I don’t want you judging my mother and father to harshly, so I’ll tell you how they met, I’ll tell you there story.” She paused to take a breath and looked into Graces eyes “I don’t want any of this written down and don’t want you writing about them in a harsh way.” Tears appeared in her eyes and she suddenly took hold of Graces hand in her own and said with imploring eyes. 

 

 “My mother and father met at a community college on campus in Huntsville and even then he wasn’t handsome but she saw something in him that she liked and they became best friends hanging out together and became very close. That’s when she told my father that she was being abused by her great uncle and that it had been going on since she turned sixteen. Coming to the college in the fall was the only respite she got from him. Now don’t judge my mother but her great uncle was filthy rich and she wanted that money so she stayed with my uncle  in the summers and on holidays and for ten long years she endured what he did to her, but she started doing cocaine to smother the pain, she started using it soon after her eighteenth birthday her great uncle gave it to her and kept her in supply of it. He finally died at the age of eighty from liver damage from his long years of drinking they kept him on dialysis but be he was a big drinker and they wouldn’t consider giving him a liver transplant even with all his money. He died and mom became a very wealthy woman. She got everything even his mansion but she sold it off as soon as she could and had her own mansion built in the same area up in the hills of Huntsville.”

 

   “My mother bought dad his business to give him something to do she could not have cared less that it failed she just would have bought him another company to run. My family isn’t perfect as we let on in the interview and since you have written nice articles about my mother I thought it best to come to you and tell you the truth this time.”  She paused to take a sip of her tea and then continued in a whisper almost touching heads with Grace. “Mother was going to cut him off and find a dealer herself which I think pissed off certain people and I think my brother had gotten in to deep the people he dealt with to get the drugs must have threatened him. I think he was the one who poisoned mother and I think his fingerprints are on the glass it would have looked suspicious if he had been wearing gloves.”

 

  “So I didn’t know what to do so I hid the glass and let father take the blame for something he didn’t do, now I need your help to get us out of this mess”

 

    Another hour had gone by, spent on planning how to get her father off the hook for there mothers murder. Mary had found her mother slumped over and her eyes open and sightless it was then she knew her mother was dead. There was a glass sitting in front of her and not really thinking about it she grabbed it holding it between the folds of her night gown so she didn’t touch it. And she hurried to her room on the second floor taking the steps two at a time. She had closed and locked her door and wrapped the glass in an old T-shirt and hid it in her private place in her room. She wanted Grace to go with her to the mansion that night and get the wine glass and together they go to the DA the next morning and hand in the evidence Jane would stay with Grace at her apartment tonight just to make sure Jane was safe from her brother.   Another hour passed before they both left the restaurant. The rest of the conversation had been about her younger brother who bought the cocaine for his mother since the age of fourteen and he was paid well for having connections with shady people who sold him the drugs.

 

  So after making those plans Grace had to hurry back to work and explain why she had taken a two and a half hour lunch break. She just told her boss that she had a lead on a case and would fill him in in the morning.

 

                                                                     …………

 

That night precisely at eight o clock just as they had arranged Grace parked her car a block away from the mansion and hiked back to the big house and squeezed her way through some hedges and walked the long way around the back of the house and sure enough there was Jane waiting for her at the helps entrance. The mansion  was lit up and white just like the outside  the walls were white the statues on there petal stools were white or made of glass she noticed as she passed from room to room. The only color was the furniture  done up in reds and even pinks as she continued past rooms to the staircase that led up to one of the many floors the house was made up of. Jane was on the second floor thank God Grace thought to herself she didn’t want to keep trampling around in the house which was enormous. She was out of breath and she was used to climbing seven sets of stairs more then once in a day but nothing had prepared her for this. They finally got to her room which was all done up in peach colors peach walls peach comforter with dark peach curtain’s offset with yellow throw pillows on the bed and on the window seat and beige carpet.  They walked into her room and Jane told Grace to face away from the room so she could get the wine glass just then a young man walked into the room.

 

  “What is she doing here?” it was like an accusation.

 

Jane turned around thankfully she hadn’t  given away her hiding place she hadn’t had enough time.

 

 “She’s here helping me with something.”

 

 Grace had turned around facing the room and nodded half smiling.

 

  “Well she shouldn’t be here she’s a  reporter for Christ sake and what are you doing in your room?” He asked suspiciously ”

 

   “Actually although I do do reporting I’m basically a columnist who dose background stories on crime.” Grace defended herself.  

 

  “Ben this is none of your business just leave please.” Jane implored him.

 

  “Not without knowing what’s going on.” He crossed his arms and planted his feet apart as if to stay you couldn’t pry me from here even if you tried.

 

  Then suddenly janes older brother was in the room he had a gun and was pointing it at Grace.

 

  “If you don’t give me the wine glass I’ll shoot her.”  

 

  Jane covered her face with her hands and spoke through them to her older brother. “Tim I can’t give it to you no matter what you do.” She took her hands away from her face and there were no tears in her but an icy resolve in her eyes.

 

“ I won’t let you pin this on dad now that I know it was you my resolve is even more clear to me now, I used Grace  as a go between me and my younger brother but I should have known he didn’t have the balls for it but you do!.”  And she pointed a manicured finger at her older brother . “What I don’t understand is why?”

 

  “She caught me forging her signature on a check and she became furious she yelled and screamed at me and told me she was going to cut me out of her Will so I came up with a fast plan to make sure that never happened.”

 

  Tim was standing to front of the room with the gun still pointed at Grace who had a stony look in her eyes she wasn’t about to be afraid of him he was a real asshole and without thinking it through first she turned and grabbed for the gun, it went off and the room became deathly silent.

 

  Laying on the floor was Grace and she had been shot in the chest. She fell to the floor and put her hands over the seeping wound. The younger brother got hold of the gun and held it on his older brother.

 

  “Call an ambulance.” He barked at jane who started to fumble in her purse for her phone.

 

  While Jane dialed 911 ben looked down at the blood gushing out of Graces wound.

 

  

 

    She opened her eyes slowly and the room started to come into focus the first faces she saw was of her mother and brother they were seated at her bedside and she tried using her voice.

 

 “Hey guys fancy meeting you here”. She joked.

 

They both turned there attention to her.

 

 “ My God she’s  awake. How are you darling? Do you need anything?”

 

  “A glass of ice water.” She croaked her throat felt grainy and dry.  

 

  “Of course darling, I’ll be right back.”

 

Then she realized her brother wasn’t the only person in the room, Colt was there to and when her eyes rested on him her heart beat faster and she was so happy to see him.

 

  He walked to her bedside. “Your boss called me the police contacted him  she had used  him as an  emergency  contact in your phone.”

 

   It was kind of strange that she had used her boss and emerncy contact when she had her mother and brother but he didn’t say anything about it.  

 

  A few moments  later her mother arrived with the ice water and everyone fussed over her like  she was a baby or something she was starting to get annoyed and she was in pain her chest hurt she found it hard to breath even with the tubes stuck up her nose. Just then a nurse arrived with her pain killers and the nurse shued everybody out visiting were almost over and her patient needed her rest.  “Just one moment please I need to talk to Colt alone for a minute.” She crouked and everyone left the room except Colt who sat on the side of her bed leaning toward her.

 

  “What is it?” He asked  “are you ok because I can get-“

 

She put her hand on his to stop him from talking.

 

  “No it’s nothing like that I just wanted to talk to you after the way we left things.” She sighed. “I’ve always puched men away think they would hurt me and some did but not others I just never gave them a chance. But after being shot I thought I was going to die and I knew then I want you in my life it’s time to stop running from the pain that might be inflicted on me I sometimes think my mother never being around gave me some adbandonment issues. But I love you Colt and if you will have me after I get over my wound we can maybe move in together>”

 

  He gave her a big smile and kissed the top of hir head.

 

  “There is nothing I would want more then to live with you, I love you too youknow I did almost from the beginning.”

 

  They were quiet after that each just basking in the glow of new love they had found together. It nearly had to kill her to make her realize how stuburn she really was and sometimes you just have to give in to the feelings you have you can’t waist time because there might not be another tomorrow to think about it.

 

  Ben Grayson had been found guilty of killing his mother as it turned out his finger prints had been all over the wine glass. Mayson Grayson was released from custody and went home to the big mansion where his daughter and husband were still staying.

 

  “ I want you both to stay here and live with me I couldn’t stand being alone in this house alone.”

 

  Jane and her husband agreed and all faced a future without there  beloved Wife and mother, no she hadn’t been perfect but they all had loved her anyway, now they all had to face the future without her in it.                                               

 

                                                                The end