Ring Around the Rosy (25 page)

“Come on,” Kate said. “Let’s try
to get a couple hours of sleep.”

“I’ll be right up.” She threw Kate
a look that told her not to argue.

Fortunately, Kate had calmed Clare
down. Funny, through all the commotion, Katie never woke up. Sometimes, Susan
wished she could sleep that soundly.

Once her sisters were upstairs,
Susan grabbed her cell phone and punched in Dave’s number with shaky fingers.
“Dave!” Susan said when she heard the click that told her he picked up. “Dave,
someone was here. Someone was tapping on the window.”

* * *

“Calm down, Susan. What’s going
on? Did you call the police?”

“Yes, but I didn’t tell them about
the rose. It’s too complicated, and I didn’t want Clare going hysterical
again.”

Dave sat up and swung his legs
over the side of the bed. “What rose? What are you talking about? Start from
the beginning.” He grabbed his pants off the chair, hopped on one foot, and managed
to put them on without falling.

“I heard a noise and woke up. It
sounded like someone tapping on the window. I was going to go down, but then we
heard a loud thump, and Kate called the cops.” Susan took a deep breath. “The
thump was Johnny. He heard the noise, too, and went down to see what it was. He
saw someone near my car.”

“Okay, Susan, calm down. I’m on my
way.” Dave slipped his bare feet into his loafers.

“No! I mean— Oh, heck. I don’t
know what I mean. No, don’t come. The police are going to keep an eye on things
to make sure no one comes back.”

“What about the rose?” Dave didn’t
like this. He needed to go over there, check things out himself.

“Someone hung a rose on my car.
Just like they did at the hospital that day.”

“I’m coming over.” Dave grabbed
his jacket and started out the door. Didn’t matter if Susan wanted him to or
not. He wouldn’t rest until he saw things for himself.

“No, please don’t, Dave. I’m okay.
I just needed to talk to you.”

“Okay. Listen. I’m coming over. I
won’t ring the bell or anything. But I want to check things out. Okay?”

“Really, Dave, you don’t have to.”

“I know I don’t have to. But I’m
going to, anyway.” Dave hung up without giving her a chance to say anything
else. What the heck was going on? Someone must have followed her. Dave grabbed
his keys and ran out to his car.

* * *

Susan woke up around seven o’clock
the following morning and wondered if Dave was still there. The fact she slept
at all surprised her. She sneaked downstairs and looked out the front window. A
patrol car drove by, but no sign of Dave. He must have taken the rose, because
it was gone. She couldn’t help but smile. All she wanted to do was go home and
be with him. Now she knew what Clare meant about being alone. Heck, she wasn’t
even married, and she didn’t like being alone. She guessed she couldn’t blame
her sister for wanting a divorce. She deserved to be happy, and if Steve didn’t
make her happy, then no sense in staying with him. Still, she’d been happy with
him once. Wasn’t marriage a two-way street? Didn’t it take two to make it work?

Somehow, her sister would work it
out. She had enough to deal with, how to sneak out without her sisters knowing
was one of them.
 

“Morning. You’re up early.” Clare
came into the kitchen and took the coffeepot out of the cupboard.

No chance of her sneaking out now.
Oh, well, she’d grin and bear it. A couple more hours, and she could go home.
Dave was probably busy, anyway. “So, where’s Kate? She’s usually the early
bird.”

“I’m right here.” Kate came in yawning.
“You have the lumpiest bed I’ve ever slept in. I swear I didn’t sleep a wink
last night.”

“Sounded like you were sawing logs
pretty good to me.” Susan opened the cookie jar and grabbed a handful of
cookies. One of the things she liked most about visiting Clare — she always had
homemade cookies, just like their mother.

Kate grabbed a cookie from Susan.
“How would you know? You were snoring so loud, I can’t believe you didn’t wake
everyone in the house.”

“All right, you two, that’s
enough. You were both sawing logs. I heard both of you.”

“Oh right, like you were awake all
night?” Susan stuck her tongue out at Kate.

“Actually, I was. I was thinking
about what you two said. I’ll go to counseling for a month. If I still feel the
same about Steve, I’ll go ahead with my plan.”

“Come on, Clare, you know a month
isn’t long enough. People go to counseling for years.” Susan took a package of
ham and a dozen eggs from the refrigerator. “Anyone feel like an omelet?”

“Only if you’re making them,” Kate
said. “You make the best omelets.”

“I’m making them. Clare, do you
want one?”

“I’m not very hungry.” Clare
pulled a stool next to the counter and sat down. “Can we wait to talk about my
decision until the kids leave for school? They’ll be down here any minute.”

After breakfast, when the kids
left for school, Clare sat down. “Now, back to our previous discussion. I’m
willing to give counseling a month. If I still feel the same way, I’m asking
for a divorce, it’s just that simple. I’m not wasting another year of my life to
find out we aren’t compatible.”

Susan shook her head. “Come on,
Clare bear. You know that’s not long enough.”

Clare smiled. “You haven’t called
me that in ages. I’m sorry, Susie, but I can’t wait longer than a month. I’ve
put my life on hold too long already.”
 

“Are you sure there’s no one else
in the picture? You’re awfully certain about this,” Kate said.

Clare slipped off the stool.
“Honest injun, there’s no one. Not to say I wouldn’t like there to be.”

“Oh?” Susan looked at her sister.
“Do you have someone picked out?”

“Good Lord, no. Doesn’t mean I’m
not going to start looking, though.”

“Don’t you think you ought to wait
and give counseling a chance? Maybe even get Steve to go with you?”

Clare shook her head. “I already
asked him several months ago. He won’t go. He seems to think there’s nothing
wrong with our marriage.”

“So this was a long time in the
making. It’s not sudden?” Susan should have known. Clare never did anything
spontaneous. She always thought everything through, weighed the pros and cons.

“No, Susie. It’s not sudden.”

“Then you had already decided to
divorce Steve when you had your affair?” Kate looked at Susan and then back to
Clare. “You had this planned all along.”

“No, I didn’t decide to divorce
Steve before I had the affair.” She slammed her hand down on the counter. “You
make this sound like a well-thought-out plan. Damn it, Kate, I tried to save my
marriage. I did everything Steve wanted all these years, and just once I asked
him to do something for me, and he refused.”

Susan slid off her stool.
Something was wrong with this whole thing. She just couldn’t put her finger on
it. “Hold on, you two. What do you mean? You asked Steve to go with you to
counseling?”

Clare took a breath and swiped at
a tear. This wasn’t easy for her sister. There was something deeper going on
here. Clare was hurting, and as usual, putting up a good front. Had Steve found
out about the affair and this was all a ruse? That wasn’t like Clare, either.
She was too honest.

“Come on, Clare, tell us what’s
going on. Is Steve having an affair?” Of course, that had to be it. Clare was
trying to save face.

Clare sat back on the stool. “No,
he’s not. At least I don’t think he is. We’ve grown apart, okay? I don’t think
he loves me anymore. He stays away longer and longer. Half the time, he doesn’t
even bother to call.

“Aw, Clare. I’m so sorry. How long
has this been going on?” Susan wished she could do or say something to help her
sister.

“A little over a year.”

“Are you sure he’s not having an
affair?” Kate brushed a strand of hair from Clare’s face.

“Of course, I’m not sure. How can
I be sure of anything? We hardly talk. I don’t know. Heck, maybe he is. He
doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore. I can’t even remember the last
time we made love.”

Susan wasn’t the smartest camper
in the woods, but she didn’t need a tree to fall on her to see the signs.
Surely Clare wasn’t that stupid. It couldn’t be clearer if he painted her a
picture. She looked at Kate. Even she saw the writing on the wall.

“What?” Clare said. “Why are you
two looking like that?”

Susan shook her head. “Clare, if
Steve’s not having an affair, then something else is going on, and it’s time
you sat down and talked with him about it.”

“I wish I could. I tried several
times, but he brushes me off. Tells me I’m silly.”

“Okay, then you need to talk to
someone to find out how to get him to take you seriously.”

Clare smiled. “Yeah, a lawyer.”

Kate’s phone rang. She looked at
it and shrugged. “Sorry, I have to take this.”

“Do you know a good lawyer?” Susan
grabbed another cookie.
 

“Actually, I do.”

“Then I suggest you make an
appointment.” Susan looked at her watch. “I’m sorry, but I really need to go.
Make an appointment with the lawyer and call me. If you need me here when you
tell the kids, let me know.”

Kate came back in the kitchen. “I
hate to break up the party, but I have to go. Problems at the shop. Hopefully,
they’ll solve them before I get there.”

“I’m leaving, too. Listen; let’s
get together again soon, okay?” Susan took her keys out of her purse. “I know
it’s hard for you, Kate. But you should be able to get off one day a month.”

“Yes, let’s do that real soon.”
Clare kissed Susan’s cheek and hugged her. “And thank you again for the quilt,
Kate. I love it.”

Susan kissed and hugged both her
sisters. “I expect you to bring me a quilt next time.”

Clare almost pushed them out the
door. Was she trying to get rid of them all of a sudden?

Susan enjoyed the ride home,
taking the side roads instead of the freeway. It was a warm day for October,
with the temperature into the mid-seventies. She had the windows down and
country music blaring.

The trees displayed an array of
color as she sped along the traffic-free country roads. The scenery was so much
prettier than the dirty highways, and Mother Nature didn’t disappoint her
today. In a few weeks, the scenery would look desolate as the trees gave up
their colorful coats and became barren with the winter cold.

It saddened her, and she shivered
with the thought of what was to come. Although she loved the first fallen snow,
the fresh new whiteness cleansing the dirty landscape, it got old real quick.

But today, she enjoyed the
kaleidoscope effect of the oranges, reds, yellows, and rusts with just enough
green left to add contrast as the sun sparkled off the brilliant leaves. She
inhaled the strong scent of the dried leaves that were ground up in someone’s
lawn mower and mixed with the fresh grass clippings, creating a unique odor all
its own.

Something about the conversation
at the police station gnawed at her. Why that thought suddenly came to mind,
she didn’t know. Talk about ruining an otherwise perfect day.

They said she called a phone
booth, but she never made a call like that, so who had, and how?

She snapped her fingers. Of
course, whoever broke into to her apartment must have made that call. Suddenly,
Susan remembered the clock next to Sally’s body. She had forgotten to check the
apartment for the one her grandmother gave her.
 
More than likely, it was gone.

The killer had been in her
apartment, had gone through her stuff, rifled through her underwear drawer, her
closet. Chills shot up her spine as she remembered the mess.

First thing, she was going to do
at home was look for that clock.

She pulled out her cell phone. She
had to tell Dave. Maybe it would get them both off the hook. She dialed Dave’s
number and got his voice mail.

That was strange. She was always
able to reach him.
 
She had wanted to
stay awake last night and watch for him, but Kate had insisted they all go to
bed.

 
“Dave, I just figured out who made that phone
call. Call me.” She flipped her cell phone closed, pulled into the alley, and
parked.

Getting out, she looked around. No
one was in sight, yet her skin crawled. She swore someone was watching her and
looked up at the widows of the apartment building. A shadow crossed in front of
one of the windows. Was that where he lived?

Chapter Twenty

Susan ran up the steps just as
Greg came out of the apartment building.