The Woman Next Door (8 page)

Elizabeth could feel herself shaking, but Craig’s strong arms held her and offered comfort. He told her that she was loved… and safe… and that he would protect her. His hand gently caressed her back, soothing her. Eventually, she calmed down.

“I’m embarrassed. I acted like a big baby,” she whispered.

“I don’t like to be so firm with you, but it was long past time for a lesson, sweetheart. And, as it is, I wasn’t as firm as I should have been… I didn’t say one word about your fighting with Mrs. Huffy again.”

“She started it, Craig, and I’m afraid she sets off my temper like no one else in the whole world. I promise I will work on that, too. Forgive me?”

“You are forgiven, and unless it happens again, we are finished discussing it. Now, let it go. You’ve been punished, and forgiven, and we move forward.”

“My butt is still sore,” she announced.

“As it should be,” Craig said firmly. He led her over to the sofa where he sat down, and then pulled her down to sit beside him.

“Ow!” she cried out as her bottom made contact with the sofa cushion.

“Sitting is a prolonged consequence. Curl up against me and rest. You’ll soon get numb to the pain,” he promised, keeping her right beside him.

“What sort of plan did you and the captain come up with?” she asked.

* * *

“Hello!” Catherine Huffy called to the two men standing in front of Elizabeth Matthews’ front door. “She isn’t home right now.”

“Hello, ma’am. Could you tell us where we might find Miss Matthews?”

Catherine suddenly decided she didn’t like the man. His eyes were black and they looked right through a person. The other man had an arrogant expression on his face. They just weren’t the type of men Elizabeth would know. “No, I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?” the second man asked, stepping closer to Catherine.

“Listen you, Elizabeth Matthews is a good girl, and you’d best stop harassing her!”

“Why, we aren’t harassing her, ma’am. We have an urgent matter to discuss with her.” He purposely lowered his voice to say, “She has inherited a large sum of money from one of her former patients, and his attorney hired us to find her and tell her the news. We are to either take her to his office, or give her his card so she can call and set up an appointment at her convenience.”

“Do I look stupid to you?” Catherine demanded, hands on her hips. “An attorney is going to send a letter; he wouldn’t send two men to frighten the girl!”

“Okay, ma’am, I’ve tried to be nice. Unless you want me to start slapping you around, you’re going to tell me where to find Elizabeth Matthews.”

“You just try putting your paws on me and I’ll scream the neighborhood down!” she told him. “Now get out of here and don’t come back.”

“Lady, are you crazy?” the second man asked. He took out a knife and flicked it open.

Catherine shocked him when she raised her loppers and snapped them at him. “Go, now!”

The police car pulled up at that moment and the officers trained their guns on the two men. “Drop your weapons,” the youngest officer said firmly. “Ma’am, go inside your house and I’ll interview you in a few moments.”

“Yes, of course,” Catherine said, doing as he said. “See?” she called over her shoulder to the two men. “I knew you were up to no good!”

“Ma’am, now!” the second officer said more forcefully, and Catherine moved.

Another police car arrived and soon the two men were taken into custody.

* * *

“Catherine, what is going on?” Hubert asked.

“Two men just threatened me, Hubert Eugene, but I gave it right back!” she announced. “The officers will be coming over here soon.”

“What officers?” he asked.

“The ones arresting those men! Oh… They’re coming already. The second car must be transporting those two men.” The doorbell rang, and she opened the door and invited the officers inside. “I’m Catherine Huffy and this is my husband, Hubert Eugene.”

“Mrs. Huffy, “I’m Officer Dunson, and this is Officer Anders. Could you tell us what transpired next door?”

“Of course I can tell you. I was planning to call you and report those two because I felt they meant harm to Elizabeth Matthews. She might be a pain to have for a neighbor, but I certainly wouldn’t permit anyone to hurt her!”

“Catherine, the officer wants to know what happened, not how you feel about Miss Matthews,” Hubert interrupted her to say.

“Oh, of course. Well, like I said, I was minding my own business, trimming things in our yard, and wondering if I could trim down that fire bush of hers when I spotted those two men knocking on her door. I called out to tell them she wasn’t home, and they asked me where she was. Well, let me tell you, I took one good look at their faces and I knew they were up to no good! I told them no, and then the first one… the man with the black eyes… told me an outrageous lie about Miss Matthews inheriting a bunch of money, and they were hired to find her and bring her to the attorney handling the case. I told them I am not stupid, and I refused. Then they threatened me. The one said he was going to start slapping me and knocking me around; the other one took out his knife and threatened me, so I clicked my loppers at him. You arrived then, or I would have chopped his fingers off one by one!” she insisted.

“Who were those two men, Officers?” Hubert asked, positive he was going to give his wife another sound spanking!

“Stan Dann and Mercury Morre; they work for the McMaken family. Ma’am, I must insist you stay away from next door. Right now it’s not safe for you to be outside, even in your own yard, and if someone comes to your door that you don’t know, don’t answer the door.”

“Do you think Catherine is in danger now?” Hubert demanded with a worried frown.

“If she was my wife, I’d pack her up and get her out of town,” Officer Dunson said solemnly. “The McMaken family is after Miss Matthews, and you don’t want to get caught in the middle.”

“Go and start packing
one
suitcase, Catherine. Be quick about it. Officers, thank you for the warning.”

“You’re welcome, sir.”

“Catherine,” he called once he made sure the doors were locked. “We are leaving in five minutes. Be quick about it. If you forget something, we’ll replace it.”

“Where are we going, Hubert Eugene?”

“Amish Country. You’ve been wanting a new quilt for our bedroom; this is the perfect opportunity to go shopping.” He was finished packing before she was, and he loaded their bags in the car while she threw away the perishables in their refrigerator. Hubert took out the trash, and then they locked up and left.

“I can’t believe we are being so spontaneous, Hubert Eugene!” Catherine said excitedly.

“I can’t believe my wife threatened two members of the mob with her loppers!” he growled.

“Well, I don’t let
anyone
threaten me, Hubert Eugene. But, if we get to take a vacation, it was worth it.”

“You won’t think so when we stop for the night, Mrs. Huffy. I’m going to spank you for risking your life like that!”

“Oh, I wasn’t a bit afraid!”

“You should have been!” He kept looking in his rear view mirror, and seemed pleased that he didn’t spot anyone following them. To his surprise, his Catherine used the mirror on her visor to look behind them, too!

“There’s no one following us, Hubert Eugene.”

“That’s because we left so quickly they didn’t have a chance to put a tail on us.”

“Well, this is one time I won’t fuss with you for being so particular and making sure the gas doesn’t get below three-fourths of a tank. You had the car all gassed up, serviced, and ready to go. Very smart of you, Hubert Eugene.”

“I was taught that a person should be ready for any sort of emergency, and we were out of the house and on the road very quickly. That may have saved our lives, wife.”

“But, it was me they were mad at, honey!” she reminded him.

“Do you think I would stand by and let them harm you, sweetie? I’d die protecting you,” he told her, and she reached for his hand and held it in hers.

“That is so sweet, Hubert Eugene.”

* * *

“Stan and Mercury blew it, Boss. They’re in jail for threatening the neighbor woman.”

“Those fools! Can’t they do anything right? We have to find that Matthews broad. Our whole operation is going to go down in flames if we don’t deal with Gregory and make an example of him.”

“Boss, maybe she don’t know nothing? You said yourself that she was writing stuff and typing stuff on your chart. She didn’t pay no attention to you.”

“I can’t take that chance, Joey. Find her.”

“I tell you, Boss, she knows where that Matthews woman is hiding.”

“Follow her when she leaves her house, and then get the truth out of her.”

“It’ll be a pleasure. The bitch threatened me with those lawn things she was using.”

“Just get the truth, and don’t let anyone see you.”

Mercury left and drove to the neighborhood where the crazy woman lived. There were no lights on in her house, and when it got really dark, he slipped out of his car and looked in the garage window. She was gone! Mercury cursed and drove back to the Boss’s place. Lon wasn’t known for his patience, and his best chance to find that wretched nurse took off before he got to her!

“What did you learn, Mercury?” Lon asked, taking a bite of his lobster.

“They’re gone, Lon. They skipped town.”

“You let the woman next door outsmart you?” Lon McMaken glared at the man in disbelief, holding his fork in the air and dripping butter all over the tablecloth.

“The cops prob’ly warned her to get lost. Maybe someone the Matthews broad works with will know?”

“I already thought of that and sent someone to check. They don’t know a thing. Our only hope is to find that bitch before she tips off the cops about Gregory.”

* * *

“What’s wrong, Lizzy?” Craig asked the too silent woman as he cuddled on the sofa with her.

“I’m really worried about the people I know. What if McMaken starts bothering my friends?”

“He already tried that; we were there keeping an eye out to make sure no one was in any danger. They just let the woman know that you were on vacation due to an accident you had, and no one knows where, because it all happened so fast they didn’t get to talk to you first.”

“What if they attack David or—?”

“We are watching him carefully, and his wife, too.”

“What about Wally? Is he being watched, too?” She was worried about him. “I know he was a good police officer, but he is older now…”

“Don’t let him hear you say that, Lizzy!” Craig said with a laugh. “Wally can still handle himself, and he knows how McMaken operates. If they send anyone around, he’ll feed them a line of bull a mile long. Our only weak link is if Randy talks, or tells his folks, and they talk. Even cretins like McMaken have relatives, and it’s possible word could leak. We need to stay alert, but at the same time, I’m confident that we are as safe as possible right now.”

“Then you spanked me for no reason at all!” she accused, pouting.

“I spanked you because you put yourself at risk. I know you think you can judge people, Lizzy, but the mob hires all sorts of ‘nice’ people. The woman who asked about you is a nurse who works at the hospital. She is married to a lawyer who works for McMaken’s legal department.”

Elizabeth was stunned. “I know who that is. She says her husband is a corporate attorney, but she’s never told us where he works. She is a
mother
, for goodness sake!”

“They probably didn’t tell her why they wanted to know about you,” Craig said. “David and those closest to you were told what to answer if asked and they did well.”

“I don’t want anyone hurt because of me.”

“I know, sweetheart.”

* * *

“You lied, Hubert Eugene!” Catherine whispered in shocked disbelief as they parked in back of the hotel.

“I did.”

“Why?”

“Because I feel that McMaken is looking for you. It’s my duty to protect you, and if lying will do the trick, then I’ll do it.”

“I’ve never ever heard you lie! It’s very sexy,” she whispered, giving him a look he knew well after forty-some years of marriage.

“You won’t be in that mood after I paddle your bare fanny, Catherine,” he growled at her, taking their suitcases out of the car and carrying them inside the hotel and down the hallway to their room with Catherine using the card key to let them inside the backdoor and then into their room.

“I don’t think I deserve a paddling, Hubert Eugene!” she told him with an angry pout. They’d argued about this for hours while they drove. And, considering the fact that she didn’t often initiate making love, you would think he would be flattered!

“I think you do. You threatened a mobster with your loppers, Catherine! What
were
you thinking?”

“I was thinking that my knife was bigger than his!” she answered, throwing her purse on the bed.

“Catherine, there were two of them!”

“So? Did you expect me to turn and run from them? I have every right to defend myself, Hubert Eugene. If I gave them my back, they would have grabbed me. So, I stood my ground. It worked out just fine, too.”

“Because the police came when they did!”

“Yes, I agree. Honey, I wasn’t about to lead them home to
you
!” she tearfully proclaimed. “I wasn’t just fighting for myself!”

“Catherine, I am your husband! I need to protect you!”

“And I need to protect you!” she insisted. “You can spank me if it will make you feel better, Hubert Eugene, but it won’t change anything. I did what needed to be done at the time. I didn’t like those two.”

“Catherine, it scares the bejesus out of me when you do something like this. Fighting with that young woman next door is bad enough, but with those two men of McMaken’s? You are getting paddled, and I don’t give a damn whether or not you like it.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the second bed where he took a seat, and then hauled her over his knee. It felt good to give her that first spank and hear her yelp of outrage. Catherine needed a good lesson!

Catherine wasn’t surprised that Hubert Eugene was spanking her. She frightened him, and he was responding to that fear.

Hubert pulled down her jeans and then spanked her pink nylon panties before pulling them down, too. He could see a faint pinkness on her left cheek from the first spank, and a bit darker handprint on her right cheek where he spanked her over her panties. Now that she was bared, her skin would color much faster and his hand would make more of an impression. “You are never to do something like this again, Catherine!”

“I won’t, Hubert Eugene,” she quickly promised.

“If you weren’t always fighting with the woman next door, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“She planted that fire bush to deliberately block my view, and I don’t like it one little bit!” she angrily declared.

“It is her yard, woman! She can do whatever she wants to do in it, and it is none of your business!”

“It is when she blocks my view of the street!”

“You’re just determined to be nosy! The neighbors call you ‘Mrs. Kravitz’ behind your back.”

“They do not!”

“Yes, they do! And you are going to stop nosing into everyone’s comings and goings!” Hubert put some effort into spanking his wife’s white backside, turning it a dark red before he stopped to speak to her again. “You are going to apologize to Elizabeth Matthews when she gets home, and you are going to mean each and every word. She has a right to her privacy, and she has a right to grow an enormous fire bush if she so chooses.”

“I think it is unfair!” Catherine argued, and it was the wrong thing to do. Hubert Eugene started spanking her even harder than before and she decided right then and there that he wouldn’t be getting close to her for some time to come! Her poor backside was on fire and she didn’t know how she would be able to sit for the rest of the drive. The spanking seemed to go on and on, even though she begged him to stop. Finally, she caved. “I’m sorry!” she said,
anything
to end her suffering! She couldn’t believe he’d spanked her twice, and all because of the woman next door!

“I don’t believe you, Catherine, but my hand is nearly ready to fall off.” He released her, pushing her off his lap and onto the bed so that he could get up and go into the bathroom and soak his hand in cold water to ease the burning sensation. He didn’t feel like comforting her in the moment, and knew that he should have taken off his belt instead of making his hand feel like he’d burned it on the stove. Catherine just might be in for round two tomorrow morning before they left. Sitting on a striped backside just might make her think!

Catherine entered the bathroom, crowding him while she turned on the bathtub, setting the stopper in the right position to fill the tub. She gave him a wounded look as she picked up a bar of soap and opened it.

“Catherine, you are not sitting in a tub of water,” Hubert said firmly.

“Yes, I am! I need to bathe.”

“Take a quick shower, but you are not easing the fire on your butt. You are wearing that until it goes away on its own.”

“Hubert Eugene, that is just plain mean! You are soaking your hand!” she accused.

“I didn’t earn a spanking, you did. And, I’m thinking of giving you another before we leave here in the morning. It’s best you get on to bed right now before I take off my belt tonight and then again in the morning.”

Catherine looked at him, intending to tell him he was being cruel to her, but the words died unspoken as she looked into his dark eyes. She was shocked to see that he wasn’t just making an empty threat! Her husband was dead serious and she quickly shut off the water, and allowed the water to drain from the tub. Her tears were very real as she donned her nightgown and crawled into bed. Part of her wanted him to sleep in the other bed as far away from her as possible, yet she knew she would be wounded if he did.

Hubert dried off his hand and then came to bed, pulling the bathroom door mostly closed, but leaving a crack so that the light would act as a nightlight. He then shut off the light they turned on when they entered the room, and he made his way to bed. He got in beside Catherine, and heard her sniffles. He handed her a tissue, and then wrapped his arm around her and pulled her against him spoon fashion. “Hush now, Catherine. I love you or I wouldn’t be so damned upset with you for getting yourself into such a mess. You go to sleep now, sweetheart.” He kissed the top of her head, and his hand patted her flaming rear before moving up to rub her back in a soothing manner.

Hubert was relieved when she stopped crying and fell into a deep sleep. He knew that he would be wary and afraid until this mess was over and it was safe for them to go home. If necessary, he would sell their home and move them far away if it meant keeping Catherine safe. He loved her. It was just that simple.

* * *

Lon McMaken was not happy, as several of his men found out the hard way. The police came and questioned him about their brutal murders, but Lon expressed grave sorrow and gave him his airtight alibi for the times in question. He was seen having drinks and dinner and partying in a restaurant downtown, with plenty of people who could swear he was right there the entire evening. Of course, McMaken put others to trying to find Elizabeth Matthews, but to no avail. It was as if she’d fallen off the face of the earth, and that cop with her! He couldn’t find that woman cop, either. She’d taken her mother and her baby and run, but she hadn’t told on him, either, so he was in no hurry to find her. He would tie up that particular loose end after he dealt with Gregory. She failed him, and he would see her suffer before he killed her himself. As for Gregory, he would like to pull that trigger, too, but it was better to hire a professional for the job so it was done right. He’d financed the man’s campaign, but now that Gregory was elected, he wasn’t doing anything Lon asked of him. He was out millions, but Gregory was out his life.

* * *

Not knowing what was happening in the world was making Elizabeth moody. She’d been cooped up inside this cabin for three days already, and there appeared to be no end in sight. If she mentioned anything to Craig, he simply told her not to worry, but how could she not worry? She wanted to go home, and back to her job. She wasn’t used to sitting around with nothing to do. She’d cleaned Wally’s cabin from top to bottom, cooked huge meals for herself and Craig, and started writing a children’s book. Craig, on the other hand, spent time reading some of the books that Wally had on hand. He tried to interest her in playing card games, but he was so good at bluffing that she finally gave up, totally frustrated.

“I want to go home, Craig,” she announced.

“Not yet, sweetheart,” he replied.

“No, you don’t understand. I am going home, whether or not you approve. I am going out of my mind here. I need civilization.”

“You need to have some patience.”

“Yes, I need to see my patients!” she said, purposely pretending to misunderstand what he said. “I’ll get what we have and we’ll leave now.”

“Lizzy, don’t act like a brat. You know I’m not going to permit you to walk through that door. Sit down and read a book, or finish writing the kid’s book…”

“I am going home. Either you take me, or I am walking.”

“You are going to find yourself with a sore butt if you don’t find something to do and stop threatening me. The answer to leaving is a big no!”

Elizabeth was very angry, but she made herself sit down and pretend to work on the book. She sat there, seemingly involved in what she was doing for what seemed like forever, plotting her escape. Eventually, nature was on her side and Craig said he was going to take a shower. It was all the advantage she had, but she slipped out the door of the cabin and to freedom in that second, and she ran like the wind to get to Craig’s car. If he wouldn’t take her home, then he could stay here, and she would take herself back to the city.