and would never have dreamed of telling him to make changes to the way he did things, but he insisted on having me go over anything that required money or had to do with people being on my property.
I had enough on my mind that I didn’t need one more thing to worry about. As I headed into the kitchen to get something out to thaw for dinner, I pushed all thoughts of the letter and its author from my mind. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked and I didn’t think about the letter again until two days later.
The landline was ringing as soon as I walked into the house Wednesday afternoon. I didn’t rush to answer it, assuming it was someone from Allen’s family. They were the only ones who called that number anymore. It could’ve been one of the few former clients I hadn’t bothered to contact after the accident, but I didn’t really want to talk to them either, so I let it go to the answering machine.
I felt a pang as Allen’s voice filled the air.
“You have reached Allen and Shae Lockwood. We’re unable to come to the phone at this time. Please leave your name, number and a brief message and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
It was the same trite greeting that most answering machines or voicemails had, but it made me smile. That was pure Allen, concise and polite, no matter how ordinary something sounded. We’d sometimes joked that if Allen hadn’t kept on his uncle’s marketing team, he would’ve sold bottles with just “Red Wine” on the label.
I frowned as a full minute passed after the beep with no one speaking. We’d had sales calls on the house phone, but never an obscene phone call. I wondered if this was going to be the first. I wasn’t worried about it though. Most of those perverts did it to get a rise out of people, so they wouldn’t get much of anything out of a call like this. Maybe they’d get off thinking about someone listening to it, but that seemed a bit far-fetched.
“Mrs. Lockwood.”
The voice was raspy, impossible to tell if it belonged to a male or female. What it did do, however, was make all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“I know you’re there.”
Another pause, as if waiting for me to admit that I was home and go pick up the phone.
“No matter. I know you’re listening.”
I shivered, suddenly feeling like someone was watching me.
“Your husband wasn’t who you thought he was.”
Every muscle in my body tensed. The person who’d written the letter. I knew it had to be the same person. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
“He wasn’t a good man, and you’re not a good woman. People like you deserve whatever you get.”
I sank down onto a kitchen chair as I heard the click of the line going dead and the machine stopping its recording. I stared at the machine, half-expecting the phone to ring again, to keep ringing until either I answered or the person on the other end drove me insane.
Maybe that’s what they were trying to do, I thought. Drive me crazy. Again, I thought of the Lockwoods. It would work to their advantage if I was nuts. They could have me declared incompetent and step in to “take care of me.” The only person who’d stand against them would be my brother. And Jasper. I’d have two people against the experts I knew the Lockwoods could provide.
I frowned as the realization hit me. It couldn’t be the Lockwoods. Not because they wouldn’t do something like that to me. No, this was exactly the kind of thing I could see either May or her son Marcus hiring someone to do.
If it hadn’t been for the fact that Allen was being bad-mouthed alongside me. More than me, actually. May and Gregory would never have allowed their precious Allen to be spoken ill of, not even to try to deceive the authorities into discounting them as suspects. Marcus might’ve done it, or even Alice. Both of them despised me, but I knew that they had both been jealous of Allen and how happy we’d been together. But, neither one of
I had enough on my mind that I didn’t need one more thing to worry about. As I headed into the kitchen to get something out to thaw for dinner, I pushed all thoughts of the letter and its author from my mind. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked and I didn’t think about the letter again until two days later.
The landline was ringing as soon as I walked into the house Wednesday afternoon. I didn’t rush to answer it, assuming it was someone from Allen’s family. They were the only ones who called that number anymore. It could’ve been one of the few former clients I hadn’t bothered to contact after the accident, but I didn’t really want to talk to them either, so I let it go to the answering machine.
I felt a pang as Allen’s voice filled the air.
“You have reached Allen and Shae Lockwood. We’re unable to come to the phone at this time. Please leave your name, number and a brief message and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
It was the same trite greeting that most answering machines or voicemails had, but it made me smile. That was pure Allen, concise and polite, no matter how ordinary something sounded. We’d sometimes joked that if Allen hadn’t kept on his uncle’s marketing team, he would’ve sold bottles with just “Red Wine” on the label.
I frowned as a full minute passed after the beep with no one speaking. We’d had sales calls on the house phone, but never an obscene phone call. I wondered if this was going to be the first. I wasn’t worried about it though. Most of those perverts did it to get a rise out of people, so they wouldn’t get much of anything out of a call like this. Maybe they’d get off thinking about someone listening to it, but that seemed a bit far-fetched.
“Mrs. Lockwood.”
The voice was raspy, impossible to tell if it belonged to a male or female. What it did do, however, was make all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“I know you’re there.”
Another pause, as if waiting for me to admit that I was home and go pick up the phone.
“No matter. I know you’re listening.”
I shivered, suddenly feeling like someone was watching me.
“Your husband wasn’t who you thought he was.”
Every muscle in my body tensed. The person who’d written the letter. I knew it had to be the same person. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
“He wasn’t a good man, and you’re not a good woman. People like you deserve whatever you get.”
I sank down onto a kitchen chair as I heard the click of the line going dead and the machine stopping its recording. I stared at the machine, half-expecting the phone to ring again, to keep ringing until either I answered or the person on the other end drove me insane.
Maybe that’s what they were trying to do, I thought. Drive me crazy. Again, I thought of the Lockwoods. It would work to their advantage if I was nuts. They could have me declared incompetent and step in to “take care of me.” The only person who’d stand against them would be my brother. And Jasper. I’d have two people against the experts I knew the Lockwoods could provide.
I frowned as the realization hit me. It couldn’t be the Lockwoods. Not because they wouldn’t do something like that to me. No, this was exactly the kind of thing I could see either May or her son Marcus hiring someone to do.
If it hadn’t been for the fact that Allen was being bad-mouthed alongside me. More than me, actually. May and Gregory would never have allowed their precious Allen to be spoken ill of, not even to try to deceive the authorities into discounting them as suspects. Marcus might’ve done it, or even Alice. Both of them despised me, but I knew that they had both been jealous of Allen and how happy we’d been together. But, neither one of
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