Out of the Shadows (Bellingwood Book 12)
Read Out of the Shadows (Bellingwood Book 12) Online
Authors: Diane Greenwood Muir
Out of the Shadows
DIANE GREENWOOD MUIR
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication / use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
Cover Design Photography: Maxim M. Muir
Copyright © 2015 Diane Greenwood Muir
All rights reserved.
Trying to open her eyes, Polly grew frustrated. She couldn’t. Blackness was everywhere. Her heart raced and her throat closed up as panic threatened to overwhelm her. This couldn't be happening again. She tried to move her hands, but nothing worked. Screaming wasn't possible. Nothing came out of her mouth no matter how hard she tried. She wanted to cry, but even tears wouldn't come. Why had he taken her? Why was he torturing her? Why wouldn't he let her live in peace?
"Polly! Honey!"
There was that voice. She recognized it, but who was it and why was he calling for her? What was happening? What was wrong?
"Wake up, Polly. Come on. Wake up."
She tried to climb out of the thickness of sleep. Her body was being shaken and then a sloppy tongue lapped across her face. Polly opened her eyes to find Obiwan pressed against her on one side and Henry hovering over her on the other.
"What was going on up there?" he asked, gently brushing her temple. "You had a hard time hearing me."
"It was that nightmare again. I couldn't see anything or move or even scream. I really thought I'd be finished with it after yesterday." She slid to a sitting position, her back against the headboard, clutching her arms to her chest.
Henry reached over and flipped the light on beside her and she blinked against its brightness.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so sorry."
Obiwan laid himself across her lap and she buried her face in the heavy coat at his neck. "You smell good," she said, holding tight to the warmth and comfort he offered.
"He smells like dog," Henry said. "He needs a bath."
"But he smells like
my
dog and it's normal and it's okay." She took a long, slow breath. "What time is it?"
Henry swiped his phone open and held it in front of her.
"Four thirty. Oh Henry, I'm sorry. I've wrecked your sleep again. Obiwan and I can go out to the sofa."
He climbed out of bed and turned the television on. "I don't know about you," he said. "But I could use a distraction. These nightmares are shaking me up. Ever since Joey's trial began, you've been a wreck."
"But it's over now." Polly shivered and pulled the blankets over Obiwan and up to her shoulders. "I hoped that when they finally sentenced him, I'd let this go."
"You haven't. Maybe now you'll talk to someone?" he asked.
"And tell them what, that I'm having a recurring nightmare? It's going to go away. I just need to quit thinking about Joey and quit listening to lawyers replay everything he did to me." She shook her head. "Over and over, ad nauseum. Like the jury didn't understand the story the first time. And that defense lawyer. Did he think I was going to change my story and tell them that Joey
didn't
obsess over me and kidnap me?"
Henry nodded at her, letting her talk it out.
She dropped her head to her chest. "I almost felt guilty when I saw Joey’s parents. Like it was my fault that he'd gone crazy."
"His mother is waaay out there." Henry twirled his finger at his temple. "She was frightening."
"When she came charging at us down the hall, screaming that I destroyed her son, I wanted to crawl under that bench," Polly said. "His poor dad. He doesn't know what to do with either of them. I don't know why he stays married to that crazy lady."
"When the guards ran her down, I didn't know what to think," Henry said.
"Neither did she," Polly said with a small chuckle. "I doubt that she's ever had that much physical contact with anyone. She glared at me through the whole trial. I could feel her eyes burning holes in my back. When I was up front, she stared at me like she was trying to kill me herself. It was the weirdest sensation. No one has ever hated me that much."
"She isn’t aware of what she's doing or saying," Henry said. "You knew it beforehand and now we've all seen it. She's as nutty as a fruitcake. Completely bonkers and out of control."
"I feel sorry for her. The committees and sororities she belonged to have shunned her. No one wants to be connected to a woman whose only son was linked with a serial killer."
"It wasn't just that," he said. "They've probably been looking for ways to be done with her for years. How many times can you ignore that level of crazy?"
Polly shook her head. "I don't know. She was high up there in the whole social echelon. This will probably destroy her."
"It's not yours to worry about, honey. You've done nothing wrong."
"I wish I had ignored him from the very beginning," Polly said.
"If wishes were horses..."
She nodded. "I know."
"Polly, honey, each step you took led you back here to Iowa. You've said that one of the motivations you had for leaving Boston was Joey. If you'd never met him you might still be working in the Boston Public Library and we wouldn't be married. You and I wouldn't even know each other."
"That's not true," she said reaching out for him. "We were going to find each other. It was only a matter of time. I can't imagine any other life than one with you."
Henry took her hand and brushed his lips across the top of it. He couldn’t get much closer without dislodging a dog. "I love you too."
"He's going to be transferred tomorrow," Polly said. "The only thing he'll see for the rest of his life is four walls. He has such a brilliant mind. I can't imagine how much more this will break him."
Henry sat down in his chair with his feet propped up on the bed. Han climbed across the bridge his legs made to find a soft spot on Henry's lap. "I'm just glad it's over. Joey will never get out this time."
"It's strange to realize that he's in the same state as me now, though," Polly said. "It was easy to forget about him when he lived fifteen hundred miles away."
"Give it time," Henry said, clicking his remote through channels on the television. "It's still fresh for you. And to be honest, Polly, you didn't obsess over it or even think about it for the last six months. The only time it crossed your mind was when we spent time with Al preparing for the trial. Right?"
Al Dempsey, Polly's lawyer, was an old friend of Henry's. They'd become closer to him in the last few months. Between the upcoming trials for Joey Delancy and Marcus Allendar, and then the legal work surrounding their guardianship of Heath Harvey, she’d gotten to know him better.
"You're right," she said. "As long as there were other things going on, I didn't think about it. But this is only the beginning. I have to go through it all again when Allendar goes to trial."
"Al said that wouldn't take as long. The FBI has been putting that case together and they have a decade's worth of information to present. You're just one small part of the picture with that man. And, as far as we know, he isn't pleading insanity so you don't have to go through that again."
"Joey
is
insane," Polly said quietly.
Henry smiled at her and rubbed his dog's head. "I know."
She pushed Henry’s pillows together and leaned over, propping herself up on her elbow so she could see Henry's face. "There are a lot of things I can’t do," she said. "I can't work in the medical field because I'd faint every time I saw blood and I can't imagine being a criminal prosecutor. Having to listen to people lie to my face or try to justify why they murdered someone would haunt me night after night."
Henry waggled his foot at her and moved it closer to her face. Polly swatted it. "Get that yucky thing away from me," she said.
"It's not yucky. It's clean and fresh. See?" He pushed it at her again.
"You do that one more time," she said, "and I'll bite it."
Henry laughed. "I know that neither of us is sleeping, but it's nice to just sit here with you in the quiet. These last few weeks have been hectic. I'm glad this part is over."
Polly nodded. "Heath is going to Ames this weekend. Hayden has tickets for the football game and they're going to make a whole weekend of it. Maybe I should ask Stephanie if she and Kayla would want to have Rebecca over. Or maybe Jessie. We could go away somewhere. Just you and me."
Henry leaned back and shut his eyes. "A weekend away with my wife. No pressure and no worry." Laughter burbled out. "Who are you kidding?"
"What?" Polly was confused. "We've never done that. It’s not too much to ask of our friends."
"Honey, I love you more than life itself, but can you honestly tell me that you'd get in the car Friday night and drive out of town, knowing you'd be out of touch with all of this?" He waved his hand around.
"Sure? Why not?"
"The coffee shop. The kids. Your friends. Evelyn and Denis downstairs. Sycamore Inn and Grey. The horses and donkeys. Sal. You could leave them all?"
Polly pushed her lower lip out. "I had a good time on our honeymoon."
"That was a year ago. You're planning for Halloween, the junior high band concert is next week and Rebecca probably has another dance coming up. All of that and you can leave town?"
"Maybe." She stuck her lower lip out in a pout.
"And what would you do with the dogs and cats? Are we taking them with us?"
"I don't know. But we could. I just wanted to go away with you somewhere and not have to think about all that's going on. You're the one who says I never leave. Now I try to make a plan and you come up with a million reasons why we can't go."
He took a breath and smiled at her. "You're right. I'm a terrible husband. Where would you like to go this weekend?"
Polly shrugged her shoulders. "If we go to a fancy hotel, we can't take the dogs." She peered up at Henry. "Do you want to go to a fancy hotel?"
"I don't care. This is your thing. I’ll go wherever you want."
"Maybe Sal and Mark could go with us," she said.
He smiled.
"Joss and Nate can't. They aren’t ready to leave the twins for a whole weekend." Polly turned her eyes upward, thinking. "But if we took Rebecca, she and I could go shopping. Or we could go to the zoo. That would be fun." She put her arm around Obiwan. "If we went to Omaha to the zoo, Joss and Nate could take the twins. Sophie and Coop would love that. They took them to the Des Moines zoo and had fun."
Henry propped his elbow on the arm of the wing chair and leaned his head on his hand, smiling at her.
"What?" she asked.
"Are we taking the whole town with us on our just-you-and-me weekend? I'll rent the bus. You tell me how many."
Polly reached over and ran her index fingernail up the bottom of his foot, making him jump. "You're mean to me," she said.
"I know," he agreed. "I'm the worst husband ever."
"You're pretty hard to get along with. So you're telling me that we aren't going anywhere this weekend."
"No," he said patiently. "I'm not telling you that. If you want to get away, I'm all for it."
"I can't do it, can I?" she asked, dropping her head to the pillow. When he didn't respond, she looked back up at him.
"I'm not saying another word."
Polly drew a deep breath and snuggled closer to her dog. "Maybe we could set in supplies and hide."
"Hang a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the doors?"
She nodded slowly, feeling drowsy again. Henry's scent wafting up from his pillows was relaxing her. "I'd miss the excitement, though. I can't do that."
Henry sat forward and put the dog on the floor, then reached over to stroke Polly's hair. "I know," he said quietly. "How about we try to take it easy this weekend."
"I love you," she mumbled.
"I love you, too. I'm going to take the dogs outside and start my day. You sleep. There's no reason for you to hurry out of bed. I'll wake the kids and get them going."
Polly lifted her head. "But I woke you up, too. That isn't fair."
"Don't worry. I'm wide awake." His voice grew softer. "Sleep. Nothing can disturb you here. You're safe. I promise."
~~~
The next time Polly woke up, she stretched her shoulders, trying to work out the ache. When she realized that she'd fallen asleep all twisted up, she rolled her neck. That position might have been a mistake. The animals were all on the bed with her. After Henry had returned with the dogs, she'd dropped into a sound sleep, oblivious to anything else happening in the house.