“Finally, after all of these years, I was able to put him away.” He grew agitated and started waving the gun around. “But he had a good attorney and I knew he wouldn’t be put away for long enough. I wanted him to suffer. Sure, I’ve made him suffer over the years, but to be locked up like an animal, have everything that he wanted denied to him? That’s what I wanted for him, and that’s why I couldn’t finish you off until he was released.”
He sat back down and smoothed the creases out of his slacks. “So I decided to live like he did. The day he was sentenced I moved into my new home, a studio apartment in South La Jolla. The worst neighborhood I could find. I paid someone to bring me three meals a day. I never went out. I created my own prison. I wanted to feel his rage. Feel what he would feel. Deny myself.” He picked up a glass filled with scotch from the table and took a drink. “The day he was released I went home, back to my secret room. I had denied myself for so long. It felt so good to be amongst my things. My women. They can’t leave me if they’re dead.”
Lexi cleared her throat. “Who are you?”
He smiled. “How rude of me not to introduce myself. My name is Jeremy Ellison. It’s been a pleasure getting to know you. You are fascinating.” He stared at her in wonder. “I’ve spent hours watching you.” He uncrossed then crossed his legs. “Isn’t modern technology wonderful? They make the smallest cameras now. Much better than seven years ago. Even then, the police never found them. Now, do you have any more questions before we take this upstairs?”
She cleared her throat. “How did you get in here?”
He laughed, “It’s easy enough to pick a lock. The alarm was a bit more of a problem, but since I had your place bugged, I knew what your code was. Neanderthal. Perfect for your rocker.”
She tried to clear her head. “Why now? Why are you doing this now? Anthony is under house arrest. The authorities won’t be able to tie him to my death.” She was amazed she could say that without breaking down.
He shrugged. “I can’t wait anymore. I’ve denied myself for too long. Even killing that whore in the next town didn’t give me the same satisfaction. Besides, he’s already ‘done his time.’ Think about how he’s going to feel when he finds out that the bad things that have happened in his life are all because of me. The satisfaction I’ll feel. I…”
They were startled by a knock on the door. Lexi’s breath came heavy, scared Noah would just walk in. The doorknob turned but the lock was in place and she closed her eyes in thanks.
Through the door, he called, “Lexi, I know you’re in there. Come on, open up. I need to talk to you. You aren’t answering the phone and the vet called with news on Pepper.” He continued to knock.
She grabbed what she’d finally recognized as the cuticle scissors from between the cushion and palmed it in her hand and scooted to the edge of the chair to stand up. “I should answer that. He’s not going to go away.”
He stared at her for a moment. “Fine, but don’t do anything foolish. I will not hesitate to shoot him. Picture your lover dying in your arms before you say anything.”
Lexi looked over to where Jeremy stood, hidden from the view at the door, but she knew he still had a good shot at Noah. She took a deep breath before opening the door. “Hey, Noah.” She held herself in front of the door so that he couldn’t come in.
“The vet has been trying to call you. They found out that Pepper was poisoned, but she’ll be fine. She’s going to have to stay for a few days but should be up in no time.”
“Thank you for letting me know.” Tears ran down her cheeks.
“Love, let me come in. Just let me hold you tonight. I need to be there for you.” He put his hand on the door.
Lexi shook her head. “I’m sorry, Noah, but it’s not going to work. I thought I was strong enough, but I’m not. I don’t want to spend the rest of our time together waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for you to get bored and leave me. The music is in your blood, you’ll only be satisfied for so long before it calls to you again. You need to do more than just write music for other people to record because it’ll only be a little while before someone butchers one of your songs and you can’t take it anymore. You’ll want to put it out there yourself.”
“Lexi, we went over this. You know how I feel. I’m not going anywhere. I want to stay with you.”
“You can’t. We have no future. All we have is the past two months. We can take that and treasure it for the rest of our lives, knowing we loved each other with all we had. But sometimes it just doesn’t work out. It’s just not enough. I’ll take the pain for both of us. You’ll heal. We both will.” She had to be cold to him. If she showed any emotion it’d all be over and he’d be dead.