Chapter 9 – Coffee With A Side Of Murder

“So...did you tell him?”

Addy stirred two packages of sugar into her coffee takeout cup, watching the granules slowly disappear into the black liquid.

“Tell who, what?”

“Lance,” Melissa said. “About the new note.”

“Are you kidding me?” Adeline scoffed. “No way. He'd blow his top. You wanna see that happen? No, it's best if he doesn't know about it.”

Both girls replaced the lids on their cups and walked off to sit down at one of the cafe's round tables.

“Are you sure that's the best idea?” Mel asked as she threw her light jacket over the back of the chair. “Addy, that was a threat. That's scary stuff.”

“He'll just tell me that it's someone playing around again. In fact, he's probably right. Look at all the strange stuff that's happened the past couple of years – I told you about the tire thing, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it's probably like that. Like when our apartment got broken into – they destroyed some stuff and inconvenienced us, but nothing came of it.” She swished the cup around in her hand once again. “Besides, even if I told him, what would he do about it?”

“I'm fairly confident knowing what little I do about Lance that he would wrap you in bubble wrap and never let you leave the apartment again,” Mel said.

“Exactly. And I can't hide away because some creep thinks it's funny to leave me twisted little love letters,” Addy said.

“Well, that's true,” Mel responded. “But I still think you should show the note to Lance and then the two of you should go to the police. The first one was left inside your apartment, Ad. Doesn't that scare you?”

“Of course,” she responded. “But what can I do? If I move, whoever it is will probably find me. We changed our locks – again – but the notes will show up in other places.”

“Like the mailbox.”

“Exactly.”

“But you should still go to the police,” Melissa said.

“What would they do about it, Mel?” Addy asked. “They'd tell me to change my locks, lock my doors and windows every night, and be aware of my surroundings – all things that I already do. Things that all women in New York already do.”

She wouldn't admit it out loud, but since Mel had found the new note the night before, Adeline's senses were heightened. That night while making dinner, she had toyed over whether to tell Lance about it. In the end, the minute he walked through the door, her gut told her not to say anything. She knew what his reaction would be – he would pretend not to be concerned so as not to worry her and tell her again that it was all a harmless prank. But he would be protective of her, with his senses heightened as well, and encourage her not to leave the apartment – and she couldn't stand the thought of becoming a prisoner in her own home if there was no reason to worry.

So she had tucked the note in her purse, right along with the other one, for safe keeping.

“Enough about all of that,” she said as she watched Mel take a drink of coffee. “Quit trying to avoid it like you think I'm not going to ask – why was Chris at your apartment last night?”

Mel sighed. “The hell if I know. He's a weirdo.”

“Stop it,” Addy chuckled. “You don't think that. Tell me the truth.”

“I don't know, what can I say?” Mel asked, throwing an arm up. “He said he came to apologize.”

“And did he?”

“Well yeah,” Melissa said, “but that's not what he came for.”

“But if he said that's what he came for, and he did apologize, how can you be sure that's not what he came for?”

“Because he's not like that. Because he came to annoy me again, like he did on our date.”

“Well at least Lance and I had a lovely time after the two of you left,” Adeline said with a smile as she took a sip of her coffee. “You don't give Chris enough credit, Mel. He's a good guy. He's sweet, goofy, funny, caring...”

“How much is he paying you?” Mel asked with a smirk.

“Funny,” Addy responded. “He really is. You got to see Chris's annoying side. Well, his other annoying side – the less charming one. Even Lance said that wasn't like Chris after you both left.”

“So in other words, it was me?” Mel said. “Fantastic.”

“Actually, it's probably not you at all, it's probably all the women that came before you,” Addy said.

“And exactly how many women would that be?”

“It's not like that, Mel. Chris hasn't had the best luck in dating lately. The women he's been dating are only interested in one thing – his status. For fame, for money...they didn't care about him, they only cared what he could get them, where he could take them. He wasn't a potential boyfriend – he was a potential bragging right.”

“So he takes that out on me?”

“Well...wouldn't you be slightly soured on dating if you were nothing but a dollar sign to men?” Addy asked with raised eyebrows.

Both girls went silent as they drank their coffee. After Addy lowered the cup from her mouth, her lips twisted in vague disgust. Melissa watched as she rested her hand on her stomach and closed her eyes.

“Are you still getting sick?” she asked her friend.

“Only sometimes,” Addy responded. “I have good days and bad days. Some days I can barely make it out of bed; some days, I'm fine until I smell food.”

“You should go to a doctor.”

“So Mr. Broken Record tells me,” she said. “Every single day.”

“Maybe you should listen.”

“Maybe I should make it to the engagement party next week first. I have so much to do and I'm running out of time. In fact, I should get going, because it's going to be a late night. I'll be lucky if I'm home before eight.”

Addy stood up and gathered her bag and coat, throwing it over her arm as she grasped her cup tightly, planning to throw away the vile stuff as she walked out of the door. Mel mumbled a goodbye to her and she walked off.

“Addy, wait.”

Addy stopped a few steps away from the table and turned to look at Melissa, who had turned in her chair to look back.

“You told me that the tires and the time your apartment was broken into...” She stopped and let her voice trail as she thought. “You told me those were both your ex-husband's doing. You told me they weren't someone playing around. And something did come from them – your husband spying on you.”

“What are you getting at, Mel?” Addy asked.

“Please,” Melissa whispered. “Go to the police.”

What stunned Adeline was the fearful look on Melissa's face. It was what made her hang back the extra few seconds, wanting to ask her why, but she decided not to. She could only look down at her feet as she walked away towards the door to start her hectic day, hoping this wouldn't weigh too much on her mind.

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Adeline threw her bag over her shoulder and sighed as she walked toward the lobby door. She had been out much later than she had ever planned tonight, and it was by far one of the most exhausting days she'd had since they had returned to New York. It was nearing ten at night, and even though she hadn't had dinner yet, she was ready for a long, hot soak in the bath and looking forward to slipping into her pajamas and into her bed. She was ready to end this day.

As she opened the door her only thought was how much she wanted to take off her shoes – but the minute she stepped into the lobby, her mind jumped to something else.

Usually at this time of night, most of the tenants were in their apartments relaxing and getting ready for bed, and it was empty – but tonight, a small crowd had gathered inside the lobby, all seemingly staring in the same general direction.

The first thing she noticed were the two police officers in front of the crowd, keeping them back. The second thing she noticed when she looked over was Lance.

“Addy!”

Mel appeared, from beside Lance but conveniently hidden behind him, already in her t-shirt and pajama pants. When she yelled Addy's name, Lance looked over. Both of them started walking over to her quickly.

“Oh Addy,” Mel said.

“Thank God you're home, you were out so late I was getting worried,” Lance said.

She was so confused and shocked, she couldn't speak for a few moments; she could only stand there, wondering why they seemed so worried about her.

“What...what happened?” she asked, looking between the two of them. “Why are there cops here? Why is everyone standing in the lobby in their pajamas?”

Lance looked from Addy to Mel as if asking her a question, but no words came out. Melissa's mouth opened, but the only response she gave him was a gentle shake of her head.

“Addy, we should go upstairs,” Lance said. “You're tired, let's get out of here and talk about it up there.”

“Lance can run you a bath, I can scrounge us up some dinner,” Melissa said. “We'll all hang out and have kind of a sleepover.”

“Sounds fun, right?” Lance asked.

It then occurred to her that they were playing her like a fiddle. There was no way that Lance would describe a sleepover with Mel “fun”. Why were they all of a sudden hanging on her, like she was a child? They were trying to distract her and dodge all the questions she asked.

“What's going on, Lance?” she asked forcefully. “Why are the cops here?”

“Let's go up to the apartment and we'll talk about it there,” he said again. “You don't need to be around all these people.”

“Fine, you won't tell me,” she said, looking directly at Lance. Then she turned to Melissa. “What about you? You want to tell me what's going on, or will I have to walk over there and see for myself?”

Melissa said nothing; only shook her head and stared at Addy, begging her not to with her eyes.

“Fine,” Adeline whispered.

Before he could stop her, she ripped her arm away from Lance's grasp and quickly walked away from them, hearing them behind her repeatedly beg her not to go any further. She pushed her way through the crowd of tenants, making it all the way to the yellow police tape before one of the officers stopped her by the shoulders.

It was long enough to see it; to see what the crowd had gathered for, staring into the security office of the lobby, watching even more officers and men in suits hanging around looking down at the floor. It was long enough to see that the crowd had gathered to watch their own real-life version of CSI unfold in front of their eyes.

It was long enough to see all the blood.

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All she knew for sure was that she had only seen it for a second before Lance had put his arms around her and he and Mel had dragged her toward the staircase. The elevator was shut down for the time being so the police could check it for fingerprints and evidence. It felt like she would never make it up those stairs in time to make it to the bathroom.

The sight of blood usually didn't make her sick. But there was something about it being so close and right in front of her that threw her already queasy stomach into turmoil. She had only seen it for a second – but she would be lucky if she could ever forget it.

The minute she stepped outside of their bathroom door, they were waiting for her.

“Are you okay, honey?” Melissa asked.

She only walked past them into the living room, Lance following immediately after with Melissa following cautiously behind. She didn't know how to answer that question. Of course she wasn't okay. How they were okay was beyond her. Did they see the same thing she did?

She sat down on the couch and hugged a throw pillow to her chest as Melissa sat down next to her and put her hand on her arm comfortingly.

“I'll get her some water,” Lance said to Melissa quietly.

Addy saw her nod as he left the room, before she turned to her.

“Are you okay?” Melissa repeated.

“I guess you don't have to worry about me calling the police anymore,” Addy whispered before she curled into the couch.

The rest of the time, the two of them sat silent. A few minutes later, Lance walked into the room with a glass of water and sat it on the table in front of Addy, before scooting her over to sit next to her. As he got himself seated, she burrowed her head into his chest.

“Who was it?”

Instinctively, she knew; she didn't have to ask. The person lying dead on the floor in the pool of blood was turned completely away from her so she couldn't see a face. She could see hints of dark hair, but there was so much blood that it could have been staining. She couldn't tell the skin color because the body was still in uniform. It could have been any one of the guards – but deep down, she knew.

“Addy...”

“Who was it?” she asked forcefully.

Lance sighed. “It was Carlos.”

Even though she knew, hearing it was a blow to the chest.

“Oh God,” she said as she immediately buried her head deeper into his chest and sobbed.

“When I came home at eight, the security supervisor was still hanging around the main lobby,” he said. “I said hi to him and we talked for a couple of minutes. Carlos was hanging around downstairs, too, so I said hi to him. I grabbed our mail and then came upstairs, thinking you would be home soon. I started dinner because I knew you had a late night and you'd be stressed. I thought I could surprise you. Around 8:30, an alarm started going off on the second floor...”

“Lance,” Mel interrupted, a scolding tone in her voice. “Are you sure this is a good idea, telling her all of this? Look at her.”

“Like keeping it from her is going to make her feel any better,” he said.

The two of them exchanged a heated look before Melissa finally backed down.

“Mel and I heard it from up here,” he continued. “We both walked out of the apartments and stood in the hallway for a few minutes wondering if we should go down and check to make sure everything was okay. But after a couple of minutes, the alarm stopped, so we stood around a few more minutes. Then the security supervisor came up to walk the hall and stopped to tell us that one of the emergency exit doors had been triggered. He had run up to check on it before he left for the night.”

“He said not to worry,” Mel interjected. “He thought maybe a visitor or a tenant had accidentally gone through that door and triggered the alarm.”

“Mel and I both went back inside. But it was about thirty minutes later that one of the neighbors came and knocked on the door. She told me that she had seen cop cars outside the window, in the parking lot, and she wondered if I knew anything about it. By then, it seemed like everyone knew because everyone was going downstairs to see what the commotion was. I got Mel and went down, and that's when we saw it.”

“Addy,” Mel said, “I told him about the new note. I'm sorry. I thought after what happened, he should know.”

“I'm a little rusty on my Law and Order speak but I think I heard he was shot in the head once, execution style,” he said. “It was quick, Addy. He didn't feel anything.”

“It's all my fault,” Adeline cried. “I ignored the first note. I should have done something. Carlos was killed because of me.”

“Honey, what could you have done?” Mel asked, rubbing her hand over Addy's back. “It's not like you could write back and say that you were listening.”

“You're not to blame, baby,” Lance said, running his hand through her hair. “If you're to blame, I'm to blame, too. I got a second one, one that I never told you about. I didn't want you to worry more, so I threw it in the trash.”

“Lance told me how he thought it was Carlos who was sending them,” Mel said softly. “You both thought it was a harmless prank. There was nothing you could have done to stop this.”

For the next half hour, all Lance and Melissa could do was try to console her, trying to convince her that the situation was out of her control. After a while she seemed to calm down a bit, and Lance walked Melissa to the door when she decided to go back to her apartment and attempt to get some sleep after the rough night.

All Lance could do after Melissa left was try to make Addy as comfortable as he possibly could, and try to keep her calm. He knew she wouldn't be able to sleep being as shaken up as she was, and in turn that meant he wouldn't be able to sleep since he didn't want to leave her up alone. So he accepted his fate for the night, turned the television onto something he thought he could stomach watching, and excused himself to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee for the long night ahead.