Bequeathed

Chapter Sixteen: The End

It’s eight o’clock at night and Claire is in bed watching the news - or letting the news watch her.

There aren’t many nightlife prospects when you’re being stalked by a man who tries to send you black roses. Usually, she eats dinner before seven, retires to her room by seven-thirty, and remains in isolation until morning. Joseph goes to his room after checking the parameter of the house and securing the points of entrance. Joseph sees Claire to her room each night, and he’s there to greet her at her door in the mornings.

Claire can’t go out and her staying in has gotten complicated. William has withdrawn from her. Their reality watch parties and conversations ended with a heated argument after dinner. Claire cleared the table. William usually helped her to wash up. That night he dumped his dish into the sink and went straight to his room. Claire found his absence strange but excused it. Dinner had been tense and Joseph was still hanging around the kitchen as if he expected her stalker to pop out of the drain. Claire understood Wiliam’s leaving.

Claire washed the dishes and went to William’s room, expecting to talk about what had happened. She found his door locked. Claire knocked. He opened it, stood in the doorway.

“I’m not up for it tonight.” William began to close the door. Claire held it open. The dishes she could forgive; this was something different. He was shutting her out.

“What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean what’s wrong? According to King Kong over there, I’m a suspect.” William tilted his head toward Joseph who had come up the steps behind Claire. Claire turned to Joseph. “Can you give me us a minute, please?” she asked him.

Joseph took a few steps towards Claire’s room. That’s as much as she would get, so Claire continued, “Things are good between us.”

“What do you need me for? You have him?”

Claire let go of the door. It’s as if William had slapped her.

“Our time together is coming to an end,” said William. “This is for the best. Good night, Ms. White.”

Claire watched the door long after it had been closed. She knows that she has been through a lot these past months, but she knows she hadn’t imagined what had been blossoming between her and William. He took back all of what he had been extending to her and it felt like a slap in the face. That’s what she gets for falling for a man whom she married for an inheritance.

Now it’s five minutes after eight and Claire is in bed, trying to fall asleep but the news is no lullaby.

Claire’s phone buzzes and gives her a start. She wants to ignore it and roll over in bed. Joe insists that she answers every call and keeps track of every message. She should wake him. Have him deal with it. Claire admires the phone bedside until the screen light goes out. She’s in bed and Joe is off duty. She should be a big girl. All she has to do is make a note of the message.

Meet me in the parking lot of the abandoned warehouse at 9

Claire blinks away her confusion. It takes her a minute to realize that the text is from Andrew and another minute to understand what warehouse he means. They’ve only met there once before. The warehouse is actually a building that Claire owns - technically. It belonged to Aunt Bev and White Textiles; an acquisition. Claire’s family textile company, bought some garment company when Claire was a child. The business that was acquired by White’s Textiles was later divested…dismantled…whatever. All of this was unknown to Claire until Andrew told it to her. Andrew is a thorough investigator. He supplies Claire with so many details, details she doesn’t need. He seems stumped on what she actually needs to know. But hopefully, that changes tonight.

Joe and I will be there shortly, Claire texts back. Immediately another text comes through from Andrew. No Joe. Just you.

Why?

WHY?!!!

No Joe. Just trust me.

Claire slips out of her room, and down the stairs. She steals from the house. She breathes a sigh of relief when she gets to her car. Thankful that she managed to elude Joe’s watchful eye. She turns the ignition on; her phone rings. She knows it’s Joe without looking at the screen. She zips off the property and through the gate; she doesn’t stop to watch it close behind her.

Tonight this will all be over. “I’ll have a name and a face. I can do something with that.”

The rain starts while Claire is driving across town. The raindrops pound an angry beat into the roof of her car. When she reaches the parking lot, the rain has died to a drizzle. Claire counts rivulets as they roll down her windshield. She expected Andrew to be here. This is where they parked the last time. They were here during the day, but she’s sure that they parked close to the back entrance. Claire considers the open gate, the battened-up windows of the building behind her. Now, more than before, she considers the waste. Why wasn’t the building sold? Why isn’t it being rented?

A shadow runs across the parking lot. Claire starts. The shadow runs back. Claire jumps. A black and white cat shifts into faint light that touches this end of the parking lot. The street lamp is too far to offer Claire any comfort. It’s too dark and too cold. She turns her car back on, trying to warm herself. The low rumble of her engine feels like a siren. She turns the car off and waits. Andrew should have been here already. Claire has been here…She checks the time on her phone. It’s still only five minutes to nine. She’s been here ten minutes yet it feels as if she’d been waiting an hour. Time is a tricky thing. When Claire got here, she was sure that she was late; it turns out she arrived way too soon. She had been speeding across town. She was aware that she was in a hurry. She wasn’t aware that she was flooring it the entire way to the warehouse parking lot. She must have picked up a few speeding tickets.

Claire remember Andrew’s habit of watching her from a distance whenever he requested a meeting. Claire leaves her cool car for the cold night. The shadows and the night air engulf her. Claire slips her hands into her jacket pockets. She peers into the dark for Andrew. She hears a sound coming from one of the shadows. She rushes back to her car door. “It’s just the cat.” Claire opens the door, puts her leg in…”Claire?”

Claire has to leave. She has to leave right now. Andrew! “It has to be him and his damn games!”

Andrew teases Claire with the truth of the identity of her stalker. All the information is in his car and all she has to do is follow him to claim it. She’s apprehensive. Why didn’t he bring the information with him? It’s sensitive? Why protect the information of a harasser. He should treat it with wonton disregard. He should let it fly over the city so it can be used, manipulated, and misused, allowing others to do to the harasser what he has done to Claire.

As Claire gets closer to Andrew’s car, she can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. Joe tells her to always trust her gut. Right now her gut is screaming that she should run. Why is Andrew’s car on the far side of the building? The parking lot is generally poorly lit. Where Andrew has parked is even darker. That side of the building only gets light from the moon and the stars. William emerges from Andrew’s car. Claire is taken by surprise by him. She's less shocked as she stares down the barrel of a gun. Her gut knew the danger awaiting her. She has questions, but she isn’t surprised. She pleads, but she knows she should have listened to her gut when it had told her to run. She tries now. It’s too late to listen to her gut.