Erica Spindler - Cause for Alarm

The next forty-eight hours were a nightmare for Kate. She had Richard's family and their grief to deal with, her and Richard's friends and colleagues to tell, their shock to contend with, The Bean to run and funeral arrangements to make. Emma to care for. The shadow of suspicion hanging over her, the detectives' seemingly endless questions.

Her own grief. Her guilt. She couldn't help wondering- knowing -that if she had been more forgiving, if she had allowed Richard to come home, he would be alive.

How was she going to go on? How was she going to live with that?

She was eliminated as a suspect only after Richard's cell phone records were received. That call he made to her, as well as Old Joe's midnight stroll with Beauregard, cleared her.

Blake, Marilyn and Beanie were godsends. They took over the day-to-day running of The Bean. In truth, Kate wanted nothing to do with it.

First Tess. Now Richard. Nothing meant anything anymore.

Except Emma. If not for her daughter, Kate feared she would curl up and die, too. That's why, when family and friends offered to take the child until Kate had a chance to find her footing, she refused. Without her daughter, she told them, she would never find her feet. Emma was all that anchored her to this world.

Richard was interred in his family's vault in New Orleans. The November day was cold and damp, the air heavy with moisture. Julianna stood outside the circle of mourners, neither family, friend, nor colleague. An outcast. The way she had always been.

Without Richard, she was alone now. Alone again. Tears stung her eyes and she fought to keep them from falling. She didn't want them to see her cry, didn't want them to think her pathetic. As pathetic as she thought herself.

The firm had closed for the day so that the employees could attend the funeral. They all snubbed Julianna. Somehow they had discovered Julianna's part in Richard's last hours, that the two of them had been embroiled in an affair.

Somehow. Julianna shifted her gaze to Sandy, huddling with the other secretaries, suddenly one of them. Suddenly accepted.

Not so suddenly, not a surprise.

Chas Bedico had called her the day after the murder and coolly reminded her that she had been an employee of Richard's, not the firm's. He would appreciate it if she would remove her personal items from the office before regular hours began Monday morning. As a courtesy to Kate, he would pay Julianna anything that was owed her.

It had been obvious that he had known about her and Richard, too.

Just then, Sandy looked up and their gazes met. Her lips lifted in the smallest of smiles, but in that smile Julianna saw triumph. Payback. In that moment she knew with certainty what she had only suspected-Sandy had made sure everyone knew about her affair with Richard. No doubt complete with all the sordid details she could manufacture.

Payback.

Vision blurring with tears, Julianna dragged her gaze away. She hugged herself, losing the battle with her tears. They spilled over and rolled down her cheeks. Sandy didn't understand. None of them did. She and Richard had been so much more than lovers. They had been each other's destiny. Soul mates.

And now he was gone.

Julianna hugged herself tighter, struggling to keep from completely falling apart. She had nothing now. No lover, no job. She looked toward Kate, cuddling Emma in her arms, holding her tightly.

No baby.

As she contemplated the mother and infant, Julianna longed to hold her child, so badly her arms and chest ached. If only she could hold on to her the way Kate was, seeming to draw strength and comfort from her tiny body, her unconditional love. With Emma, she would never have to be alone and unloved again.

She had nothing. Nobody.

No, she amended, not quite alone. John was out there. Waiting, though she wasn't sure for what. Since she found the obscene package he had left for her on her bed, she'd heard nothing from him, though she had known he was near. She had felt his presence, like the charged quiet of a storm still an hour off. Watching. Biding his time.

Richard's parents opened their home for the mourners to pay their respects after the funeral. Julianna didn't attend. Instead, she drove aimlessly through the city before heading back across the Causeway, working to gather her scattered thoughts, to plan what she would do next, where she would go.

She had allowed herself a false sense of security; she realized that now. She had allowed herself to believe that some stranger had been in her home and had violated her things; had allowed herself to believe that Richard could protect her from John.

Instead, Richard was dead. Julianna's hands began to shake, and she gripped the steering wheel tighter. No one could protect her from John. No one but herself. She had to run-she would have already but she'd felt compelled to attend Richard's funeral. For herself and because she owed him that.

By the time she returned home, the sun was beginning its descent. The humidity of the day had lingered, lending the approaching evening a wet cold that penetrated clear to her bones. Los Angeles, she thought as she climbed out of her car and started for the porch. Palm trees, ocean breezes, moderate temperatures. Surely she could get lost in a city that size.

She unlocked her front door and stepped inside. She stopped dead, a cry of terror crossing her lips, coming out as a strangled whimper. John sat in a straight-backed chair facing the door, a gun laid across his lap.

He smiled, the curving of his lips bloodless. In that instant, Julianna knew that John had killed Richard. He meant to kill her next.

"Hello, Julianna."

She took an instinctive step backward, hand behind her, searching for the doorknob, though she knew he would never allow her to escape.

He picked up the gun, and motioned with it. "Move away from the door, please. After all, we wouldn't want to disturb the neighbors."

She did as he asked, heart beating so wildly she could hardly breathe.

"What's the matter, my sweet? Aren't you happy to see me?" He smiled again. "You can't be surprised. I know you got my gift."

"You…killed…Richard."

"I did. He took what was mine, Julianna. He had what was mine. That was unacceptable." He waved her forward. "Come here."

Eyes filling with tears, she did as he instructed. Her legs shook so badly she could hardly walk. She stopped before him, head bowed.

"Look at me, Julianna." She lifted her gaze. "I want you to get on your knees."

Her tears welled and spilled over. She didn't want to die on her knees, but followed his orders anyway, wondering when the bullet would come, where he would place it.

And she wondered whether death would be mercifully quick or agonizingly slow.

He stood. "I'm disappointed in you, Julianna. Very disappointed." He lowered his voice. "After everything I taught you about love, about loyalty and commitment, you do this? You let me down this way?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

He shook his head. "Sorry isn't good enough. You disobeyed me. You stole from me. You took my love and threw it back in my face. How do you think that made me feel?" When she didn't answer, he nudged her with the gun. "How, Julianna?"

"Bad," she said, voice faltering. "Awful."

"That doesn't begin to cover it." His voice thickened, as with emotion. "You broke my heart."

She swallowed past the knot of tears in her throat. "Forgive me, John. I didn't mean to. Please…don't hurt me."

He ignored her pleading and circled to stand behind her. "I could kill you now." He bent and she felt his breath against the back of her neck, his lips against her ear. She shuddered. "It would be easy. Almost pleasurable after the way you've betrayed me."