~ Idle Tuesday ~

by

Courtney E. Michel

She wanted him desperately.

Rae Ann pulled him close and kissed the smooth spot behind his ear. He shuddered and reached out to encircle her waist with his powerful arms.

“I love you, Rae Ann,” he muttered softly. She knew it was true, felt it in the room like another physical presence. There was no way she could deny it any longer.

“I--” Rae Ann started.

Unexpectedly a loud banging on the apartment door interrupted her speech and sent both Rae Ann and Kyle to their feet. They both glanced around awkwardly like kissing teenagers caught by their parents.

“Rae Ann? Are you still in there?” a voice called out from the hallway.

“It’s Klein,” Kyle said matter-of-factly starting for the door.

“Oh you’re here, too. Is everything all right?” Klein’s words were breathless.

“Fine,” Kyle said, wiping the last of his tears.

Klein nodded with a look that said we’ll-talk-about-it-later and continued into the apartment. “Rae Ann, dear, have you seen the news?”

“Yes, I know I owe you an explanation. I was just about to tell Kyle.”

“Tell Kyle what?” Kyle asked.

“I have to go back to Wisconsin.”

“Rae Ann, I thought we just--” Rae Ann held up her hand to silence his words.

“Kyle, Grant is dead--and they think I killed him.”

Kyle stood stunned gawking back and forth between Klein and Rae Ann.

“I know you don’t understand. I don’t understand either,” Rae Ann whispered sympathetically. Klein ushered her into a chair at the kitchen table and then joined her.

“Honey, what would give them the impression that you had anything to do with this?” Klein inquired.

“Well, even I can admit that it looks suspicious. Everyone knew that my marriage was on the rocks and I vanished from town virtually overnight.”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Kyle said, finally speaking up, “What happened? Where did they find him?”

“I don’t know what happened,” Rae Ann shook her head, “but he was found in our house. The news report said it had been ransacked. A robbery or something. So you see, I have to go back. I have to find out what’s going on and tell them I didn’t do it.” Kyle began pacing back in forth in front of the kitchen table.

“Rae Ann, you’re safe here,” Klein said, softly, “and it’s too late to do anything about this today. We’ll all get a good night’s rest and figure this out in the morning.” Rae Ann glanced towards the front window of the apartment and was shocked to realize that it was dark outside. She had been so involved with Kyle and his heart-wrenching story that she had not noticed the hours ticking away. She nodded her head in agreement and reached across the table for Klein’s hand.

“Thank you.”

“Although,” Klein continued, “I don’t think you should be alone. Kyle has some things left to do at the bar so I suggest you bunk at my place.”

The look of relief on Rae Ann’s face was evident to all in the room. “Let me just go get some things.” As Rae Ann got up from the table she looked up at Kyle expectantly.

As if reading her thoughts, his features softened and he said, “of course. I’ll come up after I get back from the Buttercup and stay with you.” Rae Ann smiled then and left the two men in the kitchen. Kyle could feel Klein’s eyes on him and for once he turned to meet the gaze of his older brother.

“I told her. Everything.”

“Well, that’s a start,” Klein mused, “she seems pretty special.”

Kyle turned to face the bedroom door and crossed his arms over his heavy heart, “you have no idea.”

~ * ~

Rae Ann could hear the mumbled talk of the brother’s, but only concerned herself with gathering a couple of items to get her through the night at Klein’s place. She stacked some toiletries on top of a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt on the bed and then looked around the room expectantly. She found the pearl necklace still on the bed.

Rae Ann couldn’t bear to leave it behind so she searched through the roughly packed boxes until she found the blue velvet case that housed the precious jewels. Amongst the half folded clothes, Rae Ann’s hand brushed the crushed velvet exterior and she snatched it up in haste.

Somehow her clumsy fingers slipped off the box and it tumbled through the air landing severely on the floor. The tiny clasp that held the lid closed popped open and the false bottom of the display jumped free. Rae Ann rushed over hoping that she had not permanently damaged the box that was so valuable to her.

As Rae Ann approached it, something glinted in the bottom, catching the illumination from the overhead light. Bending over the box, she peered inside. Fitting very snugly in the bottom of the box was a thin plastic case. Rae Ann picked up the small package and tipped it over onto her hand. The casing hesitated only a moment before falling squarely onto her palm. It was what she had thought, a CD case. But how it had gotten into her jewelry box, she didn’t know.

Rae Ann dropped the velvet box onto the bed and worked open the lid of the case. Inside was a shiny, metallic disk. She turned it over and over in her hands, but it had no distinguishing marks or music group logo. Rae Ann walked it into the kitchen and held it up for Klein and Kyle to see. They had been in deep conversation, but halted at Rae Ann’s expression.

“What’s that?” Kyle asked.

“I don’t know. I found it in the bottom of my jewelry box,” Rae Ann shrugged. “Does anyone have a computer?”

The brothers exchanged glances.

“There’s one at the Buttercup,” Klein answered.

Kyle was already walking towards the door, “let’s go.”

~ * ~

No one spoke inside Klein’s Mercedes as they raced into the night towards the bar. Rae Ann sat in the back seat holding the disk in her hands as if it would disappear. Kyle twisted around in the passenger seat twice to look at her but never uttered a sound. His unspoken words had Rae Ann tense and visibly shaking by the time they pulled into the parking lot, leaving a trail of dust from the highway.

“Are you ready?” Klein asked, catching Rae Ann’s eye in the rear view mirror.

“Yeah, let’s do this,” Rae Ann replied, even though she was not ready to jump out of an airplane with no parachute. They were a somber crowd walking towards the back entrance of the building. Kyle fell in step beside her and captured her hand in his.

“It’s probably nothing,” he said, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. Rae Ann nodded but was unconvinced. There was something sinister about the way it had been hidden in her jewelry box, locked in the safe. They weaved through the sparse cars in the lot. Being a weekday night, the bar wasn’t full. For this Rae Ann was thankful.

Klein went on ahead to unlock his office and Kyle stepped ahead of her to hold open the kitchen door. Rae Ann slowed to almost a stand still and stared at the back of Kyle’s head. A pang of guilt filled her insides as she remembered what they had just shared in her apartment. Kyle had poured out his heart to her and she had barely said three words about it before the situation had focused on her again. She made a mental note to make it up to him after all of this was over.

Rae Ann cast a fleeting look over her shoulder at the highway and wondered why fate had ever pulled her car into this parking lot. When she turned back to the bar, both men were peering in her direction. No doubt trying to understand what kind of person they had brought into their lives. Rae Ann dropped her head, ashamed, and stepped inside the building.

The trio entered through the kitchen just as Kyle and Rae Ann had on Saturday morning. It seemed like ages ago. The cooks and waitresses smiled and shouted out hellos to the Bennett’s and then lowered their voices to whispers to discuss who the mysterious blond was. Klein pushed open the door of his private office and flipped on the overhead light. The harsh fluorescence hurt Rae Ann’s eyes and she squinted to cease the burning sensation. Her eyes felt gritty from crying earlier and a pounding headache was beginning deep in her brain. At the moment, the comfy office seemed more like an interrogation room. The wooden giraffe now stared accusingly at her and the elephant seemed frozen in perpetual scowl. Klein lowered the bamboo shade that covered the room’s only window and then moved behind the desk to boot up the computer. It seemed to take forever groaning and buzzing in protest all the while.

“Here let me have it,” Klein said, removing the disk from Rae Ann’s hand and placing it in the CD Rom drive. “There’s only one file,” Klein stated to no one in particular.

“What is it? Kyle asked moving around the desk to get a better view of the monitor, “audio or video?”

“Video,” Klein said, simultaneously double clicking the icon to run the file. Before she changed her mind, Rae Ann stepped around behind Klein, too, and focused on the screen of the computer. Kyle placed his hand lovingly on her back and although Rae Ann wasn’t comforted, she looked up at him with a grateful smile. None of them were prepared for what was on the disk.