“She left her marriage.” Juliet blurted out.
“Oh, that’s never easy.” Layla leaned in again. “Is she having second thoughts?”
“Oh no! Absolutely no second thoughts.” Juliet squeaked out in alarm. She had never discussed Kenny. Not with anyone that wasn’t a federal agent or a shrink. She heard her voice tremble, and she knew that Layla could hear it too. Juliet felt the crazy creep back in when she whispered fervently, “He was not a man at all. He was a monster. A fiend, a beast who did unspeakable things and committed heinous acts.”
If Layla had been alarmed at the terrifying description or the urgent tone of Juliet’s voice, she didn’t show it.
“That’s awful. Poor girl.” Layla clucked her tongue in sympathy.
“He hurt a lot of people.” Juliet whispered.
“Bastard.”
“My friend blames herself. She thinks that maybe she could have stopped him.”
“Why would she think that?” Layla puzzled.
“She just does.”
“That’s a lot to carry.” Layla shook her head. Then asked, “did she love him?”
“Once. She did once. With all her heart.” Juliet’s voice was full of sorrow. “And it shattered her when she found out who he really was, what he had done.”
“What did she do then? What did your friend do when she found out?” Layla asked gently.
“She ran. She told.” Juliet’s eyes went wide in her face and brightened with tears. But her chin lifted just a little.
“Your friend is a very brave woman.” Layla’s tone was firm and sure.
“Brave?”
“Very.”
“She doesn’t think she’s brave.” Juliet shook her head.
A sudden blast of cool wind blew through the air, rattling the wind chimes, and howling through the trees.
“What does she think she is?” Layla asked as she pulled her jacket closer around her.
“Stupid.” Juliet shivered when a cloud passed over the sun. “She thinks she should have known. And she wonders how he found her.”
“What do you mean, honey?” Layla reached out and held Juliet’s hand in her own.
Juliet felt Layla’s strength in the grip of her fingers and held on for dear life.
“She wonders how men like him find women like her. He must have known, must have seen something in her. Something that told him she’d be too dumb to see what was right in front of her nose.”
“Well, you tell your friend, she isn’t the first and won’t be the last woman who’s gotten fooled by a man.” Layla sighed. “Love isn’t only blind, it’s deaf and dumb, too.”
“She thinks that maybe he picked her because he thought she was a coward. That she’d be too afraid to tell.” Juliet pressed on. The misery evident in every sound, every syllable.
Layla gave Juliet a long searching look. Then her voice rang out loud, clear, and strong enough to penetrate through the barrier of emotion that Juliet’s words had built.
“But your friend did tell. Didn’t she?’ Layla said with vehemence. “So, in the end, he was the stupid one. He misjudged her, didn’t he? Because no matter how much your friend loved her husband, or the personal cost or consequences that telling might bring, your friend knew the right thing to do and she did it. A woman like that? She’s no dummy and certainly not a coward. I would never call her those things.”
“What would you call her?” Juliet asked even as she held her breath.
“A warrior.” Layla replied without hesitation. “I’d call a woman like that a goddamn warrior.”
“So, you got something for me?” P.J. picked up the phone on the first ring.
“Uh…hello to you, too.” Reginald Dumont replied.
“Don’t be a pain in my ass, Reggie.”
After a couple of days of thinking over the card incident with Juliet, P.J. had decided to do some investigating.
“Don’t have much for you, man.” Reggie said. “Layla really didn’t have Juliet give her a lot on the lines of information when she rented the place. I looked through the stuff last night, and it looks like Layla didn’t ask Juliet for references or prior workplaces.”
P.J. sat outside, lit up a smoke, and looked across the stream bank to Juliet’s cabin. Lights blazed softly from the curtained windows. P.J. had noticed that Juliet never kept the house completely dark, even in the middle of the night. Recently there had been a few security motion lights installed around the parameter of the property, he assumed that had been at Juliet’s request.
“So why did Layla let Juliet get away without providing the usual kind of reference check? It’s run of the mill stuff.” P.J. asked.
“Who the hell knows?” Reggie grumbled in resignation. “You know Layla…she does whatever the hell she wants. And honestly, I don’t give two shits about references at this point, that cabin’s been empty for too long now as it is. The chick looks pretty harmless, so I was down with the decision to hand those keys over, no questions asked.”
“So, did Juliet pay up front? How much green did she put down?” P.J. stomped out the butt of his cigarette, then reached into the cooler and grabbed himself a beer.
“Yeah, first, last and a security, that’s a pretty good chunk of cash, so I don’t think she plans on skipping out any time soon, if that’s what you’re wondering. Why are you wondering by the way? You interested in your new little neighbor? Got to say, Juliet doesn’t seem your type, man.”
“I don’t have a type.”
“I’d say the strippers over at the Wolves Den might disagree.” Reggie rasped out a chuckle.
P.J. growled into the phone.
“Seriously man, I honestly don’t know much.” Reggie continued. “I only know the basics…name is Juliet Jones, and she’s from Boston, Mass. That’s according to the half assed job she did filling out the lease agreement, but no doubt she could have lied on that. Not sure why she
