Mia Amata, page 25
Figuring that was probably what was going on down here, he turned his attention to the doors going outside, taking a closer look at the alarm system that she had hooked up to them. He was able to rewire her system so that these doors were no longer hooked to the alarm but would still appear to be. She could disarm and arm the alarm all she wanted, but this set of doors would remain unarmed at all times.
Pretty soon, Allen headed back up the stairs, closing the kitchen window, now that he would be able to go out the basement doors when he left. He went into the garage next, but looking around he didn’t see much that alarmed him. There were only a few items that someone could grab as weapons, but he could take care of that when the time came. Going back into the house, he made his way through the living room, checking out the first door he came to, a bathroom. Walking past that, he looked into the smaller of the two bedrooms. This appeared to be a nursery, but he figured it was just part of her daycare, so he didn’t give it a second thought.
He went into the master bedroom last of all. The first thing he saw was the king-sized bed. He was instantly enraged. This is where she betrays him with another man. Bitch! He took a few minutes to calm down, trying to keep his head about him.
Looking around, he decided there was really not much here of value. The only thing he did find was that the closet would offer a great hiding place should he need it. It was a walk-in closet, there was one corner where he could hide pretty easily, even if someone walked in. Upon opening a few drawers, he found himself getting enraged again at the sexy panties and bras he was finding. Slut! he thought.
He would teach her a lesson when he got his hands on her. Making his way back through the house, he did not find anything else of interest, so he concentrated on memorizing the layout of the furniture, so he could find his way around in the dark. Pretty soon, he grabbed his bag from the kitchen floor, took a look around to make sure that he didn’t leave any evidence he had been there and then headed down to the basement. He walked out the basement door, shutting it behind him, stopping for a moment to put his shoes back on. He worked his way back around to the kitchen window that he had climbed in, replacing the screen that he had popped out. Looking over the window, he didn’t see any evidence of his climb into the house.
Allen then headed back down to the pier. He climbed onto his raft and headed back across the lake. Making it to his takeout spot, he pulled his raft out, carrying it back to the cabin. He hung the raft on the side of the cabin, leaning the oar against the side of the cabin.
Once inside, he changed clothes and started a fire. Grabbing his notepad once the fire was going, he made notes while everything was still fresh in his mind. After finishing his notes, he lay down in bed, thinking about what his next step would be. He had a lot of plans to make.
***
Allen woke up the next morning, still trying to work out his plan in his head, he needed to get all the details figured out soon. Sitting up, he knew one thing that he needed to do for sure. He needed to be able to stop her or her husband from calling the cops if given a chance. He picked up his cell phone and made another call.
“Hello?” a man said.
“I need you to bring me something.”
“What and where?” came the reply.
Allen told the man what exactly he needed, stating that he wanted it as soon as possible. The man on the other end stated he could actually meet him later that same day with the items he needed once he found out approximately where Allen was located. After setting the time and place, the call ended. Allen got up, warming up some water over what remained of his fire. He washed up and got dressed. The meeting place was a pretty good hike from where he was hiding out, so he got started as soon as he could.
Making it to the meeting place, a little before his contract was supposed to arrive, he surveyed the area to make sure they wouldn’t be spotted. His contact was someone he helped escape arrest in Nevada, who had moved to Minnesota to hide out. Allen hid in the trees a few hundred feet from the actual meeting spot to wait for him to arrive.
When the contact arrived, Allen watched as he got out of the car, leaning against it while he lit a cigarette. Allen watched him for a few minutes from the trees, then made his way silently up to the man. Pulling out his pistol, another Glock but this time a .45 caliber, he placed the gun against the man’s head. The man stiffened.
“Hey,” Allen said. The man didn’t say anything. “Did you bring what I needed?” The man nodded, motioning to the backseat. Allen glanced in the window, seeing a box sitting on the back seat. “Get it out for me, slowly.” The man opened the back door to his car, pulling out the box. “Hand it to me.” The man did, saying, “Listen, man, I don’t have anything against you. Take the box and go. I won’t say anything to anybody. I mean, what could I tell anyone?”
“You could tell them I am in the state,” Allen replied.
“I wouldn’t do that,” the man whined. “I came here to start over. I am only here tonight because you asked me to.”
“If you tell anyone I was here, I will kill you,” Allen said.
The man continued to beg Allen, promising him he would never tell. Allen hit him in the back of the head with his pistol, knocking the man to the ground, unconscious. He couldn’t risk the guy seeing which direction he headed. Allen felt for a pulse, making sure the man was still alive.
Grabbing the box, he took off to the trees, heading back to his hideout in the woods. He was pretty confident that the man would not reveal to anyone that Allen was in Minnesota. Once back to the cabin, he examined the package the man brought him. He found exactly what he needed in the package, making plans to go back to the house later the same night to put his plan into motion.
Following almost the same routine he had the night before, with the exception of going in through the basement door, instead of the kitchen window, Allen placed the devices from the package his contact had given him earlier throughout the house. He placed one device in the basement under the desk. The next one he placed in the living room behind the TV over the fireplace, the last one in the master bedroom on the back of the headboard. He ran a test of all three devices, pleased to find they worked perfectly.
Having finished what he needed to; he went back to the cabin. He was exhausted from the long day, soon falling asleep. The next few days Allen spent preparing for winter and Megan—or Mattie’s—return. He checked over the outside of the cabin, looking for areas where the winter snow or wind would be able to invade the cabin or other possible problems. He made a few minor repairs, trying to winterize the cabin the best he could.
He knew the cabin wouldn’t be an ideal home for the entire winter, but he didn’t plan to be there that long. It just had to be livable for a couple of months, by then he would have his revenge on his wife. Allen also worked on a sort of blind by the lake, one that would offer some protection from the cold, but would also hide him from view. He needed to be able to observe Megan’s house to learn everything he could about her daily routine. Then he should be able to pick the right time to make his move.
Chapter 25
We had a fantastic time on the cruise. Jacob was amazing, attentive, caring, and making sure that I got the rest I needed, but he also made sure that I got to see whales, dolphins, grizzly bears, and even a moose. As much fun as I had on the trip, it felt good to get back home. I was a little surprised to find out how much I really missed Lucky; he was happy to see us. Josh and Randy had been watching him for us, he never ran away once—until the day I got home. I found him sitting at the back door waiting to be let in the day we got back home.
“How does he know you’re home?” Jacob asked, amazed. I couldn’t explain it. I was just happy to see him again. Soon we fell back into our routine where he followed me everywhere I went. We came back home to see the first snow of the season; I thought it was beautiful.
I had never seen snow before, I loved it. Jacob was amused by my excitement over it, and we went for some walks in the snow. Lucky loved to romp and play in the snow too. Jacob warned me I would tire of it when there were a few feet of snow on the ground, but I didn’t think I would.
We had the rest of the following week off to rest, needing to get a few things done before we went back to work. I worked on catching up on laundry while Jacob made sure the house was ready for the winter. We also started our Saturday night routine with Josh and Randy again, supper at one or the other’s house, maybe playing a game or two or watching a movie, sometimes we would go out to eat and then catch a movie.
Soon enough, we were both back to work, Lucky keeping busy by following me around the house, keeping me company while I worked. Most mornings Randy would trek through the woods bringing Lady over to see Lucky. We would enjoy our morning coffee together, but instead of being out on the deck, we would sit at the table. Randy and Josh’s wedding plans were coming along, and some mornings, Randy and I spent discussing choices for food or looking at dress choices.
On other mornings, we looked at cute baby clothes we found online, sometimes not being able to resist temptation, we would order an outfit or two. Then when they arrived, we would talk about how adorable they were. Jayden’s closet was filling up with cute clothes of varying sizes. We were having a lot of fun shopping for the baby. I often kidded Randy that she and Josh needed to have a baby soon so that Jayden had a little playmate. It was obvious that Randy wanted to start a family soon.
***
My job was going really well, I really enjoyed the work that I was doing. Jacob’s job was also going extremely well. In fact, Jacob was offered a promotion with a substantial raise. He was hesitant to accept it because it would require him to travel for training and conferences. We discussed the new opportunity for him at length, going back and forth over the pros and cons. “I don’t know, Mattie,” he said one night. “I have worked so hard for this promotion, but I’m not sure I want it now.”
“Why not? You deserve this promotion; you should take it.”
“If I take it, I have to travel even after the training is over and attend conferences. We just got married, I’m not sure I want to leave you alone. Especially once the baby is born.”
“How long at a time would you be gone?” I asked.
“At the most, it would be two weeks,” he replied.
“That’s not very long at all. The baby and I will be fine. Josh and Randy are close, or at least Randy is when Josh is away. Your parents are close too. Maybe some trips we can go with you.”
He got up and walked to the French doors and looked out. “I suppose you’re right. It just doesn’t feel right to just get married and then start traveling.”
I walked up to him and put my arms around him. “This job means a lot to you. The baby and I are not going anywhere. We will be here every time you get back.”
Jacob turned and took me in his arms. “I know. The job does mean a lot, I’ve wanted this for as long as I can remember. I’ve worked hard for it. Not only that, but the raise will be great for our family. You would be able to quit your job or cut back on hours if you decided you wanted to, not that I have a problem with your working, but it would be a possibility if you decided to.”
“I like my job and would like to continue, at least for now. Who knows what I will want to do after the baby is born? But I don’t care about the money, Jacob, I want you to take the promotion because you earned it because you want it.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, looking at me intently.
“Yes, I am sure,” I said.
He thought about it for a few minutes, then said, “I will take it on one condition.”
“Oh? What’s that?” I asked.
“I’ll take it, but if you promise me that if my being gone is causing an issue with us—if you become unhappy with my being gone, you have to tell me. I’ll make a change back or to a different position.”
“I promise,” I said. “But if you are happy, then I’ll be happy.”
“Then I’ll do it. I’ll tell them tomorrow.”
“Perfect!” I said. “Let’s celebrate!”
He smiled, “What do you have in mind?” I just smiled and kissed him.
***
Across the lake, Allen was sitting in his blind with his binoculars. He saw the dog, and that was unexpected. He would have never allowed Megan to have a dog. After watching the dog’s behavior for a while, Allen decided he was not going to worry about it, it was more of a playful puppy than a guard dog. He could take care of it easily enough if he had to.
He watched Megan and her new husband go for walks in the snow hand-in-hand. The more he saw of them together, the more his rage grew. Oh, how he was going to make her pay for humiliating him, cheating on him. She was his, and he warned her what would happen if she ever tried to leave him. With the drapes open, he could see through the French doors into the house, could see them kissing, see them walk toward the bedroom.
He couldn’t let his rage get the better of him. He needed to remain calm, so he could watch their routines. Once he had their daily routines down, then he could work out the remaining details of his plan on how to exact his revenge. He sat in the blind daily, there in the mornings before they woke up, staying until the lights went out at night. For a couple of nights, he stayed all night instead of during the day, watching to see if they let the dog out at night, which they did routinely twice a night like clockwork.
He made note of those times: what time her new husband left for work in the mornings and what time Megan got up. Every day she went downstairs, spending most of the day in the basement. The deck stairs and posts hindered his view of what she was doing down there, but he never saw any evidence of children running around. It was winter out, so maybe they stayed indoors. He wished he could see what she did down there.
He never saw her let in any kids upstairs so maybe she wasn’t running a daycare after all. He needed to figure out what she did down there every day, but as long as she was alone it probably wouldn’t make much difference. In fact, that might be the best place for his plan to be put into action. The basement was a walk-out with no windows except for the ones facing the lake. He remembered that there was a closet down there next to the small bathroom which would offer him perfect cover.
The main problem that he had was her so-called husband. He went to work every day but sometimes came home during the day for lunch or came home from work early. On other days, he worked late. It appeared that he really did not have any set hours. He was always dressed in some type of uniform too. He wasn’t a police officer, it looked more like he was a game warden. That means he probably has a gun.
He would have looked for where he kept that when they were gone had he known. It was probably in the closet in the master bedroom. If Allen had the chance, he would make sure to find it, so he could take care of it before the husband could grab it for self-defense.
He also took notes of everything of importance about the Saturday night get-togethers they had with the other couple. Allen noted that the woman walked over a lot in the mornings, would have coffee with Megan then leave. He tracked her progress through the trees where he could and watched her head up to the house north of Megan’s. Allen didn’t think this would be too big of a problem for him, he could be in and out of Megan’s house before the couple or the woman alone came back.
He also made notes about an older couple that stopped by often. Other than that, they didn’t seem to get much company. That would be helpful for his planning. Megan seemed to have a pretty set schedule. It was the guy she was living with who was unpredictable, who might be the problem.
He had originally hoped to do this before the lake froze over, but he was beginning to think that would be possible. He would have to wait for the lake to freeze solid, then make his crossing over on the ice. That could create more problems for him, but he would deal with those when the time came.
Chapter 26
November went by quickly. Jacob took the promotion, with his training set to start in December. Even though I was not looking forward to his being away, I knew he was happy with the new position, so I encouraged him. My job was going well, I received my first raise. My supervisor commented on how impressed she was with my work that I seemed able to adapt to whatever they assigned me to work on.
Thanksgiving we spent the day at Nora and Donald’s with the whole family. Nora prepared the turkey, and Randy, Janet, and I each prepared dishes and brought them over. The table had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casseroles, a corn casserole, rolls, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie—so much food the men groaned about how much they ate but declared it one of the best Thanksgiving meals they ever had. Before we all sat down to enjoy our meal together though, we took the same meal including a whole turkey that we had fixed to the local homeless shelter. We had purposely doubled everything we cooked so the shelter could feed the homeless, this was a family tradition for Jacob’s family, one that I was happy to assist with. The rest of the day was filled with good food, football, and card playing.
November was also when Randy and Josh finally set their wedding date, September 14th, so wedding plans were in full swing. Randy asked me to be her matron of honor, wanting Jayden to be her flower girl. After much discussion, they decided they wanted to get married on the family island.
Nora and Donald had been wanting to make improvements for a few years now on the island, in fact had some ideas on exactly what they wanted to do. Now was the perfect time to set those plans in motion. Josh and Jacob drew up plans for a large gazebo to place by the pond in the clearing. There were some other things that would need to be done, build a new pier on the island, make the path to the pond nicer, clean up the area, and do some landscaping.
Nora and Donald began looking for a contractor who could build a small cabin out there for them. They also purchased a pontoon that would arrive in the spring, they would use it for transporting building materials and then the wedding party. Donald had a good friend who was a contractor who would start the building off-site and then transport everything to the island to finish the building there.
