A Murderink Bedtime Story

Goodnight, Terry

Terry parked her BMW in front of her house and sat there, staring straight ahead, exhausted. God, she thought, I can remember when Fridays meant the beginning of the weekend and a day or two for herself. Now the days fell one after the other, like dominoes in a line. Why did I ever quit my last job? She didn’t bother to answer herself, the reason being that she didn’t quit but was fired for doing her job too well and making her supervisor look like the idiot she really was. It didn’t matter now that she had her own agency. It was a tremendous amount of work, didn’t pay much, and she still had to put up with a lot of crap and aggravation. At least now she was more in control of her professional life. The downside was that her social life was taking a major hit.

She got out, beeped the remote to lock the car, and walked up the short sidewalk to her front door. When she grabbed the doorknob to insert her key, the door opened slightly at her touch. Shit, she thought, Nancy’s home and she didn’t shut the door tight. Terry stepped into the foyer, shut the door and was about to call out to Nancy when she remembered that her roommate had left before she did this morning for a conference in Atlanta. Oh double shit, did I forget to lock the door when I left for work? Did someone break in the house while I was gone? Is someone in the house now? Okay Terry, don’t panic. She opened her purse and got out her container of pepper spray. She turned around and started towards the stairs to do a room by room search of the house.

After she had taken two steps, the doorbell rang, startling her, and she dropped the pepper spray. She slowly crept back to the front door and peeked out through the curtains in the sidelight next to the door. Standing on the front porch was her next door neighbor Burt, holding a package in both hands. Terry let out a huge sigh of relief. She was so relieved seeing him out there, she could just hug him, something she had fantasized about often. He was sooo gorgeous, and so gay. Life was just not fair.

When she opened the door he said, “Hi Terry. UPS left this at our house for you.”

“Buuurrtt!” she said in a hushed voice laced with equal parts of panic and relief. She grabbed both of his wrists while they still clutched the box and dragged him inside. “I’m so glad you’re here. I left the door unlocked this morning and I’m afraid there might be someone in the house. Can you help me make sure everything’s alright?

“Omigiod, Terry,” said Burt as he set the box down on a chair. “Why don’t I go get Barry? He’s built like a brick outhouse and has a brown belt in Wing Tip Shu.”

Terry thought for a moment and said more calmly, “No, I don’t want to make a big deal out of what might be nothing. If you have a few minutes, will you walk through the house with me?”

“Sure, Terry. You do so much for other people, I don’t mind at all.”

Twenty minutes later they were back in the foyer, having searched the house from top to bottom, not finding anyone or anything out of place.

“God, I feel like such a fool for leaving that door unlocked all day,” Terry said with relief.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it. Now you call us if you hear anything go “bump” in the night,” he said with a smile. He gave her a quick neighborly hug and was gone.

Terry shut the door behind him and double checked that the dead bolt was locked. She went into the kitchen, sliced some cheese on a plate, poured a glass of white wine, and sat down in the living room to listen to NPR. After the second glass of wine, she decided to make it an early evening. Before getting ready for bed, she made another tour of the house just to be sure. After checking all the doors and windows twice, she went into her bedroom and changed into her nightgown.

She walked into the bathroom, bare foot as usual. Terry very rarely wore shoes at home. She washed her face, brushed her teeth and was about to open the medicine cabinet door to get her moisturizer lotion when she paused. She stared at herself in the mirror for a full minute while a spectrum of emotions danced through her mind. Finally she smiled and said out loud, “God, Terry, we need some excitement in our life, but not like this.”

She reached up and opened the door of the medicine cabinet. A glass fell out and shattered on the sink, sending shards of glass scattering across the sink and onto the floor. Terry jumped back, hitting the wall behind her and froze, her heart pounding. After a few seconds, she looked down at the floor and realized that, barefooted, she was momentarily trapped. She looked around for something to brush away the glass on the floor so she could leave and get a dustpan. When her glance fell on the sink, she saw that there was a piece of paper lying in the bowl with some remnants of the glass. Without stepping forward, she carefully leaned over and extracted the paper from the sink. She recognized it as the stationery that Nancy had given her for her last birthday. When she turned it over, there was writing on the back that said:

“I can visit you anytime I want.”