Big Bad World

A Suspect

It was a week after we both had gotten engaged. His family knew, and they were ecstatic about the news. Shortly after telling the ones closest to us, Keith posted a photo of the both of us announcing the engagement. Things in Nashville were definitely more different than usual. I wasn’t an outsider. Instead, I was a friendly face that people wanted to talk with and congratulate. I had even gotten some people asking for a signature and a photo or two. It was all very surreal.  I was famous in Nashville for being Keith Urban’s fiancé, and probably elsewhere in the world. Since Keith had announced it, the fame happened over night. Processing what was taking place wasn’t really an option. I had to jump into it and accept what was in that very moment. There was really nothing I was famous for besides being someone’s fiancé. I had walked past magazine stands, and I would be on the cover. How was the possible? Never in my life would I picture myself to be on a cover of a magazine. My world was a whirlwind of emotions. Granted, the picture was Keith and I, but it was still a cover of a magazine nonetheless. Smiling and taking pictures with strangers was nothing short of exhausting, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I somewhat liked the special attention.

 My feet trudged to Keith’s door after a long day of picture taking, meeting faces, and working. Unlocking the door, I quickly took my heels off and jumped on the couch to close my eyes for a moment. There was nothing quite like Keith’s couch in that moment, until Keith walked in and woke me up by giving me a kiss. A sound of annoyance left my mouth as my eyes fluttered opened to meet his. “How are you?” he whispered in my ear. Even though my eyes wanted to stay closed longer, I couldn’t help but smile at his voice in my ear.

 “Hi. I’m good. How are you?” I mumbled looking up at him.

 He smiled against my lips. “I’m great. You look beautiful.”

I sat up on the couch and smiled at him with tired eyes. “Even though I’m exhausted? You’re nice.”

Keith chuckled and kissed me once more. “How was work?”

I shrugged. “It was good. Sold a lot of clothes today. Also, I had a photo shoot with the entire city of Nashville. Good thing I looked cute,” I joked.

Keith chuckled. “You always look good. Nashville loves you, but I think I love you more,” he said giving me a soft kiss.

I always got lost in the kisses he stole from me. I always got lost in everything that he did. Everything felt like a dream. He was going to be my husband, and I was still pinching myself at the thought of it. It was as if all of my dreams were coming true in that instant. “I love you so much,” I whispered against his lips.  Keith smiled and began to kiss harder until we were interrupted with the doorbell. I sighed and looked at Keith. “I’ll get it… “ I mumbled.

Giving him a peck on the lips, I walked toward the door and cracked it open to see Nicole standing there. It was an unexpected surprise, and not the good kind. My hand opened the door a little more to look Nicole in the eye. She didn’t look entirely excited to see me, and I hated that she was at Keith’s house. What possessed her to come here?  “I should’ve guessed that you’d be here, which is good I suppose” she mumbled to me.

I refrained from doing anything immature, even if it was my hearts desire. “What brings you here, Nicole?” I asked calmly.

 Nicole sighed, “I need to talk with you and Keith about something important.”

Keith came around the corner standing behind me to see who was at the door. His hand took a hold of mine to give a simple reminder that we were in this together. “Nicole, what’s going on?” Keith asked.

Nicole sighed, “Can I please come in? I have some news for the both of you.” Keith signaled for her to come in, and I couldn’t help but worry about the way she spoke. She sounded nervous, which made me more nervous. Nicole walked in poignantly awaiting for us to prepare ourselves for whatever she was about to tell us. “The police contacted me this morning,” she mumbled quietly. Why would the police be contacting Nicole? My hands began to shake. “They are researching the barn case again,” she said exchanging looks with Keith. I looked up at Keith and saw fear within him.

“The barn case?” I asked unsure of what Nicole was referring to.

Nicole exchanged a look or two with me and nodded. “Yea, the one that Keith supposedly caught on fire. They want to talk to the both of you, especially you Lacey. They should be here later this afternoon.”  Nicole admitted. They wanted to talk with me? Was I a suspect?

“Wait, why do they want to talk to me?” I asked.

Nicole sighed, “They didn’t tell me much. They just asked me questions and they mentioned something about you being a suspect. They found your handprint or something,” she answered confused.

Everything in my body grew stiff. My body was shaking anxiously. I had been in Australia, but nothing was adding up. It didn’t make sense that I was a suspect. Why would I be?  “That doesn’t make sense why Lacey would be a suspect” Keith let out in the silence that took over the room.

Nicole shrugged. “I’m just relaying the message to warn you guys. I have no idea why Lacey is involved, but be prepared for questioning. I don’t know why they won’t just let the case go, especially a year later. I thought they solved it, but I guess Lacey is a new suspect for some reason.”

Keith shook his head and kissed the top of my head softly. ”Thank you for the warning. Nicole. That means a lot,” he added leading Nicole to the door. “We’ll let you know how the questioning goes.” Nicole and Keith hugged to say goodbye and soon enough, Nicole was gone.  

All I could do was stand there dead in my tracks trying to figure out why I would be a suspect in a case. “Why am I a suspect? Keith, I’m scared…” I said with tears rolling down my cheek. Keith took me in and held me close.

“I don’t know, baby. We’ll have to see when they get here. Were you in Australia last year?” he asked looking down at me.

I actually was in Australia last year, but I didn’t ever bother to tell Keith. I didn’t remember much about that trip. “I don’t think so,” I shook my head.

Keith shrugged and held me close. “Well, we’ll just have to wait and see what the cops say, okay?” I nodded afraid for my life.