Underground

Chapter 7

My mobile phone rang as I finished hanging out the last load of washing. I raced up the back stairs and snatched up the phone.

"Adrienne, it's Marianne."

"Oh hey," I puffed. "What's up?"

"Elliot Armstrong asked me to call you," she told me. "He wants you to ring him at home. I've got his number. He wanted yours, but there was no chance I was giving it to him."

"Thanks. What's he want?" I asked.

"No idea. Do you want his number?" she asked.

"Sure. Go ahead." I grabbed a pen and notepad from the office and jotted down the number. "Thanks, Marianne. I'll call you later to fill you in." I probably wouldn't. I hung up and dialled Elliot's number. He answered after the fifth ring.

"Hello Elliot. It's Ren. You wanted to speak to me?" I chimed.

"Yeah. I was thinking about what we talked about yesterday." He was all business. "Jenna and Travis were supposed to go out for dinner on the Friday night, but they cancelled."

"They also cancelled their breakfast date as well," I told him.

"Did they?" he asked. "I assumed they'd made up by then."

"Did they fight?" I asked.

"Friday night. They were in the car all ready to go into the restaurant, and Travis started an argument with Jenna."

"What about?" I asked.

"Well, about me actually."

"What about you?" I could feel the slime oozing through the phone.

"Jenna does have a little crush on me. Anyway, she came home and was waiting up for me when I got in around ten o'clock. She told me about the fight."

"Travis asked if there was anything going on between us. Of course, there's not, outside Jenna's head."

"Did Rebecca know about this little infatuation?" I asked.

"I don't know if she sensed it or not," he said. "Jenna never got her father's attention, so she looked for it elsewhere. I wanted to be a father figure for the girls, but when I showed her fatherly-affection, she took it the wrong way."

I rolled my eyes, glad that Elliot couldn't see my face.

"Jenna competed with Rebecca for my attention, and with Shiralise for Nick's."

"Right," I replied. "But you say you thought Travis and Jenna made up?"

"Yeah. It usually blew over quickly. He loves her too much. He'd forgive her for anything."

"Okay, thanks for calling Elliot." I couldn't think of anything else to say.

We hung up. I sat at the kitchen table and thought about ringing Marianne. I called Sam instead.

"Hi, Ren. How are you doing?" he asked, concerned.

"Good. I just spoke to Elliot Armstrong," I started, bracing myself.

"Why?" Sam cut in.

"He rang me," I lied. "He got my number off Marianne. She thought I might want to hear what he had to say. So, he seems to believe that Jenna's got a crush on him."

"Adrienne, I know I said he was a good fireman, but he's also a well-known sleazebag. Stay away from him. Don't let people give out your number."

"Okay, so, Marianne didn't give it out. She gave me his number to call." I didn't want Marianne locked up. I was met with silence, so I continued. "She and Travis had a dinner reservation Friday night, but had a fight over Elliot and didn't go in. What if Jenna killed Rebecca to eliminate the competition?"