If Only She'd Loved Him

Chapter 47

Saturday 11:00 am

Jean was drying her hair on the highest setting possible when her doorbell rang.  Head still half wet, she went to the door. There she saw Matt and Paul standing like unwanted trick-or-treaters on her step.

"Get out!" 

Matt stuck his head up to the door. "We're not leaving till you hear what we've got to say, so you may as well let us in." 

"Just open the door!" Paul said.

Brandishing her hairdryer like a gun, she opened the door, but left the chain fastened.  With one eye, she peered out at them.  "What do you two want?"

"It's about Megan," Matt began, but Paul cut him off, shoving his head towards the crack she'd left open.  Jean thought about shutting the door fast.  She wondered if he would act like a cartoon, go all googly-eyed, hopping up and down, holding his nose in his hands after she slammed the door on his face.  Smiling, she debated about luring him a bit closer so she could get a better shot, but Paul interrupted her plotting.

"Jeanie, Taylor here, figured out how that guy did my voice.  He used Megan's voice mail."

"Huh?"

Matt wedged his face into the open slot too.  "Jean-Genie, It's true."

"Don't call me that!" Jean demanded, "I told you I hate that stupid nick-name."  She started to close the door, but Matt stuck his hand against the door frame.  In order to shut it, she would have to break his fingers.  If it had been Paul, everyone would soon have been calling him Lefty, but since it was Matt, she left it open. 

Matt leaned tighter against the chain. "Look," he explained quickly.  He didn't like the gleam in her eyes one bit. "Paul is telling the truth for once.  Erik used Megan's voice mail to learn about him and to find out what he sounded like."

One eye on both of them, Jean unlocked the chain, but kept the door half shut.  "How?" she asked skeptically.

"Let us in, and we'll tell you," Matt replied, then he lowered his voice so that only Jean could hear. "I was wrong," he whispered through the crack.  "I'm sorry."

Jean raised up her chin, but opened the door. Letting Paul go through, she blocked Matt's way.  "So you apologize, and all's well?  You called me a liar!"

"I said you'd be good at lying," he corrected her with a devious grin. "Think of it as a compliment, a good skill to have."

She hesitated.  She had started to forgive him as soon as he said he was sorry, but there was no way she was going to let him know that she accepted his apology.  Let him suffer for a while. 

Paul ignored both of them.  In his usual cocky way, he strode into her living room, settling his feet up on the coffee table.  Now he was watching them like they were Pay-Per-View. He wished he had some popcorn.

"All right," Jean finally agreed to Matt, "I'll listen to what you have to say, but then you both leave, okay?"

"If you still want us to, after you've heard what we have to say, then we'll go."  Jean nodded, so he followed her into the living room.  She took one look at Paul's feet on her coffee table and yanked out the book that was under them.  Dusting her novel against her hip, Jean made sure there was a good space between her and them before she sat down.

Ignoring what she'd done to his feet, Paul grinned up at her.  "Jeanie, I'd apologize, but I was never in the wrong.  Matty-Boy here figured it all out."

"So you said."

"Think it through.  I never met the guy, but he can imitate my voice perfectly enough to fool you.  He had to have to practiced."  Paul's tone was calm.  His self-assurance grated on Jean's nerves.

"Sure, with you by his side.  I'm sure it was easy."

"Can you not be a bitch for two minutes, or is that asking too much?"

"Oh, I can not be a bitch.  Can you not be a lying piece of crap?   Nice career choice, Paul, you'll make a great lawyer.  It's like you were born to be a lying, slimy, pus-filled snake-in-a-suit!"

"That's enough!"  Matt shouted. He stood up, slashing his hands to his sides. "I've had it with you two!  We need to get back to what's important!"  He turned to Jean, "remember your roommate." Then switched back to Paul, "remember your girlfriend."  Jean and Paul glowered at each other but stayed silent. Slowly Matt lowered himself back onto his chair.  "That's better. Now Jean, Paul and I just accessed Megan's cell phone.  If we could do it so easily, so could somebody else."

"How?" she interrupted. "You don't have the password—"

"7141789," Matt replied.

"How? How did you know that?"

"Jeanie, don't be stupid," Paul smirked, "or as the French would say, stupeed.  This Erik guy was in your apartment, easy enough to get Megan's cell and "borrow" it any time.  Or he knew about her little history obsession, and just started trying numbers till he hit.  Either way, I'll accept your apology now."

"Bite me!"

"Been there, done that," Paul replied. Ignoring the glare from Matt, he extended his hand then pulled it back. "I'll take that apology later, then."

Jean said nothing, but her bottom lip was ragged as she chewed down.  

Matt frowned at both of them.  "Look, the point is, this explains how that guy fooled you into thinking he was Paul."

Jean folded her arms across her stomach, tightening her eyes to amber slits.  "What if I don't believe you, either?" 

Matt rolled his eyes in annoyance.  Doubting his brilliance wasn't acceptable to him.  Paul, knowing exactly what his roommate was thinking, flashed him an "I told you so" look, but Matt wasn't through yet.  He tried a new tactic.  He got mad.  "C'mon, what do you want to believe?  That Haverson here, is a jerk?  That he used you and was using Megan, fine.  Believe what you want to, you've got cause.  But quit pretending he's more than that, 'cause we've wasted enough time on that crap." 

Jean got very quiet.  Her first impulse had been to tell them both get the hell out, but as she'd listened to what they'd said, she'd begun to change her mind. It actually all made sense.  Megan had complained about not getting important messages from Paul, not even texts.  What if that moron really had left the messages, but they'd been erased?  It also would explain how Erik knew approximately when she and Megan would be coming home that night. All he had to do was wait for Megan to come home and into his waiting arms.

Jean knew Erik had been in her apartment before, but somehow understanding how he'd planned it was too much, made it far too real.  Ignoring all her careful rationalizations from the morning, she let her instincts take over. 

"Matt, you were right.  It is time to go talk to the police."