Page 137 of The Man Next Door
She shook her head, but Alec said an emphatic, “Yes.”
“What about her? She assaulted me,” Angela cried, pointing to Zona.
“She went after my mom first. I saw it,” said Bree, narrowing her eyes at Angela.
“Officer, I want to press charges on assault, and on identity theft,” Alec continued. “This woman used my name without my permission to get a credit card and then went on a spending spree.”
Angela gaped at him. Then she went from gaping to red-faced fury. “You bastard! You would do this to your own sister?”
“Only by marriage,” he said. “I’m sorry, Angela, but someone should have reined you in long ago. It’s time. You’re out of control.”
“I hate you,” she screamed, and rushed at him, hand raised.
“Whoa, that will be enough of that,” said Officer Mead, catching her by the arm.
“This is all your fault, you bitch,” Angela informed Zona.
“That’s enough, young lady,” Officer Mead said to her. “Okay. Folks, we’ll take your statements and then you can all go home.”
The younger officer cuffed Angela, who had gone from sobbing to wailing, and led her off to wait in the patrol car while Officer Mead did cleanup duty, taking everyone’s statements.
Zona, Martin, Louise, and Bree all gave theirs. Once done with them, the officer sent them on their way, remaining to talk further with Alec. And that closed the book on the almost love story of Zona Hartman and Alec James.
“Mom, you were a beast,” said Bree, full of admiration asthey all dripped their way across Alec’s front lawn toward Louise’s house.
“I’m done being a victim,” said Zona. The adrenaline was still coursing through her veins and she was ready to karate chop through an entire tower of cement blocks.
“Good for you,” said Louise.
“You should have seen her, Gram,” said Bree. “It was totally dope. Awesome. Like women’s wrestling. Mom, the way you took down that woman, you could be a WOW.”
Zona smiled. Yes, that had been satisfying. “Thanks, daughter.” She saw the skin around Bree’s eye was turning red. It looked like it would soon be blooming into a black eye. “I’m so sorry about your eye.”
“It’s no big deal,” Bree said. Then added, “I’m sorry about... everything.”
“That’s life,” Zona said stoically. “But you can’t keep a good woman down, right? Not even in a pool.”
“You got that right,” said Bree.
Zona lowered her voice so Louise and Martin, who were walking a couple of steps ahead of them, couldn’t hear. “And, by the way, you can be glad your Gram didn’t hear some of those choice words you said in the pool.”
Bree grinned. “Heat of the moment.” She, too, lowered her voice. “It looks like Martin got some superhero points with Gram.”
Louise had an arm linked through his and was smiling up at him. Her words drifted back to them. “You were so brave.”
“Brave? He almost drowned us,” Bree whispered, and Zona laughed.
“It’s all good,” she said, but then sobered at the knowledge that what had looked like such a promising beginning with Alec was at an end. And what an ugly end it had been. It wasn’t all good, not even close.
Bree picked up on her changed mood. “This kills thingswith the neighbor, right? Unless you want his sister to come after you with a piece of broken mirror.”
“Stepsister,” Zona corrected.
“Maleficent,” Bree said. “You don’t need a man to be happy, Mom. You’re good enough on your own.”
“I know,” said Zona. Bree was right, she didn’t. But she wasn’t happy.
Martin went home to change into dry clothes. Bree decided it was time to go home and she, too, left, holding a package of frozen peas to her face.
