Chapter 5: Definitely, No Way

Stella paced around her bedroom. She was beyond restless. Unable to put herself or her encounter with Bennett to bed. Like bees were buzzing beneath her skin. Agitated.

Stop being ridiculous. She chided herself.

This man and his life had nothing to do with her.

And yet. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. About how she felt so alive, with just the thought of him. And how she became so tongue-tied and clumsy at the same time whenever he was anywhere near. She’d never felt so flustered. It wasn’t like her. She was known to keep her cool. In any situation.

What kind of spell had he cast over her?

She needed a distraction. Something to keep her mind off Bennett.

Checking her watch, she did some quick mental math. Mandy should be at the Louvre, in Paris, where she was interning with the museum’s curator of antiquities. Not the one most recently arrested for trafficking stolen goods. A different, more honest curator mentored her friend.

A woman with a gorgeously Parisian sounding name, dripping with sophistication, Sofi…something. Sheesh she thought to herself. Even her memory was jumbled up and short circuiting on her.

Stella dashed off a quick text to her Mandy, her best friend since forever. Asking how it was going. Hoping she’d reply and make her sane again. She was spending far too much mental energy on a man she hardly knew and didn’t even know if she liked. Even if she did find him intoxicating.

Still restless and in need of something to occupy her time, Stella surveyed her room for something to do.

A small stack of books stood waiting, untouched on her nightstand. She yanked on one, toppling the rest. Giving her a papercut.

Great. She thought, sucking on her finger. Even her books were too much to handle. She had to pull herself together. Somehow.

Scooping up the books. She quickly rearranged them, back into place. Grabbing the top one impatiently, she plopped onto her bed.

She sighed deeply. As if she could focus. Nothing was coming easy that night. Not sleep. Not even reading. Slamming the book closed, Stella glanced out the window.

What the…?

Slowing standing, Stella crept toward the window. From where she stood, she had a clear view right down into Bennett’s backyard.

As it turned out, her next-door neighbor was a very busy man. Setting up for a party at that hour. If it even was a party.

A gazebo stood in the middle of his backyard. The kind Stella had only seen used for summer weddings. There was a stage, with a long podium, on one end. Several rows of chairs, two banquet style tables and a series of spotlights, making it a whole lot easier for her to see what was going on.

Two men dressed all in black. Designer no doubt. That was the crowd Bennett surrounded himself with. They were scratching at a patch of dirt with garden hoes.

Gardeners? At this hour?

Stella continued to watch while half a dozen glamorous looking men and women finished arranging tables, chairs. On Bennett’s expertly manicured lawn.

She glanced back at the gardeners. They were etching some kind of pattern onto the soil. Despite the extra light from around the gazebo, she couldn’t quite make out what it was.

Her phone buzzed.

A text from Mandy lit up her screen. It read, “How’s Mr. Sexy Next Door?”

Stella rolled her eyes. More at herself than her friend. “If you only knew.”

“That’s what I’m here for.” Came the reply. “Spill.”

Stella tried to think of how to explain what she was seeing. A midnight garden party complete with party and gardening.

“Well,” she texted, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Then, using her phone’s camera, she zoomed in on Bennett’s backyard, snapping a photo of the gardeners’ handiwork. Stella pressed send and waited.

Three little dots appeared, letting her know Mandy was typing a response.

While waiting she let her eyes wander back to Bennett’s backyard garden.

The gardeners had moved on to a new activity. What were they doing?

Was that… were they digging?

Digging.

A long rectangular hole.

During a party. Where women were in cocktail dresses and men in expensive suits. In the middle of the night. In a real estate mogul’s back yard.

Mandy’s response buzzed the phone in Stella’s hand.

“Where is this?” She asked.

“Bennett’s backyard.” Stella replied.

“Are you sure?” Mandy messaged.

Before Stella could state the obvious, another text came through from Mandy. This time a photo, the same one she’d sent actually. Only enlarged, with a bright red circle around the pattern the gardeners had etched in the soil.

Then another image came through from Mandy. It looked like it was taken from a book. An old one. The image was in sepia tone.

“Does this crescent moon look like a match for the one in the picture you sent?!” Mandy asked in a follow up text.

You’ve got to be kidding me, Stella thought to herself. She took another picture of Bennett’s back yard. A better one of the ground etching. She zoomed in closer on the image using her phone’s photo app. Compared the two.

“Close enough.” She texted Mandy.

Stella’s phone buzzed again. Mandy was texting fast and furious now. One message came, then another, and another. All questions.

“Are there candles? How many people are there? Is there an altar?” And, finally, oddly, “What direction is everyone facing?”

Stella read the questions, checked for clues in Bennett’s backyard.

“What’s this about?” She texted.

Mandy was onto something. Everything she asked about was right there in front of her eyes. But how did Mandy even know to ask? It all seemed so random to Stella.

“I’ll send you some details. BRB.”

Be Right Back. Perfect. Stella thought sarcastically.

She looked down at the hole digging gardeners. She could barely see the tops of their heads. The hole was so deep.

Almost as if they were digging… a grave.

No way, she thought. It couldn’t be.

Her eyes scrambled around the garden, taking in every image. All normal things. If having a formal gathering at that hour could be considered normal. Well the altar was a little strange, but the tables and chairs were respectable. Even the… wait… It couldn’t be.

A coffin?

Nope. That is not normal. Not in the slightest.

Who exactly was Bennett Orloff and why was he burying a body in his backyard? In front of all those people?

This man, hot or not was just too much for her to handle. Forget it. Forget him. She had to figure out how to pay her bills, not crush on a psychopath.

Her phone buzzed.

She glanced down.

The image Mandy sent laced a tendril of ice down her spine. Sending a jolt of adrenaline through her. Causing her to gasp.

When she tore her eyes off the screen, checking on the event down below she saw that everyone of Bennett’s guests were staring up at her window.