~
Juliet gave me a small list of names of people she considered close friends. As I pulled up in front of the first address, I was looking forward to what I would hear. Rose Phipps attended college with Juliet and was now settled in Montgomery too. As I approached the stoop, I could hear a small dog yapping and a baby crying, so I figured Rose would probably be just thrilled to have yet another intrusion.
The harried woman who arrived at the door didn't look pleased to see me, although her eyebrows lifted when I produced my PI license and explained why I was there.
"I can't imagine why Juliet sent you to interview me," she said, pulling off her apron and folding it over one arm. "We haven't spoken in a couple months."
"Was there any reason why?"
"Yeah, Juliet was pretty damn mean and told me to get lost. Well, not in so many words, but I got the gist. I was too boring for her now that I had a baby." Rose sniffed. A small dog edged past her, its nose wriggling as it got closer to me. I leaned down, extended my hand, and let him take a look-sniff. Apparently satisfied, the dog sat and looked up at his owner expectantly. I thought my expression probably matched the dog’s, but hoped I smelled better.
"Did she say that to you?" I asked, thinking about Juliet's own pregnancy news.
"She sent a text."
"Do you still have it?"
"No, I just got a new phone so I deleted all the texts from my previous phone. It wasn't the kind of text you’d want to keep for posterity."
"Did you talk to Juliet about it?"
"No, I figured enough was enough. She'd been acting a little strange for a few weeks before that anyway; and honestly, with the baby and Sparky, I have enough to deal with."
"What do you mean by strange?"
"Not showing up after we made plans, and then pretending she knew nothing about it, and acting like she had no idea what I was talking about. ‘Accidentally’ —" Rose raised two fingers to make air quotes " —sending a text that said my baby was ugly and had a weird-shaped head. Little, petty, mean girl stuff. I thought we left all that behind us in high school. Like I said, once she sent that spate of texts, I figured enough was enough. If Juliet wanted to act like that, I didn't want to be her friend any longer."
"Didn't it seem out of character?"
Rose shrugged. "I guess. I spoke to one of my other friends about it and she said Juliet acted the same with her, so we figured she just got tired of us for some reason."
"Which friend was that?"
"Penelope. Penelope Cera. You know what hurt the most?"
"Go on."
"Juliet was right. I have become boring, and Ethan does have a weird-shaped head, but a friend is supposed to build you up, you know, not knock you down."
"Did you talk to Penelope anymore about Juliet?"
"Not much. Penelope said Juliet got fired from her job and also got arrested."
"Does that sound like the Juliet you know?"
"If you asked me that question a couple of months ago, I would have said no, but now? I just don't know. You could try asking Penelope." A blood-curdling scream sounded from somewhere in the house. If I were carrying a gun, I would have reached for it. Rose barely stirred and neither did Sparky. "I guess Ethan wants more banana. I have to go."
"Thanks for your time."
The door slammed shut before I even left the stoop. Walking back to the car, I had a sinking feel that Juliet's other friends would relate similar stories. Sliding into the driver's seat, I pulled out my notepad, and wrote Receivers of weird emails or texts at the top. I listed Jane O'Dowd, Tom Oliver, and Rose Phipps. Each received a strange communiqué, or set of communications purportedly from Juliet. None bothered to challenge the oddly nasty messages, and chose to believe they were genuinely from Juliet. I was sure if I got a hold of Juliet's phone records, they would prove all the texts were sent from her cell phone. However, that didn't mean Juliet was the one typing them. Someone could have accessed her phone. Again, I had the unpleasant hunch that the person sending the texts had to be someone close to her.
Tapping my pen against the notepad, I wondered if someone was accessing her phone, or had maybe even cloned it. It was eerie behavior and the thought of it sent a cold shiver down my spine. "What's the point?" I asked the empty car. "What is the point of getting rid of Juliet's friends and all of her support network? Argh! I am so dumb!"
I tapped the notepad to my forehead. Why hadn't I seen it before? Juliet's stalker wanted to isolate her from everyone that was good in her life, all the people that believed in her... and those people, her network, were simply letting it happen. I wondered if Juliet's harried life only added to the confusion; if the weight of so many things going wrong forced her to give up on the very people she cared about. I figured I too might have buckled under the amount of strain she was under, had I been in her circumstances. It had to be connected somehow. I just needed to find out who and how.
I added a new name to the list, and drew lines from each of my listees to it. Jane O'Dowd was connected to Penelope via work; and so was Tom Oliver. Rose discussed her texts with Penelope. Penelope had access to Juliet's home and workplace. She told me she was adamant Juliet was going crazy and given our previous conversation, I was sure there was some jealousy for Juliet's achievements. I drew a large ring around Penelope's name and stared down at it. "It has to be you," I told the name. It seemed too neat, and way too easy. Why would Penelope be doing that?
"You are the common denominator. But how can I catch you?"
Chapter Fourteen
After one hour, two more angry former friends and one door slam later, I reconvened with Solomon and Delgado in Juliet and Rob's living room. Juliet and Rob sat on the couch opposite me, their faces confused and upset. I figured I'd probably look the same if someone came to my house and tried to convince me that Lily was hell-bent on screwing up my life.
"I can't believe this. You're telling me Rose, Chloe and Rebecca all think I sent those nasty texts? And now you say Penelope is trying to have me sent to jail? I don't believe it," said Juliet, shaking her head.
"I've known Penelope for years," added Rob. He had Juliet's hand between both of his and his eyes were dark from lack of sleep. "She's not that kind of person. She tries really hard; and she's been great in helping us cope with the current situation. No one else has helped as much as she has."
I focused on Juliet as I spoke. "That's part of the issue. Someone has gone to a lot of effort to alienate everyone else around you. Penelope is the only person you have left. You have no one else to turn to, except Rob. A person like that gains power."
"I don't know what you mean. Penelope doesn't have any power over me. She doesn't tell me what to do. She simply supports me."
"Power comes in a lot of different ways. It could be as simple as she likes knowing you have no one else to turn to. Or maybe she's planting little seeds of doubt in your mind, preparing you for her next move," I continued.
"This is too much." Juliet wrenched her hand from Rob's and rose, crossing over to the window. She stood with her arms folded, her back to us, and a thick silence filled the room. I hated to be the one to break it, having already disappointed Juliet, and I only arrived ten minutes prior.