Chapter 7, Kate in Good Neighbors

I couldn’t wait for Nora to return home later that day so I could listen to whatever the recording device picked up. It was sound-activated, so I didn’t have to go through hours and hours of nothing. At first it was just mundane stuff that bored me to tears. Cooking up lasagna to bring over to her daughter’s house. Reminding Barry of his upcoming dentist appointment. Not understanding why the war in Ukraine hadn’t ended yet. Not sure if she was in the mood to repaint the bedroom anytime soon.

But then things got surprisingly interesting. Despite how common infidelity may be, Nora was one of the last people I would have suspected of being a cheater. She just seemed too prim and proper for that. It just went to show yet again that you never really knew anybody.

Initially, I thought it was just a close friend or maybe even a relative that had been coming around. But then there are just some things that you don’t say to a close friend or relative. Like the fact that your husband should be out for a few more hours so why not go have some fun in the bedroom? You’ll love their new hybrid mattress, after all.

I didn’t hear much in the way of their actual lovemaking, but I didn’t need or want to. People didn’t usually say much when they were getting it on anyway, did they?

The second or third time, the guy came over, I learned his name was Sean when Nora called to him from what sounded like another room, asking if he wanted anything to drink. Sean seemed to come around a couple of times a week.

For a while now, I had been secretly following Nora on Twitter. I thought about tweeting to her and even following her but then thought better of it, knowing she wouldn’t be happy about it. I was never going to convince the woman that I wasn’t Jennifer. I also got the impression that even if I had her fooled, I wasn’t exactly her type to hang out or connect with. Maybe it wasn’t just that, however. I think Nora was just very picky when it came to who she dealt with. She had ridiculously high standards. If you weren’t exactly like her or very close to it, she wasn’t interested in knowing you. That was just the kind of person she was. She almost acted as if she believed she was better than others and seemed to look down on people and often found them not good enough for her.

That was fine, though, because I really didn’t want to be buddies with her either. She may have been a bit of a turn-on way back when, but she was otherwise not my type of person. She always came across as very judgmental and a little too conservative for my taste.

I learned a long time ago about the laws of three. Do wrong to another and it comes back to haunt you threefold. Even though Nora had technically done a bad thing and may have deserved what I was about to do, at least according to some people’s standards, I knew it was nothing less than trolling. I shouldn’t have planted the device, which was highly illegal, and I should mind my own business, right? I was smart enough to know this, but just because I was smart didn’t mean I would act it. No, I was about to be foolish and risky instead, although I honestly didn’t see how she could suspect me.

Giggling to myself, I set up a new Twitter account under a fake name. Did I want to be a woman or a man? How about going gender-neutral actually? I used a profile picture of a cat and a cover photo of a bright blue sky. I even used a gender-neutral name. I decided on icyurevrymoov. Get it? As in, “I see your every move.”

With my location set to Somewhere Over the Rainbow, I was ready to play. I kept my first tweet short and sweet.

Me: How’s Sean?

Quite a while passed before I got a reply that I was beginning to think I wasn’t going to get one at all. But then I received one.

Nora: I’m sorry, I don’t know anybody by that name. Who is this?

Me: Someone who sees your every move.

Nora: They warned me that Twitter was full of pranksters.

Me: No prankster here. You do have a husband named Barry, don’t you?

Nora: Maybe, but I don’t know anyone named Sean. Who is this really?

Me: Does Barry know about Sean?

Nora: Again, who is this?

Me: What if Barry found out?

Nora: I’m done playing games. Goodbye.

Me: Are you really done playing games, Nora?

I gave it a good ten minutes or so to see if she would tweet back again, but she didn’t. There was no doubt in my mind that she had to be rattled. Like seriously rattled and racking her brains trying to figure out who the hell I could be and how I knew about Barry.

Then, just as I was about to push back from my desk, a tweet came.

Nora: How are you connected to Barry?

I thought my reply through carefully and decided it would be fun to let her sit and stew for the night, wondering what the fuck was going on. Besides, I needed a little time to think about where I wanted to take this discussion next. Finally, I tweeted back.

Me: I will give you two guesses.

Nora: If this is Barry himself, this isn’t funny. Why would you do such a thing? Well, you probably wouldn’t so that’s why my second guess would be that somehow Kate is behind this.

I sat there gazing at the screen. I wasn’t surprised she suspected me. Anytime something suspicious happened in her life, she would probably think of me no matter what. One of us could move to the other side of the world and she would still think I was behind everything that ever went wrong for her. But I knew she could never prove it was me.

Me: I’m neither of these people. You get one more guess.

Nora: I told you I’m done playing games.

Me: Fine. We can talk more tomorrow.

But Nora apparently wasn’t done playing games or at least trying to fish for more information.

Nora: Just tell me who this is before you sign off for the night and yes, we’ll talk more tomorrow, as you say.

A slow mischievous grin spread across my face. Nope. I was going to let her go crazy wondering who the hell I really was all through the night.

Then I played the very last recording available. It was the one of her arguing with her lover, and then the sounds of a scuffle followed by Nora’s useless shouts to rouse the lover she’d either knocked out or killed.

I was guessing that the latter was the most likely scenario.

It took me a moment to regain my composure after listening to what I listened to. I played the recording several times. It was definitely the last thing I was expecting to hear. But then a slow, confident smile spread across my face.

Now I was really going to have a lot of fun with Nora Mills.

Last updated February 12, 2023