3.
~ "So, tell me, Mrs. Romero." Marsh said out of breath as he followed Norma down the concrete steps to the motel. Her pace was always too quick for anyone to keep up with. It had been that way all her life. She was always in a hurry. Always had energy to burn.
The sun was setting and she had to turn on the motel lights to try and catch some evening business. It was winter and the off season, but you never knew. She always turned the motel lights on.
Old habits.
Bill and his team were still setting up the cameras and there was an impressive white van with the company log on the side advertising a variety of security systems they provided.
They were installing outdoor cameras where the street lights were and stopped when they saw Marsh following Norma like a little dog.
"How did you and Sheriff Romero meet?"
"Here." she said eagerly and tried to make it not sound like a lie. It was strange because it sounded exactly like a lie, even though it was the truth. "Well, here at the motel."
"Oh? He was renting a room?" Marsh asked following her to the office. The way he asked it made it seem a little seedy. Like Alex was checking in with a hooker or something.
"No." Norma huffed and felt her ire rise at the insinuation. "I... was doing some repairs, it had gotten late and Alex had pulled in to see who had bought the motel." she told him sharply.
She had to stop herself from explaining how Norman and Shelby had been there. No need to explain that unless Marsh asked.
She knew exactly why Marsh had wanted to speak to her alone. He wanted to separate them both right away, shake them up, and see if their stories alined. It was better to rattle her first and then the trained lawman that was Romero next. Alex could dodge and counter these questions with ease. Norma would explain her way into a jail cell and, if she wasn't careful, she'd explain Alex into a cell with her.
"You have two sons." Marsh said with a friendly smile and handed over a credit card before Norma could even open her laptop.
She looked at him in alarm.
"We do our research, Mrs. Romero." Marsh explained to the question she hadn't asked.
"Yes. I have two sons." she said calmly.
"Dylan Massett and Norman Bates." Marsh said. "Neither one of them were at the wedding."
"No." Norma said carefully and waited for her laptop to open and for the check in screen to appear.
"Why not?" Marsh asked. "Why not invite your sons, or any friends, to the wedding?"
"Well, um, it was so spur of the moment." Norma said feeling a little out of breath.
"You married your husband the day after you committed your son to a mental facility." Marsh told her.
"No." Norma said quickly. "No. that's not right. Norman committed himself."
"My mistake." Marsh said. "It's just… emotions must have been high. My I ask what his issues are?"
"Personal issues." Norma snapped in anger.
"Well, he's self committed and an adult. In investigations of insurance fraud, we can interview your son at our discretion, Mrs. Romero." Marsh told her.
Norma froze in horror. Norman wouldn't waste a second telling Marsh all about her marrying Alex for the insurance and God only knew what else. Norman would tell this man all these things purely out of spite to. Just to hurt her and Alex.
"If you feel that's needed." she said slowly.
"Well, hopefully there won't be a reason to bother the young man." Marsh said with a sudden kindness. "What about your other son? Dylan."
"He's moving to Portland with his girlfriend and her father. She just underwent transplant surgery and he's taken a job there to be closer to her." Norma said. Like before she kept her answer simple and vague. "He's in his early 20's and… has to make it on his own."
She shrugged as if there wasn't anything she could do.
"Did you tell your son's about the wedding?" Marsh asked. The check in screen finally pooped up and Norma typed in Marsh's information and swiped his card before she would answer.
"How many days?" she asked.
"Lets prepay for three days." he said brightly.
'Three days?' she groaned inside her head.
"Did your sons know about your wedding at all, Mrs. Romero?" Marsh asked again.
"I told them after." she admitted.
"But not before? No friends were invited either?"
"To be honest, I didn't even think we'd go through with it… till he met me at City Hall." Norma blurted out. "He was late. Had to stop for gas. We'd been discussing it. Joked about it." she shrugged and realized she was telling the truth and making it sound really good. Normally she was a terrible liar but this was falling into place like a well timed play.
It fell into her head like a beautiful dream, that memory of her and Alex dancing together at the Lights of Winter. How she felt in his arms. How he was leading her, how he guided her so effortlessly.
'This way, Mrs. Sheriff. Just a nice spin on the dance floor. A slow dance. Nothing too fast. Maybe another hot drink after? It's just you and I. No one else matters. We're going to be fine. I believe it and so do you.'
She was never afraid to trust him to lead her and knew that all eyes were on her and this handsome man.
That's how it was now. Describing their wedding to this stranger who could hurt them both so badly. It was like dancing. Alex, although he wasn't here, was still guiding her.
'Take it easy, Mrs. Sheriff. It's a slow dance, remember. Nothing too fast. Look only at me. We're going to be just fine.'
"How long had you and Sheriff Romero been together?" Marsh asked as Norma felt her cheeks go pink and she smiled.
She hadn't been able to put her underwear back on in the sudden rush to check in Marsh.
"As a couple?"
"Yes, as a couple." Marsh clarified. Norma had to think. She decided to just be honest again because in truth, she wasn't sure when she hadn't been dependent on Alex in one way or another.
"I'm not even sure anymore. Feels like we've been… very close since we moved here. He's… sort of looked out for us." she smiled softly.
"I see." Marsh nodded and signed his receipt.
"You know, your son was checked into a very exclusive private facility the day before you married Sheriff Romero. A man who happens to have a million dollar extended family policy rider on his insurance for mental health." Marsh said.
"A million dollars?" Norma asked. "I didn't know that."
Her mind reeled at this new information.
"Mrs. Romero." Marsh huffed. "You can't tell me it's a coincidence-"
"I didn't know that." she said harshly. "I had some savings from my late husband's life insurance and I was hoping to get more insurance when that money ran out." she explained.
Alex had coached her a little if they were ever asked about the sudden cash from Bob Paris' go bag. They would explain it away as leftover savings from her husband's life insurance.
"And your sudden marriage to Sheriff Romero less than a day after your son was committed to PineView is just a coincidence?" Marsh accused.
"Alex married me because he loves me. Because I was going through a stressful time and he didn't want me to go through it alone." she snapped.
'You're not dancing with me, Mrs. Romero.' she could hear Alex saying in her mind. She could feel the lights in her memory start to blink and fade out. Like they were dying. See her 'newly minted' husband's handsome face suddenly become dark and slip away from her.
'Was this what dying was like?'
She took a deep breath.
"You're in room one." she said with a sudden calmness and handed him a key and receipt.
"Well, I assume I can call up at the house if I need anything?" Marsh asked.
"My husband is having a special security system installed." Norma said eyeing the van. "I'll be able to see you on camera."
~ "All guests have to do is ring the office doorbell here for service, and it will activate the security camera hidden inside the window. It connects to your smart phone and you can communicate with guests from wherever you are. No need for them to bother you at the house anymore." Bill explained as he set up the device that looked like it belonged in a science fiction movie.
"Good." Norma sighed. "Good." she nodded again and felt her breathing come easier.
"I'll just put it on the plan." Bill said. "Anything else? We also have motion detectors we can put in the house."
Norma wanted to make a scathing remark about poisoned tipped spears but held her tongue.
'Dance slowly with me, Mrs. Sheriff.' she heard Alex whisper in her ear and went back up to the house.
~ Alex hadn't seemed at all bothered by Marsh's visit.
"How was the first round?" he asked casually leaning against the countertop, finishing the last of an apple pie she's made last week. He was good about that. Finishing leftovers so they wouldn't go bad. Norma hated throwing out food.
"He asked a lot of questions." she sighed fishing her panties out of his pocket and slipping them back on as though it was perfectly normal to do such a thing in the kitchen.
"He wanted to know why Norman and Dylan weren't at the wedding." she said quickly.
Alex looked alarmed.
"What did you say?" he asked
Norma shrugged and nervously started cleaning the counter.
"The truth." she admitted. "That we got married so quickly we didn't have time to tell anyone. I didn't elaborate. I told him I honestly didn't think we'd go through with it."
She felt herself smile.
"I told him I thought you were going to stand me up." she confessed with a weak smile.
"You did?" he asked. His face seem genuinely curious. Norma took his now empty plate and fork and rinsed it in the sink.
"Yes." she said quickly and refused to look at him. "You were late and I didn't think you would come."
"Well, I did."
"Yes. You did." she sighed. "Now, you're probably going to go to jail because of me."
Her voice was miserable and she started scrubbing his plate hard enough to remove the pattern.
"These types of fraud cases are extremely hard to prove, Norma. Unless someone confesses, or there's a paper trail-"
"Or he goes and talks to Norman." she snapped.
She felt his hands move over hers and stop her from breaking the little plate by cleaning it too much.
"If he goes and talks to Norman… investigates, and talks to Norman at PineView like he threatened to do… Norman will tell him we got married for the insurance." she said feeling a panic attack coming on.
"Norma." Alex said calmly taking the plate away from her and rinsing it. He put it on the drying rack and dried his own hands.
"Norman is in a mental facility. Marsh can't communicate with him and even if he could, nothing Norman told him would be usable in any investigation. It's illegal for him to even try and talk to him." he told her.
"Marsh said he could talk to Norman if it was a fraud investigation." Norma said weakly.
"Marsh lied to you." Alex said confidently.
She knew she must have looked doubtful because her husband stepped closer and put his arms around her waist. Her defenses kicked in and she automatically raised her hands to create a barrier between his chest and hers.
"Norma, I know the law." he told. "It's against the law for any investigator, insurance or not, to question someone in a mental health facility without the permission of the family, even if that person is an adult. Marsh just told you that to get you to confess."
Norma nodded. What Alex was saying made sense.
"If Mash tries to interview Norman, I'll have him arrested and he knows that." Alex said calmly.
"Why don't you go tell him that?" Norma snapped feeling hot an angry.
"Because, we've got nothing to hide, remember?" Alex said with a teasing little smile.
'Dance with me, Mrs. Sheriff. It's just us. A nice slow dance.'
Norma eyed him with an even mixture of admiration of loathing. She could feel her hands loosen from her chest and Alex pulling her closer to him.
"I was so worried, so focused about getting Norman help." she said softly. "I didn't think about the risk involved. The risks you were taking. I didn't think… you could lose everything."
She felt enormously guilty that she'd be responsible for any suffering he would might endure. If he lost his job, his retirement. If he went to prison, all because of her. The last thing in the world she wanted was for him to get hurt.
"Fraud will be very hard for Marsh to prove." Alex was saying calmly and Norma could hear the sudden and intrusive electronic buzzing of his cell phone in his pocket.
"Hang on." he growled and looked annoyed. He looked at a text message and seemed angry.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I have to go into work for a little bit." he said soberly.
"Thought you had the day off." she snapped. She didn't want to be left alone with Marsh down at the motel.
"A kid tried to rob a gas station. I know his parents. I need to be there." Alex said. "I'll be home in a few hours.
"Alex." Norma sighed. Security system or not, it would be dark soon and she didn't want to be here in this house in the dark.
"Text me on my phone if you get lonely and the police scanner is in Dylan's room." Alex said. "I won't be long."
~ It always felt awful being alone in this house. Bill had come by, right after Alex had left, to show her how everything worked, and she liked seeing every inch of her property with the ease of her cell phone. Each time the house creaked, she looked at her phone and checked the cameras. Seeing that no one was there and it was most likely the wind gearing up for a winter storm. Alex had promised a harsh winter would mean a nicer spring and not to worry.
Still, Norma did worry. She worried what she would do if she checked her many camera's and saw drunken men trying to break into her house. She was the sheriff's wife after all. What if there were men in town who hated Alex Romero and wanted to hurt him by hurting her? What would she do?
She'd found his extra police scanner and kept it on. At first it had been hard to listen to. All the confusing codes back and forth and talking. She heard Alex's voice come over a few times and some talk about the robbery.
She heard a domestic abuse report. An ambulance going to the nursing home. Regina asking the Sheriff if he was going to respond to another domestic abuse report. Alex's voice coming back over the scanner sounding annoyed and tired.
"No. We've got someone on it already." he said.
That was the Sheriff Romero she knew. Cranky and stoic as ever and Norma had to laugh.
~ The new security alarm gave off a nice, loud chirping noise if someone unlocked the front door and didn't enter the passcode on either Norma or Alex's phone in a few seconds after it was engaged. Norma found she liked this feature the best. Alex had a habit always startling her when she least expected to see him.
Now, her phone alerted her that a car had pulled up to the motel parking lot and she got to see her favorite sight. The Sheriff's SUV next to her Mercedes, and see Alex climb out. She watched him, with fascinated glee as he climbed the steps to the house and unlock the door. The security alarms chirping like they were supposed to. Alex entering in their passcode, their wedding date, and the house falling silent.
Norma had stashed her phone away by this time and was pretending to read a book.
"That's awfully loud." Alex said grumpily.
"I like it." Norma said from her spot on the end of the couch. "No one wants to break into a house that makes a noise like that."
"That's even if you have the key." Alex said. "What kind noises will it make if you break in the door?"
"No noise." Norma said lazily holding her book up to her face and refused to look at her husband. "A trap door opens and drops you into a pit of snakes. Bill upgraded us to the India Jones Package."
She sensed Alex didn't like being ignored and felt the sofa sag with his weight. He'd taken a spare decorative pillow, placed it on her lap and effortlessly stretched out his lean body on the length of the sofa. His head resting face up on her lap as though he were a neglected puppy in need of attention.
Norma ignored him. She wasn't even sure what her book was about, but she pretended to have great interest in it.
"How was your robbery?" she asked at last.
"Predictable." Alex sighed. "Kid was only fifteen. Owner didn't want to press charges and parents need to spend more time with him before it's too late."
He tugged on the sleeve of her sweater like a playful kitten and she shooed him away.
His tugged a little harder this time and a smile bloomed on her face before she cold stop it.
"Alex, stop that!" she grinned.
"Must be an interesting book." he said petulantly.
"It is." she told him stubbornly and pulled her arm away from his tugging.
"It's getting late, Mrs. Sheriff." he sighed.
"Well, maybe you should go to bed, Mr. Sheriff." she said in a sing song voice.
"I don't want to go to bed alone." he said childishly and Norma snorted a giggle before she could stop herself.
"You know, being handsome and charming isn't going to always work with me." she told him trying to be serious.
"You think I'm handsome?" he asked pretending to be shocked.
"No." she said cruelly. "No one does."
"Damn." he said defeatedly. "No wonder I'm in this horrible sham marriage."
Norma's face flushed red hot as she hid her face behind her book. She didn't want him to see her smile. Didn't want him to know he'd won.
"Well, at least the sex is good." he sighed at last.
Norma kicked up her knees and bucked his head off her lap.
"Get upstairs, Sheriff!" she snapped trying to control the hot blush coming over her face.
Alex seemed to have grown 20 years younger and looked mischievous and innocent all at once. She pushed him away for making such a dirty remark and he had the good sense to back off towards the staircase. Only taking a step back when she would kiss him and then push him upstairs.
It was the opposite of their first night together. When she'd felt so loss and light headed he'd literally carried her upstairs like they were in a movie. Now, she felt far more in control and she enjoyed the feel of him giving her that control. That power over him. He refused to do anything till she kissed him, yet he allowed her to practically bully him just now.
"You're blushing, Mrs. Sheriff." he teased. "Why are you blushing?"
"None of your business!" she laughed and pulled him toward the stairs when he refused to budge.
He seemed amused and willful. Unwilling to follow orders till she started pulling off her blue sweater and gave him a promising look.
"Come on, Sheriff." she said sweetly. "Time for bed."