11.

~ "You spoil me." Norma sighed happily. The power still hadn't returned but that was somehow okay. The house felt peaceful even with the all the creaking of the snow storm outside. The storm had cast a dark shadow that the sun couldn't penetrate and, although it was daylight, it felt much later.

They were still happily settled into their own world that was solely the living room and the good fire Alex had kept going since that morning.

With the rest of the house seemingly bathed in darkness. Norma hadn't wanted to venture out into the dimly lit hallways. Its shadows were now strange and lonely to her. She hadn't realized how dark and spooky this house was without the power on. The fire in the living room providing light, warmth and an illusion of safety.

She could still feel that happy buzz of too much wine and Alex was making her eat some of the left over pot roast he'd bravely cooked on the gas range.

"How so?" he laughed.

She waved her hand about.

"Just… everything." she said feeling happy and she wasn't sure why. Probably it was still the wine. She'd lost their little drinking contest and that was okay. She'd woken up to find Alex had buried her under some blankets and she had felt very warm and safe there. It had been a nice feeling. Waking up like that.

"Everything you've been doing for me lately. The trees, the new security system. Replacing heater, the pit being filled in." she admitted sadly. "I've never had anyone… do this much."

"Well, we agreed to fix up the house." he told her. His focus was on toasting another slice of bread for her on the open fire. For some reason, bread was so much better this way. She could never enjoy normal toast again.

"I know." she said.

"You know we'll have to start on the plumbing and electric as soon as the snow melts." he sighed. "Might have to move into the motel for a while till the job is done."

Norma rolled her eyes. She wasn't a fan of staying down in the motel and preferred her own bed.

"We had fun the last time we stayed at the motel." he reminded her playfully.

"Yeah." she grinned widely.

He handed her the perfectly toasted bread and she felt how nice and warm it was.

"Alex?" she asked watching him skewer another piece for himself.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you so nice to me?" she asked. She honestly wanted to know. Wanted to know why he'd suddenly gone from being someone who she wasn't sure she could trust, to being her best friend.

"What?" he asked as if she was joking.

"Why are you so nice to me?" she asked again. "Why do you spoil me like this? All the upgrades to the house, Norman's stay in PineView."

Her hand went absentmindedly to the new necklace he'd gotten her for Christmas.

"Kind of easy to do when it's still Bob Paris' money we're using." he laughed but she glared at him.

Alex realized she was serious and looked back at the fire before answering.

"Maybe I just never hand anyone to spoil before." he admitted. "Maybe its' nice to spoil someone who needs it."

Norma felt her heart swell slightly at the idea that she needed his attention and devotion.

"Well," she sighed feeling slightly uneasy. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." he said. "Besides, I like this house. I think it'll be nice to fix it up. For us to live here."

"Yeah." she agreed.

"By next Christmas everything will be much better."

"Maybe Norman will home." she said quickly.

Alex fell silent and looked intently at the fire.

~ Alex checked on Marsh at the motel before it got dark again. The power still hadn't returned and the winter storm would get worse soon.

"Norma, we're fine here." Dylan was saying over the phone. "We saw on the news about the storm. You okay?"

"We're fine." Norma said quickly. "Alex has a fire in the fireplace and everything."

"So, married life is treating you well, Mrs. Romero?" Dylan asked suggestively.

Norma could feel a smile of happiness bloom on her face.

Her son, like her new husband, knew exactly which buttons to push to get a reaction.

"Married life is fine." she told him.

"You know, I never thought about you and Romero together." Dylan said. "Makes sense though. He was always coming over to the house when he didn't have to."

"Not always!" Norma huffed defensively.

"Always." Dylan said. "I think you two make a nice couple. He seems to mellow you out. That's a good thing."

"I don't need to mellow out." Norma hissed at her son. "Anyway, how's Norman? Did he look okay when you saw him? Is he eating enough?"

"He looked great." Dylan said easily. "Said he's doing a creative writing class, something about yoga."

"Oh?" Norma asked feeling a pain she didn't know this already. "What… what else?"

"He's fine Norma." Dylan said. "Just let him be on his own for a little while. Aren't you and Romero supposed to be on your honeymoon or something?"

"Some honeymoon." she scoffed. "We have no power, we're snowed in and were camped out in the living room in front of the fire."

"Sounds like a honeymoon to me." Dylan said tartly.

"You know, a mother and son shouldn't talk to each other like this." she scolded.

"We've never had a normal relationship." he reminded her. "You know that."

"Yeah, I know." she sighed. "I wish we had. I really do. If I could change it… if I could go back in time-"

"Doesn't matter now." Dylan interrupted. "Listen, I think Romero is really good for you. I think he keeps you calm. Do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Listen to Romero. Keep Norman at PineView? He's not ready to come home. Not for a long time." Dylan said.

Norma wanted to argue with him. She was Norman's mother after all, she knew what was best for him.

"I know." she admitted meekly. She hated to admit that Alex and Dylan were right. It felt like a great emptiness was in her body, like a death had occurred, but Norman needed to be away from her.

"How- how's Emma? This was your first Christmas together." Norma said feeling herself start to shake and she wasn't able to explain why. She'd wandered away from the living room and into the blackness of the dinning room. The heat was on, but with no power, it felt cold and lonely here. Like she'd drifted away into an empty and dark sea.

"She's fine. We did a tour of the lights and opened presents." Dylan told her. "She bought me a smart TV. It's really nice. Going to mount it on the wall."

Norma rolled her eyes.

"What is it with you men and TVs?" she asked. "Alex got a big TV for the living room and he loves the stupid thing."

"TV isn't stupid, Norma." Dylan said seriously. "You just have bad memories of Sam in front of the TV. Romero isn't like Sam."

Norma let out a long sigh.
"I know he's not." she admitted. "Will you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"Tell Emma I really loved the necklace and earrings she picked out. She'll know what it means." Norma told him.

"Okay." Dylan said slightly confused. "I know I didn't get you a wrapped present for Christmas, but I was thinking we could hit up the after Christmas Sales next week like we used to I was a kid. Maybe you could come to Portland and we could make a day of it."

Norma felt her heart skip a beat.
"Remember when we used to do that, Norma?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah." she said feeling a smile etch across her face. Her feet taking her back to the warm glow of the living room.

"You always made us wait till after Christmas to get the things we really wanted. We would go to the sales. You wanted us to be smart shoppers." Dylan laughed.

"Yes!" Norma said brightly. "I… I remember that's how you got your bike."

"I remember you paid for it in cash and made sure you got the full discounted price. God only knows how long you it took you to save the money." Dylan said nostalgically.

"Long time." Norma told him. Her memories of the past weren't as merry. She had picked up a waitressing job just to afford Christmas for her and the boys that year, and it hadn't paid well. Dylan had been disappointed he didn't get his bike and they to go to the sales after Christmas.

"Well, they have a nice mall here." Dylan offered. "Plenty of places for me to sit down while you shop." he was joking and Norma laughed.

"Yeah! Honey, I'd like that!" she felt her eyes tear up and she couldn't explain why. Her relationship with her oldest son was so fractured, she was thankful for any lifeline given.

"I'll call you next week." he said hopefully. "Say hi to Romero for me."

"I will." she said quickly. "I love you,"

Dylan didn't say it back, but that was just his way. Mother and son still had a long road to go together.

~ The steps up to the house were covered in ice and Alex had wisely chosen to rough it down to the motel on the ground.

Marsh was fine, but cranky now that his phone had run out of power.

"How is Mrs. Romero in all this?" Marsh asked him genially.
"Fine." Alex said tersely.

"I hate having to be sure a bother to you. You and your wife must have wanted to spend the holidays with her other son." Marsh said.
"We wanted to spend our first Christmas together." Alex corrected. "Alone."

~ Avoiding the ice on the steps, Alex stuck to the safer ground along the concrete and that's where his foot caught on something. It was a depression next to an underdeveloped maple tree, otherwise it would have been discovered when the new trees went in.

He'd found it, simply by tripping over it. Nearly sending him head over heels into the snow.

Cursing the luck, he looked to see what had caused him to almost fall and saw the cheap faux leather handle of a suitcase. The storm, rain and digging around the property over the past few days must have shaken it lose but it stuck out now, clear as day.

Romero looked at it, perplexed.

A suitcase. A sad looking little suitcase in plain brown. Why was it here? Here, hastily buried in the ground not twenty feet away from the motel?

He quickly pulled it free and, rather than take it back to the house and ask Norma to explain something he knew she couldn't, he took it back down to the motel office.

~ The office was warm, although without power. Still, he knew Norma well enough to know she wouldn't come down to the motel in this storm and he'd be free to investigate this odd little mystery alone.

The whole thing smacked of Norman's doing. Only Norman would bury a strange suitcase in the ground next to his own house. The young man was disturbed, but he was no master criminal.

His first thought was that maybe it was a missing persons', but they didn't have anyone recent on the books. Annika Johnson was solved and her belongings accounted for. Besides, she was a high end call girl, this was a low end suitcase. Fifty bucks at best from a big box store. Not something Annika would ever use.

He was happy to see the travel tag and still legible information on side.

He could barely make out the faded name of Audrey Decody and what looked like California as her home.

Alex didn't bother with gloves, any evidence was long gone with the rain and snow. He unzipped the main compartment to see a blinding array of color. His senses weren't accustomed to seeing and understanding that they were scarves.

Audrey's personal items, her bathroom things, were neatly packed in clear cases but that wasn't what alarmed Romero.

It was frighting to see the long string of hair that had clearly been ripped out of a woman's scalp. Dried blood and skin still clinging to the dark brown tresses.

What was horrific, more than anything, was Norma's robe, coved in mud, was folded neatly on top.

Alex was sure it was her robe. It was the sky blue she liked to wear. The color that looked so luminous on her. That bright and happy blue that she would wear when she was happy. He hadn't seen it on her in a long time now that he thought about it. She had several blue robes in this style. This long cut that made her look so elegant.

Why was his wife's robe buried in a strange woman's suitcase?

Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary about it. No weapons or even a purse or ID. No cell phone.

Alex quickly stashed the suitcase behind a table in the office and found the laptop had been left on Norma's desk and it was still charged.

The password to the laptop was Norman's name, an easy guess, and he had access to the motel information.

"Audrey Decody." Alex muttered to himself looking for a name that went with the guest check in.

It was possible Audrey checked in under another name. It was possible someone else checked in for her. A one night stand maybe. It still wouldn't explain why Norma's robe was in her suitcase.

He was surprised that Norma's motel wasn't doing much business. Even in the busy season. Of course, Norman had kept her occupied. She hadn't had time to devote to her motel.

No Audrey. It was too wild of a coincidence that this Audrey Decody wasn't related to Emma Decody. Yet, he couldn't call Emma up as ask her.

Maybe it was just a mistake. Audrey left the suitcase behind and Norman buried it instead of keeping it in a lost and found. It still wouldn't explain why Norma's robe was in it. Or why it was caked in dirt and everything else was clean.

~ "Dylan and Emma had a nice Christmas." Norma said cheerfully when Alex managed to finally come back inside.

"Oh?" he asked.

The cold must have gotten to him. He looked tired and distracted.

"Here." she laughed pulling off the thick outer coat he'd been wearing. "You must be freezing. I was getting worried about you. Why were you out there for so long?"

"Just… um making… making sure everything is okay." he stuttered. His eyes casting away from her.

"Well, take off your shoes and come by the fire. I don't want you getting frost bite." she said with a warm smile. Her hands pulling off the scarf she'd thoughtfully helped wrap around him before he left.

"Okay." he said.

"Was Marsh alright?" she asked. "I feel a little guilty. Leaving him down there all alone on Christmas."

"He's fine." Alex said quickly.

"I was thinking I should cook him something-" she started to say.

"Are you missing a robe?" he asked suddenly. "A blue one? With… um… brownish swirls?"

He looked a little confused. Men always were when describing women's clothing.

"How did you know that?" she asked in amusement. "Did you find my robe?"

"No." he said. "I think… I just remember seeing you in it. I haven't seen it in a while."

"Oh." she said sensing he was lying.

A strange silence hung between them. Both of them waiting for the other to say something.

Norma sensing her husband, her best friend, wasn't there just now. It was like that with him. Sometimes he was Alex, sometimes he was Sherif Romero. The way he was looking at her just now, she felt her guard go up. A cold fear that had nothing to do with the weather shivered down her spine.

She could feel Alex didn't trust her. Sheriff Romero was suspicious of her.

"I… I think I'll light come candles." Norma said calmly. "Cook us some dinner. Make something for Mr. Marsh. Maybe you can take it down to him. I hate to think of him going hungry."