Celia

The cellphone vibrated on Celia's desk. She stopped clacking away at her computer keyboard and picked it up. She tapped the text message icon to read the message. 'Got her itinerary. I'll take her down after work.'

Celia looked confused at the message. "What?" She turned the phone over and realized she had her husband's phone which was identical to hers except that he had engraved his initials into the back plate of his. She checked his past text messages and saw where he had sent messages to this number before, all equally as cryptic. She checked his email and saw where he had mailed out her itinerary. With shaking hands she texted back for a verification of the location where she would be 'taken down' and then deleted it from the sent folder and marked the original as unread.

Celia cried when the reply came within minutes. It was indeed the parking garage at her office. She replied 'k' as her husband Conner liked to do and then erased it from the received and sent file as well. She almost jumped when minutes later Conner tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hello, my dear. I think we got our phones mixed up this morning. I thought I'd come see if you had mine," he told her. He dropped a single red rose on her desk and a single Dove chocolate.

"Oh, how beautiful, and my favorite chocolate." She clasped her hands together. "Thank you, honey. I have the phone in my purse. I haven't had it out all day, so I didn't even realize it was the wrong one," she lied. She opened a desk drawer and pulled it out of her purse. "There you go." She handed it over to him.

"Thanks." He kissed her on the forehead. "See you later for dinner."

"Sure," she said hesitantly.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

"Oh, I've just been really busy. I guess I'm a little distracted." She smiled and squeezed his hand. "I'll see you later." She watched as he got back on the elevator and the lights showed he was going down. It stopped on the fourth floor instead of going all the way down. Probably just someone getting on, she thought, but then it came back up and when the doors opened someone got off and he wasn't there.

On break Celia went down to the fourth floor to see what was there. She found their accounting department, staffed entirely by women. She shook her head and went back up to her office. A tear slid down her face.

After work, Celia asked a security guard to walk her to her car. Her eyes shifted back and forth, alert to anyone she didn't know walking up to her. She sighed with relief when she got to her car and the guard stood by as she opened the door. She turned to thank him and saw that he held a gun on her.

"Get in," he told her. "We're going to take a little drive."

Her heart sank. Of all people to walk her to her car it had to be the one she didn't want. She climbed in behind the wheel and he walked around to the other side with her keys in his hand so she couldn't lock him out. "Where are we going?"

"Do you remember where you met your husband?"

"It was at a disco on the lake, but it's closed now; has been for years."

"That is sort of the point. No one will find you there." He waived the gun at her. "Now!"

She cried softly as she started the car and made her way out of the parking structure.

They arrived at the old building and he told her to turn off the engine and get out.

Her foot still on the brake, engine running, she asked him why he was doing this. He told her Conner didn't want to go to the trouble of getting a divorce and having to split the assets. She sighed resignedly and then hit the gas as hard as she could. He already had taken off his seat belt, but hers was still intact.

"What the hell?" he yelled just as the car slammed into a concrete pylon. In her old car the airbag had to be manually turned on and the passenger side was off. He hit the windshield.

Celia took a second to shake off the impact with the airbag. She glanced over at her assailant whom she assumed was dead and then she ran from the car. Hearing a noise, she looked back just as he pulled his head back momentarily and then raised his arm and shot. The last thing she saw was him slump forward again before she felt the sting of the bullet in her back. Her world went black minutes later.

Conner was in the apartment sipping champagne with his girlfriend. Candles glowed on the table and soft clarinet music played over the stereo. Celia took in the scene with rage. The curtains rustled in spite of the windows being closed and Conner looked up. The candle flames went out one by one as she blew on them.

"What is going on?" the woman asked him.

"I don't know," Conner said. "There's bound to be a window opened somewhere."

She looked down at her watch. "I need to get going anyhow. I don't need your wife walking in on us. She almost caught us the last time."

"Trust me; that won't happen again," he assured her.

"I wouldn't be sure about that," Celia said.

"Celia?" Conner said looking around the room.

Realizing her could hear her, just not see her, Celia laughed an ironic laugh that she knew would send chills through them both. The woman got up and ran from the apartment.

"Celia?" Conner said again. "I can explain."

"Explain what, Conner?" she asked him. "That you had me killed so you wouldn't have to go through a divorce and split the assets. Or the bimbo from accounting? What exactly do you want to explain?"

Conner's eyes widened. "You know about that?"

"Yes, and the cops have your killer's phone. He's dead too, by the way. So, my unfaithful lover, it won't be long until they link you to him. I told my boss about the odd texts on your phone and he told me to get a security guard to escort me to my car. He had no way of knowing it would be the man you hired to kill me, of course, but he can put the nail in your coffin, so to speak."

Conner blanched at her message and a lump rose in his throat. He took a drink of champagne and swallowed hard as the door bell rang. He heard them call out 'Police' before he opened it.