At the end of the main hall was the library which doubled as Dr. Adler’s office. There were rest rooms to the left of his office. The kitchen was across the back of the building out of sight. Patient rooms were along the left of the hall; hers was across from the nurses’ station.
“Alexis, are you alright?”
“Doctor Adler, you’ve shared much with me for over twenty years, and you’re almost like a father to me, but you’ve never told me about my parents.” She looked at him. “Why haven’t you told me the rest of my story?”
*.*.*
She no longer rode in the back of the Cadillac, but now sat in the passenger seat. However, the front seat could easily seat three people comfortably. He never answered her question, but had nodded his head and quickly ushered her to the car.
Someone had to be paying for her care, which she knew had to be expensive. There were seldom ten patients at the home. Even if the building were paid for, there were considerable expenses involved running the facility. She decided to find out more about her parents and who was paying for her care, especially since he avoided answering her. He’s been out of character since she asked the question.
She could tell he knew she was staring at him. There was something about him that interested her. His hair was black without any sign of gray. His hair was full and was always well groomed. She wondered if he went to the same hair stylist that came to the facility. Maybe she went to his home and did more than style his hair. She sensed some jealousy.
He usually wore gray slacks like now, with a dark-blue blazer over a white shirt. Most of the time he would wear a tie, but usually when he was picking her up, he did not have one.
His chin was long and square and when she had the chance to fix on his eyes they were a deep brown and reminded her of maple syrup. He was what she considered handsome. She thought of the hair stylist, and now wanted to run her fingers through his hair and make him more like a human than a statue.
She thought about Chris’ frequent visits and liked putting on a show, while she secretly watched his. She even caught Dr. Adler in the shower one morning and watched for several minutes. She wondered if all men did what they did. She felt a strange sensation between her legs and wished she could touch herself. Would she be able to get Chris to touch her body now that she shared that she knew he was watching her?
“A penny for your thoughts?” Dr. Adler broke the silence, and looked at her.
She could feel the heat on her face, and knew he couldn’t tell she was blushing because of the dark car interior. Despite her condition she smiled at him. “Maybe I should share what I was thinking.” She weighed the risks. “Do you think I’m pretty Dr. Adler?”
“Alexis, we’ve discussed your looks many times. You still deny what I keep telling you. You are no longer the ugly child who came to live at the home. I’ve shown you the pictures of how pretty…no, how beautiful you are. You need to understand what a beautiful butterfly you’ve turned into.” He looked over again briefly, and she turned towards the side window.
“If I’m as beautiful as you say I am, then why am I still at the home, and how come…no never mind.”
“Alexis, maybe riding in the car like this…you can share what you resist sharing when we’re talking in my office. Tell me what you were thinking, please.”
She wanted to tell him what she was going to ask, but she liked what she had, and didn’t want to jeopardize it.
“Alexis, we’ve spent years together. You must know by now that you can say anything, or ask me anything. Please tell me what you were really going to ask me.”
She turned quickly to face him. “So, if you think I’m so beautiful how come you can ignore it so well?”
Chapter 8
Mike was not in favor of my doing the investigation. I wasn’t at all surprised. Mike knew about those other times I could have lost my life. The idea of Mike doing the investigation was appealing. However, I had made the commitment to Stephen and had to at least attempt to identify the blackmailer.
I headed to my apartment to change into some darker clothes. I had decided to go to the drop location to see if I could spot who was picking up the blackmail money. Stephen told me he was going through with the drop, but indicated he was losing his patience.
I called Stephen hoping to catch him at his office.
He answered the phone, which didn’t surprise me. “Hi Stephen, Scott.”
“Hi Scott. Have you decided to help?”
“Let’s just say that I’m going to go to the drop location tonight to see if I can learn anything. We’ll discuss things later. Are you still going through with the drop?”
“I don’t have any choice at this point in time, but putting all those green hundreds in the bag…well, as I said, I’m losing my willingness to continue this. At some point, one of us has to stop, or be stopped.”
“Okay. I’m willing to help tonight, but…let’s just see how tonight goes.”
“Thanks Scott.”
“Now, let me see if I got the details correct. You go to the Dudley Street station and as you enter, there’s a column with the street name sign on it. It’s the only column someone would see leaving the station. In front of it is a metal bench. You stand on the bench and put the bag of money behind it on the metal cross rail. Is that correct?”
“That’s correct Scott. The station is not in the most desirable section of Roxbury, and is normally pretty deserted at night. However, you need to be careful that nobody sees what you’re doing.”
“Do you have any suggestion as to where I can watch who picks the money up?”
Stephen didn’t immediately answer. “Good question. Let me think about that for a second.”
I was getting concerned Stephen hadn’t thought about that.
“Well Scott, you need to be close enough to spot someone standing on the bench to get the money and close enough to see if you can identify the person. However, you need to be far enough away not to be seen yourself, or be seen hanging out in the area.”
I immediately thought about the Mission Hill gang that was involved in kidnapping men, and some women, for the torso killers. I recalled being held captive by one of the women and got a chill up my spine. That was one of the reasons Mercedes wanted me to stay away from investigations.
The choice of a location so near the gang’s area raised my suspicion as to whether this gang was involved and seeking some revenge.
“Okay Scott, here’s what I suggest. The station closes at 9 pm, which is why I’m to make the drop at 10 pm, which means the main station is locked, but the entry area still has access to the flyers and other schedules. If you wait in your car across the street you can see who comes and goes. Near midnight there shouldn’t be anyone coming and going except the blackmailer. You should be close enough to see who it is.”
I was considering what he offered.
“Scott, maybe we should meet and go together in your car?”
“As much as I would like the company, I think that’s too risky.”
“Scott, I’m going to put in a good word for you with Mercedes. She needs to know—“
“No, Stephen.” I interrupted him immediately. “Please do not say anything to her about me. She would be much too interested in why you offered.”
“Scott, do I sense a problem?”
I took a deep breath. “Let’s just say she’s concerned that I should focus on business things and not things that could get me killed.”
*.*.*
I changed and was going to head over to pick up some of my things at Mercedes’ apartment. I was really hoping to run into her and try to smooth things out between us. However, I realized I should scout out the Dudley Street station to know what I was going to do, and where I needed to park.
It was a short ten minute drive from my Brookline Village apartment to Roxbury and the Dudley Street station. My white ’58 Pontiac Bonneville convertible was not very inconspicuous. Late at night, it was going to get even more quest
ioning looks, especially since I was white too.
I drove by the station and noticed there were people entering and leaving even though it was a holiday. I turned up one side street beyond the station to come back to the station—wrong thing to do. It seemed like everyone was on the front steps or on the sidewalk and I was the afternoon chicken dinner. I didn’t care about turning around. I was headed out of there.
My heart was beating and I was thankful I managed to get back to the station without losing my car or my life. I parked the car across from the station entrance. I estimated it was about forty feet from where I was parked to the entrance.
There was a light pole with its globe still intact, so I assumed there would be some light to help me see who would be taking the money. If I backed up just a little I could see if someone stepped up on the bench near the entrance. I had a plan and wondered what it would be like near midnight tonight.
I quickly got back into traffic and headed the fastest route out of this area to Mercedes’ apartment near MIT.
*.*.*
I pulled in front of the building and the door man greeted me. “Hello Mr. Tucker. Will you be parked for the night?”
“No Harold. I’ll be leaving shortly.”
“Why don’t you use the receiving area, there’s no deliveries expected today.”
“Thank you Harold.” I discreetly handed him a folded dollar and got back in my car. I pulled around the side of the building and parked on the down slope area to the receiving docks.
I was coming around the building when I saw Mercedes looking fine as usual in one of my white shirts and a short black skirt. She was standing in front of her apartment building looking at her watch. I was about to call to her when I noticed her turn to a man exiting the front entry door with two suitcases.
I recognized Mercedes’ white luggage and the man…it was Ralph. I remember Ralph from Bermuda, and he was involved with Mercedes while they were investigating the missing men there.
Mercedes said there was nothing between them, but I could tell from his actions that he didn’t see it that way. Despite her saying that nothing happened, I could tell he at least had tried.
He came over to a waiting cab, handed keys to her, and put his arm around her while helping her into the back seat. He couldn’t help but notice that her legs went a long way up under her skirt.
“Shit…shit,” I muttered to myself. It’s a holiday weekend and she’s headed off with him. Where the hell are they going? I tried to remember our last words last night, but I couldn’t remember saying anything that would have resulted in her running off with him.
The cab pulled away along with a part of my life.
*.*.*
I entered the apartment to get what I came for. I went in the bedroom and found the bed a mess. I searched my memory and could almost swear I had made the bed before I left. Could they have gone to bed before they left?
I sat on the bed and gave some more thought to our discussion. I felt real guilty planning to do the surveillance this evening. I’m doing what she specifically asked me not to. I love Mercedes and she said she loves me. Now I wish I had said more things to her last night.
The thoughts of her going to bed with Ralph were absurd. I grabbed one of my suitcases in the closet and started to put some shirts and pants in it. I went over to the dresser and took out socks and underwear and added those. Then I took my shaving stuff from the bathroom. The other things I had at my own apartment, but the shaving stuff was only here. I closed the suitcase on the bed and lifted it off.
I noticed something other than crumpled sheets. I moved the top sheet and found a pair of boxers.
“Shit…shit…and triple, shit.” I don’t wear boxers.
Chapter 9
Mercedes left no note, the bed was a mess, boxers were left between the sheets, and I saw them leaving together with suitcases.
Despite what it looked like, this didn’t make any sense to me.
Mercedes might have been upset with me about my doing investigations, but she didn’t know anything about her father asking me to do an investigation for him. Or, did she?
I tried to recall last night’s conversation after my nightmare. Maybe I talked in my sleep about his request for me to do an investigation for him. I found myself sitting on the bed still holding the boxers. What would a true detective do in this situation?
I turned the material inside out and shook it over the off-white bed cover. The sheets were black so I knew I wouldn’t be able to see anything. I wanted to see if anything appeared, but I really didn’t want to see anything.
There on the bed cover were two short black hairs. My fear was confirmed. Ralph had indeed been with Mercedes in bed and nude. I threw the underwear, which hit the bedside lamp knocking it off the nightstand. The shade hit the wall and the lamp base bounced on the rug.
I stood and pulled the bed cover off to the floor and then the top sheet. I felt the bottom sheet to see if it was warm, but it felt cool. I rushed into the bathroom and found two wet white towels discarded in the corner.
Mercedes always hung her towel over a hook or at least over the shower rod. Now I knew the naked truth. They made love in bed and showered together. As hard as it was to believe Mercedes could actually do that with someone else…the facts didn’t lie.
*.*.*
As much as I tried to deny the facts there was no other explanation. If Mercedes really loved me, she might have just been vulnerable today. I just couldn’t accept what I had seen. Then it hit me.
She knew I still had a key and would find the condition of the bedroom, the bathroom and worse his boxers. She did this on purpose to send me a message. I got it.
I didn’t know why I was rushing around the apartment getting all of my stuff together, but I was. They were not coming back anytime soon. I felt like a ton of bricks was lying on my chest—it was so hard to breathe. My head was spinning with images of Mercedes and me at the cabin, with her in a towel too small for the task. Those images were quickly replaced with Ralph in bed with her and then in the shower.
I thought we were in love and would be together for the rest of our lives. That’s what we had talked about. I still couldn’t understand why this had happened…but it did. The worse part was that she knew this would almost kill me when I found her apartment this way. I really had misjudged her. Maybe she’s more like her sister than I ever knew.
I tore the bed apart and punched the two pillows before throwing them across the room. I realized the mess I made and sat down on the naked mattress. There was no way I could blame Ralph for what happened. He would be defenseless to resist her beauty. Even to this day I’m surprised she’s not married or at least engaged.
I fell back on the bed and tried to calm down. I was still in shock, but now I knew I was going to help Stephen with his investigation. I didn’t care how dangerous it would be. Being safe didn’t matter any longer. Why did I think I had Mercedes all to myself?
I opened my eyes and looked at the mess in the bedroom. My clothes were all scattered everywhere. The last time I saw such a mess was when we came into her bedroom and couldn’t wait to get our clothes off and feel our naked bodies touching. My hand brushed against my shirt pocket.
I pulled two pictures out. One was the one Maggie had given me showing her dancing at her club. The other I hadn’t looked at. I looked at it and it had her phone number on the back and ‘please call me’ written below it. I turned the picture over and it was a XXX rated picture of her with a dance pole. I stared at the picture too long, and realized Maggie sharing this picture with me told me how she felt about me.
*.*.*
It was only 9 pm, and I was headed up Mass Ave in the direction of Harvard Square. My stuff was thrown in the trunk and the back of the car. Harold, the doorman, saw me throwing my stuff in the car and just shook his head, and didn’t say a word. Yes, Harold things have changed considerably…you won’t have my tips any more.
My hand was shaking, but it wasn�
��t nerves from what I was going to do near midnight. It was what I was doing right now. I had time to think about what I was about to do, but I was mad enough now to do it.
I could only imagine Maggie’s eyes when she spots me watching her dance. Is this really fair to her? Why not? She had more than gone out of her way to indicate she likes me and most certainly wants me to see her dance…and I would say, more than that.
*.*.*
It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the dark interior. It was not only dark, but the smoke filled my nostrils and made it hard to breathe. It was crowded in the strip club and the men shouting over the loud music made me consider what I was doing here.
I was about to turn and leave when fingers gripped my shoulder. “Would you like a table near the stage?”
I turned to the voice and was greeted by a petite blond whose assets were much too large for her frame. I tried not to stare and noticed her smiling as my eyes went to her face. “Sure, thanks.”
She led the way to one of the two remaining tables near the stage. However, they were on the side near the wall, not front and center. That was fine with me. I had never been in a strip club before, and wished now that Mike was with me. I was glad the eyes were not on me, but on the ebony creature almost fully naked on the stage.
“What would you like to drink?” she yelled to me as I sat down and turned almost nose to nipples.
“A draft would be fine.” She started to move away. “Oh, is Maggie dancing tonight?”
“Who?”
“Maggie.”
“Oh, you mean Bubbles.”
Fragrance of Revenge Page 4