SK01 - Waist Deep

by Frank Zafiro

  What I really wanted to do was to sneak up to his house, peer into the windows and get a look inside, even though I was afraid of what I might find. But it was still light out and would be for a while yet.

  Besides, I knew what I needed to know.

  Gary LeMond was a slime ball.

  38

  I drove to the gas station and filled the tank. While I was there, I called Adam again. He answered on the second ring.

  “Adam, it’s Stef.”

  “Oh, hey, how’s it going?”

  “Good. You get my message?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “And I’m sorry, but I was too busy to get lunch anyway.”

  “You want to grab some dinner?”

  “Can’t. Nikki and I have plans. Thanks, though.”

  “Okay.”

  We were silent for a moment and I felt foolish for talking in code. It’s not like the Russians or the Feds were listening in.

  Adam said, “Listen, though, I’m not as busy tomorrow as I thought I was going to be. I could probably meet you for coffee in the morning, if you want.” His voice was smooth and casual, but I knew him well enough to sense the excitement underneath.

  “That sounds good,” I said, trying to mask my own excitement. “The usual place?”

  “Sure,” Adam said. “See you there.”

  I hung up, thrilled. He had found something, I knew. He was excited because of whatever the technological feat was to accomplish it, but I was excited because tomorrow morning I would have something to go on. Maybe.

  And I’d be one step closer to finding Kris.

  39

  Once it was dark, I drove back to LeMond’s block. With darkness came a stillness to the street. No one was outside in the cold. There were three streetlights on the block, but the middle one was out, either from a burnt bulb or a well-thrown rock. Lights blazed in many of the houses, but some were shrouded in darkness.

  I found a place to park just about two houses away from LeMond’s and walked to his house. The porch light was off and the drapes were drawn, though I could see that there was a light behind them. I cut across his lawn and tried quickly to peer through any cracks in the drapery. There weren’t any.

  There was another window on the side of the house and light poured through this one. I leaned into the light far enough to see that it led to a kitchen. It was clean, except for some dishes in the sink and an open bottle of wine on the counter.

  A fence began at the corner of the house and ran straight back about ten feet and then made a sharp right angle, marking the end of the driveway. The gate was just beyond the portable carport.

  I stood still for a moment, trying to decide how to proceed. I’d seen a fence on the other side of the house on my approach, so I knew that his back yard was completely fenced in. There were no other windows to look through, so I had to make a choice. Either go in the back yard and look for other windows to peek through or call it good and leave.

  Going over the fence posed several problems. For one, it was light in the back yard. Second, LeMond might have a dog back there. Third, going into someone’s fenced back yard was just as much a burglary as breaking into their house. Right now, the police might consider me a suspicious person, but I hadn’t necessarily violated any laws by walking up LeMond’s driveway.

  I mulled it over. It was getting cold and my windbreaker wasn’t doing much to keep me warm, so I needed to make a choice quickly.

  As I stood shivering next to LeMond’s car, I became aware of a humming sound and after a bit, the smell of chlorine. I crept closer to the gate and heard the bubbling and sloshing of water.

  LeMond had a hot tub.

  I tried to find a crack in the fence, but it was built with alternating boards inside and out, tightly woven for privacy. Finally, I settled for putting my foot on one of the cross beams and boosting myself up to see over the top of the fence.

  LeMond was there and so was the brunette girl. Their bodies were intertwined in the hot tub and they were intensely occupied. The water sloshed as they kissed deeply.

  The girl was on top of LeMond and the water was above her waist. In the light, I could see the side of her breasts as she glided up and down on LeMond’s lap. His arms were wrapped around her lower back and rose above the water with each stroke they made together.

  She broke off a kiss and rose slightly in the water. LeMond buried his face in her breasts. A sharp moan escaped her lips.

  LeMond stopped. “Shhh, baby.”

  She slowed her rhythm, but didn’t stop. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” he said, nuzzling a nipple with his lower lip. “But if the neighbors hear, they’ll start wondering what’s going on.”

  “So what?” she asked, still rocking.

  “It’s none of their business, that’s what.”

  She smiled, then bit her lower lip and leaned back, closing her eyes. “Mmmmm,” she said, “I don’t care what they know.”

  LeMond snatched her by her upper arms and pulled her down close to his face.

  “Gary—” she protested.

  “Don’t you ever say that again,” LeMond said, his voice low and cruel.

  “I was just—”

  LeMond gave her a shake. “You better care who knows about us.”

  The girl started to cry, first with silent tears and then soft, pitiful sobs. LeMond sat up in the hot tub and drew her head to his shoulder.

  “I-I’m s-sorry,” she blubbered.

  LeMond stroked her wet hair. “Sshhh now. It’s okay. We just have to be careful, baby, that’s all.”

  She cried softly and he kept stroking her hair.

  The crying slowed down, turned to snuffling, then stopped. She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at LeMond. “Why’d you have to yell at me like that, Gary? And grab me so hard?”

  “Slide down in the water,” he said. “Get warm.”

  She slid down into the hot tub to her neck, but kept her eyes fixed on him.

  LeMond reached out and touched her cheeks. “Yvette, honey, you’ve got to understand something. The world is a bullshit place. It’s full of people who don’t understand anything about love. People who are full of prejudice and hypocrisy and who are hung up on bullshit things.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like age, for one thing,” he said. “That, and their puritanical, ultra-conservative repressed bullshit about sex.”

  “But I thought you said we shouldn’t care about that,” Yvette said, almost whining.

  LeMond let go of her face and reached for the wine glasses on the edge of the hot tub. He handed her one and took a sip from his own. “What I said, sweetheart, was that we shouldn’t buy into society’s bullshit. Just because my parents or your parents go along for the ride doesn’t mean we can’t break free of it.”

  “Yeah,” she said, nodding her head. “That’s why I don’t care if the whole world knows about us.”

  “But you should,” LeMond said. He motioned to her wine glass and she took a swallow. He gave her a winning smile. “We’re in the minority, those of us who have broken free of society’s restraints. And every minority in every nation in the history of mankind has been oppressed by the majority. That’s reality.”

  “But—”

  LeMond waved her objection away while he took another drink from his wine glass, then replaced it on the side of the hot tub. “It becomes a paradox, really. You have to break free of the bullshit conventions of society—those regarding sex, alcohol, relationships, all of it. But at the same time, you have to maintain an outward appearance of keeping within these artificial parameters in order to protect yourself from oppression.”

  “It’s not fair,” she pouted and finished off her wine.

  “No, it’s not. But it’s not forever, either.”

  “Why not?” Yvette asked. She slid back onto his lap and wriggled her hips.

  LeMond let out a small sigh. “Ah, that’s nice.”

  She began a slow rhythm
again. “Why isn’t it forever, Gary?”

  LeMond leaned his head back on the edge of the hot tub. “Never mind. Let’s make love.”

  Yvette continued her rocking, then slowed to a stop.

  LeMond opened an eye and looked at her. “What?”

  “I want to know,” she said, more than a hint of a girlish whine in her voice.

  “Know?”

  “You said it’s not forever. I want to know why.”

  LeMond reached up and caressed her breasts. She let him continue for a moment, then brushed his hands aside and slid beneath the water again. He smiled. “Okay, first the end of the lesson. Then we make love some more.”

  My calves trembled from standing on the small cross beam. My triceps also ached from the strain of holding my upper body flush to the fence. Not to mention that I was feeling a mixture of disgust and envy for LeMond and a sense of voyeuristic shame for watching this whole scene play out in front of me.

  LeMond reached for his wine and polished off the glass. “It isn’t forever, because it always ends,” he said simply.

  “What is that, a riddle?”

  He shook his head. “It’s a universal truth. Whatever is taboo eventually ends, one way or another.”

  “I don’t get it,” Yvette said, moving away from him and reaching for her glass. When she realized it was empty, her pout returned.

  LeMond gave her an indulgent smile. “Of course you do. I’m just not doing a good job of explaining it.” He set down his wine glass and leaned back. “Look at it this way. What would your parents say about us being together?”

  “They would totally and completely freak.”

  “Exactly. And what would society say about it?”

  “I don’t care.”

  “But you should, remember? For self-preservation, you should care what society would say. Which is…?”

  Yvette slid toward him, her neck at water level. “That’s it’s wrong. But that’s bullshit.”

  “Of course it is. But that’s the party line that they all march to. That it’s wrong. That it’s taboo.” He reached out and stroked her hair. “But in another year, no one will look twice at us. It won’t be taboo anymore, because your age will have changed. The taboo will have ended.”

  “People will still stare.”

  LeMond nodded. “Yeah, some will. But that’s all they can do. They can’t call the police. They can’t call your parents. All they can do is wrinkle their nose at us.” He smiled. “Besides, some of the men that notice would think I was a lucky bastard. They’d wish they were me.”

  “You are a lucky bastard,” she said and shifted her position in the water, reaching for him.

  LeMond gave a mild start, followed by a smile. “Yes, I am,” he grinned. “Luckier than Solomon.”

  There was a moment of carnal silence as they leered at each other. Then LeMond broke it, saying, “Of course, the opposite can occur, too.”

  “Things can get worse? More bullshit?”

  He shook his head. “No. Not unless there is some sort of major social upheaval, anyway. What I mean is that the taboo itself can cease to be a taboo and so it ends that way.”

  “Like what?” Yvette had moved in close to LeMond once more, shifting around until he sighed again.

  LeMond closed his eyes and started to lay his head back again.

  “Like what?” Yvette repeated.

  He popped open one eye and grinned lasciviously. “Well, like oral sex, for instance.”

  Even from the fence, I could see the surprise on her face. “What about it?”

  “Look how it’s changed,” he said. “Fifty or sixty years ago or so, it was something only a prostitute would do. A respectable woman never would.”

  “No way.”

  “It’s true. It was a huge taboo. Then, slowly it became acceptable, even expected, for women of all walks of life. Now, it’s so casual that some people don’t even consider it sex.”

  “It isn’t,” Yvette said. “Not really. It’s like making out, only a step farther.”

  LeMond shrugged. “So the taboo is no more. That particular oppression has ended. But if you were living in the early 1900s as man and woman and wanted to have some oral sex, you’d better keep it to yourself. That’s how you cast off the bullshit but keep up the protective pretense. Now do you see?”

  Yvette nodded deeply, as if he were the Buddha and had just uttered the secret of life. He smiled at her and she smiled back. Then the rocking began again in earnest, followed by the sloppy kissing and groping. I dropped off the fence and next to that bastard’s Porsche.

  40

  I stood shivering next to the fence. I desperately wanted to unlatch the gate and break up the little love-fest in the hot tub. Even though the sight of Yvette’s naked body looked like she was a grown woman, it was equally clear from their conversation she was under age. And probably a student. If I was right, I had LeMond by the balls. Whether that would help me find Kris or not was another matter.

  On the other hand, if she wasn’t a student or if I was wrong and she actually was eighteen and I went barging into his back yard, he could call the cops and have me arrested for burglary. And there’d be nothing to stop him from doing so. I could end up in the county jail, where I’m sure there’d be more than a few people from both sides of the fence who would remember me from my days on the job. That could get unpleasant.

  I should just get into my car and go. Then I’d keep this trump card in my hand and figure out just exactly how to play it to my greatest advantage.

  That’s what I should do.

  That would be the smart play.

  What I did was swing the gate open and march into Gary LeMond’s back yard.

  41

  “I just want to know one thing, Gary,” I said, striding toward the hot tub. “Are you tutoring her or is she tutoring you?”

  Both heads snapped in my direction. LeMond’s eyes bulged out at me. Yvette gave a strangled scream and pulled away from him. She stood up to get out of the hot tub. Steam poured off of her lithe body and water streamed down it. I tried to ignore her small, pert breasts and the wet, black patch between her legs, but it was impossible not to look. I settled for keeping a straight face.

  LeMond stared at me in disbelief. His face vacillated between panic and rage.

  I stopped about five feet from the hot tub. “Really,” I said. “I want to know. From the sound of it, you’re tutoring her. But from the looks of it—”

  Yvette must have realized that she was completely nude and standing only knee-deep in the hot tub. She dropped like a rock back into the water up to her neck and huddled next to LeMond, looking like the child she probably was.

  “Gary, who is this?” Her voice was frantic.

  I stared at LeMond, watching the battle between panic and rage continue on his face.

  “What do I do, Gary?” Yvette whined. “What do I—”

  “Shut up,” LeMond told her without looking at her. “Go into the house. Get dressed and go home. Say nothing.”

  Yvette glanced from LeMond to me, still frantic and now a little hurt.

  “Do it now!” LeMond said, raising his voice just a little, but putting an edge in it.

  Yvette started at his tone, then swallowed and rose out of the water. I tried to ignore her nude body as she grabbed a white terry cloth robe that was next to the hot tub and hurriedly put it on. The she shuffled into the house, leaving a watery trail on the stone path.

  As soon as the door closed, LeMond asked me, “What the hell are you doing here?”

  I gave him a cold smile and gestured toward the door. “At least this one can drive, eh?”

  He said nothing, glaring at me.

  “With Kris, it must have been harder to arrange these little soirées. I don’t suppose you could have her dad drop her off, could you?”

  “What do you want?” LeMond said, his eyes cold with hate.

  “Right now? I want to kick your ass.”

  Le
Mond snorted. “I’m not too worried about that.”

  “You should be.”

  “No,” he said. “You should be the one who’s worried. Worried that I’ll call the cops and you’ll go to jail for trespassing.”

  “Call away,” I said. “I’ll go for the piss-ant trespassing and you can go for rape of a child.”

  His eyes widened slightly. “I-I didn’t rape anyone.”

  I stepped closer to the hot tub. “Do you have any idea what the law is in this state, Casanova? Consent is not an issue. Age is the issue.”

  LeMond’s mouth tightened.

  “How old is Yvette?” I asked him. “Not old enough that you’d want her parents to know about this little hot tub adventure, is she? Not even old enough that you’d want the cops in on the knowledge, either. So go ahead and call them. They’ll come and arrest us both. We can even share a car to jail.” I moved to the edge of the hot tub, staring directly into LeMond’s glaring eyes. “But once we get to County, I want my own cell. I won’t share a cell with a sex offender. You know what the other inmates do to sex offenders, don’t you?”

  “I am not a sex offender,” LeMond said, biting off each word.

  I shrugged. “Jail or your job. If the cops come tonight, I see trouble with one or the other. Or both.”

  The front door slammed and few moments later, a car door. Then an engine fired to life and drove away.

  “Hope her parents don’t wonder about her wet hair,” I said.

  LeMond’s glare didn’t soften. “They’re out of town,” he said. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

  “You don’t want to know what I think of you.”

  “I couldn’t care less.”

  I nodded. “That’s right. It’s all part of ‘society’s bullshit,’ isn’t it?”

  “You should go,” he told me. “Your chips in the game just left the table. If you don’t go now, I will call the cops.”