Chapter 16
Click. Clack. Click. Clack. The sound echoed across the hushed room. Then the sound stopped as an exquisite pair of high heels with equally exquisite legs stemming up from them took a seat in the front row. Then the whispers started.
“Who is that?”
“Never seen her before.”
“Gorgeous shoes!” whispered one female.
The mysterious woman reached up to smooth her sleek short black hair with one bejeweled, manicured hand. Her impeccable suit was a deep-blue color that matched her beautiful eyes. A brief smile played upon her full, lacquered lips. Donning a pair of Chanel eyeglasses, she surveyed the room.
A woman walked up to the front of the room. “I see we have a new face here today. Let’s welcome Ava.”
The mysterious woman smiled broadly as she stood up.
“Hello, Ava. Welcome to our acrylic painting group. We have been working on impressionist-style painting. I hope you find this as enjoyable as we all have.”
“Ava?” the female next to her inquired.
The mysterious woman turned and smiled at the tall brunette. “Yes. Hi, I’m Ava.” She extended her hand.
“So nice to meet you. I’m Lisa.”
Settling down in the seat next to Lisa, Ava began removing tubes of paint from her bag.
“Those are beautiful shoes, Ava. Prada?” Lisa smiled at her new acquaintance.
“Manolo.” Ava gave her a warm smile.
“So, how long have you been painting?” Lisa peered over at the assortment of paint tubes Ava was arranging at her easel.
“For a while. It’s been a lifelong hobby of mine. I went to school for art history.” Nonchalantly, Ava brushed her hair from her face. She pulled a light-blue-colored smock out of her bag.
“Really? So did I! Where?” Lisa looked amazed.
“I’m from California, but I was going to go to Princeton. My father became ill, so I decided to stay local and went to UCLA instead.”
“Amazing. I went to Princeton. What a coincidence. Do you have a portfolio?”
“Sure. Do you?”
“These are great, Ava. Beautiful use of color here”. Lisa gestured to the blue wash on a painting of a beach scene.
“Thank you.” Ava scanned Lisa’s paintings. A bunch of amateurish paintings of children at play, sappy sunsets, and a few dreary nature scenes. Blah.
“Beautiful work, Lisa. You have a natural talent.” Ava smiled warmly. As she looked away, she rolled her eyes.
“No, I don’t really. But thank you. I enjoy painting.” Lisa blushed and looked down.
Scanning her with her eyes, Ava noticed Lisa’s outfit; stylish but baggy pants as though she was trying not to call attention to her very large thighs, a red expensive-looking sweater which she failed even minimally to fill out, and a pair of medium-heeled Prada pumps. Over this, she wore a green paint-flecked smock. Lisa was tall, about five-foot-ten-inches, with dull brown hair. Her haircut was obviously expensive and styled well, but the color was unbecoming to her sallow complexion. Ava could definitely see how Harrison was attracted to Reese over Lisa. Reese was the complete physical opposite of Lisa. Although, how a girl as hot as Reese could want an arrogant, self-serving prick like Harrison was beyond her. She was weak. So many women are weak! Ava thought, shaking her head. Harrison was conventionally handsome, but she herself could never tolerate his arrogant banter and exaggerated swagger.
“So do you have any children?” Lisa asked, bringing Ava out of her reverie.
“No, I don’t. Do you?”
“Oh, yes. Two beautiful ones. Here, look.” Lisa pulled out her phone to show Ava several photos of two beautiful little girls. Neither looked like Harrison.
“Oh, how precious. Are you married?” Ava studied the photos Lisa presented to her.
“Yes. Are you?”
“No, I am divorced. My husband was cheating on me with his trampy secretary.” Ava’s eyes clouded over and she clenched her jaw in anger.
“I’m sorry to hear that. It happens to a lot of women.” Lisa was sympathetically shaking her head. Ava started arranging her paintbrushes in the jar next to her easel.
“He was a real bastard; that’s for sure. He was one of those types, you know? So full of himself. So taken with his own self-importance. He was a lawyer.” Carefully, Ava watched Lisa’s face for any flicker of empathy.
“I know what that’s like. Lawyers are their own breed. My husband is a lawyer too.” She laughed. “Very arrogant, so I know exactly what you mean.”
Ava kept her eyes riveted on Lisa. Would she admit to Harrison’s flings or not? Would she lend Ava a sympathetic ear by saying her husband had done the same?
Lisa continued. “We have been married for almost eleven years. Harrison, that’s my husband, comes from an extremely wealthy family. All Ivy League and quite successful, if you know what I mean. Harrison comes by his arrogance naturally, and he can still be quite impossible.”
“Sounds like it. Wow, Ivy League. I’m impressed. My ex-husband went to law school in the Midwest, and he still had a ‘God complex’.” Ava laughed.
Lisa sighed and turned back to her paintbrushes. “Well, I wonder what we are going to paint today.”
Dammit. Ava scowled and rolled her eyes as she turned away. Talk more, she thought.
“So what does your husband’s secretary look like?” Ava laughed, trying to coax Lisa back into conversation.
Lisa chuckled. “I don’t really know. I haven’t been to Harrison’s office in years. He really doesn’t like me to drop in as he is swamped all the time. I’m usually too busy anyway, running the kids to soccer practice, dance classes… you name it. I do volunteer work at their school as well, so I am way too busy to worry about that!” She laughed.
Ava winced a bit. Her laugh was quite annoying. The sound reminded her of a small dog yipping. She kept throwing her bait, but Lisa wasn’t picking it up.
She decided to change tactics. “When I found out what my husband’s secretary looked like, I almost flipped. She was gorgeous! Like Pam Anderson from the 90s era. I should’ve known what he would do with her! She was just his type, but I naively believed he wasn’t interested in her. ‘Her boobs are too big,’ he said. HA!” Ava shook her head convincingly.
Looking thoughtful, Lisa was quiet for moment. “Sounds like Harrison,” she mumbled softly.
“What did you say? I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that.” Ava hid her smile.
“Oh, nothing. Marriage can be complicated; that’s for sure.” Lisa turned back to her easel. Sensing that Lisa wasn’t going to be more forthcoming today, Ava decided to change tactics again.
“What kinds of things do you like to paint?”
Lisa turned to Ava. “Mostly landscapes. I have done a few pictures of my children, but I don’t really think my talent is for painting people. It’s so hard to portray them. I find nature to be easier to capture.”
Ava nodded. “Me too. I adore painting landscapes. Last year, I was able to do some amazing work when I was vacationing in Colorado.” Ava retrieved a few paintings out of her leather portfolio.
Lisa studied them carefully. “Very beautiful, Ava.”
Ava smiled broadly as if something had just occurred to her. “Hey, I’ve wanted to do a series of urban landscapes, but I’m not very familiar with this area. Do you think you and I could do something together?”
Lisa pondered her question for a moment. “Yes, I think I would like that. I never really have anyone to paint with, and all these women are so stuck up.” Lisa leaned in to whisper to her. Glancing around the room at the perfectly-coiffed women in their designer outfits and Birkin bags, Ava giggled. “I can see that. What time would be good for you?
“My girls leave for school around 8:30 a.m., and I usually pick them up around 3:30 p.m. So I’m free during the day.”
Ava smiled warmly, holding a paintbrush in her hand. “Ok, let’s say Wednesday around 10:00 a.m.? We could meet somewhere.”
“That would be great! I’m driving a Ferrari right now.”
Lisa’s eyes widened. “Wow. My husband would love that. He adores fast, expensive cars. He bought himself an Aston Martin One-77.”
Ava’s mouth dropped. “Really? Those are gorgeous. Extremely expensive. My Ferrari came from my divorce settlement. It was kind of gift to myself having survived such a crappy marriage.” Ava laughed.
Lisa smiled at her. “Ok. Well, we will plan on Wednesday then.”
As Lisa turned away from her, Ava’s smile faded and her eyes narrowed. Oh, yes, this would be easy.
********
Pulling her red Ferrari Spider up to the rec center, Ava spotted Lisa’s white Range Rover at once. Checking her lipstick in her mirror, Ava gathered her painting gear and walked over to Lisa’s SUV.
“Lots of room in here!” Ava exclaimed, loading her leather tote full of paints and brushes into the backseat.
Lisa laughed. She was dressed casually in designer jeans and a loose, cotton top. Her drab hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. She wore only a touch of mascara and lip gloss. In contrast, Ava’s eyes were fully made up and heavily fringed with mascara. Her long fingernails manicured to perfection. Ava wore a pair of jeans also, but hers were very tight and showed off her excellent figure. She wore a pair of leopard print Manolos.
“Great shoes.” Lisa commented, looking down at the beautiful, leopard-print heels.
“Thanks. I’m addicted to shoes,” Ava laughed.
As they drove along, they chatted briefly about trivial things. Ava rolled her eyes behind Lisa’s back at most of her comments. No wonder Grantham wants to kill the bitch. She’s boring as hell and completely unattractive, Ava thought. It was all Ava could do to stomach being around this woman. Her laughter was shrill and irritating, her banter ignorant and tedious. Ugh. How much longer did she have to fake an interest in painting? It simply bored her to death.
Finally, after finding a spot near Lake Michigan to set up their easels, Ava began to broach the subject she wanted Lisa to talk about.
Ava sighed. “God, my ex-husband used to love to go boating every weekend. I miss that so much. If he could’ve kept his hands off his slutty secretary, we would still be boating together.”
Lisa nodded sympathetically. “That’s too bad.”
Ava pursed her lips and dared to ask about Harrison. “So you said your husband had a hot secretary?” Ava gave a light laugh.
Lisa smiled and shook her head. “I don’t really know. I told you that I haven’t been to his office in years. But Harrison has had a few issues.”
Ava was nearly salivating. Finally! “Oh, really? I’m sure he didn’t do anything.”
Lisa bit her lip and looked down. “I really don’t like to talk about it, but Harrison had a bit of a fling once. Oh, he claimed she was nothing, but it was more than that. He came home intoxicated with blonde hair and perfume all over him.”
“Wow, what did you do?” Ava turned to face Lisa.
“Not much. The typical hysterics. I screamed at him, threatened to throw him out, take the kids… you know, all that usual stuff. He swore it was nothing, and it never happened again.” Lisa shrugged, fiddling with her brushes.
Ava gave her a sympathetic look. “Yes, I know exactly how that feels. Men are such assholes sometimes. I swear, after I left my husband, I felt like becoming a lesbian I was so done with men.”
Ava studied Lisa’s reaction to her statement.
Lisa turned back to her easel briefly. Then she faced Ava again. “Don’t think I haven’t considered divorce, but that’s just not possible. I don’t want my kids to grow up without their dad, and both of our families find divorce unacceptable. Harrison knows my threats are empty, and I know he’s not really going anywhere, so we both try to make the best of it. I try to focus on our kids most of the time.”
Ava nodded. Now she would lay the foundation of her plan.
“You know, I suffered a lot of depression after we split. It about killed me. I couldn’t get out of bed, didn’t want to leave the house or anything. I lost my job. Everything was downhill for a long time.”
As Ava kept her eyes on Lisa, she noticed Lisa’s eyes begin to tear ever so slightly.
“So how did you manage to get out of the depression?” she asked.
Ava smiled to herself. This was going to be so easy.
“Well, after about six months of wallowing in misery, a close friend of mine told me about an antidepressant she was taking. She said it turned her life around. At that point, I was ready to try anything. I was sleeping all day doing nothing. Honestly, I didn’t feel I had anything to live for. I mean, my husband left me for a prettier, thinner woman. I tried losing weight, getting botox, lipo. It just didn’t work. I thought about implants, but didn’t feel that I needed that much of a boost. I didn’t feel any better.” Ava paused, giving this time to sink in with Lisa.
Lisa was staring intently at Ava, nodding her head. “That sounds exactly like me a few years ago after I found out about Harrison.”
“Really? You did the whole plastic surgery routine?”
Lisa rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah, didn’t help me either. I actually got breast implants, but Harrison told me they looked terrible, which they did,” She laughed bitterly. “So I got them taken out. Now I’m just a mess.”
Ava gave her a sympathetic look. “That’s terrible. I’m sorry to hear that. The things we have done for these men! Shit!” Ava shook her head.
Lisa nodded, “Exactly. Then they just go off and find a prettier, thinner woman after all the years we have given him. I have taken care of his kids, washed his clothes, cooked his dinner… just makes me so mad sometimes.” Ava watched Lisa’s face change from a portrait of sadness to flashes of red-hot anger.
“Enough of me. So what helped you out?” Lisa composed herself and brushed her hair from her face. “Well, as I was saying, my girlfriend was telling me about a new antidepressant she had started taking that changed her life. I decided to go to my doctor and get the same thing. Turns out, it was the best thing I could’ve done. It made all the difference in the world! I felt like my old self again. I went out and got a new job, got my confidence back. It was a godsend for me.”
Now I’m here painting with you and trying to re-establish some of my old passions!” Ava smiled winningly.
Lisa cocked her head. She appeared to be contemplating what Ava had told her. “That sounds amazing. I’ve never really thought about taking anything. Maybe it would help. I don’t know. I don’t really have time to be depressed with the kids!” she laughed, “but I don’t feel like my old self; that’s for sure.”
Ava had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud. This is too fucking easy. God, why didn’t someone give her a challenge for once? These suburban types were all the same.
They had it all, yet they were still either suffering from depression, alcoholism or having extramarital affairs.
“Would you like me to give you the medication information? I have the bottle here in my purse.”
“Sure. I would like to do some research online and see if it’s right for me.”
Ava quickly wrote the information out for Lisa. “Here you go”
Lisa took the paper, “Eschaliopram. That’s the generic I guess?”
Ava nodded.
“Never heard of that. I will have to Google it later. Thanks.”
Ava smiled to herself. That was so easy it almost scared her. As if she could ever be frightened by anything, she laughed.
Chapter 17
A smoky mist flashed across the cold night air accompanied by a female scream. A young woman was lying still and unmoving on the cold, hard pavement, a dark liquid pooling under her. Her legs were lying grotesquely twisted underneath her long white dress. Another young woman was screaming at the horrific sight. Slowly, she knelt down and turned the woman ove
r. Her face was shattered and hardly recognizable as human. Suddenly, a hand with long cold fingernails reached up and grabbed her arm.
“Why did you do this to me?” A raspy female voice demanded.
Sitting straight up in her bed, Reese screamed out. Breathing heavily, she clutched her chest. It’s just a dream, just a dream. Slowly, a sick, queasy feeling began developing in the pit of her stomach. What have we done? She thought. My God, a woman is going to be killed because of her. How could she live with this? Reese shuddered at these thoughts. Is Harrison worth all of this? What if we got caught? This was such a terrible secret to live with. She rolled out of her bed rubbing her neck. Reese grabbed her new laptop from the other room and sat down on the leather couch. She began to search for the penalty for conspiracy when she remembered Ava’s warnings. Maybe she shouldn’t do that. All online activities could be potentially scrutinized by the police. She put down her laptop and decided to get dressed and go for a walk.
Just as she was walking out the door, Harrison stumbled inside almost knocking her over.
“Harrison! What the hell?” She stepped back as he fell into her arms. “What’s wrong?” Reese asked horrified at his nightmarish appearance. His fine, dark hair was matted and stuck up in the back, his clothes were stained and wrinkled, his face covered in dark stubble. Most of all, his eyes were bloodshot and deeply shadowed. Helping him to the couch, she could smell burning fumes of alcohol emanating from him. That was it. It had been nearly fifty days since they had met with Ava, and Harrison had been stumbling over to her place drunk at least three or four times per week. She was wondering if he was beginning to regret contracting Ava or having second thoughts about their relationship. It’s not as if she hadn’t been having second thoughts herself, but she loved Harrison, and true love meant suffering through unpleasant consequences to be with the one you loved.
“Reeessse… help me.” Harrison stammered, his head rolling back. “Where am I?” His eyes scanned the room seeing everything as a blur.
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