“I saw it somewhere over there near the television earlier.”
Nicola found per purse under a discarded towel. She picked it up and hurried out the door. Danny took one last look around the room, and closed the door.
When the elevator reached the lobby, Danny handed the keys of the SUV to Nicola and said, “You go ahead and warm up the engine while I settle the bill.”
“Checking out?” the woman behind the reception desk smiled politely as she put the finishing strokes to the computer keyboard. The expression on her face barely changed when she glanced up at the face of the tall blond-haired man with deep red welts running down both cheeks.
Acutely aware that the marks on his face were not hidden by the barely discernible day-old growth of blond beard, Danny gave her a hesitant smile that turned to a wince, as he handed her the room key card. “Yes, room 301. Thanks.”
When the woman took the card her eyes held a question mark he chose to ignore.
“I hope you enjoyed your stay with us, Mr. Richards.”
Danny nodded. “Yes, we did, Thank you.”
The woman entered the data into the computer, and asked, “Shall I put this on your American Express card?”
Danny nodded again, and answered, “Yes,” then watched as she printed up the receipt and handed it to him.
“Thank you, Mr. Richards. Have a nice day.”
As he walked through the lobby and out the front door he sensed the woman’s eyes following him.
The phone in the office rang and the receptionist pulled her eyes away from the retreating figure, shook her head and shrugged. “None of my business,” she said to no one in particular as she stepped into the office and picked up the phone.
TWENTY-NINE
I was lying on the bed beside my sister as she drifted between sleep and wakefulness. Unable to concentrate, my mind kept drifting back to what happened at the hospital that afternoon,
The fog had rolled in from the west covering everything like a thick blanket as we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and headed into the city. I had to swerve to miss a dog on Highway 101/Lombard Street, and stop for a homeless vagrant pushing a trolley filled with all her worldly possessions up Van Ness.
When we entered the room, Chartreuse and Louanna were huddled in the corner like a couple of N.F.L. linemen and we walked over to them.
“How are you both doing today?” I asked.
“Hey, yo’self, Bee. Is you doin’ okay, Hon?” Chartreuse asked.
“I am, Chartreuse, thank you for asking. What about you, Louanna? Is everything all right?”
“Everything is just peachy, Hon,” she said, and nudged Chartreuse in the side. “Go on Treuse, you tell ‘em.”
Chartreuse shook her head. “Uh-huh, Louanna, this is your party, I think you should be the one to tell ‘em.”
“Tell us what?” Rosie asked.
I put two and two together with the party things and smiled. “Is it your birthday, Louanna?”
“No,” Louanna said, frowning. “My birthday was last May.”
“Can you give us a hint?” Rosie asked.
Chartreuse moved her hands over her belly, and grinned.
“Are you pregnant too, Chartreuse?” I asked excitedly.
Chartreuse shook her head. “Uh-uh. No way. As soon as I found out Louanna was pregnant I sent my Isaac to get his little willy snipped ‘cause Louanna is goin’ to need all the hep she can get. I gotta be there for my sister, not off having babies of my own–that would be right selfish.”
“Your Isaac ‘haint got no little willy, Truese,” Louanna said.
How would she know?
Chartreuse noticed the startled look on my face, and laughed. “Hey, girl, don’ look so shocked. You know that ol’ saying, try before you buy? Well, me and Louanna tried both brothers before we got married to see which one suited us best. Haint no good you marry the wrong brother, then whachoo gonna do? Go on Jerry Springer?”
Louanna ran her hand over her stomach and smiled. “We want you and Bee to be god-mummies to my bubbies.”
“Oh, no, Louanna we couldn’t do that. What about Chartreuse. Why don’t you ask her to be godmother?” Rosie said.
“Chartreuse is godmummy to my other six.”
Chartreuse heaved a sigh. “I’m all godmothered out.”
“Have you discussed this with Shaylon? Maybe he has someone in mind.” I would hate to offend anyone.
“Shaylon thought it was a great idea,” Louanna said.
“I feel very privileged,” Rosie said.
I nodded, lost for words. I could feel my eyes tearing up. I reached over and gave Louanna a hug. “It would be an honor,” I said.
*****
As the SUV sped along I-83, Danny saw the white dome of the Capitol Building in the distance and suggested a detour.
“I’ve never been to Harrisburg,” Nicola said as they drove across the bridge above the Susquehanna River.
“I once visited a guy who lived in Rutherford Heights, but he moved to Montana a couple of years back,” Danny said.
When they finished the tour, they had lunch in a deli filled with people in suits, then wandered down Front Street and satin the park beside the river. The warmth of the afternoon sun washed over their bodies as a light breeze drifted off the river and sent leaves tumbling across the grass.
A harried mother rushed by with a small child in tow. The blond moppet dressed in blue, with hair ribbons trailing, spied a couple of pigeons feasting on a discarded sandwich and ran at them. The birds took to the air in raucous indignation.
The child’s mother stopped and looked behind to see what the commotion was about. “Come along Sara, don’t dawdle,” she called in the same exasperated tiredness of mothers the world over.
Nicola saw Danny stiffen at the mention of the name.
“Tell me about Sara?” she said.
Danny closed his eyes and shook his head slowly.
“Please, Danny,” she insisted. “I need to understand what happened.”
Danny stared off into the distance his hands clenching the wooden rungs of the seat so tightly his knuckles turned white. When he finally spoke she had to strain to hear the words. “No, Nic. You don’t.”
In the silence they could hear the rumble of cars on the J. Harris Bridge, and the laughter of teenagers as they walked along the path. In the distance a siren wailed. The bright blue fabric of Sara’s dress swirled around her tiny body as she skipped down the path with the gentle voice of her mother coaxing her onwards.
As Danny’s eyes followed her progress, he tried to escape the dream that replayed in his head every night in that cold, gray moment just before dawn.
He raked his fingers through his hair and looked around. “We should go,” he said.
A man sitting on a bench just around the curve of the garden removed his cap and ran his fingers through his thatch of blond hair, a stark contrast to the dark stubble that peppered his jaw. He replaced the cap and pulled it down snugly, adjusted his sunglasses and watched the copper-haired woman and tall blond-headed man cross the road. With his head slightly bent, he followed, the collar of his T-shirt pulled up to hide the marks not completely hidden by the new growth of beard on his face. His hand strayed to his pocket and found the object lying hidden beneath his wallet. His fingers curled around the fine gold chain and he thought of the slender neck it once had adorned.
*****
“Is he the same guy that killed that woman in Vermont?” Rosie asked as I adjusted the pillow behind her back. “And, don’t go giving me that, I don’t know what you mean, routine.”
“What would you have me say?”
“How about telling the truth for starters?”
“Hon, I always tell the truth.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Just because I don’t tell you what’s going on doesn’t mean I’m not telling you the truth,” I reasoned.
“It’s called lying by omission,” Rosie said and pressed her lips together i
n righteous indignation.
“If you say so,” I said and scrolled back through the chapter.
She waited… and harrumphed.
I kept scrolling.
“Well? Are you going to tell me or not?”
My eyes slid sideways. “Tell you what?”
“Is he the same guy that was with the woman in Vermont?”
“What woman?”
“You know–the one in red.”
“The woman in red… Mmm..., now let me see?” I tapped my forehead and tugged at my lip thoughtfully.
“Well?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Sorry. I don’t remember.”
“What do you mean you don’t remember?”
“It was a long time ago. I’ve written thousands of word since there. How do you expect me to remember everything I’ve written,” I said evasively.
Rosie gave me a hard look and then looked away, her fingers tugging at an imagined loose thread on her sweater. It was a feat. An act of pure perception. I ought to know. I’ve used it myself, many times.
Eventually she let out a long mournful sigh, and said, “In other words you’re not going to tell me.”
I decided a change of subject might be prudent. “I think I’ll go make myself a cup Milo and see what Ross left in the fridge to eat. Can I get you anything?”
“Don’t know if I can trust you not to poison me. Where is Ross anyway?”
“I sent him to the market for a couple of things and to pick up the dry cleaning. And then he’s going to Petaluma to get a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
“Oh, good thinking, Bubbie. Damn shame the nearest outlet is nearly an hour’s drive away.”
“It was either that or send him into the city and we know peak hour on the bridge is not for sissies.”
“God, no! He wouldn’t be back in time to cook dinner, and then where would we be?”
We shook our heads dourly, the consequences too horrendous to contemplate.
When I emerged from my funk, I looked over at my sister, and said, “What was the question you asked me a while ago?”
Rosie shrugged. “Damned if I can remember.”
*****
“Welcome back Mr. and Mrs. Richards.” The woman at the front desk greeted them warmly when the computer flagged them as recent guests.
“Would you like the same room you had on your previous visit?” she asked as she checked the screen.
“That would be fine, thank you, Georgina,” Danny said reading the name tag on her uniform.
After the transaction had been processed and the key card handed over, Danny picked up the bags and was about to head to the elevator when he stopped, placed the bags on the floor and waited for Georgina to finish on the phone.
“We’re on an 8:55flight in the morning. Would you book us on the seven o’clock shuttle?”
“Certainly, Mr. Richards,” Georgina said making a note in the log.
Danny reached for the bags, and then straightened. “I have to return the rental car to Avis, so if I take it back to this evening could the shuttle pick me up at the airport and bring me back here?”
“Yes, of course, Mr. Richards. After you return the vehicle, the rental company bus will drop you back at the airport. Just pick up the hotel phone in the arrival lounge and let them know you’re there and wait for our driver in the designated area out front,” Georgina said.
Danny nodded his thanks, collected the bags and caught the elevator to the fourth floor.
* * *
The room was quiet when Nicola stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, combing her wet hair. After dinner, Danny had dropped her back at the hotel before heading to Avis to return the SUV.
She picked up the remote and turned on the television. The image of a newsreader morphed onto the screen, she turned the volume down and started to organize her bag in preparation of the early flight.
As she sorted through her clothes her subconscious picked up on something the newsreader said.
“…Early this morning, police divers recovered the body of an as yet unidentified woman from the Swatara River, near Suedburg, off Interstate Eighty-one north of Harrisburg.”
Nicola stopped what she was doing and looked at the screen. She picked up the remote and increased the volume.
“Sources have confirmed that both hands had been removed from the woman’s body. A police spokesman suggested this was possibly to eliminate DNA evidence left by the killer during the ensuing struggle.
“Harrisburg Police have issued a description of the woman as mid- to-late-thirties, five-foot-seven inches in height, weighing approximately one hundred and sixty pounds with long brown hair and green eyes. They have requested anyone who may have seen this woman–or recognize her–to contact the Harrisburg Police Department at the number on the bottom of the screen.
“Meanwhile, in Oklahoma the tornado continues its destructive path…”
Nicola picked up the remote, changed channels and the Dixie Chicks morphed onto the screen. She wandered into the bathroom singing, and removed the hairdryer from the wall bracket. When she reached up to dry her hair, the towel fell to the floor. Nicola ignored it and kept on singing even though she couldn’t hear the Chicks above the sound of the dryer -and she didn’t hear the door open. Nicola let out a startled cry as an image suddenly appeared in the mirror.
“Babe…,” Danny whispered as he came up behind her and ran his fingers lightly down her spine.
Nicola turned off the dryer and returned it to the wall bracket.
“I didn’t hear you come in,” she said to his reflection as she watched his eyes roam over her body, his hands following the contours, not quite touching the skin. The sensation, electric.
“I was counting on it,” he whispered as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her gently back to him. He cupped her breasts with his hands and started to massage them, lightly running his finger over the nipples.
Nicola’s body responded to his touch as she watched his fingers circled her hard nipples. She closed her eyes and ran her wet tongue over her lips.
Danny’s eyes stayed focused on her face as he moved his hand over the slight swell of her belly and down to the soft downy mound, feeling the silky hair between his fingers. Nicola sighed and leaned against him, her eyes closed, her lips slightly parted, her breath coming in short sharp gasps. She was warm, she was wet and she was ready. She could feel the hardness of his manhood pressing against her buttocks, straining against the confines of his jeans.
“Oh, babe,” he whispered as he took her by hand and led her to the bed. He laid her down and stroked the inside of her thighs. Love and lust flushed through him like warm butter
“Aren’t you going to get undressed, Danny?”
Danny shed his clothes and lay down beside her. He kissed her eyes, her cheeks, throat, and nipples, and the soft, sensitive area of her groin. When he nudged her legs apart and sat back on his haunches, she shuddered as his tongue touched her sex.
Nicola felt the passion rising, her body crying out for release. “I want you inside me.”
Danny straddled her, taking the full weight of his body on his hands and looked into her eyes. They were twin green pools of fire. Nicola reached down, took hold of his penis and guided it inside her.
Danny arched his back and propelled his body forwards and felt the hardness of his manhood slip into the dark mysterious recesses of her body. Nicola locked her legs around his buttocks and took him to a place where nothing else mattered.
On the screen Rod Stewart crooned an old love song as their bodies moved in time with the music. Passion rolled over them in waves of desire until suddenly they reached a shuddering explosion of blissful release. Danny collapsed onto the bed and pulled Nicola into the cradle of his body where she lay with her head against his chest, both hearts beating double time.
Nicola took refuge in the comfort in his body. As he held her close, she knew she loved this man–wholly, completely. He was unlike an
y man she had known before. Her naked desire for him made her body burn. She didn’t know how she was going to survive without him…
*****
Rosie put the mug Milo on the side-table, grabbed a magazine and started to fan her face.
“Phew, that certainly was something to get the old heart pumping. Where do you get this stuff from?”
“Now that would be telling,” I said.
“I would never have thought dear old Ross…”
“Hey, there’s a lot you don’t know about dear old Ross. You seem to forget we were young once.”
Rosie sighed. “It seems like it was in another lifetime.”
“And, besides, there’s such a thing as imagination. In my mind I conjure up all manner of things.”
“You always were the dreamer in the family. I remember when we were kids I used to ask Mum where you were and she say you were off somewhere daydreaming.” We laughed as we recalled childhood memories.
“You know you don’t have to experience everything to know what its like. For instance, I’ve never killed anyone−but that doesn’t stop me from imagining what it would be like. And God knows there’s enough violence on television and in the newspapers to fill a thousand books.”
“Well, you certainly have me believing everything you write,” she said, and then laughed. “Along with half the people at the clinic.”
“You do realize we’re going to have to tell them sometime.”
“Oh, why spoil it for them. They’ve probably never had so much fun before. A serial killer in their midst! It’s kinda given you celebrity status.”
“I saw a program on television, before we left, where people were discussing books and they all agreed no one wrote good love stories anymore, or great sex scenes, so I keep that in mind when I’m writing.”
“I don’t think anyone would find you wanting.” She picked up a sandwich and took a bite. “Mmm… I don’t know what this is but it sure tastes yummy.”
I grabbed a sandwich and bit into it. “Ross does make the best sandwiches, doesn’t he? Do you want me to keep reading or do you want to have your lunch in peace?”
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