by Wild (lit)
Vince insisted on carrying me up the stairs when we got home. In fact, I got the feeling he was suddenly pampering me more than usual. He made sure I was comfortably seated on the couch before he brought me something to drink.
On the way home in the car he had told me about the explosion of the lab and how we had escaped and I got the distinct feeling he didn’t tell me how close we had really come to not making it. The way he had responded to me in the back seat of his car reminded me of somebody who wanted to forget everything.
The late night news brought a live report about the explosion at UCSF. The police had no clue what had happened and it was assumed a gas pipe had blown in one of the labs, which was close enough to the truth.
The report brought me back to what I had mentioned to Vince in the car, namely that I had a plan to bring the Entwhistles down.
It had been a shock to me when Entwhistle’s wife had waited for us in the lab. I had had no inkling she was involved in her husband’s activities. It even seemed she was the driving force behind it.
“I know how we can get them,” I told Vince.
He raised an eyebrow. “So what’s your plan?”
“You’re going to have to pin my death on them.”
I could virtually feel the lightening bolt go through his body as he shot up and stared at me with wide eyes. “What?” His voice boomed through the room.
“My faked death.” I corrected myself, but he didn’t seem to hear me.
He grabbed me by the shoulders. “Not funny, Annette. Really, not funny.” He fumed.
I had never seen him so mad. I could see his eyes flicker amber and suddenly felt his claws dig into my shoulders. He pulled them off me as soon as he realized his hands had turned into claws.
He turned away from me and I could see how he balled his claws into fists trying to control himself. It was the first time I had seen him transform in anger and I realized now that this was what he had warned me about. It was those moments which he had been afraid of, those uncontrolled and unexpected moments.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
He raised his hand without turning back to me. “A minute, please.”
His voice was labored and he was breathing hard. I could sense the turmoil in him, the pain, the memories and finally realized what he had been going through all these years. The tremendous loneliness, the shame, the guilt. And I understood how much he needed me to heal.
Finally he moved. But instead of turning back to me he moved away from me toward the armchair on the other side of the coffee table. He sat down.
He looked back at me. He was fully human again.
“Do you see now why I’m so dangerous?” His voice sounded resigned. He averted his eyes. He couldn’t look at me.
“I’m sorry,” I said again.
He lifted his eyes to look at me. “You’re sorry? I hurt you, and you are sorry? You should be scared of me. You should be running away right now.”
I shook my head. “I’m not afraid of you, never have been, never will.”
“You can still leave now, before it happens again. Think about it. You’re young, you’ll get over it.” Again he had to look away. I knew how hard it was for him to say these words, to give me a way out. I could sense he knew he wouldn’t get over it. What made him think even for a second I would?
Slowly I got up from the couch. My steps barely made any noise, but I knew he could hear me. Still he didn’t look up. His eyes were closed as if he didn’t want to see anything, as if he wanted to shut everything out.
I stopped and kneeled down in front of him, and simply put my head in his lap.
“I belong here. I’m not leaving. Get used to it. And besides, I’ve told you before, you can’t hurt me.”
I felt his hands on my head, and then slowly he pulled me up to face him. I immediately saw that his eyes were filled with tears.
“I don’t deserve you.” He let his head rest on my chest.
“I’m not here because you deserve me. I’m here because I love you.” I put my arms around him. “I never want to hear you send me away again.”
I heard him breathe in deeply. “I promise.” He kept his head in my chest. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. I suppressed my emotions for the last few hours. I couldn’t risk transforming in front of her. Today was more than I could take. I almost lost you. Forgive me, my angel.”
I lifted his head up with both my hands. His eyes showed so much pain I couldn’t imagine anybody being able to bear that much.
“Shh, I’m here and I’m staying. You are my life.”
I kissed him and felt the salt of his tears touch my lips. I could feel how careful he suddenly kissed me back, how gently he touched me. Everything would be alright. It would be just a small hurdle to get over. I would learn how to read his stress better, and he would learn how to control himself better. We could make it work.
“Are you ready to hear my plan now? I promise nothing bad will happen to me.”
He nodded. His expression was serious, his facial muscles still tenser than normal as if he was trying to hold back his emotions.
“We need to frame the Entwhistles for my murder. All we need is a death certificate, an autopsy report, photos of my corpse and a few pieces of paper to link me to his clinical trial.” I laid it out for him.
“I hate the way you say corpse.”
I smirked. “I think with a little bit of creative make-up I’ll make a pretty nice corpse.”
“It’s never going to work, angel. For once, how on earth do you want to get a real death certificate without actually dying, which you’d better not be planning or I’m going to have another fit.”
Even though his words were serious, I could tell he had recovered and was actually mocking me.
I shook my head. “Well, that’s where my connections come in.”
“You have connections? Excuse me, but aren’t you the girl I rescued, the girl who knew nobody?”
“I didn’t say that. I said there was nobody you needed to notify for me,” I corrected him. “That’s entirely different.”
“You know what I’m starting to think? That you have more secrets than I do.”
I instantly recalled the number of flings I had had in the last few years, something I really didn’t want to share with him, especially considering he had been celibate for the last thirty years.
He interrupted my thoughts. “I’m right, aren’t I?” He gave me a shameless grin. “I’m sure it will be fun eliciting those secrets from you.”
I knew he couldn’t read my mind, but I also knew he could read my thoughts when he was in his animal state and concentrated on me, and I figured he was thinking the same thing. A look into his sparkling green eyes told me I had guessed right.
“You wouldn’t!” I glared at him.
He laughed. “Well, we’ll just have to find out who can keep their thoughts to themselves better. I do like a challenge, especially when it involves you.”
I decided to spoil his fun. “There’s really nothing to tell, except for the fact that I wasn’t a virgin before I met you. There you go. Now you know everything about me.” I hoped this would take him off the trail.
He laughed out loud. “Sometimes you’re really funny. Trust me, there’s no way I would have confused you with a virgin.”
I felt insulted. At least he could have pretended. “Hey!” I slammed my fists into his chest, but they just bounced off.
“Really, I might be a little rusty when it comes to women, but the moves you put on me, angel, were not the moves of a virgin.” He was still laughing.
“Are you implying I seduced you into doing something you didn’t want to do?”
“Oh, you seduced me alright starting from the moment you woke up that first morning,” he grinned and paused. “But you sure didn’t seduce me into something I didn’t want to do.”
He took a hold of my hands. “And I hope you’ll continue doing it.”
He kissed me. “So, what wer
e you saying about your connections?”
I gained my composure back. “Carmela.”
“Carmela?”
“Carmela works for the Medical Examiner. She can help us.”
He looked at me and suddenly it looked like a light bulb had gone on in his head. “I have a better idea. Do you think she can get us a fresh body?”
I threw him a questioning look. What had he come up with?
22. Vince’s Deception
“You guys are nuts,” Carmela exclaimed when we stood in her flat several hours later after we had prepared what we needed. She looked at me and then at Annette. It was past midnight, but we hadn’t woken her up. She had been surprised to see us though. Annette had announced herself on the intercom and Carmela had not expected her to have me in tow.
As soon as she had seen us arriving holding hands she had realized something else had to be wrong, rather than Annette’s love life.
“Please, we need your help,” Annette begged.
I tried my most charming smile with Carmela. “How would you like a shiny almost new BMW for your inconvenience?” I felt a little enticement was appropriate for the huge service she would render us.
“You’re kidding!” She didn’t believe me at first, but when I shook my head and stretched out my hand with the car key in it, she understood I was serious.
“I’ll sign the papers over to you when we’re done.”
I already had.
Her mouth was still wide open and even Annette seemed surprised at my gesture. Didn’t she know that these material things didn’t really mean anything to me? I barely used the car anyway. Of course, I would have to get a new one, but I wanted to let Annette choose what car she wanted, since she would be driving it too.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” Carmela finally said. She smiled. “And, just so you know, I would have done it without the bribe.”
I winked at her. “And just so you know, I would have given you the car even if you hadn’t agreed to it, as a little thank you for talking Annette into coming back to me.”
I felt Annette press herself against me and I kissed the top of her head.
“How do we get in?” Annette asked.
Carmela frowned. “It’s going to be a little tricky. I hope you guys don’t mind squeezing into a tight space. But what am I saying?” She gave us a knowing look. “Of course you don’t mind.”
The Medical Examiner’s Offices were located in the Hall of Justice on Bryant Street and shared the space with the Police Station. The building made up an entire city block. Breaking into a police station was out of the question, even I had to admit this. However, as an employee of the Medical Examiner’s Office, Carmela had access rights and she would smuggle us in. “We’ll have to take my car, as much as I would like to try out my new ride.”
I was glad, that she seemed to like my gift. She deserved it.
As we piled into her decade old hatchback, I briefly wondered why she had said yes to our plan, especially since we hadn’t told her the whole story. Annette and I had agreed to tell her only what was absolutely necessary, partially to protect her should something go wrong, but also to protect my secret.
Despite the scarce facts we provided her with about the danger Entwhistle represented, she was willing to jeopardize her job and help us. I couldn’t tell what her motivation was, for it surely wasn’t my bribe.
Two blocks away from our destination, Carmela stopped the car.
“Time to get ready.”
All of us got out of the car. Carmela opened up the hatchback. There wasn’t a lot of space, but I squeezed in and pressed my back to the back of the rear seats.
“Your turn, Annette,” Carmela said.
I detected an uncertain look on Annette’s face. She hesitated.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Just a little claustrophobia,” Carmela said in Annette’s stead.
“Come on, angel, I’m going to be right here with you.” I opened my arms.
Annette still stood almost frozen.
“It’s not like a regular trunk of a car – you can lift the top off, see?” Carmela showed her. “So, you’re not locked in.”
“Okay.”
Finally Annette stepped into the back and molded her body to mine.
“Everything will be ok.”
Carmela shut the hatchback and got into the driver’s seat.
“And no funny business back there,” I heard Carmela’s voice loud and clear.
I didn’t respond. My arms were wrapped around Annette’s body and my lips were busy kissing her neck. I could feel Annette relax under my touch.
“Thanks,” she whispered, and I knew only I could hear her.
“Anytime, angel.”
Carmela put the car back in gear and drove off. I knew we were only two blocks away from the building, but I could feel that Carmela made a left turn and then a right turn and another left turn. It was more than two blocks. Where was she going? Was I wrong to trust her?
The car came to a stop. I heard the sound of the window opening.
“Evening Carmela,” a male voice said.
“Hey, Michael,” Carmela responded.
“I don’t have you on my roster for tonight,” Michael continued.
“I know,” Carmela said sounding annoyed. “I got paged. Hank’s on vacation and wants me to scan in some reports to review urgently.”
“In the middle of the night?” Michael sounded suspicious.
“Go figure. He’s on a beach in Greece and has no idea what time it is over here!”
“Yeah, that’s Hank!” Michael confirmed.
“He owes me,” Carmela threatened.
“Drive right in.”
I felt the car move forward again for a few hundred yards, make a couple of turns and then stop. She shut the engine off.
“We’re in. Stay in the back, I’ll go in first to make sure nobody is there and to open up the back entrance. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Carmela got out and slammed the car door shut.
I whispered to Annette. “Are you ok?”
“Yes. Just a little nervous, though. It doesn’t happen every day that I break into a morgue.”
“I can’t say it’s a first for me to break in somewhere,” I chuckled.
She turned in my arms and her face was right in front of me. I knew she could barely see me in the dark, but I could see her face clearly.
“Does this now make me Bonnie, from Bonnie and Clyde?”
“Not quite. But while we’re talking about lovers …” I found her lips and sunk my mouth onto them, hungrily exploring her mouth with my tongue. She equaled me in passion and hunger as she responded to my kiss. All of a sudden I felt a cold wave hit me amongst the heat I felt from Annette’s body.
“Cut it out, you guys,” Carmela’s voice penetrated our passionate embrace. She had opened the hatchback.
As we stumbled out of the back of the car, Carmela kept watch. The parking lot we found ourselves in was small and only partially lit. I noticed Carmela had parked as close as possible to the building. She led us to a nondescript door next to a number of trash bins. She had propped it open with a waste basket and led us inside.
We entered a long corridor with doors on each side. The linoleum floor and the light green walls reminded me of a hospital. At the end of the corridor we turned left. Carmela opened the second door we came to and hurried us in. She shut the door behind us.
The office was large and had several cubicles as well as two private offices at one end. We followed Carmela through another door into an even larger room. It looked like an operating theater with benches on one side and a bank of refrigerators on the other. I knew what the refrigerators were for. I had seen them often enough at UCSF’s own morgue.
“What are you looking for?” Carmela asked me.
“I need a body where you guys haven’t performed the autopsy on yet. Preferably a Jane or John Doe.”
“Not a problem. We had
three bodies come in today alone, and since we’re a little understaffed, we haven’t done the autopsies yet.”
She walked to the refrigerators and opened one of them. She pulled out the slab and revealed the first body. It was an old woman.
“Collapsed at Bloomingdale’s this morning,” she explained.
I shook my head. “No. That won’t work. What else do you have?”
She closed the refrigerator and opened another one. The body was that of a child. I shook my head again and she rolled the body back.
“This is the last one – we’ve done the autopsies on all the others already.”
She opened another refrigerator door and pointed at the body of a man in his thirties or forties. He had bruises all over his body.
“Accident victim. Hit and run.”
“Perfect!”
As we rolled the gurney over to the autopsy table to have better light I started explaining what we needed to do.
“Gloves everybody. We don’t want to leave any of our fingerprints on the material.”
Carmela provided us with latex gloves which we all put on. I pulled out a large envelope from my jacket pocket and spilled the contents onto the autopsy table.
“We need his fingerprints on each piece of paper, to prove he had the papers in his possession.”
“What are they?” Carmela asked curiously while Annette and I got started on the task at hand.
“Papers on the clinical trial,” Annette explained instead of me. “We’ve made copies of the protocol, the patient enrollment list and Entwhistle’s private notes. It will look like this person got access to Entwhistle’s papers and blackmailed him.”
Carmela raised an eyebrow. “Not bad, but are you sure that it’ll work?”
I continued pressing the fingers of the body onto the papers to leave fingerprints.
“I’ve also prepared a list of payoffs with dates and amounts which will look like Entwhistle actually paid blackmail money to him over the months,” I added.
“But how are you going to make sure the police find the papers? We don’t even know who this guy is. There was no ID on him,” Carmela informed me.
“Doesn’t matter. I’m going to plant a key on him, that’s why I needed somebody where your colleagues haven’t done the autopsy yet.”