Malice Masterpieces 2

by K'Anne Meinel

  They sat back and enjoyed the morning as Portia didn’t need to see her clients until 11 and she watched as the younger children got on their busses too but first they gave Alice hugs and kisses, she only marginally thawed for the children. Whatever warmth Kathy had instilled in her was gone, it had died with Kathy. Only the children got a part of her that didn’t exist otherwise.

  Before she left for her meetings she wisely and astutely asked, “You haven’t started dating have you?”

  Alice froze from reading the paper as Portia double checked the papers in her briefcase and then looked up, almost guiltily. “I tried, I really did but I felt like I was cheating and then I just felt numb, I guess I’m just not ready,” she finished lamely.

  Portia looked at her in surprise. She would have thought the cold blooded Alice would be dating within six months of Kathy’s death but she was surprised to find that she couldn’t or wouldn’t. This was a side of her she hadn’t suspected or even credited her with. It wasn’t like Alice to be so…human, even back in college when she had visited Connie there was always this aura about her, a freakishly cold demeanor about her that said ‘do not touch.’ Portia had been astounded that Kathy had penetrated it to find a warm and generous person underneath, the person that Kathy had described making love to her was not this cold woman who sat before her, was not the woman they all thought of as the Ice Queen. Kathy had made her sound like a normal human being. Perhaps they had all judged her too harshly.

  Portia squeezed her arm briefly as she went by her in sympathy, they all missed Kathy, and her vivaciousness would always be remembered. It meant their four some from their college days and with Alice their five some was down by two now. Actually, for Alice she had lost a wife and a sister, Portia and Andie had only lost two of their best friends.

  On the fifth day that Portia was staying with them she got a call from Alice on her cell.

  “Hello?” she answered the phone puzzled, Alice rarely if ever called.

  “Hello Portia, I’m sorry to bother you but I need to ask a favor.”

  “Sure, what do you need?” Portia asked surprised as she began to gather the papers she would need to look at that evening in the room Alice had given her. She had been doing a tremendous amount of work for this client. Alice had offered the office downstairs but Portia preferred the privacy of the bedroom she had been assigned, it had a small desk, excellent lighting, and of course internet access throughout the house.

  “I wouldn’t ask but I seem to be in a bind,” she said annoyed and was staring at the crux of her problem as the tow truck began to haul her Porsche up onto the flatbed.

  “What’s up?” she asked concerned.

  “I normally pick up Kit at Dan the psychiatrists house but I’m stuck across town with a flat tire, I can’t get a hold of Nan and I know Mrs. Fernandez is off tonight so I can’t call her.”

  “I didn’t think Porsche’s got flat…” Portia teased and then realized the double entendre and looked down at her chest and laughed.

  Alice didn’t know why Portia was laughing but she relaxed at the chuckle. “Apparently they do when someone slashes multiple tires,” she said dryly.

  “Someone slashed your tires?” Portia asked alarmed as she looked up and out of the office windows of where she had been working.

  Alice shrugged, “Well, that’s what it looks like; I’ll know more at the tire shop.” She quickly changed back to her original subject, “So may I impose and ask you to pick up Kit?”

  Portia reached for a blank pad of paper and said, “Sure, of course, what’s the address?”

  Alice had it memorized in her head and repeated it to Portia who wrote it down to input it in her Global Positioning System in her car. The GPS helped her get around strange cities and she would have no problem finding Dan the Psychiatrists house.

  As Portia drove her sedan up to the well-appointed house she glanced around and saw it was a very pleasant L.A. neighborhood not too far from Alice’s estate but far enough that the price tag must be considerably less although these houses too had to cost seven figures. She pulled down a quiet road that led to a cul-de-sac. She double checked the address against her pad and put it down as she put her sedan into park and turned it off at the curb. Taking her keys she locked the car behind her for the few minutes she expected to be outside the car, it didn’t pay to take chances even if she was in a nice neighborhood, she had some sensitive paperwork in her briefcase and it would be a big hassle if it disappeared. She walked up the driveway to the front sidewalk enjoying the lush foliage that gardeners must keep up for the owner; it was too much for most people to do themselves unless they were dedicated home gardeners themselves. She admired the architecture of the home with huge tinted windows and vines growing along the steep wooden arches leading to a second level, this too all done in dark wood. She couldn’t see into the windows until she was nearly to the front door.

  She stopped before getting to the front door as she looked through one of the front windows at a scene she should not be seeing. A man and a woman were kissing passionately and caressing each other intimately and as she watched the man held out his arm and brought Kit into the embrace leaning down to kiss her on the mouth and obviously tongue her. She stood horrified for a moment before approaching the front door and ringing the doorbell determinedly. She wasn’t sure what she should or could say and then thought it wiser for her not to say anything until she talked to Alice. It was obvious at least to her what she had seen. This man, this Dr. Dan was obviously taking advantage of Kit who was vulnerable with the loss of her biological mother but from what Portia had seen she had to wonder how much further this man had taken it. She also wondered who the other woman was and why she was such an avid and obviously consensual partner.

  It took a little while for someone to answer the front doorbell and she was seriously thinking of ringing it again or perhaps calling the police when the man she had seen through the window answered the door.

  “Hello?” he inquired curiously.

  “Hello,” she said in her all business like voice, controlling her anger, “I’m Portia and I’m here to pick up Kit.”

  “Won’t you come in?” he said solicitously.

  ‘Damned straight I will!’ she thought as she took him up on his offer. She glanced around at the richly appointed foyer, all dark woods like on the outside, making it seem almost warm but to her mind ominous instead.

  “Kit is in the living room,” he said as he gestured with his arm.

  She nodded as she walked into another room, almost as dark and to her mind now sinister. Kit was sitting on a couch trying to look demure with heavy makeup on her face. Makeup Portia knew that Alice would not approve of. The other woman sat on the same couch, a little too close given how large the couch was. Portia almost could swear she had seen the woman remove her hand from Kit’s leg just before she entered the room but dismissed it as her imagination. She could see in the teen’s eyes a bit of guilt and she wondered how far this situation had gone. She smiled at the teen as though nothing was wrong and said, “Hi Kit, your mom asked me to pick you up, she had some car trouble.”

  “Oh,” Kit said in reply and glanced at the woman and then the man who had come into the room.

  “Who is this?” the man said charmingly to the teen.

  Kit stood up and said, “This is my Aunt Portia, she is my mom’s friend from college, and she’s staying with us this week.”

  Portia held out her hand to the man, “Portia Spiros,”

  “Dr. Dan Shloggles,” he shook it briskly as he tried to surreptitiously eye the woman sizing her up.

  Since Portia was using her best ‘lawyer intimidation’ tactics he was brought up short. She turned to the woman still sitting on the couch who rose to shake her hand as well.

  “This is Bonnie, she was friends with my mom too,” Kit said by way of introduction.

  To Portia the teen looked distinctively uncomfortable introducing either of the adults. She didn’t kno
w if it was the heavy make-up but the teen looked amazingly grown up, a duplicate of Kathy in her younger years when Portia had known her. She smiled at the teen as she put her arm around her, “Well we better be going, your mom expects us at home and I’ve got a ton of work to get through.”

  Kit looked up at her but didn’t suspect that Portia just wanted to get them out of here. Something about this couple and this house gave her the chills, she wanted to go and fast.

  “Won’t you stay for a drink?” Dr. Dan tried to charm her.

  Portia smiled but shook her head as she began to urge Kit towards the entrance way, “No, we do have to go,” she glanced at the teen, “Do you have your back pack?”

  “Oh, I’ll go get it, it’s in the bedroom,” the teen innocently said.

  Portia wondered why the pack was in the bedroom and waited with the other adults as the teen ran to go get it. She didn’t glance at the other two adults afraid to give herself and her anger away at the situation. Kit was back quickly which told her the bedroom must be on the ground floor. “I’m ready,” she smiled as she looked at the three adults.

  “Well Kit, I think we made a lot of progress today,” Dr. Dan said in a smarmy voice as he put his arm around her shoulder and led her to the front door with Portia following along in their wake.

  The teen nodded delightedly and Portia wondered what progress he meant exactly.

  They took their leave and got in the sedan waving at the two adults who were in the front doorway together, Bonnie had followed them out.

  “So do you enjoy going to see him?” Portia asked innocently as she made her way out of the cul-de-sac.

  Kit nodded but to Portia that seemed almost forced, “I didn’t at first but he helped me work through a lot of the feelings I was having about my mom’s death. I mean the police didn’t even find anything or arrest anyone and that really hurt. Then Alice was kind of emotionally absent for a while there, everything is a lot better now.”

  Portia was startled. ‘Emotionally absent’ was not the kind of words that a fourteen year old girl would use normally and blaming the police made her even more suspicious that this Dr. Dan was priming the girl for something if he hadn’t already done so. She kept quiet about her thoughts on the subject as they talked about school and other things.

  Alice wasn’t home until much later; it took a while to find four specific tires for her Porsche to replace those that had been slashed. She suspected the reason why but had been annoyed to find them like that when she came out of her business meeting across town. She had just bought up an internet company and not everyone was thrilled with her purchase or her business dealings with the company, it had been a hostile takeover and her appointing an outsider to run it had gone over like a lead balloon.

  Everyone was eating dinner that Mrs. Fernandez had made for them when she came into the house and leaned down to kiss Emily in her high chair. “Hello everyone,” she said as though it was a regular day. She squeezed Sean’s shoulder as she made her way the head of the table where her place setting sat untouched, her hand brushed Kit’s neck and Kit squirmed a little from the ticklish contact. Alice smiled as everyone greeted her. “How was everyone’s day,” she opened with as she helped herself to dinner and Emily told her about the butterfly migration that Nan had informed her about. For a three year old she was pretty knowledgeable and Alice was suitably impressed. Sean told her about a field trip they were planning and he said he had a slip for her to sign.

  Turning to Kit Alice asked her about her day and got a quiet shrug and, “Okay,” out of the teen. There was no sign of the heavy makeup and the teen’s occasional moroseness was to be expected. Alice smiled at Portia who she could see had something to tell her by the look in her eye but told her instead that her meetings would conclude probably on Monday or Tuesday if that was okay with Alice. Alice nodded immediately, having Portia there was no problem with her. “Did you find the house okay?” she asked and something about the look in Portia’s eye as she answered told her that Portia had something to tell her about that as she nodded. Alice continued eating as she caught up with her family. They were finished before her and excused one by one. Nan came for Emily and cleaned her chair up and put it away before taking her outside to play in the setting sun.

  “Something wrong?” Alice asked Portia who sat there to keep her company as they finished up dinner.

  Portia nodded and then glanced as Mrs. Fernandez started to clear away the empty plates. Alice understood, it was something she didn’t want to repeat in front of others. After dinner they went down into the study and closed the door.

  “How well do you know this Dr. Dan?” Portia asked her.

  Alice shrugged, she had done a preliminary check on him of course, but she had met him and he seemed personable and knowledgeable, wanting to genuinely help Kit overcome her problems with her mother’s death. She had had no warning signs.

  Portia told her everything she had seen, thought, and felt in that house. She also speculated that he was priming the teen for a seduction from what she had seen. That this Bonnie was in on it and that she wasn’t sure how far it had gone. Nothing on Alice’s face betrayed the rage she was feeling as she listened fully and attentively. She asked few questions but she believed Portia implicitly. There was no reason for their friend to exaggerate or lie. When Portia was done telling her everything including her thoughts and speculations Alice put her head in her hands and said, “Damn, I’ve failed Kathy!”

  Portia was surprised, Alice wasn’t given to emotions but she replied, “No, you didn’t, this, this predator did it, and we should report him immediately!”

  Alice shook her head, “No, I would need more evidence and what’s one emotionally unstable teen against someone who is obviously a master manipulator like this man?”

  Portia nodded in agreement, to prey on a vulnerable child such as Kit was horrendous. But she was curious, “What else can you find out?”

  Alice looked up and she wasn’t crying she looked exhausted; the deep circles under her eyes a common occurrence these days and now looking deeper. “I’m going to make a few phone calls but I don’t know if I should ask Kit anything yet.”

  Portia nodded, “She might lie depending on what he has brainwashed her with.”

  Alice agreed but her agile mind was thinking way ahead of Portia’s fine one. “I think I might suggest she no longer needs therapy and see what she says and does. Maybe it’s just time for someone else to ‘evaluate’ her. I think she has come a long way but who knows how much he has been prompting her or whatever else he had in mind.”

  Portia agreed, “What do you think she might say?”

  Alice shook her head but regardless of what Kit might say, Alice was going to do some investigating of her own, some very intensive investigating.

  “Hey hun, you ready for bed?” Alice asked as she looked in on Kit after the younger kids were in bed and asleep.

  “Yep, I just have to finish a little bit of reading,” she held up the book she was reading, “Wuthering Heights, this is hard to read in its original English,” she said wryly.

  Alice grinned, this, this was a normal teen; she hoped that bastard hadn’t touched her; she knew what would happen to him if he had. “Yeah, Heathcliff and Catherine are hard to read about at the best of times but getting around that local dialect is a mouthful.”

  “You’ve read it then?” the teen asked enthusiastically, Kit loved reading and it was one thing they shared in common.

  Alice nodded, “Yes a couple of times to get different takes on it, once in high school for a report, once in college for an essay, and once just because I wanted to make sure my hatred of the book wasn’t because of those assignments.” The teen joined her in a laugh about the book, she hadn’t been enjoying it.

  Alice came into the room being friendly and sat on the end of Kit’s bed to ‘chat’. “How are you doing Kit? Things going well otherwise?”

  Kit was a little suspicious, although Alice had been
trying the last six months or so to be friendly; it was obvious to this teen that she was a cold woman. This ‘let’s be friends’ attitude set off warning bells and made her wonder what she had done wrong. “Everything’s fine,” she asserted confidently.

  Alice smiled, “Well your grades have definitely improved, I’m proud of you.”

  Kit rolled her eyes at her grades, she had gotten them back up, what else did the adults in her world want from her.

  “I think it’s about time you stopped seeing Dr. Dan,” she watched the teen closely to see what the results of her statement would be and was not pleased to see the alarm in her eyes as she went on, “I think you’ve gotten as much help from him as you are going to get.”

  “No, I love seeing Dr. Dan, he has helped me tremendously,” the teen asserted almost desperately, “Please don’t make me stop seeing him!” she pleaded.

  Alice pretended surprise, “Oh okay,” she shrugged, “But I think we will cut the sessions down to once a week.”

  The teen relaxed at the news that she would see her doctor at least once a week but Alice could see she was panicked, there was something there. Alice got up from the bed and said, “Well don’t read too late!” as she left the room.

  Alice went down to her office where her computer was humming away, its monitor flashing information. She plugged in an ear bud and listened as it indicated a phone call in progress.

  “Hello?” a man’s voice said.

  “Dan, its Kit,” the teen said desperately, almost anguished.

  “Hello Kit, what’s wrong,” he said concerned.

  “My mom said that I can only come once a week anymore,” she said almost sobbing out the information.

  The man paused before saying, “It’s all right Kit darling, we will work it out and I will talk to your mom and maybe she will let you come twice a week still.”