by B. L Wilson
“Hi, Darling, I didn’t know you were home.” Susan walked over to stand behind Liz’s chair and hugged her, then kissed her behind the ear.
Liz reached up to stroke a sun-browned cheek. “Yeah, I was on the phone.”
“Talking police business?” Susan asked, frowning at Liz. “I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t bring the office home with you, Lizzie.”
“It wasn’t about the office, Love.” Liz cleared her throat. “That was Johnny’s lawyer, Attorney Agatha Phillips. Susan, we need to talk.”
Liz felt Susan move away from the back of her chair and watched her go over to the refrigerator to start dinner. She began pulling food out and placing it on the countertop near the sink.
“Susan, look at me.” Liz rose from the kitchen table and came over to the sink where Susan was washing vegetables for a salad and gently turned her around, then lifted her chin to see her eyes. Sad hazel eyes stared back at her. “I know these past months haven’t been easy for you after all that’s happened, but we need to talk. What would you say if I wanted to testify on your brother’s behalf to keep him off death row?”
Susan’s eyes widened. “You’d do that for Johnny?”
Liz shrugged. “Yeah, I think so.”
“I thought you hated him, Lizzie.” Susan sighed. “That night on the beach when you thought he’d killed me, I heard you talking to him. I saw something crazy in your eyes. I’d never seen you look like that before and it scared me.”
“I know, Susan,” Liz remarked quietly as she stared at her. “I scared me too. What I almost did that night still scares me.” She sighed. “That’s why I understood how your brother felt when he thought he’d lost everything important to him. I’ve been thinking about that night, going over it in my head, wondering if I coulda done it. I mean, could I kill him in cold blood? I could be where he is now, Susan.”
Liz ran a nervous hand through her hair and frowned. “Speaking with his lawyer just now made me realize something. I would have pulled the trigger if my family hadn’t been there to stop me. That’s what keeps us sane, Susan, having family there to stop us. I don’t think I could live with myself if I let part of your family be destroyed and I could do something about it.” She paused to study Susan’s face before adding, “I’d like to testify for your brother, but I won’t if you tell me not to do it.” She continued to stare at Susan, unsure what her reaction would be.
Susan looked down at her hands and then over Liz’s shoulder at the window behind her. She glanced everywhere but at Liz’s face with her questioning eyes.
Sighing, Liz returned to the table. She sat down and scratched her head as she studied Susan’s back. “Tell me what you want, Susan, and I’ll do it.”
Susan stood by the kitchen sink, facing away from Liz as she watched the sun going down. She quietly dried her hands on the kitchen towel and then walked out the screen door to sit down on the small back porch steps.
Liz waited a few minutes for Susan’s return. When she didn’t come back, Liz walked outside to join her.
“Sit with me, Lizzie.” Susan patted the spot next to her on the porch, then watched as Liz obediently sat down. She looked out at the backyards of the neighbors next door. Then she glanced at the mounds of fresh earth she’d just planted. “That last night with Johnny, I was tired, Liz. It wasn’t because of the pills he gave me, but tired of the way my life was going. Until the explosion, I never had to work for anything. My father gave me everything. When I say everything, I mean everything. I just had to look like I wanted something and I got it, no questions asked. Even when I was away at school in the East, I could still call him to send me something. It would be hand-delivered within hours of my call to him.
“You and your family were the first people, besides one of my professors, who took me seriously and respected me for me. You asked me what I thought throughout the investigation. Then you listened when I told you something and I liked that. When Johnny asked me to go to the club with him to hang out as we used to do, I realized for the first time I wanted more. I wanted a grownup relationship based on who I was and not who my father was or how much money he had.
“I went with Johnny that night as a way of saying good-bye to my old life. Since he’d known me all my life, it seemed fitting to dump my old life and welcome the new one with him at my side. I was physically tired as well from the odd hours we’d been keeping trying to figure out the killer’s identity. With you in jail, I was worried. When Johnny came by to take me away from all the stress for a few hours, I was glad. I felt as safe with him as I was with you, Lizzie. Johnny was my brother in every sense of the word.” Susan smoothed her hands down the overalls she’d been wearing to do the gardening work and rubbed down her thighs with slightly trembling hands.
Liz took one of Susan’s hands, stared into her eyes as she drew the hand to her mouth, and kissed it. “You don’t have do this if you…don’t…” she started to say when Susan interrupted her.
Susan quickly drew a finger across Liz’s lips. “Yes, Lizzie, I do. I’ve been hiding here for too long. I need to finish this and get on with my life.” She dropped hands to her lap and continued with the story. “I still didn’t understand what was going on with Johnny even after he drugged me. He asked me how I’d feel if he was my brother, but I didn’t know what he meant. At the time, I thought I dreamed the truck ride over to the lake. When he put me in his little sports car, I assumed we were on our way to the club. I know I felt dizzy, then sick, but I thought it was from drinking too much on an empty stomach.” She stopped speaking when she remembered what happened next. She frowned and then rubbed her temples. She groaned as she relived the horror of the drowning, but she had to continue. She felt she had to finish this or she’d never heal inside.
“The cold wetness of lake water woke me up real quick! Thank God, he left the windows open and I managed to float up to the surface. I don’t know how I did it. All I remember is hearing your voice telling me to relax; to go with the flow of the water currents and I’d be all right.” Susan closed her eyes and shivered. She remembered the icy, smothering feel of the water as it filled her lungs and made her struggle to breathe nearly impossible.
“The current must have taken me to the other side of the lake. I washed up on the beach and then I dragged myself toward the voices I heard. It took me a while to get to you. When I arrived, you were holding a gun at Johnny’s head and looking crazy. Your father and Jake were trying to talk you out of killing him. I tried to yell, but I was still cold and weak. Lord, Lizzie, I have never been that cold in my life. That must be what death feels like.”
Liz opened her arms and Susan scooted into them. She held Susan, rocked her, and then stroked her back. “I thought you were dead. I wanted to die too!” she whispered. Dark eyes filled with tears and stared at Susan.
“When I was inside the car with the water closing in around me, I thought I was dead too.” Trembling now, Susan clung to Liz.
“Come inside, Love,” Liz urged, holding her tight. “Let me make us some tea.”
Susan shook her head against Liz’s chest. “No, Liz, I have to finish this. After I watched Jake take your gun, I think I must have collapsed. The next thing I remember was walking over to you as you sat on the beach looking out over the lake. When you looked up at me, I don’t think you knew who I was, Lizzie. You had the strangest look in your eyes.”
“I thought you were a ghost come back to haunt me. You’re not, are you? You’re flesh and blood, just like me.” Liz ran a hand lightly down Susan’s arm and she shivered.
“Don’t, Lizzie,” Susan said, pushing Liz’s hand away. “Let me finish, please.” She sighed heavily. She was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders before she continued. “It finally hit me at the hospital that I had a brother. My father knew I had a brother all those years, but he never told me anything! I don’t care what the arrangement was, he should have told me about Johnny. If I’d known, I would have given him Flint Industries. I don
’t want it! I know my father thought he was doing what was best for me, but he should have asked me what I thought.”
Liz nodded. She asked the question keeping her up nights. “Are you going to testify for Johnny?”
Susan nodded and said quietly, “How could I not? He’s my brother, Lizzie, and the only family I have.”
Liz shook her head. “No, Love, you have a father who wants to see you. He understands you may not be the same daughter he raised, not with everything that’s happened, but he still loves you.”
“How do you know what my father wants, Lizzie?” Susan asked suspiciously. “Have you been in touch with him the whole time?”
Liz cleared her throat, then played with her hands. “Hmm, well, sort of.”
Angry hazel eyes blazed at her. “Could you be more specific, Sergeant Gilmore?”
“Oh, shit!” Liz said, frowning at her lover. “You haven’t called me that in months.”
“You didn’t need to be called by that name in months, Sergeant!” Susan snapped briskly. “Quit changing the subject and answer the question, Elizabeth Gilmore!”
Liz held up a hand in surrender. “Okay, I admit it. I’m a softie for old men whose daughters won’t talk to them. I told him I’d keep an eye on you and let him know how you were doing. For a rich guy, he’s a nice old man.”
Susan stared at Liz and then burst out laughing. “Oh, come here, you.” She tugged Liz up the porch steps and into her arms. “I know I haven’t been considerate of you. I’ve ignored you and your needs, Lizzie. I’m so sorry. Can you forgive me?”
Liz frowned. “Only if you promise to see your father, Susan.”
“Will you come with me, Lizzie?”
“Yeah, whenever you wanna go.” Liz sighed. “Since we got that settled, how about feeding the hardest working sergeant in the county?”
“Only if she promises to kiss me first.”
“That could be…”
“A little less talk and a little more action, Sergeant Gilmore.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Liz held Susan in her arms and kissed her. She felt a hand moving inside the front of her pants searching for something. Susan found the small raised scar and lightly stroked it. She heard Liz gasp, then felt her stomach muscles quiver.
“That’s one of my sensitive spots,” Liz choked out.
“I know, Lizzie. That’s why I touched it,” Susan whispered as she sought Liz’s mouth again.
Liz groaned as Susan’s hand continued to stroke the area around the scar. “If you keep this up, you’re gonna have to help me inside, Love.” She panted. “I’m about ready to collapse as it is.”
“Or I could strip you right here on the porch and get busy,” Susan said, watching Liz’s eyes close from the pleasure her hands were creating.
Liz’s body stiffened. She opened her eyes to scan the area and see if her neighbors were outside. “You wouldn’t do that, would you?” she added nervously. “People could see us.”
“Modest, aren’t we, Sergeant?” Susan teased with a gleam in her eyes.
“You know I am,” Liz admitted.
Susan sighed. She stopped moving her hand against Liz’s scar and pulled it out to stroke her face. “That fact continues to astound me. You have the body a woman like me wants to see naked. Yet you wear modest shorts. Your bathing suits are boringly conservative. The only surprise is your underwear. Even that needs a little color, Lizzie. Frankly, I’d prefer none of those things on you.” She grinned as she unbuttoned Liz’s uniform, starting with the first snap on her blouse. She looked into dark eyes that reminded her of the deep, rich brown of a mink coat.
Liz felt soft lips against her chest, kissing it, then slowly moving down to kiss her belly and stopping at her scar. “Susan!” she cried out as she felt her muscles tremble from the soft butterfly kisses on her scar. She reached down to press Susan’s head into the tender area. She couldn’t stand the stimulation from Susan’s lips against her scar. Her legs collapsed from the excitement and she slid down the wall to the porch floor, moaning.
Susan stood over her, smiling wickedly. “Well, Sergeant Gilmore, it looks like I’ve got you where I want you on the ground and begging for more.”
“Help me up, you little hussy. I’ll show you about begging, Drummond.”
“Oh you will, uh?” Susan hauled Liz to her feet.
Liz pressed Susan into the wall and then ground into her pelvis. She whispered what she wanted to do with her. The two women forgot dinner as they headed into the bedroom. She quickly undressed, then kissed Susan hard on the lips as she unbuckled the overalls’ suspenders and let them drop down to her waist. Large gentle hands pulled the snug-fitting T-shirt over the bouncy African twists.
“You’re a lovely woman, Susan Drummond,” Liz said as she held Susan’s hands over her head and leaned down to nibble on a pert nipple.
Susan closed her eyes. “I missed this, Lizzie. Your lips feel so good on me. Suck my tits harder.”
Soft lips gripped her nipple and suckled.
Susan felt the effects deep inside her womb and moaned. “God, Lizzie, I wanna touch you.”
“Later, love,” Liz said, holding her hands above her head.
Susan felt the heat from Liz’s grinding into her pelvis. She wanted to touch the fiery source. “Let me feel you…please.”
Liz shook her head. “I can do something better than that, My Love.” She reached down to caress Susan and then moved into her rhythm.
“I want you inside me, Lizzie. Taste me,” Susan begged.
Liz knelt down to pull off her overalls. The sexy silk black panties were the next item to go. A gentle finger reached down and separated Susan’s outer lips.
Susan felt the first swipe of her tongue against her clit and cried out for Liz. She rubbed frantically against Liz’s tongue before she turned into liquid fire. “Ooo, ah, taste me, Lizzie, with your wicked tongue. Make me cum. Oh God, it feels so good. I’m cumming, Lizzie!”
EPILOGUE
Susan looked down the long corridor of the courthouse and saw a familiar figure striding toward her. “Daddy, what are you doing here?”
Owen Drummond looks nervous, Liz thought. She watched him walk toward Susan as they sat on one of the benches outside the hearing room. They’d planned this entire business down to his arrival time in the courthouse. He’d asked Liz if she thought he should testify on Johnny Flint’s behalf. Liz said it would be good, but if he didn’t, she’d understand. He thought about it and called Liz several weeks ago. He said he’d testify, but he didn’t want Susan to know until he was ready to tell her himself. He was afraid she’d think he was doing it just to get back into her life.
That was one of the reasons, but Owen also told Liz he wanted to testify to set the record straight. Since everyone now knew the family secrets, he didn’t want the town to think that he was ashamed of his own daughter. He’d heard some of the nasty remarks bandied around the town about Susan Drummond being a bastard and rich bitch. He didn’t like it. He felt responsible for Johnny Flint’s desperate actions after he found the agreement among his father’s papers. Maybe if he and Old Man Flint had sat their children down years ago and explained the arrangement, Susan’s only sibling wouldn’t be in front of a judge pleading for his life right now.
Owen Drummond grinned at his daughter. “Hello, Suzie Q. You look well. How are you?” He yearned to hug his daughter, but he didn’t want to do anything to displease her. They hadn’t seen each other since she’d moved in with Liz Gilmore eight months ago. What little contact he had with his daughter was through the weekly phone calls from Liz that she occasionally persuaded Susan take part in. Thank God for Liz Gilmore, he thought as he looked at his daughter. He was glad she was able to connect with Susan and kept her looking healthy and happy. “I just thought I’d come down to the courthouse and give you a little moral support, Honey.” He stuck a hand in his pocket and then sat down near her.
Susan stared hard at Liz and then her fat
her.
Liz wouldn’t meet her eyes.
Susan pointed to the farthest corner of the courthouse’s hallway. “Could I see you over there for a minute, Sergeant Gilmore?”
“There she goes with that title again!” Liz muttered as she looked at Owen Drummond, rolled her eyes, and shrugged. She followed Susan.
Owen Drummond watched his daughter’s animated discussion with Liz Gilmore. He thought Liz Gilmore didn’t stand a chance. From where he sat, the sergeant looked like she was losing the battle of words to Susan. Then the sergeant did something to calm Susan immediately. She grabbed the hand that was vigorously waving under her nose. She stroked Susan’s hand, then turned it over to kiss the palm as she looked into Susan’s eyes. He couldn’t hear what Liz Gilmore said to his daughter, but Susan stopped yelling and allowed the sergeant to escort her back to the benches where he sat.
“Is everything okay with you two?” Owen asked. He was curious what the women would say.
“I believe so, Sir.” Liz stared at Susan, waiting for her to disagree.
The court officer stuck his head outside the hearing room door and spotted Owen Drummond. “They’re ready for your testimony. Mr. Drummond, if you’ll just follow me.”
Owen Drummond got to his feet and prepared to follow the officer.
“Daddy, what’s going on?” Susan looked puzzled. She was still wondering why he was here at the courthouse.
Owen shrugged in response, then said, “I couldn’t let my daughter do this alone, now could I? This was the only way I could think to try to make up for the hurt I caused you and Johnny. If I can explain the circumstances surrounding the agreement, I believe it will help Johnny.”
“You’d do that for him?” Susan asked in amazement.
Owen Drummond nodded, then said, “And you, Suzie Q, for you too.” He straightened his shoulders, wiped the moisture from his eyes, and followed the court officer into the courtroom.