“Oh, that’s great. Thanks for letting me know, Kate,” Chris said.
“Yes, ma’am. Um, ma’am…” Kate hesitated.
“Yes?”
“Should I, um, keep working on Melinda’s case?” Kate questioned.
“Oh…” Chris took a breath. “You should ask her, Kate.”
“Of course. I wasn’t sure since… um, you hired me,” Kate said. The poor dear was trembling, she was so nervous.
Chris turned her head away from the monitor, and I could see her shoulders quiver. How I wish I could take away her pain. I turned my head also and prevented a tear from escaping my heart.
“That’s all right, Kate,” Chris said, turning around again, composed and collected. “I understand what you’re saying and I think you should just keep on as you have been. My project has been wrapped up, so take your lead from Melinda.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Kate said, exhaling.
“Oh, and Kate… thank you,” Chris said.
“Ma’am, if I may, everything’s going to work out,” Kate assured her.
Chris was that unique daughter of a millionaire who didn’t put on airs with her subordinates. They had become part of her family, accepting them as she had accepted me, with love and understanding.
“Thank you, Kate.” Chris smiled for the first time since we began Skyping. What a relief to finally see that smile again.
Kate left the room and I looked back at Chris.
“Well, that was a first,” Chris said.
“How so, dear?”
“I had never even considered that I’d have to divide the staff up between Melinda and me. It felt very strange,” she said, her smile disappearing again.
“I don’t believe it will come to that,” I said, trying to sound positive.
“Norma, I’m beginning to think that we should have signed that prenup after all, because there will be a battle on our hands to see who gets to keep you.”
Laughing, I shook my head. “That’s a decision I will make myself, dear, should it come to that.”
“I hope that it won’t, Norma. But if it did, who would you pick?” There it was, that twinge of sparkle back in her eye.
“Why, I’d pick… oh, sorry, I think I hear one of the kittens calling me. I have to go, dear.”
“Come on, Norma. The kittens aren’t really calling, are they? It’s not even time for their snack yet.”
“You forget, my dear, there’s a two-hour difference between us.” I reached down and picked up Chris’ kitten, Blackie. The kitten had shiny black fur, with a fluff of white hair on its small chest, and a patch of white fur on its nose and paws. “Blackie wanted to say hello,” I said, holding the kitten up until I could see her on the computer screen.
“There’s my good girl,” Chris said, waving a finger to attract the kitten’s attention. I sat Blackie down on the table, and the cat pawed at the monitor, trying to catch Chris’ finger. “Oh, how I wish I could scratch under that cute little chin of yours right now.”
“You are talking to the kitten, aren’t you, dear?” My jest was intentional, because I wanted to see her smile one more time before we disconnected.
“Well, I miss you just as much, Norma, so I could be talking about you too,” she laughed, and I got my smile.
“I love you, my dear, and I promise, everything will work out for the best.”
“I hope so, Norma,” she said as her smile faded away once again.
“If you need to talk, just call me, all right?”
“Thanks, Norma. Could we talk again tomorrow? I’d like to know how Melinda is… and—”
“And you aren’t ready to talk to her yet. I understand completely. Call me tomorrow, all right?”
“I love you, Norma. Take care of yourself,” she said, just before she disconnected.
Oh my poor girls.
An Uneasy Truce — Meg Bumgartner and Melinda Blackstone-Livingston
When you were a billionaire like Robert Blackstone, you own more business than you can call to mind immediately. And sometimes, like today, that comes in handy if you want to get a blood test with no questions asked. Using GPS to find the nearest lab, Blackie and I walked up to a fairly large building with the words, Blackstone Lab, across the doors.
“Is there anything that your father doesn’t own?” I asked contemptuously.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Blackie replied. “But if there is, I’m sure he’ll own it soon enough.”
Blackie walked in and asked to see the manager. A few brief words with him, then a check of her driver’s license, and she was taken to a booth and surrounded by techs. It took ten minutes, and we were out of there with a promise that they would rush the results and call her before the day was done.
With that behind us, I drove us over to the scene of the crime, the pizza restaurant. I walked up to the bartender, the one Blackie said she ordered the beers from.
“Do you remember this woman?” I asked, showing him my credentials, and nodding at Blackie.
“Sure, she’s the one I carried out to the cab yesterday,” the bartender replied.
“Do you—”
I cut Blackie off with a wave of my hand in her face. Well, that didn’t take her long.
“Do you remember who she was with?” I asked.
“Oh, I get it,” he said, looking at Blackie. “This is your old lady and you’re in trouble?”
“Don’t even joke about that,” Blackie objected.
“For once we agree on something, Blackie,” I said disdainfully. “Well, what do you remember about her?”
The bartender looked back at me, and said, “Yeah. Well, I know that she didn’t come in with anyone. A chick like that,” he nodded at Blackie, “you’d notice, you know.”
“Thanks,” Blackie said.
“Can we stay on point, please? She’s already got a big ego as it is,” I chastised. “Tell me everything she did from the moment she walked in.”
“Let’s see. She unplugged the jukebox, announced that the bitch was back—”
“That the rich bitch was back,” Blackie corrected him.
I rolled my eyes, shaking my head.
“Yeah, that’s right. Anyway, she bought everyone’s lunches, and—”
“Wait.” I held my hand up to him and looked at her. “Why did you do that, Blackie?”
“Just because,” she replied.
“That’s it? Just because what?” I questioned.
“I told you,” she said, looking at me. “I was on a nostalgia trip. I did the same thing back in college, so I thought for old times’ sake, I’d do it again. No big deal.”
“Uh-huh,” I said, and looked back at the bartender.
“So she came over to the bar here and sat down. I remember her telling me that her wife made her promise not to drink more than two beers. I remember that because I had never heard a woman say that to me before. So anyway, Sally over there, brings me an order for another beer for the lady here, compliments of a customer who hangs out here a lot.”
“What can you tell me about the customer?” I asked.
“Well, like I said, she’s a regular. Likes to pick up the barely legal ladies, if you know what I mean?” He arched his eyebrows and ran his tongue over his lips. I wanted to smash his face in. When he got a sneer from me, he continued. “This lady here,” he pointed at Blackie, “passed on the drink, but went over and sat down at Tori’s booth. It looked to me like they knew each other.”
“Why do you say that?” I questioned.
“She hugged Tori before she sat down,” he replied.
“And what happened next?”
“Jeez, I don’t know, lady, I had other things to do besides stare at them all day,” he said.
Usually when someone is cooperating and then suddenly stops, they’re either involved or after money. I was pretty sure he was after money.
“Blackie, give him a twenty.”
“Huh? Why, I didn’t order a drink,” she said.
/> I looked at her and nodded toward the bartender. “Because, this man works for a living.”
“Oh. Oh yeah, here you go,” she said, pulling out her wallet and thumbing through the hundred dollar bills until she found a twenty. Rookie mistake. He accepted the twenty and waited for more.
“Yeah, I see how this is going,” she said, pulling out a hundred dollar bill. “You’d better have some damn good intel worth my hundred and twenty bucks, mister.”
“Hold that thought, I need to serve this customer,” he said, pocketing the money and walking to the opposite side of the bar.
“So, what do you think?” Blackie asked, turning to me.
“I think you should learn to better hide your stash,” I replied sharply. “It’s a wonder that you haven’t been rolled yet. Oh wait, you have been.”
“Not true. She didn’t take my money, Meg. I had a thousand bucks in my pocket and she didn’t touch any of it, and that’s what’s so confusing about this whole thing.”
“If that’s true, and you were drugged, then yeah, she was setting you up for something. Question is, what?”
“I would think it was obvious,” she said. “She wanted Chris to catch me in the act. The faked act, that is.”
“But how did she know that Chrissie would followed you here? You said that you texted Chrissie from the registrar’s office.
“That’s right, I did. Hey, maybe it’s a conspiracy? Maybe he’s in on it? Hell, maybe they all are.”
Laughing, I said, “I’m surprised that you could say that with a straight face.”
“Well, you have to admit, something screwy is going on here,” Blackie retorted.
“Yeah, you’re screwing your friend in the pool room, nothing more.”
The bartender came back and leaned his elbows on the bar. “Okay, I didn’t pay attention to them again, until I saw you try and stand up,” he said, looking at Blackie. “Tori had to help you get up, and the way you wobbled around, I thought maybe you were sick or something, and she was helping you to the bathroom. Imagine my surprise when you two went into the pool room, followed by another girl. I didn’t recognize her, but Tori seemed to know her. Tori hung the keep out sign on the door, and I figured you were having a threesome in there.”
“No fucking way!” Blackie yelled.
“Help a poor working man out, and I’ll tell you what I saw when I peeked in there,” he said, holding out his hand.
“It better be worth it or I’m climbing over this bar and taking my money back,” Blackie declared, as she pulled out another hundred and handed it to the bartender.
“Oh, you’ll think it’s worth it all right, because when I peeked in, you know, to make sure they weren’t, uh, stealing the cue balls, I saw you getting it off on her tits.”
“No, damn it! I wasn’t, I didn’t,” Blackie protested.
The bartender held up his hand. “Wait, I’m not done yet.”
Disgusted, I said, “Let me guess, you jerked off while she was jerking off.” I’m not sure why I was feeling so loathsome toward him, but the thought of him watching them instead of doing something to stop it just grated against my nerves.
“No, there wasn’t time. Uh, I mean, a lady walked up to the bar, so I had to go take her order. It was the same lady who asked about you,” he said, looking at Blackie. “She was really upset when she saw you with Tori, but to her credit, she cared enough to put you in a cab and send you home. That’s one classy dame, considering what you did to her.”
Blackie was about to protest again, but I held up my hand to stop her. “What about the other two women? What were they doing? I mean besides the obvious.”
“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to tell you. I only saw Tori with this lady. But there was another lady standing in a corner taking pictures. I couldn’t see her but I did see a couple of flashes, like from a camera, but it was probably a cellphone because the light wasn’t as bright as a real camera. Anyway, I heard her tell Tori to put her hand on her breasts.”
“So, Tori was doing it again. My father was right, I should have thrown her ass in jail the first time she tried to blackmail me,” Blackie said. “See what happens when you try to be nice to someone?”
I knew it was a rhetorical question, but I answered anyway. “And so, if you had been mean, this never would have happen, right? Blackie, stop being an asshole and let the man finish.”
The pieces were starting to come together, and I believed now that Blackie was set up. But I didn’t want her to lose focus on gathering the facts. When she went back to Chrissie, I wanted her to go with a clear conscious, knowing exactly what happened to her. Toward that end, I have to keep up the pressure on her, and on finding out the truth. I don’t want her to be wondering about that as she’s making love to Chrissie, and it’s Chrissie I’m thinking of.
“That’s about it,” the bartender said. “I didn’t see anything else, except when I went in to tell the lady her cab was here. By then you were alone, asleep on the table. I had never seen anyone sleep with their eyes open before. And even when the classy lady slapped you, you didn’t flinch. You just laid there.”
“Wait. Chris slapped me?” Blackie asked, rubbing her cheek, her eyes welling up as if she could feel the sting.
“So, her eyes were open, but she acted like she was asleep?” I asked.
“I wasn’t acting, bitch, so back off,” Blackie said coldly.
Hm, maybe I’m pushing a little too hard.
“Can I see the room?” I asked.
“Sure, just down there.” The bartender pointed toward the short hallway behind us.
Blackie followed me into the pool room. The door opened out, and when I walked in, I understood why. The room was probably added on after the restaurant was built. It was small, with one pool table and barely enough room to walk around it. The felt on the table was tattered in places, and had stains… from what I didn’t want to know. There were no windows or doors, so how did they get out? I walked across the hall to the bathroom. A single seater with no windows, but someone could wait in here with a camera. At the end of the hall, between the two rooms, was a door that I thought led to a utility closet because the door was smaller than the normal door. I was wrong. The door opened from the inside and led to the parking lot.
“Blackie, I need to talk with Tori. Any idea how I can get in touch with her?”
“No, yesterday was the first I had seen her in over four years,” she replied.
“Well, the bartender said she was a regular, so I’ll hang back and see if she shows up.”
“I’ll stay with you, maybe she’ll—”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Blackie. If she’s guilty of drugging you, she’s not going to admit to it with you in her face. In fact, if she sees you, she’ll probably make a run for it.”
“Fine, but I want to know everything as soon as possible,” she demanded.
“Look, I know you asked me to help you, but I’m doing this for Chrissie, not you. If I find something I’ll let you know when I can, but I’ll let Chrissie know first.”
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then nodded. We walked back to the bartender and Blackie called for a cab, while I ordered a pizza. It was going to be a long afternoon.
Chapter Thirteen
Love Letter to My Wife — Melinda Blackstone-Livingston
Arriving home was surreal. Norma and George were happy to see me, and as much as I loved them, it was a hollow reception because Chris wasn’t there. I filled them in on what Meg and I had learned so far, but then all I wanted to do was retreat to my room and be alone for a few minutes. Just as I closed my bedroom door, there was a knock. Charlotte was balancing a tray in her hands.
“Ma’am, I know you said you weren’t hungry, but I took the liberty of bringing you a bowl of your favorite ice cream.”
Charlotte sat the tray on the nightstand, and then left without a word. The cinnamon and snickerdoodles ice cream from Bi-Rite Creamery, here in San Franc
isco, is the best ice cream anywhere, but I just didn’t have the energy to eat it.
Instead, I sat down on the bed and pulled over my laptop, opened it up and stared at the keys on the keyboard. I wanted, no I needed to compose an email that would tell Chris how much I loved her. How sorry I was, and how much I missed her. The words were all there, but the stakes were so high that I didn’t know how to say what needed to be said.
Dear Christine,
First off, let me say, I LOVE YOU! I’m on my knees begging you, come back to me! Nah, to desperate. But I am desperate! DELETE
Dear Chris,
Please forgive me! It wasn’t me! I don’t know who it was, but… No, damn it, speak from the heart. DELETE
Chris,
My heart is broken because you think I’ve broken yours. How I wish I could hold you right now and profess my love for you. But I know you aren’t able to accept it at the moment. And baby, that’s okay. Do what you need to do to get through this, but don’t let go of me. Please… don’t let go.
I’m working with Meg to prove my love for you has never faltered. She thinks I’m guilty of cheating on you, but Chris, why would I cheat when I have you? No, I did not cheat, I did not drink, and I did not, and will never, stop loving you.
Last week when we were married, and said I do to each other in front of our family and friends, I took to heart the words that Norma said to us about love, trust, and understanding. I’m asking you to love me still, to trust me even though you feel that your trust has been betrayed, and to understand that I don’t believe it has been, because I did not consciously betray you.
The first time I saw you, you took my breath away. It wasn’t just your beauty. It was the light that shined through you, the strength that carried you, and the heart that saw into my soul. You saw in me what no one else ever had, or could, and I pray that you can see I’m telling the truth now.
I am fighting for you, baby, and I live for the day when you walk into my arms and say that you believe me.
I love you,
Melinda
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