“Well, the draw here is actually Lake Moriah,” Abby replied. “Between the annual boating regatta and an invitational fishing competition, people seem to flock to this place come the summer. The places closest to the lake go quickly, so folks come out here for cheaper prices along with easier access to restaurants and stores.”
“Well that makes sense,” he replied. “Actually I recall Alex talking about the boating event before.”
“Yeah, it’s our major pain-in-the-ass event, pardon my French,” she replied.
“Je te pardonne, mademoiselle,” Maguire said with a smile.
“Merci beaucoup, monsieur,” Abby replied with a smile and a wink.
“Ah, so you actually do know French.”
“Enough to mangle it,” she replied. “At least that was the overall assessment of my high school French teacher.”
“It’s been my experience that it’s pretty much useless; unless of course you plan on traveling abroad,” Maguire said. “Then it is useful if only to make illicit laughs from the locals.”
“Well, I’d have to travel somewhere first, so I doubt I’m going to make anyone laugh anytime soon.”
“Well, take it from someone who has done a bit of traveling, there’s certainly no place like home, especially somewhere as idyllic as this.”
Abby took a drag on her cigarette and exhaled slowly. Maguire could read by the body language that her mind was already somewhere else.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she replied. “I guess.”
“That’s not really too convincing.”
“Please don’t take this the wrong way, and I mean no disrespect, but I would have felt a lot better if I didn’t see you get off that helicopter.”
“Fair enough,” Maguire said. “You mind if I ask why?”
“Because all this suddenly became very real,” she replied. “I figure if you came all the way up here then you must be worried and if the commissioner of the NYPD is worried……”
“Nah,” he said with a smile. “I’m just here to kick her butt when she turns up for making us all come out here.”
“That was a nice try,” she said with a smile, “but thanks.”
“How’s she doing up here?” Maguire asked. “Honestly.”
“Alex? I’d say she’s doing great,” Abby said. “Why?”
“She tells me she is acclimating to the new scenery, but I still worry about her.”
“You do, don’t you?” Abby replied, the words coming out more as a confirmatory statement than a question.
“I just want her to be happy. I just want her to catch a break.”
“She’s doing really well up here,” Abby replied.
“How do the folks around town feel about her?”
“Most of the department loves her, except for the few slackers who she pushes to work. The folks at city hall all think she is trying to bankrupt them and the town folks are generally ambivalent to it all; unless of course something happens to piss them off. So I guess you could say that it’s probably the same for her as it is for every police chief.”
“Well that pretty much sums up my career,” Maguire replied with a laugh. “You have a damn good ability at analyzing things, Abby.”
“I can’t imagine what it must be like to work in New York City,” she said. “Alex will tell me stories and it all seems so surreal. I mean I know she’s telling me the truth, her experiences, but it could all be the plot for some outrageous movie or book, as far as what I can comprehend. It is certainly a lot different than we are used to in Penobscot.”
“I don’t think police work changes too much,” he replied. “Maybe the volume is different, but not the crime. It is however a great learning place.”
“I can only imagine.”
“You should come down for a visit,” he said. “I’ll make sure you get the grand tour.”
“Alex keeps telling me that we should go for a girl’s weekend.”
“Call me first if she starts talking about taking you to any of her old stomping grounds,” he warned. “Some things you need to be eased into.”
“Will do,” Abby said with a laugh.
“Well that was quick,” Maguire said, as he watched the two men walking back toward them.
“It is a very small town,” Antonucci replied.
“So how’d you make out?” Maguire asked.
“If I was looking to do a crime, this would get high marks,” he replied.
“Under the circumstances that’s not a good thing,” Maguire said.
“No, but we might have caught a break. There’s a new fishing place just up the road. Hutch told me that it just opened a few weeks back. It looks like they have some surveillance cams on either end of the building. Probably there to cover the parking lot, but judging from the angle of the road in front, they could have picked up something.”
“Can we look at them?”
“Dunno,” Antonucci replied, looking over at Hutch.
“The store is closed now, it’s the off-season,” Hutch explained. “Most places don’t start staying open late until the end of May. There’s just not enough business to justify it. “
“Can we contact the owner?” Maguire asked.
“I tried,” Hutch replied. “I called over to the sheriff’s office but they don’t have a business contact card on file for them yet. We’re going to have to wait till the morning.”
“Does anyone have any suggestions on where to spend the night?” Maguire asked.
“You’re more than welcome to stay at my place,” Hutch said. “I’ve got four bedrooms and it’s just me.”
“Well, we don’t want to be any imposition,” Maguire replied.
“It wouldn’t be,” Hutch said.
“Then we accept your generous invitation.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The fight had been epic; a regular knock-down, drag-out affair, and had lasted longer than she could have possibly imagined.
At times it was hard to say who was actually winning. Each woman had scored some major blows, as time after time they opened the vault of history and began blasting one another with past transgressions.
The acrimony was almost palpable.
Through it all Alex laid there, amused at the level of dissension that she had been able to sow in such a small period of time. It was clear from their willingness to scream at each other that neither woman was afraid of being overheard, which led Alex to believe that wherever they were had to be fairly remote.
In her severely restricted environment, Alex could only guess how long they had been going at, but eventually silence overtook everything; prompting her to wonder if the two women had killed each other. That might have been wishful thinking on her part; although in her current predicament it was probably not a good thing for her.
If no one came running with those two idiots screaming bloody murder, then chances are that no one’s gonna be tripping over your little ass till you’re a broken down corpse.
In the silence she had drifted off to sleep, knowing that she desperately needed to work on a part two of her plan and to do it quick, but that sleep didn’t last very long.
Alex was ripped from dreams by the violent removal of the hood. In the darkness she could make out the figure of Tatiana standing over her and she could smell the heaviness of the alcohol on the woman’s breath.
“You think you’re so goddamn smart, don’t you?” she said, slurring her words slightly, as she stared down at Alex ominously.
Even in the dead of night Alex could still make out the visceral hatred in the woman’s face.
“That was dumb trying to pit her against me,” she continued, as she removed the gag from Alex’s mouth roughly.
Whatever type of conversation Tatiana had in mind, it apparently wasn’t going to be one-sided.
“So what, you decided to come back and try your hand at being a mean girl again?” Alex asked.
Alex felt the woman’s closed fist c
ome down hard across her face, snapping her neck.
Fuck me, that one hurt, she thought.
“Was that mean enough for you, baby girl?”
After she had regained her composure, she looked back at Tatiana and smiled. There was no way she would let her get the upper hand.
“You know, I think they have internet videos that could really help you out in all this.”
“I’m glad you think this is all so very funny,” Tatiana said, as she sat down in the chair, “but I promise you, that won’t last for long.”
“Aren’t you afraid you’re little pet is going to be mad that you’re here with me and not with her? Sounds like you two psychotic love birds have some making up to do.”
“Oh, don’t worry about Susan; she’s going to be sleeping soundly for a while.”
“You seem to have this thing about knocking people out.”
“It has its usefulness,” Tatiana said, as she reached out her hand and began to stroke Alex’s leg with her fingertips.
“It must really suck that you have to resort to drugging someone to get what you want,” Alex said derisively.
“Don’t you worry,” Tatiana said smugly. “In time you’ll be begging for it.”
“Only in your twisted little fantasies, Patty-Ann.”
The woman laughed, as she fished out the pack of cigarettes from her shirt pocket and lit one up.
“You can call me we whatever you like, Alex, but there’s really no point in trying to play mind games with me. In time you’ll find that you’re way out of your league here.”
“We’ll just have to see about that now, won’t we?” Alex replied.
Tatiana laughed.
It wasn’t a funny laugh, nor was it one of ridicule, but the laugh of someone who knew better and it actually sent a chill through Alex.
“I was like you once,” Tatiana said. “I was smug, I was arrogant, and I was strong. After the psychological hell that my husband had put me though, I naïvely thought that nothing could break me, not even Banning, but I was so very wrong.”
“I’m not a weak little girl like you were, Patty,” Alex said accusatorily. “I don’t bend.”
“Oh, you’ll bend,” Tatiana replied, “or you’ll most certainly break. In the end it doesn’t really matter to me which one you choose to do.”
“What does matter to you? What do you really want?” Alex asked.
“Just to finish what you started,” she said matter-of-factly, as her hand gripped Alex’s thigh. “Remember, I wasn’t the one that sought you out; I wasn’t the one who made the first move.”
“You know that wasn’t real.”
“Most things aren’t real,” Tatiana replied. “Just like the pathetic little lives most of us lead.”
“Speak for your pathetic self,” Alex replied. “Putting losers like you, and your warped little mini-me, behind bars is pretty damn real for me.”
“Is it?” Tatiana asked. “How do you know what is real and what isn’t?”
Silence hung in the room for a moment, as Tatiana stared at Alex, her face a mix of pity and contempt.
“I was like you once, thinking that my life actually mattered, but it wasn’t until I encountered Banning that I realized that I was just living a lie. At first I thought him to be the essence of pure evil and I fought him with every fiber of my being. In the beginning he would keep me drugged; just enough to not pose a threat to him. It felt so cruel, so inhumane. He would come into the room to use me and there was nothing I could do to stop him.”
Tatiana took a drag on the cigarette, staring off into space, as she relived the vivid moments in her mind.
“I came to the conclusion that I might not have been able to resist him with my body, but I could with my mind. Each time I would shut down, go to my happy place as they say, until he was done, but after a while I began to wonder why I was doing that. My mind told me one thing, yet my body said something else.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Alex scoffed.
“Laugh all you want, but, mark my words, it will be a conversation that you have with yourself one day.”
“Just because you’re weak, doesn’t mean I am.”
“Weak? Is that what you really think I am?” Tatiana said with a laugh. “No, Alex, I am far from weak. I will admit that I was, but Banning set me free from that type of life.”
“What, like being normal?”
“It’s not normal,” Tatiana said in disgust. “It’s a lie.”
“Oh, so being a rational, well-adjusted member of society is a lie?” Alex asked. “You’re crazier than I thought.”
“Am I?” Tatiana asked. “If that’s the case, then why do we have so many laws and rules? If society is so well adjusted, why do we have folks like you to police us?”
“Because of people like you?”
“People like me?” Tatiana said with a laugh. “That’s precious. Humans have been on this planet for hundreds of thousands of years. During that time they have warred, raped, pillaged and plundered. At some point you have to accept that it is who we are, Alex. Have you ever thought for a moment that the ones who established the laws, who sold the theory of rules to the masses, were just the weak ones who were afraid that they’d be next? Maybe the lie is that we only pretend to be rational, well-adjusted members of society.”
“You’re delusional,” Alex replied.
“Au contraire, my dear,” she said, as she took one last drag on her cigarette then crushed it out. “Your very existence confirms my belief. You see, weak people exist, but they do not live. Living life is truly hard and requires freedom, yet the law actually restricts freedom. It tells you what you can and cannot do as well as where you can and cannot go. The weaker members of society require laws to establish what is acceptable behavior simply to protect themselves; because they are weak and would not be able to survive without them. Because of this they need other people, like you, to help them. If you removed all laws tomorrow there would be three choices: die, become strong, or serve.”
“Freud would have loved you.”
“You and I would survive, Alex,” Tatiana said, ignoring the jab.
“You and I are not alike.”
“Aren’t we?” she asked. “You’re strong; you’re a survivor. You showed that in the store.”
“I didn’t shoot him for enjoyment,” Alex said angrily. “I’m not a cold-blooded monster like you.”
“No? Then what are you?”
“I’m a cop,” Alex replied. “I protect people.”
“Ah yes, the very same people that are lining up at this very moment to lock you away,” she replied coldly. “The irony is thick.”
“Fuck you.”
“I imagine that it has to be cruel living in that world,” Tatiana continued, “to know that you are being used by the weak simply because they are incapable of doing their own dirty work. Always having to be right; knowing that if you screw up just once those sanctimonious cowards will try and lynch you. If you are honest with yourself, Alex, you will have to admit the truth; which is that they really don’t like you.”
“You don’t know anything,” Alex replied.
“You’re a mercenary; you just don’t want to face it. You sell your gun and your propensity toward violence to the highest bidder. In return they give you a shiny piece of metal, along with a title of legitimacy, so that when you commit the violence in their name it is legal, but it is all an act. You like to pretend you are different from me, but you’re not. When you commit violence on their behalf it sickens them, just like when I do it, because they are weak. Your existence reminds them of their own impotence. They suffer you only because they believe they can control you. In the end, you only have to look at them to realize that you have more in common with me then you do with them.”
“You and I have nothing in common.”
“Don’t we?” Tatiana asked. “You know, from the moment I first saw you, I wanted you, but it was you, not I, who made the firs
t move. When things went south I was pissed, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that you are very much an opportunist. You had a goal and you were willing to do anything to advance it. Would you have used your body to further your plans? Most people would have been repulsed by the very idea, yet you didn’t seem to have any qualms. In fact, I think you would have eagerly jumped into bed with me, as long as it meant that you would have gotten what you wanted.”
“Go to hell.”
Tatiana laughed, as she stood up and leaned over the bed.
“Darling,” she whispered in Alex’s ear, as her hands reached down and began hiking up her shirt, exposing the bright pink bra. “You’re already here.”
“Get your hands off me, bitch,” Alex said menacingly.
Tatiana grabbed the gag and forcefully stuffed it back into her mouth.
“I won’t lie,” she said, as she yanked the sports bra up. “At first you’re going to hate this, but in time you’ll grow to love it.”
Alex thrashed about, trying valiantly to resist, but it was useless and she knew it.
“Think of this as the first steps in me liberating you from the lie,” Tatiana whispered, nibbling playfully on her earlobe, as she began caressing her exposed breast. “Now that we are finally together, no one will separate us.”
Left with no other choice, Alex closed her eyes and went to her happy place.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
“Good morning.”
Hutch abruptly turned, startled by the unexpected greeting.
“Holy shit,” he replied, as he saw Maguire sitting at the kitchen table.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to catch you off-guard.”
“No, it’s okay,” Hutch said, walking over to the coffee pot. “I just didn’t expect anyone else up this early.”
“I should have warned you that I’m an early riser.”
“Early riser?” Hutch replied, staring out the kitchen window into the darkness, as he poured his coffee. “I don’t even think the roosters are awake yet.”
“You’re up,” Maguire said with a laugh.
“Eh, I had a rough night,” Hutch said, as he took the seat across from him.
“Yeah, me too.”
Brooklyn Bounce Page 18