Mary Grace took a step back. She needed a new track to follow. She waved at the photographs. “Well, see, that’s me. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
The ashy streaked brunette who had been chasing the two toddlers named Johnny said, “Well, duh. It means Ivan’s fixated on you, you cow. It isn’t like we’ve haven’t been trying to get him to give up the idea of winning you back.”
A third woman stepped over Ivan. “You didn’t have to hurt Ivan.”
“Oh, the hell you say,” Mary Grace barked. “If you think that because I don’t have any more cartridges for this Taser means I’m going to let you do what you want with me, then you’ve never been shopping on Black Friday at 4 AM at Macy’s with me.” She brandished the Taser like a club.
Another woman stepped over Ivan, circling around to Mary Grace’s other side.
Mary Grace said, “So does that mean that Ivan hasn’t been trying to kill me? You said that he wants to win me back.”
The ashy brunette said, “Kill you? Ivan would probably die for you. Do you know how many women who have said no to him? He broods about it like it’s a personal affront. You’re the pedestal that we have to live up to.”
Mary Grace gaped. “Me? I’m not a pedestal. I’m a peanut-brained uncontrollable consumer. I cried when I got banned from a mall. I had to cut up five credit cards last year. My mother wants me to have children, like tomorrow, and I’m considering having my tubes tied. I’m a terrible person. Ivan just didn’t figure that out before I dumped him.”
“You broke his heart,” the mousy brown mommy said accusingly, as if it were a federal crime. The pregnant one lifted a book end from a table and hefted it for weight. Another one moved closer, edging along with tiny steps, keeping her eyes on Mary Grace.
Just before they all jumped Mary Grace, she saw a dark haired woman rush in, with eyes blazing, and a bird-like shriek emitting from a raw throat. One of the women threw a blanket over Mary Grace and they were content to pummel her insentient self for a while.
•
“Wake up, diphead,” a voice said.
Mary Grace groaned. Her entire body felt battered. Everything ached as if that wrecking ball had been dropped on top of her for real. “Leave me, alone, Ma,” she muttered. “Just another half hour of sleep.”
“I’m not your mother, Mary Grace,” the voice said. “I’m Deep Throat, remember? Of course, I guess you can call me Pippa now.”
Mary Grace sat up with a grunting groan of abused muscles. She brushed the blanket away from her face and found that she was in a dark, dank place with only a flashlight to illuminate it. Sitting next to her was Deep Throat Mommy, holding the flashlight loosely, looking somewhat frazzled.
“What happened?” Mary Grace said.
“I think you broke in,” Pippa said wryly. “Then you apparently attacked Ivan, which wasn’t a good idea. Then the girls jumped you. They dumped you down here with me.”
“Where’s here?”
“Storm cellar,” Pippa said concisely. “Mostly for preserves and wines. Too damp for anything else.”
“I know why I’m down here,” Mary Grace muttered. “But why you?”
“They know I was trying to warn you and I’m being punished,” Pippa said.
Mary Grace rubbed her abdomen gingerly. She felt as if someone had sat on her with concrete weights. “Well, I saw your son upstairs. He’s just fine, sleeping in his crib. And do you all name your children Johnny?”
Pippa sighed heavily. “They’re named after their father. John is the English version of Ivan. Is there a brain in there somewhere?”
“Oh,” Mary Grace said. “And why couldn’t you just tell me that someone was trying to kill me instead of being all mysterious?”
Pippa shrugged. “It seemed easier. I didn’t want the police to come knocking on our door just because I was trying to do the decent thing.”
That made Mary Grace pause for a moment. “You knew that someone was trying to kill me and you couldn’t just call the police anonymously?”
Sighing, Pippa said, “I came to your house, didn’t I, to warn you? I followed you to Arlington where you broke into that man’s house, I read it was your boss, oh, brother. I called the police then to tell them you were inside with your friend. Sorry but I figured you’d be safer in jail. But I didn’t realize that she followed you, too. She ran your friend down in the street.”
“She?” Mary Grace repeated. Then she remembered that dark haired woman with eyes blazing rushing into Ivan’s bedroom just before all of his concubines leaped on her.
The door to the cellar rattled as someone removed the chain. Mary Grace and Pippa both turned to look upstairs at the backlit figure that appeared to stare down at them. Pippa’s hand moved the flashlight and weak beam illuminated the face.
Mary Grace wasn’t exactly surprised. After all, the other people who had been at Pictographs, Inc. that night had all had their own secretive agendas, so why not Lolita Lewis, too?
What was really surprising, however, was when Lolita Lewis looked at Pippa confusedly and then over to Mary Grace. Then Lolita said, “Who the hell is this, Pippa? And what are you doing in the cellar?”
Chapter Twenty-Three – Saturday, June 25th
Tips for lightening freckles. Sorry, darlings, they aren’t coming off without surgery and that’s surgery from a specialized doctor who has a Hollywood area code. However, rubbing eggplant, cranberries, or lemon will make them go lighter for those of us without sugar daddies. Apply one or all for fifteen minutes and then wash with warm water to remove. But for those girls who have freckles and a deep love of sunny sun sun, be of cheerful heart, for a freckle faced girl is still like apple pie and baseball to some men. - Aunt Piadora’s Beauty Hints
Pippa crossed her arms over her chest and said understatedly to Mary Grace, “Lolita’s got some issues. Big, jumbo, giganto issues. But other than that, we like her, she’s fun at parties, and she’s got a lot of money. I think it’s like five or six million easy.”
Mary Grace said, “She tried to kill me. She tried to shoot me and then ran over Callie?”
Pippa nodded solemnly. “Her mom and dad owned a chain of dry cleaning stores. Also some leather stores and there might have been some import stores, too. I can’t remember. But there was something going on with the family. Bad, bad stuff. She ended up living with an uncle until she was eighteen. Her parents died in a plane crash when she was twenty-one and she got everything. She bought this house for us. All of us and the kids, too.”
Mary Grace looked away from Lolita for a moment to gauge if Pippa was being serious. She was. “It’s a…peach,” Mary Grace said woefully, unsure of exactly what was the correct response.
Pippa agreed heartily. “Yeah, sure is. Needs some work. Some termite damage on one floor, but I think we can make this a swell home. Lots of room for all of Ivan’s children.”
Lolita’s got problems? Is this woman listening to herself?
“Who is this, Pippa?” Lolita demanded as if Pippa hadn’t just essentially said that she was crazed and/or demented in ambiguous terms.
“I’m Mary Grace Castilla,” Mary Grace said carefully. “You’ve met me before, remember?”
“I did? Funny, I don’t recall when.” Lolita’s creamy brown eyes seemed slightly dazed. She brushed caramel brown hair away from her forehead and shifted her weight as if she were thinking about something.
“She’s in a daze,” Pippa said. “You should probably escape now.”
“She’s blocking the exit,” Mary Grace hissed.
“She’s got like ten personalities,” Pippa said matter-of-factly. “This one is the comatose one. When she gets confused it takes over until she works things out. The one who wants to kill you is Lilly. She’s desperately in love with Ivan and really ticked off because of his obsession over you.”
Mary Grace stared at Lolita in sheer disbelief. That explained why Lolita Lewis hadn’t recognized her when Callie and she had come into the dry
cleaning store to question her about the shooting. “She’s angry with me because Ivan has a wall of infamy in his room? Or is it a room of infamy?”
“Sure,” Pippa said agreeably. “He’s also got three videotapes where you’re grocery shopping, clothes shopping, and mowing your lawn. He’s got several pairs of your underwear and some of your makeup. He even hired a private detective to follow you for a while until Lilly found the bills. She blew up like Mt. St. Helens. But Lolita usually calms Lilly down. I know it sounds a little complicated, but really, it isn’t. Only one side of Lolita is psycho, but only toward you, and gee, I guess toward your friend’s little red convertible. She said she mushed it flat with some piece of construction equipment.” She shook her head as if she disapproved.
“Yeah,” Mary Grace said moodily. “She wasn’t aiming for the car.”
Pippa shrugged. “Lilly was also mad at me for trying to warn you, but since we’re all Ivan’s companions, she couldn’t do much to me except stick me down here for a while. Until she was finished with you, that is.”
“Well, that’s a bummer for you,” Mary Grace observed.
“Are you going or what?” Pippa asked politely.
“Does Ivan know about Lolita’s little extracurricular activities?” Mary Grace had to ask. She was more than a little hesitant about stepping around Lolita’s motionless form, even if she had a dazed, unseeing expression on her face.
“It’s not Lolita, it’s Lilly,” Pippa said as if Mary Grace was just being plain silly. “And he knows that she’s a little off kilter, but I don’t think he would be too happy if he knew that his ideal woman was being targeted by one of us.”
Just then Lolita’s eyes snapped open. Her brown gaze became molten with rage as it settled on Mary Grace. Mary Grace thought, Why didn’t I leave when Pippa said to? Then with a feral fighting howl, Lolita launched herself down the stairs, leaping on top of Mary Grace.
•
Brogan looked out at Vic Bloodsaw and said, “This is the right address?” The location was a trade goods store called Big John’s Leather and More located in a strip mall with several other stores. The closed sign was hanging in the window.
“Yeah,” Bloodsaw said. “I did a reverse address look up and tried calling the number, but there wasn’t an answer, of course.” He indicated some of the stores to either side. One was a dollar store and the other was a video place. Both were still open. “Let’s talk to the neighbors and see if we can get an ID.”
Brogan looked at the sign and said, “Big John’s? Doesn’t that seem familiar to you for some reason?”
Bloodsaw snorted. “I buy all my leather at a specialty store, Vixens and Chains. I get a bulk discount.”
Sighing with disappointment, Brogan turned to the dollar store. He didn’t know what he was hoping for, but it involved finding Mary Grace in one piece. And with a smart mouth spouting off nonstop, ready to do battle and take down anyone in her way. He checked the horizon and saw that the sun was rapidly disappearing. Darkness was falling and whatever else that meant it wasn’t good for Mary Grace. Before he went inside the dollar store he dialed Jones’ number and then Mary Grace’s, leaving two more messages. Finally, he went back to his sedan and put a BOLO out on both Detective Jones and Mary Grace Castilla, both individuals in possible jeopardy from unknown individuals.
•
Mary Grace had a bloody nose and a black eye and she was winning until Lolita, (or was it Lilly?) hit her in the stomach. Lolita, as Mary Grace decided to call her no matter how many weird personalities she had or didn’t have, gleefully jumped on Mary Grace and resumed pummeling her with abandon. Mary Grace, struggling to inhale, curled up like a fetus, and hoped for the cavalry to arrive. Or maybe a meteorite. Or perhaps an earthquake. Finally, she yelled breathlessly, “I DON’T WANT IVAN!”
Lolita stopped abruptly. “What do you mean?” she panted and wiped blood from her mouth.
“I mean,” Mary Grace gasped, “I dumped him because he’s a player. You might be okay with him humping ten different women at the same time like you’re a bunch of cows, but I’m not. He’s using you all.” Coughing, she trailed off.
“Hey,” Pippa protested mildly. “I’m not a cow. I made an intelligent decision. We have a group home and lots of support. I bet that’s more than you have, doodoo head.”
“Shut up,” Lolita told Pippa. Then to Mary Grace, she said, “Tell me more.”
“I want fidelity. I want someone who’s not going to play hide the sausage with other women. I want someone who loves me.” I want Brogan. He doesn’t take any crap from me and he’s not afraid of fighting. Except he needs to say he’s sorry about accusing me of wanting publicity. Other than that, I want him. I like him. Maybe even more. Oh, I’m in trouble. If I live I’m in really big trouble. Mary Grace found some air and started to uncurl her body. Lolita took a step backwards. Mary Grace nearly sighed with relief until she saw that Lolita was reaching behind her to retrieve a pistol that was stuck into her jeans.
•
“You don’t know who owns the leather goods shop,” Brogan stated, barely holding a leash on his temper. “You never see anyone who works there. You don’t have anything to do with them. Do you know anything?”
The clerk of the dollar store snapped her gum contemptuously. Her three nose studs, five eyebrow rings, a single diamond stud below the lip and just above the chin, and sixteen earrings lining the cusp of her seashell ears all mocked him in the same manner. So did her fuchsia colored hair that spiked upward. Her eyes, covered with black contacts, sneered at him and his badge. “Yeah, I work here,” she drawled condescendingly. “You know. Here. Not there.”
Brogan wondered how stiff a penalty he would pay for snatching some of the girl’s piercings out. Those eyebrow rings, for example, looked as if a quick pull would do the trick. Maybe a little blood would spurt. He could step aside quickly enough to avoid any spray, and then- the clerk saw the look on his face and took a hasty step backwards, deciding that Shakespeare was entirely correct about discretion and valor.
One of his hands was halfway across the counter when Bloodsaw stuck his head into the door. He called to Brogan, “I’ve got another address. The video store owner says he and the lady do favors for each other, keep an eye on the other’s store, shit like that.”
Brogan’s hand twitched in protest. He snarled wordlessly at the dollar store clerk and quickly followed Bloodsaw. The clerk hid behind a display of pirate swords and goggle-eyed alien erasers and pom-poms.
•
Pippa finally got up off her ass and wrapped her arms around Lolita, yanking the other woman away from the bottom of the stairs and from Mary Grace. “Lilly!” Pippa yelled. “You can’t kill her here! There will be questions! They’ll take the kids away from us! They might even arrest Ivan!”
Lolita growled and raged as she struggled to escape Pippa’s tenuous grip.
Pippa looked over Lolita’s shoulder and panted, “Go, you dumb dodo!”
Mary Grace struggled for breath and crawled up the stairs, trying not to pass out from a lack of oxygen. Black spots wavered on the edges of her vision as she shoved herself up each seemingly endless stair. When she fell out of the door, she glanced back down and saw that Pippa had lost her grip. Lolita was laboring for the bottom of the stairs. Mary Grace rolled her body into a narrow hallway and slammed the door shut with her feet. She braced her back against the opposite wall and planted both feet against the door. A second later Lolita hit the door with a fierce cry. The door came back an inch and Mary Grace momentarily saw Lolita’s maniacal eyes in the opening.
Wheezing for air, Mary Grace shoved with her feet, using all the muscles in her thighs, and slammed the door shut again. Lolita bellowed like a maddened bull and threw herself at the door again. It shuddered with force and the wood began to splinter from the strain. The third time Mary Grace was ready. Lolita threw herself at the door. Mary Grace let her feet come back three inches. The door started to fly back with the weigh
t of Lolita’s body and then Mary Grace shoved with her legs with every last remaining bit of strength in her body. There was a resounding crack of noise as the door hit Lolita’s head. Then there was a dull thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, followed by a sinister quiet.
Mary Grace gasped again, rolled to her side, and looked down the stairs through the now broken door. Lolita was lying at the bottom. Pippa knelt over Lolita and put two fingers to the pulse of her throat. She yelled, “I think she’s just stunned! Run! What the heck are you waiting for?”
Air. The ability to breathe. My muscles to cooperate with me. Any of the above. Mary Grace rotated onto her knees and crawled in the direction she was pointed. A voice drifted up, “The other way, stupid!” Awkwardly she turned around. When she reached another doorway, she found herself in the kitchen with two surprised women gazing idiotically at her. She pulled herself up by the doorframe and hung there.
Mary Grace coughed and said hoarsely, “I don’t suppose I could have a glass of water and maybe a 9-1-1 call?” The wood on the doorframe beside her exploded and a microsecond later there was a deafening boom that made her jump a mile. It took Mary Grace another instant to figure out that Lolita was no longer stunned. And not only had she found her way to the top of the stairs and through the broken door but she had also rediscovered her pistol. A .38, if I remember correctly, Mary Grace thought inanely and dove for the protective coverage of a large butcher block sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor.
The two women alternated shrieking with running and fled out the door on the other side. Mary Grace would have followed except Lolita appeared in the first doorway, holding the pistol, appearing the very personification of murderous. She glared wrathfully down at Mary Grace crouching behind the huge butcher block. She pointed the gun and Mary Grace ducked. The bullet hit a platter behind her that blasted into tiny pieces.
Mary Grace could hear women yelling and screaming in the room behind her. She reached up and while Lolita wrestled with the pistol for a second, and grabbed a large pot. A moment later, Mary Grace threw the heavy iron pot at Lolita. Lolita sidestepped and the pot crashed into the wall, leaving a pot-sized dent in the plaster. Mary Grace chased the pot with a glass, a pitcher, a plate, and a can opener. A ten pound bag of flour made the other woman oomph audibly when it hit her stomach and caused an explosion of white dust. That was followed by a handful of silverware, a half empty can of coke, and a large rusted spatula. A few items missed altogether, but the can opener bounced off Lolita’s forehead, causing Mary Grace to cheer loudly.
Dial M for Mascara Page 25