by Ray Garton
* * * *
Regent worked on Alicia’s friend, Beverly.
“You look like you could use some more whisky,” Regent said.
“Oh, no, really, I probably shouldn’t,” she said as he poured more into her glass on the coffee table.
“More ice?” he said.
She laughed and shook her head. “I really shouldn’t, but… yeah, more ice.”
He scooped his hand into the ice bucket Garner had brought out and dropped a few cubes into her glass.
“I understand you’re curious about what we do,” he said as he handed her the glass.
“Oh, yeah, well… yes, I am.” She laughed. She was clearly nervous. Her second drink should relax her.
“You married, Bev?”
“Oh, no. Not the marrying type. I enjoy being single.” She sipped her drink, then sipped it again, a little more fully the second time.
“Good for you. Kind of frees you up to… well, to experiment.”
She grinned and leaned toward him and said, “Yes, that’s right.” The whisky was kicking in. She put a hand on his arm and said, “I don’t mind a little experimentation now and then.”
“You ever been with another woman?”
“I tried it once,” she said. “It wasn’t bad, really. But I’ve never gotten around to doing it again.”
“Ever been with her?” he said, nodding to Alicia, who was standing across the room looking at a large painting on the wall, talking with Garner.
“No.”
“Would you like to be?”
“Well… I dunno.” She smirked. It was a flirtatious smirk. Another sip from her glass, followed by a couple gulps.
Regent smiled.
She said, “Do I get to experiment with you a little?”
“I think that could be arranged,” he said.
She put her drink on the end table. They kissed, and she was aggressive – her tongue plunged into his mouth and she sucked his tongue into hers. Her hands moved all over him as they kissed, all over his back, his chest, his face and hair.
Suddenly, she was on him, straddling his lap and pulling at his pants.
“Whoa,” he said, pulling his head back. “Let’s save it for the cameras.”
“Really?” she said. Her eyes got big for a moment, then narrowed and crinkled up. She curled up against him, her head on his chest. “I don’t know if I can do that.”
“Oh, sure you can. Easiest thing in the world. Now, why don’t you finish that drink so I can pour you some more.”
* * * *
Reznick waited for the dark, then got out of his car. He was parked between street lights, so he was hidden by darkness between them when he crossed the silent, empty street. He stepped up on the sidewalk in front of the house, then turned right, his sneakers quiet on the concrete. He turned left, walked up the driveway, on the far side of the cars parked there.
Crickets chirped somewhere, and a frog croaked nearby. There were gardenias growing in front of the house, and the hot, humid night air was thick with their sweet fragrance.
The garage and the house were attached, but the garage was set back from the front of the house. There was a side window on the house that appeared to look into the same room as the large front window, and Reznick went to it. He peered through the sliver of space between the drapes. Couch, coffee table, chairs, fireplace, television – it was a living room. An empty living room – there was no one there.
Reznick cocked his head and listened closely for something, anything.
Was that the hint of voices he heard? Laughter?
They had gone to the rear of the house.
He doubled back and crossed the front of the garage, then turned left around its corner. He walked down a narrow passageway between the side of the garage on his left, and a six-foot-tall wooden fence on his right. The fence divided this yard from the neighbor’s. He came to a gate that matched the fence in height. He fumbled around in the dark for a latch. He found it a moment later and flipped it up, pushed the gate open and went through. He closed the gate behind him, latched it, then walked on until he came to the end of the garage.
He stopped at the garage’s back corner and very carefully, slowly, peeked around the edge. There was no one there, but he saw a window with light in it. He stepped around the corner and saw that the window’s drapes were open, and there were people on the other side of the window moving around, and Reznick quickly stepped back behind the cover of the garage’s corner.
Once again, he moved forward slowly, peered around that edge.
A naked man stood by the window. A moment later, he was joined by a naked woman who threw her arms around him and lifted her knee up high on his hip. Then she pulled back, took his hand, and pulled him away from the window.
The light came through the window and spread over the ground in a widening rectangle. Reznick neared the window but stayed out of the light. He walked around it and along the other side to the edge of the window. He pressed his back to the wall beside the window.
The window was to his right, and to his left was another corner, the corner of the house. Beyond it was a swimming pool, a small pool house to the right, and what appeared, in the dark of night, to be a sprawling, gently down sloping back yard beyond that.
He looked to his right again, at the window. From where he stood, he could see down a hallway. The window was at the end of that hallway, facing an open doorway across the hall.
Reznick turned around and faced the wall of the house, and slowly eased his head around the edge of the window. No one was looking his way.
The window looked across the hall at an open doorway, into a room. Naked people stepped in and out of view. Across the room from the open door was a bed with the covers in a tangle at the foot. On the wall above the bed was a large colorful banner that read MILFPARADE.COM – HOT MAMAS ONLINE!
Someone brought a light into view and set it up in front of the bed. As far as Reznick could tell, it was the kind of light used in photography or video sessions.
Alicia Carey got on the bed.
Reznick quickly removed his phone from his pocket, opened it up, and began taking pictures.
Alicia jumped up and down on the bed like a teenage girl at a slumber party. Another naked woman got on the bed and joined her.
A naked man approached the bed and waved his arms back and forth, shaking his head at the same time, like a disapproving adult. They stopped jumping and sat down. The woman who had joined Alicia got up and left. A man joined Alicia.
Reznick kept taking pictures.
Seventeen
When Reznick got home, he printed the pictures up and looked them over.
There was Mrs. Carey, plain as day, going at it with a handsome fellow who seemed to be enjoying himself.
There was that banner: MILFPARADE.COM – HOT MAMAS ONLINE!
He went to his computer and typed in the address. The page popped up on his screen. On the left was a beautiful naked woman in her late thirties, standing in an alluring but unrevealing pose, and on the right was a column of text:
Hi, kids! Wait till you see the new MILFs who’ve
joined us here at MILFPARADE! It’s amazing what
a little cash’ll get some people to do. They might say
no at first, but when you flash some of that green
stuff, they get mighty cooperative. And it doesn’t
even have to be that much, either! Next thing you
know, they’re naked and fuckin’! Which is why
you’re here. So, if you’re a member, come on in
and see what’s new. If you’re not a member,
then what the hell are you waiting for? Join now
by clicking on the Join Now button!
Reznick clicked on the Join Now button. He took his wallet from his back pocket, took out a credit card, typed the number into the correct window, filled out all the information requested, then clicked on the button at the bottom of the page.
&n
bsp; Seconds later, he was a member of MILFParade.com.
Someone knocked at his screen door.
Reznick left his bedroom, went down the hall, and stepped up to the open door. He smiled down at Anna Dunfy. “Hi,” he said.
“Hello there,” she said. “I hope I’m not bothering you.”
“Not at all.” It was then that he noticed the smell of something being cooked outdoors, and he realized how hungry he was.
“We’re having a barbecue, and I thought you might like to join us. We’re about ready to wrap it up, but I’ll gladly hold it open for you, if you’re interested.”
He thought of the barbecued chicken in his refrigerator, but that would keep until tomorrow night. “You know what?” he said. “That sounds delicious.” He slipped his bare feet into the flip-flops beside the door, grabbed his keys, and opened the screen door. He pulled the front door closed as he came out, locked it. “I’m glad you invited me, because it smells delicious.”
They started walking toward Anna’s trailer.
“It’s nothing special, just hamburgers and hot dogs, macaroni salad, some chips, some dip.”
“All of my favorite foods.”
“The macaroni salad is special. I went all the way to Kent’s Market for it, way up on Airport Road.”
“I’m familiar with Kent’s Market. He has a great deli. And he makes the best macaroni salad in the world.”
“Then you’ve had it.”
“Oh, yes.”
“Then you know what I mean.”
“I do.”
Anna had a small Webber Kettle barbecue. There were hamburger patties and hot dogs on the grill just waiting for him. He got a paper plate, put buns on it, then went to the Webber.
He saw Kendra, smiled and nodded once at her, then vowed to pay her no more attention for the rest of the evening. There were other people there, too, but he did not know them. He would wait for Anna to introduce them.
Anna lifted the lid and speared a hamburger patty with the long, two-pronged fork she held. She put the patty on a bun, then speared a hot dog and put it on the hot dog bun on his plate. A TV tray had been set up and condiments were arranged on it. He went to the tray and dressed his burger and dog. Another TV tray held the macaroni salad, chips, and dip. Reznick loaded up.
He held the plate on his left hand and ate with his right as he walked back to Anna. There was a round table under the trailer’s awning, and at that table sat a woman Reznick did not know. There were two kids playing catch with a ball in the small yard.
“Come here,” Anna said. “Let’s sit down at the table.”
Once they were seated, Anna said, “Marcus Reznick, this is my sister Rose Pasternak, and her children, Ramona and Bobby, playing catch over there.”
“Nice to meet you,” Reznick said with a smile.
“Good to meet you, too, Mr. Reznick.”
“Please, call me Marc.”
“Anna tells us you’re a private investigator.”
“That’s right.”
“I think that’s very exciting.”
“Well, it’s probably not as exciting as you think it is. Mostly it’s following people around and taking pictures. Kind of sleazy, if you ask me.”
“Is that what you do?” she said, tilting her head to one side. “You follow people around and take pictures?”
“In divorce cases, yes. When one spouse is looking to catch the other in an adulterous affair, yes, that’s what I do. And that’s mostly what I get these days, divorce cases.”
“Oh. So… it’s not like Magnum P.I., then, huh?”
He laughed. “No, I’m afraid not.”
Rose was older than her sister and not as attractive. She had a round face and was developing a double chin. Her dark hair was short and appeared coarse. Her eyes were set too close together, and her nose was too narrow and blade-like. And yet she was the one married to a husband who was providing for her while Anna, who was gorgeous, had to struggle on her own to support herself and her daughter. Why wasn’t Anna married? It didn’t make sense.
Reznick bit into his hamburger and made sounds of great satisfaction. He chewed for a while, then said, “Delicious. Really. Delicious. S’been a long time since I’ve had outdoor cooking like this. I’ve missed it.”
“I like to do it once in awhile,” Anna said. “Tonight, we’re celebrating.”
“What are we celebrating?” Reznick said.
“I’ve been working with this temp agency for months, now,” she said. “I did this job today, and they really like me there, so they want me to come in nine-to-five for a while, and it might – fingers crossed – it might turn into a permanent job.”
“Well, congratulations, Anna,” he said. “I’d toast your new job, but I – “
”Oh, you want a beer?” Anna said. “I’m sorry, I completely – how about you, Rose, you need another beer?”
“Uh, no beer for me, thanks,” Reznick said. “But I’ll take a soft drink, if you have one.”
She went inside and came back with a beer for herself, one for her sister, and a Pepsi for Reznick.
He cracked his can of Pepsi open and raised it in a toast. “To your new job, may it be permanent for as long as you want it.”
Anna and Rose touched their beer cans to his, and then they drank.
Reznick was glad she wasn’t wearing that perfume again tonight. He wouldn’t be able to stick around if she were. He ate and chatted with Anna and Rose. But he glanced now and then at Kendra, who stood over by the porch. She was always watching him, every time he glanced at her. And when he caught her at it, she did not look away. Even when he didn’t look at her, he could feel her eyes on him.
He thought of her in his trailer earlier that day – all that smooth, milky flesh exposed… that beautiful long blonde hair… that sultry face above those breasts like small melons. When was the last time he’d wanted a woman so much? He had to divert his thoughts before he got an erection.
“How would you like to do me a favor?” Anna said.
“What’s that?” Reznick said.
“I’m going to be leaving Kendra alone while I’m at work during the day. I don’t know what your schedule is like – if you come home for lunch, or how often you come home, if at all. But if you are at home, maybe you could look in on her and just make sure everything’s okay?”
“Oh, sure, I’d be glad to.”
“One more thing.” She leaned close and whispered, “In case you haven’t noticed, Kendra has quite a crush on you. I hope you’d never consider taking advantage of that. Because if you did, I’d kill you, understand?” She smiled. “And you wouldn’t even see it coming.” Then she backed up again, still smiling.
A smile slowly grew on Reznick’s face, then he laughed quietly. “Okay. That’s good to know. But I assure you, it never crossed my mind.”
She nodded. “Just so you know.”
* * * *
Back in his trailer, he sat down at the computer again. He browsed through MILFParade.com. Lots of pictures and videos of women in their thirties and early forties, some simply posing nude, others having sex with the same two men over and over again – the same two men who were in the pictures he’d taken through the window in the backyard of the house on Jupiter Street.
As he browsed through the site, he found several pictures of Alicia Carey. She seemed to be quite popular on MILFParade.com. Sometimes she was nude and masturbating, and sometimes she was having sex with one of the two men who ran the site. There were even videos of Alicia, a few of which Reznick watched. She seemed to enjoy herself, to say the least. Reznick did not look forward to it, but he would have to show some of this to Mo Carey.
Throughout the site, there were ads for other sites – LovingCouples.com, YoungandLovely.com, and LustyLesbians.com, all apparently owned by the same company, Burning Lizard Amusements. He visited the other sites and went to their preview pages.
Then he saw it. The words “And coming soon” next to a link to
something called Trailer Park Girls. Reznick clicked on the link.
A page opened up with a cartoon showing a buxom girl in a too-small halter top and short-shorts standing in front of a trailer. Below the picture were the words, “Real trailer parks. Real girls. Coming soon.”
Trailer parks, Reznick thought. Something about it set off an alarm in his head. He wasn’t sure why, but it did.
He clicked his mouse, then his fingers clattered over the keyboard. He had more work to do to prepare for tomorrow.
* * * *
Anna called Calista Hoffman’s mother and explained her problem, asked if she’d be willing to pick Kendra up and take her to Vacation Bible School with Calista each day.
“You know, I wouldn’t mind at all,” Mrs. Hoffman said, “but Calista won’t be going anymore. As of tomorrow, she’s going down to Sacramento to spend the rest of the summer with her father. I’m really sorry.”
After ending the conversation, Anna told Kendra.
“Do you know of anyone else who might be able to come pick you up?” Anna said.
Kendra shook her head. “Nobody who drives by this way. And nobody who’d do it, probably. Calista’s really my only friend there.”
“Well, then, what do you want to do?”
Kendra thought for a while. Then she sighed and said, “Well, I guess I’ll just miss the rest of Vacation Bible School this summer.”
“Really? Are you sure?”
“Unless maybe Aunt Rose could do it.”
“Yeah, I suppose I could call her and ask. But it would be kind of a pain for her to come all the way over here and pick you up, take you to the church, then go home, come back to the church two hours later, pick you and bring you back over here.”
“That’s okay, Mommy. I don’t mind missing it. Really.”
“You’re sure, now.”
“I’m sure.” She gave Anna a big smile. “Don’t worry. Jesus will understand.”
* * * *