“I see. How did you respond?”
“I don’t recall. It’s not important.”
“Don’t lie to me. An incident like that, you remember just fine. Now tell me.”
Julia glanced at the concrete floor. A hairline fracture ran for maybe two feet. It hadn’t registered before. She said, “I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all.”
“What did you do?”
“What could I do?”
“You could get mad at Marcus, take it out on him. Is that what happened? Based on your expression, I’d say so.”
“I don’t recall what was said. I recall a brief argument, in the middle of Walmart sporting goods department. We cut our trip short, then Marcus dropped me off at home without staying for dinner, as planned.”
“Sounds like you made a big deal out of it.”
“Maybe I did. But you weren’t there. You didn’t see that bitch hug him, grab his ass right there in Walmart. It hurt. It hurt very much.”
“I’m sure it did, but Marcus did nothing he didn’t always do. He hadn’t been expecting such a response and he dealt with it quickly and professionally as soon as it happened, wouldn’t you say?”
“Perhaps in retrospect. Maybe. I don’t want to talk about it. This is very uncomfortable. Can’t you take off these chains and let me sit on the bed.”
“No. But if you’d like a glass of water, you can have one. Your voice is kind of raspy.”
Kind of raspy? Of course it is, asshole.
“I’d appreciate it,” Julia said.
She’d settled back on her haunches, as best as she could with the metal bar between her ankles. Both arms cramped and her breasts made her feel top-heavy. They were contributing to a massive backache and if something didn’t give and give soon she feared she might go crazy, which she found odd considering the man appeared very sane today despite his line of questioning.
Once Julia had finished drinking a tumbler of tap water, the man settled back into the chair and took another sip of coffee.
“Okay,” he continued, “tell me of a time when a man – doesn’t need to be Marcus – became jealous of you.”
“Jealous of me?” Julia scanned memories in search of such an event. As she thought, the man reached out to fondle a breast. “Hey!” she said, twisting her torso to avoid the grope.
“I’d say you handled that well,” he said, pulling away. “Chad doesn’t need to know.”
Julia again glared. Then she recalled a time when someone had become jealous.
“It was the guy I was dating before Marcus. His name was Jeff.”
“Jeff. Was Jeff the guy you lived with for over a year?”
“No.”
“Did you live with him at all?”
Julia frowned. She felt a need to continue the topic of jealousy but didn’t appreciate the interjection of questions to further learn about her past.
“Well, did you?” he asked.
“I moved into his place for a brief period. Maybe six months.” Now she felt like a tramp in the man’s eyes, so she embellished, “Maybe a little longer.”
“Okay. Jeff. Six months. He became jealous.” He sipped coffee. “Go on…”
“There was a guy. A colleague at the bank. We’d known each other for several years and were good friends.”
“Friends,” he repeated, leaning forward with much interest.
“Yes. Just friends. Colleagues, like I said. We sometimes went to lunch together. Occasionally, when we needed help with something after work, the other would help out. You know, like friends do.”
“Yes, friends. I’m familiar with the concept. So what happened?”
“Nothing happened. That’s the thing. Benjamin was married, for Christ sake. He helped me once when I got a flat tire. Helped me haul furniture a time or two in his truck when I bought something that wouldn’t fit in my car. Gave me a ride when my car was in the shop. Those kinds of things. I helped him out, too. Helped him decide on gifts for his wife and picked up dry cleaning. I sort of acted as his unofficial personal assistant on occasion.”
“I see.” The man stroked his stubbly chin in consideration. “What sort of gifts did you help him decide to buy?”
“Clothing, mostly.”
“Like, ‘Hey, Julia, which dress should I buy for my wife?’ He’d show you a catalog?”
“Yes. Catalog a few times but mostly Internet shopping. But he never bought dresses.”
“So tell me, detail by detail, how a typical scenario played out.”
Julia sighed. This was ludicrous. She didn’t see the point and kneeling here, hungry and extremely uncomfortable, she found her fuse growing short.
“Look,” she said. “We worked at a bank together and he was a couple rungs higher than me on the proverbial ladder. He’d bring me into his office and have me sit in front of the computer screen and mouse my way through various websites, usually Victoria’s Secret dot com, to help him decide on an outfit for his wife.”
“Because he couldn’t do that himself, I suppose.”
“No,” Julia shot back, growing upset, “he couldn’t. He didn’t know what women liked or what size to buy.”
“And I thought lingerie was all about what the man liked. He could have picked out anything, didn’t need your input.”
“I just said that he needed help with sizing.”
“Sure. He might need help with sizing once, but the next time he’d simply need to order the same size.”
“Oh, good lord,” Julia remarked. “It wasn’t like that at all.”
“No? ‘Hey, Julia,’” the man spoke in a voice to imitate Benjamin, “’c’mere a sec. I need help deciding on lingerie for my wife. Here, have a seat. Thanks, you’re a doll. Navigate to Victoria’s Secret while I stand behind you and look down your blouse.’”
“That’s not what happened at all!”
“He didn’t stand behind you?”
In fact, Benjamin had. He’d rested his hands on her shoulders, gently kneading them and occasionally pointing to images on the screen.
“It wasn’t like that,” Julia protested.
“Okay, fine,” the man conceded with amusement. “Benjamin, the ever-faithful husband, kept his distance and never groped you with his eyes and most definitely never touched you inappropriately.”
“Never,” Julia agreed solely in words, because she saw his point but had never considered any of the actions inappropriate at the time.
“So, you’re navigating the website for your boss.”
“My friend.”
“Your friend who you work for.”
Julia let the comment slide.
He continued, “Then what? You tell him you like the black lace crotchless panties and he asks what size?”
“Yes. I’d met his wife on numerous occasions. She was slightly taller and slightly fuller than me. I suggested he order one size larger than what I ordered for myself.”
“So now you’re ordering lingerie, too.”
“There are discounts with a minimum order amount sometimes. We’d combine purchases.”
“’This lacy red bra would look wonderful on you,’” he continued to mimic. “’If you like, you can order one for yourself. With the discount, you wouldn’t be paying much.’”
“You’re a horrible person!” Julia said. It hadn’t happened like that at all. They’d split the discount.
“Okay, okay. I sometimes get carried away. Benjamin never asked your bust size. Then again, he didn’t need to. You’d enter it into the order.”
“You’re an asshole. A delusional kidnapper, rapist, asshole.”
“We aren’t discussing me. We’re discussing you, and why your boyfriend at the time became jealous. So, you’ll living with Jeff, shopping with Benjamin. Tell me what happened next.”
Goddamn you, asshole, Julia thought. You’re twisting everything around, making me look bad. None of it happened this way. I am not a bad person. I have a heart of gold.
“There was an order,” J
ulia explained. “It came via UPS and it was delivered to Jeff’s house in my name.”
“Lingerie for Benjamin’s wife, delivered to you at Jeff’s address. Okay. Got it.”
“There were things for me, too. Ben couldn’t risk having it delivered to their house and UPS deliveries to the bank were frowned on.”
“Why couldn’t you risk delivery to his house?”
“Ben’s wife didn’t like me. She’d likely be home when the package arrived and open it. Even if she didn’t, if she waited for Ben to be home, she’d find my order and it would cause all sorts of problems for Ben.”
“Because she knew her husband and didn’t like his interaction with you.”
The statement rang true, but Julia didn’t reinforce his argument with confirmation. She said, “Anyway, I sometimes worked half days on Friday, when I was expected to work Saturday to cover for a teller. I went home early to receive the delivery.”
“I see where this is going,” he said. “You have the package and Ben swings by Jeff’s place to pick it up after work.”
“It was all completely innocent. Ben shows up, suit jacket off, tie loosened. Jeff arrives home from work while Ben is there. He doesn’t like it. Doesn’t like it even more when he finds out I took the afternoon off work.”
“He’s suspicious of what happened.”
“Well, yeah. The delivery was late and I’d wanted to try on what I’d bought. I’d just slipped into a sexy panty and bra ensemble when Ben came knocking. I quickly pulled on a robe and answered the door.”
The man’s face lit up with a grin and he set the coffee mug on the leaning dresser.
“Then Jeff comes home to find you wearing little of nothing and Ben’s tie loose. He finds out you left work early and assumes the two of you have been naughty, huh?”
“He’d never cared much for Ben but understood that I needed his truck to move things since Jeff drove a sports car.”
“And then what happened?”
“Ben left and Jeff and I had a horrible argument. He went out with friends while I stayed at home crying.”
“Meanwhile, Ben goes home to his wife and dresses her up in sexy lingerie. Then undresses her for an intimate evening.”
That’s exactly what had happened. They’d discussed the incident Monday during lunch at a restaurant across the street. Yet, Julia said, “That’s not what happened at all.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “What I’m curious about now is how soon after this incident did Jeff end things between you two?”
“There were a few other things. Plenty of arguments. He told me he wanted me out of the apartment, that he wasn’t going to allow me to live there rent-free to have me take off early from work without his knowing and meet men at his place.”
“Good for Jeff. Innocent or not, I wouldn’t put up with that shit.”
Julia wasn’t surprised. This man had old school gender roles in mind. He didn’t conform to society’s current relationship standards.
He continued, “So, you found a place and moved out.”
“Yes. I was devastated, but those things happen.”
“Many things happen. I want to know a few more things before our conversation is finished.”
Thank God. It’s about time.
“Did you ever kiss your ‘friend’?”
“What?”
“Have you and Benjamin ever kissed, in a friendly-on-the-cheek way, or more passionately?”
Yes, they had kissed on the cheek a time or two, and Julia conceded the act in a reply.
His eyes bore into her soul after the reply, searching for something. That something became obvious in his next statement:
“You fucked him.”
Julia’s cheeks grew hot and she felt her blood begin to boil, but she didn’t reply.
“You did. You fucked Ben, didn’t you? Tell me how it happened.”
“You don’t understand. He separated from his wife for a brief period and I was all alone in my new apartment!”
“Ben bided his time, perhaps had more lingerie delivered to your place. Maybe a gift to help get in his wife’s good graces again. One thing led to another and you two ended up in bed together.”
It had been jewelry, not lingerie, but that’s exactly how it had happened. That had also happened on a Friday. And within a week Ben had patched things up with his wife.
“You’re a stupid slut,” he said. “Thinking there was only friendship, probably still believing that to this day, never admitting to yourself that to Ben you were nothing but a game to play. I bet he tried to fuck you again after getting back with his wife. Tell me, did you allow it to happen?”
Benjamin had in fact tried such a thing. He’d claimed that it simply wasn’t working out with his wife, that he didn’t know how long their relationship could truly last. He’d wanted to confide in his friend when they were back at Julia’s apartment. She replied to the man’s question with a lie, “Yes, he tried but I told him to leave. I told him to never come onto me again. And he didn’t.” That part was true. After screwing Julia twice that evening, Benjamin had left. He in fact never reconciled with his wife but he never came onto Julia again. He still asked her to run errands for him, which she did to help things go smoothly at work. But he’d never come onto her again. He met someone younger than both Julia and his soon-to-be ex-wife and started dating her.
“No,” Julia said. “He patched things up with his wife and we never saw each other outside of work again.”
After a pause, the man stood and casually raised the palm of a hand. Julia, feeling horrible for her situation and what she’d allowed to happen back then, simply steeled herself for the inevitable.
“You’re a stupid slut,” he repeated before slapping her across the face. “You and most of the women in the world.”
He took the coffee mug and folding chair and left Julia alone in the dark to cry.
Chapter 13
He returned with the folding chair and a tray of food. He wouldn’t dare allow her to lose energy with so much at stake.
You must tell me the whereabouts of Sharon, he thought. I’ll learn the connection you have with her.
She’d remained kneeling and he set the tray on the dresser, placed the folding chair before her and sat down.
“I’m not completely irrational,” he said, “despite what some people, specifically women, tend to believe.”
The glare in her eyes seemed to reject the statement.
“Anyway, I appreciate what you’ve shared so far. But we both know there’s more to be learned.”
“There’s nothing to learn. I can’t—”
“Stop right now, before you ruin what we’ve accomplished.”
“We’ve accomplished nothing,” she muttered.
He glanced at the tray of food. “Perhaps I’m mistaken. I’ll just take the chair and food and be leaving now.”
“No. Wait.”
“An act of good faith,” he said, and peeled a banana. He pinched off an end, offered it to her to eat. As she chewed, he continued:
“There are a few things I’d like to know about you and Chad. First, according to a newspaper article, you were attending a function in St. Louis. So tell me, how did you end up on that insane stretch of road that night?”
“The night you ran me off the road, you mean.”
“I did no such thing. I have no idea why your car ended up in a ditch. An elaborate scheme to free Sharon from my basement perhaps.”
“That’s the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard!”
“Settle down. Hysterics are uncalled for.”
“Uncalled…” Julia took a deep breath. Exhaled. “Look,” she said more calmly. “Chad decided to put the moves on some bitch. I didn’t like it, so I left. End of story. At least until you ran me off the road.”
“Forget the bullshit about being ran off the road. Here…” he fed her another bite of banana. “Tell me more about Chad and this woman.”
Julia sighed.
Then she gave a brief description of what had happened that night, up to the point when she’d noticed headlights in the rearview mirror. As she spoke the man intermittently fed her and provided sips of orange juice.
“I wasn’t there,” he said, “so it’s tough to judge. It seems as if Chad crossed a line. It also seems as though you overreacted, thus making a bad situation worse.”
“Look, you’re entitled to your opinion, but as you say, you weren’t there. I was. And I’m telling you, it was bullshit. Chad has pulled this shit before, but I’ll tell you now, he won’t pull it again. At least not on me.”
“So it’s over, just like that?”
“We may have been able to work it out before. But not now. Not after this.”
“Meanwhile he still lives in your place. And if you’re correct about him, he’s with another woman or women now, at least occasionally. At least until you tell me the whereabouts of Sharon and I let you go.”
“You’d never do that,” she said.
“I wouldn’t? What do I need with you? I want her.”
You don’t understand. I love Sharon. I want her back.
“No. This is crazy. You’ve got it all wrong. I wish I could help you, anything to be set free. But I don’t know anything. I can’t do anything to help you. Goddamn Chad. I hope I’m wrong about him. I hope he’s searching for me right now.”
The man settled back in his chair. “I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way,” he said. “From what you’ve told me, I think you’re right. Chad already had you. So he went sniffing around for something fresh. That’s a key sign.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Chad has friends. Acquaintances of the opposite sex. Right?”
“Yes. Buyers, sellers. Other artists in the art scene. What’s your point?”
“Point is, consciously or subconsciously, you’ve seen the signs. You know the signs. That’s why a supposedly harmless conversation with some bimbo while you’re off for five minutes freshening up can get under your skin. You know it’s not just some harmless conversation. That’s why…”
That’s why Sharon and David’s relationship agitated me so much, he realized.
She’d been sent out of state to stay with her mother for the summer. She hated it there, had called him once, back in the days of expensive long distance telephone calls, before cell phones became popular and text messaging became common. She’d hated it there and wanted to leave. She’d called asking for help.
Insanity Road Page 7