Now and Forever 5, Love's Journey (20 page)

Mac left the bar and drove away. After
driving around for an hour, he went home, late.

“Late today…” Callie noted when he came
through the door.

“I need a shower,” Mac said, stripping off
his shirt.

He got in the shower and stood there trying
to wash off the lies and ugliness of his encounter with Deena. He
did what he had to but still came up empty. When he got out of the
shower, he brushed his teeth three times to get the taste of Deena
out of his mouth. Then he wound a towel around his waist.

Callie saved some beef stew for Mac, but all
he asked for was scotch. She poured him a drink and he came into
the living room wearing his towel. After downing the drink quickly,
he poured another. She poured one and sat down next to him.

“What happened? That’s the longest shower
you’ve ever taken…alone.”

“Why did you go see Deena?” Mac asked,
ignoring her comments.

“How did you know?” Callie raised her
eyebrows.

“She told me. I know, I know, I said I’d
never see her again, but this is a different situation. Why did you
see her?”

“I wanted to find out who she gave our
information to, but she wouldn’t tell me. I hope I didn’t make
things worse,” Callie said, chewing on her lip.

“You didn’t. But she was expecting me. It
might have been better if I could’ve taken her by surprise.”

“Did you find out who she told?”

Mac turned to look at her innocent face
looking up at him. Tears stung the backs of his eyes, remembering
the lies he told, disparaging Callie, touching Deena and kissing
her, even though he didn’t want to. Although his body was clean, he
still felt dirty and deceitful.

“Nope,” he said softly, blinking back the
tears.

“What happened?”

“Please don’t ask me. I had to do and say
things…I hope you can forgive me, Callie,” Mac said, looking down
at his hands.

“You didn’t have sex with her, did you?”
Callie’s breath caught in her throat.

He shook his head.

“I lied and did other things…said things.
Please tell me you forgive me.”

“Of course I forgive you.” Callie put her
palms up against his bare chest. He wrapped his arms around her and
closed his eyes. He did everything he could, short of sleeping with
Deena, and still he didn’t have the truth, but when he looked into
her eyes, he could tell she knew.

“I failed.”

“We’ll get the answers, Mac,” she said,
resting her face on his chest.

Mac was relieved to have her in his arms, to
have her forgiveness. He needed to find out who Deena was afraid
of. It was nine o’clock, Mac ditched his towel and got into bed.
Callie undressed and slid into the bed next to him. He lay there,
staring at the ceiling, realizing he’d skirted the infidelity line
pretty closely. He glanced over to see Callie studying his
face.

“Whatever it is, Mac, please let it go. We
are together and nothing between us has changed. I still love you
and I assume you still love me.”

“More than ever.”

“Please hold me. When you hold me, I know
everything will be all right,” she said, snuggling up to him.

Mac nudged her over on her back and gave her
a long, sweet kiss; then he pulled her into his arms.

“Thank you for being the world’s greatest
wife.” Mac hugged her close.

She smiled and closed her eyes. Tomorrow
everything would look better.

Chapter
Twelve

Rex was furious. Mac was stalling, then had
the nerve to show up at The Wet Tee Shirt to grill Deena.

When Deena got on Mac’s lap, Rex saw red. He
moved out of the shadows, fury evident on his face. She was about
to sell him down the river with the biggest sucker they had—she was
sitting on Caldwell’s lap, and he was kissing her and feeling her
up. And Deena was enjoying it. Rex felt doubly betrayed. He loved
Deena as much as he could love anyone, but when he saw her in
Caldwell’s arms, his love turned to hate.

The bitch was out of control, her actions
put him in jeopardy. Not only would he lose this juicy piece of
blackmail if she opened her mouth, but he’d go to jail. Deena was
threatening his very existence. Love or no love, she had to go. And
soon, before Caldwell returned and tried to seduce her again, maybe
successfully this time. The last piece of Rex’s heart that was
still able to feel, hardened into stone.

Rex planned his attack. Deena stammered an
explanation and Rex pretended to buy it. He let her make it up to
him with kisses and hugs and the promise of sex later. At the
Wayside Inn, a cheap motel not far from Deena’s house, he rented a
room with a window on the first floor. After dark, he climbed out
the window and walked two miles through the woods behind the motel
to the road leading to Deena’s place. Upon arriving at her
apartment, he was sweet with her but cold fury and a sense of
betrayal never left his heart. Rex made love to her as his farewell
act, making sure to get his physical satisfaction in before he
eliminated her.

Pills left over from his days at The
Hideaway, where selling drugs was a sideline, would do. He mashed
them up in the kitchen, opened a bottle of champagne and poured a
glass loaded with an overdose of sleeping pills for Deena and a
safe glass for himself.

“I thought we should celebrate catching a
big fish, thanks to you,” Rex said, entering the living room with
the lethal brew. She smiled with relief, probably figuring he
forgave her for kissing Mac.

“Don’t we have to make a toast?”

“Sure, sure.”

“Okay, well…” She motioned for him to speak
up.

“How about to success?”

“Yeah. To success…and love.” Deena raised
her glass as Rex watched.

He shoved his feelings for Deena out of his
mind, trying to forget the taste of her lips. Even in his short
time in love, it was never blind love. Now it was him or her, so
she had to go. They got into bed and Deena cuddled up to him. He
pulled her into his arms as she drifted off to sleep, never to wake
up again. Rex dozed off for two hours. When he awoke, Deena had no
pulse. He kissed her cheek.

“So long sweetheart, sorry it didn’t work
out.”

Rex would miss Deena’s warm kisses and the
screwing, but sex could be replaced. Now he had a job to do.
Wearing gloves, Rex started wiping down her apartment, getting rid
of his fingerprints. He took the few clothes he’d left there,
packed them in a plastic bag and brought them to the curb. He spent
two hours removing any trace of himself from her place.

While cleaning up, he uncovered a small
package wrapped in festive paper and tied with a ribbon. There was
a card. It read,

Happy three-month anniversary, Rex.

Love,

Deena

He unwrapped it slowly. Rex couldn’t
remember when he last received a gift of any kind from anyone. It
must have been Christmas or his birthday when he was a boy. He
opened the box to discover a man’s watch, a fine man’s watch with a
French name on it. This was no cheap watch. Rex looked it over. The
band was metal as was the face which told the time, the day and the
month.

He rolled it around in his hand, then
couldn’t resist stretching the band and trying it on. He threw his
old cheap watch into a garbage bag. The new watch looked fine on
his powerful wrist. It gleamed in the light from the street lamp
filtering in through the window. This must have cost Deena at least
one month of her share of their blackmail money, maybe more.

Maybe he didn’t have to kill her. Maybe she
wouldn’t have talked to Caldwell.
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Rex
didn’t get where he was giving in to
maybe
. He pulled
himself back to reality and recalled the way she was looking at
Caldwell. Deena may have bought Rex a gift, but she would’ve slept
with Caldwell, Rex could see it on her face, her eyes, the way she
looked at him.

In six months Deena would’ve figured out Rex
couldn’t truly love her.
It’s best she died in love.
Better she be gone with hope and love, blind love, in her heart
than heartbreak
.
Maybe I did her a favor.

With the plastic gloves on, he took her
empty champagne glass and put it in a plastic bag. He had to throw
suspicion on someone else. Rex walked back to the motel and picked
up his car. He drove to Deena’s and loaded the plastic bags into
his trunk, while putting the murder glass under the front seat.

At four a.m. he drove over to Mac Caldwell’s
house. He saw their black SUV parked in the driveway. Rex crept
quietly through the driveway to the car and opened the door gently.
With the gloves still on, he placed the glass on the floor of the
back seat and eased the door closed until he heard a click. At the
sound of the click, two dogs started barking.
Oh shit! When did
they get dogs?

Rex started to panic when he heard the dogs
and made a beeline for his car, which he had left running.

Lights went on in the Caldwell kitchen as
Rex slid into the front seat. He didn’t close the door all the way,
put the car in gear and slowly coasted into the shadow of a large
tree and stopped, killing the engine. He lay down on the front
seat, his breath coming fast. He planned this so well, but didn’t
count on dogs!

Rex heard the front door of the Caldwell
house open…he held his breath until he heard it close a minute
later. Rex waited, lying on the seat, listening to his heartbeat.
When all was quiet on the street, he sat up, glanced around, and
started the car up. He drove slowly off the street, back to
Mulberry Street and Alan’s house. He smiled to himself.
That’s
what you get for touching my girl.
He knew he’d have to abandon
his blackmail scheme with Mac.
If the blackmail dies with Deena,
then maybe Caldwell and the police’ll think it was her and her
alone.
A smile of satisfaction played at his lips.

Relieved the threat to him was over, Rex
returned to Alan’s and poured himself a gin on the rocks. Sitting
in the living room, looking out the window at the light rain, he
knew he’d miss Deena, her body and her nice ways but she double
crossed him.
Everyone knows you can’t trust a double crosser.
She asked for it.
Before he went to sleep he remembered he
could now keep the two hundred dollars he had been paying her each
month.
And a two hundred buck bonus for me.

* * * *

The next day, on Mulberry Street, nine
a.m.

Rex got more and more suspicious of Alan,
who never went out at night, had no women over, yet claimed he
wasn’t gay. Rex reviewed the tapes from his little spy cams of the
house at night and there was nothing there. He had sort of a sixth
sense about people who were up to no good, developed during his
days in New York City. And Alan was one of those people.

So if he wasn’t doing anything at home, he
must be up to something in his office. But how was he going to get
in there to set up his tiny cameras?

“I’m going to the campus bookstore this
afternoon, wanna have lunch, on me?” he said.

“Sure. What time?” Alan finished the last of
his coffee.

“How about I pick you up at one?” Rex
glanced at his new watch.

“Can you make it noon? I have a one-thirty
conference with a student. I’m in One Parks Plaza, on the second
floor. My name is on the directory.”

“I’ll pick you up at noon.” Rex walked out,
heading for Cozy Corner for breakfast.

After breakfast, Rex drove to The Wet Tee
Shirt and took four tiny video cameras out of his locker there and
put them in the pockets of his pants. At eleven thirty he drove to
the campus and looked up Alan’s office. He knocked on Alan’s door
at five to twelve. Once inside Alan’s office, Rex looked
around.

“Pretty nice office you got here, Alan,” he
said, scouting out spots for cameras. “Lots of bookcases.”

“I teach English. Have to have books.”

“And a couch too. Pretty sweet set-up.”

Alan dropped the pen he was holding and it
bounced under his desk.

“Hmm, blinds on the door. Pretty private in
here.”

“Students like privacy. Conferences are all
about confidentiality, you know.”

“Yeah, I like privacy too,” Rex commented,
slipping two small cameras on the bookcase, when Alan crawled under
his desk to retrieve his pen. Rex wandered over to the window.

“Nice view,” he said, slipping a small
camera on the window sill next to some of Alan’s little
sculptures.

“It is. But it’s dark after hours as there
are no houses…”

Rex got the picture. Something was going on
in this office. Whatever Alan was up to was definitely happening
here…at night. Rex scouted out the perfect place for his last
camera, next to Alan’s clock on his desk.