Pygmalion
By DocPaul
Chapter Forty: Bleed me a cure…
Day Fifty-four: Saturday,
“Tell me
again, why the hell are we here?” Max rubbed his eyes. Zan had been waking up
every two hours, and Max had taken him from Kyle twice during the night.
Surprisingly Zan was the most responsive to Jonathan, but Jonathan was still out
of town. Therefore it was the other three parents pacing the floor on rotation
with the crying baby.
“Maybe cuz
it’s our job?” Michael yawned. “Actually, it was a favor for Philips. He
and Waters needed off, so I told them we’d love to take the on-call. A few
more moments, and it would’ve been after seven, and Dispatch would’ve called
the day shift. Bastards.” Michael grinned hugely. “Can you believe it? My
poker room is done! You coming over tonight?”
“Sure!
Should I bring beer or chips?”
Michael
stopped short. “Whoa, head rush! Novel concept. People coming to my home and bringing
food and drinks instead of me feeding the whole fucking town of
“Pissant,”
Max muttered under his breath as he nodded to the security guard at the Towers
Hotel. “I’m Detective Evans and this is my partner, Detective Guerin. You
called?”
“Yeah, a
room service attendant reported a problem, so security checked it out.” The
man licked his lips nervously. “Maybe I better just show you.”
“What are
we looking at here?” Michael asked on the way up.
The security
guard avoided his eyes. “I hate to say, sir. It’s….bizarre. Congresswoman
Whitaker didn’t respond to her morning wake up call, and the morning breakfast
service wasn’t answered either. We…I...went up to see, and…” The man
swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, I just think you better see for yourselves.”
Whitaker?
Michael and Max looked at each other questioningly. Jonathan’s ex-wife.
Vanessa was a pain, but she hadn’t been that bad.
The room
appeared normal at first glance, but Michael frowned at an unfamiliar smell in
the air. He saw the body first. She was behind the main sofa, but her feet were
sticking out from the end. “Max...”
“I see
it.” Max looked at the security guard. “Anyone else enter this room except
you?”
“No sir. I
found her and left immediately to call it in.”
Max nodded.
“Okay. What’s your name?”
“Martin
Beatle, sir.”
Max made
some comments in his notebook. “Martin, did you touch anything? I want to know
right now. I don’t want to find a pair of fingerprints and get all excited
only to find out they’re yours.”
“I touched
the outside door, and…” Martin swallowed hard. “I touched her to see if she was alive.” Martin actually looked frightened.
“I didn’t know…mean for it to
happen. It was…I... how could I know?” Max frowned as the man babbled.
“Maxwell,
you need to see this!” Michael’s voice came from behind the sofa.
Max rounded
the sofa and stopped short at the sight of Vanessa Whitaker. She was lying on
the floor. Dead.
No...
Michael
moved back.
Mummified.
Her skin was dry. Parchment dry. At the base of her throat was a hole where her
skin had caved in on itself into a decimated dry cavity. The hole had to be
where Martin checked her pulse and his hands had pushed through her skin.
“Martin,
why don’t you go downstairs to the security office and rest. I’ll come find
you when I need you.”
“Yes,
sir.” Martin was more than happy to leave the room.
“Michael?”
“Not sure.
I think she’s one of those Skins.”
Max squatted
next to Michael. “What do we do? We can’t hide this one under the carpet.”
Michael
rubbed his face. “No, we can’t. Let’s do a quick sweep, find anything we
can, and then call it in. The Hotel has security tapes, so we need to check
those out as well.”
“FBI.”
“I
know.” Michael rubbed his mouth. “I’m sick of this shit. I want the whole
lot of them, aliens and Feds, to leave this area.”
“I’m
with you.” Max stood up and started to search the suite carefully and quickly.
They would have to call it in fast. It was on his third sweep that a glint of
something caught his eye. Max bent down and picked it up. A frown moved over his
face. Glancing over to Michael, he quickly pocketed the item before Michael
could notice. Well, shit. Welcome to the
fucking Twilight Zone.
~~~
Michael was
finished. He stood back and let Simon’s men do their thing. It was getting
late.
“Why do
you think they left this here, Michael?
Michael
scratched his brow. “Don’t know. It has a purpose.” Michael gestured for
Max to follow him out of the room. He nodded to Simon on his way out. “It has
to be a message to the others. Someone wanted the other Skins or whoever to know
that things are a bit more dangerous. I think this is a type of gauntlet.”
“A
warning?”
“Maybe,”
Michael rubbed his face hard. How the hell was the damn FBI going to spin this
latest walk into the X-Files? “Let’s get back to the Shop and watch our own
personal Mulder and Scully take control.”
“Think
Topolsky and Stevenson will be there?”
“Hell,
yeah.”
Max was
quiet for a moment. “How do we investigate this? What about Jonathan?”
“Jonathan?”
Michael frowned. “He was married to her. Wouldn’t you think he would notice
she was one of these Skin people?” His face suddenly screwed up. “Oh! Damn!
This is going to ruin our solve average.”
Max rolled
his eyes. “You know, some days I really worry about you!”
~~~
Michael sat
on the edge of the desk and appeared to be half asleep. Max jostled him.
“Maria taking a nap?”
“Yeah.
Damn, I’d give my candy stash for a few minutes of shuteye.”
They watched
the usual FBI song and dance. Simon was reporting to them, and he kept catching
Michael’s eye. Michael nodded, and he punched Max on the arm. “Let’s get a
cup of coffee. There’s nothing left for us to do here. The Federal Bureau of
Disinformation is going to take control. Now we’re all safe.”
Topolsky
looked over at Michael at his sarcastic remark and her eyes narrowed in anger.
“Not so fast, Detectives. We have a few questions.”
Michael made
an irritated face. “Sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about. This
case never existed. I saw nothing. Let’s go get that coffee.”
“Detective
Evans, didn’t your….friend, Mr. Stiller used to be married to Congresswoman
Whitaker?”
Max nodded,
but his face was stoic and unyielding.
“Did he
tell you about her?”
“Such
as?”
Topolsky
glanced her partner discreetly out of the corner of her eye, “I don’t know.
Did they get along?”
“They
appeared to, or most of the time. I can’t really say. I only met the
Congresswoman a few times. She was supposed to come over for dinner once, but
something happened and we had to cancel, and later she was unavailable.”
“I
understand that Congresswoman Whitaker came to
Max
shrugged. “You’d have to ask Congresswoman Whitaker what her purpose was, or
now perhaps a member of her staff. I believe she asked Jonathan…Mr.
Stiller...to help her with a charitable project, one which he was unable to
participate in since the Foundation doesn’t support political affairs, and he
couldn’t delegate funds to her cause.”
Topolsky’s
partner, Stevenson looked up from his notes. “You wouldn’t know when Mr.
Stiller is available?”
“I’d
suggest you call his offices, but to my knowledge he’s returning to
The blonde
agent stared Max down with cold blue eyes. “And that business would be what
exactly?”
“That I
can’t say. I would suggest that Mr. Stiller is a better source of information
pertaining to his own affairs.” Max stared the woman down in return. “Are we
through?” Without waiting for a real answer, Michael and Max went for coffee.
It took a
few moments for Simon to show up. He stood with his back to the open windows,
stirring creamer into his coffee as Max and Michael waited for him.
“Strangest
thing I ever saw.” Simon sipped his coffee with a sigh of relief. “Ah,
caffeine... The wife put me on decaf. Said that caffeine was making me
jittery.”
“I feel
for you, Simon. Maria has had months of caffeine withdrawal. That sludge she
used to drink could walk on its own and power a city for a month in pure
vileness. I think there’s some of it still circulating in her system. Like a
junkie, she dreams about her next fix. Last coffee I bought her, she was
chanting.”
Simon
smiled. “Only Maria... How is she doing?”
Michael
scratched his eyebrow. “Fine. She’s actually putting on weight. It looks
good on her. Gives her this serene pleased look, which is extremely
deceiving.”
Simon
laughed. No, ‘serene’ wasn’t a word he would ever use to describe Maria
DeLuca-Guerin. The woman was wired a little tighter than normal. She walked into
a room and things happened. Trouble mostly. Simon couldn’t figure it out.
Maybe it was a jinx or something. Interesting that she married a man pretty much
the same. If there was a disaster, natural or man-made, Michael Guerin was
normally in the middle of it, bellowing about how it wasn’t his fault.
“This one
was a little stranger than normal.”
“You keep
the records?” Max asked casually into his coffee as he sipped it. His face was
more closed off than usual. Michael kept looking at him, but Max shook off his
concern. Later.
“Duplicated
them. Been doing that since that first strange one.” Simon poured more sugar
into his coffee. “Wife took me off sugar too.” Simon glanced at Michael.
“What did you see at the scene, Michael?”
Michael
licked his lips. “She knew the person. Security records should show who was in
the hotel. The state of the body was unusual.”
Simon
laughed at that. “I didn’t get to do the autopsy; they took it away too
fast. But from my initial once-over, I’d say it was the damnedest attempt at
mummification I’ve ever seen, not that I’ve seen many. Thing is, Michael,
there was no internal viscera. Reminded me of the ash figures left at
Michael
blinked, but calmly scratched his brow again. “You get any samples?”
Simon
reached into his pocket and pulled out a shell of the remains. “It was
disintegrating fast. This piece is still viable, but I don’t know for how
long.” Simon nodded to Max and slapped Michael on his back, “I’ll let you
know.”
Max waited
until Simon was gone. “Michael?”
“We wait.
See what Simon can tell us.” Michael looked at his watch. “Since our case
was taken away, guess we’re off duty. What’s on your agenda?”
Max seemed
distracted. “Babysitting with Kyle. Tess is going shopping with her sisters.
She’d take Zan with her, but doesn’t feel comfortable having him out in
public without one of us.”
“You going
to tell me what’s going on?”
Max pinched
the area between his eyes. A headache was increasing. “When I can. When I
can.”
~~~
“Now you
both know the rules, so I don’t want to come back and find things all messed
up.” Tess looked Kyle and Max over twice. Her older sister tried to pull her
away, but Tess stopped long enough to kiss her son once more.
Kyle smiled
at his wife, telling her to have a good time. Not to worry. Everything would be
fine. “Damn. Thought she’d never go!”
Max
snickered at Kyle. “So what’s on our babysitting schedule?”
Kyle read
Tess’s detailed instructions. “Feeding. Playtime. Naptime. Oh, ick. Peas are
on the menu.” Kyle looked down at Zan who was watching his two fathers from
his special seat on the table. His eyes followed both their voices as he sucked
on his fist.
Max was
playing with Zan’s foot. “Less than a week! He’s already so alert. Look!
He smiled at me!”
“That’s
gas.” Kyle said absently as he read Tess’s detailed list. “Oh, this list
sucks. We’re not going to have any fun.” He smiled at Zan. “I think we
should take him for a walk. Fresh air. That’s good for a baby.”
“Right!”
Max picked up the list. “Except item number seven says ‘Do not take the baby
out.’”
Kyle
shrugged. “I didn’t see that. Let’s go!”
“Where?”
“There’s
a basketball game. Bet Zan would like to watch some basketball.”
“Sure he
would!” They packed up the baby in his stroller with bag and bottle and were
off.
It was a
couple of hours before they returned. Zan was fast asleep in his stroller, and
Max and Kyle were struggling to get all the stuff they had taken with them plus
the stuff they had purchased into the house. When they entered the kitchen
through the back door, Tess was waiting for them. She was not happy.
Kyle saw her
first. “Honey….hi!” Looking at Max nervously, Kyle tried the charming
approach, “So how was shopping?”
“I
wouldn’t know! I called home to check up on you and Zan, and there was no
answer.” Tess stood there with her hands on her hips, sarcasm dripping from
her tone, “Imagine my reaction to having no answer!”
The two men
looked guilty, but before they could apologize Zan woke up. Hearing his
mother’s voice, he made a gurgling noise which immediately attracted all the
adults in his life. Tess being the strongest of the three, quickly removed her
son from their corruptive influence. Kissing the baby, she held him and looked
daggers at Max and Kyle. Then the crap they were carrying caught her attention.
“What is
all that?”
Kyle looked
sheepishly at Max. “Some things for Zan.”
“Hmm.”
Tess looked at the pennant, the rubber hand, and other fan items including a cap
with a local team on it. It was the basketball that caught her eye. “Don’t
you think he’s a little young for all that stuff?”
Max and Kyle
both tried to talk at the same time, but Tess made a snorting noise and took Zan
off to check his diaper and general health. “At least tell me you fed him.”
Tess looked back at the two. “And not beer and a stadium dog!”
“We
wouldn’t do that, Tess. Kyle thought he was too young.” Max said cheerfully.
~~~
Maria was
eating a sandwich on her way to open the door. With her mouth half full, she
stepped back at the sight of Max standing on their doorstep.
“Max! I
didn’t expect you! Michael said he was sick of you.”
“Hey, that
street runs both ways. Where is my partner?” Max kissed Maria’s cheek and
then exposed his guest.
“Zan! You
brought me a baby! God, I love you, Max.” Maria kissed Max back. “Gimme!
Gimme!”
“I heard
that! Who are you exclaiming affection to?” Michael came into the room. “I
just want to know so I can kill them.”
“Max
brought me a Zan.” Maria shoved her half eaten sandwich into her husband’s
hands and grabbed the baby. “Are Tess and Kyle with you?”
“No.
Believe it or not, they let me take the kid out on my own. It took some
convincing, but I talked them into taking an evening off together on a date.
Tess hesitated, but I reminded her that is the first time in a long time she
could go out with Kyle, see a movie, and also see her feet.”
“Nice of
you.” Maria sat on the sofa and was making faces at the baby. Looking for her
sandwich, she watched the last half of it being devoured by Michael. “Buddy,
you’re going to have to make me another one. I’m starving.” Maria went
into the spare room and took one of the baby seats they had bought for the
twins. Setting it up on the kitchen bar she invited Max to sit down too. “You
hungry, Max?”
“What
disgusting thing are you eating now? Pickle and orange jello sandwiches?”
“Hmm.
Tempting, but no. Sloppy joes. Great sandwich. I like mine with extra pickles,
peppers and cheese.”
“Well,
partner? You game? I should warn you that most people make it with something
tomato. We use
Max looked
over at the sandwiches Michael was making. “I’m game. Make mine only with
cheese though.” Max handed Michael a bottle. “Put this in the
refrigerator.”
“Milk.
Tess’s?”
“Yeah.”
Max said. “So don’t use it in your coffee.”
“So,
what’s up?” Michael asked casually, but his look was anything but.
“Nothing.”
Max smiled at Maria playing with the baby. “I guess I was a little taken aback
today. The damn FBI asking about Jonathan. I realized that there’s so much I
don’t even know. We keep meaning to have this talk, but life’s been hectic.
Seems we go from one disaster to another.”
Maria
glanced at Max. “I’m sure Jonathan would tell you anything you want to
know.”
“I know,
but first I’d have to get him to stay home more than two days in a row.” Max
took a bite of the sandwich. His eyebrow went up. It was actually very tasty.
“Like Vanessa. I gather you met her before, Maria?”
“Sure. A
few years ago before she married the Congressman. Actually this was after she
and Jonathan divorced, I gather.”
“Yeah, but
any consolation, she was a bitch back then too. Real smarmy.”
Maria
frowned, trying to remember the first time she met Vanessa. “Amazingly she
looked the same. She was a Skin, so I guess that explains that, huh?”
“Maybe,”
Max looked at Michael. “You going to offer me a drink?”
“What do
you want? A beer?”
Max smiled.
“Love one, or half of one, but I’ve got the kid. How about a bottled
water?”
“Done.”
Michael passed it over. “So what’s bugging you, Max?”
Max
shrugged. “Don’t know. Guess I didn’t like how uninvolved I am in
Jonathan’s life. I know he owns companies. I know he runs the Foundation.
That’s really it.” Max bit the side of his lip. “Is that how you met him,
Maria? Did he come to run the Foundation?”
Maria
stopped playing with Zan for a moment. “No. There was no Foundation. Not back
then. That was, oh….I don’t know... About seven years ago? That was during
my silent era. One day Mom brought Jonathan over, and soon after that I started
speaking again. I sort of think the Foundation was the brainchild of all of us,
my mom’s and Jonathan’s really. I knew I didn’t want all the money that I
inherited from Frankie Jr.’s death. It was too much. It was tainted. Jonathan
found a way to distribute it in places of need.”
“Big
task.” Max said casually. The Foundation. Jonathan had hinted that there was
something about the Foundation and Maria. “So, just like that you signed over
monies to him, and it was born?”
“At first.
He went out of his way to generate more funds from other places. My money was
the cornerstone, and there were also matching funds in contributions from other
businesses.”
Michael
smiled at the yawning Zan. “What is it, Max?”
“Nothing.”
Max smiled at his son, too. “I better take him home. He looks tired.”
Maria made a
protesting sound, but she helped Max get all their things together. On the way
out the door, Max paused. “Maria, what was the first project that the
Foundation supported?”
Maria looked
at Max in surprise. “I thought you knew. The Foundation created the current
Roswell Police Department. Back then,
“Maria,
you mean that you helped to create our jobs?”
Maria
laughed. “No!
“So they
had some staff, but not enough.”
Maria
nodded. “They had Jim in Major Crimes. Kyle was a young deputy, he and Jack
Hardy. They became the first detectives. No real experience. That was when Jim
sent out job offers to the larger cities for detectives, and Vice and other
departments did the same. Even Daniel was brought in to be the Chief of Police.
He was an old friend of Jim’s from the
Max paused
at the door. He remembered. It was that very job notification that brought him
here. It had been in his mailbox at
work. He had found Michael, brought him off the streets and moved them with
Isabel to
Max
couldn’t pull all the threads that tied them all together, but they were
there. They had always been there from the beginning and even long before that.
Destiny.
~~~
The key. He
held it for a long time. In all the time that he had had it in his possession,
he never used it. It was on his key chain, but he never used it. Feeling like a
thief, Max unlocked the door and stood there. Uncertain where to start, he
listened to the quiet house. It was going to be a long night.
~~~
“Did you
get the remains?”
The two men
shuffled uncomfortably on their feet. Mr. Richards looked at the two and rolled
his eyes. “You’re dismissed. Go now.”
“I
wasn’t through with them.”
“I know. I
can answer the question. It is ‘yes’.
They intercepted the FBI transport. The remains of the Congresswoman are
taken care of. Personally. I saw to it.”
Pierce
looked over the warehouse. His labs were in working order. Clean and efficient.
The rest of the place looked cluttered and that bothered him. “I told you, I
want the warehouse area organized!” Piece turned around. “Did they find the
other two?”
“An hour
ago. They’re still looking for the small one.”
Pierce
nodded. Nicolas would be harder to find. He was small and easy to move in and
out of places without being seen. “I want him. Make sure they find him
immediately.”
“And the
others?”
“Send them
in. I will deal with them personally.”
Arrogant.
Vicious. His children. Pierce sat back as Lonnie and Zan were shown into the
office. They were both obviously not pleased to see him. Ingrates.
“So all
these years and both of you actually look worse than when last I saw you. How is
that possible?” Pierce asked sarcastically. He watched Lonnie’s eyes narrow
in anger, but Zan was better at hiding his response.
“Whaddayah
want, Shifter?” Zan, always the King.
Pierce
smiled slightly. Too bad he had been the Dupe and not the real thing. Zan was
easily motivated and controlled. The real King, Max was more of an unknown. He
had changed. His blood was tainted with human genetics and this had changed his
makeup into something apart from the on now in front of him.
“It has
been a merry chase with the two of you of late. Did you think I would not notice
you skulking around the Royals?”
Zan’s face
turned a shade of red. Anger. “It wuz yah! Somethin’ wuz wrong! I knew it.
We’d gets close, and somethin’ would block us.”
“After
that freak, Rath tried to kill the Destiny twins of the Commander, you did not
think I would risk letting any of you close to them, did you? The Queen’s twin
is a problem. She has disappeared, but I will locate her.” Pierce walked up to
Lonnie and grabbed her face, forcing her to look at him. “Where is that little
patch of flaky skin you like to twiddle with, Nicolas? I have had my boys search
all the arcades and pimple grounds, such as comic shops in town. He has taken
out a few.” Pierce seemed amused. “I expected both of you to be harder to
bring in, but here you are, meek as lambs. What is it that you want of me?”
“Yah our
protectah, so protect!” Lonnie said nastily.
Pierce
laughed. “Protector?” Waving his hand at them he backed away and took a seat
on the edge of his desk. “I am the Royal’s protector. You were a mistake! I
fed you that fake Destiny tale because I was betrayed into believing that the
real Royals were killed by the humans. I was betrayed into believing you were
the genuine Royals by my mate.”
Pierce spit out that last word as if it tasted bitter to his tongue.
Zan looked
at Lonnie and shrugged. “Destiny? What of it? I’z…..We’z got no need for
it! Or wants. Why’d yah lie?”
Pierce
laughed. “Did you think I wanted my Royals running around building
relationships with humans? There was only one human I was interested in, and
that was the Commander’s future mate. Making Rath and Lonnie bond, and you
with Ava was the best way I had to keep you isolated and alone. I knew that Rath
and Lonnie’s bond would not last. It could not. Look at her! She is a mess. A
chaotic nightmare. Rath was in need of control. Their native hatred of each
other would eventually blow them apart, especially once the Commander’s mate
was found.”
Zan frowned.
Why? Why keep them alive and well? To pass them off as the Royals? “I don’t
undahstand.”
“Of course
you do not! You are nothing but spare parts for a King. Even if the King were to
die, his crest would transfer to the Commander, or perhaps now to his son, Zan.
Why do you think I deserted you?”
“Then why
ah we here? Whaddyah want with us, Shifter?”
Pierce
laughed. “Absolutely nothing. You will find this world harder and harder to
tolerate as you age. Death will be a blessing for you both.” Pierce walked
around his desk and sat down. “I want to know if you killed the Skin, the
Congresswoman Whitaker. If so, why did you leave her husk, a burned out hull for
the humans to find?”
Lonnie gave
them away. Her startled look crossed her face before she could stop it.
“We’z…”
Pierce
laughed. “Nevermind. It was not you, and I doubt it was shortbread, Nicolas.
She was one of his.” He sat back and pondered. “Someone wanted us moving,
mobilizing away from
Lonnie
started to speak, but Zan quickly grabbed her hand and dragged her out with him.
They didn’t spare the man that once was their ‘father’ a second look. He
didn’t look as they remembered him anyway, and he wasn’t of their kind.
“Zan…”
“Quiet! We
gotta get outta here.” Zan moved fast taking his sister with him. They
didn’t stop until they were clear of the their old protector’s base of
operation and his men.
“I don’t
wanna go back to the sewerah.” Lonnie whined.
Zan nodded
and went to find them a hotel. Their usual haunts were probably infested with
other aliens. It was grim. They were never going to make it home to Antar.
Lonnie sat on the bed hugging her knees to herself. “So it’s true. Rath is
gone.”
Zan nodded.
Ava was also missing. “It’s yah and me, Lonnie. Weah all we got. You
green?”
“Green.”
Lonnie closed her eyes. Kivar had betrayed her. Rath. Nicolas. Their protector.
All betrayals. There was no place left for them. The FBI was looking for aliens.
“Antar is
home. There is no othah.” Zan paced. “Are yah with me, Lonnie? I mean
really? No betrayal this time.”
Lonnie
nodded. Zan was her last ally. He was her brother and her lover. They were
related on Antar, but their human donors were not. “I’ll support yah this
time, Zan, but only if we rule togethah. No othah way.”
“Deal.”
Zan breathed hard. “Now we gotta get back ta Antar.”
“How?”
Zan looked
at his sister. “We need help.”
Lonnie shook
her head. There was no one left. They were trapped on a hostile world that was
searching for them. Their home world had forsaken them. There was nowhere left
to go.
“Who?”
“The King.
The one they call Max.”
~~~
“Does that
feel better?”
“No.”
Michael said into his arms as he lay on his stomach and Maria rubbed his
shoulders. “They’re still sore. Keep rubbing.” She laughed. Kissing the
back of his neck, she continued to rub down his relaxed muscles.
“What’s
got you so tense?”
Michael
snorted. “Have you looked into my sock drawer?”
“I shudder
at the thought.” Mysterious male places were taboo to women.
“That damn
cat has started sleeping in it again. He ripped up all my socks, and he’s
shedding. Hair. Long black hair. Patches. Everywhere.”
“He adores
you.”
Michael made
a sound of disbelief.
“No,
really, he does!”
“He’s a
hairball.”
“He’s a
courageous hairball, but maybe a Yeti?”
“A Yak?”
“Hairy
platypus?”
“Imagine
what he would look like with no hair.”
“Frightening.
A hairless cat.” Maria frowned. “He gets that way when he’s stressed.
Remember what he looked like after we got back from our trip to
“Yeah, but
what does he have to be stressed about now? He’s happily fat. His girlfriend,
that white fuzzball slut, visits regularly and put outs loudly. He ate half a
turkey the other day...”
Maria
hesitated, “Actually, I ate the turkey.”
Michael
turned over in shock. “You said it was the Boo!”
“I
lied.” Maria looked at Michael through her fingers covering her eyes. “The
babies made me do it. They were hungry!”
“Don’t
we have a rule against lying?” Michael asked severely.
Maria
avoided answering.
“Oh,
punishments!”
“Oh goody!
Can I pick? I was thinking….”
Michael
grabbed her and rolled her under him. Kissing him, Maria laughed against his
shoulder. Pulling the skin of his neck into her mouth, and biting down on it,
she laughed at his body’s response.
“By the
way, what was that disgusting thing in my shoe today?” Michael asked as he
stripped away her clothing. Sitting up, he grabbed a bottle of lotion off the
bedside table and warmed it in his hands before applying it to the skin of her
stomach.
Maria made
an approving sound. “Hairball.”
“Oh. I
thought it was something else.”
“I thought
it was a stomach parasite or alien. At best, regurgitated rat.”
Michael gave
a whooping sound of amusement. “Baby, you’ve got the best pillow talk!”
Maria laughed as he made blowing noises into her neck.
~~~
Max sat back
in horror. In the box in front of him were pictures. Thousands of them. Him.
Isabel. Tess. Maria. Michael. So much of their lives were documented. His report
cards from school. His work history. Michael’s. All the clippings on Maria,
her family, and what happened with her brother. It was all there. Max was numb.
Rubbing his
hands on his face, he stared off in the dark, uncertain what to do. Where to go.
His world was lying in front of him,
and everything else was shattered.