A Killer’s Kiss

20

When I got home from the Roundhouse, I set a little bonfire in the bathroom sink. Then I took a long shower to wash off the sweat from the interrogation and the gunk from my hair and the oily sheen left on my skin from proximity to Sims. Showered and shaved, powdered and puffed, I put a towel around my waist and called Julia.

“How are you?” I said.

“Bewildered.”

“I understand. Today was a shock, I’m sure. Do you want me to come over?”

“No.”

“But I need to see you. Right away.”

“I don’t think we should see each other,” she said. “Not now and not for a while.”

“Why not?” I tried to hide the whine in my voice but failed abysmally. I was showered and shaved, powdered and puffed, and ready for action. “There is something important I need to talk to you about.”

“So talk.”

“I don’t want to do it on the phone.”

“I’m surprised. It’s easier taping a phone call than wearing a wire.”

“Julia?”

There was a strange pause, and then she said, “Where were you this afternoon, after you left my husband’s office? Why didn’t you call me right away?”

“I was detained.”

“Lawyers are always so busy.”

“No, really detained. By the police. They picked me up at my apartment. They had questions.”

“And you had answers, I’m sure.”

“They didn’t want my answers, they wanted your answers. What are they asking you? What are you refusing to give them?”

“They keep asking about Wren’s business affairs. But I don’t know anything about Wren’s business affairs. I never cared enough to learn. I guess that makes one of us.”

“Julia?”

“You should have seen your face, Victor, when that Nettles character told you my husband didn’t have any money. It was like one of your pathetic little dreams was crawling underfoot and he had stepped on it and squashed it flat.”

“I was simply surprised. Weren’t you?”

“Not about that. I could tell that things had gone wrong with Wren’s business. By the end his mood had turned so sour it could only have been caused by financial disaster. What surprised me was you. You were so shocked I almost felt sorry for you, even though it wasn’t your money. And then I learned you were at the police, blabbing away, and I figured you found a way to deal with your disappointment.”

“Who told you I was at the police?”

Another pause. “Did you do what you promised? Did you tell them about Miles Cave? Did you start them on the chase?”

“No,” I said. “I couldn’t. Something happened.”

“Yes, something has happened. I hoped we could trust each other. From the start that’s what I hoped. And you promised me that we could.”

“We can, still.”

“I don’t think so. Not anymore.”

“All I want to do is help you.”

“No you don’t, Victor. You can’t forgive me, so you’re going to pay me back.”

“That’s not true.”

“Even if you don’t recognize it yet, that’s what you’re doing.”

“Julia, listen. Things are getting hairy.”

“Shave.”

“Someone’s trying to set me up.”

“I feel the same way.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the prenup?”

“Would that have tempered your interest?”

“It would have been nice to know about a prenuptial agreement between my old fiancée and her murdered husband when I’m being questioned about the murder. Julia, we need to stick together if we’re going to get through this. I know you didn’t kill your husband, and you know I didn’t kill your husband.”

“Do I?”

“Stop it. Just stop it. This is going from bad to worse. Someone is playing us both, one against the other.”

“Oh, Victor. All the scheming and plotting, the whispered warnings and secret messages.”

“What whispered warnings?”

“When did love get so hard?”

“I had that very same thought.”

“It’s not supposed to be like this. Why can’t it just work out and everyone be happy until they die?”

“It can. We still have a chance to make it work.”

“No, I don’t think so anymore. I thought we did, truly, but I can see now any chance we had was murdered along with Wren.”

Another pause, and the soft whisperings of a voice not Julia’s.

“Is somebody there?” I said.

“Take care of yourself, Victor.”

“Who’s there? Julia? I’m coming over.”

“Don’t. We need to stay apart. They’re watching us both.”

“Are you okay?”

“No, no I’m not, Victor.”

“Let me come over.”

“Gwen will take care of me, she always does.”

“Is she there now, Julia? Is it Gwen who’s with you?”

“I’m sorry, Victor. For everything I’ve done. And everything I’m going to do. I’m sorry.”

“Julia?” I said. “Julia.”

But I was talking to the ether, because she was gone, leaving me with the peculiar sensation that I had just been involved in a three-way skirmish between a horny toad, a chameleon, and a snake.

And the horny toad had lost.