A Debt Paid (12 page)

It took Calix several hours, but he
got all the meetings set up. He had notified
the necessary people of what he needed
photo copied, notarized, and couriered
over. If everything went according to plan,
this week would be a very hot news week.
The cleaning crew had come and gone, and
his penthouse was clean and as silent as a
morgue. He missed her voice and just the
daily sounds of having her in the house.

Calix just sat in his desk chair, not
knowing what to do with himself. He was
used to working sixty hours a week,
sometimes more. When he wasn’t working,
he had a young, beautiful woman
entertaining him. His uncle had offered to
send someone over, but all Calix wanted
was Anya. He had awoken this morning in a
really shitty mood. In the few hours he did
sleep, he dreamt of Anya. She was in their
bed, smiling at him while cradling their
child, to which his crash and smash this
morning could probably be attributed to.

Carol hadn’t responded to his email. He was tempted to call his mother,
but with how disappointed she must be in
him right now, he wasn’t sure that was a
good idea. He might as well get it over with
now. He hesitantly picked up his phone and
dialed his mom’s number.

“Buon pomeriggio,” Maria
answered.
“Mama,” he said so unsure and
nervous he slipped back into Italian.
“Calix?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want?” Her voice was
colder than he had ever heard it before.

“Mama, please, I can guess what you
must think of me. Zio told me you blamed
him. Please, don’t, he didn’t know what
happened.”

“Calix, how could you?”

“Mama, I–I don’t know; she didn’t
want me, and she was so disgusted at the
thought of being touch by me. I wanted her
so much. I wanted her to want me, and,
when she didn’t, I snapped like I never had
before. I’m sorry. Have you heard from her?
Is she okay?”

“Carol talked with her earlier. They
both cried, but they talked for a while, and
everything was straightened out. I talked to
Vito; he told me a little of what you are
doing. Carol knows, and so does Anya.”

“She does?”

“Yes, Carol got the papers, signed
them all, and sent them back with the same
courier. When Anya called, she told her.”

“Mama, please tell me where is
she?”

“I don’t know where she is, Calix.
Carol talked with her earlier, but I didn’t
ask her any questions. I know you love her.
That much was obvious when I saw you
two together. She may be in denial or just
not realize it herself yet, but she does have
feelings for you, also. She would have
pressed charges and gotten you out of her
life that way if she didn’t care for you in
some way. And you, only love could bring a
strong man to his knees and soften such a
hardened heart. I know you are a good man
and a good son. But, you have never
allowed yourself to love until now, and you
went about it the wrong way.”

“Mama, tell me what to do. I’ve
never felt this way, never been in this
position.”

“I can’t tell you what to do, Calix,
you need to figure it out for yourself. This is
between you and Anya. You started off bad,
whether you can fix it or not, is up to you. I
know you aren’t a quitter. If you were, then
you wouldn’t be where you are today. I was
hurt and disappointed in your behavior,
but I know that isn’t you. Calix, it’s a little
passed nine pm here, so I’m going to go for
now, okay? Remember what I said. It’s up
to you. I love you, mio figlio (my son).”

After ending the call, Calix thought
about what his mother had said; Anya
knew what he and his uncle were doing.
She hadn’t called to tell him to stop. She
hadn’t told his mother to tell him to stop,
and Carol hadn’t told Maria to tell him to
stop, so they must all be in agreement.

***
“Okay, yeah, great. Thanks, I owe
you one. Bye.”
Nicole turned to Anya, who waited
patiently.

“So, that was Deejay at the clinic
next to the hospital. She said she could
send an email to order the test, so you
don’t even have to go in or make an
appointment. We can just go to the
outpatient lab in the hospital. It’s not a
priority test so, she put a rush on the
results, so depending on when the lab
actually runs the test, we can get results
tomorrow or Friday.”

“That’s awesome, the less time the
better. I don’t think I could wait more than
that. I’ve been on pins and needles, since
you dropped that bomb on me.”

Nicole used her hands to point to
herself. “Me? Drop a bomb on you? Honey,
it ain’t my fault if you don’t read the fine
print on those instruction papers.”

“You should have seen the house
when I got home. I had called Calix from
work to tell him I was going to be late,
because I needed to pick up a test on the
way home. When I got home, the whole
entryway and living room was filled with
flowers, dozens and dozens of flowers,
everywhere in every color and every type.
He was so happy and excited. He said we
would celebrate no matter what the results
were.” Anya’s face fell. “As crazy as it was, I
was kinda excited, too, and disappointed
when I wasn’t. Is that crazy? Do you think it
was just maybe Stockholm syndrome or
something?”

Nicole walked over to Anya and
hugged her. Rubbing her back soothingly,
Nicole answered her, “No, honey, he didn’t
kidnap you or hold you hostage. I think
you’re in love and don’t want to be and are
scared to be. So, you’re doing everything
you can not to be. Now, let’s go, and we can
get some lunch too. I have a graveyard shift
tonight, nine o’clock tonight till seven
o’clock tomorrow morning. So, I’m going to
have to leave you tonight.”

“That’s okay, you got cable and lots
of DVDs. Now, let’s get going.”

The girls entered the side entrance
of the county hospital, where the
outpatient lab was located. Anya was
getting nervous. She hated needles, and her
period was now four days late. She was
never late. She had heard several people
say before that stress can affect your cycle,
so, maybe, that was what was happening
with her. She was also still processing
everything her mother had told her earlier.
When Nicole had asked what Anya’s
mother had said, Anya told her she couldn’t
talk about it. Her mother had overwhelmed
her so much, she wasn’t able to tell her
mom that there was still a chance she was
pregnant.

Now, here she was, walking into a
lab to get her blood drawn. She looked
around, and there were tubes lined up all
over the counters, and plastic baskets filled
with the colored rubber things they use to
tie around your arm. She could see the
chairs that practically locked you in place.

Standing in front of the desk, Anya
waited for the nurse to finish up on the
phone. She was an older nurse, maybe in
her mid-forties. She wasn’t wearing the
bland scrubs the other nurses were
wearing. Hers were covered with Hello
Kitties all over her top and bubble gum
pink bottoms.

“Thank you for waiting. How can I
help you?” Her voice was deep and
crackled, a solid giveaway that she was a
smoker. You’d think, being a nurse, she’d
know better.

“Hi.” Anya smiled. “My name is Anya
Richards. My doctor emailed my blood test
order in.”

“Okay, let me just check. Here you
are. There are three people in front of you,
so if you just take a seat, we’ll call you in a
few minutes.”

“Okay.”

Anya and Nicole turned around and
headed for the generic plastic covered
seats to wait. There was a TV bolted on the
wall, but it was practically useless since it
was muted. It seemed to be on a news
station, which made it even more useless
because all they did is sit there talk and
show pictures, so without the sound, you
had no way of guessing what they were
talking about. If it had been a TV show,
then it would be more like charades, which
could be a bit entertaining.

Nicole, again trying to ease the
tension, started to just yap insistently
about how unfair it was that only certain
nurses in certain areas of the hospital got
to wear fun and cute scrubs. She absolutely
hated the dull grey scrubs she had to wear.
She said she’d even once thought of
changing to pediatrics, just so she could
wear the fun scrubs. Nicole’s talking did the
trick; Anya didn’t even realize how long
they had waited.

“Anya Richards,” the older nurse
croaked out with her smoker’s voice. Anya
stood up and walked back up to the desk
with Nicole right beside her.

“Yes,” Anya answered when she got
to the desk.
“Follow Katie back. She’ll be
drawing your blood today.”

Anya turned to look at Katie and
was not too sure about having this done
after all. Katie was short with a cute,
layered pixie cut, bright green eyes, and a
wide smile. She even had on Betty Boop
scrubs. Which was all well and fine. The
only thing Anya did not like about Katie
was she looked like she was eighteen and
fresh out of high school. So, how well
trained could she be with needles?

Thursday morning, Calix woke up
ready to conquer the day. He needed to
meet the notary and his uncle at Vito’s
favorite bistro. By six o’clock tonight, all
hell would break loose for Senator
Richards, and Tomas didn’t even have a
hint that any of this was going to happen.

Calix walked in to La Bella Cantante
and headed straight to his uncle’s favorite
table. As Calix approached, Vito rose from
his seat to greet him.

“Nipote (Nephew).” Vito raised both
his arms in welcome to hug Calix.

“Zio.” He returned his uncle’s hug.
When both men sat down, the two men in
suits sitting at the next table relaxed.

“Zio, I want to apologize.”

“No,” Veto cut in, “believe it or not, I
know how it is to lose yourself with a
woman. I was disappointed, though. I’ve
talked with your mother, everything is
straightened out, so no more talk of this.
Now, Alex Valastro is the notary. He’s also a
good friend of mine, and he will be here
shortly. Then our appointments will start
showing up. Despite what you may be
feeling right now, you need to be stone,
capisce?”

“Si.”
Five minutes later, Mr. Valastro
walked in and business was on.
***

An exhausted Nicole unlocked her
apartment door. It had been a long night,
people left and right on gurneys. They
didn’t go a single twenty minutes without a
new patient coming in. She was supposed
get off at seven, but being busy and short
staffed again, it was a little passed nine in
the morning, and she was just getting
home.

“Morning.” Nicole yawned as she
greeted Anya.
“Morning. Weren’t you supposed to
be home earlier?”

“Yeah, but, it’s like I told you, we’ve
been under staffed. I’m going to shower
and sleep for a couple of hours, and then
we can go for lunch.”

“No, it’s okay. I didn’t get much
sleep either. That bloodsucker at the
hospital bruised my arm pretty good, and
my mind just kept running nonstop, you
know, about the results and stuff. I slept on
and off. So, I just really wanna veg.”

“Well, I won’t argue with that.”
Nicole laughed.
***

Having his wife gone was a doubleedged sword for Senator Richards. On one
side, it allowed him the freedom of having
his mistress come to him, but he had to be
more careful in public, because wanna-bepaparazzi were around every corner,
waiting for a juicy picture. With his wife
out of town, almost any picture could be
made into a bigger story. If he had it his
way, he would have let his wife go years
ago when she wanted to, but talking with
his campaign manager they agreed that
with a wholesome family portrayal, he
would be scrutinized less and be more
favorable in the voter’s eyes.

Richards was enjoying the pleasure
of Maggie’s company tonight. Not his
regular mistress, but he was in the mood
for a redhead.

Knock, knock, knock, knock.
“Maggie, be a doll and get the door
while I get another bottle of wine.”

“Okay, Tommy.” Barely covered
with a silk robe that wasn’t even hers,
Maggie went to answer the front door.
That’s right, Richards had no shame; he
gave her one of his wife’s silk robes. He
couldn’t be seen buying women’s under
things.

“Hello, can I help you?”

An older man in a suit with his tie
loose and rumpled, like he had been pulling
on it, stood at the door. “You’ve got to be
fucking kidding me?” he said.

“Excuse me?” Maggie snapped back,
changing her stance and putting her hand
on her hip.

“Move to the side, honey,” he said as
he pushed his way through the door.
“Tomas! Tomas!” he yelled.

Richards came storming into the
room. Holding a bottle of wine in one hand
and waving the other in the air. He
recognized the voice of Edward Johnson his
manager. “What the fuck, Ed? Why are you
barging in here yelling?”

“‘Cause you’re a fucking idiot, that’s
why?”
“What are you talking about?”

“Come here, come here, let me show
you.” Edward had been to the house
several times and knew his way around. He
walked farther into the house, heading for
the TV room with Richards and Maggie
behind him. He went over to the side table
and picked up the remote, turning on the
TV to a news channel.

Richards heard the voice of
Anchorwoman.
“And our top story tonight;
allegations have been brought up against
Senator Tomas Richards. Richards, who has
been known for his firm stance on issues
concerning women’s rights, domestic
violence, and child abuse. Senator Richards
has been known as an upstanding family
man during his tenure as a Senator and his
most recent campaign for reelection.
Allegations of bribes, kickbacks, prostitution,
drugs, and even a charge of conspiracy to
commit murder have surfaced. Signed
testimonies from witnesses and interviews
with alleged victims have been brought
forward. We tried to contact Senator
Richards for a statement on these
allegations, but received a no comment from
his long time campaign manager Edward
Johnson. We were, however, able to get a
statement from Mrs. Richards’s attorney; Mr.
King made this statement earlier today:
‘Mrs. Richards has known for some time of
her husband’s extra marital affairs. She did
not, however, have any knowledge of his
criminal activity and at present has no
financial ties with her husband Senator
Richards. Mrs. Richards was convinced that
the Senator was not going to stop his affairs,
so quietly and privately, as to not attract
attention and upset her family, she started
divorce proceedings before she left for
abroad.’ We were also able to get a brief
interview with one of the alleged victims
Stacy Whitmore.”

Stacy:
“Yes, I was Tomas’s mistress
for two years. I’m not proud of that, but I
was young and in love. I came to Tomas one
day and told him that I was pregnant. He
told me to get rid of it, or he would. I refused
to abort my child. Three days later, I was
involved in a hit and run. I miscarried;
however, the police were unable to get any
information, witnesses or leads on the car
that hit me. Even the surveillance tapes from
some of the surrounding businesses had
nothing; they had either gone missing or
malfunctioned. When I told police that I
suspected Tomas, they said they would
follow up, but they never did.”

Anchorwoman:
“We’ll have more
testimonies and information for you as the
news breaks.”

Ed clicked the remote, turning the
TV off. Richards was standing there, still
staring at the blank TV.

“What the fuck did I tell you? Never
leave any trace; never leave a paper trail
that anyone could pick up. I also told you
how you planned to handle Stacy was
stupid and not to do it. You did it anyway.
Now, it’s biting you in your ass. I was on
the phone with the news on my way over
here. I can guarantee news vans will be
surrounding your house within the next
thirty minutes. And, you have this tart in
your house when your wife is gone. How
are you going to get her out of here when
you’re surrounded?”

Maggie, obviously more beauty than
brains, asked a very stupid question. “You
don’t want me to leave, do you, Tommy?”

“Maggie, get dressed and get the
fuck out now.”
“But—”
“I said now damn it!” Richards
yelled.
Maggie huffed, flipped him the bird,
and turned to leave.

Edward ran his hand through his
thinning grey hair and yanked on his tie
again. “How they got all this together
without me getting wind of it, or how they
got so many so called victims to give
statements all at one time I don’t know.”

“Calix,” Richards replied, “it had to
be Calix; he’s the only one, next to his uncle,
who could dig all this up. It might have
even been his uncle. I knew there was some
scam in the works when he pushed for
Carol to leave with his mom. Carol started
going over there all the time. When she
said they were leaving early, she didn’t tell
me the truth about why. I can tell when she
lies. But she said they would be back before
the wedding. She said Maria didn’t want to
stay in Italy that long after all, and that the
wedding would give her an out without
offending her family. That lying bitch! She
had to know,” Richards fumed.

“Tom, I’m sorry, but there is no way
out of this. When they asked for my
comment, they told me they have over
forty different charges against you and
even more notarized statements and
witnesses to investigate. We’re a sinking
ship, and I hate to do this, but I’m not going
down for you. It’s every man for himself; I
already called my lawyer to cover my ass. I
came here as a heads up, for all the years
we’ve worked together. Sorry, Tom.”
Edward took a deep breath and started to
leave.

Richards was stunned for a minute.
But then went after Ed. “Ed! Ed, you can’t
leave me now,” he called as he went after
him.

“Sorry, Tom, get a lawyer. I’ve been
telling you for a few years now to calm
down, slowdown, be careful. You don’t
listen!”

“Get a lawyer? What do you mean
get a lawyer? I have David.”

“Sorry, Tom, David won’t touch you.
I barely got him to agree to take me; he
doesn’t want to be tied to this either.”
Edward reached the front door, opened it,
and paused. He turned to face Richards one
last time. “My advice to you is to leave,
leave now and fast. Get your passport and
run before the paperwork goes through
and the news vans and cops get here.” He
walked out the door and left. Richards
stood there in a shocked silence, still
holding the bottle of wine in his hand.