Live and Let Die (12 page)

“So, what’s up?” he asked. “What brings you to town?”

Sondra sniffed. “A few things. I saw Cicely Anderson last night.” She waited to see what kind of reaction she got from him.

“How’s she doing? I haven’t seen her in a while.”

She pressed her lips together into a thin line. “I want to know what was going on with you and my sister.”

Jack frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Were you having an affair?”

“What? No, of course not.”

“She was leaving her husband, Cicely said you told her you still loved Tracy and Tracy was going to file for divorce—”

Jack held up his hands in protest. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait just a minute, she was getting a divorce?”

“Yes, she was—”

“Just what, exactly, are you getting at?”

“Were you and Tracy having an affair?” Sondra repeated.

Jack licked his lips and looked Sondra dead in the eye. “Not only no, but hell no.”

“Cicely said Tracy had been getting a lot of phone calls that upset her right before she disappeared. Was it you?”

“Sondra, I am telling you, there was nothing going on between me and Tracy. It’s like I told you, I ran into her, she said she was unhappy and that was it. That was the last time I saw her.”

“Why didn’t you tell the police?”

“I already told you why.”

“Where were you the night she disappeared?”

Jack didn’t say anything, merely stared at Sondra. “Excuse me?”

“How much did you want her back?” She licked her lips, drops of sweat snaking across her upper lip. She hadn’t intended to get so worked up, but the more she thought about things, the angrier she got. “Did you get so upset that you killed her? You blew your chance with her and so nobody could have her?”

“How could you even ask me that?”

Sondra looked at Jack, searching for any sign that he was lying. She saw nothing. She broke her gaze and let her head plummet to her chest.

“I’m sorry, Jack, it’s just, when I found out she wanted to divorce Phillip and Cicely said you wanted her back… ”

Jack looked up at the ceiling, trying to choose his words carefully. “Yes, I loved Tracy more than anything in the world,” he said. “I would never hurt her like that. We weren’t having an affair; we weren’t talking about an affair. Nothing like that at all. Before that last time, I hadn’t seen or talked to Tracy in over a year.” Jack brought his head back down and focused his eyes directly at Sondra. “And that night? I was here at the restaurant. I came in at three and didn’t leave until well after two a.m. Then I went home and slept for ten hours.”

Sondra looked at Jack for a few moments. “Okay,” she said. “I believe you.”

Jack looked down at the floor. “Thank you.”

“I just want to know what happened to her. I need to know.”

Jack shook his head. “You may never know.”

P
aula had slipped out of bed quiet as a mouse. Phillip had finally let her of the bathroom, but not before he had forced her to her knees and made her tell him over and over how much she loved him before he allowed her to crawl into bed, limp as a rag doll.

This morning, she was determined to show Phillip she was worthy of his love. She pressed his blazer four times, almost burning a hole into the thick fabric. She made him three slices of French toast instead of his customary two and four slices of turkey bacon rather than three. She just wanted to make him happy, because when he was happy, she was happy. She spread the peanut butter for his lunchtime pb&j sandwich across the fluffy white bread, mindful not to tear holes in the delicate slices. After packing Phillip’s lunch, Paula forced her trembling fingers to assemble the breakfast food on the table. She waited for him to emerge from the master bedroom, her nerves tight as a drum. Finally, the door creaked open and she heard him pad across the abundant white carpet. He gave her a stern look before his eyes swept across the table.

“I made extra breakfast this morning,” she said. “I hope it’s okay.”

Phillip set a cold stare on Paula. “I’ve been forced to have fast food for my dinner the past few nights. You know how much I hate that.”

Paula’s eyes dissolved into pools of water. “Oh, I am so sorry you had to do that. Can you ever forgive me?”

“You will have to do a lot to earn my trust back, Paula. Are you prepared to do that?”

“Oh, yes, anything, anything at all.”

Phillip gave her a curt nod of approval. “Good. We can start today. I would like you to start by disinfecting the walls from top to bottom. Then scrub the tiles in both bathrooms with a toothbrush. Afterwards, I want you to sweep and mop the garage. And I still expect dinner to be on the table at six when I get home. If I find any of those things not to be done when I return, you will be punished.”

Paula stood in front of her husband, her eyes bolted to the floor before she nodded her agreement. “Yes, dear. I will do all those things,” she whispered.

Phillip threw back his shoulders. “I’m glad we understand each other. Oh. And one more thing. You will feed me my entire meal this morning.”

Paula pinched her lips shut. “Yes, dear.”

“Alright then. Now. Open wide.”

Obediently, Paula held out her tongue for her vitamins and followed them with a glass of water. Phillip waited for Paula to seat him at the kitchen table. She started to pull up a chair next to him when he held out his hand.

“Standing,” he said.

With a plaintive inhale, she stood in silence next to Phillip and fed him each forkful of his breakfast. She managed not to spill anything and when he indicated he was done, she dabbed the corners of his mouth with the soft fabric of the white linen napkin she’d tucked into his collar. Paula went into the kitchen to retrieve the lunch she had made for Phillip, who stood by the closet, impatient for his blazer. She handed him his lunch and got the blazer out of the closet. As she started to put it on him, he grabbed it from her and held it up for inspection.

“Much better job today. You are already improving.”

“I just want you to be happy, dear,” she murmured as she helped him into the jacket.

He smiled and gave her a cold peck on the cheek. “We haven’t had relations yet this week. Expect to have them tonight.”

Paula swallowed. “Yes, dear. Have a good day.”

Phillip turned on his heel and left the house. Paula stood rooted to the spot until she heard his car pull away. With an audible sigh of relief, Paula fell against the couch for several minutes before she began her chores for the day.

A
fter her visit with Jack, Sondra was still worked up and had smoked two cigarettes in six blocks.

Needing to get out of her head for a few hours, she wandered into a nearby movie theatre to watch some inane comedy that elicited few laughs. Still, it felt good to focus on something other than the persistent questions swirling around her head about Tracy. She was about to walk back to her hotel when she changed her mind and hailed a cab instead.

“Belmont Harbor please,” Sondra said. The cab merged onto Lake Shore Drive and headed north. As soon as she got out, she lit up and began walking east towards the lake. This particular stretch of Belmont was filled with an endless assortment of trendy boutiques, glittery yogurt shops and cramped convenience stores filled with the pervasive musk of incense. It was ironic that Sondra lived in a swanky Manhattan high-rise while Tracy had lived in a funky Chicago neighborhood.

Sondra reached the trail and began to stroll along the lakefront, where summer was in full swing. Sailboats dotted the brilliant blue waters of Lake Michigan; young mothers pushed strollers where their sleeping babies dozed; rollerbladers whizzed by and joggers bopped down the trail. Sondra enjoyed the warm summer winds washing over her, though she hated the reason she was here.

Just ahead of her, Sondra could see the rocks where Tracy had been found. She quickened her pace before breaking into a run. Hyperventilating, she finally reached the spot where that dog walker had found Tracy. She knelt down and looked at the jagged and broken boulders. Sondra shuddered, the hairs on the back of her neck standing at attention. The points of the boulders jutted up at varying angles, like pins jammed into a pin cushion. Sondra stared at them and let her fingers trail over the rocks, wincing in pain as she thought about one of those spiky edges driving into her sister’s face, splitting it open. Had that maniac been watching her, planning what he would do to her? Was it spontaneous? Had he grabbed Tracy from behind? Maybe he’d asked for the time or directions. When had she realized he meant to harm her? How long had they struggled before she understood that she would suffer a painful and violent death at this man’s hands?

Sondra began to twitch with violent sobs as all the horrific possibilities of those last few moments of her sister’s life danced in front of her. Sondra looked out over the horizon at Lake Michigan, her eyes brimming with tears and tried not to picture how it must have been. Sondra stood and let her cigarette drop, watching it roll away from her. It got caught on the sharp corner of a rock before falling over the edge and out of her sight.

S
ondra wasn’t sure how long she sat at Belmont Harbor. She just wanted to be lost in her thoughts, even though she couldn’t make sense of all the emotions churning around inside of her. With a heavy grunt, Sondra got to her feet and started walking until she found herself back on Belmont. Sondra thought about Tracy’s house not too far away. Maybe… maybe she would stop by and see… Well, she didn’t know what, but something was drawing her to it. A few short blocks later, she found herself standing on the sidewalk out front.

Sondra took a deep breath, climbed the stairs and rang the doorbell. It was a few moments before a short, slightly overweight woman with frizzy blonde hair and red acne scars coloring her cheeks answered the door.

“Can I help you?” she said with the cautious tone of a woman who had perhaps shooed away one too many salespeople.

Sondra bit her bottom lip and smiled. “Hi. My name is Sondra, and my sister owned this house before you and I was wondering if it might be okay if I took a look around.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Goodbye.” She went to shut the door before Sondra called out.

“Wait!” The woman stopped and gave Sondra another wary stare.

“Okay, that sounded stupid. Let me start over. My sister and her husband lived in this house a few years ago. She disappeared and later di… died… ” Sondra swallowed, trying to compose herself. “And, I’m just trying to get some closure, and I wanted to take a look around… to say goodbye.”

The woman narrowed her eyes, trying to decide if she believed Sondra’s story. “What was your sister’s name?”

“It was Tracy. Tracy Ellis. Her husband was Phillip Pearson.”

This seemed to reassure the woman. “Yeah, we used to get their mail for a while.”

Sondra swallowed. “Did you get a forwarding address by chance?”

“No, we were just told to send anything we got to the guy’s—Phillip’s—attorney and he’d make sure he got everything.”

Sondra cocked her head. “Do you still have the name of the attorney by chance? I’m sorry to be asking all these questions, I’m just trying to sort through some things. I was out of the country when my sister disappeared, and then had to leave again after her funeral. I’ve got a lot of loose ends.”

The woman softened her stance somewhat. “Um, yeah, probably. If you come in for a minute, I can look for it.”

Sondra smiled. “Thank you,” she said as she stepped inside. She carefully closed the door behind her and looked around. It was jarring to be in Tracy’s house and see that it was now someone else’s. The formerly rich red walls were now butter yellow and the décor had transformed from urban chic to French country. The maple hardwood floors were buried under a swath of beige Berber carpet, a bright yellow baby swing stood where the TV used to be and toys littered the floor. The living room reeked of spoiled fruit juice, kitty litter, and dirty diapers. Sondra stopped breathing through her nose. The woman reappeared holding a card in her hand and handed it to Sondra.

“I think this guy was handling the sale of the house and a bunch of other stuff for the guy—Phillip. You know, come to think of it, there was a box of stuff that got left here. I tried to give it to the lawyer to send on, but the guy said he didn’t want it. We just never got around to getting rid of it. It’s out in the garage if you want to take a look.”

“What’s in there?” Sondra asked as she shoved the card into her back pocket.

The woman shrugged. “Some books, other odds and ends. We found one of the books shoved behind a panel in the garage. I think it was a diary, so we threw it in there, too.”

“Uh, yeah,” Sondra nodded. “I’ll take whatever you’ve got.”

“My name is Maureen by the way,” the blonde said as she led the way to the garage behind the house. “We moved in a little over a year ago. It’s a beautiful old house.”

“Yeah. Tracy loved living here.”

Maureen clicked the remote for the garage door, which yawned open. Maureen went in and maneuvered around a dusty red SUV before she came out holding a medium-sized box. She set it down in front of Sondra. “Do you have a car?”

“No. I’m staying downtown, so I’ll go out and get a cab.” Sondra nudged the box with her toe. “It’s not heavy, is it?”

“No, not really. You can walk out here to Belmont and you should be able to get a cab pretty easily.”

“Thanks. I’ll do that.” She shot her hand out to Maureen, who returned Sondra’s firm grasp. “I appreciate your time.”

“Sure.”

Sondra smiled and reached down to pick up the box, which was relatively easy to handle. Maureen went back into the house and Sondra made her way out to the street, where she quickly hailed a cab.

“S
o she flipped out over some Sweet ‘N Low?”

Cindy nodded and swabbed an arm across her forehead. “Yup. Totally nuclear. Kind of scared me, to tell you the truth.”

Cindy and Mira had become jogging buddies and were coming up on their fourth of six miles. Cindy had relayed the story about the grocery store and the Sweet ‘N Low episode.