Not Dead Yet (10 page)

Theia’s client flung the back doors of the courtroom open and started yelling even before the doors closed.  Her client and husband lived in a rotting wood and tin house on stilts in a flood zone.  They got flooded out every spring, yet proudly refused to move.  With every flood they received a government bailout check, which they used for beer money.

“I cain’t believe I didn’t get no goddamn order of protection,” her client yelled.  “I just cain’t believe it none.   He’s such a worthless son-of-a-bitch.  He don’t pay no bills, and he don’t do no work around the house.  Yet he expects me to cook and clean and then spread my legs whenever he wants it.  Well, he ain’t never gonna get it again.  Leastways not from me.” 

“Ma’am, you need to be aware that your husband might be angry about being called into court today, so you should consider staying somewhere else for a couple days,” Theia warned her client. “I don’t want to unduly alarm you, but sometimes there’s serious violence after being in adult abuse court.  Do you want a referral to a shelter?”

At that moment, the husband sauntered up to them, draped his dirty arm around his wife’s shoulders, and said, ”Hell’s bells, honey.  That was fun!  Wanna do lunch?  Let’s go to the Hogsbreath, eat some belly bombers, throw darts, and then we can go home and crack open that fresh case of Dirt Cheap beer I just bought.  Then the real fun will begin.”  He wiggled his eyebrows at her.  She giggled like a teenager.  They strode off, arm in arm, to invent a new form of muck. 

Theia saw Mollie come out of a courtroom across the hall. 

“Was your court appearance better than mine?” Theia asked.

“That depends.  Mine was a minister who’s divorcing his wife of twenty-five years to marry her best friend’s daughter.  What was yours?”

“Mine was a complete waste of time.  A couple of rednecks who think taking each other to adult abuse court is foreplay.” 

“Did you get paid?” Mollie asked.

“Oh, yeah, I got paid up front.  Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”

“If you kept people from killing each other, and you got paid for your work, you had a good day in court,” Mollie assured her.  “Speaking of adult abuse court, have you heard any news on Rose Catalino?”

“No, but I’m on my way back to the office.  I think I’ll call the detective when I get there.  Thanks for the reminder.”

Theia mulled over the redneck case and Rose’s case while walking back to her office.  She knew Rose was not going to have an outcome like the rednecks, but she hoped Rose would simply survive. 

Theia jumped as a car horn blared right next to her. She found herself halfway across a lane of traffic, where she had walked without looking for cars.  If I don’t pay attention, she thought, I’m going to get hurt or killed.  She scurried back to the sidewalk and gestured in embarrassed apology to the driver.

More alert after her close call, Theia walked with care the rest of the way back to her office.  She dumped her briefcase on the floor, kicked her shoes under the desk and tucked her feet beneath her.  Closing her eyes, Theia rubbed her temples then the back of her neck until the tension eased. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to stop worrying until she knew Rose was safe, she called Officer McCarthy.

“Hi, this is Theia Pearson. I hate to be a pest, but I can’t stop thinking about the Rose Catalino case. Please tell me you have good news.” 

The detective waited a moment then cleared his throat.

“We sent a unit over to the old quarry, with local law enforcement.  We didn’t find anything.  No footprints, no tire tracks, nothing.  Other than small wild animals, I don’t think anything has been there for a very long time.”

“So, this whole thing was just a setup?  Why would he do that?”

“I thought you didn’t want to have anything more to do with this case.”

“I don’t, I was just hoping you’d found Rose and that she was okay.  So what happens now?”

“If any new leads turn up, we’ll follow them.”

“So that’s it – case closed?”

“Well, ma’am, we don’t have anything else to go on.  We stepped up patrols around her home and we interviewed neighbors, but nothing useful has turned up.  If you get any more information, please let us know.”

Theia sighed.  “Well, thanks.”

Worries about Rose nagged at Theia throughout the day and kept her from concentrating on her work.  Finally seven o’clock arrived.   Theia waded through the crowd at Hacienda and sunk into a chair across from Lu.

“A pitcher of margaritas, two glasses, salted rims.  Nachos grande, loaded,” Theia said to a passing waitress before even greeting Lu.  “Aw, what the hell.  Two shots of tequila.”

Lu looked at her in amazement.  “We’re doing tequila shots?  Girl!  You’re going hardcore.  Well, that is to say, hardcore for you.  Which is vanilla pudding for most people.  One shot each.  Woo hoo! You really do have to get out more.”

“I used to go out with friends and do stuff.  Seems like forever ago, but I do remember going out and having fun.”  Theia looked annoyed. “I wasn’t always a hermit, you know.”

“So why’d you stop going out?”

“I wasn’t having any fun.”

“You’re such an old lady for your age!” Lu teased.

“Sometimes I feel old,” Theia admitted.  “You know what they say, you don’t count the years, you count the mileage.  I often think that if you were to cut me open, you would find an eighty year-old lady inside.”

“Well, that’s cheerful,” Lu replied.  “Were you born old, or did Foster make you this way?”

“I seem to remember feeling young, once upon a time.  But that stopped when Foster became extremely jealous and possessive.  He’d go completely mental, screaming and cursing at people for no good reason.”

“Wow.  Weren’t you afraid?”

“Of course I was.” 

“So, fast forward five years, and meet Theia the Hermit,” Lu commented.  “Don’t you think you should come back out and rejoin society?”

“What, and meet another Foster?” Theia was incredulous.  “Are you nuts?”

“Good God, Theia.  You can’t judge all men by Foster.  That’s not fair,” Lu admonished.  “Not every man has schizophrenia.”

“Well, my luck I’d find another one who’s crazy.  No thanks.  I’ll just stay at home, where I know it’s safe.”

“Do you realize how stupid that sounds?” Lu asked.

Theia glared at her.

“I don’t mean to be unsympathetic, but seriously, Theia,” Lu continued. “This is ruining your life.  You’re letting him control you from the grave.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Theia snapped.

“Put your brain in gear,” Lu began.  “He didn’t want you to go out.  You aren’t going out.  He wins.  He didn’t want any other men to see you or be interested in you.  You don’t date.  He wins.  He may as well be alive, because you’re no more free now than when you were married to him.”

“The difference is that no one’s trying to kill me now,” Theia said evenly.  “So why don’t you just back the fuck off.  You really have no idea what I’ve been through, yet you pass judgment on me.  You should do this, Theia.  You should do that, Theia.  You don’t know shit.”

Their waitress appeared with the pitcher of margaritas and tequila shots.  Seeing them staring daggers at each other, she wisely set their drinks down and hurried off to another table. 

Lu grabbed the pitcher and sloshed margaritas into their glasses. She squeezed a lime wedge on her hand between her thumb and index finger, sprinkled salt, lapped up the bitter combination and slammed back her tequila shot. 

“Why’d we come here tonight?” Lu asked, irritated.  “I’m quite sure it wasn‘t to do this.”

“No, we came here to figure out how to help Rose,” Theia bit out the words, “not to psychoanalyze me.”

“So how’re we gonna find Rose? What’s the plan?”

“I have no idea,” Theia responded in a flat tone.   “You’re in Mensa.  You have any bright ideas?”

“Since we don’t know where she is, I guess could we wait until he contacts us and tells us where he has her,” Lu suggested. “But I hate to be that passive.”

“No shit,” Theia commented.  They glared at each other again.

A drunk guy walking through the room stopped at their table and gushed to Theia, “Oh baby, I want to be inside you.”

“Unified field theory – you already are,” Lu commented.  “Move along now.”

The drunk shuffled on, continuing his weaving path through the room.  After a moment, Theia said, “You do know that even if he remembers that tomorrow he’ll never understand it.”  He walked up to the bar and threw his arm around a woman who flinched.  He pulled her back to him. The woman looked worried.

“Do you see that, Lu?  That might be another Rose and Donald,” Theia commented. “Or am I reading too much into it?  Have I seen so much domestic violence that I just expect to see it whether it’s there or not?” 

“No telling.  I do know the stuff we see in our work changes us.  You can’t work on these cases without getting a little jaded.”

“I guess so.  I no longer try to make a difference or change the world.  Now I just try to get through the day, hope I don’t get stiffed, then go home and read a book.  I don’t want to deal with people any more.  I assume everyone is out to take as much as they can from each other, even if they have to lie, cheat and steal to do so.  I mean really, is there any such thing as a long happy marriage with no affairs?”

“I know of a couple long and happies, but I couldn’t swear to the cheating thing.  Seems like everyone cheats.”

“So what’s the point of having a relationship if you’re going to get cheated on?  That saying ‘It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all’ is complete bullshit.  Whoever wrote that never had their heart dashed into a thousand jagged shards.”

“You really have been hurt, haven’t you?” Lu asked.

“No,” Thiea denied.  “I’m not hurt, I’m fine.  And I intend to stay this way.”

“Maybe one day you’ll meet someone who makes you want to change your mind.”

“I seriously doubt it.  Life is nice and peaceful when I simply handle my cases and go home.”

“Hiding from life to avoid pain sucks out all the color.  It’s like going through life without being able to taste anything, just because you don’t want to taste something bad.”

Theia shrugged.  “I can deal with that.”

They picked at the remaining broken nacho chips on the platter.  Each was convinced their position was correct, and equally convinced they would never get the other to change.  Instead, Theia changed the subject.

“I almost forgot to tell you.  I called the detective this afternoon.  He said they checked out the quarry, and no one’s been there for ages.”

“That’s not good,” Lu replied.

“Why not? Things could’ve been worse.  They could’ve found a dead body.”

“True, but we aren’t any closer to knowing where she is than we were yesterday.  And if Catalino was watching the entry road to the quarry, he’ll be pissed that the cops showed up.”

“I don’t think he was watching the road.  If he had been, he would’ve called and yelled at you for involving the police.  Detective McCarthy said there weren’t even any recent tire tracks.  I think the whole thing was a hoax.  He was just playing us,” Theia said.

“One thing about this is definitely not a hoax.  He’s done something with Rose. We’ve got to figure out a way to help her,” Lu insisted. 

“I hate to sound cold, Lu, but is there any point?”“What do you mean?”

“Even if we succeed, what’s she going to do for the rest of her life?” Theia wondered aloud. Lu looked off to the side. “Lu, she keeps going back to him.  Are we wasting our time and risking our necks for nothing?  What difference have we made if she goes right back?”

Lu shook her head.  “I get your point, but I can’t just walk away.  She needs our help.  After we help her this one time, she’ll have to make her own choices.”

“That’s easy to say now, but will we really be able to turn our backs the next time?  I don’t know if she can help herself from going back to him.  I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you want to help me find Rose, but I think this one’s a lost cause.  Hey, I’m sorry I bit your head off earlier … even though I don’t need advice on my life.”

“All right, all right,” Lu conceded.  “I’ll back off on your love life.  Oh, I forgot, you don’t have a love life.”

“I don’t need a love life.”

“Everyone needs a love life.”

“Okay… how’s this for my love life – I love my life,” Theia volleyed back.

“You’re hopeless.”

“You’re an idiot!” Theia countered.

“I was a genius a minute ago.  So what’re you going to do with the rest of your life since you don’t need people?”

“Just live quietly and one day buy a little cottage and write books all day long,” Theia said. 

“Wouldn’t you rather live at a tropical resort, surrounded by constant parties and being waited on by cabana boys bringing you fruity umbrella drinks?”  Lu jiggled in her seat as though dancing.

“Oh, no.  Give me the quiet life.  Peace and calm.  I’d have a little garden and an orchard.  I’d be pretty much self-sufficient.  My needs would be simple and few.  That sounds like my brand of heaven.”