The Cries of the Butterfly - A LOVE STORY (45 page)

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S
ome sixth sense snapped her out of her catnap and she straightened. An investigative reporter’s intuition perhaps, or perhaps a shamus’s.

Sure enough she saw the jeep approach. She quickly glanced at her watch and was surprised to see it was three am. She had been snoozing for an hour now, astride her parked Honda mobike, outside Dias Apartment, her arms on the handlebar, her forehead on her forearms. Now, she ran her fingers through her crew-cut and swung her legs off the front seat.

She watched Wolf Butcher park and emerge. But he didn’t seem to notice her. Her eyes narrowed—there was a distinct lurch in his movements, as if he was drunk. He made it to the front door of his apartment and began fiddling with the key. Somehow it wouldn’t go into the slot.
Perhaps I should go over,
she thought.
But better still, let me just wait and watch.
That would be far more interesting. She appreciated she was observing some rare unguarded moments of the world’s biggest superstar. He stumbled and almost hit the ground. Somehow he corrected himself. After some more fumbling things jammed, and Wolf walked into the house. She now quickly tore after him before he could shut the door. He threw the lights on, then turned around to glance at the interloper. Maddy Witcher recoiled with utter shock.
Oh my goodness!

His face and neck were badly gashed and bled from a thousand places. His shirt was scuffed and bright red splotches patterned it in a crazy design. Tough and seen-it-all as she was, her jaw slumped.

“You’ve hurt yourself! Shit…what happened?”

He didn’t answer. She took a step forward. “Don’t you recognize me?” She placed a hand on his arm.

He blinked, then began lumbering to the bedroom. Maddy Witcher followed him.

He stumbled again and she grabbed him. She made him sit down on one of the chairs near the doorway. She looked around, located a pitcher, and put a glass of water to his lips.

“Drink this,” she said.

His slashed lips began to tremble. She noticed the cellphone on his belt and she kept the glass down and snatched the handset. She walked away from him and standing in the far corner of the room, she whispered animatedly into the instrument.

“Come on, let’s go,” she said coming back to him. She took him under the right armpit and hauled him to his feet. He resisted feebly, but she was determined.

She took the wheel of the jeep and they reached destination in five minutes, Maddy Witcher darting through the deserted streets like a bull whose testicles were being wrung.

A rotund bald man of medium height waited in the shadows of a building, in toilet slippers and tousled night dress. The substantial scowl on his face spoke of his fine mood. He yawned aloud and stepped out of the shadows when he saw the jeep.

“This better be blinking good, Witcher!” he shouted as Maddy jumped out of the vehicle. She ignored him and walked over to Wolf’s side.

“Heavens!” Doctor Roscoe Tanner cried. “What in blinking hell’s happened here?”

“Help me for goodness’s sakes,” she barked at the medic.

Once inside the clinic, Dr. Tanner became the consummate professional.

And Maddy Witcher became his nurse.

There was a lot to do.

The doc doffed the patient’s shirt at the outset and he and Witcher gasped again. There were wild gashes all over the torso—deep, ugly gashes.

Wolf’s face needed sewing in two places—the lower left jaw begged for eight sutures and the chin six. The right front side of the neck required another ten sutures, and a laceration just under the hollow of the throat needed eight. There were other cuts on the neck, but they would be spared the staple.

The chest, stomach and shoulder had been done through the shirt and had a total of eleven slashes, of different sizes and forms, five of which necessitated suturing. What, however, made the whole business impossible was the way the flesh had been dealt. So mangled were the wounds, it required all the skill, concentration and patience that the doctor could marshal.

It was nearing dawn when Tanner finally finished. He dumped the gloves, washed his hands and face, then went to the office and collapsed in his chair. Maddy, supporting Wolf along, joined him.

“I can’t blinking believe you did this to him!” Tanner said shaking his head in disbelief. “I always knew you were one wild cat and that one blinking day you’d lose it. But this!”

“Don’t be a prick, Roscoe, I did no such thing! He fell into a thorn bush. I asked him while coming here.”

“That be no work of a thorn bush, dear. He was done by a blinking beast. A blinking Human beast—human claws and human fangs.”

“I don’t believe you!”

“You
really
didn’t do it?”

She glared murder at him.

“Then blinking who?” he said.

“I still don’t believe you. No human can do such a thing. No way.” She turned to Wolf. “Ask him yourself.”

But Wolf seemed incognizant of his surroundings, his eyes glazed and unseeing.

“Most of the blinking gashes on the face and neck were inflicted by the teeth,” the doctor added. “The rest came from fingernails. Sharp ones too. Must say it was a ravenous human vampire.” He leaned forward and scribbled a prescription.

Maddy rose to her feet. “How much do I owe you?”

“You will pay? That’s a first one!”

“How much do I owe you, I asked!”

He clicked his tongue. “Later. I need to get back to my blinking bed before my balls fall off.”

“Do you have any left?” Then she took Wolf’s arm and walked him gingerly to the jeep.

.

T
he painkiller kicked in and he was almost dozing when they reached home. She lay him carefully down on the bed, then as he slipped into a nap, she took his cellphone and went into the living room.

“Glick, this is me.”

“For heaven’s sakes, Maddy!”

“Don’t be a prick! Now, listen…I won’t be showing up today. Emergency.”

“What emergency?” the person at the other end demanded.

“It’s personal. Nothing that’d interest you.”

“Whose cellphone is this? This isn’t your number.”

“A friend’s.”

“What happened to yours?”

“Need to recharge. No balance left.”

“Like hell there’s no balance left!” the person called Glick spat. “Ever the stingy little witch…”

“Okay, okay, now park your dick and go back to sleep.”

She cut the line, switched the handset off, then returned to the bedroom. For a while, she watched Wolf as he slept, then she settled down in one steel chair near the door. She was used to snoozing in the upright.

When the doorbell rang for the first time this Monday, April 28th, it was nearing nine am.

Maddy Witcher snapped out of her vertical slumber and walked to the door.

“Yeah…who’re you and what do you want?” she demanded, squinting at the caller.

“Who are
you
?” the caller retorted.

“A friend of Mr. Butcher.”

“An employee of Mr. Butcher.”

Maddy hesitated, then let the man in.

“My name is Knott, ma’am. And you?”

“Keep your voice down,” she whispered. “Mr. Butcher isn’t too well and is resting. … Knott? As in Stanley Knott?”

He flushed at being recognized by a total stranger. Then he asked, “What’s wrong with Mr. Butcher?” He began rushing to the bedroom, but Maddy grabbed his arm.

“Don’t be a prick! He needs to rest. You shan’t disturb him.”

“Don’t you touch me!” He yanked his arm free, then dashed to the bedroom. “Oh, Jesus! … Jesus…Lord! What happened…!” He came back to the living room. “Who did this to him?! Who?! You? … You did this?! … Who the hell are you really?” His hands turned to fists and suddenly he launched at her.

She quickly backed away. “Don’t be a prick! Listen to me…!”

But seeing his boss thus had unhinged Stan Knott. Maddy let out a scream of alarm and dived for the main door. But Knott was on her like a ferret. He snatched her throat from behind and flung her to the floor. He jumped atop her and began strangling her with all his might.

“STOP IT! … STANLEY!” Wolf shouted, coming up from behind.

“Sir!”

“Fuck sir…get off her!” He kicked Knott in the buttock, then grimaced as pain shot up his spine.

.

“
I
want the truth. And please none of that
fell into a thorn bush
garbage,” Maddy said, sitting next to him on the bed.

“I hired you as my PI. Please stick to your brief,” Wolf said, lying on his back. “This has nothing to do with you.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“No.”

“Why did you hire me then?”

“Because you approached me first. Because McKenzie recommended you. Because I was desperate. Because I couldn’t find anyone else.”

“I’m hurt.”

“You have feelings?”

“Don’t be a prick!” she said. “And remember, if it hadn’t been for me, you’d have bled to death by now. You owe me big time—I saved your life.”

Don’t exaggerate, lady, I wouldn’t have died from that.
“So you’re demanding your pound of flesh now? You want to publish this in your rag?”

“Don’t be a prick! I told you the other night that whatever I learn during my work as a PI never sees print. Never. I’m a professional and keep my two jobs apart. Have I disclosed your hideout?”

Wolf studied her for a second. “So what did you find out about Cass?” he asked.

“First you.”

“Look, I’m paying you decent money, so please don’t play with me, Miss Witcher.”

She stared at him, then shrugged. “You wanted the muck on Ian Cass. But zilch. The man is cleaner than distilled water. Even Jesus couldn’t have been more pristine.”

“Come now, there has to be something. One little thing. Some minor misdemeanor, perhaps way back in the past. Something. Every human being has made some mistake, the minutest.”

“I know you’re desperate, Holly-boy. But this man is so chaste he makes me want to puke. It’s unbelievable, but unfortunately it’s true.”

Wolf shook his head. “You haven’t done your work to the fullest then. Perhaps I should hire another investigator.”

“You’d be wasting your time and money, Holly-boy. I’ll tell you something—I knew how desperate you were, so I took the liberty of seeking the assistance of other major investigators in the city. They all came up with the same conclusion: Ian Cass is the eighth wonder of the world.”

Wolf’s face fell.

“I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. It isn’t Cass you want to go after,” Maddy said.

“Uh?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Dad?”

She nodded. “Exactly. Everyone knows Cass is just the front—the pawn. In truth, it is President Butcher who is thwarting you. It’s his hernia you should seek.” She regarded him for a second. “So what you say, I investigate President Butcher? Righteous and correct as he is, there’s bound to be something on
him
. In fact, I guarantee you I shall come up with at least one significant misdemeanor from his past, something you can really use.”

“NO!” Then more quietly, “No. In any case, Cass is his own man when it comes to all that morality stuff. Dad has no hold over him there.”

Maddy smiled. “I must hand it to you. Despite the way he has screwed your life, despite the way he is still screwing you, you’re so loyal to him. Boy, am I touched!” She put one hand on her chest and patted his thigh with the other. “So what do you want me to do now, Holly-boy?”

“Hey, why do you keep calling me
Holly-boy?!
”

“Because you are the big-shot Hollywood boy. Aren’t you?”

“Cut it out, okay. I don’t like it. It’s fucking demeaning. … And I’m not a boy anymore.”

“Oh, you Hollywood lads forever remain boys, even when you turn eighty…till your last breaths. It isn’t in your DNA to grow up.”

“Shut up!”

She shrugged. “Whatever. … Come, it’s your turn now. Tell me what happened to you. The truth. You promised.”

“I promised no such thing.”

“Then do it as a favor.”

“Why are you so damn insistent?”

“Just a reporter’s voyeuristic inquisitiveness. But I promise I won’t publish a thing.”

He thought for a moment. Suddenly he felt an overpowering need to confide in someone. Someone who wasn’t close to him, yet not a total stranger either.

“I don’t want even Knott to know; nor anybody in my family. Absolutely no one.”

“Whatever you tell me remains secured in my heart. Even my lungs won’t know. Girl scout’s honor.”

“You’re a female? Really?”

“You want to see my pussy?”

He flushed furiously and looked away.

She chuckled.

After a while, he took a deep breath. And then he flowed, holding nothing back. It was as if a valve had suddenly been released, a long clogged valve, a valve that was now flushing out the dirt and the ugliness of it all.