Wicked Obsessions (29 page)

She had to keep a level head. The only alternative she could think of was to drive straight to the nearest police station, but the only one she knew the exact location of was in White Plains. She gripped the steering wheel a little tighter and determined not to have an accident that would cause her to stop before she got to her safe destination.

All her worst fears abruptly proved groundless, however, when the Cadillac left the turnpike, taking the exit to the Holland Tunnel and Lower Manhattan.
Lower Manhattan?
Where Selena lived! Teri was trembling. She would find out if her shadow had been Selena, and if it was, there was no way she was going to excuse her this time.

The moment she got in her house she dialed Selena's number.

"Hello," Selena answered in her Marilyn Monroe voice.

Teri hesitated, realizing how terrible it would be to accuse her wrongfully, yet she was too angry to play guessing games. "Selena, were you following me today?" She heard the sound of sharply inhaled breath, then nothing for several seconds.

"It's not safe for a woman alone on the turnpike," Selena whined like a bad little girl who knew punishment was forthcoming and would say anything to put it off.

"Selena! Answer me! Were you following me all day?"

"We-l-l-l..."

"Selena!"

"Yes but I was only trying to protect you," she spilled out quickly. "It's not safe."

"Do you have any idea what you put me through? I was terrified! I thought it was someone with the mob, intending to kill me. I'm still shaking so bad I can hardly hold this phone. And how did you know I'd be driving on the turnpike or where I'd be going?
I
didn't even know until this morning!" Instead of calming down by venting her fury at Selena, Teri was getting angrier by the second.

"I didn't mean to scare you." Selena's voice was so high it squeaked, and there was a definite hint of tears about to fall. "Oh, please, don't be mad at me. I only drove to your house to see you for a minute this morning, and then I saw you driving away and I got nervous for you. I only wanted to protect you. I didn't mean to let you see me watching over you."

"Whether you meant to let me see you is not the point. You shouldn't have been following me at all. If I want someone to protect me, I'll hire a bodyguard!"

Selena sniffed. "I'm sorry."

Teri was no longer influenced by the timid little girl voice. "Just don't
ever
do anything like that again." She hung up without bothering to say goodbye.

* * *

Selena hung up the phone and went to bed. Rocking Juliette back and forth, she said, "Don't cry. Everything will be fine. She's just mad at us now because she doesn't understand. But she will. One day we'll tell her everything we know and why we had to make sure she wasn't with
him.
But I don't want to make her any madder right now, so I won't go see her for a few days. You'll see, the next time I see her she'll be happy again. Do you think she'd like a surprise?"

She likes Chinese food. You could bring it to her while she's working.

Selena bounced up and down. "What a good idea! She'll be so happy she'll forget she was ever mad at us. Let's see, now—today is Tuesday. She said she needed space and time alone. How long should I wait to surprise her?"

Three days. Surprise her on the Fourth of July.

* * *

Appropriately, Teri was awakened on the Fourth of July by the sound of firecrackers popping in front of her house. The neighborhood children had started their celebrating early this year. It was just as well. Drew would be here soon and they planned to do some celebrating of their own.

With each day that had passed since Captain Hart's visit, they became more convinced that Detective Kidder was the only one who'd thought they were guilty of anything. Captain Hart had called Teri once, but he had made it clear that he just wanted to be sure she was all right and that she would call if anyone bothered her. No more questions had been asked. No one was watching them—no police, no messengers from the mob. Other than Selena, no one seemed the least bit interested in what Teri and Drew were doing. And even Selena had apparently straightened herself out after Teri had told her off. Selena hadn't called once since then.

As if Teri's thoughts had sent a message straight to Manhattan, the phone rang. She sat up and checked caller ID. It was Selena. She let it go to voice mail while she went into the bathroom. After pouring herself a cup of coffee, she listened to the message.

"Good morning, Teri. It's Selena. I thought you'd be up by now. Well, I guess you're still in bed or in the shower. Please call me as soon as possible. I want to make sure you'll be home today. It
is
a holiday, so you shouldn't be working. You do need to take a day off once in a while, you know. Okay. Call me."

From the chirping quality of Selena's voice, Teri could tell that she believed all was forgotten, or at least forgiven. Teri's stomach's reaction to the call told her this wasn't yet the case for her. There was no way she wanted to take the chance of Selena showing up uninvited again and ruining this day. In fact, she really didn't feel like dealing with Selena and her weird mood swings anytime in the near future.

Though she was still irritated at Selena, she knew she couldn't just tell her to stop calling and stay away. Teri hadn't even been able to say that to Rico after years of wrong-doings. She would have to lie out of necessity—to avoid crushing Selena's feelings in one blow, and to insure that she and Drew would have their day of celebration. She dialed Selena's number.

"Good morning!" Selena said cheerfully.

"Good mording," Teri replied, unable to pronounce the "n" because she was holding her nose. "It's Teri."

"Dear heavens. You sound awful."

"I picked up a little cold."

"Are you taking anything?"

"Aspirin, tea, and lots of chicken doodle soup. I just deed to rest."

"I'd better come by and—"

"Don't do that! I'm dot that bad. And there's do sense in you catching it from me. Anyway, I'm the kind of person that would rather be left alone when I'm sick. I hear my kettle whistling. I'll talk to you in a couple days."

* * *

Selena smiled at Juliette. "This is even better than we planned. I'll get to show her how well I could take care of her if she'd let me move into her house."

But she said she wanted to be left alone. You don't want to make her mad again.

"Oh, that's just her way of being nice. You know how she's always thinking of other people first. She doesn't want to be a bother. But
everybody
likes to be taken care of when they're sick, even if they say they don't. I'll have to remember to get extra won-ton soup when I pick up the food. Now, what else should I bring?"

How about the Story. It always makes me feel better when you read it to me.

Selena gave Juliette a happy hug. "That's the bestest idea you've had yet. Maybe after she hears the Story, she'll start to understand."

* * *

"Sit right there and close your eyes," Teri instructed Drew as she nudged him onto a stool in the studio.

Drew sat, but he was still staring at the white sheet draped over a large board on an easel.

"C'mon," Teri teased. "Close your eyes, or I don't take the sheet off. And until I take the sheet off and you
ooh
and
aah,
I don't take anything else off."

Drew laughed at her empty threat, but closed his eyes as she ordered.

Quickly she removed the sheet and tossed it on the day bed. Standing to one side of the display board, she told him he could open his eyes.
"Ta-dah,"
she sang, waving her arm like a magician's assistant.

Drew came off the stool with an appreciative "Wow." Stepping up to the board, he studied each of the separate groupings she'd arranged there with a critical eye. Teri had selected five close-ups of each of six of the subjects he had photographed in the past week.

She stood quietly but impatiently, waiting for his opinion of her choices. When he made her wait a second longer than she thought necessary, she demanded, "Well? What do you think?"

He moved his gaze over each set again and rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. Finally, he pointed to one photograph of a little boy. "I think I could have gotten a better angle on this one, but other than that, they show the work of a true genius."

She playfully slapped his arm. "You're supposed to build up
my
ego, not yours."

"O-o-h," he said, pulling her into his arms. "You were expectin'
oohs
and
aahs.
Well, I'm savin' those for the second unveilin', ma'am."

Her lower body had no trouble interpreting precisely what unveiling he was referring to. "Then I guess you'll have to come up with some other complimentary phrases regarding the first. Unless..." She made a grimace to express her doubt about the perfection of her arrangements.

Drew turned her around to face the board, but still held her close against his chest as he critiqued her choices. "When I was developin' all the film, I picked the same six subjects, but I didn't want to influence your selection." He dipped his head to kiss her ear and she squirmed against him. "I thought you wanted my opinion. I can't think if you're doin' that."

Teri laughed and moved again.

"Uh-uh. If you want to hear what I really think, you have to stand perfectly still."

She froze in place, knowing very well she wouldn't be able to stay like that with his breath fanning over her ear and his fingers stroking her bare arms, and he knew it, too. But she thought it might be fun to see how long she could hold out against the seduction he was obviously intending, and she played along.

She remained stiff as he discussed the first two arrangements, despite the chills running up and down her back from his kissing her neck.

She started losing ground on the next two, when his hands crept under her t-shirt and unhooked the front closure on her bra. But she knew he was slipping just as fast as she was from the way his body was straining to melt into hers.

By the sixth set, neither one of them had any idea what Drew's opinion was. And they didn't care.

* * *

Selena was a little surprised to see Drew's car next to Teri's in the driveway. She thought he'd be picnicking with his cousin's family today. But then, knowing he was struggling to get his career off the ground, perhaps he didn't want to take the time off. She hoped he hadn't bothered Teri, as bad as she was feeling.

When there was no answer at Teri's front door, she went around to the kitchen and knocked there. She chided herself for not realizing that Teri might be napping when she arrived. She should have brought the keys she'd taken from Rico. That way, she could have just gone on in and left the food on the counter. Making a mental note to put the keys in her purse when she got home, she headed up the stairs to the studio. Teri probably kept an extra house key up there.

Assuming Drew was in the darkroom, she tried the knob before knocking. The unlocked door opened easily and she stepped inside.

A moment later a bloodcurdling scream lodged in her throat and the box of food dropped out of her hands. She barely felt the splash of hot soup on her feet. She couldn't make out the words being hurled at her. All she knew was what she saw—a naked woman being held down on all fours by a naked, sweating, humping pig.

Selena ran from the reality and the memory it stirred. The part of her mind that knew who those two people were had her racing down the stairs and speeding away in her car. The part of her that saw that other couple from her past was screaming in silence all over again.

* * *

Sixteen-year-old Selena ran deeper and deeper into the pine forest in back of her house. She ran until she was certain no one would find her. She ran until her lungs burned and her leg muscles gave out and her body collapsed on the cold, damp ground.

He had lied. He had betrayed her mother
and
her.

Three years of following every one of his disgusting directions to
help him keep her mother happy and healthy.
Selena had taken the pills that made her sick to her stomach and bloated her body. She had suffered the agony and embarrassment of repeated visits to the doctor to treat the infections she'd contracted, infections the doctor had warned her were caused by allowing a boy to use her in unclean ways. She had learned to say the words he wanted to hear and perform the acts that made him groan with pleasure and grow weak with satisfaction.

And she had never told a soul.

She had never gone out on a date or even to a school dance because he didn't approve of anyone touching her but him.

She didn't have any girlfriends because she couldn't share her secrets with them. To her classmates, she was a freak.

Because of two men. One had made her look different than everyone else by heredity. The other had forced her into a shameful existence. And they had each shown her that the world was very different from what other girls her age thought.

Until that day, she had thought she hated only the first man. For a while, she had even thought she loved the second.