Broken Serenade (33 page)

    Everyone thought she was a girly girl, a frail, weak, young woman. She had never hurt a fly in her entire life.
Tonight that would have to work to my advantage
, Vivien reflected.

    LaFontain took the bite.

    “OK, girl, but hurry up!”

   
She opened the door, and they both entered the exquisite, elegant bathroom with skylight and glass floor with an ocean theme. Vivien cast a glimpse to the toilet and felt a spark of hope invigorating her. Now all she needed was courage and cold blood.
I must do this for Tee. Otherwise, Lili will kill him
, she thought. She splashed cold water on her face and took a few sips. Then she acted as if she prepared to sit on the toilet, but she would not undress.

    “Please
, don’t look!” She asked the older woman. “I can’t do it if you look, and we’ll stay here forever.”

    “OK! OK!
I’m not looking. Anyway, do you think I’ve never seen sexy little panties like yours?” LaFontain laughed wickedly.

    Vivien turned and lifted the
heavy lid of the toilet’s water basin slowly and silently. Without a second thought, she sprang to her feet and struck LaFontain with it, right on the top of her head, as hard as she could. The woman stood still as a rock for two or three endless seconds. Vivien stopped breathing, scared to death. Then she saw the secretary crumbling to the floor like a ragdoll. A few drops of blood on the immaculate-white porcelain lid made Vivien queasy. She bent and grabbed the revolver from the floor. Sick from her stomach, she heaved a couple of times but didn’t vomit.

    Vivien wasn’t really sure
about what she would do with the pistol. She had never fired a gun. But then again, she had never hit a person in the head with the lid of a toilet water basin, and tonight she had done it successfully. She tried to encourage herself and have trust in her own forces. She had a mission: she needed to save her lover from being killed. In her eyes, that licensed her to do just about anything in her power.
And beyond!

CHAPTER 29 

   
 
T
he night was cold and humid, but Clark felt his body burning with anticipation. He took of his jacket and threw it nervously at his feet. He started to feel the wall behind the huge bush of ivy.
Got it!
He carefully touched the metallic handle that opened the secret entrance into the mansion. The blood was boiling at his temples.  

   
Only ninety minutes earlier, everything seemed under control. Under
his
control anyway! Armed with strong evidence, he had decided to pay his brother a late night visit and have a serious discussion with him and Vivien. He had noticed the odd van in the driveway and the lights on in the garage from afar. Suddenly, an ominous foreboding had come over him hurting as badly as a thorn pushed cruelly into his heart. He had turned off his headlights and had driven closer to the house. He had seen Vivien and Tim escorted by two strange blonde women and getting into that peculiar van.
Tim would never take Vivien for a nocturnal ride in such a junk
, Clark had thought worriedly.
And those female giants in black leather pants don’t quite fit into the picture as Vivien’s chaperons.  

   
After a short pause, he had seen that van departing, and he had speculated that both Tim and Vivien had been tied up inside it. Timothy’s Mercedes driven by his mysterious secretary had followed it closely, which added to the drama.   

    Clark had been on their tracks all the way from Menlo Park to Monterey Peninsul
a. He had experienced some sort of relief when both cars had stopped before that sumptuous villa erected on the border of the ocean. A few miles back, his car had started to signal empty fuel tank. At that moment of panic on the highway, Clark had decided to call Detective Leonard. Unfortunately, the detective had not answered his phone, and Clark had left a message. Now he could only hope that Art Leonard checked his messages often. He had watched Timothy and Vivien walk out of that van with their hands behind their back, and both had vanished behind this wall along with their presumed kidnappers.

    Clark prepared his gun and got himsel
f ready for action. Time was very precious. He could not afford to lose a single second. He anticipated that he would meet at least one armed-person – Timothy’s repugnant secretary. He had seen the other two younger women leaving the property only a couple of minutes ago, one in the van, and the other in Timothy’s Mercedes.

    He couldn’t divert his thoughts from Timothy’s secretary.
How the hell can you hire a Homo Neanderthal like this LaFontain – especially on a secretary position – when the earth is full of beautiful women?
Clark wondered perplexed, recalling her permanent acrimony and the hostility on the woman’s face whenever chance brought them together in the same room.
This is the price you pay for excessive pity, dear brother!

   
Clark inhaled deeply and switched the metallic handle. The doors slid open noiselessly, and a deserted interior emerged. The design of it was jaw-dropping – white marble and glass in the most elegant and expensive combination. With every fiber of his muscles tense, Clark froze and listened. An obnoxious laughter reverberated from upstairs. He could have sworn that he was able to pick up fragments of conversation. He glanced at the spiral stairway.
There’s no imminent danger
. He decided to climb it. Every step enhanced his ability to understand more and more words from a dialogue. He realized that one of the persons talking was his brother. The other voice gave him the creeps – it was Lili! He let his hearing guide him, and soon he arrived before a closed door. He stood there for a while, his back against the wall, trying to imagine the position of every person in that room. Judging by the noise and conversation, it appeared that only Timothy and Lili were inside.

   
What the hell did they do with poor Vivien? Where could she be?

    
He touched ever so carefully the golden handle and discovered relieved that it opened without a sound. Praying to God that this would not be his last move, he cracked open the door with his right shoulder. He held the gun tightly with both hands and took a glimpse inside to evaluate the situation. First thing he registered was Lili’s hand, wearing too many bracelets and rings, and then the pistol she was pushing into Timothy’s naked chest. For a second, he met his brother’s stunned look. He motioned Tim not to give up his silent entrance, and his brother did just that. Lili was rocking sensually in his lap, struggling to undo the belt of his pants with only one hand.  

    “You’ll never be able to do that, Lili!” Timothy said
, trying to keep her busy as Clark made up his mind about what to do next. “Not to mention that you could accidentally shoot me, and that would ruin your plan. Put the gun down for a few seconds and occupy yourself only with my pants. You’re not Napoleon to multitask successfully. Even he failed miserably in the end.”

    The woman stopped.

    “Don’t delude yourself into believing that you’ll walk out of here alive, dear Timothy! You
don’t stand a chance,” Lili threatened, smelling the air around with her nostrils enlarged, as if she had sensed the danger.

    “LaFontain!” she yelled toward the bathroom. “Is everything all right in there?”

    No answer came to calm her.

    “LaFontain!” Lili thundered. She jumped to her feet keeping the pistol aimed at Timothy.

    Clark could not find a place to hide. He acted on impulse.

    “Good evening, Lili! Long time no see!”

    The woman pushed the gun to Tim’s neck and swung about. Her face turned white.

    “How the hell did you get
in here? Fuck!
Merde!
Where the hell are those cretins? LaFontain! Galina!” She yelled, panic-stricken and shaky. 

   
“Now, my dear,” Clark spoke. Quite amused, he leaned against the wall by the entrance. “Don’t you think that it’s ridiculous to force a man to have sex with you when that’s the only thing I’ve been dreaming of ever since I turned sixteen? You had a reputation in high school. Remember? Guys fought for your favors. You were delightful from what they used to say. Now you look desperate, my dear. What a bitch time is! If you’re in such need, I can always oblige. I propose I change places with Tim. No guns involved, and I’m open to any of your BDSM fantasies. What do you say?”  

    “You a
re disgusting! And despicable! If you make the slightest move, I’ll shoot your baby brother.”

    Clark seemed to ignore her threat. 

    “Am I really the disgusting and despicable one in this room? Then what do you have to say in your favor when, only a few seconds ago, you were attempting to rape your future son-in-law?”

   
Lili erupted in hysterical laughter.

   
“You’re crazy! You’re so damn crazy, you suck!” she said.

    “Vivien is your daughter, Lili.
The one you gave up for adoption when you were sixteen. I have the proof in my pocket,” Clark declared firmly, keeping his gun aimed at her.

    A
black Labrador pushed the door opened and entered panting with excitement. The dog went straight to Lili and lay at her feet, oblivious to the tension in the room.

    “Sammie,” Lili commanded, “go get him
, boy! Kill him!”

    The dog yawned wide
exposing its sharp fangs.  

    Clark swallowed hard. Next instant, Sammie got up and started to crunch the bonbons on the floor with much eagerness.

*                                          *                                         *

    The marble floor was cold
as ice under her feet summarily protected by the fancy silk stockings. Vivien had abandoned her high heel shoes outside the bathroom. She advanced slowly along the small hallway without making the slightest noise. As she distinguished Clark’s voice, her heart made a joyful leap in her chest. She took a step out in the open. And she froze. Instantly. The huge black dog she had seen at Arlene’s memorial service was munching bonbons ten inches from Tee’s leg. The fear paralyzed her. She stood there petrified as a dead rock. Only her heart beat like a drum. Around her, the air seemed to have suddenly grown poor in oxygen. She forced her eyes to look somewhere else. She chose Timothy’s hands. The right one was moving rapidly. He was rubbing a piece of glass on the scarf that bound his hands together.
Tee needs me. I have to be strong! It’s just a dog,
she thought, fighting her phobia. Driven by sheer willpower, she walked up to his hands. Now she was so close, she could touch him. She felt the sweet, floral scent that accompanied Lili. She could recall it from her childhood.

    “You miserable, lazy dog,”
Lili cried frustrated. “You’re good for nothing,” she yelled, hitting the Labrador in the ribs with her pointed shoe.

   
Sammie yelped in pain.

    “Come here, boy!” Clark called. “Hey, Sammie, here, here boy!”

    The dog rushed to his side and started to lick his free hand.

    “Dogs know people, Lili. The
y smell a good person from miles away,” he told her.

    Lili let out a false, short laugh
ter. Instinctively, her glance slid transiently toward the entrance door. In the same time, the room reverberated with Timothy’s urgent call.

    “Clark! Watch out!
”   

    Vivien s
aw Clark spin instantly. His deadly punch met the carefully made-up face of one of the Russians. The woman hit the floor and remained motionless. From behind the door, Galina sprang inside like a panther, a pistol ready in her hand. Clark caught her arm and broke it on the doorframe. The woman cried in agony as he pushed her violently down the stairs. Vivien heard her as she tumbled down like a ball. If she were still alive, Galina could conclude she was extremely lucky.

    Panicky and disappointed that
the entire situation had taken such an unexpectedly bad turn, Lili turned her gun to Clark’s direction and fired. The bullet missed the man’s ear by a quarter of an inch and penetrated the white wall on the staircase.

    “I wouldn’t do that the second time if I were you,” Vivien told her
, as she pushed LaFontain’s pistol in the woman’s back.

    “Vivien,” Lili whispered without moving. “I am your mother. You heard that, didn’t you
, child?”

    “I have a wonderful mother. I don’t
really care about another. And if you are indeed my natural parent, I sincerely don’t find any reason to be happy about it. On the contrary, I would say. You bring bad news once again. You’ll never be more than a deranged, hate-fueled woman for me.”

    “
But Vivien, I gave you life. You can’t take mine.”  

    “Try me,” Vivien challenged. “
Your desire to kill Tee, it’s reason enough for me to pull the trigger. So put the gun on the piano. Slowly.”