Heroine: California Dreamin' (22 page)

Daniel woke up with sun rise as usual when he doesn’t set his alarm clock. He turned towards me and looked at me still sleepy.

“Shit, my head is humming”, he grumbled with squinted eyes. “I won’t make the day without aspirin.” Only now it seemed to dawn on him that I was lying beside him. I looked at him in love, slid towards him under the blanket and nestled on his hairy chest. He reacted somewhat bewildered.

“Tell me, did I do you last night … you know what I mean …,” he stuttered.

“You mean: fuck me really hard?” I helped him out. “Didn’t you have fun? Last night you were much more assertive. Or would you like once more? I am available”, I whispered to him. He embraced me tightly.

“Darling, I didn’t mean to hurt you. Please forgive me. I still don’t know what came over me. I guess that came from drinking too much.”

“First of all
I
had wanted it. And second of all you are entitled to it as long as I agree. And thirdly it didn’t hurt at all. Really. And you didn’t drink too much either. You only had two glasses of wine”, I lectured him.

“Not true. When you didn’t come out of the bathroom for ages I had started with a few whiskeys. I probably was frustrated.” When my husband described his feelings he could rarely find the right expressions for it. He was really mad yesterday in addition to some other emotions he went through. I tried to cheer him up but he evaded my touches.

“I need to go to work. I already wasn’t on vacation any longer yesterday and just called out sick. Mei Li will rip my head off if I don’t show up today.” He got up with a groan and staggered into the kitchen. I heard how he dissolved a tablet in a glass of water. I was enraged but not about Daniel but rather about this Miss Gibson. I knew she was his boss but that didn’t give her the right to order him around in that way. She would rip off his head!? Oh well, if it was only that part. “Has no use for men anyways”, I mumbled to myself. “Important is she doesn’t touch him anywhere else or I will rip off
her
head, that bitch”, I muttered quietly to myself.

“Did you say something?” Daniel called from the kitchen.

“Yes, that I love you very much and that I already miss you”, I yelled back. We had breakfast together a bit later where Daniel’s consumption featured just an additional aspirin.

“It really didn’t hurt you at all
?” he inquired again when I gave him a big hug at the door to say good bye to him. I shook my head and gave him a long kiss. Sometimes he could be really touching. I cleaned up the whiskey bottle in the living room that was still sitting there. It was empty.

The ‘warm’ feeling in my belly evaporated quickly when I was by myself again. The quiet in the house soon occupied my mind and mood like a black blanket. The noises from the outside startled me once in a while and until nine o’clock I had run at least five times to the window beside the front door to see whether somebody had approached our home. I slowly understood that the attack from last week had not left me unscathed. The three kidnappers and their boss were still on the loose and a threat to me that I couldn’t rationalize away. Why the charges against me had been dropped I didn’t know. Of course Irene was behind it. But how did she manage that? And wasn’t it possible that the gang would reappear? Didn’t the fat guy threaten me to have me imprisoned if I would betray them? He was almost successful. I had to go and see Irene to understand what was going down here. Hastily I got dressed and grabbed my purse. I wore sneakers and short pants so I could run away quickly if I were attacked. Before I left I looked through every window to see if there was somebody in the garden or hiding in the bushes. With the Taser in my hand I sneaked to my Chevy that was parked in the open garage. Only when I sat in the car and locked the doors I noticed that I had held my breath for the whole time. I took some deep breaths, then I rolled out. At the turn into the road I looked around carefully. Nothing to my right or the left so I could step on the gas.

At that moment I saw them. Two men in dark suits sat in a parked black Buick. They wore sunglasses what gave them some threatening appearance. I was aware that they were there because of me when they started their vehicle in the same moment when I had reached the middle lane. Desperately I looked into the rearview mirror. They stayed behind me consistently though I changed the lane several times and turned into some side streets repeatedly. I pondered for a short while if I should just speed away and drive as long as their tank would be empty and they couldn’t catch up to me. A look at the tank gauge of my car showed me that this was an idiotic thought. My gas tank was almost empty. Irene was now the only safe heaven. She was strong enough to even cope with these bastards. In all other times I had parked my car always on the street in front of her house. This time I raced with squealing tires and with my hands on the horn directly before her garage and ran directly into her arms right before I wanted to knock on her front door.

“But you are quite stormy today,” she laughed. “Are you that eager to see me again?” stuttering and with wide opened arms
. I pointed to the road where the black limousine parked that had followed me so far.

“They follow me, they belong to those who had abducted me”, I stammered like I was hounded. In disbelief I looked at Irene when she broke out in laughter.

“I actually expect from these dudes that they pursue you. Woe to them if they lose sight of you again. Calm down my child. They are here to protect you and they don’t belong to the kidnappers. Come, and I introduce you.” Still laughing she dragged me down the road and I stumbled behind her with wobbly knees. Two young fellows peeled themselves out of the huge vehicle and remained respectfully standing before Irene whereas they took off their sun glasses. At this moment they appeared to me to be like trained poodles.

“Special agent Cox and Rivera”, she introduced them to me and the two shook hands with us with serious faces. As the two agents I had met before in Prado those two were hardly older than I was. I took the courage and looked at them a bit closer. In particular agent Rivera was somebody I would have liked to be shadowed a bit closer, but Cox was also a nice fellow.
‘Stop’
something screamed in my head.
‘Not again already. Pull yourself together.’
The aftermath of the alcohol consumption from last night, I noticed quite resigned. Even Irene seemed to notice something because she pulled me back again to the house.

“They are supposed to watch out for you but not get too close to you. So don’t even tempt them because if they are caught they would lose their job. Then they can pay off their expensive training with jobs as temp waiters”, she admonished me. I had been aware for a long time that Irene was able to assess my feelings and moods outstandingly. Sometimes she actually knew what was happening with me before I even noticed it.

“Tea or coffee?” she left me to decide when we sat in the big kitchen. I wanted tea.

“Do you have a lot of work for me?” I asked anxiously at some point. I wanted to direct the conversation to the abduction without being too obvious.

“Work can wait. Now you and I have to talk first.” She immediately knew what was on my mind. I followed her into her office room. Did I mention that it was almost as big as our entire house? I wanted to sit down but she pulled me up and took me into her arms. She squeezed me for a long time. First I was absolutely stiff but then I sank to her chest and succumbed to her warm motherliness.

“Please promise me that you are not mad at me when I’m done with my story. What had happened was at a great part accidental and not planned. We only noticed what we had done when you had disappeared. I love you so much I couldn’t bear if something came between us.” Behind her tough appearance was a sensitive and from many yearnings tormented person. I had known that for a long time because I could appreciate her feelings quite as well. But these words really surprised me. Did she feel guilty? So far I was still afraid that my relationship to her son would uncover the connection to Robert’s death. What did really happen? She sensed my hesitation and let me go but kept her hands on my shoulders. Irene looked me deep in my eyes and only said: “Please”. I nodded and she pulled me towards her again.

“I will always love you”, I said to her. “If there is anything between us we just get rid of it.” That earned me a kiss from her on my forehead. I would have liked more of it, I felt. The damned alcohol! Why did I let myself go again yesterday? I sat beside Irene on the big couch. She had her arm around me.

“Now, what I’ll tell you must stay between you and me. You can’t even share that with your husband.”

“So far I haven’t even told him anything about you. Then this will also remain our secret.”

“Ah, that is right. He was completely surprised when I showed up at his place and he didn’t know what to make of me. By the way you’ve chosen a hell of a man. Such a lucky choice is reserved for only a few women I can assure you. He loves you and adores you. So watch out that nobody snatches him away from you.”

“My mother has the exact opposite belief.”

“Didn’t you tell me once that your mother has some mental issues?” Irene insisted. I nodded. A wave of soft feelings swept over me and I thought longingly of Daniel.

“But now back to business. I wanted to confess something to you. That is a somewhat strange story which didn’t make us look good at all. I’m referring to the FBI and the justice department”, she reacted to my questioning look.

“Well, you do know already that I work for the government. Now, actually I am a bit more involved in the system than most of our acquaintances know. You also know that my husband is prosecutor. Officially I work as temp worker for his office. But mostly I do a bit more because I am also a licensed attorney.

“I thought you aborted your studies?” I interrupted her.

“After Ron, and by the way he sends his warmest regards, could handle his affairs without his mom during the day I made up for my exams and looked for a job where legal experts were needed. What’s wrong with you, you’re shaking? And you are all pale!” The blood swooshed in my ears and the geraniums on the window sill became blurred. All of a sudden they swayed back and forth and I was totally afraid that the flowerpots would fall down. Did she just say that Ron sends his regards? I couldn’t believe it. It took almost an eternity until I felt somewhat normal again. In between Irene had raced to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water and a handful of pills. Only when she stood directly before me I noticed that I had fallen over and now lied sideways on the couch.

“Why and how did Ron manage to find me here? What did he tell you?” I asked timidly when I had reasonably recovered and after I had swallowed half of Irene’s pills.

My biggest fear was so far that the relation between Ron and me would be discovered. And now Irene talked so nonchalantly about it as if she had known it all the time.

“But child, what are you thinking? Sometimes you are truly naïve. Ron and I talk about everything. We have such an excellent relationship that nothing stays in hiding. After you had been arrested because of this prostitution story Ron informed his dad to get you out of there. Charles then talked to the judge and Ron claimed responsibility. Otherwise you wouldn’t have been released so fast.” My memory told me that it was Pete who paid the fine and he had taken responsibility. But that was not important. More important was that Irene had known for all this time that I had an affair with her son.

“And what do you say?” I inquired carefully. Then I bit my lips. Wouldn’t it be better to be quiet and try to act as if nothing ever happened? What should I say if she began asking me about Robert? Irene put her arm around me and squeezed me.

“First I didn’t know who he was talking about when he raved about his new girlfriend. Only when he mentioned that I know you well, I understood that he was referring to you. To be honest I was really relieved when Ron told me about his relation with you. Ever since he’s been sharing a room with the other boy at college I was afraid that the boy would seduce him. Now I am happy that
you
slept with him. If you weren’t married I might have just asked you if you were interested in becoming my daughter in law.” She winked at me impishly and I looked at her with eyes wide open. This was not the scene I had imagined when Irene learned about my liaison with her son. And then the idea to marry Ron? This family was a bit strange. Slowly it dawned on me that I had no need to offer the boys anything at all for the release from the police station in San Jose. Those two were so cunning that I went straight into their trap. I didn’t know whether I should laugh or cry over it. But since Ron had freed me of a nightmare with his regards to me via his mom I decided to be happy. After all I had my fun too.

“You are too kind. Your idea to become Ron’s wife honors me. But since we are already so honest to one another I want to inform you that this would never go over too well. I was only a little adventure for him. Ron has new girlfriends all the time”, I sighed. “He could never be faithful to me.”

“Just like his father”, Irene regretted. “But to me he said that he didn’t have another girlfriend ever since he knew you. He’s madly in love with you. I will call him later and then he can tell me if he has a new girl.” The dim feeling in my belly and head resurfaced. Hopefully that pans out alright. But since Irene didn’t know anything about the porno movie I calmed down again. Ron seemed to be slick enough not to give away all details about his sex life.