Mother Load (14 page)

Lily burst out laughing when she hung up the phone. “Did you just order a French kiss?”

“I hope you’re amused by my humiliation. I’m hiding in the bathroom when they get here.”

“I think you’re adorable when you blush. Now I know why Kim tortures you.” She tried to get up but Anna held her firm.

“Don’t think you’re going to tease me like that and leave me cold.”

“You looking for a quickie?”

“He said twenty-five minutes, and I’m already halfway there. How about you?”

Lily answered by straddling Anna’s hips and clutching both of her breasts. “Not too quick. I like the view from here.”

Anna relaxed for a moment under the attention but as her arousal grew, she gently nudged Lily alongside her and ran her hands along her torso, stopping to caress her growing tummy. “You get more beautiful every day.”

After only a token fight for dominance, Lily closed her eyes and inhaled sharply, a gesture Anna had come to recognize as surrender. Their tongues parried in a lavish kiss as Anna’s hands roamed the familiar body she had claimed only hours ago. It was never enough.

“Go inside me,” Lily whispered.

She parted the wet flesh and delved deep within, her pulse quickening at Lily’s immediate response. Her fingers went still as she waited for Lily to dictate her need, which she made known by the rise and fall of her hips.

Lily’s eyes danced beneath their lids as her expression changed from one of fleeting sensation to deep focus. Anna stared intently, knowing that when Lily tipped she would seek out her gaze. When she did, unspoken emotions passed between them, fortifying their connection and affirming her belief there was no one in the world meant for her but Lily.

“I love how you do that,” Lily said between gasps.

“Do what?”

She took a few seconds to catch her breath. “Everything. After five years of making love with you, I still feel it in my body and soul.” She rolled onto her side and burrowed into Anna’s embrace, hiding her face as if embarrassed. “I know that probably sounds cheesy but I don’t know how else to say it.”

“It’s not cheesy. I know what you mean, that it’s not just a physical thing.”

“Right…but the physical’s nothing to sneeze at,” Lily said, giggling into Anna’s neck.

“So was it good for you?” Anna asked, pretending to smoke a cigarette.

“The best.”

They were interrupted by a swift knock and announcement of room service. Lily dashed naked into the bathroom as Anna grabbed her robe and directed the waiter to wheel the table onto their balcony.

Lily dug into her French toast with zeal. “I can’t believe I’m eating something this decadent. Beth told me I was eating for three now, but then she reminded me the other two weren’t teenage boys. She wouldn’t like this.”

“Then we won’t tell her. Besides, it’s not like you do it every day. You’ve been very good about your diet and exercise. The only thing missing is rest.”

“Can I help it if you keep me up all night?”

Though it had been said playfully, Anna felt a sting of remorse. For all its wondrous release, making love sapped her energy, so it certainly had double the effect on Lily. Beth had warned them that her sexual needs would ebb and flow, but what mattered most was communication. Though getting away for the weekend had been a lovely idea, it wasn’t enough for Lily to relax overnight in a resort. “I want you to make time to get more rest. Seriously, starting tomorrow I’m going to pick up Andy in the afternoon and keep him with me down at the dealership every day. And I’ll take care of dinner on weeknights, even if it means I have to learn to cook.”

“Whoa! Where did that come from?”

“It bothers me to see you so tired. You’re doing something extraordinary for both of us, and the least I can do is take some of the responsibilities off your plate. You should come home from work and soak in the tub…or take a nap, whatever relaxes you. I can’t be pregnant with you, but I can be your partner.”

Lily’s eyes filled with tears. “You are so sweet.”

“Don’t cry!” This was exactly what Hal had warned would happen. “Save your tears for when I start to cook.”

“But it’s sweet that you’d do something like that. Cooking? That’s a life change for you.”

“Look, Lily.” She slid both hands across the table and intertwined their fingers, hoping Lily’s unpredictable mood swings were well behind them. “If I had my way, you’d quit your job tomorrow and stay home. You could sleep as late as you wanted, go for walks…do whatever helped you relax. Having a baby is a big deal. Having two is just…”

Lily didn’t answer but from the set of her jaw, it was clear she wanted no part of this conversation.

“You don’t have to say anything. I already know how you feel about working, and I’ll support you completely. That’s what this is about. If you’re going to work all day, you need to rest at night. Period.”

“Okay,” she conceded, her jaw still firm. “Then I’ll say it again. It’s very sweet of you to do that, and I promise I’ll relax more at home. But if you really want to support me, don’t keep reminding me that you wish I’d quit my job. Those things don’t go together.”

“Fair enough.” She could think it and not say it.

They followed breakfast with a long soak in the spa tub then reluctantly packed for home. As they accelerated onto the Five, Anna made a big show of shifting through the gears. “Just can’t feel those Gs in a minivan.”

“I already said you could keep it.” Her cell phone chimed and she checked the number before answering. Her brow wrinkled immediately. “This can’t be good.”

As her case was announced Lily shuffled to the front of the courtroom, where the bailiff delivered Maria Esperanza to the defense table. In handcuffs and a stiff orange jumpsuit, she looked haggard, as though her last thirty hours had been pure hell. They probably had.

Judge James Anston, an African-American nearing retirement age, busily signed papers placed before him by his clerk, but looked up long enough to ask Lily for her plea.

“Not guilty, Your Honor.”

Her counterpart from the District Attorney’s Office was Rod Samuels, who looked fresh out of law school in his off-the-rack black suit. From his cherubic face, she expected a voice that was much less austere. “The state requests remand.”

“Your Honor, a first-degree murder charge is outrageous in these circumstances. My client had a restraining order that prohibited the victim from coming within a hundred yards and he clearly violated it.”

“The state plans to prove this defendant lured the victim to her home, where she was lying in wait to kill him. Capital crimes are not eligible for bail.”

Lily eyed Samuels with disbelief. “We believe the state’s conclusions have been drawn prematurely, and in a factual vacuum. Once these facts come to light, we expect not simply a reduction of charges, but a dismissal. My client is the primary caretaker for her two small children and—”

“This is just the arraignment, Ms. Kaklis. We’re not here to try the case,” Judge Anston said. “Talk it over with the prosecution. If the state sees fit to reduce the charges, I’ll consider the question of bail. Until then I’m remanding Mrs. Esperanza to the county jail to await trial”—he pored over his calendar—“on the twentieth of May.”

There was little chance Lily could be in court on such a late date with her babies due less than two weeks later. If the case dragged out or got postponed until she delivered, it could result in a mistrial, and Maria would have to endure more time behind bars awaiting a new trial. “On behalf of my client, I request a speedy trial.”

The judge looked at her with incredulity. “In Los Angeles? Four months is a speedy trial.”

“May I approach?” She and Samuels spoke in hushed tones so their words would be off the record. “I’m pregnant with twins, Your Honor. My due date is June first, and twins are rarely carried full-term. May twentieth is a pretty iffy date.”

Samuels glibly interjected, “Perhaps your client should seek new counsel.”

“I’ve represented Mrs. Esperanza for seven years, much of that involving domestic abuse by the deceased, so I’m sure she would appreciate having me by her side for what we hope is the last time she has to fight to be free of her ex-husband.”

The judge, whom she had known for years, looked at her with just a hint of a smile, clearly pleased by the news of her pregnancy. “I can move this back to July if you like.”

“That wouldn’t be fair to my client. She deserves the chance to swiftly answer these charges so her children can be returned to her.”

He looked again at his calendar, shaking his head. “I just signed off on a plea deal that opens up the court for March first. That’s five weeks. Can you be ready, Mr. Samuels?”

He visibly blanched. “A capital case requires meticulous preparation. We don’t want to waste taxpayer dollars doing a substandard job, and we can’t afford to let a murderer go unpunished.”

“The state has already asserted it can prove murder in the first degree. It sounds now as if the assistant district attorney doubts his own evidence, which means my client should be released on reasonable bail.”

“Sounds like a ‘gotcha’ to me, Mr. Samuels. Put up or shut up.” He waited for an objection that didn’t come, slapped his gavel and announced, “Trial begins March first. Next case.”

Lily exited to a small conference room where guards had taken Maria, who was still handcuffed and now sitting in a metal chair. She dropped her legal tablet with a thud and nodded to the guard, who left and closed the door behind him.

“Tell me everything.”

Maria’s tears came instantly and she made no move to wipe them away. “Sofia and Bobby were playing in the front yard when he drove by the first time. They knew he wasn’t supposed to be there and Sofia ran into the kitchen to tell me, so I called his cell phone.”

“Why? Why didn’t you call the police like I told you?”

“I told him I would if he came back again. I thought it would scare him away.”

“Obviously it didn’t,” Lily said with frustration. “Instead it looks like you lured him there, just like they said.”

“But I didn’t,” she wailed. “He said I was turning Sofia into a fucking whore and Bobby into a fag, and he wasn’t going to let me do it.”

“And what else, did he threaten them?”

Maria gave her a chilling look. “I knew what he meant. I don’t care what anyone says, I knew he had a gun because I saw it.”

Proving that in court was another matter entirely. “That’s all the more reason you should have called the police. Why didn’t you? Tell me exactly what you were thinking because it’s a key part of your defense.”

“I didn’t see him when he drove by—only the children did—so I knew I wouldn’t be able to answer the police’s questions. They wouldn’t have come. That’s how they are.”

From the Esperanzas’ history of police encounters, Lily could easily prove that Maria knew exactly what kinds of questions to expect when filing a report, and she was likely correct that the police would not have responded on the word of her children. “What happened next?”

“I told the children to stay on the porch. Sofia did what I said, but Bobby went around to the driveway to play with his soccer ball. I could see him through the kitchen window. That’s when I heard Sofia scream. I ran back to the living room and saw Miguel pushing her into his car.”

Lily stopped writing and scanned the police report. “Wait, how much time passed between when you called him and when he came back?”

Maria shook her head, clearly agitated.

She slammed her palm on the desk. “Think, Maria! This is important.”

“I don’t know. Three or four minutes…maybe not that long.”

The report indicated the time of the 911 call, but not the time of the call that was logged on Miguel’s cell phone. If Maria’s version of the facts bore out, it bolstered the argument that he was already in her neighborhood when she called him. That torpedoed any argument she had lured him there. “And then?”

“Miguel slammed the door with Sofia in the backseat and yelled at her to stay there. Then he started screaming for Bobby. I went to the closet to get my gun.”

“When did you get a gun? Is it registered?”

She shook her head without looking up, as if bracing for Lily’s wrath.

“Damn it! What were you thinking, Maria?” She wanted to scream about how dangerous it was to have a gun in a house with children, but if not for that gun her children might be dead at the hand of their father. “Tell me about the gun. Where did you get it and when?”

“Sam…my sister’s husband. He gave it to me after Miguel threatened me and we went to get the restraining order. He warned me Miguel wouldn’t stay away and he was right.”

“Is this your sister in Culver City? The one who has your kids right now?”

She nodded.

Lily tossed her pen on the table and slumped against the back of her chair, almost wishing she hadn’t asked the question. For the sake of Sofia and Roberto, she had to follow through. “Does Sam keep a gun in his house too?”

Maria wouldn’t look at her.

She opened her cell phone and held her finger over the keypad. “One call, Maria. I’ll have Sandy Henke and the police tearing that house apart looking for it. Save me the trouble. You know we won’t leave those children in a house with a gun.”

“They don’t have anywhere else to go,” she wailed, running her hands through her hair. “He has another one. He keeps it locked in the closet. Please don’t take my kids away from them.” Sofia and Roberto had been placed a half dozen times with Maria’s sister, and probably felt secure there.

“I don’t want to move them, but Sam will have to get rid of his gun. It’s not negotiable.” She scooted back up to the table and poised her pen to write again. “Okay, when you saw Miguel with your own eyes, why didn’t you call the police?”

“There wasn’t time. He already had Sofia in the car and she was crying. If he had gotten Bobby he would have left and it would’ve been too late.”

Lily scribbled furiously as Maria related the harrowing tale.

“I went out the back door and showed Miguel the gun and told him to leave. He laughed and called me a bitch…said I didn’t have the guts to use it. So I shot at the ground just to scare him, but it jumped in my hand and the bullet almost hit his foot. He screamed and started toward me. His eyes were so wild, and he kept yelling that he was going to show me.”