At 8:00p.m. sharp, Yaritza, in a
blue sweater and long denim skirt, rang Nikea’s doorbell. A minute later, Nikea
answered. She had a smile on her face, not knowing, just inviting. She wore tight
black jeans again and a black Motley Crue t-shirt, as if she were ready to
attend a concert. “Hello, Yaritza.”
Yaritza smiled back, slightly uncomfortable. “Hi.”
“Come in.”
Yaritza followed Nikea to the living room, where they both sat on the
sofa. Yaritza looked on the shelf above a small fireplace. There were pictures
of Nikea and Mark, and a picture of a small blond boy with a big smile. Yaritza
smiled. It was all cute. Somewhat familiar as well. “Your son looks so familiar
to me.”
Nikea giggled. “He just has that all-American look to him. Lots of
people say they’ve seen him.”
“Where is he? In his room?”
“No, he was invited for a second night at his friend’s house, at my
request. And they love having him.” Nikea picked up a remote and turned off the
TV. “I didn’t know if you’d come.”
“I just confirmed two hours ago.”
“I know. Still, I didn’t know for sure.”
“What does my showing up tell you?”
“You’re interested.”
“I’m not sure exactly what I’m interested in.”
“Well, I think it’s me in a way.”
“Yes.”
“You’re not sure what way, though.”
“I know it’s not desire to share a bed with you.”
“Just a couch?”
Yaritza’s face turned red. She’d left herself unprotected.
Nikea didn’t gloat with a smile. In fact, she looked slightly
ill-at-ease herself. Somehow, that made it easier for the police officer. “We
got the results on Mark today.”
“The coroner?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“Pretty much what I knew. We agreed that whoever did him in did a nasty
castration job. Very messy and uncontrolled.”
“Any conclusions there?”
“You’re very curious, Nikea.”
“We were married.”
“No conclusions, except that I think it was an act of psychotic rage,
the castration.”
“I see.”
The two sat on the couch for a long moment, neither really knew what to
say. Yaritza wasn’t quite sure why she was there, but now she realized that
Nikea wasn’t completely in charge of the situation. If she had come over the
night before, that might have been different.
She looked over at Nikea. “I talked to Celestina Plank today.”
An icy frost covered Nikea’s eyes. “What did she have to say for
herself?”
“Nothing good, and she knows she’s a witch. What she doesn’t realize
fully is that she’s an abused and raped woman, psychologically.”
“I don’t feel sorry for her at all, Yaritza.”
“I do.
I don’t think she killed anyone, except for maybe an ego or two.”
“If you put it that way, she did kill a part of Mark.”
“Maybe. If Mark were still alive, there would be a possible case of
psychological trauma, but I doubt if he would have pursued anything like that,
and it’d be hard to prove, if he was a willing partner.”
Nikea shrugged. “We’ll never know.”
“No. I have one more lead to follow, then…”
“Then what?”
“Then I’m going to recommend that the case be ruled closed but
unsolved.”
“You’d give up just like that? You can’t!”
“Nikea, I’ve checked on him, I’ve talked to co-workers, his boss, you,
his ex-lover, and I talked to his landlord and some neighbors. I talked to Tika
Sanchez, there’s nothing anywhere. Do you know of anyone else?”
There were tears in Nikea’s eyes. “No! Please, Yaritza, please keep
looking. I know I wasn’t the best wife to him, and making sure his killer is
caught is the least I can do! At least for our son’s sake.”
Yaritza looked at her. The woman was genuinely upset and angry. She put
her hand on Nikea’s shoulder reassuringly. “All right. I’ll look a bit longer,
but I don’t know if it’ll lead anywhere.
Nikea took the hand that was on her shoulder, and placed it on her knee.
Yaritza did nothing, sat frozen, she didn’t know how to react. Nikea just held
the hand there for a moment, then sidled a bit closer to her guest. She looked
deep into Yaritza’s eyes and smiled. The tears stayed there, making her quite
vulnerable. Yaritza stared back into the eyes, not smiling, but transfixed.
Something was happening, that tingling was coming back, and she felt herself
losing control. She couldn’t move, couldn’t resist, just stayed there waiting
for Nikea’s next move.
Nikea brought her face to Yaritza’s, but didn’t put her lips there.
Instead, she just brushed cheeks. Yaritza wanted to pull away, but there was no
moving her. Nikea just kept rubbing her cheek against Yaritza’s. It was a warm
feeling. Slowly, Yaritza unfroze herself and turned the brush into a hug, wanting
to comfort the woman. The hug lasted for several seconds, then Yaritza felt
something, a nuzzle on the back of her neck.
She quickly pulled herself away, shaking her head. “I can’t, Nikea.”
“I thought the hug was an invitation,” Nikea said lowly. She was
embarrassed.
“I’m sorry, it was my fault.”
“Do you know what you want, Yaritza?”
“No, and that’s the problem. I like men.”
“But…”
“But you do something to me.”
“You do something to me, too.”
The two looked at each other for a long time, doing nothing. After
several minutes, Nikea asked, “Can I kiss you?”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“We have to know, one way or another.”
“I won’t respond.”
“It’s all right.” Nikea put her hand around Yaritza neck and slowly
planted her lips on hers. She pulled on them softly, at first getting no
response from Yaritza. Then the other woman kissed back, cautiously at first,
then more strongly. Finally, Yaritza pulled back. “I think we just got our
answer,” she said, breathing hard.
“What does it mean?”
“It means I need to get the hell out of here. Now.”
“Why?”
“Because I liked what just happened, and I shouldn’t.”
“That’s not a good reason, Yaritza.”
“It’s all I can think of.”
“This isn’t the end.”
Yaritza sighed. “I know that, but it’s over for tonight.” With that, she
left the house and rushed to her car. She had to talk to someone. As she sat in
the seat, she felt herself sweating profusely again. She looked back at the
door. She wanted so badly to go back inside and pick up where they had left
off. She wanted it…wanted HER so badly. Instead, she picked up her phone and
called her therapist from the department.
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