Chapter Thirteen

Eve

Eve looked at her watch. They had been walking in silence for over thirty minutes. No vehicles had passed. This was one of the biggest cities in the country, she thought. Where are all of those people? Between the deserted buildings and the unused railroad tracks, it looked like this area had been neglected for a long time.

She looked over at Lucy. Her nose was swollen and she had a black eye. Her red top was torn and her leather skirt was soiled and dirty.

Lucy wiped her forehead with her hand. “I thought we could hitch a ride. I wish I had a cell phone. If we could get to a pay phone, I could call Mariah. That is, if we can even find a pay phone.”

“I can’t believe no one has passed us.”

“Well, it is Saturday, isn’t it? No one comes out this way on the weekend.”

Eve wished she had paid more attention to the road when Brad was driving out here. “Do you know where we are?” she asked Lucy.

“Not exactly. We are still in LA County, I think. Probably south of the city. That’s where most of the warehouses are.”

She looked at Lucy’s bare feet. “How are your feet doing?” Lucy’s limping was slowing down their progress. “Do you want to put on my socks?” Eve wore thick socks with her Nikes. It seemed like people out here didn’t like to wear socks or hose with their shoes. Another strange custom.

Lucy stopped walking. She looked down at her feet. “That may help a bit.” She laughed bitterly. “So much for my expensive outfit.”

Eve took off her socks and handed them to Lucy. “They are kind of sweaty.”

“Compared to all of the shit that has happened in the last twenty-four hours, your sweat is the least of my worries.”

Eve looked at the blood specks on her hands. “I hope Soleil is okay.”

“Soleil? I thought you didn’t like Soleil.” Lucy tried to quicken her pace.

“I do care for Soleil. After today, I can understand a little about why she is the way she is. I just don’t understand how Faith could have treated Soleil so badly as a child.”

“Maybe that was why she killed herself. Maybe she felt guilty.”

Eve shook her head and continued to look straight ahead at the long stretch of old buildings. “I think there was more to it than that. You know, Soleil had gone over there to kill her. She had stolen Mariah’s gun. She even shot at her.”

“Soleil would never have killed Faith. She has never given up on trying to get her mother to love her.”

“You know, I saw Faith at the concert.”

“You did? Olivia saw her, too.” Lucy rubbed her wrists.

“She was crying when Soleil was singing.”

Lucy stopped walking. “She was crying? I’m not surprised.” She shook her head and resumed walking. “All Soleil ever wanted was a happy family.”

“That’s all I ever wanted.” Eve felt pain that had nothing to do with the bruises on her face and arms.

“I think that is what all of us wanted. But thanks to Mr. Mik DeSalle, all we have is each other.”

Eve sighed. “Maybe it is time we become grateful for that.”

Lucy looked at her and took her hand.

Up ahead, Eve saw a pay phone. Lucy saw it at the same time. They ran for the phone, hand in hand, praying it was in working order.

Soleil

Soleil woke up when Mariah’s cell phone started to ring, playing “Satisfaction.” Mariah’s hand trembled as she took the phone out of her purse.

“Hello? Oh, my God! Lucy! Are you okay? Where are you? Is Eve with you? What happened?”

Soleil sat up in the bed. Olivia was in the room now, sitting at the foot of the bed. Her arm was bandaged.

Soleil nodded and turned her attention back to Mariah. She was smiling as she talked to Lucy on the phone. Her whole demeanor was changing. She seemed to grow brighter. Soleil wished she could have caused such a transformation in her own mother.

“Soleil is in the hospital. They want to keep her overnight. I’ll call a cab to come get you. I think I know where you are. Just stay there. If the cab doesn’t come by the time it gets dark, I’ll come and get you. Yeah, I’m going to stay with Soleil for a little longer and I’ll bring her home tomorrow morning. I have to take Olivia to the airport tomorrow.” Mariah shook her braids. “I love you, too, honey, more than ever.”

Olivia ran over to Mariah when she turned off the phone. “She’s safe?” Mariah nodded in response. “Thank God,” Olivia said, giving her friend a fierce hug.

When Mariah pulled away from Olivia, her face was wet with tears. She came over to Soleil and hugged her tightly.

“I’m glad that they are okay, too. What happened?”

Mariah looked from Soleil to Olivia. “Brad took Eve to Lucy and then drove off, stranding them in a deserted warehouse area. I’m going to call a cab to go pick them up. I’ll meet them downstairs and take them home. Then I’ll come back tomorrow and get you.”

“I need to go home. I have things to do.” Soleil had to make arrangements for Faith’s disposal.

Mariah squeezed her hand. “You can do everything from my house.”

Soleil tried to protest. “I need to go to Faith’s place.”

“You can do that after you rest some more.” Mariah kissed her forehead and smoothed back her hair. “I love you, Soleil. Tomorrow, you are going to spend the day with your family.”

“Why can’t Lucy and Eve come up here before you go home?”

“Soleil, you tried to beat up Eve. Lucy has also been roughed up. If they tried to enter the hospital, there would be a lot of questions asked.” She bent down to whisper in Soleil’s ear. “Remember, we told the police that it was just a family argument that got out of hand.”

Soleil nodded. Just a little family argument.

Lucy

Lucy and Eve sat down on the ground next to the pay phone. “Well, now we can just sit and wait for the cab to pick us up.”

“I hope it comes before it gets dark. Are you sure that Mariah will know where to find us?”

“Don’t worry. I told her the name of the street we passed. A cabbie can look it up in a Thomas Guide or GPS and figure out where we are.” She rubbed her feet. Her ankles still hurt and her wrists throbbed each time she twisted her hands.

Eve looked over at her. “How are you doing?”

“Everything still hurts, but I’ll make it. I can’t wait to take a hot bath once we get to the house.” She brushed dirt off of her skirt and scowled. “I’ll have to throw away my new skirt. It smells like pee.”

Eve coughed. “Are you sure Brad didn’t hurt you?”

“Brad put a gun to my back and dragged me to the car from the arena. At least I think it was a gun, since I couldn’t turn around.”

“So what happened?”

“This morning, another man came to the room. He hit me. I knew Faith had sent him.”

“How did you know? What did he say to you?”

Lucy put her head in her lap. The smell of her soiled skirt wafted to her nose. She felt the past like a great weight on her shoulders. Her stomach growled. She didn’t know if it was from hunger or nerves. Eve deserved to know what happened, not just what happened yesterday and today, but what happened five years ago.

Lucy closed her eyes. “I recognized his face. From five years ago. He was one of the men who raped me. He was one of the men who killed Ricky.” She couldn’t sit up or open her eyes. She couldn’t look at her sister’s face.

“What?” Eve’s voice came out in a trembling whisper. “Ricky was killed? You were raped? I thought Ricky overdosed on drugs.”

Lucy sat up, but kept her eyes closed. “Ricky did overdose, but someone gave him the drugs, forced him to take more drugs than his body could handle.”

“How do you know?”

“He called me.” Lucy ran her fingers through her hair, which had become unruly and curly. She glanced at Eve and then closed her eyes again.

“Ricky had come up to San Francisco to visit me. He came to my apartment and we had some beers. You know, Ricky used to visit me every few months. When he moved out here, he used to come up to Stanford and visit me at school. I always enjoyed his company.”

“Yeah, Ricky always did like you.” There was an edge in Eve’s voice.

Lucy opened her eyes. “Yes, there was a sexual undercurrent. I admit it. We were attracted to each other. We weren’t raised together, so it was hard for us to see each other as strictly brother and sister. I loved Ricky, as a brother and as a friend. We always had a good time together, going to concerts and clubs, just hanging out and listening to music.” She looked at Eve’s face. She stared at Lucy with a blank expression.

“You want to know if I slept with him. You have wanted to know ever since you got here, even before that ugly tabloid piece that Faith did.”

Eve stared straight ahead. “I have wondered.”

“Well, I kissed him a few times, and as far as I know, it went no further than that.”

“As far as you know?”

“The last time that he visited me in San Francisco, we got really drunk. He started kissing me, and I told him to stop. And then I passed out.”

“Passed out?” Eve still wouldn’t look at her.

“When I woke up, about six hours had passed. The only thing I can assume is that Ricky had slipped something in my drink. He was gone, so I couldn’t ask him. I didn’t think anything happened, but I found a condom wrapper in my wastebasket.”

Eve looked at her. “You mean Ricky raped you?” Her eyes narrowed.

“No.” She squeezed her eyes shut again. She didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want to bring up these memories. Tears were burning behind her eyes. “Not long after I woke up, Ricky called me. I wanted to ask him what happened, but he was talking too fast. He told me to get out of the house, said ‘they’ were coming to get me, that they were going to kill me. He said he had hidden drugs and money in my apartment. He was dying. I told him to meet me at San Francisco General.” Her voice cracked.

Eve looked at her. Some of her earlier feelings of concern were returning. “When I got to the hospital, he was already dead. But at a county hospital on a Saturday night, dead junkies are the least of their problems. I had to identify the body and sign some papers, and then they took him to the morgue. Then, like an idiot, I went back home.” Lucy started sobbing. She couldn’t do it; she couldn’t do it.

Eve put her arm around her. “What happened then, Lucy?”

“They were waiting for me. Four of them. They had torn up my apartment. They had found the drugs, but not the money. They thought I knew where the money was.”

Eve held her tight. “Let it out, Lucy.”

“They punched me in the face, in the stomach. They kicked me.” Lucy could feel the pain. “They tore my clothes off. Then they took turns, over and over. Everywhere. All four of them. I finally passed out from the pain.” Her nose was running.

Eve just continued to hold her.

“When I woke up, they were gone. I called your mother to tell her about Ricky. Then I called Mik. I told him what happened. I told him not to tell my mother. I didn’t go to the hospital. I stayed in my apartment, hoping the bleeding would stop. I lost my job. I couldn’t go to work, I could barely stand up. That was why I acted so strangely when I met you and your mother at the morgue.”

“I wondered why you were wearing sunglasses.”

“Both of my eyes were black. I was in so much pain.” Lucy looked up at the sky. The sun was getting lower. “I’m sorry, Eve.”

Eve took her face in her hands. “No, I’m sorry, Lucy. I’m sorry for what you went through. I’m sorry we both lost our brother—and our friend.”

“He didn’t deserve to die. He wanted to be like Mik. He just wanted to have his father’s love. He wanted to be loved, like all of us.” She put her head on Eve’s shoulder. For the first time, she felt comforted by her presence.

“He didn’t deserve to die and you didn’t deserve what happened to you. Quit beating yourself up about it. You have kept this to yourself for five years. It must have been eating you alive.”

She wiped her eyes. “It has. Of course, Mik was no help when I called him. Just like he was no help when Soleil called him. He could give money, but he couldn’t give of himself. That’s all I ever wanted, a dad I could count on to be there for me. Now they both are gone.”

“You have me, Lucy. You have your mother and you have Soleil. We will always be there for you.”

A car was coming toward them. Eve helped her stand up. It was the taxi that Mariah had dispatched. The cab stopped. Eve held the door open for her.

The cabbie looked at them and frowned. “What happened to you out here? I can see why lady wants me to take you to the hospital.”

Lucy looked straight ahead. Eve squeezed her hand.

“You’re safe now.”

Lucy nodded. The butterflies in her stomach were gone. The weight had lifted from her shoulders.

Eve

Eve looked out of the cab window as they headed back to Los Angeles. She glanced over at Lucy, whose eyes were closed. For the first time in over twenty-four hours, she was safe and comfortable.

Eve thought about Lucy’s revelations. Her brother was a drug dealer. Her brother was killed. Lucy had loved Ricky, loved him in a sexual way.

And Lucy had to live with the betrayal of a brother and lover, a brother who had knowingly drugged and possibly raped her. Lucy had to identify his dead body. Lucy had to live with the guilt, the shame and the pain for more than five years.

Am I the only one who has lived a regular life? Eve wondered. She grew up as the child in a single parent household, a child with a father that never took any real interest in the lives of his two children. But that wasn’t unusual; many of her friends were raised by a divorced mother.

She remembered Ricky taking an interest in the quiet, shy little girl that came to visit them in Pittsburgh every few years. He included her in his games, while Eve did her best to ignore the interloper. Lucy looked up to the big brother who made her laugh, but was wary around the big sister who made her cry. Maybe she never forgot that initial slap.

But now that she knew what had happened, she could no longer continue to feel animosity towards Lucy. Lucy lived through her heart, a heart that had been broken by almost all of the people she had ever tried to love. Including her. No wonder she was so close to Mariah, the one person who had never let her down.

Eve touched Lucy’s arm. Lucy stirred slightly and looked at her.

“Are we there yet?”

“Not yet. I just wanted to say something to you.”

Lucy looked as if she were afraid of what Eve may say to her. “What?”

“I’m sorry I hit you when you were three years old.”

Lucy laughed. “I remember when you did that. It hurt!”

Eve bit her lower lip. “It wasn’t you I was striking out at.”

Lucy nodded. “I know.” She touched a bruise on Eve’s cheek. “It looks like Soleil felt the same way about you.” She closed her eyes again and leaned her head back.

Eve lightly rubbed the spot Lucy had touched. She was right. Soleil was also striking out against the mother and father who never lived up to her expectations. At least she and Lucy had mothers, but Soleil had had no one.

When she got to the hospital, she wanted to see her sister. She closed her eyes and decided to rest her mind for a few minutes. She hoped that Lucy was able to rest her mind as well.

She woke up when the cab stopped in front of a hospital. Mariah was waiting at the curb. Lucy jumped out of the cab and ran to her mother.

“Mariah! Mariah! I thought I would never see you again!”

Mariah held her daughter tightly. She held her face and covered it with kisses. “Oh, my baby, you’re safe! Thank God, you’re safe!”

“How about someone paying the fare?” The cabbie yelled out of the window.

Mariah and Lucy walked over to the cab and Mariah took bills out of her wallet.

Olivia was sitting on a bench near the door. Eve went over to her. “How is your arm?”

Olivia shrugged. “I’ll live. It’s just a flesh wound.” She looked at Eve’s face. “How are you?

“I’m doing okay.” She looked up at the hospital’s windows. “How is Soleil?”

“She is better. They gave her a sedative. I think she went back to sleep.”

“I want to go up to see her. What is the room number?”

Olivia looked at her face again. “You want to go in looking like that?”

“Like what? What is wrong with my face?”

Olivia took out a compact and handed it to Eve. Eve was startled by her reflection. The bruises below her right eye and her cheek had turned black and blue. Her upper lip was swollen. She looked almost as bad as Lucy. There were red specks in her light blonde hair.

Olivia took a scarf from her bag. She handed it to Eve. Eve gave her back the compact and took the scarf.

“Put this around your head and pull it around your face if you want to go in.” Olivia looked at Mariah and Lucy. “We’ll wait for you.”

“Thanks.” Eve tied on the scarf, brushed her clothes and went into the building. She kept her eyes straight ahead. Fortunately, an elevator was loading as she walked over. She hugged the corner of the elevator next to the buttons and pulled the scarf lower over her eyes.

On the ninth floor, she followed the sign to Soleil’s room. Eve stood next to the bed and looked down. Soleil’s eyes were closed. Her pale face was paler than usual, except for some red blotches and bruises. The ends of some of her dreadlocks were red with blood. The sheet and blanket were pulled up to her chin, making her look like a sleeping child.

“I’m sorry I called you a white bitch.” Soleil opened her eyes. “You look like hell. Did I do that?”

Eve took off the scarf. “Yeah, you did.”

Soleil laughed bitterly. “I know you were trying to help.”

“I didn’t want you to do something you would regret.” Eve knew as soon as she said it that it was the wrong thing to say.

“The result is the same anyway, isn’t it? Faith is dead.” Soleil closed her eyes again.

Eve didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say.

“How is Lucy?”

“She will be fine.” Eve tried to smile, but her lips trembled. “How are you?”

Soleil opened her eyes quickly and looked into Eve’s eyes. “I’ll be fine.”

Eve put the scarf back on. She cleared her throat. “Good. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She headed towards the door.

“Eve?”

“Yeah?” She turned around. Soleil was looking at her with a weak smile.

“Thanks for caring.”

Eve felt a genuine smile breaking on her face. “That’s what sisters are for.”

Soleil scratched her hair. “Uh-huh.”

Eve smiled as she went to meet Lucy, Mariah and Olivia.

* * *

It was dark, but Eve sat on the sun porch and listened to the waves crashing. She loved being close to the ocean. The one thing she would miss about California was listening to the waves crashing in Malibu. Mariah had fixed chamomile tea for the four of them. Eve sipped her tea and looked at nothing.

“What are you doing sitting out here in the dark?” Mariah came out in an African print caftan.

“Nothing. I’m just sitting.” The day had taken a toll on all of them. “I’m just thinking.”

Mariah took a deep breath. “Lucy has finally gone to sleep. I’m glad her nose isn’t broken. I hope she is able to sleep through the night. She has nightmares sometimes. I’m sure that she will have even more now.” When they got home, Mariah had called a physician friend to come over to look at Lucy’s nose and face. Mariah sat down in a wicker chair opposite Eve.

“Poor Lucy. She has been through a lot.” Eve gasped as the words left her mouth. She hoped Mariah didn’t deduce the full meaning of her words.

Mariah nodded. “She told you what happened in San Francisco, didn’t she?”

Eve knew she could not betray Lucy’s trust. “Yes.”

Sadness and frustration came out in a heavy sigh. “I wish she would have told me.”

Eve remembered the conversation she had with Mariah when they were driving back from Lieberman’s office. “But you know, don’t you?”

Mariah’s voice lowered. “Mik told me. He had promised her that he wouldn’t tell me, but of course he did. After all, we were her parents. But she must never know that he told me. She must not know he betrayed her trust. Lord knows, he betrayed her enough.”

Eve didn’t want to think about him. “He betrayed us all.”

Mariah rubbed her forehead. “It was agonizing for me, knowing my child was in pain and being unable to do anything to help her. She could have died. I didn’t even try to call her. I knew she would call me when she was ready, or someone would call me if she ended up in the hospital.”

Eve could hear the anguish in her voice. She could imagine Mariah, hundreds of miles away, wondering if Lucy was going to live or die.

Mariah continued, “Ricky called Mik after he called Lucy that night. He told Mik where he hid the drugs and the money. Mik paid back the money to Faith and her cohorts. Lucy eventually found the money.”

“Where was it?”

“Mik had given her one of his old hippie bags, one of the leather bags that an artist friend of ours had made. He gave one to Ricky, too. There was a hidden compartment in the bottom. Ricky knew where the compartment was, but Lucy didn’t. Mik says she came upon it by accident months later. He told her to keep it. She used the $50,000 to move into another apartment. I know she was terrified to stay in that apartment after what happened. The rest she used to start her business.”

Eve felt a wave of resentment. “That’s nice that he was able to help.”

“He could open up his wallet, but he couldn’t open up his heart.”

Eve snorted.

“Eve, look at me.”

Eve looked over at Mariah. She was sitting straighter, looking as if she was getting prepared to do battle.

“Eve, I want you do one thing for me, one thing you haven’t done since you got here.”

Eve ran her fingers through her hair. She had showered and shampooed to get rid of the blood and dirt, but she still felt tainted. “What?”

Mariah looked into her eyes. “Say his name.”

“What?”

“All that you ever say is ‘he’ or ‘him.’ Your father was more than a pronoun. Say his name.”

Eve put the cup on the floor. “My father was named Richard Shelton.”

“He legally changed his name. I was there when he signed the papers.” Mariah’s voice rose.

She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t say it. She shook her head. “I can’t. I won’t.”

“Whether you like it or not, Mik DeSalle was your father. He may have changed his name, but that didn’t change the fact that you share his blood. And when he changed his name, do you know what his new middle name was?”

“I just assumed it was still the same, ‘Michael.’ ” Eve didn’t know if she wanted to hear this.

“No, his middle name was ‘Evelyn.’ Even though he hated the name when Deidre insisted on giving it to you, he thought it was appropriate, so he would always be reminded of you.”

Eve closed her eyes. The pounding surf was drowned out by the pounding in her ears. “So he took my name and took away Ricky’s name. Ricky was a junior. Once he changed his name, Ricky no longer was a junior. He was all alone, no father to look up to. No wonder he became a drug dealer.”

Mariah lowered her voice. “You were all alone, too. But he loved you. He loved you both.”

“I hate Mik DeSalle! I hate all that he represented! I hate him!” Eve ran off the sun porch. The cool salty air hit her face as she went outside. She wanted to go back to Pittsburgh. She wanted to go now. California had corrupted her father, her brother and her ex-husband. She didn’t want to be tainted by its influence any longer. She didn’t want any money. She wished she had never come out here.

Mariah came out behind her. She put her arm around her. “Do you hate me, too? Do you hate Lucy and Soleil? We never knew Richard Shelton. Mik DeSalle was all we knew. Ricky loved them both.”

“And look what it got him.” Eve willed herself not to cry.

Mariah dropped her arm. “I can’t make you stop hating him. Maybe someday you will. I loved Mik DeSalle with every fiber of my being, I still do. But as much as I loved him, he loved you, Ricky, Lucy and Soleil a thousand times more.”

Mariah walked back into the house. The door slammed behind her.

Eve sat on the bottom of the steps. She could just see the waves.

* * *

Eve thought about her thirteenth birthday. Her father had stopped in Pittsburgh after doing some work at a recording studio in New York City. He had recently left Mariah for Faith. Soleil was a toddler. Ricky was visiting one of his friends down the street. Only she and her mother had been at home.

The small Tiffany bag hadn’t impressed her. He brushed his long blond hair behind his ears and smiled at her. He was such a handsome man, even better looking than he appeared on record album covers. Even though she was tall for her age, he still was a lot taller.

She had opened the bag, taken out the little velvet box and opened it up. She touched the gold heart on a chain.

Her mother stood by watching, her lips pursed.

“It’s 14-carat gold, Eve. Happy Birthday.” He had on a long black leather coat and shiny boots.

“She don’t want it, Rick.” Eve could hear the venom in Deidre’s voice.

Eve had though the necklace was beautiful. But she knew she couldn’t wear it. She had closed the box, set it on the table and ran into her bedroom. She had locked the door, but stood on the other side, listening.

“Why did you come here, anyway? We don’t want you. We don’t need you. Get the hell out of here.”

“But Dee—I just wanted to see the kids.”

“Kids! You never cared about those kids. The only reason that you married me was because I was pregnant with Evelyn. You never wanted to be married. You never loved anything but that damn guitar!”

His voice was cracking. “That’s not true! I did love you, Dee, as much as I could. And I love Eve and Ricky, I have always loved them.”

Eve heard something break. Her mother must have thrown something at him. “Get out, Rick! Go back to your freaks in California.”

Eve had heard the door close. She heard her mother’s sobbing. She was afraid to come out. She had lain down on her bed. She was too angry to cry. Did her father really love her? Did her parents ever love each other? She knew her mother was pregnant when they got married, as she was born seven months later, but she always had the romantic fantasy that they had been madly in love. But now she wasn’t so sure. She couldn’t remember back when they had lived together as a family. She could only remember the arguments her parents had the few times he had stopped by to visit.

When she came out of her room a few hours later, the box was gone. She assumed that either he took it back, or her mother pawned the expensive necklace for grocery money.

A breeze blowing through her hair brought Eve back to the present. She wondered what ever became of the necklace. It was the last time that her father tried to give her his heart.

Lucy

Lucy had forgotten that she could hear outside conversations from her bedroom if people were standing beside the steps leading to the beach. She heard Mariah and Lucy last night, and now she could hear her mother talking to Olivia.

It was early morning. She could hear the birds squawking as they searched for their morning meal.

“Do you think that Lucy will be okay?” Olivia asked.

“She will make it. She always has. She is a strong girl. A strong woman, I mean.”

Lucy looked out the window. They were standing in the grass that separated their property from the sand of the public beach.

Olivia looked up at her friend. “And what about you?”

Mariah folded her arms. “I have to make it, don’t I? I’m the strong one, the one who is always there for everyone.” She shrugged her shoulders. “My mother thinks I’m a fool.”

“Why?”

“I want Lucy, Eve and Soleil to love each other. I want them to love Mik like I loved him. But they are grown women. I can’t make them do anything. All that I can do is be there when they want to talk, when they need a shoulder to lean on.”

“And who do you lean on?”

“Nobody. Nobody at all. I always dreamed that if Mik got a divorce, everything would be different. I even fantasized about getting married. I was hoping we would be able to right some of the wrongs that had been done over the years. But he never took care of me. I had to take care of him. I had to take care of everybody.”

Mariah gave a deep sigh. “My mother hated it when I babysat for Faith when Soleil was little. But I knew what that little girl was going through. I knew somebody had to be there for her.”

Olivia put her arms around her friend. “I’m here for you. Even though I live in Arizona, I’m just a flight and a phone call away.”

Mariah sighed. “Thank you, sister. You’ve been more of a sister to me than my blood sisters ever were.”

Olivia laughed. “That’s because we are soul sisters.” She started singing a song and Mariah laughed.

Lucy returned to her bed. Her parents had been planning to get married? Now she missed her father even more than ever. Once again, she had missed out on the family she had dreamed about all of her life. But as much as she missed her father, she had a new appreciation for her mother.

Brad

Brad rang the buzzer at the large home Sally had shared with Mik DeSalle.

“Who is it?” someone asked from inside the house.

“I’m an old friend of Sally’s. From Youngstown.” He wondered if he had said enough to gain entry.

“Ms. Fountaine does not have any friends from Youngstown.”

“Well, maybe she has some friends in the Sahara.” The gate slid open.

Brad smirked as he drove up the driveway. When he got to the front door, a bleached blonde woman with fake boobs was waiting for him, smoking a cigarette. Sally Fountaine was not amused. He could feel the hatred radiating off of her like a heater.

He got out of the car and walked over to her.

“Who the fuck are you?” Up close, he could tell that Sally had altered her face. Most people would not have recognized her as the young, lusty girl who had started her film career on her knees. But he had been her biggest fan.

He ignored her question. “I have a friend who used to have an adult book and video store in Youngstown.”

She took a drag off of the cigarette. “So?”

He could tell she was nervous behind the bravado. “One of his most requested movies was ‘The Whole of Sahara.’ Are you familiar with it?”

She shook her hair. “Should I be?” She looked back at the house to see if anyone inside was listening.

“You tell me. Maybe it was hard to see the camera with your head down and your ass in the air.” She was trying not to show any reaction.

Sally walked over to him. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” she whispered.

“Yes you do, Sahara Sodomie. I remember all of your movies. You were ‘the girl who put the O in Ohio.’ Isn’t that what your Uncle Bob used to say?”

Sally turned pale. “What do you want?”

“What do you think?” He didn’t really know much about this Bob character, but there had always been rumors.

“I’m not giving you anything!” She tried to sound tough, but he could tell that she was scared.

“Well, I don’t know if your movie production company would be thrilled if they found out about your teenage home movies.” He decided to gamble on a statement Faith had made a few days ago. “And they wouldn’t be thrilled to know that you had killed your husband.”

“Get out of here!” Her body was shaking, but her boobs weren’t moving.

“Not without a monetary token of your affection.” He knew that he had her.

“How much?” There were tears in her eyes. She wasn’t acting now.

“How much do you got on you?”

“Fifteen thousand.”

Brad didn’t know anyone who had $15,000 lying around their house. “That’s fine for a start. But add some zeros to that and we can call it a deal.”

She shook her head. “Come on.” She motioned him to follow her into the house. He let her go upstairs unescorted, hoping she wouldn’t call the police. But he didn’t think she would. She didn’t want to risk a sex scandal when her career was finally picking up.

She handed him an envelope. He looked inside at the large bills and rifled through them. “When do I get the rest?”

The next morning, Sally had come through with another $250,000. He had the cash in his bag. At customs, he planned to tell them that he was buying some vacation property. They could run his name through their files, since as far as he knew he wasn’t on any criminal databases.

He didn’t know what it was that made Sally decide to agree to his terms. Was it the movies or the mention of her Uncle Bob? Or maybe she really did kill Mik DeSalle.