Taming the Telomeres, a Thriller

by R. N. Shapiro

  "Hi Amanda, do you remember me? My name's Angie Tipton. I'm Andy's paralegal. This is Myra, one of the firm assistants."

  "Okay, yeah." Amanda says. The next step Amanda takes finds her face to face with Perry Carson, the reporter with Capitol Law magazine.

  "Amanda, great to see you. I still want that interview. Will you give me your first interview?"

  Before Amanda can answer, Andy steps in between them.

  "Perry, we’ll get you that interview, but not now."

  The DJ is playing "I've Got a Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas. The dance floor is already so packed with bodies that any errant movement causes unintended contact. There are several news crews shining lights on the dancers. Over by the door, Kent is standing beside Sienna, who is collecting donations from those without advance tickets. All of the café employees are wearing matching tie-dyed T-shirts. Kent wears a vest with black and purple paisley over his, and his faded jeans are virtually sparkling under the black lights. He stealthily makes his way over to Amanda, who is talking to someone else, and taps her on the shoulder. Amanda wheels around.

  "Kent, you look really, uh … sparkly."

  "You look smashing. What color is your dress?"

  "Canary yellow, but you can’t tell in here. You guys did an amazing job with this place. I don't think I've ever been in a psychedelic room before."

  "Wait until you see the dancers up on the pedestals."

  As they make their way toward the dance floor, they notice the high Lucite. Four similarly dressed leggy women in mini dresses with sequined fringe dance on each pedestal.

  Kent leads Amanda onto the dance floor and dances as near to her as he can given her halo. In the middle of gyrating on the dance floor, Amanda suddenly freezes.

  Kent leans toward her and shouts, "What's the matter?"

  After a few seconds Amanda snaps out of it and walks off the dance floor followed by Kent.

  "Something about the black lights...I just remembered something."

  "What was it?" Kent asked.

  "It must be my dad. I’m a little girl and he's got black lights on in this little lab, like in a house or something."

  "What's it mean?"

  "I don’t know," Amanda says. “There were bugs flying around inside a netted area or cage-like thing.”

  “How do you know it’s at home?”

  “Because it wasn’t at a laboratory, it was like a room in a house.”

  “Your house?”

  “How would I know? I guess so.”

  Kent begins to pull her back to the dance floor.

  "Wait,” she leans toward his ear. “We are in a little office. And he's sitting at his desk."

  "Did he have a lab at home?"

  "I don't know. I guess I can find out later." Amanda leads Kent back into the sea of flesh.

  Moments later David Owlsley approaches them.

  Chapter 39

  Revelation

  "I need to ask you something pretty weird," David yells toward Kent’s ear. "Do you have some kind of bug or camera hidden in Amanda's hospital room?"

  "What? What the hell are you talking about?"

  David studies Kent's reaction but can’t quite read him. He knows Kent was able to mastermind his viral video, and he befriended Amanda at the hospital. A lot of coincidences, perhaps too many.

  "All I can tell you is that someone bugged Amanda's room, and they might even have video of her, although I'm not positive about that part.”

  "How do you know that? And why would you accuse me?"

  "I can't tell you how I found out."

  "Well it wasn't me.” Kent says as he quickly turns and pushes through the crowd. He is fuming about the accusation but decides not to start an argument at the party.

  The DJ is mixing in old 60s and 70s psychedelic era music, and "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix blasts through the sound system. Kent then hears the opening part of “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls. He walks straight to Amanda and leads her toward the dance floor. When he pulls her toward him she feels the electricity of his body just barely touching hers. Soon, the song breaks into the up-tempo chorus.

  * * *

  When everything’s meant to be broken, I just want you to know who I am.

  * * *

  As the song ends Kent whispers in her ear, "I really enjoyed that. I hope you did too."

  "Of course I did. Are you going to play with your band later?"

  "Oh yeah. We're going to play a couple tunes, and we even have a surprise or two in your honor."

  "I don't know if I like surprises!"

  As they get back to the VIP table, Sienna is standing near the table, tidying up. She is wearing a tight black mini skirt and a small black satin vest with her requisite tie-dyed shirt. Amanda’s jealousy antennae go up, because she has seen Kent talking to her several times.

  "Can I get anyone anything? We have little chocolate chip cupcakes and brownies here. They are excellent."

  Several of the people at the table have already partaken, as evidenced by the empty spaces on the platter.

  No one knows who notices it first. Iris and Charlyne are laughing and giggling. And they can’t stop.

  "Have you noticed that we're laughing at everything?" Iris says.

  "Yeah, I don't know why, but my cheeks hurt from laughing,” Charlyne responds.

  Around this time David pushes through some other revelers over to the giggly girls.

  "I'm not totally sure, but I think somebody spiked something. Either our drinks or something we ate." David says with an ear-to-ear grin.

  "Oh my God. I was kind of thinking the same thing," Iris says.

  David reviews the evening's events in his mind that is already addled by pulsating strobe lights and pounding music. They hadn't all had dinner together before they arrived, so that left something they drank or ate at the party. John walks in front of David.

  "Do you feel high on something?" David asks John.

  John stares at the flashing lights, contemplating David’s question. "That's a good question. Since I don't do drugs, I don't know how it feels to be high, but I've been dancing like a fool and the room is making me dizzy."

  “Aren’t you that reporter with Capital Law magazine?” Kent asks Perry Carson, who is hanging with a group of parents.

  “Yeah, I think I met you at the Simons after the funeral,” Carson says, practically yelling over the pulsing music.

  “Hey, I want to talk to you about some stuff pertaining to the Hemispheres crash.”

  “I’m all ears,” Carson says, sensing something really good.

  “Not now, not tonight. I’ve got to check on a couple other things. Do you have a card or something?”

  “Sure do,” Carson says, and fishes one out of his wallet and hands it to Kent.

  “I’ll call you soon,” Kent says, sliding it into his pants pocket and quickly moving back into the crowd of people.

  Even though Amanda has no recollection of her long relationship with John Parkinson, she finds herself on the dance floor with John for a number of the songs.

  Kent takes the stage, and his band launches into their first song, covering Coldplay:

  * * *

  Look at the stars,

  Look how they shine for you,

  And everything you do,

  Yeah, they were all yellow.

  * * *

  Looking down from the elevated stage Kent sees John dancing with Amanda. This is exactly what he had hoped would not occur. The real insult for him is that he is playing a song that makes him think of Amanda, and she is dancing with her former boyfriend.

  "At this time, we would like to introduce a special guest, Mr. Kyle Perless, and his friend, Nils Lundgren. Both are here as part of the fundraising event in support of Healing Heroes and Amanda Michaels.”

  Kent’s band, Paris VA, launches into a David Bowie classic, “Ziggy Stardust,” with Kyle playing lead guitar and Nils on vocals:

  * * *

  “Ziggy pl
ayed guitar,

  Jamming good with weird and Gilly…”

  * * *

  After “Ziggy Stardust,” the band immediately segues into "Heroes" as the dance floor packs out.

  "I'm pleased to be here in support of the Healing Heroes,” says Nils, who is wearing a sequined sport coat. “We'd like to do this special song for Amanda."

  * * *

  I, I will be king

  And you, you will be queen

  Though nothing will drive them away

  We can be heroes just for one day

  We can be us just for one day.

  We can be heroes …

  * * *

  They repeat the chorus from “Heroes” and Kent joins in on his mike. Amanda is sandwiched between Iris, Charlyne, David, John and other MA seniors amidst a sea of people. Toward the end of the song, Nils lifts a saxophone and adds a few short riffs. Soon after, Kyle, Nils and Kent’s band leave the stage for a break. The DJ cranks up a current dance song and the dance floor remains packed for another 45 minutes. Amanda looks for Kent and finds him clear across the dance floor, dancing with Sienna, who apparently is no longer serving.

  Soon David tells Amanda the limo is ready to depart. Amanda finds Kent.

  "I have to go. The limo is leaving."

  "Why don't you just stay and I will give you a ride home later?"

  "I really can't. I, I need to stay with the group. I have felt really weird all night. I think someone spiked something because all of us feel high."

  "Medicinal marijuana,” Kent says.

  "What?" Amanda yells.

  "I have it on good information that the cupcakes and brownies were spiked." He leans forward and gives her a quick kiss on the lips, a mischievous smile, and then turns to walk through the mass of bodies on the dance floor.

  Chapter 40

  Protection

  Sometime later, Sienna, Kent, and several other staff are cleaning up the carnage from the party. Kyle is hovering around, pitching in. Once matters are mostly under control, Sienna prepares to leave.

  “Kent, can you walk me to my car please? It’s late.” True, she never works this late, he thinks. Then she runs her hand along his forearm to emphasize the personal request. Kent can smell her perfume.

  “Sure, where are you parked?”

  “I’m on Main Street down past the Red Fox Inn.”

  Kent says goodbye to his dad and the others and follows Sienna outside. The street is now deserted.

  As they walk down the street toward Main, Sienna purposely walks right against Kent, occasionally touching him and playfully caressing her fingers along his back several times.

  “You and the band sounded really good tonight. Having Kyle and Nils play at the café was amazing too.”

  Kent’s fairly high on the cupcakes, and he can smell alcohol on Sienna’s breath. She must have been tapping some booze hidden away from the high schoolers.

  Once they arrive at her Jeep, she says “Get in, I’ll take you to your car. Where’d you park?”

  Kent climbs in the passenger seat.

  “Everybody had a great time, at least it seemed that way.” Sienna says.

  “Yeah, for sure. It will be hard to top.”

  “So, you’ve been seeing Amanda some? Are you guys, like, going out or what?”

  “We just hang out.”

  “Does she remember anything from, like, before the crash? Like her friends, stuff like that?”

  “No, she doesn’t recall anything, not people. Not music. Not her friends from school. Nothing.” Kent pauses, and then continues on a slightly different tangent. “I’m looking into the jet crash and what may have caused it.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Um…can’t really say. I’m just looking into some things and I’m meeting with a reporter soon. He was there tonight, did you meet Perry Carson?”

  “No. Where’s your car? “Sienna asks resting both hands on the steering wheel. “And what about the crash could be that interesting to you that hasn’t been all over the news?”

  Kent directs her the couple blocks. “I’m not really sure yet. It might end up being nothing.”

  Before Kent gets out, Sienna grasps his left arm, causing him to turn toward her.

  “Thanks for walking me.” She leans toward him quickly and gives him a quick peck on his left cheek. He freezes a moment. Then, he turns toward her and they exchange an awkward look that occurs when two members of the opposite sex aren’t quite sure what just happened. Kent exits the Jeep and waves to her as he turns on the Alfa’s headlights and watches her pull away.

  Chapter 41

  Surprise Visitor

  "Well, hello stranger!" Myra says, quickly admiring the visitor’s stylish black trench coat.

  "Hi Myra, can you tell Andy I'm here?"

  "Sure thing." Myra presses a button and then speaks softly into her headset. "Andy, Sarah is here." There is a brief pause. "Okay." She looks back at Sarah. "He said come on back."

  Myra waits until Sarah is out of sight before she rockets out of her chair to find Angie.

  "What's going on? Sarah just went into Andy's office. Did you know she was coming?"

  "No."

  "She was dolled up like she was attending a formal. Black trench coat, matching pumps, stockings with seams running down the back. She’s on her way to Andy’s office."

  "Knowing her, she wants something. We'll find out."

  Sarah finds Andy's office door and stands on the threshold for a moment.

  "Can I come in?" She asks rhetorically. She knows his office well from before their split. She suggestively removes her coat and closes the door, knowing that the hook is on the back of it, and that Andy will get a good look at her seamed stockings and the rear view of her tight black pencil skirt. A loose-fitting gold chain belt divides the skirt and her long-sleeved sheer black top, unbuttoned to generously reveal her cleavage. She turns and walks over to one of the client chairs.

  "You look really great," Andy says as she sits in the chair and crosses her legs. He figures Sarah knows she looks good, but gratuitously reinforces it.

  "Thanks."

  Sarah keeps herself in amazing condition and is always mindful of her God-given assets, especially amongst the sex-starved congressmen and lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

  "What's going on?" Andy asks, and he means it because he has no idea why she is here.

  "It's been on my mind ever since I saw you at Barbara's after the funeral. I keep thinking about it Andy, and I just wanted to tell you I'm so sorry. I mean I'm so sorry about your brother and Rochelle, but I'm also so sorry about what happened between us. It really hit me hard when I was at Barbara's house and I saw all your family and everybody. It made me realize how much I miss you."

  Sarah stops for a moment trying to decide what to say next. "I never told you I'm sorry. I also never told you it was my fault, so I'm doing it now."

  She looks straight at Andy, wanting him to say something, but he doesn't. His anger is so vast; he knows if he even starts to explain his pain, it will result in a nasty tirade that he will never be able to take back.

  Sarah then gets up from the client chair, and walks around his desk towards him.

  "Sarah, don't."

  She ignores his weak protest and sits on his desk blotter, facing him, her legs dangling, uncrossed. She runs her hand briefly through his hair, gently touching his ear and neck for a moment before pulling it away and grasping his hand. She holds it between both of hers, resting it right at the bottom edge of her black skirt between her thighs.

  "I need to tell you something," she says in a mere whisper. "Whenever I'm alone, I don't fantasize about anyone else. It's always you and me. That's the truth, and I know you must still think about me too."

  Sarah releases his hand. She begins unbuttoning her blouse, staring into Andy's eyes, but not finding the look she longs for.

  Andy suddenly pushes his chair back toward the credenza, standing and turning toward h
er.

  "I can't do this, Sarah. I can't just turn it on like this – like you can. You don't have any idea how you wrecked me. I can't just forgive you and make everything vanish from my brain. Sure, I think about you. But I just can't. Things are good with Becca."

  Sarah slides down off the desk, and then slides right into Andy's own chair, as she re-buttons her blouse.

  "Andy, I know one of the things that got between us was starting a family. That's not a problem anymore. I know that's important to you and I’m ready."

  Andy has plopped down in one of the client chairs. He briefly ponders the juxtaposition. She's now in the attorney’s seat, but he’s not sure he wants to be counseled.

  "Here's all I ask. Let's just have dinner, see if we can start over."

  He stares at her, but doesn’t commit.

  "Just tell me you'll think about it please?"

  “Okay. I will."

  Less than 30 seconds after Sarah has exited the reception area, Angie's in his office. "Well, what was that all about?"

  "Nothing. She just wanted to talk to me about something confidential."

  "Andy, do you think I'm an idiot? She was dressed like she was going to Ladies Night at an exclusive club. She must've put the major blast on you. You gotta tell me."

  "Well, assume she did ‘blast’ me, what do you think I should do?"

  "I'm not inside your relationship with Becca, and was never inside your relationship with Sarah either. So I don't know. Are you going to start seeing her again?"

  "I don't know, I didn’t commit to anything.”