by O. J. Lovaz
Lydia looked at her sideways, saying nothing to her directly. She spoke faintly to Anna, “I want you to make sure that Mom and Marlene are okay. Frank can go inside with me while I pack some things.” She was lost in thought for a moment, then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, while her lips made a cynical smile. “You know what? That rotten bastard has $12,000 of rent money stashed up in the basement, which is exactly why he’s there now. He’s guarding the goddamned money. He wants to cut me off entirely. He will call the bank first thing tomorrow morning, you’ll see.”
“Everything’s going to be fine. We’ll get help. You must have some legal recourse. Not everything could be covered by…” Damn, she’d forgotten Frank was right beside her.
“Covered by what?” he asked.
“A prenup. Dad made her sign a prenup. Please, let’s talk about it later.”
Salt sprinkled over an open wound, Frank’s face contorted into a tortured grimace. “Ah, that fucker. That miserable steaming pile of shit. Oh, Mom…why’d you…ugh!”
Sarah’s comforting arms came around Frank; her chin landed softly on his back, just below the base of his neck. He closed his eyes for a second. “But, hey, forget about that now, Mom. Anna is right. It will be fine. You will be fine.” He exhaled so hard he might have been expelling a demon from his chest. “Let’s go get your stuff and get the hell out of here.”
Frank turned to Sarah and kissed her, then put his hand on Michael’s shoulder. “Hey, buddy, I need a big favor. Sarah has seen enough of this shit show already. This is a fucking nightmare. Could you take her home for me?” Sarah mounted a weak protest, but she couldn’t hide her weariness from all the tension she had experienced.
Anna sent Michael off with a tender, grateful kiss. “Frank and I have this covered here. After you drop Sarah at her place, please just go home and rest.”
“Okay, but you call me if—”
“Yes, I’ll call you,” Anna interrupted. She gave him another peck on the lips, then turned to Sarah, and gave her a heartfelt hug. A moment later, they were gone.
Lydia kissed Frank’s forehead and grabbed on to his arm. She was ready. Anna watched apprehensively as they walked away and went inside the house. A part of her wanted to run in at full speed and get them out of there that very instant.
Behind her, poor Grandma Rose had all but cried herself to sleep on the bench. It was a strange sight; so still she was that Anna imagined she had grown roots and turned into wood, forever to be part of that haunted place.
Marlene had just gotten up from the ground. Her expression was numb and dreamy, as if she suspected that it was all a nightmare from which she would soon wake up. As she gazed at Anna, fresh tears came rolling down her cheeks, slowly, as if for dramatic effect.
“I don’t even want to imagine what you think of me. I’d rather you didn’t tell me. Let me assume the worst because the worst is probably right.” Marlene gave a despondent sigh. “God, that was one short-lived reconciliation, wasn’t it? I had my daughter back for, what, two hours? And now, I’ve lost her for good. I hope she’s fine. Oh God, the way she drove off…I’m sure she’s speeding right now. Where’s she going to stay tonight? Some random motel out there?”
Anna had no answers for Marlene. She’d hardly begun to work out her own answers. Did she hate Marlene? She was surprised to find she didn’t. Did she think her base? Perhaps. As much of a monster as her father? Not even close. Marlene didn’t have a malicious bone in her body. The truth is she’d always been weak. In that, the two sisters were much alike. The Wilde sisters, the dirty son of a bitch had called them suggestively, as if they were a combo deal. They’d been easy targets for the cunning devil they fell in love with when they were just two stupid girls. He was truly an evil creature; making cruelty look easy, as if a dark fairy godmother had released him from the burden of carrying a conscience.
“Would you help me take Mom to the car?” asked Marlene. They held Grandma Rose from both sides and began bringing her to her feet.
“I can walk just fine,” she protested, suddenly coming back to life. They walked beside her all the way to the front passenger seat of Marlene’s white SUV. She was lying back on the seat, about to doze off again, when she said to Marlene, “I’m fine here. Don’t worry about me. Just, please, before this night is over, ask for your sister’s forgiveness; get on your knees if you have to. She might be too hurt to forgive you tonight, but she’ll remember your gesture.”
Marlene kissed her mother’s cheek. Soon, she was fast asleep. Marlene and Anna leaned against the side of the vehicle, looking in the direction of the house. Several minutes passed before Marlene spoke again.
“If there’s something you want to say, or ask me, this seems like as good a time as any.”
“Honestly, I don’t think it would do any good,” Anna said. “I’m tired of looking back, digging up dirt.”
“I think I know what you mean,” said Marlene. But she probably didn’t.
“You do?” asked Anna, tempted to tell her everything. But what would that accomplish?
“When you dig up the past, all you get is dirty.”
“That’s from a movie, isn’t it?”
“Isn’t everything?” Marlene’s lips began curving up, quivered, went still—a stillborn smile. “We both fell in love with him in high school. God, he was handsome, your father.”
“Really, you don’t need to tell me this, and I’m not sure I want to hear it.” Not anymore, anyway.
“Don’t you want to know why?” asked Marlene, her voice feeble, eyes on the ground.
“I’m a big girl, Aunt Marlene. I think I know why a man and a woman end up in bed.” That came out edgier and meaner than she had intended.
“I guess you’re right. Everything else is just excuses, lies that I tell myself. He did it. He cornered me, he kissed me, he…but I was there too. I didn’t run. I didn’t scream to wake up Lydia. Oh, how I wish she had taken it easier with the wine that night. But, no, you’re right. I let it happen. Deep inside. I must have wanted it. In her own house, no less. Right fucking there, with you and Frank sleeping upstairs.”
Anna felt as nauseated as she knew she would. Marlene must have needed to hear herself say it all out loud. “So that’s when you got pregnant with Diane?”
“That’s right. I thought of having an abortion, but I just couldn’t. I decided that I no longer mattered; my child was innocent, and I was going to make sure that she could have a happy, normal life.”
“And you met George.” Anna hoped to end this awful chat now.
“I had known George for a while. He’d been in love with me for a very long time. But, yes, George rescued me. He loved me so much that he was willing to raise Diane as his own daughter and keep my ugly secret forever. I was four months pregnant with Diane when we got married.” Marlene threw her head back and looked at the stars. “I was never unfaithful to him, you know—not that I deserve a medal for it or anything.”
Victor’s black Mercedes, barely visible in the dark, reminded Anna of Diane’s account. “Were you ever with Dad again after that?” she asked. The question came out as if someone else had taken control of her mouth.
“Ugh, yes, I did. Not long after George and I had separated Victor showed up at my place late one night and…well, you know. That’s when I knew I had to get away from him. My parents had returned to Baltimore a couple of years back, so I knew that I could go there and count on their support.”
“And was that the last time?”
“You seem to know that it wasn’t,” Marlene said curiously, her eyes meeting Anna’s momentarily.
“The messages between the two of you seem to suggest so.”
“Yes, there were other times. Victor would tell Lydia that he was going on some bullshit business trip, and instead came to see me in Baltimore. I had to give myself to him, or he would tell Lydia everything about us, even about Diane. That’s how he kept me as his slut on the side.” Marlene’s head sank on her
chest, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’ve feared this day for a very long time, Anna. Twenty-four years I’ve spent trying to spare Diane the pain I saw in her eyes tonight.”
A text message rang in on Marlene’s phone. She grimaced as she read it but said nothing. Anna wanted to ask her—perhaps the message had been from Diane. But right then, Marlene’s phone rang again, this time repeatedly, as it was a call coming through.
“I need to take this call in the car,” she said with a note of urgency and went inside her vehicle, turning her face down and away from Anna. Her own car was only a few steps away, and she figured she could call Michael from there, while still keeping an eye on her aunt.
Michael answered quickly, “Anna, hi, how’s everything over there? Is your mom with you?” Anna explained to him the current state of affairs, at least what she knew. The thought that she really didn’t know what was happening inside the house unnerved her all of a sudden. They had been inside for a while already. “Perhaps, you should text Frank, just to be sure that they haven’t run into your dad or anything,” Michael suggested. “I just dropped Sarah off at her place. I could go back there now.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll be sure to call you if anything changes. Otherwise, I’ll call you tomorrow morning…I love you.”
“I love you too, gorgeous.” Second time today, she thought—a rare moment of bliss in this very dark night.
Anna must have taken her eyes off her aunt for only a few seconds, but she wasn’t inside the car now. She gazed around and didn’t see her. Michael was still on the phone, saying something about having lunch tomorrow. “Michael, I got to go now. I don’t see Aunt Marlene. She was in the car and…I’ll call you later. Love you. Bye.”
Anna got off the car and looked about the house. She barely managed to see the front door closing behind a figure that looked like Marlene. A rush of panic coursed through her body, and she started running to the house. She tried to call Frank while running, but her hands jerking up and down with every stride made it impossible. She ran up the porch steps and into the house. She heard Marlene’s voice coming from the basement, her father’s man cave.
“You son of a bitch!” Marlene screamed. “I swear to God, you’re done ruining my life! You’re done ruining all of our lives!”
Anna dashed through to the top of the stairs as fast as she could. Marlene’s voice got louder.
“How far should I have moved to escape from you? Alaska? And now, this—are you out of your fucking mind? Do you really think I’m going to keep on being your mistress, your slut? Or that I’m going to replace my sister and be your little wife? Can’t you see what a goddamned creep you’ve become? I should fucking kill you!”
Along with Marlene’s last words, Anna heard the sound of a solid wood object tapping on the floor. She ran downstairs in a panic, stumbling and almost falling at the second to last step. When she came out into the basement, she saw Marlene with Victor’s baseball bat in her hands. She had taken it off the wall, where it had always been, mounted on a display stand, beneath a baseball signed by Barry Bonds.
“You stupid bitch! How come you let Diane just take off with your phone? And don’t you have a pass code on that thing? Jesus! Now put that bat back in its place before I lose my patience with you.” Her father’s voice rolled like thunder. Anna could hear her mother and Frank rushing downstairs behind her.
“Aunt Marlene, what are you doing? Put that thing down,” Anna said in as commanding a voice as she could muster. Her heart was thudding violently, like it might break through her chest at any moment.
“He says I can finally be with him in the open. He just said that to me!” Marlene gripped the bat tightly, ready to swing, her gaze like a crouching panther’s. “His wife, my sister, has not even left the house yet. He’s not human; he’s a reptile!”
The instant Marlene took her eyes off Victor, he snatched the bat from her hands and threw it behind him, almost hitting Anna’s legs. He cornered her menacingly. “How dare you come into my house and threaten me like this? You’re going to kill me, you said? Is that right, you dumb whore?”
“Dad! Stop this now!” Anna yelled, but her words were drowned out by her mother’s furious bellowing.
Lydia emerged from the stairs and dashed fearlessly toward Victor. “You filthy bastard! You had to have us both, didn’t you? Because you’re so special! Such a remarkable specimen, Victor Goddard—you motherfucker!” Her face had come within inches of Victor’s.
“Oh, Lydia, you’re such a naive little woman,” Victor said disdainfully. “The truth is that you were always second place. Marlene was the prettier, sexier, more interesting sister. It was my great mistake to settle for you. So, when I saw Marlene within my grasp, of course, I had to make a move.”
His lips warped into a sickening smile, his eyes glittered with uninhibited malice. “In a different time and place, you could have both been my wives. Anyway, you should be grateful that I stuck with you, Lydia. Look at the life I’ve given you.”
Frank was now standing next to Anna. Their mother had never as much as raised her voice to Victor. Now, the intensity of the moment reached a boiling point when Lydia suddenly slapped Victor hard across the face.
“Yes, I know, the first time feels very strange,” she said with spiteful sarcasm. “I think we can all see the life you’ve given us, Victor. Some fucking life it’s been!”
Victor’s face transmuted into a hideous, almost unnatural scowl, his little eyes beaming as if containing a bright-blue flame. Lydia stepped back, but Victor closed the distance.
“He’s going to hurt her!” cried Frank, and instantly charged at his father. As if the older man had expected his son’s move, he clutched him, spun around, and threw him across the room like a sack of potatoes. Frank came crashing down against the wooden arm of a large sofa, grimacing with pain.
Victor kept coming at Lydia like a seething bull. That slap would not be forgiven. Anna grabbed her mother and pulled her back, saying, “Stop, Dad, stop! Don’t hurt her!”
Marlene came behind Victor and struck his back with both fists repeatedly, like a girl desperately knocking on a massive door. He turned abruptly toward her. She stepped back horrified and fell to the floor.
“You little bitches!” said Victor, towering over Marlene, helpless at his feet. “I guess it’s time I reminded you who’s boss, huh?”
“Mom, no!” Frank screamed, still trying to get up.
Anna had lost sight of her mother for a split second. There she was now, stepping forward, the baseball bat in her hands. Anna tried to grab her; she was out of reach. Tried to yell; her throat tangled up.
Victor turned around, his gorilla hand going for Lydia’s neck. She closed her eyes and swung the bat, hitting him squarely on the temple. There was a sharp, cracking sound; and Victor’s body fell to the floor with a loud, dull thump.
A stunned silence was followed by Marlene’s frightened whimpers. Lydia dropped the bat, covered her face with both hands, and wailed dreadfully. Anna dropped to the floor beside her father’s still body and checked his neck for a pulse. There was none. In a daze of shock and disbelief, she looked up at the bewildered faces of her mother, Frank, and Marlene, before uttering those surreal words, “He’s dead!”
“Oh God, no!” Marlene cried wretchedly, curled up on the floor with her eyes closed and her face drenched in tears.
Frozen still, Lydia gaped down at her husband’s body, horror crystallized on her face, tears streaming down. Her lips quivered now. “I killed him! I killed him! I’m a murderer! What have I done? What have I done?”
Frank embraced Anna. Coming out of shock, tears came rolling down her cheeks. She didn’t know what she was feeling, exactly; it was a muddled but intense, harrowing emotion.
Lydia threw her arms around her kids, buried her face on Anna’s shoulder and wept quietly. “Call the police. I’ll face the consequences of my actions.”
“The real criminal is dead,” said Marlene with a
shattered voice, still hunched over on the floor. “You slaughtered a monster, Lydia. He would have killed you. And maybe me too.”
“You don’t know that. He wasn’t even holding a weapon,” Lydia said between sobs.
“He could have easily killed you with his bare hands,” said Frank.
Anna was surprised by her own composure all of a sudden. She was now thinking coolly about their situation. “Mom has a good point, though.” Their embrace broke off as she spoke. “Look at it from the police’s perspective. He didn’t have a weapon, and he didn’t actually hit Mom or Aunt Marlene. Frank punched him earlier, and that left a mark on his face, separate from the baseball bat injury.”
Anna pointed at her father’s face. It had a small, red bruise on the side of the chin, along with a cracked lower lip, and a ghastly purple bruise surrounding a gash that marked the baseball bat’s exact point of impact. “That’s evidence of earlier violence. But most importantly, there is the issue of motive. Both Mom and Aunt Marlene have very strong, obvious motives. Perhaps, Frank too—he did get in a fight with him earlier. Even I could be supposed to have a motive. We all had reasons to, potentially, want him dead. And, of course, he was killed in his basement, with his own baseball bat.”
“None of you will be suspected after I confess. It’s my fingerprints on the murder weapon, anyway,” said her mother.
“You would almost certainly be convicted for manslaughter, if not second-degree murder. I won’t let you do that.” Anna herself had been the architect of this catastrophe. Her hands had been on the steering wheel from the very instant the train left the station, that fateful Sunday, to the unfortunate moment in which it went tragically off the rails, only minutes ago. She had as much blood on her hands as her mother. Perhaps more.
“There has to be another way,” Frank said. “But whatever we are going to do, we have to do it fast. It will be very suspicious if we call this in hours after the estimated time of death, which, from what I’ve heard, they can calculate rather precisely.”
