by Joe Conlan
Heroes were scarce in Glamorosa’s life. Villains were the norm. Her father left her and her mother when she was just a little boy. At the age of fifteen, she was kicked out of the house by her mother’s new husband for being gay. At first, she lived on the streets. Then they became her place of employment. She couldn’t count the number of times she was severely beaten by johns, usually when they discovered her true sex. The number of beer bottles pegged at her head from passing cars was anyone’s guess. The never-ending insults and curse-outs were hardly worth mentioning.
Leading a life replete with scoundrels and lacking good guys, Glamorosa was pleasantly surprised when she returned home at the end of her night. She noticed a Ford Expedition parked in front of her apartment with that evening’s hero sitting behind the wheel. Without hesitation, she jumped in the passenger’s seat, scooted toward her rescuer and laid a big wet one smack on his lips. Before Glamorosa realized it and could prevent it, his hand was in her crotch. The look on his face and in his eyes when he became aware what was in his hand was unmistakable and very recognizable to Glamorosa. Only this time, the intensity of the look of fury was one that she had never encountered. Her initial reaction was to reach for her can of mace. His response was lightning quick. Glamorosa barely had time to grab for the zipper of her purse when he shoved a rag soaked with ether in her face. She struggled bravely but with futility. As she drew in an overdue breath of air and everything went hazy, she chided herself for not expecting that her hero would turn into a villain.
Despite his employment of all the calming exercises that normally set him at ease, Shem couldn’t shake an underlying feeling of unsettled discomfort. This should be his time with Annie. If something didn’t give soon, he was going to do something stupid. His frustration was a result of his jealousy over Michael. Relief for feelings this powerful would only come with a kill. He had no intentions along those lines that night. Though he could come up with a plan for murder at the spur of the moment, choosing a victim could be time consuming. It required a certain feel. These things should never be done impulsively.
Shem didn’t subscribe to the theory of fatalism and believed that the idea of destiny was a load of crap. Yet, he had his fair share of experiences where he seemed to be in the right place at the right time. A business card wielding prostitute strolling down Las Olas Blvd was far from an everyday occurrence. It wasn’t often that a person witnessed an attempted purse snatching in that neighborhood either. Whether or not someone from above or below was looking after him, he didn’t have a choice but to take full advantage of the opportunity that presented itself.
Earlier in the evening, he saw the teenage boy dressed in baggy shorts that hung halfway down his ass whiz by some lady on his skateboard and snatch a bracelet from her wrist. An hour later, the kid had the balls to return to the scene in search of a second victim. Shem knew exactly what the young hoodlum was up to when he saw the garish, excessively decorated, but strikingly beautiful prostitute. She was stumbling toward the French Quarter parking lot, swinging her purse like a bolo whip. On his skateboard, the thief sped toward the prostitute at break-neck speed. The boy was lucky his spine wasn’t severed when Shem pulled the woman off the sidewalk at the last second. Surprised at the disappearance of his target, the thief took a nose dive directly into the hard cement, his head snapping backwards as if on a spring. With blood spewing from his broken nose, the teenager grabbed his skateboard and fled the scene as fast as he could run in his oversized shorts.
Shem had no intention of leaving his spot before he was sure that Annie was safe and sound at home. So when the prostitute gave him her personal card with her home address on South Beach, he knew that later, he would have his peace. His problem of choice had been resolved. The absolute disgust, repugnance, and rage that overcame him because he popped a boner upon touching the prostitute were just confirmation. Miami wasn’t as far from home as he would have preferred, but it would have to do.
Fifteen minutes after the averted theft, Annie, obviously upset, walked out of the restaurant talking on her cell phone. Munez plowed through the doors shortly after. It soon became evident they were involved in a heated argument. When the valet brought up Michael’s car, Michael had to convince Annie to get in. Ten minutes later, he was dropping her off at her apartment building. With binoculars in hand, Shem waited on the beach for several minutes to be certain that Annie was in for the evening. The instant he saw her in her nightgown, he jogged to his car parked on Birch Street, made a quick stop at home to pick up a few necessary provisions then headed straight for Miami.
He sat for three hours in front of the prostitute’s dingy efficiency apartment, waiting for her. When he first arrived, he peered into the front window ineffectively dressed with a bed sheet. The one room of the residence was clearly vacant. He considered the possibility the prostitute might not come home at all. Influenced by a hunch telling him his patience would pay off, he decided to wait it out. It wasn’t a matter of believing in the destiny of the night. He had unwavering confidence in his intuition and often relied on it. It rarely let him down and it didn’t disappoint him that night. In his rear view mirror, he saw her approaching his vehicle, this time with a sure and balanced posture. Evidently, she had sobered up. That was a good thing. He always preferred his victims alert.
The shock when he placed his hands over her genital area nearly sent him over the edge. Fighting his instinct, a rational head prevailed. Instead of slitting her throat impulsively, he reached into the space between the driver’s door and seat and grabbed the ether-soaked rag he had stashed there for later use. After his discovery, he had no desire to postpone matters for sex. As soon as Glamorosa lost consciousness, he started the engine and made his way south along the coast toward Coconut Grove and Matheson Hammock Park. He had made himself familiar with most of the outdoor recreational parks in the Miami metropolitan area. One never knew when the disposal of a body would be necessary.
It took him less than a half hour to get to his destination. Since the park was closed, the parking lot was empty. Shortly after he maneuvered his car into an available space, Glamorosa mumbled a few incoherent words. He gave her an extra dose of the ether-soaked rag. Then, with his backpack strapped tightly over his shoulders, he exited the vehicle to choose a location for the deed.
The park’s nature trail covered 630 acres, most of it lined by mangroves. He had no intention of carrying her a great distance, so he selected a spot approximately thirty yards off the nature trail in an area dense with foliage. The site chosen, he left his backpack with his supplies against a tree and returned to the SUV to collect the drag queen. With the muscles of a man, she was much heavier than he expected, though Shem’s exceptional strength allowed him to carry her the short distance to the site without much effort. He laid her on the ground on her back then fetched the rope from his backpack and tied her hands and ankles. While he waited for her to wake up, he emptied the backpack of the remainder of its contents, including a butcher’s knife, hammer, and chisel.
The heat and heavy air along with the excitement of the anticipation of the kill were causing him to sweat profusely. The annoying sheath of perspiration that covered his skin from head to toe distracted him. He failed to notice Glamorosa had suddenly regained consciousness. Her previous experiences with aggressive and violent men gave her a momentary advantage. Ignoring the horror of her predicament, it took only a few seconds to gather her wits and assess her strategy. As he was pulling his shirt over his head to remove it, she lunged for the hammer he had placed on the ground next to the backpack. If Shem didn’t have the butcher’s knife in a casing on his belt, he might have been in grave trouble. Confident she could overcome the rope that tied her ankles together, she hopped to her feet, moving with surprising dexterity closer to the hammer. Sensing something was amiss, Shem threw his T-shirt off his body in time to see the prostitute grab the hammer. The idea she was going to fight for her life magnified his exhilaration.
“This i
s interesting,” he said. “Do you really think you have a chance?”
“Try me, motherfucker. I’ve gotten away from guys twice your size, you fuck’n pussy.”
Shem howled with laughter, but it didn’t divert his attention from her this time. She pounced toward him with the hammer held high over her head and the intention of burying the spiked end deep into his skull. Shem easily averted her obvious attempt by stepping to the side and swiping the razor sharp blade of the butcher’s knife across the full length of her throat. Blood shot out from the carotid artery like water from a fire hose. Glamorosa dropped to her knees, stunned by her reversal of fortune. Losing pints of blood by the second, she didn’t have the strength to hold the hammer, which dropped harmlessly to the ground. Meanwhile, Shem continued his hysterical laughter, placing his naked chest in the path of the blood flow. The warmth and texture of the life sustaining liquid against his naked skin and nipples caused him to have an instant orgasm.
In a matter of moments, the prostitute lost consciousness once again. Knowing she was still alive, he began the process of cutting off her head, hoping the pain would wake her for one last look in her eyes. Instead, her heart stopped beating and the flow of blood reduced to a trickle. Refusing to be disappointed, he expertly wielded the butcher’s knife to saw through to the third vertebrae of the cervical spine. Next, he grabbed the chisel and picked up the hammer from where Glamorosa had dropped it. Two more orgasms racked his body as he chipped through the bone until the head rolled off to the side. For a coup de gras, he castrated Glamorosa and stuffed the penis up her anus. He roared at the thought that he had given her what she always wanted.
Annie’s date with Michael turned out to be a complete disaster. She broke her pledge to herself to make the best of the evening before it ever really got started. Everything was going fine until he decided to have a couple of cocktails and suggested they see each other more often. That was never a comfortable conversation for Annie and always led to the same result. She protested addressing the issue to no avail. Ultimately, she had to repeat herself for the umpteenth time; she wasn’t interested in taking the relationship to another level. To make matters worse, he couldn’t help but notice that throughout the dinner, Annie was somewhere off in her own world. The reason- she was thinking about re-extending her offer to Daniel for lunch and daydreaming about having a closer relationship with him. He pressed her to tell him why she was so distracted. Finally, against her better judgment, she revealed her plans. A terrible argument ensued and their trip to the movies was cancelled. As they left the restaurant, Annie pulled out her cell phone to call a taxi. Michael convinced her to let him drive her home, apologizing for his jealous behavior. Not a word was spoken during the ride to her apartment.
When she had time to sit and contemplate the disagreement, she had to admit she’d behaved badly. There was no excuse for being out on a date with one man and thinking about another, especially when the other was married with children. She recognized there was something terribly wrong with the situation, though she had no desire to analyze it any further at the moment. She decided she would call Michael first thing in the morning and apologize.
The next day, Annie woke from a deep, dreamless sleep to the sound of what she thought was her alarm. For an instant, she was confused, wondering why she had set it on her day off. When the cobwebs cleared, she realized it wasn’t her alarm after all. The telephone was ringing. She reached for the receiver on the night stand and without checking the caller ID, put the phone to her ear. In a thick, morning voice she barely managed a “Hello.”
“Hi sweetheart, it’s Mom. I didn’t wake you up, did I?”
“Don’t worry about it, Mom. I needed to get up anyway. I thought you might be Michael.”
“Why were you still asleep? It’s late, honey. Don’t you need to leave for work soon?”
“No, I took the day off. But, I didn’t want to waste the morning in bed,” Annie lied as she had every intention of sleeping in.
“Were you expecting Michael to call?”
“Well, not really. It’s just...we had a pretty bad argument last night.”
“Oh sweetie, not again. What now?”
“Same old thing. Where our relationship is going.”
“You have that poor man on a string.”
“You don’t need to take his side. Besides, I know. I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to break up with him. He won’t take no for an answer.”
“You’re giving the poor guy mixed signals. You say you want to break up then you sleep with him again. He’s gonna see it the way he wants to, you know. Every time you show him affection, it gives him hope.”
“I know, I know. I have no excuse for playing with his feelings. I know it’s not fair. I’m just gonna have to set my mind to doing something about it.”
Annie had an exceptionally close relationship with her mother. She shared almost everything about her personal life with her, sometimes too much. Her mom didn’t think twice about lecturing her thirty-four-year-old daughter if she felt it was necessary. In this case, it didn’t make Cassie happy that Annie would allow herself to be in such a relationship.
Raised without a father, it was just the two of them against the world. From an early age, Cassie instilled in Annie the importance of an education and respect for other human beings. Cassie especially wanted to do everything in her power to prevent her daughter from developing an entitlement attitude. There weren’t many human characteristics that Cassie found more repugnant. From the time Annie was in elementary school, Cassie worried that their financial status could affect the way her daughter perceived the world. They had enough money to last their lifetimes, the lifetimes of their children and grandchildren, and still have money left over.
In spite of their wealth, Cassie expected her daughter to be a person who contributed positively to society. She didn’t want Annie to get a skewed view of reality having everything handed to her on a silver platter. She taught her that most of the rest of the planet had to struggle from week to week just to pay their bills and put food in their children’s mouths. To give her firsthand experience, they took several trips to Africa during Annie’s childhood. With UNICEF and other charitable organizations, they visited some of the more poverty-stricken countries. Seeing the horrible conditions under which people lived and sometimes starved had a profound impact on young Annie. It certainly taught her not to take anything for granted. Why she didn’t apply that lesson to her relationship with Michael was an issue she needed to explore.
“I think you should just make him go cold turkey,” said Cassie. “You can’t see him anymore. You’ve got to give him a chance to get over you.”
“You’re right, Mom. I’ll have a talk with him.”
“I’d make it sooner than later. Anyway, to change the subject, you have plans for your day off? I’m not doing anything, if you’d like to stop by.”
Annie was actually thinking about going ahead and following through with her plan to invite Daniel to lunch again. There was no time like the present, especially since she had taken a personal day. Without thinking, she revealed her intentions to her mother.
“Annie, sweetheart, what are you doing? I’m sorry I’m giving you such a hard time first thing in the morning...I just can’t keep my mouth shut. Honey, he’s a married man. It’s not healthy to keep him in your life when you still have feelings for him. It’s the same situation with you and Michael, just in reverse. You do still have feelings for him, don’t you?”
“I don’t know Mom. I’ve always been confused about my feelings for Daniel. But, this is just a lunch. He was promoted to Special Agent in Charge. I want to treat him. It’s nothing more than a celebration. We’ve been friends for almost ten years now.”
“Famous last words, but I’ve said my piece. I know you’re a grown woman. I trust you to make the right decisions. Just be careful.”
“I will, Mom. I promise.”
“Ok, sweetie, I’m glad we got the
chance to talk. I’m gonna go grab some breakfast. Don’t be a stranger. I love you.”
“Love you too, Mom. I’ll call you this weekend. Bye.”
After hanging up the phone, Annie considered rolling over and trying to get another hour or so of sleep. Knowing herself and the nearly impossible task of falling back asleep once she was awake, she decided it wasn’t worth the effort. Her thoughts turned toward Daniel. She knew he was an early riser and rarely got to the office after 7:00am. Totally ignoring her mother’s advice, she picked the phone back up and dialed his cell number. After six rings and no answer, she ended the call. Refusing to be discouraged from her plan, she dialed Daniel’s work extension, thinking his secretary would be there. Karen usually arrived before her boss. Annie wasn’t disappointed. Karen answered on the first ring. Aware Annie was a long time friend of Daniel’s, Karen told her he was in Ft. Lauderdale for the morning. Annie saw it as the perfect opportunity to convince him to meet her at J. Alexander’s, his favorite restaurant, after his business meeting was over. She was about to try his cell phone again and leave a message when it began to ring. To her pleasant surprise, the caller I.D. indicated it was Daniel.
“What’s up Annie?”
“Hey Daniel. I was just lying here in bed thinking maybe we could get together for lunch today. I have the day off. What are you doing?”
“I have some meetings I have to attend. I don’t think I can make it.”
