Dirty Sexy Murder

by Cathleen Ross

  “Marina!” James burst through the door closely followed by the two detectives. He lunged at Michael dragging him off her, his fists thumping into him.

  Michael howled.

  Marina’s legs buckled under her as she fought to stay conscious. Her hands clutched her throat as she sucked in air.

  James’s fists whirled, his face black with fury, until the policemen stepped in. Blood streamed from Michael’s face where James had hit him. The policemen half dragged, half marched Michael from the room.

  In an instant, James covered the distance between them, knelt beside Marina and gathered her in his arms.

  “You made it,” she croaked. Her voice came out hoarse. “I didn’t think you would.” Weakly, she raised her hand to his face.

  “Don’t try to talk,” James said.

  “Marina,” Lizzie shrieked. She rushed toward and hugged her friend. “There’s an ambulance coming. The cat lady is downstairs. She heard all the commotion and called the police, the ambulance, everyone.”

  In the background Marina could hear the sirens.

  “Huh! We don’t need the police now,” James said. He picked Marina up. “Let’s get you seen to. Damn it. I don’t want to let you out of my sight. Ever.”

  She gave him a slow smile, glad of the security of his arms. “We got him.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, we did. I thought I’d lost you.” James crushed her to his chest and kissed her. Just a tender kiss but it meant so much to her. She closed her eyes. So tired. Woozy. But she was safe. They’d caught the ‘Brazilian Wax’ Murderer.

  Epilogue

  “I still don’t understand why you want to go home,” Lizzie said, her voice plaintive. She sat on Marina’s purple comforter watching her as she pulled her suitcase out from under her bed.

  “Stay out of it, Lizzie,” James said. “It’s what Marina wants.” He, too, sat on Marina’s bed, his expression glum. He picked up one of Marina’s pillows, pumped it into shape and put it behind him.

  “Be gentle. Watch the beading on that pillow,” Marina said.

  “I don’t like hippie beading,” James mumbled.

  Marina looked from Lizzie’s petulant face to James’s protective one. A surge of love made her grin. “Guys, I won’t be gone for long. I told you why I need to go. My assistant wants to buy my business so I have to finalize the sale. Plus I want to spend some time with my mum. She’s been out of her mind with worry.”

  Lizzie folded her arms in front of herself and stared at her. James picked imaginary lint off his jeans. Marina knew he hated letting her go. Would they always feel abandoned when someone they loved left them?

  “And?” Lizzie said.

  “Okay. I admit I also have other unfinished business back home.” Marina sighed. She pulled out her suitcase from under the bed and put it on her bed between them. Her over-religious father had drummed in the “do unto others” clause since she’d been a tiny child. But she wasn’t going to apologize to Tony because of her parents’ values. Apologizing to Tony about the cruel things she had called him would also help her move on. She needed that.

  She walked over to her dressing table, opened the top drawer and pulled out fresh underwear and bras. Selecting her favorites, she put them into the suitcase, all the time aware that both of them were watching her every move as if they’d never see her again. Uncomfortable with their combined scrutiny, she frowned. She didn’t want to hurt them, not after everything they had been through together.

  “You’re going to see him, aren’t you?” Lizzie asked. James crossed his arms in front of himself, his gaze flicking over her.

  “You mean Tony?” Marina asked.

  Lizzie nodded.

  James grimaced, but said nothing.

  “Ha! I knew it. That’s why you’re really going.” Lizzie sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes. “Don’t take your expensive lacy underwear. Let him buy his own.”

  “Lizzie,” Marina warned, “don’t start.” She looked at James. “I want to say sorry. I treated Tony badly. I was so mean to him because he was different.” She thought about coming face to face with her ex. Taking a deep breath, she waited for panic to set her heart racing. Nothing. She smiled to herself. After what she had been through, she wasn’t scared anymore. She’d never run from her problems again.

  “But he did the wrong thing by you, too,” Lizzie said. “He should have told you he was a cross-dresser before he proposed. He should be apologizing to you.”

  “It isn’t like that, Lizzie. We all have our problems...our secrets. It’s how we deal with them that counts.” And she could deal with things so much better after she’d lived in the city. Sure, living in freewheeling Sydney had its drawbacks too, but she’d learned so much about herself.

  “Oh my God. You’re becoming so mature, you’re boring me,” Lizzie said.

  Marina smiled, knowing she had changed. “I realize now I needed to grow. I could never have done that if I’d stayed home living life the way my parents wanted me to.”

  “Praise the Lord!” Lizzie said.

  “Lizzie!” James growled.

  Lizzie put her hand over her mouth. “Sorry, Marina. I liked your dad. He was always very nice to me even though he disapproved of the way I looked.”

  Marina smiled at her. “I know you did. But let’s face it, he wasn’t exactly the most open-minded person and I...I wasn’t much better. I needed to come here.”

  “We’re glad you did,” James said.

  She walked back to her dressing table, opened the bottom drawer and pulled out several neatly folded tops. She searched for long-sleeved ones, knowing it would be cold back home. When she turned, she caught the look on James’s face. His green eyes glinted.

  Marina dumped the tops in her bag, climbed on the bed over to him and pushed his knees down so that she could sit astride his lap. “I don’t love Tony anymore. I know that. I love you.”

  He squeezed her tight. “I love you, too. Don’t stay long.”

  “Blah.” Lizzie made a gross sound. “Don’t get all soppy in front of me.”

  Marina pressed her lips to James’s, ignoring Lizzie. He kissed her back. His love, his relief that she had survived poured from him into her.

  “Sick. Do you two have to smooch in front of me? My best friend and my nerdy brother.” Lizzie stuck her fingers down her throat.

  Marina laughed. James too. “You planned to get us together. That’s part of the reason you asked me here.”

  “Yeah, I knew you straight types would suit.”

  “You had me fooled,” James said to his sister. “I thought you’d hate it if I came onto Marina.”

  Lizzie grinned. “I wasn’t going to tell you I’d found your perfect match, was I?”

  Marina looked at James.

  James’s face broke into a grin.

  “Didn’t imagine I’d get you boring types together so fast.” Lizzie climbed off the bed, walked over to Marina’s dressing table and started picking up Marina’s beauty products. “You’d better get moving. You’ll miss your train.”

  “Look at the time,” Marina said, looking at her watch. She had half an hour before James took her to the station. Quickly, she pushed herself away from him.

  “Here. Don’t forget these.” Lizzie handed her some grooming products: hair straightener, moisturizer and hair removal cream seeing as she didn’t wax.

  “Thanks.” She took them and put the products in her bag, then walked to her wardrobe, to pull out some jeans. “Now don’t you get into any trouble while I’m away.” She put her jeans in her suitcase.

  “Ha! You should talk. This all started because of you.” Lizzie put her hands on her hips and stared at her accusingly.

  “Lizzie!” James admonished her.

  Marina patted his leg. “No. That’s okay. Lizzie’s right. The murders were about me. If only I could have understood why earlier.”

  “Come on, don’t blame yourself,” James said.

  “I can’t stand it when y
ou get saintly.” Lizzie threw a box of make-up removal pads at her.

  Marina ducked. They bounced off the suitcase. “Thanks. I’ll need these.”

  “Michael’s a psycho,” James said. “The man murdered his mother when he was fifteen because she did porno. If the cops had solved that murder, these others never would have happened.” He reached over and gave her hand a short squeeze.

  Marina stopped packing for a moment, thinking over what the police had told her. “Michael was always unstable, but when I turned up looking so like his mother, it sent him over the edge. It was like his past had come back to haunt him.”

  “Funny that, seeing as he killed his mum. That would haunt me too,” Lizzie said. “By the way, you’d better pack your hairbrush.” She picked it up off the dressing table.

  “Dating my mum is haunting me,” James said.

  Lizzie threw the brush hitting James on the head.

  “Ouch!” James cried, rubbing his head.

  “Sorry,” Lizzie said, looking anything but.

  Marina reached over, kissed James where the brush had hit him, then picked it up and packed it. “You have to remember that it destroyed Michael when his mother posed for pornographic photographs when he was young. He couldn’t cope that she was a prostitute. The fact that she did porno with a Brazilian drove him totally crazy.”

  Lizzie raised one thinly plucked eyebrow. “You can say that again.” She picked up a small tube of Marina’s eye cream. “Here. Catch.” She threw it to Marina.

  James ducked.

  It landed on the bed. James picked it up and put it in the suitcase.

  “Thanks,” Marina said.

  “You’re welcome,” James said.

  Lizzie scratched her head. “Why didn’t he just kill you instead of all the others? They didn’t look like his mother.”

  “Lizzie!” James growled. “Marina’s been through a lot. Don’t keep hounding her with horrible questions. She’s supposed to keep calm.” He got off the bed and stood protectively near her. “You nearly done?”

  “It’s okay.” She touched James’s shoulder. All her life she’d wanted a partner who cared about her. After what she had been through, she knew James was that man. “The doctor said to talk. It helps. Stops me replaying what happened like a bad video.” She turned to Lizzie. “I’ve been thinking about that. Mainly prostitutes and pornographic models did Brazilians in the eighties,” Marina said.

  “Really? Gosh. Everyone does them now,” Lizzie said.

  “But that’s just it, Lizzie. Not everyone does it.” Marina smiled.

  Lizzie’s eyes opened wide. “I get it. Gosh, I’m so smart. You never had a Brazilian. That’s why he didn’t kill you.”

  “He wanted to though,” Marina said. “Remember the night he paid us to train but the cops interrupted? The police say he taped that. They found a peep camera in my air-conditioning duct. He recorded every waxing. They have audio too.” She raised one eyebrow taking in Lizzie’s look of horror. “He was so intense I could hear his thoughts.”

  “Yuck! That means the cops have been looking at tapes of me being waxed. How gross. Bet he didn’t record Swinging Sixties Cynthia,” Lizzie said.

  Marina laughed and put up her hands. “Don’t remind me. The police are going through the tapes now. There are masses of them.”

  “So that’s how he knew what we were doing,” James said. “He listened to every word you girls said at work. He knew what you were thinking so he could manipulate you.”

  Marina nodded at Lizzie. “Look how he managed to get you into his car late at night when he came to the apartment. He knew we liked Natalia, so he told you she was having a miscarriage and needed you.”

  “And I went like a dummy.” Lizzie grimaced.

  “You weren’t dumb. I didn’t suspect him. He had me totally taken in because he loved Natalia. I thought he was a family man. I liked Michael. He seemed like a hard worker. Loyal to Natalia. He reminded me of the good things back home. He knew I dreamed about meeting a nice family man so he acted like that. Boy, was I fooled.”

  James shook his head. “That bastard was so manipulative. He framed me because I…um...um.” A guilty expression crossed James’s features. He glanced at Lizzie.

  Marina gave him a small smile. “You went down to the salon and warned him you’d beat the crap out of him for bothering Lizzie. He hated you. He couldn’t get near Lizzie or me with you around.”

  “See? I told you he was sleazy. You wouldn’t believe me,” Lizzie said. She picked up a bottle of shampoo and threw it at Marina.

  Marina caught it and put it in her luggage. “I promise to trust your instincts in the future and develop my own.” Plus, she’d promised herself she was going to develop her gift, once she’d had a break. She was wiser now. More open. She knew she could do it.

  “I know you don’t go for Fabs either, but he’s a good person, except for his…um…you-know-what habit,” Lizzie said.

  “I never thought he was the murderer until the end. But that was because I read your feelings about him when I touched your mobile. I felt you feared him,” Marina said.

  “I admit, I wondered for a while if he was the murderer. You must have picked up on that,” Lizzie said.

  “I guess I’m still learning how to interpret things,” Marina said squashing everything into her suitcase. “At least I’ve learned how to solve my own problems instead of running from them.”

  Lizzie sat on the edge of Marina’s bed. “We all have to do that. Fabs is going to start counseling.”

  “Good,” James said.

  Lizzie gave him a look.

  “I thought the murderer might be Peta because I could feel there was violence around her,” Marina said, distracting Lizzie. “I feel bad about that. Poor Peta. She called me when I was in the hospital. That man she liked beat her up. I wish I could have understood more. I realize now I couldn’t get a good reading from her. I think the Talisman was blocking the frequencies she was giving out.” Her hand went to her throat. She realized she didn’t have it on. Looking around her bedroom, she spied it on her dressing table.

  “Do you think that was why you didn’t know that Serena Porter was murdered?” James asked. He picked the suitcase off the bed for her.

  Marina shrugged. “I guess so. I sensed the others that Michael killed. I never had a vision with Serena, but I was wearing the Talisman.” She walked over and picked the Talisman up off her dressing table and tied it around her neck. “Just in case. I need a break from visions.”

  “Good idea,” James asked. “I think we all could do with a break from the kind of visions you have. You ready to go?”

  Marina nodded. They walked into the hall, James carrying the suitcase.

  Lizzie rushed to her bedroom and came out with a handful of tops. “Here. Take your ex these. I’m done with them. This will save him some money on women’s clothes.”

  Marina narrowed her eyes at Lizzie. “Behave. I’m not going back to stir up trouble. I’m going to make peace. So, I’ll pass on the tops thanks.” She pushed them away.

  “Suit yourself.” Lizzie sniffed. “He’s missing out on some good designer labels here.”

  “Bye, Lizzie.” She reached over and gave her a kiss.

  Lizzie dropped the clothes, threw her arms around her and hugged her close. “Come back soon,” she pleaded. “You can’t just shag my brother and leave him.”

  Marina felt the heat rise up her neck. Lizzie could be so embarrassing. “I’m only planning to go home for a couple of weeks.”

  “Lizzie!” James growled and walked out onto the landing. He turned to look at his sister. “Stay out of my business.”

  “As if.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll miss you, Marina. Apart from being a good friend, you’re the only one who can tame my brother. Thanks to you, Fabs is welcome here.”

  Marina hugged Lizzie back.

  “Yes,” James said. “I’ll never call him a steroid-using, masturbating, porno-addicted oa
f again.”

  Marina punched his arm. “Got that out of your system, did you?”

  “Don’t you start bullying me.” James rubbed his arm. “You are so ballsy since you faced the ‘Brazilian Wax Murderer.’”

  “You better believe it,” Marina said. “I still need you though.” She stood on her tip-toes and kissed him. “If it weren’t for you, I’d be dead. I couldn’t fight Michael off alone.”

  “Yeah, we still need men, weird fetishes and all,” Lizzie said philosophically.

  “Don’t look at me,” James said. “I don’t have any fetishes.”

  Marina kissed him again. She couldn’t seem to get enough of him. “Guess we will have some fun finding ones we both enjoy when I’m back.”

  About Cathleen Ross

  http://www.lyricalpress.com/cathleen_ross

  I’ve always been psychic but what really made me develop my skills was when my daughter started seeing dead people from the time she was two years old. I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to consol her with, “Darling there’s nothing really there,” especially as she grew older and could describe a dead relative right down to his mannerisms and favorite shirt. I started meditation classes and opened up my psychic eye and now several years later, I’m more at peace with “the gift” than I was earlier.

  With my character Marina, I wanted to catch that stage when a psychic person thinks they could be going nuts because they know, see or hear things they think they shouldn’t. I also wanted her to grow and use her talent for good, which is how I have developed mine. I also wanted to play around with the other side of being a psychic, so I developed the reluctant clairvoyant character, Evelyn, who gets messages from her mother-in-law.

  (Just for the record, my mother-in-law is doing well and we get on beautifully.) Spirits don’t have a sense of time or place in the way we do, so it’s really annoying being woken up at three in the morning with a message for someone you don’t know well. Some people who have crossed over can be very persistent, so the trick is learning to manage “the gift”.