by The Web(Lit)
Not wanting to know?
Terrible things.
Time's deceit. 's His unique brand of deceit. Presenting a veiled truth while changing time and context.
Telling me about cannibal cargo cults because he suspected
Anne Marie death had been part of a money-driven conspiracy.
Recounting the nuclear blast because he'd been part of another technological horror. Discussing Joseph Cristobal's vision and "A. Tutalo' because he yearned to unload the secret of his kids.
And something else.
The first case he'd discussed with me, moments after we'd met.
Discussing in great detail, but unable to locate the file.
Because there'd never been a file?
The cat woman
A 'lovely lady... sweet nature... clean habits." Thirty years old, her mother was morose...
Abused and humiliated by a philandering husband forced to watch him make love to another woman.
The husband dead, years later. Eaten away by lung cancer.
A ravaged chest...
I'm all right, kitten.
Kitten, kitten... I used to call her that when she was little.
Pam not remembering.
Sent away too young to remember anything.
But Moreland remembered everything.
He'd exiled her to the best schools, turned her into an orphan who'd become a woman demeaned by men.
Marrying a philandering abuser. Turning off sexually.
Humiliated... had she, too, watched her husband rut with a lover?
Those sad eyes. Driven to depression. To the brink of suicide, she'd admitted to Robin.
So fragile, her therapist searched for family support, located and phoned Moreland.
To Pam's surprise, he flew to Philadelphia. Offered a shoulder to cry on and more?
Had she told him the details of the humiliation?
Or had he assigned one of his lawyers to find out the facts?
Little kitten... pouring her heart out to Daddy.
The truth torturing Daddy. Because of his guilt about sending her away.
Guilt about having once been exactly the kind of man who hurt her.
A few days later, the philandering husband dies in a freak accident.
Falling barbell. Ravaged chest.
And 'kitten' returns to her birthplace.
Is there anything else you need to know?
Not unless there's something else you want to tell me.
Had Moreland stalked the young surgeon? Or had he hired someone to make things right? He was a wealthy man with the means to arrange things. The obsessive's talent for rationalizing extreme measures...
The barbell hovering over that arrogant chest...
The man who'd hurt his 'kitten' so deeply.
Or maybe it had been an accident and I was letting things get away from me.
Terrible things, he'd said.
Had to be... I'd never know.
Did I care?
At that moment, I did. Maybe one day I wouldn't.
Robin's breath reached my nostrils, hot, tinged with coffee and wine. v A pretty, dark-haired flight attendant smiled as she walked down the aisle.
"Comfy, doctor?"
"Fine, thanks."
"Going home?"
Tup."
Well, that's nice unless you'd rather still be on vacation."
"No," I said.
"I'm ready to get back to reality."
The End
