by Carrie Carr
A whispering shriek escaped from Camina's mouth, and Camina grabbed the wig from Bianca's hand and tossed it to the floor.
Bianca had done it now.
The sight of the small patches of hair dispersed across Camina's narrow head sent Bianca into a state of shock. Though she always knew Camina wore a wig, it was the first time she ever saw her without it. And it was a scary sight.
Camina threw herself at Bianca and pulled at Bianca's ponytail, but Bianca caught Camina's hand in time and was able to push her away. Again, Camina hurled at Bianca, this time knocking her to the floor. While Bianca recovered from her fall to the floor, Camina maneuvered her thin body onto Bianca's. She pulled at Bianca's hair when Bianca thrust her fist against Camina's cheek. It was just enough time to slide from underneath Camina's long torso. Immediately, Bianca jetted towards the front door. Camina rose from the floor, grabbed the table lamp and threw it towards Bianca, but Bianca ducked in time and the lamp shattered to the floor.
Camina was an animal.
Bianca never before witnessed this brutal side of Camina, and she was terrified.
For her life.
Chapter 19
BIANCA'S ONLY THOUGHT WAS TO reach the front door and escape the madness of this woman, this woman who seemed capable of anything. The door was a long way off, and she would have to bypass Camina in order to reach it.
A tall candlestick on the coffee table caught Bianca's eye, and she grabbed it fast and threw it at Camina. The blow to Camina's head only stopped her a moment, for an unstoppable woman. But it was the look in Camina's eye that caught Bianca off guard. It was the most frightening glare she ever saw. Her heart raced, thumped, pounded and she wondered if she would ever make it to the front door.
Without thinking about it any further, Bianca zipped towards the door, hoping the thrust of her speed would bypass Camina's fury.
Unexpectedly, everything went black, and when Bianca opened her eyes, she was down on the floor, feeling a knot on the back of her head. Camina's body was toppled atop of Bianca, her hands around Bianca's neck.
Bianca gasped for air, and tried to free herself from Camina's clutches, but she couldn't. Continually Bianca struggled to release Camina's hand from her neck as she pried, scratched, pushed, pulled, but nothing seemed to work.
"Bruce tried to fuck me over and look what happened to him," Camina said. "It wasn't enough that I had to share him with his wife, but now you, too."
Bianca's eyes lit up. It was Camina's statement that sent terror throughout Bianca's entire body while Camina's hands pierced Bianca's neck,
Bianca tried desperately to breathe and keep from going under, and then, out of nowhere, Bianca heard a male voice.
"Let her go."
To Bianca's surprise, she saw Detective Uhler and Stuart standing over her.
Finally, Camina released her grasp from Bianca's neck, and Bianca gasped and coughed, her head spinning.
Stuart was quick to help Bianca up from the floor. "Are you okay?"
Bianca nodded, still coughing as Camina so casually picked up her wig from the floor and positioned it on her head.
All eyes on Camina.
"I saw the whole thing, Camina," Stuart said to Camina.
"What?" Camina questioned.
Stuart stepped to Camina and said, "I said, I saw the whole thing."
Camina's eyes locked in with Stuart's as if she was staring at Satan, and Bianca stood there, just as surprised.
"What are you talking about?" Camina asked. "Saw what whole thing?"
"The murder. I was in the bathroom stall the night Bruce Colby was murdered," Stuart said. "I saw him. I saw you. I saw everything."
The detectives escorted Camina to the station, and Bianca and Stuart headed towards Lee's Jeep. As soon as they climbed into the Jeep, Stuart said, "I'm sorry I didn't go to the police sooner."
"I'm just glad you did when you did," she said to him.
Bianca started the engine, but she didn't move. There was something about Stuart's confession that baffled her. She was about to pull off, but the curiosity of Stuart witnessing the murder gnawed at her. "How could that be?" She shifted the gear back into park. "How is it that you saw everything? How can that be possible?"
"I was in the bathroom from the time you came in," Stuart said.
Immediately, Bianca thought about that night, remembering. In her mind, she retraced her steps, and, still, it did not compute. "But I checked all the stalls, and there was no one in there."
"Did you check the handicap stall?"
Bianca's eyes lit up as she remembered. He was right. She had checked every stall but that one. "So you actually saw Camina, and she didn't see you?"
"I didn't actually see her face. I never saw her face. I just assumed it was Camina. I knew it couldn't have been you."
Bianca smiled and smiled and smiled some more. "So you don't actually know for sure?"
Stuart smiled. "In my heart, I knew it couldn't have been you."
Bianca shifted the gear into drive. "So you weren't completely truthful with the police."
"Not completely."
"So it could have been Michelle," Bianca said.
"Michelle is a sweetheart. It couldn't have been her either."
"So you really don't know who killed Bruce Colby?"
"I know it wasn't you."
Stuart smiled at her, and she smiled right back.
Maybe Camina killed Bruce, and maybe she didn't.
Maybe Michelle killed Bruce, and maybe she didn't. Maybe it was a man dressed in a wig, or maybe it wasn't. It really didn't matter at this point. What was most important was that Stuart exonerated her. Though Bianca knew she was innocent, it was nice to know that even if she wasn't, her cousin was on her side.
After Bianca dropped Stuart off at his place, she made her way back to her apartment. Not much time passed since she left Lee asleep on her sofa. For certain, he would be awake when she returned, wondering about her disappearance.
The thought of resuming her snuggled position with him on the sofa brought a smile to her face, and she wanted to continue where they left off.
She came through the front door, and her eyes scanned the room for Lee, but he was nowhere in sight. She called to him and closed the door behind her. Because she was wearing his jacket and hat and held his keys in her hand, he could not have gone far.
Again, she called to him, but before she could call his name a third time, she saw Lee step across the exit of the bedroom. He didn't seem suspicious of her disappearance, and he didn't look worried. Instead, a warm smile glowed across his face.
"Hi," she said. "I was looking for you. I suppose you're wondering where I've been."
"Now, what makes you think that?" he said to her.
She admired his cool subtleness, seemingly not concerned at all. If only he knew what she had just endured.
Bianca released the ponytail ring from her hair and shuffled her fingers through her black hair. "I want to tell you where I've been and everything that happened to me tonight, but first, I just want to lie down next to you. Can we do that?"
At first Lee wore a stern look on his face, then it turned to a gentle smile. At that moment, she wanted to make love to him, share her bed with him and her body, but somehow it didn't seem right. The timing was off.
After all of her risqué acts with Bruce and the infamous Rod Bigg, it wouldn't feel genuine. It would feel more like a continuation of where she left off in her endeavor to be someone else. And she wanted her experience with Lee to be a real, lasting one, one that would continue for many years to come.
And right now, she just wanted to lie next to him, feel his presence, and feel at home with Lee Travis.
Bianca arrived at work early on Monday, wanting to put the pieces back together, and most of all to express her gratitude to Lillian that she still had a job. Not being the ideal employee for the last three weeks, she was appreciative of Lillian's patience. She gave Bianca a second chance, and she
wanted Lillian to know just how much she appreciated it.
Though she continued to wear her new clothes, she resumed wearing her hair back in a bun. That was how she liked it, simple and out of her face.
That afternoon, Bianca and Michelle ordered takeout for lunch and sat in the lunchroom. The subject of Camina would come up, that being the sole topic of discussion at the office. But Bianca had talked about it enough, and it was time to put it behind her.
Michelle bit into her sandwich and glanced across the table at Bianca. "I must say, I do miss the blonde hair. It was so pretty on you."
"Well, maybe one day I will color it again," Bianca said. "But for entirely different reasons."
"Have you noticed how creepy it is around here? I can't imagine what it's like for the men to use the facilities after what happened to their colleague."
Bianca dreaded visions of the men's room and the events that transpired there, not many days ago.
She sipped on her iced tea and did not say much.
"I went to see Camina," Michelle said.
"Oh. How is she?"
"She looks okay. Even though I know what she did was totally wrong, a part of me feels really bad for her."
Bianca nodded. "Me too," Bianca said. "And I keep asking myself why she did it, and I don't get it."
"We talked about it," Michelle said.
"What did she say?"
Michelle shook her head. "She just snapped. It was as simple as that. You know she really thought Bruce would leave his wife and marry her. I guess we all have our breaking points."
"Yeah, but murder?"
"Think about what you just said, Bianca."
Clueless, Bianca peered at Michelle.
"Didn't your father snap one day, kill your mother and then himself?"
Bianca thought back. "Yeah, he did, but my father had an illness, he was manic depressive and was on medication for a long time. What's Camina's excuse?"
"That's what I'm talking about. She just snapped."
Sunday afternoon Bianca removed the obituaries from the mantel and stored them away in her drawer. She had held on to them long enough and believed that they were holding her back.
In the kitchen, she prepared a spaghetti dinner for Lee. Though she was no Martha Stewart, she wanted to do great things for Lee and not only because he treated her so well, but because he deserved it. For long enough, she postponed wearing the watch that Lee gifted her, wanting to wait for a special day. That day finally arrived. It was this day, the day she planned to spend with Lee Travis.
While Lee was in the front room looking over the books on the shelf, Bianca slipped into the bedroom and snagged the watch from her dresser drawer. She buckled it onto her wrist and returned to the kitchen.
Lee soon followed her into the kitchen and buckled down on the bar stool at the counter.
While the water boiled for the spaghetti, she poured Lee and herself some juice after having done away with her days of Chardonnay, at least for a few days anyway. She seated herself across from him, studying him carefully. His nose was buried into the book in front of him. This was a sweet man with so much to offer, and despite being previously engaged to her sister, despite him being shorter than she was, despite everything, he was all hers, and not because she chose him, but because he had already chosen her.
She didn't think there would ever be days like this, days when she would be this happy, this contented. Things truly did get better in time, she thought as she continued to stare at Lee, admiration in her eyes.
Lee seemed to sense her eyes perusing him and he glanced up. "What did I do?"
"Nothing. I was just wondering?"
"About?"
"About that clock that you gave me. No one ever gave me a clock before, and I was just wondering why. Why a clock of all things?"
"Did you look at the inscription?"
"There's an inscription?" she asked him.
"There's an inscription."
Bianca raced into the other room, grabbed the clock and returned to the kitchen. She then turned the clock over and written in really tiny scripted words, which Bianca read aloud, were the words: "Just a matter of time before you'll be mine."
Lee smiled. "I know it's corny, but it's from the heart."
"This is so sweet. I can't believe this inscription has been there all along, and this is the first time that I've seen it."
Bianca set the clock on the kitchen table and began cutting the green peppers and onions for her spaghetti dinner.
"You know, you don't have to do this," Lee said.
"I don't have to do what?"
"Cook for me. I know it's not your forte. We can always order out."
"You're not afraid of my cooking, are you?"
"Well, now that you brought it up."
After they shared a good laugh, she was intrigued and wanted to know everything about him. "Lee, you have a really wonderful relationship with your father, but I have never heard you say anything about your mother."
Lee closed the book in front of him and Bianca witnessed the discomfort on his face.
"You don't have to tell me," she said.
"No, I don't mind. My mother wasn't ready to be a mother. I was what you call an unplanned pregnancy, and she didn't want to be tied down. So she left."
"Really?"
"I hardly ever think about it, so you see there's not much to say about her."
"Where is she now?"
Lee shifted his eyes away from her and didn't answer.
"Is she alive?" Bianca asked.
"I'm sure she is."
"Did your father tell you that?" she asked.
"Not exactly, but I can read between the lines, and I already forgave her for it, a long time ago."
She and Lee were so much alike. After wasting so much time with the crying, suffering and the acting out, finally, she met someone who understood her pain, who loved her despite everything, and she refused to waste any more time. Things could change in an instant, which they had for her. But for this moment, she was glad to be who she was. And after all she endured, she wouldn't change a thing.
"I want you to listen to something for me," Bianca said as she led Lee into the front room. Lee remained silent as he eased down on the sofa, with a curious look about him.
Bianca stood at the entertainment center and slid the Bee Gees CD into the disc player. Soon the sounds and words of the magnificent song, I Just Want to Be Your Everything echoed throughout the room. Lee's eyes gazed up at Bianca, mesmerized.
He had once played that same song for her, but the true essence of the words belonged to him, possibly written with someone like him in mind.
Bianca seated herself next to him on the sofa and grasped his hand into hers, all the while sharing a warm smile. With her eyes locked in with his, she discovered that this was where she wanted to be, in the presence of Lee Travis, and nowhere else.
With the mellow sounds emanating throughout the room, she scooted closer to him and was practically in his lap. He was that someone, not necessarily the someone she searched for all of her life, but that someone she was grateful to have found, that someone who brought her to this place of happiness, contentment and peace.
It was strange how much had changed since Bianca turned thirty, and not necessarily for the worst, but for the absolute best.
Later that evening, Bianca was fast asleep in Lee's arms when she was awakened by a voice from the other room.
It was Sandy.
Filled with delight and anticipation, Bianca slid from underneath Lee's arms and escaped into the next room.
"Bianca?" the voice called out.
The voice was coming from the bathroom. As soon as Bianca stepped before the bathroom mirror, a ravishing image of Sandy appeared. Gold earrings dangled from Sandy's ears and her straight blonde hair was even more beautiful than ever.
"Sandy, you're back," Bianca said with delight. "I thought you were gone forever."
"That'll never happen."
>
"Well, where were you? I called to you day after day. Did you not hear me?"
"I heard you," Sandy said. "But I knew you had things to take care of, and I wanted you to do it all by yourself."
"Thanks, Sandy. I guess you know everything that happened, huh?"
"Yes, and I must say, I am very proud of you."
"You are?"
"Yes, very much. So how does it feel to be thirty?" Sandy asked her.
"It's the best. The absolute best."
* * *
About the Author
Carrie Carr is an author, freelance writer and screenwriter.
She lives in Illinois.
[email protected]
carriecarrsblog.wordpress.com
