That was when the campaign against Eileen Evans began. They wanted her out of the house. Everyone knew that she was a prostitute, and that she had callers almost every day. Apparently, Maria knew all about it too, although she had no idea of the nature of those visits yet. But, she understood, that there was something going on, that the adults only spoke about in a whisper.
I must admit that to begin with, I joined in the campaign against Eileen. At first, Paul Flakers began to harass her on the telephone at night. I also signed a letter to the facility manager, demanding that she be thrown out, but to no avail. The reason we gave, was that she had a bad influence over the children – Maria Kline and Tanya Benton. We also claimed that she didn’t do the duties expected of her, such as the cleaning of the stairs. But it wasn’t true.
We also spread the lie, that she was particularly loud at night, and that her clientele could be heard throughout the stairwell. But that wasn’t true either! None of it. She was never loud, and we never heard her callers, particularly at night. I knew that the driving force behind all those lies came from Angelica and Dagger. I couldn’t understand why they were doing it. Perhaps they were really worried about the children. But, why the two of them had joined forces on this particular issue was a mystery to me. And I also asked myself why Angelica’s father didn’t intervene. But then, I hadn’t seen much of him lately.
Chapter 32
Then, one day, it went too far. I’m ashamed to admit that I was involved in that terrible scene. It could have been anybody in the building, but as luck would have it, I happened to be there, so I was drawn in. I was speaking to Derek Dagger about the meter-reading appointment that was pending, when Eileen came in through the door. She wanted to pass by us, But Derek Dagger stopped her.
“Ms. Evans, please come here for a moment,” he said, like an authoritarian boss would speak to his subordinates. To my surprise, she obliged. I already knew that it wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation.
“How long is this going to continue?” he asked.
“What do you mean?” Eileen replied, clearly confused.
“I mean,” he said sarcastically, “when are you finally going to move out?”
“I’m not going to move out!”
Derek Dagger wasn’t happy with her answer. “I have already spoken to the facility administrator. You’ve already been asked, several times, to refrain from your loose lifestyle,” he said dramatically. “You’ve been given an ultimatum!”
“What do you want from me?” she asked coldly. “I can do whatever I want to inside my apartment!” She almost spat the words at him.
“I see things quite differently,” he said quietly. Then he almost whispered. “Stop screwing around with strange men all the time! We don’t want that in this building.”
“I can screw around with whoever I want to, whenever I want to. It’s got nothing to do with you! That’s what I do for a living. Not everyone can pick and choose when it comes to work.” Eileen was red with rage. I didn’t know where to look. I had somehow been drawn into the campaign of harassment against Eileen, although I actually had nothing against her. I wanted to leave, but I stood there without participating, which was as good as being part of it.
“You don’t want to understand me, do you?” Dagger countered.
He always closed his eyes when he was reading someone the riot act, and it looked very strange indeed. And he spoke exceptionally quietly, so that one could hardly hear his words without leaning closer to him.
“We don’t want you around here! When are you finally going to get that into your head? You are giving this building a bad name. What shall I tell Maria if she asks me? Eileen? Oh, she’d just a slut, a whore!”
Derek Dagger paused to take a breath, interrupting his monologue at a rather awkward moment. I found myself nodding involuntarily, although I found that the whole thing was being totally exaggerated.
Eileen Stood there, as if she had turned to stone. She gasped for air, and seemed unable to say a word. When she looked at me, I thought I could feel her pain, but instead of backing her up, I added insult to injury.
“It really would be better if you moved out,” I said in a tone that was supposed to sound sensible. But it simply sounded cruel. I really don’t know why I said it, but I knew that my words had hurt Eileen deeply.
She stared at us, dumbfounded and absolutely helpless. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, she went to her apartment without a word. We had almost destroyed that young woman, who was strong enough to sell her body.
Chapter 33
I went back to my apartment. Simon wasn’t home yet. On the way to the kitchen, I stopped abruptly as I passed by our big mirror. I felt terrible after the fight that Dagger had provoked downstairs. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw my eyes filling with tears. How could I have let things get that far? How could I have gotten myself into that position? I went to my room, lay down on the bed and wept bitterly.
I only calmed down again when Simon came home and found me huddled on the bed. He was very understanding. He didn’t know much about what had been going on with regard to Eileen, or how deeply involved I had become, because he’d hardly been at home in the preceding few weeks. My breakdown had brought me to the realization that I had done something despicable. And I had to pay the price!
I decided to write her a letter, so that I didn’t have to face her personally. After all, that was what one would expect from a coward like me. There would certainly be consequences if Derek Dagger found out what I’d done. But I had to take the risk.
I didn’t dare to call Eileen on the phone. Strangely, writing that letter drew me closer to her and alienated me from Dagger, whom until then, I had considered to be a sensible person. I wrote:
“Dear Eileen,
I’m so sorry about what happened today. I think that you are a woman who appreciates straight talk, therefore, I don’t want to apologize for something that is inexcusable. I somehow managed to get involved in a malicious campaign against you, with Derek Dagger and Angelica Kline. I don’t understand myself, how I could have allowed myself to get involved. But, I wanted to be Angelica’s friend, so uniting forces with her, against you, seemed a logical step. To begin with, it was merely a subconscious resentment, which increased with time. Until now. I missed the moment when I should have said no. But, I can’t live like this any longer. I really want you to know, that I have nothing against you as a fellow resident in this building.”
I found writing that letter very difficult. I hardly knew Eileen and admitting my guilt was a very unpleasant experience.
And there was something else that was bothering me too, as I went to put the letter into Eileen’s mailbox. Why had Derek said that he was worried about Maria Kline? What did her well-being have to do with him? He shouldn’t have given a hoot about any influence Eileen could have had on Maria. It suddenly became clear to me, that there must be some kind of special bond between Derek Dagger and Maria Kline. I lay awake for hours that night. The secret was soon to be revealed.
Chapter 34
A few days later, I was taking care of Maria in my apartment. We were playing on the carpet in my bedroom when my doorbell rang. It was Eileen. For a moment, I asked myself what Maria would tell her mother. But I could hardly send Eileen away, so I invited her in. She entered without a word, and sat down on a chair at our dining room table. She stared at the table top for a few minutes. Maria was watching a children’s program on television. She took hardly any notice of Eileen.
“Why did you do it?” Eileen asked at last.
“I thought that I’d explained everything in my letter,” I said gently.
“Do you know what I have to put up with here?” I shook my head carefully. “My parents don’t know what I do for a living. And they must never find out, under any circumstances. But, I can’t remember anyone ever having apologized to me.” I was touched, but I felt uncomfortable at the same time. Eileen seemed close to tears.
“Would you like a cup of coffee?” I asked, in an attempt to change the direction of the conversation. She just nodded. When I got back, I said:
“I’m so sorry about what happened. I somehow got caught up in the whole thing…” Eileen waved her hand dismissively.
“Please, I don’t want to think about it anymore. It couldn’t have been easy for you to write that letter. I just don’t understand why Derek Dagger hates me so much,” said Eileen. I didn’t reply, but inwardly, I couldn’t have agreed more.
She continued: “I don’t know where this sudden shift in sentiment comes from. To begin with, Derek seemed so kind and friendly. Why is he set to destroy me now?”
For a moment, I considered mentioning my suspicion that there was some special bond between Maria and Dagger, but I decided against it. I didn’t know her well enough to trust her with my suspicion.
“I have some cake in the kitchen,” I said, and went to fetch it. It took a while, because I had to rinse two cake forks and a plate first. When I returned to the living room, Eileen was deeply engrossed in a conversation with Maria.
“My mommy braided my hair,” Maria replied to a question I had not heard. “Why is your hair so short?” she asked.
“I like it short,” Eileen said. “Perhaps you’ll also decide to wear your hair short one day.”
“Never!” she answered determinedly.
“Why not? You’d look very pretty.” Maria seemed to consider her suggestion for a moment.
“One day, maybe,” she said finally, turning back to the television. We watched her for a while, as we ate our cake. She reminded me of how desperately Simon and I wanted children of our own.
“Can you do my hair for me?” Maria asked, climbing onto Eileen’s lap.
“Yes, I’d be glad to,” Eileen said. Maria settled herself on a third chair, and Eileen began to brush her hair. She braided the little girl’s hair into a French braid, and had hardly finished when the doorbell rang. It was Angelica.
I knew immediately, that Angelica was not going to be pleased at the sight of Eileen doing her daughter’s hair. But I didn’t expect such an aggressive reaction. She sent her daughter back to her apartment with a few brusque words.
Then she turned to Eileen. “Get out of here!” she hissed.
I knew that I had to defend Eileen, otherwise my efforts with the letter I’d written her, would be wasted.
“Please stay, Eileen,” I said, and turning to Angelica, I added: “Don’t you find it rather rude throwing someone out of an apartment that is not your own?”
“Not if they have a bad influence on my daughter,” Angelica shouted. “We have made it quite clear to this woman,” she pointed at Eileen, “that she is not welcome around here. And I expected you to support us in this matter, Hanna. But instead, you invite this whore into your apartment.”
I stood there like a statue. I felt as though I was sitting in a car that was about to hit a tree at high speed. Or, one that had already hit a tree. My friendship with Angelica was over. From now on, Simon and I would “belong” to Eileen. Would Angelica start a similar malicious campaign against us now? The way Angelica spoke about Eileen in the third person, as though she wasn’t even there, was awful.
“You don’t even know Eileen! Why do you judge her so harshly?” I asked, but Angelica wasn’t listening.
“That,” she said, pointing at Eileen, “is a whore! I don’t want my daughter associating with people like her!” There was no point in arguing.
“I think you should leave now,” I said, standing up and opening the door as I spoke.
As Angelica stepped out into the hallway, I said: “By the way, I know about your affair with Derek Dagger.” Angelica didn’t pause, and neither did she turn around, but I knew that she had heard me. And that was the end of our friendship.
Chapter 35
Whenever Angelica and I ran into one another on the stairs, we simply ignored each other. In fact, I made every effort to avoid her, because I didn’t want to give her the opportunity to continue with her recent verbal attack. It was quite ridiculous. Every time I left the apartment, I looked through the peephole, to make sure that I wouldn’t encounter her. Of course, it still happened from time to time.
Once, I raised my hand half-heartedly in greeting and Angelica responded without any enthusiasm.
The next weekend, we met at Kyle Benton’s birthday party. Everyone in the building was invited. Of course, Paul Flakers spoke the whole night, and seemed to seize every opportunity to get into long discussions with everyone who lived in the building. Claire Dagger came, walking with the aid of a crutch, and she left very early.
Neither Morton Gould nor Eileen were there, and Angelica’s husband, as expected, was also absent. But there were several people there, whom I did not know, including Kyle’s sister, Tanya. I met her for the first time that evening.
Tanya was younger than she looked. She was just twelve, but she looked more like fifteen or sixteen.
“How long have you been living here?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I think for one year.” I doubted whether that was true, but I didn’t prod any further.
“Do you like it here?” I asked
“No! It’s not very nice here. I don’t like it very much.”
I looked over at Derek Dagger, who was speaking very loudly, with Angelica. Claire had already left. Angelica looked in our direction quite often – but I realized that I was not the object of her interest, but rather Tanya. I asked whether she had told Derek that Eileen and Maria had been in my apartment together.
I was lost in my thoughts about Angelica and Derek, when I realized that Tanya was speaking to me.
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Hanna,” I said. “I’m going to get something to drink. Shall I get something for you too?”
“Yes please. A cola!” Tanya said.
I was deep in thought, asking myself how I could get Angelica to speak to me again. I didn’t want to leave it at our last conversation. I wandered around aimlessly, until Flakers cornered me. I sighed inwardly.
“Angelica and Derek! Interesting, don’t you think?” he asked with a mocking grin. Without asking, he poured me a glass of wine, which I swallowed in one go.
“You needn’t believe me, but I think it’s quite obvious,” he murmured in my ear.
“Why does it interest you so?” I asked. My answer seemed to surprise him, and he needed a moment to think about it.
“Good question,” he said secretively. “Do you think I don’t know that I get on your nerves? The feeling is mutual. But there’s something going on in this Dark Place.”
“Dark Place?” I asked surprised, but in spite of myself, I laughed at his strange formulation.
“Don’t laugh!” he said sternly. “Believe it or not, I know what’s going on. Derek Dagger and Angelica Kline – that’s a bad alliance.”
“There’s nothing going on between them,” I said, but I didn’t believe my own words. Flakers laughed sympathetically.
“Look at the two of them! Do you ever see Mr. Kline? No! Well, I do. I have trouble sleeping, and I often walk around the town at night, and sometimes, I simply stand in the stairwell. Angelica’s strength is founded on her husband’s weakness. Sometimes I run into him at night. He doesn’t have the backbone to stand up to his wife, or even his daughter, for that matter. An absolutely spineless character. A mere pawn in his wife’s hands, and not only in hers. Those two are hiding something. And any alliance between Angelica and Derek is going to make this Dark Place even darker.”
I looked at him, without fully understanding what he was trying to say. But Flakers said no more. Instead, he lit a cigarette and disappeared into the kitchen. Completely lost in my own thoughts, I caught myself drinking Tanya’s cola.
I put the glass down and walked over to Angelica, who was still speaking with Derek. He greeted me enthusiastically.
“Hello Hanna! Wonderful that you could come!” He spoke as t
hough he was the host, rather than Kyle Benton.
“Of course! How could I miss Kyle’s birthday party,” I said, hoping that Angelica wouldn’t turn her back on me. But, it was Derek who excused himself and moved away. I was left alone with Angelica.
“How are you?” I asked, as though the unpleasant incident with Eileen in my apartment, had never taken place. She looked at me for a long time, then she answered, almost devoid of all expression:
“That’s none of your business anymore!” and she turned away.
Those were the last words I spoke to her for a long time.
I stayed a while longer, but I avoided Angelica like the plague. I noticed that Kyle hung around her the whole evening. Neither he nor Derek left Angelica’s side for a moment. She hardly spoke to anybody else the whole time, except those two men. Then I decided to go back to my apartment. I’d had a few drinks too many, and I needed my bed.
Chapter 36
The next time I saw Angelica, was when her father passed away. I came home at about 5pm, and the sight of an ambulance in front of the building gave me a feeling of foreboding. Almost all the residents of the building were gathered together in the foyer.
Frederick Smith had fallen down the stairs. He was dead. Even before I had picked Angelica out from among the group of people standing there, the undertakers arrived to take the corpse away. A physician had already confirmed the old man’s death. I went to Angelica – I wanted to give her a comforting hug, but she avoided me. Even now, she was not willing to speak to me. She didn’t want my sympathy.
I left everyone standing there, and went up to my apartment, where Simon had already prepared something for dinner.
“Frederick Smith is dead,” I said.
“I know!” he replied.
“Were you also downstairs?”
“Just briefly. The ambulance arrived pretty quickly. Derek Dagger found the old boy at the bottom of the stairs.”
“Derek Dagger?” I interjected. Simon nodded.
A Dark Place: Thriller Page 7
