Life Sentences (18 page)

Were Jane’s parting words a threat?

O
N
P
ILAR’S LAST DAY
at Hawk Haven, Chad appeared for one final time. She took a chance and broke another rule. She locked the exam room door.

Chad looked from the latch to Pilar. “What’s up?”

Pilar unbuttoned her blouse to expose her breasts. As she walked toward him, she dropped the shirt to the floor. She placed his hands on her breasts. “No matter what happens, these will always be yours.”

He caressed the nipples. “You sound like you’re going to have an affair.”

Without answering, Pilar backed away still holding one hand. She lifted her skirt to her waist. “Take this,” she whispered, and lowered his hand to her vagina. She felt as though she would explode. The throbbing in Chad’s pants was certain to push her over the edge.

“As much as I want to,” Chad said out of breath, “we just can’t take the chance.”

Pilar knew he was right. Yet, her whole body shuddered with desire. When Chad backed away, Pilar lowered her skirt and put her blouse on. “Virgin Mary, marry a virgin,” reeled in her head.

Like a woman possessed, Pilar knelt on the floor in front of Chad. She unzipped his pants and took his pulsating penis into her mouth. Within seconds it erupted, thick as cream. Chad grunted. Pilar replaced his penis and zipped his pants. She stood, cleaned the evidence from her mouth, and promised, “There’ll be more of that soon.”

Jane’s offer echoed in Pilar’s head. What was she thinking? She had already made up her mind.

Footsteps rushed by the door. Neither she nor Chad moved. Little else could scare Pilar once her life had been threatened. She washed her hands and splashed cold water on her face. The unusual silence signaled their shared uncertainty about the future. And, of course, sadness. It would be their last meeting for a while.

Chad spoke first. “Tommy escaped yesterday.”

Pilar straightened, but kept her back to Chad.

When she didn’t respond, Chad continued. “I heard the officers talking. They think Jane helped him.”

How could he not even acknowledge her uninhibited display? Though wounded, Pilar decided he was so taken off-guard by the chance she took, he was unsure of what to do or say. He probably took the easiest way out by diverting his sexual tension to another pressure point in their relationship.

Pilar turned to him. “Tommy’s escape shouldn’t stop us from our plans.” She searched his expression for reassurance.

“He was going to help me. But now …”

“I didn’t know you had talked with Tommy about getting out.” Pilar didn’t mention her conversations with Jane.

Chad looked like a child caught stealing candy from a store counter. “I thought since he would be out soon and had a lot of contacts, Tommy could help you find anattorney.” He almost whined.

“We don’t need Tommy’s help.” Pilar didn’t hide her anger over that new development. “Why did he escape so close to being paroled?”

Chad laughed. “The man can’t stand being controlled when he’s on the streets. He likes his freedom to roam the country. That can’t happen when he has to report to an agent every week and that guy’s breathing down his neck.”

Clearing the sleazy image of Tommy from her mind, Pilar massaged Chad’s neck. “Don’t worry about Tommy. He doesn’t sound reliable anyway.” She placed a key into his open palm. “Plan B.” Searching his face for a sign, her confidence waned a bit. She was sure Chad knew about Jane and her.

“What’s this?” Chad rotated the piece of metal. “The key to your heart?”

“In a way.”

“Pilar, quit playing games.”

“It’s the key to the infirmary windows. If I can’t get you out legally, you’ll go the same way Tommy did.”

“I don’t know,” he said, still examining the key.

“We’ll keep in touch using my code name, Carol Jones, just like we’ve been doing. But be mindful who you talk to. And watch where you keep my letters, and that key. Better yet, burn the letters.” Her own criminal mind amused Pilar. “You never know who can get a hold of them,” she warned as though Chad didn’t know it. For the moment Leonardwould remain her secret.

“Don’t take too long to get that attorney.” Chad slipped the key into his pocket. “I don’t think I can stand it in here without you.”

“Well, I’m hopeful my exit will give whoever is after me fewer reasons to set me up, or …”

“Or what?”

“Nothing, I don’t know.” Could Chad tell how scared Pilar really was about someone trying to kill her? Maybe even Tommy. He was in prison for manslaughter, after all. But then, what would he gain by getting rid of her now?

“Go, but remember what’s waiting for you,” Pilar forced a smile and winked. “We’ll be together soon.”

Chad traced her cheek with his finger. “Be careful.”

“You, too,” Pilar whispered.

When Chad left, Pilar looked out the window for the last time. It had taken more than two months to finalize her transfer to Scott. Though it meant a temporary separation from Chad, she was happy she would never see the Hawk Haven parking lot again. As Pilar tossed the thoughts about, her eyes focused on Officer Leonard driving away in a black Ford pickup truck.

M
ARCUS OBJECTED RIGHT FROM
the start to Pilar renting an apartment in Ann Arbor. “It’s just your defiance showing through again,” he said as he toured the rooms and swirled a martini, a drink he enjoyed earlier in each day. He brought the ingredients. Pilar never touched the vile stuff.

Celeste and Pilar chatted over champagne and Brie spread on sourdough slices. “You seem on edge, Mother.” Pilar refilled their glasses, crystal house-warming gifts from Celeste.

“Umm.” She raised her champagne. “I’m making plans, but we’ll have to talk later,” she whispered, and nodded at Marcus as he joined them.

Though puzzled by Celeste’s comment, Pilar realized she had made other hints over the past year. Something was up. For instance, Celeste’s surprise visit to Marquette a couple of months ago to “just hang out” as she called it, sounding less like a Grosse Pointe mother and more like a college friend passing through.

Then there was their conversation a couple of weeks ago when Pilar told her about the transfer. “Great, Pilar,” she sang. “Your timing is perfect.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you everything when you’ve relocated. But, why are you moving to Ann Arbor? Scott Facility is so close to that lovely town, Plymouth. And,” Celeste quietly added, “Ann Arbor holds such bad memories.”

“I’m not afraid any longer, Mother.” She didn’t want to tell Celeste she now felt she had left the University of Michigan because of Marcus and not because of the murders. To justify her decision further meant she would also have to tell Celeste about Chad. Pilar wasn’t ready for that. Neither was Celeste. “We’ll talk when I get home,” Pilar said, almost mimicking Celeste. Both were harboring secrets. Whose would be the juiciest?

A
S EVERYONE SIPPED THEIR
drinks, their momentary silence was interrupted by a beeping sound. Celeste, rather than Marcus, retrieved a pager and checked the message screen.

“May I use your phone, Pilar?” Celeste asked. “It seems there’s an emergency with one of the women I counsel.”

“S-sure.” Pilar stumbled over her answer. Celeste was about to unmask yet another facet of her personality. One hidden, or perhaps ignored by Pilar. What else didn’t Pilar know about her own mother?

Celeste turned her back to Marcus. She held a quiet, steady telephone dialogue. After a few minutes, she returned the portable receiver to its proper place, unlike Pilar, who was always searching for where she’d left it last. “Well,” Celeste announced, “that emergency is taken care of for the moment, at least.” She touched her eye and wiped her nose. Her face twisted in pain.

Marcus appeared put off by the interruption. “I hope we don’t have to hear that damn thing go off all night.”

Celeste seemed to take a few moments to focus her eyes, as if she were just awakening. She breathed deeply. “Marcus, I’m only on call every third week,” Celeste answered with confidence. “I’ve listened to your pager and phone ring for what seems a hundred years, and usually just when I’ve fallen to sleep.”

“Mother?” Pilar touched Celeste’s arm. “Are you okay?”

Before Celeste could answer, Marcus said, “She’ll tell you she had one of her visions. Your mother thinks she has ESP, or some damn thing.” Marcus snickered. “She claims she is an eyewitness to events her clients have experienced, but she’s not even there.” Marcus quickly ushered Celeste to the door. He turned to Pilar. “Can you believe this nonsense?”

Pilar didn’t answer. Though she had only become more aware of that peculiar trait of her mother’s, how had her father missed it? Despite Marcus’ mockery of Celeste, Pilar was amazed at the positive, if perhaps odd, changes in her mother taking place right before her. But then, Pilarremembered, her mother had always seemed to know what was going to happen. “You go, girl,” she whispered into Celeste’s ear when they hugged good-by.

As soon as her parents left, Pilar poured the remainder of the champagne. She lifted the glass to the door and toasted, “To you, Mother.” When she finished the drink, she updated her journal, beginning with her mother’s question about why she chose Ann Arbor. Pilar felt different about living in the town from which she ran away so many years earlier. There was nothing there to frighten her, and Marcus’ opinions truly no longer mattered.

On a more frivolous note, Pilar wrote that she rented this particular apartment despite the cost. It had a fireplace. She had grown used to one while up north. If everything went the way she’d hoped, she and Chad would need the two bedrooms. And it was in the perfect location — near M-14, US23, and I-94. Getting to the prison was a piece of cake.

“I’m no longer afraid of the so-called serial killer or my Father,” Pilar stated as she wrote. She penned the realization:
No one is stalking me. Those evil intentions, whatever they were, went away when I left Hawk Haven
. Her sigh of relief was long and hard.

Pilar pushed open the sliding glass door leading to the deck. She inhaled the humid air, filled with the sweetness of lilacs and daffodils. The scents tickled her nose. “It’s good to be back.” Here Pilar would be able to enjoy a real summer, unlike the iffy ones in Marquette.

She jumped when the phone rang. Only a few people knew her unlisted number. On the third ring, Pilar determined it was either Chad or her mother calling to let her know she got home.

The voice was neither. It was that of Jane’s estranged husband. “Where’s Jane?” he demanded in a sinister tone. A figure hiding in the shadows crept into Pilar’s imagination.

“I don’t know.” Pilar had no intention of prolonging the unwanted contact.

“You’re her friend. You must know.”

“I only saw her at work, not personally.” Pilar’s wet hands clutched the receiver. The caller’s breathing became louder and faster.

“Liar,” he screamed. Pilar held the receiver away from her ear, but she still heard him. “You had drinks together.”

Had he been following Jane?

Pilar couldn’t hang up. It might upset him more. So much for her journal entries. “The last time I saw her, Mr. Carson, was the day she quit her job.” Pilar took a deep breath. “She came to my office to say good-by. I haven’t seen or heard from her since.”

“Don’t do anything foolish,” he warned. “I know where you live.” The telephone went dead.

Did everyone know where she lived? Pilar collapsed into a chair. She repeated those same words she’d heard too many times before; “I know where you live.”

How did Emmet Carson uncover her unlisted phonenumber and address? She had only met him once. It was months ago when he picked Jane up at the prison. She didn’t pay much attention, so his looks were a blur. If Pilar couldn’t picture him mentally, she wouldn’t see him coming.

Pilar made a quick decision. She snatched a piece of paper and wrote her will. She left everything to Chad. If she was going to die … What was she thinking? Was she setting up a self fulfilling prophecy? “Damn!”

She read the will out loud for clarity:

“Being under no duress. What a joke.” Did that include the fear someone was going to murder her?

Pilar stuffed the will into her attache. She’d go to thebank in the morning. She made one more entry in her journal, listing the names of people who might have even the slightest intention to kill her — Officer Leonard, Emmet Carson, Jane Carson, Father. She drew a line through Father. That was a silly notion. She added Tommy Johnson.

A
MANAGER AT
C
ITIZENS
Bank struggled to remain aloof when he read the will. His furrowed brow gave away his obvious concern. He straightened his already perfect tie. He glanced at Pilar several times as he checked the document. He placed the will in front of him and removed his glasses. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“You’re not my attorney or a friend. So, why are you reading it? Just sign the damn paper.” Pilar made no attempt to conceal her irritation.

The manager hesitated, then reached for a pen. He signed and notarized the will. “No need to get upset,” he said. “I was just …”

“Thanks,” Pilar grabbed the papers.

She felt his gaze follow her to the door. It
schwooshed
closed. Pilar descended the stairs to the secured area of the bank.

Sickened by her persistent thoughts of death, she leaned her forehead against the wall stacked with locked boxes. Her chest heaved with each deep breath. A clerk peeked in. “Are you okay, Doctor Brookstone?”