Wicked Obsessions (30 page)

But a bad head cold had brought her home early from school that day. And she had walked into her house to find that second man on the living room floor with Mrs. Esker, rutting like a pig. In that shocking moment, she also knew it was not the first time they had been like that.

He had lied. He had betrayed them. And now he would pay.

When she returned to the house much later, she had control of her mind and facial expressions... as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

Her mother made dinner.

They ate and cleaned up.

Tom kissed and stroked her after she got into bed, as he had every night for the past three years.

After the house was quiet, Selena got up, went to her closet, and took a box down from the top shelf. When Tom had moved them to this house, Selena had insisted on carrying her special box herself and putting it away. She had always known it was there, even though she hadn't opened it since then.

She ran her fingers lovingly over the tape that held down the flaps of the box, then carefully peeled it off. The sight of her old friend lying among the roller skates, marbles and other souvenirs made her smile right down to her toes.

Hello, Selena,
said Juliette in the old familiar musical voice.
I've missed you.

One week later, Selena and her mother were wearing black again and sadly accepting every sympathetic word offered.

"The poor woman," they murmured, "so young to have lost two husbands."

"That poor child," they whispered behind Selena's back, "having two fathers die by accidents. What a terrible thing for her!"

"I heard she was with him in the canoe when it capsized."

"They say he fell and hit his head. She almost drowned herself trying to save him."

"I heard she was in the house with her real father when he died also."

"How awful!"

"Poor, poor Selena."

As the tears coursed down her fever-heated cheeks, Selena mentally thanked her drama teacher for the lesson on how actresses cry on cue.

Chapter 18

"Dear God," Teri muttered as Selena tore out of the studio door.

"Excuse me, darlin'," Drew said, moving away from her and pulling on his briefs. A moment later he closed the gaping door and locked it with an audible
click.
"Sort of like closin' the barn door after the horses got out, but heaven knows who else is lurkin' out there."

"This is all my fault. I was so eager to show you the board, and then—"

"And then we
both
got distracted." He bent down and started putting all the little red and white boxes of Chinese food back into the carrying box. Only the wonton soup was lost.

Teri put on her pink robe, which had never made it back to her bathroom in the house, and got some rags to soak up the liquid.

"Anyway," Drew said, laughing a little, "what's the big deal, other than bein' embarrassed? So we were caught with our pants down, or off, I should say. Selena knows what men and women do together. Now she knows we're lovers as well as friends. She should have knocked, but it's too late to worry about blame. We'll all laugh about this years from now."

Teri shook her head. "I don't know. Did you see the way she looked? That wasn't embarrassment or surprise on her face. It was pure horror, like she had seen the devil himself."

"To be quite honest, I was too busy grabbing for the sheet to notice how she took it. And then she was gone. At least now I can hold your hand in front of her."

Teri didn't agree. "You wouldn't say that if you heard the awful things she said about men the other night. I think she really despises all of you. I've been thinking back on that conversation, and it hit me that jealousy isn't quite what she's feeling. She actually
warned
me about you. I think she's convinced I'll get hurt and she's trying to protect me from you. In fact, that was the word she used to explain why she followed me all day Tuesday." Teri had told Drew about that the next day, but it hadn't sounded quite so terrifying in the retelling.

"Maybe it would help if Selena and I had a chat."

"No!"
Teri blurted out. "I... I don't know why, exactly, but I just have a feeling that would make things worse, especially considering her attitude toward men. I was going to try to back off from her slowly. You see, I lied to her this morning to keep her from coming by. I pretended I had a cold. Now she knows I've resorted to lying
and
consorting with the enemy. No, I'm the one who has to deal with this, not you.

"It seems so strange, though, that we were friends and worked together for a year, and nothing peculiar ever happened. Then, all of a sudden, she changed into this weird person."

"Split personality? Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?" Drew asked with a serious face as they cleaned up the last of the mess.

Teri cocked her head at him. "Maybe just severely bi-polar. What are you thinking?"

"Sounds like drugs to me. And I don't mean the good medicinal kind."

Teri's eyes widened. She hadn't thought of it, but it certainly would explain a lot. "Her eyes are so unusual, I don't know that I could tell just from looking at them, as you would with someone else. But I have noticed how they sometimes seem to glow, like a cat's. Could that be caused by drug use?"

"Maybe. I don't really know. I guess it would depend on the substance. There were people who helped me a lot when I needed it. Maybe it's time for me to help someone else. At least I can find out if she's on something."

Teri frowned. "I'm still not sure your talking to her will get through. The way her moods have been switching in mid-conversation, I wouldn't trust her not to haul off and punch you instead of listening."

"Hmmm. I'll keep that in mind. She's one big woman." He laughed at the face Teri made at him. "We'll both talk to her, okay? Either she'll accept the fact that we're in love, or she'll have to find new friends."

Teri found herself wishing that Selena would just go straight to finding new friends. She stopped short when she realized she was about to wish Selena would just go away. That was what she had wished for Rico. And nothing had been simple since.

Drew gave her a hug. He had no intention of waiting until they were all together to talk to Selena. First of all, if it was drugs, he was more qualified than Teri to deal with that. Second, if Teri was right in her analysis, any hostility that existed was between Selena and him. So it was up to him, not Teri, to straighten it out, and the sooner the better.

* * *

The red haze surrounding Selena finally began lifting when she was back in her own pure, white bedroom with Juliette.

"It's too late, Juliette," she moaned, rocking back and forth much too quickly to be calming. "He already sank his fangs into her throat, like a blood-soaking vampire, and now she's under his power. I know, because she lied to me. Teri would never lie to me unless he made her do it. Remember how Tom used to make me lie to everybody, even Mommy? Drew is just like Tom, Juliette."

Will I get to meet him soon?

"No, I'm sorry. I don't think there's time. We have to take care of this quickly. Do you have any ideas?"

Maybe he's a real vampire. Then you'd have to wear a crucifix and drive a wooden stake through his heart,
Juliette giggled in her tinkley voice.

Selena frowned. "You must be serious. There's no such thing as vampires and everybody knows it. I only described him like that because it's an a... an..." The grown-up word would not form on her tongue and she shrugged.

Analogy
.

"Yes, that's it. What should we do?"

I'll give it some thought, but only if you stop rocking so hard. It's making me dizzy.

* * *

The next day Drew had a commercial shoot on Long Island that promised to take most of the day, so he and Teri made plans to get together the following day. When the shoot finished up early, he determined to take care of something that had been eating at him since Selena's surprise visit.

A quick search through his wallet unearthed Selena's card. There was nothing on it but her first name and a Manhattan phone number, and he recalled Teri telling him something about Selena legally dropping her last name. His time in therapy had him automatically wondering whether she merely wanted to seem more exotic, or whether she harbored some deep hatred of the name itself and the man attached to it. From what Teri had said, Selena talked like she despised all men, so her problems probably went back a few years. Regardless, he wanted to make it clear that he was no threat to Teri or to the women's friendship. Better that he put his cards on the table now, before the situation got more uncomfortable for Teri.

"Selena? This is Drew Marshall," he announced when she picked up on the fourth ring. "I think we should talk." For a moment she was so quiet he thought she had hung up on him.

"What did you want to talk about?" she asked cautiously.

"We both want what's best for Teri. If we can't be friends, at least let's not be enemies. What do you say?"

"I'm not sure I follow you."

"Well, I'm not sure I follow you, either, so I propose a truce... over dinner. Just the two of us. We'll have a chance to talk and hear what the other one has to say." Again Drew had to wait for her answer.

"All right. Dinner. But not here in town. Everything's always so crowded, you can't hear yourself think, let alone talk. How about something further out, maybe closer to where you live?"

"I don't know too many places yet, but there's a Chili's on the edge of Tarrytown." He gave her directions, and they agreed to meet there in two hours.

Selena hung up the phone and turned to Juliette. "What do you think?"

I don't think you should have agreed to meet him. It gives him an advantage.

"But it might be the easiest way to get him alone without Teri. I have to meet him."

Selena, we mustn't do anything yet. We haven't got a plan. You know we must have a plan before we act.

"We didn't have a for-sure one with Detective Kidder, and that worked out perfectly."

No, but we had several different plans to pick from, depending on the circumstances. This time, we don't even have one good idea. Please wait.

"I can't let this chance pass. If you want a plan, think of one. But fast. I'm leaving in one hour."

* * *

Drew was waiting in the restaurant's foyer when Selena arrived. "Hi. Glad you could make it," he said, offering his hand. When she ignored it and limited her return greeting to a curt nod, he knew this wasn't going to be easy.

They had to wait a few minutes until it was their turn to be seated. Meanwhile, he distracted himself by watching a manager hang a new poster about an upcoming special deal on the wall. Using an unnecessarily large hammer, he gave each of three tacks a solid tap, then couldn't figure out what happened to the fourth. They were seated before the man finished his chore.

Except for giving her meal order to the waitress, Selena remained silent, her body rigid with hostility.

Drew noted how Selena wrinkled her nose at the offer of a pre-dinner cocktail and flatly declined any wine. So, alcohol was not her problem. It had to be drugs. Since it looked as though she had no intention of opening the conversation, he began as soon as their salad and rolls arrived.

"I get the idea I should be apologizin' for somethin' here, but since I don't feel guilty about anythin', I figure an apology would be a lie."

Her expression of disbelief was followed by a sarcastic "
hmmph
."

"Look," he continued, "I called you so we could clear the air between us. That's goin' to be mighty hard if you don't tell me what's buggin' you."

Selena took several slow, deep breaths. She wanted to concentrate on coming up with a plan, but if she didn't talk to him, he'd soon be putting up his guard. Though she didn't know what she was going to do yet, she knew she had to put him at ease and make him trust her. But her change of attitude would have to be slow or he might become suspicious. With a greater effort than it usually took, she separated the angry Selena from the friendly one.