11
I called Amanda back into the room. She needed to be part of this.
She was staring at the screen, looking at the name- Darkrume — when I asked, “What do you think we ought to do?”
“Tell him to kiss off. Never write again or we’ll notify the AOL people. The jerk.”
I told her, “You don’t see this as an opportunity? I think you ought to write the guy, find out whatever you can about your mom. Maybe he knows where she is. Maybe he knows what happened to the money. Any information you can get, we’ll take it.”
I was standing, trying to make Amanda sit in the chair so she could use the keyboard. She wasn’t eager. She had her hands up, palms out-a “screw this” pose-as she said, “You think I’m going to be nice to this guy after the trash he wrote my mom? All that really sick stuff. No thanks. No way. Not me.”
The way she said it, there was a frustrating, petulant quality in her voice that I found irritating. The last time I’d heard that same infuriating tone was years ago in the jungles of Cambodia. No doubt that she was her father’s daughter.
“Just throw away a chance to get information? You don’t have to be nice. Get a conversation going and let’s see how we can use him. Pump him for whatever he might know. You think he wrote some sick, ugly stuff? Fine. Get even by tricking him. He thinks he’s writing to your mom. That’s what we want him to think.”
“If it’s so important, why don’t you do it?”
“Because you’re her daughter. And you’re a woman. The way you write is way more likely to resemble your mom’s sentence patterns. These two exchanged letters for months. Thousands of words. Even if they never met, they know each other intimately. He’s not going to be easy to fool.”.
She turned away from me, arms folded. I felt myself coloring, getting angry. “Goddamn it! Your mother was a sexual person-what a hell of a shock that must be to someone as high-minded as you. Gee, she had men friends. They talked dirty to each other. She probably looked forward to it. She probably thought it was fun. Maybe she even had orgasms. Isn’t that just awful!”
“Knock it off, Doc! That’s not fair.”
“Yes, it is fair. It’s not only fair, it’s the truth. You want me to help find her? Then you’d better sit your butt down in that chair and cooperate.”
She glared at me. She turned to look at Tomlinson, as if he might offer her refuge. To his credit, he slowly shook his head. Nope. He couldn’t help. It was only then that she put her hands on her hips, made a fluttering noise of contempt through her lips, plopped down in front of the screen and placed her long fingers on the keyboard. Gail73679: How’ve you been? Darkrume: Great as always.:-} But I don’t think this is Gail. This really the whore queen?
Amanda repositioned herself in the chair as she whispered, “Asshole. What a creep.”
I patted her shoulder as I watched the screen. Beneath my hand, I felt her take a deep breath. Gail73679: It’s me all right. And I’m so horny you wouldn’t believe.
There was a pause. A very long pause. Was he thinking about something? Maybe. Darkrume: Is it really you? I missed you. Missed you a lot. Where you been?:?? Gail73679: Been really busy. Darkrume: Sure but where you been busy?
I touched my hand to her wrist. Made her take a few seconds before replying. “What do those little symbols mean? The little things he adds after sentences?”
“Cyber faces. Look at them kind of sideways, you’ll see facial expressions. It’s what people use on-line to show emotion. You know, happy, sad, joking. Like that.”
My recurring question: Adults do this? I said to her, “Keep playing him along. If he and your mom are still close, he knows where she went. No matter what he says. Find out.” Gail73679: I thought I told you about the trip I was taking. Come on, my love. You forget already? Darkrume: You told me where you were going? Gail73679: Of course I told you where I was going. If you cared about me, you’d remember. God, all I can think about is getting dirty together. Darkrume: ‹- Remembering now. You went on a sailboat trip someplace. With Merl who wrote me those times. Merl who told you to stay away from me. What a jerk.: = (Was it Colombia? Gail73679: You know it was Colombia. Or maybe you don’t. Maybe you don’t care enough to remember. I told you the city and where I was going to be staying. Remember the name of the marina? Darkrume: Maybe. Did you screw Merl? Gail73679: No way. Are you kidding? He would’ve crushed me. You’re the only man I’m thinking about now. Darkrume: Crushed you? The E-mail Merl who hated me because he was jealous, your neighbor in Florida. He fat? Gail73679: Yes, crushed me because he’s so fat. Fat and disgusting. Darkrume: ‹- Laughing. Never liked him. He wrote me those idiotic E-mails, stay away from Gail. Jealous fat man.‹ Gail73679: Yes, he’s terrible. Huge. Darkrume: Know what’s on my mind all the time? Looking down and seeing your eyes. You on your knees looking up at me. ›:-{o} The way your lips felt on me when we finally met. God, you are even prettier than I thought you would be.
Beneath my hand, the pace of her breathing had increased. She said, “I can’t do this, Doc. I really can’t do this.”
“Those little arrows at the beginning of a sentence. What do they mean?”
“It’s like a present tense thing. The arrow means he’s doing it at the time. Laughing, remembering, whatever. With this guy, you can probably add whacking off.”
“I’m becoming a little uncomfortable with his approach.”
“He’s awful. And those little cyber faces. He’s disgusting.”
“Oh yeah, he’s that.” I was still patting her back. “Know what Amanda? You’re right. I was a dope to get you involved in this, way off base. Hell with it. Sign off. Or… whatever it is you do. This guy really is sickening.”
“I’m sorry, but… this is just too much. Pretending I’m my mom and him writing that stuff.”
“I agree. It’s awful. We’re all better than this. I had no idea.”
“But I didn’t get any information for you.”
“That’s okay. Yeah, maybe he knows something. But the key is Merlot. We’ll deal with it. You don’t need to put up with this kind of garbage. Forget it.”
She was still breathing heavily, but also thinking about it.
“Look… I’m okay now. Let me just try one more thing.”
“Nope. Drop the whole act. I feel bad enough as it is.”
“What you’re forgetting is I can make my own decision.
I don’t need you to tell me what to do. I’m an adult. I may not act like it sometimes, but I really am a pretty solid person.”
Her fingers began to move again on the keyboard.
Gail73679: I wish I was looking up at you right now. From my knees. Can just imagine the way you’d be. Call me on the telephone, sweetheart. Call me right now. I want to finish up hearing your voice. We’ll both have a wonderful time.
I patted her shoulder. It was a nice finesse. No one but Gail would risk asking him to call. Very convincing and completely safe. Darkrume: What you mean, call? Just tried to call you. Thought I’d give you a little surprise. Recording said the line was disconnected.:=(Gail73679: Damn! I guess the phone company only connected one of my lines. Because of the trip I was on. The dopes. Then let me call you, love. Give me your number so I don’t have to look it up.
As she typed she said, “We get his number, we’ll find out who he is.”
There was that fairy dust noise again. Darkrume: Maybe I’ll call later. Know what I’m thinking about right now? Remember the way we both got off the best? Gail73679: You always got me off. I hope I always got you off. Darkrume: No, this way was special. We were all naked. We were in a hot tub. We were drinking good wine and all three of us had a bottle of baby oil. Rubbing it on each other. I watched you rub the oil all over her body. It was you and me and what’s her name? Gail73679: Umm-m-m. Sounds wonderful. Tell me her name. I remember her name, but do you? I think I’m in love. Darkrume: Yes. I remember her name. It was the three of us. You and me and… If you remember, say the name.›:+{o} Gail73679: You say the name. I’m too hot to think. Darkume: Okay. Okay. It was you and me and… she had these weird eyes you told me. Not like yours. Different. Crossed eyes. Her name was Amanda. You and me plus your ugly daughter.