“No, really, Andy, I heard something.”
“What? What did you hear?”
“I don’t know. But it scared me. I thought it might be those men… coming back for us.”
Andy rolled his eyes. “Nobody’s coming back for us, okay? So just quit worryin’ about it. You wanna worry about somethin’, worry about how you’re gonna get off that shit, ‘cause I’m not gonna support your habit, and I’m not gonna hang around with a junky. I’m goin’ back to bed.”
He turned and left the living room.
Sherry stretched out on the couch and turned on the TV. She watched an old movie without comprehending it. She wallowed in how good she felt until she drifted off on a cloud.
Eighteen
The next morning, Kendra ate her breakfast while Mommy hurried around getting ready for work. Mommy had gotten up early enough to fix her a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast. Dexter sat beside her chair staring up at her with big, pleading eyes.
“Here, Dex,” Kendra said, breaking off a piece of bacon. She held it down for the dog and he plucked it from her fingers with his teeth and chomped it down quickly.
“Don’t get him into the habit of eating at the table,” Mommy said as she hurried by on her way back to the bathroom.
“We won’t tell, Dexter,” Kendra whispered as she gave him another piece of bacon.
When she was finally ready, Mommy stood before her and said, “How do I look?”
She wore a grey-and-black suit and black shoes with heels.
“You look very nice, Mommy,” Kendra said.
“You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. I’d tell you if something was wrong.”
“Okay.”
“Breakfast was real good, too, Mommy.”
“Good, I’m glad.”
“Aren’t you gonna eat?”
“I’m too nervous to eat. In fact, I’m sick to my stomach.”
“You should take a lunch with you.”
“I’m going to. I’ll do that next.”
She quickly made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and cut up some celery sticks, put them in plastic baggies, then put them in a small brown paper bag.
“Well, it’s about time for me to leave,” Mommy said. She turned to Kendra and looked serious. “Now, you’re going to be good today, right?”
“Yes, Mommy.”
“You can go get the mail if you want, but that’s all. I don’t want you wandering around all day. And do not go down by the river, don’t even think about it. Okay? And keep your clothes on, little girl, I’m serious.”
“Okay.”
“I’ve put the number of my office on the refrigerator door, but only for emergencies, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Now, stand up and give me a hug and kiss.”
Kendra stood and hugged her, then Mommy gave her a wet kiss on the cheek.
“I’ll see you later this afternoon, okay?” Mommy said.
“Okay. Have a good day.”
“I’ll try.”
And then she was gone.
Kendra sat at the table and listened as Mommy started the car, then backed it out and drove it away.
She went on eating her breakfast, planning her day. She felt a tingle of excitement as she thought about what she was going to do later in the morning. She was going to go over to unit five and take some more pictures. And this time she wasn’t going to chicken out. She was going to do whatever Mr. Regent wanted her to do.
She smiled as she ate her eggs.
Mo Carey showed up at a few minutes before eleven and seated himself before Reznick’s desk.
“Mr. Carey,” Reznick said.
“Call me Mo.”
“Okay, Mo. Look, Mo, I hate to be the bearer of such bad news.”
Carey frowned and leaned forward in the chair. “What bad news?”
“I’m getting to that. I followed your wife last night. She went to a friend’s apartment to pick her up, and together, they went to a house in a Redding subdivision. There, they met with two men. I got some pictures.” Reznick opened the folder in front of him on the desk. “Like I said, I hate to give you bad news, but that’s the job.” He handed over the pictures he’d taken through the window.
Carey slowly looked through them. His face collapsed gradually as he examined the pictures.
“What… what is this?” Carey said. He turned his head back and forth very slowly. “I don’t understand.”
“Apparently, Mo, your wife has been meeting with these two men and posing nude for their cameras and having sex with them in front of those cameras.” He took from the folder more pictures, these from the website. “And those pictures and videos have been posted on a website called MILFParade.com.”
“MILF? What… this can’t… “ He squinted at Reznick, mouth open, head tilted to one side. “I don’t understand. This… this don’t even look like Alicia. I mean… I mean, look at her, she’s smilin’ and laughin’. She don’t even like sex.”
“Your wife is in her thirties, correct?”
Carey nodded.
“MILF stands for Moms I’d Like to Fuck,” Reznick said. “She took a friend with her last night, someone about the same age as your wife, and she, too, posed for pictures and videos and had sex with one of the men.”
As he went through the pictures, Carey’s face gradually changed. The squint slowly went away. He set his jaw and his eyebrows came together above the bridge of his nose. His eyes slowly widened, and he finally lifted them from the pictures and met Reznick’s. “Who are these men?” he said through his teeth.
“I don’t know yet. They run something called Burning Lizard Amusements, a company based in Redding. I’m going to look into it further. They run some other websites, too. Apparently, your wife has been working with them for a while because they have a lot of pictures and videos of her on MILFParade.com.”
“MILFParade.com – is that a pay site?”
“Oh, yeah. Not cheap, either. It’s thirty-nine bucks a month. I had to buy a membership to check it out, which will go on your bill, by the way. I can give you the password I used, if you’d like, and you can take over the membership. Might as well, since you paid for it.”
“Will you find out who those men are for me?”
“Look, I don’t want you to do anything that’s going to land you in jail. If you’re angry, you should focus that anger on your wife. I’m not saying you should beat her up, for crying out loud, but you’ve got plenty of reason to be angry with her. Confront her with these pictures.”
The pictures in his hand trembled because his hand was trembling. He stared at them for a long moment. “These pictures… I can’t believe ‘em. She looks so… happy. Like she’s havin’ the time of her life. She never looked like that with me, not once. Not even before we were married. What… what is it? I don’t get it.”
“Maybe your wife is an exhibitionist,” Reznick said. “Maybe she can’t really get off unless she knows people are watching, or are going to be watching. When she’s with these men, she knows her pictures and videos are going to be seen by a lot of men on this website.”
Carey lowered the pictures, closed his eyes, and tipped his head back. “They must be payin’ her. That’s how she’s able to buy stuff.”
“They are paying her,” Reznick said. “But I don’t think it’s much. I read her bio on the website. She’s one of the site’s most popular models. She has a lot of fans, and they send her gifts regularly.”
Carey slowly pulled his head back down and looked at Reznick with a flat expression. “Gifts. From fans.”
Reznick nodded. “That’s right.”