“‘Kay,” Kendra said. There was pain in her voice.
Anna poured milk into a glass and took it and the pills to Anna. “Here you go, sweetheart.”
As Kendra took the pills, Anna watched her and wondered. How did she bring it up with Kendra? How did she approach it? She had posed for those pictures – but how? Why? Surely she had not done it because she wanted to. Then again, maybe she really didn’t know any better. Maybe she didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.
Anna remembered all the times her sister Rose had lectured her about having The Talk with Kendra. Maybe if Anna had talked with her about the birds and the bees, she never would have posed for those pictures. Anna could not hold Kendra responsible for them, no matter what.
However Anna chose to broach the subject, she could not do it tonight. Her emotions were too close to the surface. She had just killed the man, for God’s sake. It would have to wait. Maybe tomorrow night, or the next night, she could talk to Kendra about it without flying apart in a million pieces like a plane slamming into the side of a mountain.
The toast popped up and Anna returned to the kitchen with the empty glass. “Would you like some jam on your toast, or just butter?” she said.
“Jam’s good,” Kendra said. “Do we have raspberry?”
“We sure do, honey. Comin’ right up.”
Anna got raspberry jam from the refrigerator and spread a generous helping on the toast, then put it on a small plate, and took it to Kendra in the living room. She was still watching the Game show Network. Match Game was on. Anna sat down beside her and watched her eat the toast. She reached over and ran a hand through Kendra’s long, shiny hair.
Kendra was almost done with her toast when she said, “How come you’re starin’ at me, Mommy?”
“I’m sorry, was I staring?”
Kendra smiled gently, as much as her pain would allow.
“I guess I’m just thinking about how much I love you,” Anna said, her voice breaking. “You know, sweetheart… there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. Nothing.”
“Me, too, Mommy. I mean, there’s nothin’ I wouldn’t do for you, neither.”
“Either.”
“Either.”
“How’s your toast?”
“It’s good.”
Kendra finished the toast and handed the little plate to Anna.
Unexpectedly, even to Anna, she flung her arms around Kendra and held her tightly. Anna’s eyes stung with tears and her throat felt thick. She kissed Kendra on the forehead, then stood and quickly turned and went back to the kitchen with the plate, before Kendra could see the tears in her eyes.
His hair still wet from the shower, Reznick stared at the pictures on his computer screen. He enlarged them one at a time and looked at them, studied them, absorbed them.
It was, indeed, Kendra. She did not appear to be under duress. Her smile seemed genuine, and her eyes sparkled. The sight of her naked body made his heartbeat quicken, made him harden. She was everything he’d expected and more. Her large breasts were firm and unblemished, with rosy, puffy nipples he could imagine touching with his tongue, tasting, sucking on.
Seeing her naked on the computer monitor only frustrated him more. He wanted her naked in front of him where he could touch her, hold her, kiss her.
And he would. He’d told Anna she owed him big-time, and that he would collect. Kendra would be his payment. Anna might never know about it, but if she found out, Reznick would not worry about it. He would not feel guilty as he would have before. Now, Anna was in debt to him in a big way, and if she didn’t like it, a single anonymous phone call would send the cops in her direction.
He looked at the pictures over and over again. The last one was of Kendra’s laughing face spattered with semen. She seemed to be enjoying herself. That was good to know – that she enjoyed that. That meant she would enjoy it even more because, after all, she had a crush on him.
Reznick did not plan to wait around, either. He planned to go to work late the next day, if at all. He planned to drop in on Kendra in the morning.
He would be gentle and loving. Much more than that cretin with the website, he was sure.
That night, Reznick did not sleep well. It was not the heat that kept him awake. It was thoughts of Kendra, of those pictures, and of what he would do the following day.
Twenty-Two
“How about some scrambled eggs, Andy?” Sherry said.
“Yeah, that sounds good,” he said as he sat up in bed. He stretched his arms overhead as he opened his mouth in a big yawn.
Sherry slid her legs off the bed and sat up on the edge. She was naked and had slept without a single cover on. They’d gotten to bed late last night. People kept coming to the door. When Andy had pot to sell, they got a lot of visitors, customers coming to buy weed. Sometimes they stayed and chatted awhile if it was someone they knew, but the strangers only stayed long enough to buy the stuff. They’d come late into the night last night, once word had gotten out that Andy had some weed to sell.
“Hey,” Andy said. He grabbed her upper right arm and pulled her back down on the bed. “I ever tell you how nice it is to wake up to your naked body?”
She smiled tiredly as Andy squeezed a breast, then put his mouth over the nipple and gently gnawed on it.
“Mmm,” Sherry said, closing her eyes. “You want breakfast, or you wanna fool around? Tell you the truth, it’s too hot to fool around. Too hot already. Jeez, I hate summers in Shasta County. Why don’t we move to Oregon, or Washington, or somethin’?”
“You wanna move to Oregon or Washington? Maybe we will.”
“Really?”
“Well, it’s not impossible. I got a couple friends in Oregon and one in Seattle. We oughtta think about it, if you want. They like it real good there, my friends do.”
“Really?” she said again.
“We oughtta think about it.”
“Yeah, we oughtta.”
“I’m hungry.”
“I’ll get breakfast goin’.”
“I’m gonna fire up the lab later this evening,” he said, “so get out the fans and open all the windows.”
“Oh, shit. I hate that smell.”
“It pays the bills.”
“Yeah. Maybe I’ll call Lissa. Maybe we’ll go to a movie, or somethin’.”
“That’d be good. Get outta the trailer.”
Sherry got out of bed, put on a T-shirt and some shorts, and left the bedroom.
In the kitchen, she turned on the radio on the table, then opened the refrigerator. The icy chill felt good on her.
The radio was tuned to an album rock station, but the news was on. It didn’t catch her attention until she heard the name.
“… Arnold Garvis, who was found dead early this morning in his Washington, D.C. apartment, the apparent victim of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. His father, Senator Wilson Garvis, has retreated to his Louisiana home where he and his family are in mourning. Arnold Garvis was twenty-two years old. In the Supreme Court today, there will be… “
But Sherry had already tuned out. “Andy! Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” he said as he came down the hall.
“On the news just now.”
“No.”
“It just said Arnold Garvis was found dead in his Washington, D.C. apartment early this morning, dead from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. Can you believe that? Carbon monoxide!”
“Well, David said they’d come up with some other reason for his death. Sounds like they did.”
“But what about us?” Sherry said with wide eyes.
“What about us?”
“We know he didn’t die of carbon monoxide poisoning. How can they let us live?”
“Are you gonna start on that again?”
“I’m sorry, Andy, if you don’t agree, but I happen to have a very bad feeling about this.”