Kayla - It Begins

"I was telling my husband that you live in 'The Titty House.'" Linda's blush was a little unusual for a woman her age, but I couldn't resist a little laughter.

"The Boob House," I corrected her.

"Oh okay, sorry. I just saw Jewel Adams walk into the restaurant across the parking lot. Do you know her or anything about her?"

"I don't really know her, but I don't care to be around her."

"Does anyone?" Linda's tongue-in-cheek and slightly sarcastic comments entertained me. She had a little bit of a naughty sense of humor that had me very often laughing out loud. She wasn't much younger than my mother and I'd never spent much time around a woman that age whom I considered a friend.

Linda surprised me when she started talking about Jewel, "My husband said she used to be the housekeeper for the man who lived in The Boob House."

"I've never heard that."

"Remember this is gossip, but Bailey said the old man seduced her then wouldn't marry her when she got pregnant."

I stopped working and went to stand at the counter where Linda was arranging a display on the wall behind the cash register. She talked as she worked, stopping a few times to explain some of the story. Jewel didn't really have any experience as a housekeeper, so she was willing to work for less than anyone else that Herman K. Driscoll could hire. She walked out when he wouldn't marry her then hired a lawyer to begin some kind of legal action. He hired better lawyers and went about trying to prove she was trying to trap him into marriage by getting pregnant when she had always assured him she was taking birth control pills.

"He didn't really fight the paternity test, but I think she agreed to a financial settlement. Did you know his middle name is actually Kaye, with an 'e' on the end?"

"No, I just always saw his name in the newspaper with the middle initial, like Herman K. Driscoll."

"Kaye was his mother's name. Her family was one of the original craftsmen who built the townhouses. Their name, in the old country, was a lot more complicated. I guess it was changed to something easier to say, like so many others who emigrated through Ellis Island."

"What happened to the child? I've never heard that Jewel ever had any children. In fact, I'm not aware that she'd ever married."

"I have no idea. Bailey said Jewel went to live with a relative. Maybe they kept the baby. But it was a real news item in its day."

"Oh damn," I said, startled by a sudden recollection. "Before I started work on the house, I was moving furniture around or down to the basement. There was a bundle of old newspapers in and old cedar chest. Are you interested in stuff like that?"

"Not me, but Bailey is. He sort of knew Jewel when she first came to town. He said she was so tall none of the guys was interested in her, but she was very shy and really pretty."

"A lot different than she is now." It didn't bother me to make that kind of judgment. I didn't like her and I didn't care if she knew it.

Linda looked at the clock, "You better get out of here." She was trying to help me remember that I wanted to leave by two or three in the afternoon. I enjoyed opening in the mornings and Linda preferred to work afternoons. We overlapped a couple of hours, which gave us time to talk about the shop or changes Linda enjoyed making to displays. I was finally getting the backroom and storage organized, which I'd had trouble doing if I was trying to watch the front of the shop, too.

I was writing again, making some progress on book three. I'd already returned all the changes and corrections on book two and was looking forward to a publication date. My editor had asked about scheduling the introductory book tour for the sequel and I wasn't putting him off as I did with the first book. I knew how much it increased sales and publicized the book.

* * *

As I was walking in the front door, Kayla nodded at me and lifted her free hand to wave as she stepped out the back door to the rear patio and began to pace with her cell phone held to her ear. I'd always been amazed at her habit of walking around as she talked on the phone. The kitchen phone had a twenty foot cord and she seemed to stretch it to the maximum anytime she used it.

My first chore, when I got home, was to go to the basement to find the paperwork for the cash register, which I hoped included the instruction manual. I'd promised Linda the manual but kept forgetting it after I got home. She was determined to learn how to use the email program and I liked that function, too, particularly because she kept assuring me it would draw in younger customers, young people who had money to spend.

When I'd bought the townhouse, I didn't do anything about the basement. The floor was so uneven it wasn't usable for much more than storage. There were small gaps in the mortar between the bricks, which I'd been told were for air exchange to keep the cellar dry. As I lifted the box of paperwork for the tee shirt shop from the top of a stack of boxes, I heard Kayla's voice grow faint then grow stronger before growing fainter again as she paced the back patio while she talked on her cell phone.

"Listen Brent, I can't leave here to fuck you, just because you wife is working all weekend. I have a husband, you know. I can't put my marriage in danger."

After a pause, she said, "No, I don't care how horny you are." I heard the change in her inflection as she used the voice she teased me with, "I want some of your cock right now so badly my pussy is dripping, but I can't leave." Her voice resumed its serious tone, "I may be able to come up with an excuse a little later. I just got my name on the deed to this house. We need to be careful."

She was silent while she listened. Then she said, "Well, your job is getting your hands on your wife's money. Mine is this house and his money and I have that just about sewed up. The movie deals are worth millions. Remember it's community property and I don't need a power of attorney to act on his behalf. Got it? If you're horny go fuck your new wife."

She paused for just a moment and then said, with a burst of anger, "No stupid. Don't you dare. They have to look like accidents and not at the same time either. That's the best way to get caught. That's Jewel's job and it's not time yet."

I thought I was going to be ill. I broke out in a cold sweat and I'm sure I saw stars. I was so angry I wanted to slam my fists into something hard enough to break the bones in my hands. Instead, I just left the box on the floor of the cellar and went upstairs to our bedroom, stripped and stepped into the shower. I turned the cold water on until my teeth were actually chattering and then slowly warmed the water until I felt almost normal.

With shaking hands, I dressed and went to my study. I turned my back to the door and started my computer. Although I'd never been a violent person, I didn't think I could speak to my wife now without hurting her. I needed to get my rage under control. I guess I sat there for ten minutes, or maybe a couple of hours. I had no way of knowing, my brain was not working properly.

Kayla stopped at the study door, "Hey, Sweetie. I'm going to shower and go meet a couple of builders for drinks. Do you want to go spend a few hours watching your wife flirt with a bunch of sweaty men in a loud bar while their wives watch?"

"Thanks anyway," I think my voice cracked, but I suspect she knew my answer and wasn't really listening.

"Okay. There are a couple of messages from Hollis on the house phone."

I nodded and heard Kayla walking across the room, then her first few steps up the stairs. I checked the messages on the phone and tried to return my lawyer's call but was only able to leave a message. He was in a meeting and not expected out for at least an hour.

Once again, Kayla didn't bother to stop and let me know she was leaving. I only knew she had left the house when I saw her walk around the front of her car to get in a taxi at the curb in front of our house -- scratch that, my house.

We'd agreed that if she was going to meet clients and have several drinks, it was not a good idea for her to drive. I knew she wouldn't call from the bar either. I also knew she wasn't going to the bar. She was going to meet Brent. I had work to do, but I did not know how I would learn what I needed to know.