Angelica quietly tiptoed into the house. She hurriedly crossed the living room and then the dining room like a thief. It was still dark in the house and Ari would be stirring at any minute.
The grandfather clock began to chime, startling Angelica. She fell against the wall, recovered and prepared to move on. On the fifth chime, Ari, fully dressed, appeared in the doorway to the dining room and jumped when he saw Angelica’s figure pass in front of him.
“Halt,” Ari said.
Angelica stopped in her tracks. She was disappointed that she and Ari’s relationship had faltered before it got started. “You talking to me?” She slowly turned and faced Ari. God, he was so good-looking, even in the dark.
“What are you up to, Angelica? Why are you creeping in here like you’ve stolen something?”
“Didn’t want to disturb you.”
“I gave you a place to stay because I cared. You’re beautiful. I like beautiful women, but I don’t like to be taken advantage of. I’ve tried to help you, but I’m not sure what went wrong.”
Angelica eased into a seat. “Ari, sit down. You’re a good man and you’ve been more than kind to me. I appreciate all that you’ve done, and for that I’ll be forever grateful.”
Ari sat down. “What’s up with you, then? What happened between you and Donna? What kind of work are you doing that keeps you out until six in the morning?”
“One question at a time. I’ll answer them all since it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting any sleep.”
“I need some explanation, Angelica,” Ari said. “It pisses me off when I don’t know what’s going on right under my nose.”
Angelica touched Ari’s arm lightly. “You’ll be late for work.”
“I can get someone to work in my place. We need to talk.”
“Okay,” Angelica said, sitting back in her seat.
“Where have you been all night?”
“Ari, I’m…I’m working…I’m a stripper. I work at a club in Manhattan. Of course, the hours are late, but the money is good…very good.”
Ari’s silence made Angelica uncomfortable. She lowered her eyes and continued.
“I needed to make some fast money so that I could get out on my own. I have some money, but I needed the security of a job. Not that I’m proud of it, but I used to be a stripper years ago, and I guess I haven’t lost my touch.” Angelica smiled. “I don’t want to be a burden on you, Ari, and I believe I have enough money so that I can be out of your hair sooner rather than later.”
His voice was serious. “You don’t have to go,” Ari said.
“That’s not what you told me yesterday.”
“I’ve changed my mind. What about Donna?”
“What about Donna?” Angelica asked.
“What happened between the two of you?”
“Donna was angry because I refused to do the photo shoot she set up. All those lesbians; I was not about to compromise myself in some rag magazine like that. I’m sure Donna thought I was ungrateful since she was doing me a favor, but I had visions of walking a top-model runway-not posing in compromising positions. She told me to get out of her house, and I did. Donna nearly slammed the door on my behind when I walked out to meet you.”
“I believe you, Angelica. I’m surprised the police haven’t questioned you yet. I’m sure it won’t be long, now, before they show up.”
“There was a cruiser sitting at the light when I got home. Scared the crap out of me. Have you heard anything else, Ari?”
“No, only what has been printed in the papers. To date, they have no motive, no murder weapon, and are still talking to acquaintances. The arts community is baffled by Donna’s death.”
“It’s a shame. I can’t fathom who would want Donna killed, but I sure as hell didn’t do it. I couldn’t hurt a flea.”
“Rest assured, the police will be coming around soon to ask questions.”
“You seem so sure about that Ari.”
“They questioned me yesterday. I told them you had been staying with Donna right before her death.”
Angelica’s face froze in time. It looked as if she stopped breathing. She slowly rose from her seat and wrapped her arms around her chest and began walking in circles. Then, she threw her hands up. “You told them about me, Ari? What did you say?”
“As a doorman, I see a lot of people come and go. They asked me questions…pointed questions, that I had to answer. We have surveillance cameras on the premises, and all the cops had to do was watch them to know if I was telling the truth or not. On the day of Donna’s death, you both walked into the building together.”
Angelica exhaled and fell back into the chair.
“If you didn’t do anything,” Ari said, “you won’t have anything to worry about.”
“I didn’t kill Donna, Ari. You’ve got to believe that. I didn’t have time to do all the things the paper said happened.”
“Plus, you were as cool as a cucumber. I know you didn’t do it, but who did? Do you want me to stay around today, in case the cops show up?”
“Would you, Ari? I don’t mean to sound desperate, but I’d feel better if you did.”
“Look, why don’t I fix us some breakfast, while you take a hot shower and get comfortable,” Ari said.
“No breakfast for me, Ari. Maybe a glass of juice.”
“I can manage that; now go on and take your shower.”
Angelica looked at Ari. He was a decent man, and he only did what any other citizen would have done. He’d known Donna a lot longer than he knew her and was probably loyal to Donna’s memory. She wasn’t mad, just glad that Ari prepared her for the unexpected. She got up and went over to the bathroom.
The warm water relaxed her. So many things were running through her mind-Donna, Ari, the cops and Santiago. Santiago was the last person Angelica had counted on rekindling a relationship with. In fact, she had hoped he had fallen off the earth in some great big black hole never to be seen or heard of again. Was it a chance meeting? She would never know, but the last thing she wanted was to be back in his clutches.
Finally shutting off the water, Angelica emerged from the shower, feeling like she could conquer the world, until she heard a knock on the door. Grabbing a towel, she wrapped it tightly around her body.
Knock, knock. “Angelica,” Ari called, “the cops are here.”
Angelica froze. She wasn’t sure what time it was but it seemed awfully early for the police department to come calling. “Give me a minute, Ari. I’ve got to get dressed.”
“All right. I’ll tell them you’ll be out in a minute.”
“Thank you, Ari.”
Angelica took her time. What kind of questions would they ask her? Nerves replaced the good feeling. She finished drying off and went to her room and put on a pair of jeans and a blouse. She looked in the mirror and decided not to put on any make-up but brushed her hair into a ponytail. She blew air from her mouth, looked once again in the mirror, pressed her blouse down and opened the door to face the music.
When Angelica entered the living room, Ari was talking to two middle-aged, white men dressed in plain clothes. They each had a notepad in hand and stopped talking when they saw Angelica. It was obvious they were admiring her as their eyes roved over her body.
“Ms. Barnes?” one detective asked. “My name is Detective Michaels, and this is Detective Henderson,” Detective Michaels said, pointing to the other gentleman before they flashed their badges. “We’re with the Homicide Division of the NYPD, and we’d like to ask you a few questions about the death of Donna Barnes Reardon.”
“Okay.”
“How do you know Ms. Reardon?” Detective Michaels asked.
“She’s the cousin of my ex-husband,” Angelica replied.
“I understand that you were living with Ms. Reardon as recently as two or three days ago. How did you come to live with Ms. Reardon and how long did you live with her?” Detective Michaels asked.
Angelica sneered at Detective Michaels, not liking his tone of voice or the questions he posed. She looked at Ari and turned away.
“Donna invited me to come to New York because she said she had a job for me-a modeling job. I was very excited about the opportunity to do something different and get away from North Carolina.”
“So when did you come here from North Carolina, Ms. Barnes?” Michaels asked, while Detective Henderson was writing feverishly in his tablet.
“I’ve been here a week,” Angelica replied.
“I understand you were no longer living with Ms. Reardon at the time of her death, but just now you stated that she invited you to stay with her. What prompted you to leave her so soon?”
“Well, the modeling job that Donna promised me turned out to be quite the opposite of what I was expecting.”
“What do you mean, it wasn’t what you expected, Ms. Barnes?”
“Detective Michaels, the job Ms. Reardon wanted me to pose for was for a gay magazine. There is nothing gay or lesbian about me. I was asked to pose and participate in a scene that was tasteless and not part of my lifestyle.”
“What do you do for a living, Ms. Barnes?” Detective Michaels continued.
Angelica looked at Ari for support. “I’m a dancer.”
“What kind of dancer?” Michaels asked, giving Angelica a real once-over.
“An exotic dancer.”
“I see,” Detective Michaels said. “But you never told me why you no longer were living at Ms. Reardon’s residence.”
Angelica licked her lips and sighed. “Donna became upset when I told her that I wasn’t participating in her photo shoot. She told me that if I wasn’t going to work, then I would have to get out of her house-that night.
“And what did you do?” Michaels pushed.
“I left.”
“What time did you leave?”
“It was…”
“It was six-fifteen,” Ari replied. The detectives looked at Ari with amusement, but he was not amused. “I’m a doorman, for God’s sake,” Ari said, shaking the smug looks off the detectives’ faces. “I ought to know when the residents come and go.”
Detective Michaels spoke up, “You remember the precise time of each and every resident as they come and go?”
“Well, some of them come and go like clockwork. I can set my watch to their movement,” Ari said smugly.
“So what made you remember that Ms. Barnes left the building at precisely six-fifteen?” Detective Michaels asked Ari.
“Because I had offered to give her a place to stay, and at that precise time, I loaded her things in my car to take to my house.”
“So, is it your presumption that Ms. Reardon was alive when you left the apartment building?”
Ari was getting perturbed with Detective Michaels. He had come to question Angelica, but somehow he was caught up in the dragnet and was answering all of the questions. “Yes, I believe Ms. Reardon was alive. She and Ms. Barnes had arrived at the house approximately a half hour before Ms. Barnes and I took off. Ms. Barnes got her things together, and I met her downstairs.”
“She slammed the door on me,” Angelica jumped in, not wanting to be upstaged by Ari. “I got the hell out of there, thankful for Ari’s offer to stay with him.”
“Well, do you know, Ms. Barnes,” Detective Michaels continued, “who would want to kill Ms. Reardon?”
“Although she was my husband’s cousin, I didn’t know her well. I was even surprised by the invitation to come to New York, thinking my bad luck had turned to good. I met a few of her friends my first few days here, but all of them seemed to adore her.” Angelica made a face.
“What was the face for, Ms. Barnes? Did they or did they not adore her?”
“I think they were all lovers. They kissed each other on the mouth like they were, like, I can’t find the word for it. It was nasty and disgusting. I can’t stomach females kissing females or men kissing other men. It’s not right. If God meant for it to be, he would have made Steve out of Adam’s rib instead of Eve. Get my drift? I don’t think any one of them had a murderous bone in their body, though.”
“What about you, Ari, keeper of the door?” Detective Michaels asked.
Ari wanted to punch the detective in the mouth. “It could be one of a number of people,” Ari snapped. “Ms. Reardon was a happy woman. She liked to party. I never heard her argue with anyone or throw anyone out of her apartment. I wasn’t on duty when this horrible thing happened to her, and in my heart, I wished I had been. The perpetrator might have been found by now. I truly cared for Donna. She was like family to me.”
“You seem to know a lot for being a doorman,” Detective Michaels said as he shot Detective Henderson a glance.
“I’ve been invited to some of Ms. Reardon’s parties,” Ari offered. “Some of New York’s elites would attend. I mostly observed, enjoyed the music, danced every now and then and enjoyed the eats-nothing more.”
“As an observer, did you ever get a sense that some of the folks on the invite list did not like Ms. Reardon?” Detective Michaels asked.
“Not once. Of course, I only attended a handful of her parties.”
“Ms. Barnes, tell me, what state would you say Ms. Reardon was in the last time you saw her?”
“Detective Michaels, I believe she was glad my ass was out of her house. I barely cleared the doorway before the door was slammed, as I said before. I was happy to be out of there, but I would never wish anything ill toward Donna.”
“You got all of that, Henderson?”
“Yep.”
“Don’t think about leaving the city any time soon,” Detective Michaels said. “I’m sure you’ll see our faces again.” He nodded. “Let’s go, Henderson.”
Angelica and Ari watched them leave the house. She dropped on the couch and let out a big sigh. It was mind-boggling, but she was glad the interrogation was over.
Angelica looked up. “Who do you think did it, Ari?”
He came and sat next to Angelica. “I wish I knew. They will have to answer to me. If the police don’t find the killer, I will.”
There was something about the woman who sat so close to Ari. He had been with some of the most exotic women in the world, yet there was something about this caramel-colored diva that made his insides erupt. It could be in the way she switched her hips when she walked or the generous curves of her body that rippled in all the right places. Such things would make any man fall to his knees and beg for her attention and then some.
For a moment, Ari imagined Angelica dancing with a pole, caressing and teasing it with her body, while a room filled with men craved what they couldn’t have, letting their imaginations run wild and keeping their aroused groins in check. Ari reached over and pulled Angelica close. The fragrance from the lilac scrub she used when she showered oozed from her body. He inhaled her fragrance once more and brought his lips to her neck.
Her head flipped back as Ari’s lips dotted every inch of her neck. Angelica pulled her ponytail out of the way so that his lips wouldn’t miss a spot. She turned slightly to the right so that she faced him.
Lifting Angelica’s legs, Ari placed them over his. He lowered his face to hers and sealed her lips with a kiss. She responded in kind, linking her arms around his neck. Savoring the flavor of Angelica’s lips, Ari moved again to her neck while her body pulsated with every touch. Her hands caressed his head like she was creating a master watercolor piece-slowly and gently. His thick lock of hair twisted this way and that as her body answered to the touch of his lips.
“Let’s go to your room,” Ari said in a whisper, not wanting to interrupt the mood.
Angelica seemed to hesitate, but before she could answer, his lips were on hers and his hands wandered over her body, exploring her, making her testify to the power of his touch. She sat up, and Ari scooped her off the couch and headed for her room.
With his foot, Ari pushed open the door to Angelica’s room. It was simple but inviting. A mahogany bed and double dresser with an attached mirror took up most of the room. An old, yellowish quilt covered the bed. Ari gently laid Angelica on it and sat next to her, unbuttoning his shirt. Unable to peel his eyes away from her, he pulled his shirt off and reached down and kissed her again.
Angelica responded to his advances, helping Ari to take off her shirt. He nibbled at her ears and planted kisses on her chin, snaking along her neck until he fell into the bottom of the ravine that lay between her twin mountains. He breathed in her scent and languished in the ravine as if he’d been given a potion to make him sleep. She lifted his head and pouted her lips, and he kissed her again, passionately.
Wasting no time, Ari removed the rest of his clothing and helped a helpless Angelica remove hers. His breathing became labored as he stared at her nakedness, his head moving up and down her body, stopping to analyze a small mole adjacent to her navel like a person with a trained eye.
Angelica looked up and smiled at him, her arms lying lazily by her sides. She could feel the heat from Ari’s body as he continued to X-ray every inch of her, and immediately she knew she wanted to feel him, all of him.
“You are beautiful, Angelica. You have the body of a twenty-year-old-perfect in every way.”
“Thank you,” she said softly, accepting Ari’s compliment.
Ari kissed Angelica and felt her muscles contract as he explored her twin peaks, kissing and squeezing as if he held the controls of a brand-new PlayStation game. Then down the slopes of Aspen he continued, kissing and feeling his way through the sweet terrain until he descended upon the Bermuda Triangle that sucked him under without remorse. Unable to wait any longer, Ari filled her well to the brim with his throbbing manhood.
Angelica shuddered and shook violently-her head turning from side to side-her body a volcano erupting from the pleasure that Ari gave her. She looked like a flight of geese flapping their wings, excited about the flight down south. Then, from the belly of Ari’s soul came a blood-curdling yell, his own body giving up the ghost after the ride of his life.
His body collapsed onto hers, sweat glistening on his back. Angelica’s toes were curled tight as if they had latched onto something they didn’t want to let go of. Moans of pleasure and satisfaction enveloped the room, chasing away the stillness of the morning. Both enjoyed the tender moment and lay in each other’s arms for the next hour.
Finally, Ari lifted his head, finding Angelica asleep. He kissed her gently and then rose, taking his clothes with him before disappearing from the room.
Angelica stirred-the weight of Ari’s body now gone. She opened her eyes and focused them, letting out a little sigh when she realized where she was. She closed her eyes again and relived the last few hours in her dream. Ari was a wonderful lover, and she found herself wanting him again.