Chapter 5

Louella immediately poured herself a scotch after limping from the car to the house.  She’d been used to the point of worrying about her welfare, but they were clearly adept at taking their victims to the brink of injury without really injuring them.  Although she’d contemplated joining an underground S&M club, she never quite got around to it. Her little session with Valkyr and his men cured her of all curiosity on that point.  It wasn’t for her.  She preferred to be the one in charge who was doing what she wanted, when she wanted.

She wasn’t sure, but she thought she’d caught a glimpse of Valkyr’s face when she could finally remove the shirt from her eyes.  She could have sworn she saw it transforming from a hideous, distorted looking thing with red eyes to his normal, handsome brown-eyed self. She shook her head as she poured a generous amount of the burning liquid down her throat.  She’d clearly imagined it. She had no doubt it was the result of the way she felt at that moment. 

She’d had sex with men to get what she wanted constantly, but it was always on her terms.  She was never out of control of the situation.  She’d heard that Valkyr was bad news, she just didn’t realize how bad because any dealings she’d had before were done through her team of lawyers.  Unfortunately, this deal needed to be kept hush hush to the point that she was forced to seek him out herself.  Now that she knew the extent of his wickedness, she intended to stay clear of him. 

She had no intention of killing anyone in the future.  She found it messy and unsettling. In fact, it was the only thing she’d ever done that actually chiseled at her conscience. Or, lack of it.  Even so, just to be safe, she decided to make inquiries on the down low for someone else who offered such a service.  She never wanted to see Valkyr again.

A sigh of remorse left her as she thought about the reason she’d had to pay such a high price to that undesirable kingpin.  If she had followed her aunt when she collected Davina’s things to take to her instead of taking her driver to the guest house for sex that she really didn’t need since she’d just had it with her gross lawyer, she’d have been able to stop her from finding the journal and taking it to her.  She really thought she’d hidden it so that no one could find it. What dumb luck that Tillie managed. Even worse, she’d read it and knew the truth.

Killing Tillie had been a spur of the moment decision, but, looking back, Louella could see no other resolution to the problem.  She simply couldn’t have anyone freeing her sister and ruining her plans. She could only hope that Tillie hadn’t mentioned it to Maria.  She doubted she had, since Maria was touring Tuscany and wasn’t expected back for a few more weeks.

She heaved a sigh.  Now she had to go to the institute and pry that journal away from Davina. Why hadn’t she just destroyed it instead of hiding it? Aunt Tillie would still be alive if she had. Sometimes she didn’t understand herself. Well, she couldn’t bring her aunt back, but as for burning the ledger…. as soon as she got it back, she’d rectify that mistake.

She felt terrible about stabbing her aunt to death with a very sharp letter opener, but it was the nearest weapon at the time.    It was a horrible, messy, and probably quite painful way to die. She’d made several deep piercings into Tillie’s neck and chest before she managed to jab it into her right eye and ram it into her brain.  She recalled what an easy target it made as Tillie stared with eyes wide open from shock and disbelief.

She always had a fondness for Tillie.  Remembering her recent method of payment for the cleanup and disposal of her aunt’s body, she decided she’d been punished sufficiently for her deed and shook all guilt from her conscience.

With a sigh of resolution, she poured herself another generous glass of scotch and tossed it back before heading for the shower.  She needed to wash away all signs of ever being touched by Valkyr and his goons.

As she lathered her body in the shower, she thought about what happened in his office. It didn’t surprise her to discover the hidden bed in there, but it was strange that he would let his men have her before he took his turn.  It was an odd way for a leader to behave, if you asked her. 

She’d hoped that they would simply use her for release and then call it good.  Instead, they sought pleasure in bringing out sex toys to use on her as well.  This was more for Valkyr’s enjoyment, she thought.  Perhaps he needed to see all this happening to her to become aroused.  She’d heard of men with afflictions like that.  It made more sense as to why she’d never been able to manipulate him with the sway of her hips before.  He clearly needed much more than that to awaken his desires.

She was extremely put out that none of them used protection, but he cleaned her after each one of them finished with her with a soothing douche that he claimed was filled with a spermicide while insisting that they were all disease free.  She mumbled to herself what she’d do to each one of them if anything came of her little encounter as she grabbed a loofa and vigorously scrubbed at her flesh.

She was thankful that she couldn’t see the them during the ordeal.  They weren’t repulsive. In fact, they were all quite handsome.  Besides, she’d slept with worse for the sake of getting what she wanted. It was only sex, after all.  It was just the fact that, although she’d given consent, it was made while under  duress. Had the threat of him not helping her not been looming over her, she would have adamantly declined. Not seeing their smug faces helped in emptying her mind.  In fact, she was considering getting an eye mask to wear while with Derek. It might make being with him more palatable.

As she stepped from the shower and pulled on her robe, she thought she heard movement in her adjoining bedroom.  Tiptoeing to the door, she opened it just far enough to peek into her bedroom. A small gasp left her lips as she stared at the semi-transparent image of her recently murdered aunt.  She was walking around the room as if looking for something. Although, Louella couldn’t imagine what that might be.

This wasn’t the first time she’d seen a ghost, so the concept didn’t frighten her.  It was mildly unsettling that the ghost happened to be the woman

she’d killed just hours earlier, though.

She quickly wrapped her hair in a towel and stepped into the room.  “What are you doing here?”

Tillie wore a stunned look on her face. “You can see me?”

“Why are you here?” Louella repeated.

“I’m not really sure.  I woke up dead.  Someone killed me, but its fuzzy as to who it was.”

“Seriously?”

“There are men manhandling my body, you know.  They’ve put it in a tub and are pouring acid on it. I couldn’t stick around to watch so I closed my eyes and wished myself away.  I ended up here.”

“Well, go somewhere else, will you?” Louella barked as she pulled a teddy from her dresser drawer.

“Louella Mitchell!  Is that any way to speak to your aunt?”

“I’ve spoken worse to you when you were alive, and you know it,” Louella said as she quickly put on the teddy and then flopped onto the bed.  Completely uncaring that she had nothing on her bottom as she stretched across the bed, she reached into the drawer of her nightstand and pulled out the remnants of a joint.  Positioning herself on the stack of pillows behind her back, she lit it and took a long, deep hit.  Blowing the smoke in her aunt’s direction, she asked, “Can you get high from my second-hand smoke now?”

Tillie laughed. “That would be a hoot, now wouldn’t it?”  After a moment, her expression grew more serious. “I wasn’t ready to die, you know. In fact, I

was in the middle of revising my will.  Such a shame.”

Louella flicked an ash from the joint off

her chest. “That’s a shame. Who’d you leave your estate to?  Did I get anything?”

“I was in such a state of angst after

reading Davina’s journal and realizing what you did that I marched to my lawyer and left everything to Davina to make up for it.”

Louella smiled. “Fortunately, I have power of attorney over all of her affairs.”

“Maybe so, but not this.  I made sure that my lawyer maintained that right as long as she was being held prisoner in that vile place,” Tillie hissed. “Why would you do such a thing to your sister?  She never killed that boy and you know it.  Isn’t it bad enough that he loved her and left her?”

“So, if you’d already made the change, why are you saying you were in the middle of rewriting your will?” Louella asked, ignoring her aunt’s last question.

“I thought better of it,” Tillie said with a sigh. “You were always such a good girl. I was hoping you’d come to your senses and do right by your sister.  I was going to change my will back to include you in it.”

Her aunt was a wealthy woman, but Louella’s inheritance superseded Tillie’s wealth; especially when combined with Davina’s.  She wasn’t worried about the last-minute change in Tillie’s will. She’d just contest it and get things shifted back. It would take time and money, but it was worth it.

She took a long, last hit on the nub of her joint.  “It was super bitchy of you to take me out of your will.”

“And, it was super bitchy of you to kill me,” Tillie hissed in reply.

“Ah, so you do remember.”

“It just came to me.  I’m beginning to question which twin is really the bad apple.”

“You always were slow at catching on.”