Chapter 3 More Elizabeth
Characters:
Victor Thomas: College student, age nineteen
Brian Thomas: College student, age eighteen
Tuck Tucker: Owns three restaurants, age fifty-five (Franco Touchily)
Elizabeth Tucker; The Witch, Tuck's second wife, age Thirty-two
Betty: Bookkeeper, petite, meek, age thirty-seven
Trudy: Office worker, age twenty. Large eyes are her distinguishing feature.
Vera Tucker: Tuck's first wife and mother of his daughters. Age forty-three
Eric: Restaurant Manager and fiancΓ©e of Caroline Tucker
Caroline Tucker: Tuck's older daughter, age twenty-three
Sarah Tucker; Tuck's younger daughter, age Twenty-one
Melinda: Housekeeper in Tucker home, Black, goes by Missy, age Twenty-eight
Salvatore: Tuck's cousin, manager of Tuck-South
Missy met me at the back door with a coffee and my usual muffin in hand. "He didn't call, so I couldn't make it last night," she said, wistfully.
I took the coffee and muffin from her, too stunned to know what to say. Why was she playing dumb? "That's okay. I know you would have come to the cottage if you could have."
"Maybe tonight," she said, expectantly cheerful.
"I hope so," I said, backing away.
"Hey, aren't you going to check to see if I'm wearing panties this morning?" Missy asked, smiling wickedly.
Was she really asking me to put my finger in her pussy after what she'd witnessed last night? Dutifully, I stacked the muffin on top of the coffee cup and reached under her uniform skirt with my left hand. Missy spread her legs to accommodate my hand. I rolled the flesh of her inner thigh as my hand moved upward, slowly inching my way to her junction.
"Hurry," she whispered, crouching slightly to meet my hand. Just as I felt the moist fabric, she pulled away, saying, "She's coming."
I hadn't heard anything, but I took Missy at her word and pulled my hand out from under her skirt. She was right; Elizabeth appeared, wearing tan slacks, a silk blouse and sandals. The two women exchanged a glance as the maid made room for the boss's wife to ease by.
"Have a good day, missus," Missy said and Elizabeth responded with a curt, "Thank you".
I walked briskly to the car with Elizabeth right behind me. "Backseat," I heard her say and opened the back door for her. I arranged my coffee so it wouldn't spill and started the car. We were barely out of sight of the house when Elizabeth spoke.
"What did she say?"
I looked in the rearview mirror and saw that she was leaning forward, mouth open, expectantly watching me.
"She acted as though she didn't see anything, so I didn't ask her what she wants."
"Damn!" Elizabeth said, leaning back in her seat, looking frustrated. "She's biding her time, wanting me to crack. We'll have to stop. Don't even try to touch me again, Victor."
"Maybe she didn't see anything. I'll try to find out tonight," I offered.
Elizabeth, if she detected what I was saying, didn't react to my statement about finding out what Missy had seen. "Did you happen to see my suit?" she asked.
"I found the two pieces next to the pool. They were still damp. At first, I thought to hang them in the shower to dry, but I thought better and hid them under a stack of clean towels," I said.
"She'll find it. She goes through my things when I'm at work," Elizabeth said, sounding and looking totally crushed.
We were parked in front of the office, neither of us getting out of the car. Elizabeth was chewing on her bottom lip, contemplatively.
Should I tell her that I was sorry that it happened? No, that would be a lie. She was obviously sorry she'd let it happen. But she had, hadn't she? It was partially her doing. She could have sent me to the cottage, waited a few minutes, put her suit back on and gone into the house as if nothing had happened in the pool. Missy hadn't seen anything until Elizabeth followed me into the cottage. I decided that it was more than partially her fault that Missy had seen us.
"Why don't you fire her?" I asked, not that I wanted Missy gone. I was only offering a solution to our mutual problem. Still, there was the possibility that Missy would tell Tuck what she had seen, especially if she were out of work.
"Frank would never agree to it. She was here before I came," Elizabeth said.
Who was Frank? I decided she must be referring to Tuck. She got out of the car and I hurried to unlock the door. She looked back as I followed her up the stairs, giving me a 'don't-watch-me-that-way' look. I couldn't keep my eyes off her ass as she ran up the stairs.
Telephone calls and the fax machine kept me busy until nine A.M. when Elizabeth stuck her head around the partition to ask if I wanted coffee. I followed her into the combination kitchen and break area. The coffee was already made. She poured the steaming liquid into two cups, and we took our seats at the table.
"I know he's sleeping with her. I'd love to catch him," she began, obviously wanting to talk. I assumed she was talking about her husband and his ex-wife.
"He didn't come home last night?" I asked.
She shook her head. Was that a tear running down her cheek? "He never does."
I was wondering what she meant when she explained. "Vera only takes one day off at a time, but it's never the same day of the week. She tries to keep me guessing, but I can almost pinpoint the day because it's always when the girls are working."
I remembered that Vera was not at the mid-town restaurant when I took Tuck there the day before. I also remembered that he had not ordered an alcoholic beverage. Elizabeth must have known that her husband wouldn't be home. That's why she took a chance with me. It was so simple. Why hadn't Missy figured it out? Ah, she didn't have access to the sisters' schedules.
The telephone rang. I started to get up, but Elizabeth shook her head and told me to let the answering machine get it.
"I take it Caroline and Sarah live with their mother?" I asked.
"Yes, they have a larger home than ours. It's near the mid-town restaurant."
Elizabeth must have seen me frown, perplexed. Her questioning expression was so caring that I leaned over to kiss her. She pulled back, horrified that I would try to kiss her.
"I thought Eric and Caroline lived together. He said something about an apartment the first day we met."
"They do. It's at the back of Vera's house. There's a separate entrance, I think."
"You haven't seen it?" I asked.
She shook her head. "Only from the street. I've never been inside," she said, getting up to signal it was time to go back to work.
It was a busy morning. I had my hands full, sending and receiving faxes, answering the phone, and checking the computer for emails. At one point, two telephone calls came in at the same time. I was trying to take care of the first one so I could answer the second call when I heard Elizabeth talking in a louder than normal tone.
"Trudy has the day off, Frank. We're busy. Can't one of the girls...I'll send him, but let him come right back here because we're busy. Don't you dare, Frank."
I was filling out a 'while-you-were-out' form when Elizabeth came around the partition. "He wants you to pick him up. Take him where he wants to go and hurry back," she said.
"Where is he?" I asked. I watched a sad expression appear in her eyes.
"I'll draw a map," she said.
"Will you be all right alone?" I asked, wanting to show my concern for her.
"Yes, I'll be fine. Just don't bring him back here," she said, letting her hand linger on mine as she handed me a hurriedly-drawn sketch.
The sketch showed the mid-town restaurant, as a familiar reference point. The address where I was to go was on a parallel street. It was easy to find and I was surprised to see that I was in a neighborhood of large homes. I pulled into the drive and Tuck came out, followed by Vera. He was dressed the same as the day before. She looked stunning in a long, colorful skirt and white blouse, silk, like the one Elizabeth was wearing that day.
They got into the back seat, and Tuck told me to take them to the mid-town restaurant. He was in a jovial mood. "Did you have any trouble finding us, Victor?"