Once upon a crime.
Falling for some dimes
She was putting on make-up on her face. He was looking at her, standing in the aperture, leaning on the frame.
“Why don’t you dress up?” she asks.
“I am in no hurry to go there.” He says with a broken voice.
The eyes of the woman tear up, but she continues to apply the eyeliner on her lower eyelid. The left, then the right before she replaces the pen into the bag.
“Neither do I.” she whispers. ”But that will be over, after.” She adds with a swallowing.
The man nods, brushing his fingers into his hair. “If it is her.” He specifies.
It is the turn to the woman to nod. She takes a deep breath and embraces the man, the lipstick in one hand, the cover of it in the other. He squeezes her waistline.
“A part of me wishes it is her. The other, not.” She declares.”Am I going nut, Caith?”
“You aren’t. That is the same for me.But…” he releases her.”Who ever it is at the moment, she is in the worst place for a little girl, in the dark and cold cooler, Rizpah. And just for that, we should hurry.”
“Looks who’s talking?” she teases him with a pinch she takes on the ribs cage thin skin. Caith smirks.
“Thank you!” He hugs her again.”Thank you Rizpah.”
“Thank you? But for what?” she replies out of surprise.
“Pulling out some laughs out of me. It could have been so much unbearable.” He hugs her tighter. A tear rolls on his cheek.”Now…I have to dress.” He pushes her away softly again. She burst into laughing.
“And …hum…wash your left side, Caith. I’ll have to redo that make up.” Rizpah affirms, pointing to the said side.
Caith comes back in front the mirror in the bathroom. He stretches his facial skin. “Yeah, that is definitely not in accord with my carnation.” He winks in the mirror to the woman looking at him.
“Definitely.” But the laugh stops and she searches in her make-up bag.
The husband looks to his wife, perplex.”What is running about in your head?”
There is a silence while Caith takes a facecloth and places it under the running water of the tap. He ceases not to observe her, help in it by the mirror or by over his own arm.
“If someone else was there…” she begins with a sigh. “And saw us laugh like that, today. Will they understand?”
“Is that matter so much?” the man retorts.
“Yes. It is.For me it is.” She whimpers.
He extends a hand, patting her. The water is removed from his face with the other hand.”Don’t think about that. That is destroying you. You will be judged that you want it or not and no one will have the same idea. Some people were convinced since day one you killed her or I did. All that we did, for them, was proof more. Other are so convinced of our innocence that even if you were showing them a video of us into action, let say, beating Haley, they would simply dismiss that. See?”
He brings her anew on his chest and holds her tenderly.”Laugh if you want to laugh, cry if you want to cry. Dress in red at a funeral…the only one that matters is yourself.”
“And you…” makes Rizpah.
“Not even me for you. Grief is an egoist thing. IF you keep thinking of the other, you won’t live your own. I know of what I am speaking about.” He reveals, raising her chin with a finger. He kisses her.”Now, I have to hurry up. We are going to be late.”
“Can’t we be late for that? Can’t we be late to our own meeting with death?”
Caith waves a hand in the air.”We can’t be late nor on time. That is a thing that we can’t escape, I fear. Haley is counting on us.”
And he walks to the bedroom.
Socks are easy to put on for him. Though in his distraction, he is now wearing one grey and one brown. The pair of jean has been left the night before, already in position over the shoes. The belt is on and so all he got to do is stepping in the shoes and dragging the trouser up. So he does, with the sound of the change left over in the pocket escaping to spin on the ground.
“Hey!” makes Caith, trying to run after some spreading in every direction. His hand grabs some dimes that were bulging toward the under bed. Unfortunately, the man jaws are far from clearing the space. Moreover, have you ever tried to run with your jean half-way on your legs? Thus he slides; face first, in the bed side, emitting a cracking sound before a curse.
Rizpah runs to notice what could have happened. ”With a curse like that, it hurts, but you have nothing broken.” She plainly pronounces her fists on the hip. ”When you will stop playing with the coin, we got a meeting.” And she leaves, colder than she was previously.
Now sitting on the floor, Caith assesses the situation, throwing the coins away, touching his chin, rubbing it. He gasps.”Ow!” Then, he concludes he is not that bad. He pulls on the jean to get himself fully dressed with it and clampers on his feet.
He dusts himself and walks to the highboy and gropes from one drawers to the other. After the fourth, he frowns.”Rizpah, where is my blue sweater?”
She breezes in, unclosing the lower drawer. ”Careful now, put your feet far from there.”
Caith sidesteps.”Since when do you put such essential item like my blue sweater into the dangerous drawer?” He remarks as the said container fall with a dull sound on the floor.
“Don’t try to shirk that one, Caith. You are acting like Haley was to avoid being left alone in her room to sleep.” She pinches the little pinkie.
He chuckles.”Alright!Pity, leave my toe!”
“Did I do something to your toe?” She asserts with a short wink before deserting. ”Now, do hurry up. I’m praying you for the last time, or I’ll take the car’s key and drive me myself there.”
Almost immediately, Caith gets out the area, fighting to get the head out the collar, still.
She throws him his coat and he catches it just as he emerges from the head socket of the sweater. “Yes mam!” he formulates with a flap of the arms.
He dashes down the stairs, holding the railing when he feels his feet skating on the ice.”Duh! Ice, sweety. Don’t run down.” He warns her.
He watches Rizpah locking the door up. His eyes narrow as he thinks of something.”Riz?”
“Yes?” she responds on the same interrogative tone.
“I think…I think I know what happened that night.” He divulges.”I think I know.”
She lands in the snow after her cautious descent of the cement stairs.
“Which night?” she asks, upsets.
“The night we lost Haley.” He replies, running up the flight of stairs, at each stride getting near to tumble those downs. He bows and look attentively to the door know, scratching his head, then his chin. He turns to an disconcerted wife, one foot on the stair and examining him.
“What is that folly again?” she inquires.
“I’ll talk of it with Ilario.” He announces, descending then beckoning Rizpah to follow.
She does, but not without fermenting thoughts and pertinacious clatters.
They hop in the car and he starts the engine. “ Time out, I am coming with something, let me phrase it…for the love of me! I can’t think with you speaking aloud and leading a crusade…” he firmly told her.
“In other words: Shut up?” she pushes it a bit further.
He pats her knee.”Just keep quiet. You’ll have the time to express yourself; we have 30 minutes till we are at the morgue.”
She calms down, taking a deep breathe and making a sheepish smile.”Alright. IF it took you less than that to say what you have to say, though. Otherwise, that is unfair.”
Caith smiles, reassuringly. He passes the arm around the head support of the seat and, skillfully, he swirls the steering wheel to get out the parking lot.
“Here is what I thought.” He begins has they got to the highway. ”What if the person that did it had planned that from long before that night? I mean. The side yard is not our, and the hedge is quite dense till the first snow. It would have been easy to hide a ladder there.” He pauses only to look in his rear-mirror upon engaging in the speedway. “Now, after you plant the ladder, you get inside our apartment before all the locks are put on. We can only put to of them when we go out the place. The only downfall for that person would have been being seen or doing something that can be saw. And Berny is not an effective dog of guard. You find a place to hide till we enter and you wait till you hear no noises to act.” He briefly glances to Rizpah.
“Good, but yet, that is a theory. Surely that Ilario thought of it. If the evidence have told him so.” She opines.
“Not the last time we talk. He was mystified on how the person made it to enter. He knew perfectly how ‘it’ got out and certain facts he preferred keeping for himself till proven.”
The woman nods.”Then we can drop by at his office after our first duty.” She sighs, her forehead on the icy window.
“Yes. We will, even if this is Haley.” He touches her knee again, retaining the steering with one hand. She drops some tears.
“Awe, you are ruining your make-up.” He makes.
“The hell with the make-up!You give birth to a child it is for him to burry you when you died, not the inverse.” she bleats.
His jaws twitches and he takes a deep breath.
The rest of the travel is only punctuated by some whimpers from Rizpah. Her head bumps a tad when the car passes potholes.
Caith is powerless. He has to drive, he can’t pull over. Maybe this travel is just a stopover? Maybe the distance still to cover is unsuspectedly longer? He frowns and breathe more slowly, controlling his emotion, focusing on what he thought is the better.
When they reach the parking lot of the hospital, Rizpah gets out as he slow down to collect the parking card. He looks at her, running like that with her high-heels boots with the sleet falling over. He wipes his own tears that, despite all his effort, are falling down, trailing on his rough cheek.
The gate opens and he drives through. The car is tidily park and the card places well in view on the dashboard. He extirpates himself from the vehicle. His brief walk brings him to the covered balcony, soon. Not soon enough; he is drenched.
“Caithless, my, that so long since we saw you here. How are you?” exclaims the security guard, packed of solicitude.”Coming for a visit?”
“no, coming to identify someone.” He dryly let go, rubbing his limbs to dry them up on the rubber carpet glued at the entrance.
“Someone I know?” He asks with a frown.
“You saw her scampering about, yes, Birger. You’re still refuse to listen to the news or to read any newspaper?”
“Yes Sir!That is a whole different ways to see life and I stop anguishing myself for things I can’t change anyway. You should try this.” He scratches his head under is hat.”Who could it be…”Then as Caith progress in the corridor, the guard understand. He lets himself falls to his seat. ”Not Haley!”
The father has the time to turn in the next corridor before he hears him calling: ”Please, let me know, what ever the outcome, Sir. My respect to your wife.” Then he mumbles something else, but Caith is too far to hear it.
He walks like an ox would do, knowing it is going to the slaughter. When he finally pushes the door of the room he is expected to be in, he swallows.
“Pouah!” He complains.”Formalin.”
The slaughter himself is waiting. In fact, this is the prosector, an occasional co-worker of Rizpah. She is aside him. Normally, that task is given to the diener. Dante is there, aside a porcelain table, stern.
“We did a bit of work on her this morning. But now all is clean and she is looking like she is sleeping, no worry. Dante did a very good job, almost the one of a funeral room expert. Although, obviously, that was not to him to do it. He just insisted when he learn it could be your daughter, Caith.”
They enters, Sef opening the way. Rizpah holding his husband and comforting him about what he would see.
Delicately, Dante remove the white sheet in front of the expectant parents.
Rizpah starts crying more than she were, now totally ruining the make-up and the sweater of her husband with it.
Caith stays of stone. He leans, holding his wife. He led her to Sef’s arms. He kneels aside the lifeless body.
“No, that is not Haley. You can do any other test you want. I would have not denied if it was her, but … that’s not her.” He whispers.
“She is quite beaten up.You’re positively sure?” the prosector questions.
“Not her. Close, but not her.” Caith confirms, shivering an instant in hesitation. He places his hand over the cold forehead, brushing into the hairs. “I hope you find her parents. They will be relief that she came back home.” He stands anew, leaving the room, completely devastated.
Rizpah runs after him, they hold together and walk toward the stairs.
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