Brenda Novak - The Perfect Murder

BrownEyedGirl: There were, like…two hundred kids at Joe’s house that night. And I had a boyfriend, so I wasn’t paying much attention.

WhosYourDaddy: I remember your boyfriend. What was his name again?

BrownEyedGirl: Malcolm Turner.

WhosYourDaddy: That’s right. You were really into him.

BrownEyedGirl: No joke. I was head over heels.

WhosYourDaddy: Lucky guy.

BrownEyedGirl:

WhosYourDaddy: Have you seen him lately?

BrownEyedGirl: No. We lost touch when we graduated.

WhosYourDaddy: Do you know what became of him?

BrownEyedGirl: No idea.

WhosYourDaddy: You think about him sometimes, though, don’t you?

BrownEyedGirl: Sometimes.

WhosYourDaddy: If you’d married him, maybe you’d still be married. Maybe your kids would be his.

BrownEyedGirl: I doubt we would’ve made it. He cheated on me with Sherry Stewart. I caught them together in the bedroom at Dennis Marchant’s house. Broke my heart.

WhosYourDaddy: Only an idiot would cheat on someone as beautiful as you.

“Were you that idiot?” Sebastian asked and turned the page.

BrownEyedGirl: They got together after I broke up with him, but it didn’t last long.

WhosYourDaddy: I met her once. She wasn’t half as pretty as you.

BrownEyedGirl: Thanks. I never could understand what he saw in her.

WhosYourDaddy: She was a slut, and at that age, a guy thinks with his dick. He’s dealing with too many hormones to know when he’s got a good thing.

BrownEyedGirl: Does that ever really change? LOL

WhosYourDaddy: I’d never risk losing someone like you, that’s for sure. Were you giving it up to Malcolm?

“You already know, don’t you?” Sebastian said. “You just like thinking about it, talking about it.”

BrownEyedGirl: You can guess the answer to that question.

WhosYourDaddy: You did.

BrownEyedGirl: It’s not like I was easy. We were together for two years.

WhosYourDaddy: Would you make me wait that long before you let me touch you?

BrownEyedGirl: That depends.

WhosYourDaddy: On what?

BrownEyedGirl: On my level of trust.

WhosYourDaddy: You can trust me, babe.

BrownEyedGirl: I’d like to think so.

WhosYourDaddy: Do you ever talk to Sherry Stewart?

Sebastian checked his computer screen. Still no response from Malcolm.

BrownEyedGirl: Never. Not since that night.

WhosYourDaddy: What about your other friends from high school?

“Wondering what she’s heard about you?” Sebastian asked. WhosYourDaddy was always probing. Sometimes it was just more subtle than at other times.

BrownEyedGirl: Not really. My best friend died of cancer while we were in college. That’s when I realized I wanted something deeper than most of the people I’d hung out with in high school seemed to want. They were still partying on the weekends and screwing around. It was time for me to get serious about life. That’s when I met Jimmy.

WhosYourDaddy: At UC Berkeley?

BrownEyedGirl: Yep.

WhosYourDaddy: Did you go back to San Antonio after college?

BrownEyedGirl: No, we stayed in California to be near his family.

WhosYourDaddy: So you haven’t been to Texas in how long?

BrownEyedGirl: Years. My parents moved to Portland while I was at Berkeley, so there’s never been any reason to go back.

Fortunately, that was all true, so they didn’t have to worry about Malcolm learning otherwise.

WhosYourDaddy: Don’t you want to see Malcolm?

BrownEyedGirl: I don’t even know if he’s still there. Last I heard, his family was, but he’d moved on.

WhosYourDaddy: What if you were to hear from him? How would you react?

Sebastian had highlighted this part. It showed Malcolm throwing out more feelers, seeing how he might be received if he ever decided to reveal himself.

BrownEyedGirl: Not sure. That would depend on why he was contacting me in the first place. I still haven’t completely forgiven him. I’ve never been hurt like that, even by my ex-husband.

WhosYourDaddy: Maybe he’s changed, grown up.

BrownEyedGirl: And maybe he hasn’t. Once a cheater, always a cheater. That’s what I say.

WhosYourDaddy: You don’t know that.

BrownEyedGirl: I don’t think I could trust him again.

Unfortunately, this conversation preceded Mary’s realization that she could be talking to Malcolm or she would’ve answered differently.

WhosYourDaddy: Poor Malcolm. He’s missing out on so much.

BrownEyedGirl: Don’t give me that. He brought it on himself. I might be divorced but I’m not desperate.

WhosYourDaddy: I’d treat you better.

“Than you used to?” Sebastian murmured.

BrownEyedGirl: I’d like to believe that.

Sebastian grimaced. “If you’re smart you won’t.”

WhosYourDaddy: I’ll prove it to you.

BrownEyedGirl: Have you ever cheated?

WhosYourDaddy: I’d never cheat on someone as beautiful as you.

BrownEyedGirl: So you have cheated.

WhosYourDaddy: Not on my first wife.

BrownEyedGirl: How many wives have you had?

WhosYourDaddy: Two.

So had Malcolm.

BrownEyedGirl: You went out on your second wife?

WhosYourDaddy: She went out on me first. I think she was sleeping with her ex the whole time we were married. I know she never got over him. She was always throwing him in my face.

BrownEyedGirl: What was his name?

WhosYourDaddy: Prick, at least to me. LOL

Sebastian hesitated here. Malcolm was talking about him and Emily, but he couldn’t be more wrong. There’d been times when Sebastian had felt a spark between him and his ex. He couldn’t deny that. They’d cared about each other, cared for their son. But they’d never slept together, not after the divorce. If Emily hadn’t married Malcolm, they might’ve reconciled, but she had, and then Sebastian met Constance and everything changed.

Trying to imagine what it would’ve been like if they’d managed to reunite their family, he closed his eyes. Emily and Colton would both be alive, and Colton would have the complete family he’d always dreamed about…

It was Malcolm who’d removed that possibility. First, when he convinced Emily to marry him by pretending to be a better man than he was. Then, when he’d assumed, without any proof, that Emily was cheating on him and killed her.

Or was his unfounded accusation just an excuse to get rid of her and take the money?

His eyes too bleary to continue reading, Sebastian put the transcripts aside and reached over to turn off his computer. Before he could press the off button, however, the response he’d been waiting for finally appeared on the screen.

WhosYourDaddy: You up? Sorry, I didn’t see your message.

The exhaustion that’d been dragging at him fell away as Sebastian considered how to reply. He didn’t want this session to be more inane chitchat, leading nowhere. He wasn’t here to entertain Malcolm while Malcolm fantasized about getting it on with his ex-girlfriend.

After stretching his neck to loosen the tense muscles, he typed.

BrownEyedGirl: I’m up, all right, wishing you were here to hold me.

WhosYourDaddy: We’ll be together someday.

BrownEyedGirl: I’d like that. You make me feel special-like more than a tired soccer mom. LOL

WhosYourDaddy: Because you are special.

BrownEyedGirl: Do you mean that? Or is it just a bunch of writing on a screen?

WhosYourDaddy: Touch yourself for me. Be my hands. I’ll tell you what to do.

Sebastian rolled his eyes. Internet sex? “Mary” couldn’t settle for that.

BrownEyedGirl: No, it’s not the same.

WhosYourDaddy: It’s the next best thing. I can’t be there, babe, but I can do my part from here.