Guile.. Parts three & four (Revised)

Still Life

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She isn’t exactly sure what it is that she is looking at lying in the vacant lot there in the snow until she move’s in for a closer look. When she sees the eyes staring back up at up at her cold and lifeless, Maddie Harris knows that she is looking at the body of a dead woman. A beautiful young dead woman. It is 2:32 am on Monday morning when the patrol car happens upon her sitting on her hands and knees trying to scream out for help. It is only when the officer sees the nude body of Abigail Henry that he realizes that Maddie is not screaming out for herself. He puts his arm around her and helps her to her feet while his partner radios for an ambulance, sixty seven year old Maddie Harris has seen many things in her life, but this is different,

"She looks so young" she tells the officer, he nods solemnly.

“Yes ma’am.” A soft whimper escapes from her throat.

“W. Who could have done such a thing?” he pause’s slightly.

“Ma’am I really don’t know,” seconds later his partner appears with a hot cup of coffee to calm Maddie’s nerves..

Soon the scene is all abuzz with unmarked police cars and patrol cars alike, there are detective’s everywhere and a forensics team has secured the crime scene from further contamination, three detectives have begun the canvas when Detective Joshua Kirkland emerges from the unmarked police vehicle, he has no way of knowing that the young woman in the vacant lot is connected to Maxine Greer. A member of the medical examiners office begins to approach him almost immediately, he is a thin young energetic fellow who looks as though he’s drank way to much coffee. He extends his hand.

“Detective Kirkland?” he nods slowly.

“We have a nude white female early to mid twenties, no sign of struggle, no bruising , no ligature marks, no sign of foul Play.” He stops him in mid sentence and stares in disbelief.

“She’s naked and dead in a vacant lot at two thirty in the morning, off the top of my head, I would have to assume that she did not get here of her own accord, trust me when I tell you- there was foul play involved.”

He blinks, taking in what the detective has just told him,

“Since the temperature out here is below freezing, we’ll have to take her back to the lab to establish a time of death, off the top of my head though I’d say she’s been dead at least seven hours.”

He sets out to see what the canvas has turned up if anything, as he walks his thoughts oddly bring up the name of Maxine Greer, he thinks to himself that he should probably find time to check on her, since she hasn't called in a couple of days. Meanwhile it has begun snowing again as the body of Abigail Henry is loaded into the back of the ambulance, there are no sirens blasting away through the silence of the early morning hours to signify that Abigail Henry has a chance, there is no one riding with her to pray for her survival, no one yet even knows of her loss. No one but a sixty seven year old homeless woman yet knows of this terrible waste of life.

No Quarter.

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He waits for almost three hours before Trent Drayson comes in with the autopsy results, she had been dead for approximately eight hours up until the time the body was discovered. She hadn’t died at the scene but was moved there only three hours before discovery, the dental report is still out and they haven’t got an answer yet as to who the deceased girl is. Joshua Kirkland has left word to bring the report as soon as it returned to them, they have tried running her prints but this girl was found to have never been in the system so they had to wait. He returns to his office at ten thirty sharp to a plethora of questions from his lieutenant who is demanding to be kept posted, Joshua Kirkland brings him up to speed and vows to follow up every lead no matter how minor right up to the very last detail as soon as the report comes in. he tries once again to ring up Maxine Greer’s phone number but by that time it is well past eleven am and she was sure to be at work. Finally it is almost eleven thirty before the report comes in and he has a name to go with the face, the deceased girl is indeed Abigail Henry.

He retrieves her home address from the case folder and decides to go and have a peek inside of her life. The gray sedan pulls to a stop in front of 336 Jefferson Place the now former residence of one Abigail Henry, and as soon as the manager opens the door and as he steps inside, he sees the picture of Abigail and Maxine Greer together. He now knows that he must tell Maxine Greer that her friend is dead.
“Coffee, black with one sugar.” He tells her. Maxine Greer is surprised to see detective Joshua Kirkland but not so surprised to hear that he is there on official business.

“Miss Greer.. Do you Know a Abigail Henry?”

At first Maxine doesn’t want to answer sensing that something is very wrong.

“Yes, she’s my best friend.” He pauses checking for a possible reaction.

“Miss Greer. I don’t know how to tell you this, But Abigail Henry is dead. I’m so sorry.”

"The reaction is as expected with Maxine’s legs coming out from under her and she’s collapsing on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

He tries to console her and tells her to take all the time she needs. She will need to gather strength for she realizes that Abbey had no friend or family here so Maxine will have to go and identify the body. When she finally becomes reasonably calm, he takes his leave, and she heads to the bathroom to take a hot shower. When she returns, she is not yet clothed when she decides to lye down on the bed. Her freshly washed terry cloth robe the only thing between her and her nakedness, she closes her eyes as her thoughts slowly drift towards Abigail Henry and she begins to cry, but suddenly stops when she feels the slight cold chill slowly move across her naked thighs. Her eyes close even tighter almost afraid to open for fear of what they’ll see, and it is then that she can feel the hands untie her robe and gently push her legs apart. Her eyes squint to a barely open position and she sees him slowly lower his naked form down on top of her. When he enters her, her legs almost against her very own will, slowly wrap themselves around him, pulling him even further into her invitingly. she feels an odd smile pursing across her own lips as she opens her eyes to see this wonder. He is smiling slowly rhythmically pushing in and slowly pulling back, he kisses his beauty, and her tongue hungrily accepts his into her mouth, and when he pulls back she can feel his hot breath as he whispers into her ear.

“Now Maxine. You are mine.”

Transformation

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She doesn’t look the same to him for some reason, she is standing there with an almost stark indifference to the events that are taking place around her. Abigail Henry is being lowered into her final resting place, and Maxine Greer stands there emotionless, dry eyed, as though she has barely noticed. Joshua Kirkland has seen many different reactions to peoples loss of a loved one but never has he seen one quite like this. He thinks back to when he broke the tragic news to her, and how she had almost immediately collapsed onto her living room floor. And now here she stands, almost the picture of serenity, calm, collected and quite confident. Even her outward appearance has taken a new tone, and it is then when Detective Joshua Kirkland takes notice that there is something very, very different about Maxine Greer now. He approaches her with the slightest hint of caution.

“Ms Greer?” she turns to face him.

“Why. Detective Kirkland.. What a wonderful surprise. So nice of you to come.” He takes her hand and briefly looks into her eye’s, there is no sadness, no shock.

Something else is pulling at him, something in her eye’s that wasn’t there before something alluring. Sultry. Strangely hypnotic.

“Ms Greer I-” she takes his hand and smiles.

“Joshua. Its okay. Don’t worry. Everything is fine. I am better now than I have ever been before.”

Her words stop almost in mid sentence.

“Oh I see it now- You want to give condolences for Abigail. Well that’s sweet but we weren't family or anything. Its all been taken care of. Abbey is resting now. It was so nice of you to bother though.” He slowly pulls his hand away as a strange feeling of disbelief tugs at his thoughts. He knows now that something has taken place with Maxine Greer. He tries to study her look for a clue but nothing comes to him. Her whole demeanor has changed. she has changed. virtually overnight. It has only been three days since he told her about Abigail’s untimely death and the woman that now stood before him seemed to be a completely different person.

“Ms Greer. I wanted to talk to you about the man that you told me about. Someone matching the description that you gave was seen around the vacant lot where Abigail was found, on the morning of her death."

He stops in mid sentence to study her reaction knowing full well that somehow this is not the same woman that he'd left in a sobbing heap in her home only days before.

"Our detective’s haven’t been able to get a name yet, or to make a positive connection, but I did find it interesting that the description they got was almost the same as the one that you gave me.” She gave him a blank stare.

“Oh? Well detective. I haven’t seen that man since. On reflection I would have to say that it was a coincidence that he and I were in the same neighborhood and he probably wasn't following me at all, I do have an over active imagination sometimes. or so it would appear.”

He shook her hand again and made his exit, but paused briefly to watch as she walked over to where a sleek looking black sports car was waiting for her to get in. she lowered herself into the passengers seat and leaned over to the driver and kissed him full on the lips, and when Joshua Kirkland sees his face he knows that Maxine Greer has lied to him. The man in the drivers seat of the sports car at first glance matches the description that she gave him, and he can feel it in the pit of his stomach that Maxine Greer will be next.

Revelation..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He follows them for the better part of two hours along Canal Street, and watches them go in and out of various clothing shops and restaurant’s. he checks his watch and its twelve thirty in the afternoon, when he returns to the precinct, he now has a better image of the man that he knows is responsible for Abigail Henry’s death. He also knows that he must approach Maxine Greer cautiously from this minute forward or he will completely lose her confidence. It has become clear that she is simply not herself anymore, and at two- pm he makes a phone call to Faversham’s book store on Prospect Street to talk to her employer about her recent change in demeanor; only to find that has resigned her position at the book store only two days earlier. He knows that this is very bad and if he doesn’t find a way to prove that Maxine’s new love interest is indeed the person responsible for Abigail’s death, Maxine will be lost forever. At three thirty seven the black sports car pulls up in front of Maxine’s apartment where she gets out and removes the packages from the back seat and takes them upstairs, and when she returns, she finds that he has left.

She turns towards the stairs and walks up to her apartment and close’s the door behind her. She waits there by her phone in her bathrobe for what seems like hours for him to call her. And when it doesn't ring she finds herself becoming anxious and angry. She decides to go to bed and when she turns to pull back the covers she finds him sitting there in the chair. Smiling at her confidently. She folds her arms in front of her body defiantly taking an angry posture with him. He smiles at her childish mannerisms.

“Maxine. Do not be a stubborn child. Come here now..”

She doesn’t respond, and instead tries to look away from him out the window at the falling snow.

“You just left me here. Didn’t say a fucking word. You just left.”

Silence. He pauses to see if there is more.

“Maxine. What is it exactly that you would like to hear me say? I’m sorry I had other business to attend to? I’m sorry I left in a hurry?" He stops..

“No Maxine. We both know that that isn’t what is bothering you. You need to know something else don’t you?”

she say’s nothing but looks away, he’s smiling there at her again. she struggles to regain her confidence.

“You need to know about Abigail.. Don’t you? You need to know if I- ”

she stops him in mid sentence.

“I already know in my heart, its you that I don’t know. Your name. what you do. I know nothing about you..”
“You want a name?”
“Yes.”
“I have Many. Which would you prefer?”
She says nothing. She looks at the floor, fearing that she already knows the answer..
“Come over here Maxine. Now.”
She hesitates before finally giving in to his soft demands. He reaches up from his seat and unties the robe and helps it slowly fall to the floor.

She is standing in front of him now naked once again. He rise’s from the chair and slowly ease’s her down on the bed, removes his clothing and lowers himself on top of her.. And there in the chill of her own bed he takes her for the last time. As he dresses she watches him from the bed.
“You won’t be back will you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
He looks down at her beautiful naked body. And once again smiles.
“Our business has concluded Maxine. My work here is done. She rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling. He is gone now. And she knows that everything that she thought she knew. Has horribly changed.

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