Tia was never more than happy to get out of her cell and see Lorelei, as always. Heart pounding in hopeful anticipation, she followed the officer to the visiting booths.
Wordlessly, the officer unlocked the door to the visiting booth and then locked the door behind her.
Tia smiled through the Plexiglas at Lorelei.
“Hi, sweetie,” said Lorelei. “How are you today?”
“Ok.”
Tia sat down and studied the sheet of paper before her.
“That’s for you to sign a release of your belongings into my custody until you can get out and have them back.”
“And that will be soon, I hope,” said Tia.
“Well,” Lorelei began, smiling conspiringly, “I don’t want to say anything right now, but things are looking good.”
“Why can’t you say anything? I’m your client. So why should I be left in the dark?”
Lorelei smiled again, then her expression turned serious. “It’s just that I don’t want to end up getting your hopes up for nothing since nothing is a hundred percent guaranteed.”
“Well, when will you know if whatever you’ve got that’s looking good is going to actually be good or not?”
“Should be within a few days.”
Tia read and signed the paper, then said, “Thanks for taking care of my stuff for me.”
“Oh, you’re quite welcome. I talked to Courtney.”
“Yeah?”
Lorelei nodded, then in a hesitant voice she added, “She told me to tell you she loves you.”
Tears of emotion welled up in Tia’s eyes. Lorelei studied her a moment before Tia said, “And I love her too, even though I wish I could say I hated her guts, as unfair as that would be if she has nothing to do with this.”
“I can see where you would certainly have mixed emotions for the girl.” Then to her own surprise, she found herself asking, “You don’t think you’d change your mind about getting back together with her when you get out, do you?”
Tia shook her head. “No, I couldn’t possibly do that. Why do you ask?”
“Well, I just worry about you, is all. I know your feelings for her are none of my business and that I can’t stop you from doing whatever you gotta do once you’re released. I just hate to see you get stuck in a bad situation all over again.”
“Oh, I won’t let myself as far as she’s concerned. My gut instinct has always said she’s got nothing to do with this despite my feelings for her. But things have changed now, haven’t they?”
Lorelei nodded. “I’ll say.”
“I’m going to be alone for the rest of my life.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far. There’s still lots of good people in the world, hun, and you’re awfully young to be giving up in the love department.”
“Maybe I’ll just sleep around and be a little whore.”
Lorelei cracked a grin.
“So, how old are you, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“I’m thirty for now. Next month I’ll be thirty-one.”
“I’m sorry that the last lady you were with screwed you over. You really seem like such a nice person.”
“Oh,” Lorelei said with a smile. “Well, thank you. Maybe next time around we’ll both be compensated for the shit we’ve gone through in the past, and being whores won’t be our only option.”
Tia laughed for the first time since awakening in the hospital, terrified and confused. It felt good, and Lorelei felt just as good hearing it.
They spoke of their interests a little, and Tia told Lorelei a little about New England and Oregon.
“I’ve never lived anywhere else,” said Lorelei, “and so I couldn’t imagine what it’d be like to live in such cold, snowy places.”
“Good for you. Because it’s no fun.”
They laughed again.
Once their time was up, Lorelei said, “Ok, sweetie, I’ll get your stuff and keep it in a spare room in my house for now. You don’t think Courtney would hold anything back, do you?”
“No. But then again, I never thought her mother would kill someone and try to pin it on me. I don’t have much, though, so except for my poor little Tinkerbell – I miss that little furball – and my laptop, nothing else really matters. I trust that Courtney will take good care of Tink as I know most people wouldn’t want to care for a rat, let alone someone else’s.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Lorelei said, rising to her feet and towering over the still-seated Tia just beyond the Plexiglas. She then noticed Tia’s expression change to one of concern. “Just hang in there,” she told her as reassuringly as she could.
Tia nodded, and they said their goodbyes.
Lorelei guided her SUV through the curvy drive and towards the Cole’s property. Although she appreciated the convenience of city life, she also appreciated the peaceful serenity around her.
She came to the fork and glanced upward and toward the right at Morgan’s place. She didn’t see any vehicles. She then maneuvered the SUV down toward the left and parked next to Courtney’s trailer. The door opened before she had a chance to knock on it. “Hello,” she called out.
“Hi. You here for Tia’s stuff?”
“Sure am.”
“I have most of it gathered. Would you like to wait here this time, or do you want to come in?”
“I guess I can wait out here.”
“Ok. I’ll be just a minute or two.”
Lorelei surveyed her surroundings while she waited. When Courtney did return, she had a large trash bag in one hand and the laptop under her other arm. Lorelei took the laptop and placed it on the floor behind the driver’s seat. Then she took the bag and placed that on the seat above.
“So how’s she doing?” asked Courtney.
“Good. Any chance you’ll let me take her rat?”
Courtney hesitated. Obviously, it wasn’t a question she’d been expecting. “Well… do you think she’ll be getting out soon?”
“As always, I’m not at liberty to divulge personal information about a client, but I can say that things do look good.”
Courtney still appeared hesitant. “Where are these things going?”
“I’m going to hang onto them for now at my place.”
“And she agreed to this?”
“Yes, she did. Signed a release of possessions form just like I told you.”
“What do you know about rats?”
Lorelei laughed. Now it was her turn to be surprised with a question. “Not much, I must admit, though I assure you I’m a quick learner.”
Courtney smiled faintly, but it was gone faster than it appeared. “Well, she’ll need a scoop of food each day and for her cage to be cleaned about once a week.”
“Ok.”
“And you must make sure she has water at all times.”
“Ok.”
“Rats can eat anything, and they like a variety of food.”
“Oh, do they?”
Courtney nodded and continued on. “So you might want to share a little of your dinner with her, but go easy on the meats and other foods that are high in protein.”
“Will do.”
“You can open the back of your SUV, and I’ll go get her.”
Lorelei did, and Courtney appeared a moment later with the cage, rat peering curiously from behind the wire bars, whiskers twitching so fast they seemed to vibrate. The cage had multi-levels. The rat scurried up top as if to get a better view from there.
“Tia loved this rat,” said Courtney.
“Yeah, she told me so,” Lorelei said, amazed at the sheer size of the rodent.
“She’s just about the friendliest, smartest rat I’ve ever known. Her name’s Tinkerbell.”
“Well, I’ll be all the more sure to take good care of her then.”
“Be sure to give her some freedom for a few hours each day.”
“Freedom?” Lorelei asked, eyes widening.
“Yeah, rats don’t like to be cooped up in a cage all the time.”
“Not even if I have a fairly good-sized dog?”
“Well, if you can keep the dog away from her, she likes to run around and also to hang out with people. If you can’t give her adequate attention, then she needs a roommate. Rats really hate to be alone and ignored.”
“Ok. Then I’ll make sure we get better acquainted real soon. Are they really that smart?”
“Yup,” Courtney said with a nod.
“I heard they can learn their names.”
“They can learn a lot more than that. They also like to steal, so be careful of small objects that may be within her reach. Unless you tell her “no” to a particular thing, she’ll just help herself.”
Courtney watched as Lorelei loaded the cage with its animated occupant into the SUV. After she shut the door, she said, “Please give my love to Tia.” No longer able to contain her tears, she turned and went inside.
Lorelei was about to leave when a car came whizzing down the hill and parked behind both the SUV and Courtney’s car. A plume of dust rose up as the hefty person exited the vehicle and slammed the door shut hard. Morgan Cole, bedecked in flashy jewelry and designer clothes, stomped over to Lorelei and shouted, “I want you off this property now and not to come back…”
“Ma, it’s ok,” said Courtney, who had come back outside. “She’s only here to pick up Tia’s stuff.”
“No, it’s not ok!”
“If I may get a word in edgewise,” Lorelei began.
“No, you can’t! We’ve got nothing more to say to each other. Now get off this land before I remove you myself!”
“I wouldn’t do that, Miss Cole. Especially if I didn’t want to be hit with assault charges. Now, if you’ll kindly get your vehicle out of the way of mine, I’ll be going now.”
“Good. You do that! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have detectives snooping around my house.”
“You should’ve thought about that before you killed Stanley, Mom, and pinned it on the girl I love.”
Morgan froze in shock. The blood clearly drained from her face. Then the white of her face turned red with rage. “Oh,” she muttered dangerously, “that’s great, Courtney. That’s just great.”
After half a minute of deadly silence, Lorelei said, “Please move your car, Miss Cole.”
Morgan glanced from Lorelei to Courtney, then back to Lorelei. As she turned back to her car, she shouted. “Then get outa here and don’t come back!”
Lorelei watched Morgan turn the car around. She did it so fast and furiously that she was amazed she didn’t slam into the other vehicles or end up down in the ditch. When she was gone, Lorelei turned to face Courtney with an empathetic smile, unable to imagine the horror of suspecting her own mother of a murder she framed someone she loved for. “A word of advice, ok?”
Courtney nodded, near tears once again.
“Keep your mouth shut. No matter how much you love your mother and think you can trust her, just keep your suspicions to yourself, got it?”
Courtney nodded again. Then in a shaky voice, she said, “I hate to say it because she’s still my mom and I still love her, but if she really is guilty of murder, then something needs to be done. If Stanley and Tia weren’t safe, then how can I know that I’ll be any safer even if I’m her own flesh and blood?”
Lorelei shrugged, unable to provide a comforting answer before leaving the Cole’s property.
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