The Nature of Love

Chapter 24

Copyright (c) 2015 Phyllis Zimbler Miller

All rights reserved.

The New York Times reports that the U.S. has decided to reemphasize its chemical warfare program in response to a perceived sharp Soviet advantage in the field. -- June 5, 1978

St. Louis 1978

     The door chimes again. This time it's late, almost 11 o'clock. Doesn't Kenneth give up?

     The face on the other side of the peephole is unfamiliar.

     "Police," the voice says. A shield is held up.

     Behind the unlocked door, the first man is buttressed by another.

     "Are you Jennifer Silverman?"

     "Yes."

     "May we come in?"

     I motion towards the living room. This time Marcia doesn't call down the stairs. She must be in deep sleep.

     I sit across from the two officers. To me they look the same. No matter that one is tall while the other is not. I can't even remember the names they give. They simply represent THE LAW. I clasp my hands together to hide the trembling.

     "Where were you tonight?" the tall one says.

     "Here. All night. Why?"

     "Did you see Kenneth Brightman?" the other one asks.

     "Kenneth Brightman?" Sweat trickles down my back. "He stopped by unexpectedly right after I put the girls to bed – about 8:30. He didn't stay."

     "Why not?" the tall one says.

     The truth. It is better to tell the truth. "Because I wouldn't let him. He had ... sex in mind. I wouldn't allow it in my house."

     "Brightman's wife was right. She said you were sleeping with her husband," he continues.

     "Kenneth's wife? I thought she was out of town visiting her sister."

     "She was. Her sister got the flu and she came home early," the tall one says.

     "What is this all about?"

     "Brightman's dead. Someone shot him," the other one says. "No signs of forced entry. His wife found him clothed, clutching a nightgown in his right hand, in the living room."

     Kenneth dead. The penalty for adultery -- death.

     But she hadn't shot him. And she hadn't been the one cheating on a spouse. She was separated!

     "Why are you here?"

     "Looks like a crime of passion," the tall one says. We're checking out the girlfriends."

     "Must be quite a long list. Kenneth was a womanizer."

     "But you have no one who can confirm your alibi?" he continues.

     "Alibi? I don't have an alibi. I had nothing to do with it."

     A giggle rises inside her. "It was probably another professor, jealous of Kenneth's rave book reviews. I'd check whose recent reviews have been lousy."

     "Mrs. Silverman, this is a serious matter," the tall one says. "Do you have any idea who would want him dead?"

     "You mean, besides the usual suspects: the students he flunked, the teachers he stepped on to get tenure, the women he slept with and discarded."

     "Did he discard you?" the other one asks.

     "Discard me? No. I was new enough that he was still interested. But I didn't have any illusions."

     The other one looks up from the pad across which he's been scratching a pen. His face is expressionless.

     "It was only a matter of time before he dropped me too."

__

If you would also like to read women's fiction that takes place in the future rather than the past, check out THE MOTHER SIEGE here on Wattpad at http://budurl.com/MSintro