Sapphire spent her day at the hospital with Julia, four espressos, and three Beverly Hills police officers. Julia still lay motionless and Antonio hadn’t left her side since she was brought in.
“It’s been over thirty-six hours,” Antonio said. He looked destroyed and his hands were constantly trembling. “What do I do if she doesn’t wake up, Sapphire? I don’t exist without her.”
“You should eat something first of all,” she said, mostly because she didn’t know how to comfort him, but also because she hadn’t seen him eat since they got to the hospital with Julia.
“I guess I’m a little hungry,” Antonio said and left the room with a zombie-like shuffle.
Sapphire rested her forehead on Julia’s arm as she held onto her hand. “Julia, I want you to know that I’m sorry,” she whispered and closed her eyes, listening to Julia’s breathing. “I was angry and childish and there is not another living being on this planet who deserves happiness as much as you do. You have to wake up, Julia. You have to. Not for me, but for Antonio. The man loves you more than I’ve seen anybody love anyone. Which might not be a lot in my world, but it’s worth something.”
She wiped her tears when one of the officers wandered past the doorway and stuck his head into the room, looking around.
“Just checking.” Then he moseyed on.
Despite the four espressos, Sapphire was exhausted when she got home. Vivienne stood in the kitchen pointing wildly to the fridge. Next to her stood a small Asian lady, nodding at Vivienne with big eyes.
“We keep the food in there!” Vivienne shouted.
“Yes,” the small Asian lady said, nodding.
Vivienne moved on to the oven. “We cook the food in here!”
“Yes,” the small Asian lady said, nodding.
“What are you doing?” Sapphire asked angrily because she knew exactly what her mother had done. “She’s not dead, you know! She is coming back!”
“Well, how long do you assume that will take?” Vivienne asked.
Sapphire wanted, like so many times in the past, to slap her mother across the face. “I don’t know. Isn’t the main thing that she will get better? Has she not been your right hand and done everything around the house for fifteen years?”
“What am I supposed to do? Cook? Clean?” Vivienne said, disgusted. “I need help around here. I can’t do everything by myself and if my housekeeper can’t do her job, then I have to get another one.”
The three policemen stood silent in the background as Sapphire looked at her so-called mother and boiled over with anger. “She wasn’t a housekeeper!” she screamed, louder than intended.
Vivienne scoffed and the small Asian lady looked from one to the other, confused.
“If she wasn’t a housekeeper, then what the hell was I paying her for?”
“She was there for me all the time, in all the ways you weren’t. Who do you think came to PTA meetings, recitals, birthdays, for crying out loud? If it wasn’t for her, I would have been sitting alone at the Mother-Daughter Dinner when I was twelve! Do you even understand what she gave up to be here for me? To do your job?”
Vivienne blinked at Sapphire looking shocked. Well, as shocked as she possibly could with all that Botox. How had she not known? How was it possible that she hadn’t seen all the things Julia did? How did she not know she was a terrible mother? Sapphire had never seen Vivienne speechless—drunkenly unable to speak but not speechless—and normally she would have enjoyed this long-awaited moment, but she didn’t. Her mother actually looked hurt.
“I’m sorry, this isn’t going to work out,” Sapphire said and gently led the small Asian lady to the front door.
“Yes,” the small Asian lady said, nodding.
Sapphire placed her outside the door and waved. “Thank you so much for coming.”
“Yes?” This time she didn’t nod.
Before Sapphire turned back into the kitchen, she wondered what type of scene she’d walk into. Was her mother crying? Anger Sapphire could handle, but not tears. Or maybe, she realized, tears would be good. Healthy, a new Vivienne with emotions.
But when Sapphire turned around the corner, there weren’t any tears. Vivienne had noticed the officers and was busy putting one foot behind her neck while standing on the other. “My yoga instructor says I’m a natural.”
The officers nodded in unison and applauded in awe.
Sapphire took the opportunity to escape up to the sanctity of her room. She began her search for Shelly's symbol on the Internet and spent the next hour online, squinting at the bright screen.
Next thing she knew she woke up to the sound of her phone ringing, her face planted on the keyboard. Apparently, she had fallen asleep. Still tired, Sapphire looked at the phone caller ID. Unknown. She picked up, hoping it was Aston calling about Shelly.
“Hello,” Sapphire said.
The other line remained silent.
“Hello?” she asked again, suspicion rising within her. She could hear the other person’s shallow breath and nothing else. She sat up straight.
“Who is this?” she asked, not expecting an answer. “It’s you, isn’t it? Listen to me very carefully. I’m going to find you. I will find you and I will cut off your balls and shove them up your ass. Should you come anywhere near me, or anyone I know again, your balls up your ass will seem mild compared to what I will do to you. Do you understand?”
A crackle from the sudden rush of air, then the call disconnected.
*****
A naked woman with a perfectly and surgically constructed body dove into the cool Pacific Ocean from the edge of the boat.
John watched her as he held his phone to his chest. She was very angry with him. He didn’t think she could ever get angry, but now he had managed to make her furious. She had told him she would find him, cut off his balls, and shove them up his ass if he came near her again. Then he had panicked and hung up.
The party was underway and like a high-pitched fire alarm in his ear, he had long ago tired of hearing the young Heinz heiress talk about herself. Sapphire never talked about herself. She had always been devoted to listening to him, to his problems and his issues.
Six hours earlier the boat had been a high class birthday party with esteemed businessmen and respected families. As soon as they left, the younger generation brought out the strippers, champagne, coke, and other miscellaneous drugs.
He put the phone back in his pocket and saw Chrissy standing by the stern of the yacht making out with Paris Hilton. He would have been surprised, but then again, who hadn’t made out with Paris Hilton.
Chrissy spotted him and pushed the blond socialite to the side. She marched up to him and splashed her glass of Dom Perignon in his face. “I heard you were going to be here.”
John wiped the sticky champagne off his face and looked over at her. “I’m good Chrissy, thanks for asking. How are you?”
“Don’t take it so personally. It’s a best friend code.” Chrissy said and looked around. “So where’s the slut?”
“Who?”
“Please, everyone knows you’re dipping your family jewels in the Heinz market.”
“I don’t know. Somewhere inside,” he said and paused. “Does Sapphire know?”
“I didn’t tell her. I’m a better friend than that. In fact, I am such a good friend that I’m going to tell you something that Sapphire doesn’t even admit to herself. She really misses you.”
John’s heart stopped. Chrissy was, like, super smart and the puppet master of mind games and he didn’t want to fall for it, just to be made fun of.
Chrissy smiled at him slyly, grabbed another bottle of champagne, and opened it.
“Really? Because I just called her, and she said she wanted to cut my balls off and shove them up my ass.”
Chrissy sighed then flipped her hair and some hit him in the eye. It stung.
“She’s hurt you idiot. God, it's like you went to public school or something. You dumped her at The Club, in front of everyone that's anyone, i.e. me. She's heartbroken and she’s totally taking stuff out on me right now. Like always, Chrissy has to carry everyone’s burdens.”
“How is she by the way?” he asked trying to sound casual.
Sadness came and passed over Chrissy’s face in a flash of a second then she chugged her drink and shrugged.
“Fine. I guess. Haven’t really talked to her for a few days; she’s stressed out. Got a finger in the mail because I have a jealous stalker.” She stood up. “Anyway, I just call it like it is. I’m not screwing with you.”
“My father wants me to marry someone like you.”
Their eyes met and there was a moment. One of those moments that were hard to pin point the exact emotions. Then Chrissy broke it off with loud laughter.
“I guess that’s the question. Are you Daddy’s little boy...or are you a man?”
“If he cuts me off, Sapphire and I would end up in the poor house with her measly 30 mil. What kind of a life is that?”
“You do what you have to do,” Chrissy said and wandered off to go smack the Prince of Sweden on the ass, leaving John alone with the few thoughts he had.
*****
Aston watched Shelly poke around in her mashed potatoes and felt the hunger dig through his stomach. He hadn’t eaten since the day before, and he was so hungry even hospital food started looking like the tastiest shit in the world.
“I can’t believe I’m here,” she said, confused.
“What do you mean?” Aston eyed the wrapped brownie on her tray.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said quietly and swirled her fork around in the peas, making no effort to eat any.
Even Aston knew it would be crossing the line to steal a kidnap and torture victim's first real meal, but still... “Are you gonna eat that brownie?”
“No.” Shelly made a motion to give him the dessert, then stopped and stared at the white gauze around the stump of her arm. She sat there for a long time, a little taken back, then tossed the brownie to him with her other hand. “I’ll never get used to it.”
“Of course you won’t.” Aston said, unwrapping the treat, feeling guilty as he was using both of his hands to do so. She looked over at him, stunned, and Aston could tell he had said something wrong. “I mean...who would? You have two hands and then bam, one’s gone. How could you get used to that?”
Again, maybe it wasn’t exactly what Shelly needed to hear. “Do you have some questions for me or...?”
Aston nodded and crammed the rest of the brownie in his mouth. He dug up his recorder and a picture of Sapphire.
“First. Do you recognize this woman?”
“Yes.”
“Yes? Really?” Aston said, excited.
“Was she not with you when you found me?”
Aston’s shoulders sank in disappointment. “I mean besides that.” He decided to move on. “Did you know the man who held you?”
Shelly squeezed her eyes shut in pain. “Yes.”
Aston scooted his chair closer. “Who is he? What's his name?”
She drew for air and her eyes teared up, as if it hurt for her to even breathe. Aston felt a sting of guilt. Had he not spent his days seeing where Sapphire would lead him maybe he could have found Shelly sooner.
“His name is Quinn Wallace.”
*****
“Mmmm,” Sapphire hummed after taking a sip of her truffle martini. It was more to fill out the silence. She didn’t actually like the cocktail. Sapphire had tried multiple conversation starters, but Chrissy had been slow to bite.
Sapphire had been sitting in the parking lot of Father O’Riley’s church when Chrissy rang the first time. She decided to ignore it. She got out of her car and was about to walk up to the church when she saw Father O’Riley in a violent conversation with a woman; a woman Sapphire had seen once before when she was wearing a Kentucky Derby sized yellow hat while bawling her eyes out in the pew next to Sapphire.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t give you what you’re asking for,” Father O’Riley said and looked over his shoulder nervously. “Please, I beg you, don’t cry.”
She slammed her car door closed. Father O’Riley tried to stop her but she peeled off, tires screeching.
Sapphire realized how awkward he’d feel if he realized she’d seen it all, so she was just about to walk back to her car when Chrissy called and Usher screwed her over yet again. She seriously needed to change her ringtone to something more low key.
Father O’Riley took his attention off the disappearing rear tires and looked at Sapphire.
She held her hand up awkwardly, greeting him. He waved back, looking as though he just got lobotomized.
They stood at opposite sides of the small parking lot, her staring at him, him looking like he was going to throw up.
“I should go back inside,” he said but made no effort to move.
“Maybe you should go home, you look kind of pale.”
“Okay,” he said, still not moving.
“You want me to drive you?”
“Okay.”
She took him home, without asking any questions and he seemed to appreciate it.
When Sapphire parked in front of his house, he seemed to have gathered himself a little.
“She wanted me to leave the church.”
“I figured.”
“And marry her.” He sounded shocked.
“People have wanted crazier things I suppose.”
“I told her I could never see her again. What we did was a horrible mistake, that was it.”
“Hence the skid marks.”
Sapphire looked over her shoulder, a bit paranoid and Father O’Riley picked up on it.
“What are you looking for?”
“Oh, nothing. Just these three goons that are supposed to watch over me.”
“What?”
“Cops. I managed to shake them like three times, but I think they’ve got a tracker on my car or something because they keep finding me.”
“Should I even bother to inquire further?”
“No.”
He sat silent for a bit then turned to her with a wondering expression.
“Sapphire, I’ve been meaning to ask you something for some time now. You’ve told me a lot about your mother...”
Suddenly Sapphire felt claustrophobic in her own car. The side doors seemed to come closer and closer with each passing second. Even the steering wheel in front of her seemed to be coming toward her.
“But what ab—” Father O’Riley started.
“I got to go!” Sapphire lied. “I got to go! I have to get back.”
Father O’Riley nodded calmly and opened the door.
“You’ll be fine, right? I mean, you’ll go pray or something and you’ll be okay, right?” she asked him.
“I will be. And you, this killer-fellow-problem almost straightened out yet?”
“Not even, but Shelly McCormick is safe.”
“Oh good,” he said sounding relieved. “See you next week then?”
“See you next week.”
She watched after him as he staggered up to his house and waited until he had closed the door behind him to take off.
She returned Chrissy’s call on her way back to L.A., right about the time the three cops pulled up behind her. She waved at them in the review mirror, but they didn’t return the favor.
“Drinks?” Chrissy asked the second she picked up.
“Sure,” Sapphire said, definitely in need of alcohol. She had spent the majority of the morning with Julia in the hospital and she was still not improving, the doctors wouldn’t say much, and Antonio was like the living dead.
After a shower at home and a change to a Dior dress that didn’t smell like hospital, Chrissy came to pick her up and spent most of the ride on her phone—to Sapphire’s delight. Less talking, more drinking was exactly what she needed. They stopped at Chrissy’s new favorite bar in West Hollywood and sat in silence for the majority of the time. It was actually a gay and lesbian bar and Chrissy had explained to Sapphire that it was the it place to be. “Gays and lesbians are soooo in this year,” Chrissy added as they entered.
Chrissy sipped her drink and then her eyes wandered across the room. “Who are they?” she asked and nodded over to the cop trio sitting a few booths down.
“Eh, it’s just the finger stuff.”
They fell silent again.
“So how are you doing?” Chrissy asked, a little insincerely.
“I’m good,” Sapphire lied. She didn’t want to talk about Julia. Chrissy had never understood the bond Sapphire had with her so-called housekeeper. The last thing she wanted was to tell Chrissy everything and hear Chrissy say: “So? Get another one. You can borrow mine if it’s such a big deal.”
“I’m hungry; you want to order some appetizers or...” Sapphire started and opened up the menu.
“I’m not shallow,” Chrissy said, looking at Sapphire deadly serious.
Sapphire stared at the menu. She was going for the “ignore it and it’ll go away” strategy. “Oooh, they have stuffed portobello. You like portobello, right?”
“And yes, maybe some people would consider me slightly spoiled. But they are wrong!”
“They say eating portobello mushroom is like eating steak. I suppose it’s about the protein.”
The waitress came over, ready with her notepad. Chrissy turned to her and placed her empty cocktail glass on the tray. “I won’t pay for that. I didn’t like it. Make it again.”
The waitress looked from Sapphire to Chrissy, confused. “But you...you drank it all.”
“Pardon me if I don’t feel like getting into an argument with some little waitress today. Do you know who I am? No? I didn’t really expect someone of your standing to. Do yourself a favor and run along.”
The waitress stared at Chrissy, trying to figure out if she was joking or not.
“Run. Along.” Chrissy motioned the waitress away and turned back to Sapphire “And I don’t think it’s fair for you to call me spoiled. I’ve gone to sooo many charities for those starving children in...” She snapped her fingers, trying to remember.
“Africa,” Sapphire said dryly.
“And I really don’t think you appreciate me as a friend. I’m a very good friend, Sapphire. Who gave you that pony on your seventeenth birthday?”
“You mean the pony I didn’t want?”
“Exactly. I know you so well, I even knew you wanted a pony before you did.”
“Yes. You are a very good friend, Chrissy,” Sapphire said. After the week she had, she didn’t have the energy to put any spunk into it. So the words came out like she felt them. Flat.
Chrissy looked at Sapphire, not entirely convinced, and stirred her new drink the waitress had brought. She took a deep, dramatic sigh and made the face she always did when she thought she was saying something very serious. Sapphire had to bite her lip not to laugh.
“I...I know, you don’t like all of...all of the stuff other people like. Like normal people. I know that sometimes you get annoyed with me. I know I’m not easy to get along with and I know you sometimes spend time with me against your will.”
Sapphire looked at Chrissy, a bit surprised. Was it even possible that Chrissy had figured this out on her own?
“And that’s just it. Until I met you, I never had a friend like that. Everybody has always sucked up to me because, let’s face it, I’m awesomely wealthy. But mostly people who are around me don’t want me. They want the name, the contacts, or the status.” She took a pause and for the first time in many years, Sapphire was hooked into a conversation with Chrissy.
“With you I had to try. And I thought that if I got the one person in the world who didn’t want to be my friend to be my friend, then she would be real. She would be with me for me.”
Chrissy looked up at Sapphire, slightly uncomfortable, and Sapphire couldn’t help but smile at her. Inside the rude, shallow, coke-sniffing, sex-crazed, billion dollar heiress was a little girl who just wanted a friend to love her for her. Sapphire scooted across the booth to the other side and hugged Chrissy, tightly.
“I’m sorry for what I said,” Sapphire said—and meant it.
Chrissy studied her and then nodded. “Okay,” she said solidly. “I don’t feel like stuffed portobello. Let’s get something fatty; I’m lipofreezing my left thigh tomorrow so I might as well.”
“What about your right thigh?”
Sapphire’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She looked at the display. Marco.
“Hey,” she said, pleasantly surprised.
“Hey. Is that you in there?” Marco asked.
Sapphire looked around and saw Marco through the window standing outside across the street. She waved at him and smiled. Chrissy scooted closer to her and put her face up to the window to see who Sapphire was waving at.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “You left kind of out of the blue the other night. And I didn’t want to be clingy, so I didn’t call.”
“Yes, I had an emergency. Sorry I didn’t have time to tell you. I meant to call you back; I’ve just had a lot going on.”
She watched Marco as he shrugged. “So, do you have any plans right now? Mind if I join you guys?” he took a step toward the bar.
“Don’t!” Sapphire shouted before she could stop herself. She couldn’t, under any circumstances, let Chrissy and Marco meet. Sapphire Dubois and Mary Smith would definitely not mix well. “I mean...wait. I’ll come to you.” Sapphire turned to Chrissy, giving her a look of question.
“Go. He’s pretty hot,” Chrissy said to Sapphire, dangerously close to the phone.
“Tell her I agree,” Marco said and shot them a charming smile.
“I’ll be right out,” Sapphire said and hung up. She gave Chrissy a quick peck on the cheek and shot out of the booth.
Although Sapphire’s initial reason for leaving with Marco might have been to defuse a but-I-thought-your-name-was-Mary situation, there was also an underlying motive. Sapphire actually liked Marco; he was definitely warmer and more inviting than other men whom she thought about. Other men who happened to be virginity-stealing cops. Marco made her feel calm, wanted, and like someone else all in one.
Sapphire turned towards the door just to be reminded of her lovely collection of cops.
“I’ll take care of them,” Chrissy said. “I’ll create a discreet distraction. I could have been an actress if I wanted to, you know. I was Lady Macbeth in ninth grade. Standing ovation. You go get laid.”
Sapphire waved at the cops. “Just going to the restroom,” she yelled out and pointed to the ladies’ room.
She snuck out through the back door just as she heard Chrissy screaming not so discreetly.
“Oh blimey hell! I’ve gone blind!” Chrissy yelled in a very poor British accent. “I can’t see!”
*****
The view from his balcony was incredible. His apartment seemed to hover over the rest of the city. Downtown L.A. lay below them in a sea of lights, the bright stars of the night gazed down on them. Brooding gray clouds floated in the distance over the foothills. Every now and then, a bolt cracked giving them front row seats to nature’s own show. Marco handed her a glass of chilled white wine and she took a sip.
Sapphire had gotten a quick tour of his apartment, which looked as she expected an MMA trainer's home to look: posters of what she assumed were famous boxers and fighters; a punching bag hanging in the middle of his living room; and workout machines scattered across the otherwise neat home.
She leaned on the railing and he stood behind her, the front of his body pressed against her back. She closed her eyes as she savored the dry taste of the wine and found herself enjoying the moment, forgetting about Julia, Shelly, and the person who had penetrated her life uninvited.
“I have tons of clients in West Hollywood, but you’re the last person I’d expect to see in that part of town,” Marco mumbled close to her ear. “Aren’t you more of a downtown type of gal?”
“Ah, just having a drink with a friend,” Sapphire said. “She lives in that area. We had a disagreement and we made up today.”
“I see,” he said and his lips grazed her ear, sending tiny tingles down her neck.
Sapphire turned around and found Marco looking at her with warm eyes. His arms framed her into his body as he held onto the railing behind her. He made her feel safe, as if he wouldn’t let her fall. Marco leaned in and Sapphire closed her eyes to receive a light kiss. His body pushed closer to hers and bright lights from the city around them faded away as their kiss got deeper and more energetic.
All Sapphire could feel was the life she didn’t want to think of slipping through her fingers. Since he believed she was Mary, it was easier for her to believe it too. She didn’t have to worry about Julia, because Mary knew no one named Julia. Mary’s mother wasn’t actually the housekeeper. Mary’s mother was probably the all-American kind. The kind who baked, cleaned, cooked, and didn’t have sex with aerobics instructors named Sven. Kissing Marco felt good in a wrong sort of way. Not like with Aston where it felt good in a right sort of way.
Crap! Was she seriously thinking about Aston while kissing another man?
Sapphire’s phone rang and interrupted them. Pulling away from the kiss left her feeling dizzy. Marco seemed happy, and even though they were outside and it was night, it looked like he was blushing.
Sapphire grabbed her phone while Marco backed up toward the sliding glass door.
“I’ll get some more wine,” he said and smiled boyishly. He turned around, almost walking right into the glass. Embarrassed, he looked over at her and slid the door open, disappearing inside. Sapphire laughed then looked at her phone.
“Aston,” Sapphire stated. He had now interrupted her kiss twice.
“Un-freaking-believable. I put a freaking tracker in your car and those incompetent bastards still lose you.”
“I knew it!” Sapphire exclaimed.
“Where are you?”
“It’s okay; I’m fine.”
“I didn’t ask how you are; I’m not your fucking shrink. Where are you?”
“I’m on a date. Sometimes people my age go on dates. Not everyone gets the courtesy of one drink at a charity event then straight to the sack.”
It got quiet and she heard Aston light a cigarette.
“With who? The guy from the other day...what’s his name... Dickwad?”
Sapphire smiled, letting the silence speak for itself.
“Whatever; stay where you are and I’ll come pick you up. Shelly woke up.”
In the middle of taking a sip of her wine, Sapphire froze. “What did she say?”
“She gave me a name. The name.”
Sapphire waited breathlessly.
“Quinn Wallace,” Aston said and paused for Sapphire’s reaction.
“Quinn Wallace,” Sapphire repeated in deep thought. “I can’t say I recognize it.”
“It’s fine. We have a name. We have a description. It could be someone from your past. Apparently, some sort of religious fanatic.”
“Mhmm,” Sapphire said, thinking about the statue.
“He was her personal trainer. They’re working on a sketch right now. I told them to fax it to your house. So, again, where are you?”
“I’ll meet you at the house,” Sapphire said and hung up. She wasn’t feeling well, the little amount of wine she had was getting to her. She quickly scrolled her phone for a cab number. She couldn’t very well have Marco drop her off at the Beverly Hills mansion unless she completely wanted to blow her cover.
Marco came back out with a fresh glass of wine. He smiled at her and she felt horribly guilty leaving him like that again. She wondered if this was what it would be like if they were in a relationship. She would always leave him to go do her lame attempts of saving the world and he would always be left standing.
“So, what did you and Chrissy fight about?” he asked.
Sapphire took another sip of her wine, even though a sudden spinning head told her not to.
“Oh, nothing big, just...” Sapphire said and stopped. She stared at Marco who turned around to slide the balcony door shut. “I never told you Chrissy’s name.”
Marco froze and his muscular shoulders tightened. He turned around and stared at her. A peculiar look, one he'd never had before. “Well, then, I guess we’re lucky that the sedative is about to kick in.”
Sapphire looked down at her glass, watching it slip through her fingers and hit the ground with a crash. Her hands and body were weakening rapidly. Sapphire felt herself falling backward, over the railing, losing all control. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was Marco coming toward her, reaching his arms out to grab her. And then, the cross tattoo on his underarm.