Unwanted Company - Barbara Seranella (30 page)

"
Say you're an alcoholic and a drug addict,"
Diane said
sotto voce
.

"
I'm an alcoholic and a drug addict," Ellen
said.

"
HI, ELLEN," the people around the table
responded. Diane beamed. "Now, don't you feel better?" she
asked.

"Oh, yeah," Ellen said. "I'm just
pounds lighter."

Diane's face fought a smile. Ellen winked at her. "I
think y'all are doing a wonderful thing for yourselves here."

"Is that all?" the leader asked.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm done." She
leaned over to Diane, and whispered, "You got some time after
the meeting?"

"
Sure."

* * *

Munch drove around Venice. Up and down Main and
Pacific. She checked out the foot traffic on Windward, cruised the
narrow alleys of the canal streets. Ellen was nowhere. She stopped at
a bank of pay phones bolted to the wall of a liquor store on South
Venice Boulevard and Main Street. A Monte Carlo with tinted windows
and wide, low-profile tires on chrome rims cruised past. The bass of
its radio vibrated the storefront window in front of her. The driver,
a young Hispanic kid with a bandanna tied over his head pirate
fashion, sat slumped behind the wheel, his eyes just level with the
dashboard.

Munch called Caroline.

"
How's Asia?" she asked after they
exchanged greetings.

"
We made cookies."

"Chocolate chip?" Munch asked. A car
cruised by slowly, the man leaning over in his seat to get a look at
Munch.

"Are you working?" his hopeful expression
asked. She turned her back on him.

"She ate more dough than we baked,"
Caroline said.

"That's my kid," Munch said.

"
What are your plans now?" Caroline asked.

"I thought I'd pick us up some lunch at
McDonald's."

"Mace called. He said you can pick up your limo
anytime."

"
Great."

"He wants you to call him right away. "

"Does he have any other news?"

"
Something to do with Ellen, I think. Did you
find her?"

"
Not yet. She's around though. People have seen
her."

"Do you have Mace's number?"

"No, hang on a minute." Munch reached for
her shirt pocket for a pen, then remembered she wasn't in uniform.
She rummaged in her purse and came up with a crayon and a napkin. "Go
ahead."

Caroline read off two numbers, his office and his
beeper. Munch thanked her and hung up. She got an answering machine
at Parker Center and didn't leave a message. She decided to wait and
call the beeper number after she got back to the house. She called
her work. Lou had no messages for her and sounded harried. She
checked her answering machine at home, but there had been no activity
there since last night. The last number she called was Derek. He was
home.

"What was going on at your house last night?"
he asked. "I saw all the cops."

"Did you see Ellen?"

"
No, they already asked me."

"Who asked you?"

"
The cops," he said.

"
You mean last night?"

"
Last night, this morning. What did she do?"

"
It's not what she did, " Munch said. "More
like what she saw."

"A murder?"

"That's what it's looking like. Keep an eye out
for her."

"What should I do if I see her?" he asked.

"Tell her to lie low until the cops find the
killer."

"Do they know who he is?" Derek asked.

"I think it's a short list," Munch said.
"You'd be better off staying clear of my house for the next
couple of days, until this thing plays out. Some creep broke into my
house and jerked off on Asia's underwear."

"
When was this?"

"Sometime last night. Ellen came by, too, and
picked up her shit. You didn't see anything?"

"No. Sorry. Christ, what next?"

"Hopefully they'll catch this guy before he
kills again."

"Are you in danger?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine."

"VVhere are you now? I tried you at work."

"I took the day off. "

"I don't blame you," he said. "Where
did you stay last night?"

"Derek."

"I'm just concerned," he said.

Not jealous. Derek didn't expend that kind of energy.
Still, it was nice he cared enough to ask, no matter what his
reasons.

"
You know that cop?" she said. "Mace
St. John? He put us up at his dad's old house in Venice."

"Well, that's good. Kinda fucked up to not be
able to go to your own house."

"Yeah, it is," she said.

"If you do find Ellen or anything else happens,
will you call me?"

Maybe she didn't give
Derek enough credit sometimes. "I'll do rhat."

* * *

Derek hung up the phone.
 
The
man sitting next to him nodded his approval. "You did great."

"I don't want her to get hurt," Derek said.

"Nobody does," the man assured him. "Your
cooperation will ensure that."
 

CHAPTER 24

After the A.A. meeting, Ellen went with Diane to drop
Danny-boy off at his apartment. She promised to pick him up at eight
for the evening meeting.

"Will I see you then?" he asked Ellen.

"
I'm counting on it, sugar," Ellen said,
not giving a hint of the surprise she had in mind for him. Wipe that
smug look right off his face.

"
So you two don't live together?" Ellen
asked, as they drove away.

"No, he's got two roommates, and my apartment is
very small."

"
Why doesn't he drive?"

"
He doesn't have a car. "

"
Oh, please," Ellen said, more exasperated
than ever. "No wheels even? What do you see in him?"

"He's very spiritual."

"That may be so, but I wouldn't date Gandhi
either."

Diane fought off another smile, but she was
weakening. They pulled up to the motel.

"
You got a minute?" Ellen asked.

"
Sure," Diane said, putting the Dodge into
park and shutting off the engine. "You feel like talking now?"

"
Let me just ask you one question," Ellen
said. "Have you ever thought about thinning those eyebrows?"

"
My eyebrows?" Diane asked, her hand
reaching up to touch them.

"
Yeah, it would really bring out your eyes. I
could show you how."

"
I never learned about that stuff," Diane
said, her eyes filling with tears. "My mother—"

"Yeah, yeah. I know," Ellen said, cutting
her off. "You gotta let that shit go."

They both got out of the car. Ellen took out her
motel key and opened the door.

"
From the mouths of babes," Diane said.

"What are you talking about?" Ellen asked.

"
They always say you can learn so much from
newcomers."

"Yeah," Ellen said, ushering Diane into her
room. "I'm sure this is exactly what they meant by that. Sit
down over here." Ellen turned a chair so that it faced away from
the mirror over the vanity table. After Diane sat, Ellen opened her
large makeup case and found her tweezers. "This is gonna sting a
mite, but it's worth it."

She switched on the radio and thought back to that
drunken night in the bar. The alcohol was hitting her hard, so she
had gone into the bathroom to make herself throw up. That's when
she'd met Giovanna. Boy did that little gal seem young, Ellen had
thought through her drunken haze. Too young to be selling blowjobs
for twelve dollars. She struck up a conversation and learned that
Giovanna was saving her money to go to America.

"First off," Ellen told her, "you have
got to raise your prices."

"
Almost done?" Diane asked, wincing.

"
I'm just getting started," Ellen said.
"You just hold on."

She rummaged through her makeup arsenal, finding
shadow and blush, liner and lipstick. She had tried to do the same
for Giovanna, only she'd been drunk, with only minimal supplies. So
she improvised, even taking the wig off her own head and leaving
herself with just a scrawny topknot. Sometimes when she was on a roll
she couldn't stop herself. Maybe that was that self-will-run-riot
thing the guy with the toilet had been talking about. One improvement
she had been able to make was to wipe off the pale white lip gloss
Giovanna had on. "That shade went out with the sixties,"
Ellen told her. The girl's own natural color was ten times better.

The song "Still Crazy after All These Years"
came on the radio. Ellen turned up the volume. She had always
considered the tune her personal theme song. She and Diane sang
along. Diane turned out to have a decent voice and knew all the
words.

"Well, you're just full of surprises, aren't
you?" Ellen said.

Diane tried to turn around and see herself in the
mirror. "Not yet," Ellen said. She lifted the blond wig
from its stand, placed it over Diane's own lank hair, and pinned it
into place. Using a styling pick, she fluffed the curls over Diane's
forehead. The mouse was becoming a tiger.

"We've gotta do something about those clothes,"
she said."Lose the vest, and unbutton your blouse—the top
three buttons anyway. Show some wares, girl. You don't get to keep
them forever."

Diane blushed but did as she was told.

"
What size waist do you have?" Ellen asked.

"I usually wear thirty-two-inch jeans,"
Diane said.

Ellen dug in her drawer until she came up with a pair
of thirty-inch Levi's. "Try these."

She watched Diane shyly pull down her fish-tank-shit
green cords. Her shirttails covered her underpants, but Ellen didn't
have to see them to know they'd be cotton and not bikini style. As
Diane dressed, she balanced her head like she had a basket on it.

"Go ahead and move," Ellen said. "It
won't fall off. I put enough pins in that thing to withstand a
hurricane."

"
Can I look now?" Diane asked.

"
Just about." Ellen dug a pair of
high-heeled sandals out of her suitcase and took the pair of big hoop
earrings out of her own ears. "Put these on."

Diane did, and finally Ellen allowed her to turn and
see the results of her labor. Diane made a funny yelping noise that
was halfway between a choke and a scream. Giovanna had also been
amazed at her transformation. It had been uncanny really. Giovanna
had somehow taken on Ellen's looks as a teenager. It was too weird,
seeing herself again with so many less miles on her. To thank her,
Giovanna had pulled out a pouch of pills and offered them to Ellen.
Ellen had sorted through the pharmaceuticals, picking out her
favorites. Then she came to some white capsules.

"
Is this what I think it is?" she'd asked.

"
You put it in the drink," Giovanna had
said, miming the action. "And night-night sailor boy."

"Give me a couple of those, too," Ellen had
said. And hadn't that turned out to be a fortunate choice?

Diane was still standing speechless in front of the
mirror. "I bet you didn't dream in a million years you had it in
you," Ellen said proudly.

Diane nodded dumbly, then said, "I don't even
look like me." When she talked, she barely moved her lips. Ellen
wondered if this were the first time she'd ever had lipstick on. Poor
thing.

"Come on," she said. "Let's take you
out for a test drive."

"
Oh, I don't know," Diane said, balking, as
Ellen took her arm and steered her for the door. The phone rang.
Ellen looked at it in surprise. Who had this number? It rang again.
She picked it up and said, "Hello?" No one answered her,
but it seemed like someone was there. "Hello?" she said
again. Whoever it was hung up; She tried to shrug off her creeping
paranoia as she put the receiver down. No one knew to look for her
there.

"
Where will we go?" Diane asked. She was
turning in front of the mirror and apparently getting used to
herself.

"
Let's go listen to some music," Ellen
said, feeling an increasingly urgent need to be gone already. "I
know a coffee shop over in Marina Del Rey."

"A1l right." Diane opened the door and
stepped out into the sunlight.

Just a minute," Ellen
said. "l want to get another pair of earrings." She knelt
beside the bed to retrieve her jewelry case. Outside she heard
squealing tires and the wop wop of a helicopter. It sounded like it
was landing on the roof. Men shouted. She heard one of them say,
"Ellen Summers," and peeked out the motel room's curtain in
time to see a man handcuffing Diane. Diane started to scream, and
then another man put something over her face and she slumped to the
ground. Ellen scrambled into the bathroom, picking up Diane's
discarded clothes as she went. She locked the door behind her, threw
open the window, pushed out the screen, and climbed out. It was a
wonder she managed to have the presence of mind to take her makeup
case with her.