Bosom Bodies (Mina's Adventures) (14 page)

“Don’t know much about operas, only this one song.” Mina
could hear the sadness in her own voice.

“I saw
Madame Butterfly
performed at the
Arena di Verona
.
It was summer, long ago.” He stopped abruptly
and
turned his focus to the road. Strings of holiday lights hung over the street like a terrestrial Milky Way.
The car traveled smoothly under the imaginary galaxy.

“
Verona
,” Mina whispered, “so close to home.” Would she ever get back there?

“Are you thinking about going back to Italy?” Diego asked.

“Na
h
…I’ll settle for watching movies like Romeo and Juliet, and pretend I live there in the old buildings.” The question caught Mina off guard.
D
eep down she didn’t know the answer. She sounded phony to herself.

“It’s not about the buildings,” Diego said
.
“It’s about the people.”

Mina nodded in silence.

They were in front of the old Bosom Bodies. Windows
were
boarded up
. A
link fence surrounded the structure and part of the parking lot, and a no trespassing sign could be seen from the car.

“This is where it all started,” Mina said out loud.

“You only worked there two days, a very short career, even for a place like this.
I remember the first day you showed up. I checked you out, thinking you were linked to the money laundering gang. Angelina must have checked you out, thinking you were an undercover cop.”

“Really?” In spite of herself, Mina felt a little flattered they assumed she was some sort of spy.

“Didn’t last long. Both sides knew you couldn’t possibly be a real waitress, a real redhead and—you know
…
” He put his fists on his chest, mimicking breasts.

Mina pouted, pretending to be offended. She noticed a mobile telephone on the console between the two seats.

“Oh, you have a car phone like Adams.” She pointed to the object.

“I’m borrowing the car
. T
he phone came with it.”

“Who are you borrowing the car from?”

He shrugged
and
tapped his index finger on her nose
.
“You ask too many questions. I think it’s safe for us to go back to the condo.”

The calm before the storm.
Talking to Diego about opera and Italy made her forget about what was coming. Mention of the condo brought it all back. Diego started the engine. Mina felt like she was shrinking into the passenger seat. They traveled in silence. When they reached Bayside condos, Diego drove past the guard gate without slowing.

“Where are you taking me?” Mina’s voice quivered, she was at his mercy. He kept driving. Soon they reached the back of the complex, no more bright lights, no more guards. The car came to a stop by a parking gate arm.
T
he driver’s window slid open
and
Diego
entered
a code
.
The automatic arm snapped open.

“I didn’t know there was a back entrance
,
” Mina said

“It’s for emergencies. Most large complexes have one.”

She would like to know the code, but decided to keep quiet and watch where he was headed. She didn’t have to wait long. They entered the common garage from the back. Mina had never ventured through that dark entry. Neither had
most of
the other tenants,
judging from the very
few cars. Diego parked the black automobile by a door marked
E
mergency
E
xit.
He turned off the engine and got out, then came around to open her door. She stood, her arms crossed over her gym bag, feeling self
-
conscious of the fact she was alone with this man she hardly knew—a man who scared and fascinated her at the same time. There wasn’t a flicker of concern in his behavior. To a stranger’s eyes, they could pass for lovers back from a night on the town.
Lovers? Night on the town?
Mina felt the need to make the sign of the cross, and was thankful for the gym bag that kept her arms occupied.

Diego locked the car
.
“Let’s go.”

To her surprise, he didn’t use the emergency door. The two of them walked side by side, yet, only the sound of her steps resonated in the cavernous space. It was like his feet didn’t touch the ground.
Like a cat of prey, he moved soundlessly
.
That same thought that flashed in her mind earlier in the hall of her condo haunted her now. She remembered the gun and came to a halt.

He stopped, turned to look at her, “Something wrong?”

“You have a gun?” They stood a few feet apart.

Diego kept staring at her, his left fist tight around his keys. In one step he was next to her, so close she could see the pulse of his Adam
’s
apple, so close she could smell his skin and his scent of pine. He tilted his head a little, lifted his right hand and tapped his index finger on her nose like he had in the car, “I’ll tell you later
. For
now
,
we must keep moving. You want me to carry your bag?”

“No,” she cried out.

He shook his head
.
“You must have a lot more than undies in that bag to act th
at
way. Let’s go.”
He quickened his pace and she hurried to keep up with him. Diego stopped by a service elevator
and
again punched in a code
. T
he door opened. He motioned for Mina to get in. She felt like she was in a cage, the platform under her feet shook and moaned at every floor. It finally came to a grinding stop. The door opened and Mina found herself on what appeared to be the rooftop of the building. Diego
,
who
se
back
was
to
ward
her,
was
busy sending the lift back down. Above her, the real Milky Way twinkled unconcerned.

Diego headed toward a door, unlocked it
and
turn
ed
to see if Mina followed him. In the slice of light coming from the landing, his smile looked as encouraging as Jack Nicholson’s in
The Shining
.

They descended steep, narrow, metal stairs, out through another door, and arrived at a terrace similar to Mina’s. Diego had
likely
used this route a few times before. He seemed to know every step, every turn.
On second glance, t
his terrace was much larger than Mina’s. They walked a good
distance
until they reached a low wall. Mina couldn’t see what was on the other side because the building came to a sharp angle. Diego easily hopped over the wall, then turned and offered his hand to help her. She ignored him, kept both hands where they had been all night, over the gym bag. She followed Diego’s lead and climbed the wall.

They were on Diego’s terrace
.
Mina was sure of it, her own place just a skip away. She wanted to feel happy
but
couldn’t. Diego was already by the terrace door of his condo. He fiddled with the handle and soon disappeared inside. She waited. A few minutes later he reappeared and motioned her in. He stood sideways, holding back the drapes.

When she stepped over the threshold
,
he said, “
Mi casa es tu casa
.” He locked the door behind her.

The place looked like hers, except it was reversed. The kitchen was at the opposite end, strange. It looked better decorated than her place
even
before the break in.
Diego went into one of the bedrooms
,
and she didn’t know what to do with herself. She sat on the edge of the beige leather sofa
,
notic
ing
a stack of silver metal boxes next to the coffee table
—j
ust the way Margo described them. The place was so quiet she could hear herself swallow. Diego came out of the bedroom, locked the door behind him and put the keys in his pocket.

“What do you have in that bedroom?”

“The
re is one thing I don’t have in there, and that’s a bed.”
He
answer
ed
without answering?

Ah! “You’re afraid I’ll go snooping?”

“Afraid? No. Willing to bet on it? Absolutely.”

“Thanks for the trust.”

He
was right
, of course
. Given the chance she would get into that room.

“Tell you what. I’ll make you a deal. You show me your things, and I show you mine.”

Mina felt blood rushing to her cheeks. He couldn’t miss her raging blush.

“Girl, what are you thinking? I meant for you to show me what you protect so fiercely in that gym bag and I’ll let you see into the room.”

She blushed even more, feeling like a total dummy. She clasped the bag tighter. He watched her, his back to the kitchen, looking straight into her eyes. Because she was sitting, he towered over her.
On
purpose
. The soft, pinkish
glow
came from some silky sconces artfully placed throughout the whole place. Hardly something this bedeviled man would pick.

Oh, my god, she was reviewing the décor while she didn’t know if she would be around to see daybreak.

Her sense of drama kicked in, she slid from the couch to the plush carpet, unzipped the gym bag and spilled all the contents onto the rug. She looked up
and
caught the shadow of a smile on that face of his. He knelt down, the coffee table
all that separated them
. With one swift pull, he slid the table to the side, then sat crossed legged across from her, his boots next to her belongings, the mystifying smile still on his lips.

“Let’s see what we have here.” While talking, he moved his open palms around, pressing on her soft pile of clothes, his eyes still locked on hers. He didn’t look away
;
neither did she.

Diego lifted the crumpled paper
bag with the remains of the cross-eyed angel. He opened the bag with both hands
,
and a look of puzzlement wiped away his grin.

“What is—what was it?” He lined up the pieces on the carpet next to her feet.

“My Christmas angel. I was going to put it on the tree. It broke when you pushed me against the wall.” Twelve hours of frustration and ache flavored her words with bitterness.

“Mina, I am very sorry.” Without getting up, he scooted next to her. They sat, backs against the cushy couch, shoulders whispers apart. Diego picked up the broken parts one by one, gently repositioning them to try to make it whole.

“Wait, that’s one of the wings
.
” Mina moved one of the pieces.

They worked together. Soon the angel was assembled, no missing parts. Of course, a light sneeze would be enough to split it apart once again.

“I can fix it
,
” Diego said. “I know I can. I will. I promise—before you are done decorating your tree, I’ll have your angel back together for good.”

“Too bad I left the superglue in Margo’s car.”

“Super glue? I can do better than that. Hey, this is an angel we are trying to put back, not Humpty Dumpty.”

“What are you going to use? Special secret CIA formula?” Mina caught the lighter mood.

“Maybe, if I have any left after sealing the lips of chatty young
ladies. Where
is the tree? I don’t remember seeing it at your place.”

“I didn’t get it yet. I don’t have a car, remember?”

“If you don’t get your Volkswagen back tomorrow, we can use my borrowed car. Believe me, Mina. I am sorry. My intention was to keep you safe. I
’
ll make it up to you if it’s the last thing I do.” He started to get up from the floor, the edge of one of his jeans legs caught on the coffee table. He bent over to get it loose and Mina saw the butt-end of a gun sticking out from his boot. Her hand went for it,
but
Diego beat her to it
,
grabbed her wrist
and
held it.

“That’s the gun
,
”
s
he shouted, excited by her discovery.

She looked at Diego and hardly recognized him, no smile, no kindness. His face seemed to be a different shade, more like ashes than embers. And his eyes drilled into her soul.
What happened?

“You are hurting my wrist.”