Death and Deceit (3 page)

Jessie plugged it in following Liz’s instructions.

“The ivory monitor cord goes there,” she continued. “And the black and red ones
are for the speakers. Simple.”

They sat back and Jessie was relieved to see the orderly fashion emerging from the earlier mishmash of wires and plugs. She was thankful to have Liz straighten out the complicated procedure.

“Cheers.” Jessie clinked her glass with Liz.

“To the world of cyberspace,” Liz added then downed the wine.

Jessie filled the glasses with wine again and carried the leftover pizza to
the counter top, while Liz put in the program disks and booted the computer. Instructions flipped up and Liz clicked the mouse expertly. Jessie watched until Liz finally turned to her. “It’s ready,” she said with a satisfied smile. “Let’s do some browsing.”

Jessie sat beside Liz at the keyboard, and Liz coached her on what-to-do-now- that-it’s-on. Liz continued to insert disks and info necessary to connect her friend to the Internet. Then for a little demonstration on what was available, she tuned into a chat line for singles, or supposedly singles, or the lonely and looking-for-someone-to-talk-to kind.

Liz giggled at one response from someone called Zorro, and she encouraged Jessie to type a message back and answer Zorro’s question as to what her name was.

Jessie typed in her name and asked Zorro why he used the legendary name.

When the answer came back,
I’m brave, charming, cunning and romantic...
the
girls looked at each other and smirked.

Liz typed in,
Gotta go now,
and shut the computer down.

“Sounds promising doesn’t he?” Liz teased.

“I suppose you’re going to go home now and chat him up again,” Jessie said.

“Listen to you already,” Liz said sweeping her long hair back from her face. “I’ve
no intention of carrying on an online romance. I’ve got the real thing.”

“Did Kent call you last night?”

“No. But he will. Anyway he’s coming back next week to check some more
computers. I’ll see him then, and I’m sure he’ll have an explanation as to why he hasn’t called. He spends a lot of time with the karate thing so he says.”

“Maybe there’ll be a message when you get home.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

Jessie gave Liz a hug. “Thanks for your help, Liz. I hope it’s worthwhile.”

Liz’s eyes bugged out. “Come on. Already you have a pen pal... and you haven’t
been connected for more than an hour. That’s fast work. Maybe he’ll turn out to be more than a pal. He does sound promising, even though a bit vain.”

“Well, I’m not having much luck in the real world attracting males,” Jessie answered. They both laughed and Jessie followed Liz to the door. She said goodnight to her and returned to stand in front of the computer. Spontaneously she turned on the computer and sat down by the keyboard. While all was fresh in her mind she went through the exact steps Liz had taken to connect her to the earlier chat line. She typed in,
Are you still there, Zorro?

She sat back and eyed the screen. A message popped up.
Who’s this
?

It’s Jessica,
she typed.

Welcome back. You left in a hurry. I thought I’d lost you with my list of attributes. I’m really not a vain rogue. It’s just my sense of humour. What’s your excuse?

My excuse for what?

For not telling me about yourself.

Jessie squirmed. She was uncomfortable with the stranger and she didn’t even know why. She could tell him as much or as little as she pleased. She could fabricate a person if she wished to. She could have made up a name like he did. But she hadn’t. She’d always been the truthful kind. Not very imaginative she supposed. Perhaps it was why she loved books and reading. Writers always made things seem so much better or prettier or more exciting. She admired writers and had been drawn to the library at an early age at school. Basically Jessie was shy. She tended to draw away from life — even as an adult.

She typed,
I’ve hardly had time to tell you anything. That was my friend who said we had to go. She was leaving to go home and she shut down the computer because I just got it, and I guess she thought I was through with it for the night. She helped me set it up.

But you weren’t through with it, were you, Jessica? Since you came back online.

I was curious.

That’s good. Now are you going to tell me about yourself?

Jessie stared at the message. She froze, then typed,
It’s late. Gotta go.

Without further hesitation she shut down, rose, and backed away from the computer. She picked up one of the glasses, still full of wine, on the counter and swallowed the contents. The wallop bounced off her toes then flowed upward, causing her face to feel like an instant sunburn. She stared across at the computer and wondered foolishly what had compelled her to get online again and chat with Zorro. Was she so desperate for love? She thought of Kent Morgan. Blond, blue-eyed...he sounded delicious
and
he was real. Liz had a real guy, not a message popper on a machine. She envied Liz.

****

The first thing Liz did when she entered her tiny apartment was check the messages on her answering machine. Nothing! No message from Kent. She kicked off
her shoes and flopped on the dark blue sofa. Kent Morgan had really gotten to her, and it
wasn’t just his good looks and great body. He had an easy way about him and a good
sense of humour.

Liz gazed at the baby blue carpet that covered her living room and also her
bedroom. She imagined herself standing in bare feet wearing a long, denim skirt with a
white ruffle at the bottom. Kent would be standing beside her, bare-chested, tanned and
muscled. They would sway to some country CD. Then he would sweep her into his arms. She closed her eyes and envisioned his face. That smile and those great teeth, and the way he’d kiss her, not too demanding, but full of promises. She shivered in the heat and rose to throw off her tank top. Liz liked being nude. She wandered around her apartment naked from the waist up. She couldn’t see all the fuss about women going topless. If she had half the nerve that the girl in the magazine article had had, she would be strutting around topless in public too. But as bold as she tried to appear sometimes, Liz was not quite courageous enough to defy the laws and land in jail. She giggled out loud and thought of Kent. Now what would he do or say if she should be arrested walking around with her shirt off?

Best to play it safe. She didn’t know Kent well enough yet. She’d be better off not trying to shock him by being rebellious or even by thinking about it. She wanted him
to be around for a long time, maybe forever. Why hadn’t he called? She stared at the phone as if through concentration she could make it ring. No such luck. Sighing, she grabbed up her tank top and went to the bedroom. He’d call tomorrow. What she needed now was a good night’s sleep. Maybe tomorrow night she’d be with Kent.

*****

Despite her earlier hesitation Jessie returned to the chat line on Friday night. It
seemed to be drawing her like a magnet...Zorro was drawing her. It was crazy and careless, but she wanted to talk to him again. Even though he disturbed her, in other ways he intrigued her.

Liz had not called her all day, and she naturally assumed Kent Morgan was keeping her busy. The night was a hot, sticky one for May and Jessie sat in front of the computer wearing a red satin teddy. She sipped cola from an ice-crammed glass.

Zorro had lightened up some when she tuned in, and Jessie found herself relaxing. When he asked her what she did for a living, she told him willingly.

He replied,
You must have a beautiful body, hard, firm...I’ll bet you could go at it all night.

Jessie felt the heat rush up her face and cooled it with the side of the ice-cold glass. She wondered if he meant what she thought he meant. And she didn’t think he was talking about aerobics.

You shock me, Zorro,
she replied, her fingers trembling on the keyboard
,
for he really had sent a wave of embarrassment through her body.

I’m sorry if I sounded rude, but you sound beautiful. I got carried away.

I’m hardly that.

I’d say you’re being modest. And I’ll bet you are a beautiful lady. I can feel it coming from your fingertips. Describe yourself.

Ouch! That’s hard. But, okay...here goes. I’m five three, with red hair and brown eyes.

He made an emoticon indicating a wink.
Red hair! Wow! I’m getting excited here.

Jessie’s face heated up again, this time even a little sweat ran down her cheek. She brushed at her damp forehead and didn’t know what to reply. She thought it over a moment then typed.
It’s not what you imagine. My hair is short and straight, kind of bobbed. I’m hardly what you’d call sexy
Again she wondered what she was doing online chatting with this stranger, especially about such personal stuff. But it was kind of like
the old poem about the Spider and the Fly. Jessie was entranced by Zorro. He already held some kind of spell over her.

Bobbed is good,
he wrote.
What do you weigh?

Jessie was being pushed and she didn’t like it.
You’re being far too curious and too secretive. I’ve told you much more than you’ve told me. What’s your REAL name, Zorro?

He came back fast with,
Gary Burke,
and surprised her. He was finally opening up to her.

Okay, Gary Burke, what do you do?

I’m a security guard.

Surprised again Jessie kept on.
And where does security guard, Gary Burke work and live?

He came back with,
Where do you live, Jessica? You tell me...I’ll tell you.

Jessie’s heart raced and warning bells went off in her head. She backed off.
It was nice chatting with you, Gary, but I have to go now. I’ll try and connect tomorrow night, will you be around?

Ignoring the fact that she hadn’t answered his question, he typed,
I’m always around for you, Jessica.

Jessie relaxed after signing off. So he had frightened her a little. But it really
wasn’t him in particular. It was just computers and strangers. She had never been the
type to reply to personal ads or even go to bars to try and pick up men. It all seemed a little too risky to her. It was probably why she hadn’t taken her brother up on the blind date with his friend.

That had turned out a mess and Alan wasn’t really speaking to her even now. But she had felt uncomfortable about it so she backed out. Now, here she was talking to a stranger who was getting more personal all the time. Was there really any difference? Something inside her said there was and she gave herself permission to believe that Gary Burke was an all right guy. Maybe in time she could begin to trust him. So he was a little crude around the edges, maybe he was just hiding shyness, like her. He had asked her earlier if she liked fishing. She told him yes, recalling the many times she had fished with her dad and brother in the old days. She missed male companionship. She actually missed her brother.

Jessie wandered into the bedroom thinking of Alan and how long it had been
since she’d seen him. Every time she visited her mom it seemed that Alan had just been home or planned to visit later. He was avoiding her she knew. Would the rift between them ever mend?

She lay in the dark, thinking. But this time it wasn’t about Alan. It was about Mike. Michael Anderson had been the one who lifted her out of the dismalness she’d settled into, when she’d first gone off to university. Her rift with Alan had been fresh then, and with settling in and making new friends Michael was just what she had needed.

She met Mike the first week and their friendship turned to love somewhere around Christmas. She remembered how she’d cried on his shoulder that night when she’d returned from home. That night when she’d told him through tear-filled eyes that she didn’t think Alan would ever speak to her kindly again. Mike had held her in his comforting arms and told her how very much he’d missed her during Christmas break. That night, in the back seat of Mike’s old sedan, they’d first made love.

The drone of Jessie’s big fan, sitting on top of her dresser and shooting hot air directly in her face, brought her back to the present. It was a stifling hot night, just like this one, when Mike informed her that he had found someone new. After three years he’d said he was sorry, but it was time to move on. Mike and his new girl got married she’d heard. Jessie made her statement to the world by chopping off her hair. That was it. That was all she’d ever done. She never told her mother or anyone else how she’d hurt. How her stomach remained in knots most of the time, and food was something she had come to detest. She lost a lot of weight that summer. That was when she took up aerobics.

The routine of the classes and instruction saved her sanity. Were all men like Mike and Alan? Were they all heartless? Alan, she could and would forgive, if given the opportunity. Mike was something different. She could never forgive or forget what he’d put her through. She turned on her side away from the fan and felt the fresh, hot tears on her cheeks.