It's A Crime (21 page)

“Excuse me?”
Her voice was shaking; he could tell she was getting nervous now.

“Please
,
Mother dear
,” he spoke the endearment sardonically, “you must remember me.”

“I’m sorry, I am very confused.
Has something happened to Grace?” Panic…he wanted to hear her voice full of panic.

“Not yet…
I just wanted to reintroduce myself, so to speak. M
other
, ” he paused letting it sink in. “You do you remember me, don’t you?”

“No…I…
I don’t understand.” The loud noise on the other end confirmed she dropped the phone.

“Hello
,
Mother?
Are you there? Did you go and do something stupid like hang up, you fucking whore?”

“I did not hang up.
Where is Grace? What is this about?” She spoke in her authoritative voice, but it didn’t cover the panicked tone. He smiled wider. He heard her crying.
How sweet
.

“I know where she is, where she lives, works
...for now she’s fine. Grace, Grace, Grace…do you know what you did to
me
? Do you ever even think about
me
?”

Silence.
Then he heard her sniffle.

“You are a fucking whore
,
Mother
. This is what you get when you open your fucking legs, you whore.” The power he felt inside made him hard.

“
Please, please…stop, please. You have not answered me, where is Grace? Please just tell me that.”

It took every o
unce of his control to not smash the phone. His head was pounding harder.

“YOU ARE NOT LISTENING TO ME.
YOUR PRECIOUS FUCKING DAUGHTER IS SAFE FOR NOW. OPEN YOUR FUCKING EARS, YOU FUCKING CUNT…what a fucking BITCH!” He let his anger get the best of him. He sipped the vodka and put the glass back on the table with a loud clang.

“What is it that you want
from me?” Her words became shaky from the trembling in her voice.

“Stop your fucking sniveling.
You’ll know soon enough, but not now. Now, I just want you to know that I know where your cunt daughter lives. That’ll give you something to think about for a while.” He paused, letting what he said sink in. He finished the vodka in the glass and poured another.

“
Mother dear
, are you still there? Still with me?” He banged the phone on the table several times, liking that she was scared. “You threw me away, but kept Grace…
she
had the life you denied me, what was mine.”

“I was very young, my parents they
...they sent me away. I was forced to…they forced me to give my baby up...for adoption. They told me it would be the best thing. Karl was, he was...they would never let me keep the baby, they never let me see Karl again, they would…”

H
e waited for her to continue. Oddly, he was patient and was rewarded with the sound of her vomiting. He smiled and tilted the glass back, finishing the vodka. He loved feeling powerful. His hands no longer sweaty, his tick grew less pronounced.

“Still there
,
Mother
?”

“What do you want?
What do you want me to do? Do you want money?” She pleaded with him. The pain in her voice didn’t reach him. He wanted her to suffer, he wanted her to feel pain, know his pain. She would soon.

“I will be in touch.”
He hung up. Triumphant.

Chapter 22

Katherine held the phone to her ear for several minutes, knowing he had hung up...she shook as she placed the phone on the base. She grabbed her cell phone from her purse, her hands shaking uncontrollably. She raised a handful of tissues to her eyes, drying them, smearing her mascara. She wiped her nose and threw the tissues away, taking more. She walked into the bathroom, bracing herself against the walls, her legs weak with fear, her mind racing, and she looked in the mirror. Who was she? She had lost herself, her identity. As if someone, some ghost, reached in and pulled out her heart. What would she do? She couldn’t tell Franklin…or Grace.

Grace
...she needed to hear Grace’s voice. She needed to make sure her baby was okay. She pushed the speed dial. The phone rang until it went to voicemail. She called again, and again, each time straight to voicemail. She kept trying, her fear building each time the call went unanswered. She should call the police…but then everyone would know her terrible secret, know what she was, what she had done. All these years she tried to keep her past in her past, where it should be. She felt faint and lowered herself to the floor. Putting her hands to her face, she wept. She cried until she was dry, till no more tears remained. She needed to think, needed to figure it all out.

Katherine
fell asleep, waking sometime later on the floor of the bathroom. She found her cell next to her and called Grace again, and again the call went to voicemail. She was going mad. Surely she would go mad.

“I’m so very, very sorry
, Katherine dear. You
will
be thankful one day.” Her mother said as she hugged her. She kissed the top of her head before putting her in the car. Her bags had been packed into the trunk of the car. Her father stood behind his wife keeping his distance, a sorrowful look on his face.

Katherine
got into the car, tears streamed down her face. She didn’t even bother wiping them away.
Let them see how sad I am,
she thought. She looked out the window. Her city, her New York, her home was soon to be a memory for at least seven months, maybe more…maybe forever. She turned back as the driver shut the door. Her mother backed up slowly, her eyes welled up with tears she had learned not to shed, her heart breaking. Her Katherine…her baby.

The car
slowly pulled away from the curb into the traffic on 2
nd
Avenue and Katherine started her journey to upstate New York, to the Convent of the Cherished Angel, a school for unwed mothers. She was an embarrassment to her family. She still cringed at her mother’s face as the shock registered when she heard her only child, her daughter, had found herself in this
predicament
. She had let a boy have his way with her and was now paying the price of that disgrace. She would have to stay at the “boarding school” until the child was born and given up for adoption.

The memory of that night had the power to turn her stomach with
shame. She should have stopped him, should have screamed, instead she had let it happen, she wanted it, even
liked
it. Her mother convinced her he took her forcibly, took her innocence from her and left her alone with this abomination inside her. Katherine unconsciously rubbed her belly.

Katherine had been attracted to him.
He was an extremely handsome and kind boy. She felt sorry for him. He misunderstood her kindness for something totally different. She could never tell her mother she liked it. That she felt different since it happened. At first, she was petrified as she lay beneath him, as he began to grunt like an animal above her. Then something happened. Desire spread inside her, built until it took over her body. She shuddered at the memory. The taste of bile rose in her throat. She swallowed it back.

Karl saw her.
He couldn’t will his eyes away.

She was so beautiful.
The kind of girl he would never be able to have.

She was sheer perfection.
Her stunning face, her golden blonde hair piled high on her head, her young curvy body, voluptuous. Her dress swayed as she danced, as she walked. Karl wanted her. She was an angel, a dream that would never come true, that would leave him hungry and praying for peace.

She lived at the mans
ion, the family’s vacation home, her father very wealthy. Karl was hired to work as a servant for her “coming out” party. She would never want him. He was poor and couldn’t offer her anything. He was eighteen and his only means of income was this, a server for a catering service.

“Karl, would you help Ginny in the kitchen
? The guests are starting to arrive and we need to have the buffet set up before they walk into the garden,” Cook said, snapping Karl out of his fantasy.

“Yes, ma
’am.”

“Thank you
, Karl.”

Karl st
rode toward the kitchen and helped Ginny and the other servants put the final touches on the “Spring Soiree” buffet. The guests filed into the backyard of the estate as though the Worthingtons were giving gold away for free.

Karl stood on the
fringes of the party, attending to the needs of the guests and the kitchen help. He made sure the dishes were washed and the champagne fountain filled to capacity. The glasses collected and washed, as fast as they were discarded.

The party was for Miss Katherine Worthington
, who was about to come out as one of New York City’s newest debutants. This was her introduction to society. She was sought after by each single young man in attendance, including some not so single.

Karl watched her dance.
He watched the fumbled groping of the boys as they tried to touch her while dancing with her. She would gently guide their straying hands back to their proper place and always held her head up. She had such pride. She was so innocent and beautiful. Normal girls, the girls he knew who were sixteen, were knowledgeable, surely not as innocent. Karl was sure Katherine had been sheltered to the point of absurdity. She was bright and shining and new and he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“Karl, you’d better stop
, man. These people are a different breed. They catch you looking at her like that and they will make you disappear.”

“What the hell are you talking about
? I was just watching the people.”

“Man, get ahold of yourself.
That,” Gerry said, pointing to Katherine, “is out of our league. No way. Go find yourself an easy girl, get yourself straight and forget about her. ‘Cause, man, that is just not happening.”

“Fuck you.”

“Suit yourself.”

Karl forced himself to look away.
He picked up the tray with the dirty used glasses and dishes and made his way to the kitchen.

Later that night, when the party was over and the guests had left, Karl found himself wandering aimlessly around the yard, trying to look busy
, all the time hoping to get one more look at her.

He finally saw her.
She seemed somewhat sad, melancholy.

She walked to the railing and stood on the raised
patio scanning the now empty yard. The only activity was the staff cleaning and restoring the property to its pre-party beauty, along with a few stragglers making their ways to their waiting chauffeur-driven cars.

He stared openly at her
, causing her to blush. She lowered her eyes and her thick lashes fanned across her creamy high cheekbones. She was stunning.

He found himself walking
toward where she stood. He didn’t have a clue what he would say to her, he just had to hear her voice. Her eyes widened and she quickly backed up, retreating inside the estate.