Wild (28 page)

“No, I can’t.”

“Is there any other way out?” I asked.

Carmela shook her head. “Only where we came in from.”

I took Annette’s arm. She was breathing heavily. “You’ll be alright.”

She shook her head. I could feel how her body froze. I walked her over to the refrigerators, and Carmela started yanking one door after the other open, pulling out the slabs. Body after body was revealed. She closed the occupied refrigerators.

I could feel Annette stiffening in my arms. There was no way I could get her onto one of the slabs. I had an idea.

“Do you have anything larger?” Carmela understood.

She opened one on the lowest row and pulled out the slab. It was about one and a half times as wide and high as the others she had shown us.

“For our obese visitors.”

“Help me,” I instructed her. I could hear the footsteps coming closer. As I laid down onto the slab, Carmela took a hold of Annette and under protest helped her lie down on me. I pressed her to my body so she could not move.

“No, no, please.”

“You have to keep her quiet. They’re not sound proof,” Carmela cautioned me.

I heard the door to the first office open. Carmela pushed the slap in and closed the door behind us. It went pitch black. I could feel Annette shake. I released one of my arms to find her head.

“No, no, please, please let me out.” She was in panic.

“Shh.”

She wouldn’t stop. There was only one thing I could do. I pulled her head down to me and smothered her protests with my lips. She clenched her teeth together. I let my tongue slide over her lips, softly and patiently. Nothing - she didn’t respond.

From the outside I could hear somebody entering the room and the muffled voices of another person.

“Didn’t know you were working tonight. Just as well. Jeremiah called in sick again,” a male voice said.

I concentrated on Annette. I rubbed her back to get her to relax. I knew she was scared, but I knew there would be enough air in here to last us for a while. I let my hand slide underneath her sweater and caressed her naked back, while I continued to tempt her mouth to open.

I moved to her lower back and slid my hand into her jeans to touch her behind. Suddenly I could feel her take in some air and open up her lips. I took the opportunity and kissed her passionately, using my tongue to caress hers. She seemed to forget where she was and kissed me back. Her body loosened up and I could feel her hands on me. I was relieved, and surprisingly turned on. In the dark my senses were even more attuned than normal, and her body had even more of an effect on me than usual. I would keep it in mind for the future.

I tried to cool down my inappropriate thoughts and listened for the voices outside while I continued to kiss Annette more gently than before. I couldn’t hear anything, but faint footsteps which suddenly got louder again.

Light streamed into the refrigerator at the same time as the door opened and the slab was pulled out. I was blinded for a fraction of a second.

“You guys make me nauseous. Even
I
have never done it in here.” Carmela’s voice felt comforting despite her choice of words. It meant she was alone and whoever had interrupted us was gone.

I released Annette’s lips and pulled my hand out of her jeans. No doubt Carmela had seen what I was doing.

“You told me to keep her quiet,” I explained as I smiled at Annette’s flushed face.

“Figures.”

“Who was it?” Annette asked as Carmela helped her get up.

“Sorry, slight change of plans. I have to pick up a body in the Mission. We’ll have to take the
company car
on our way out. Unfortunately we’ll have a colleague riding with us.”

That would make things a little more difficult, I suspected. I was right. We had no option. Carmela couldn’t leave us in the autopsy room until she was back from the Mission, because it would be morning by the time she got back and the place would be crawling with police and other employees. We wouldn’t make it out unseen.

It was better to take our chances now when we only had to slip past one other person. I took Annette’s hand.

Getting to the garage where the Medical Examiner’s hearse was kept was no the problem, but unfortunately Annette’s colleague had beaten us to the car, and was already sitting in it. There was no way of getting into the car without been seen by him.

“Stay here, I have an idea. When he gets out of the car, you’ll have to hide behind this door.” She pointed to the door to our right. I tested. It was unlocked.

“Do you have a couple of quarters?” Carmela asked.

I threw here a questioning look, but dug into my pockets anyway and handed her the money.

She slipped through the door which I kept ajar to peak through it. Annette was right behind me. I got a glimpse of the man in the car. He was a large guy in his late thirties.

“What’s happening?”

“Carmela is stopping at the vending machine. What’s she doing? This is not the time to get coffee.” I whispered to Annette behind me to keep her in the loop. “Now Carmela is walking to the car. She’s getting in. Damn, he’s starting the engine.”

Suddenly we heard the engine being killed again.

“Wait, the driver’s door is opening. He’s getting out.”

“Why? What’s he doing?”

I looked at the man and grinned. “His pants are wet. I think Carmela spilled some coffee over him.”

Annette and I quickly hid behind the door Carmela had indicated and waited for him to pass the area. As soon as I could hear his footsteps become faint I peaked out. He had turned the corner on his way back to the office. We ran to the car. I opened the door to the back and helped Annette hop into the dark interior before I jumped in myself and shut the door.

“Lie down and keep still. I’ll try to get him to stop on the way to the Mission, but I won’t be able to give you a signal. You’ll have to know yourself when it’s safe to get out.”

“Thanks Carmela, thanks for everything,” Annette said.

“Carmela, the title to the car is in the glove compartment. I’ve already signed it over to you. It’s parked right outside your front door. Good luck and thank you.”

“Quiet, he’s back.”

A couple of seconds later the car door opened and he got back in. He switched on the engine and we were in motion. Neither Carmela nor the man were talking. I guessed he was annoyed about having had to get changed. We drove in silence for a while. I could see us pass by several lights. Every time we stopped at a red light, I prepared myself to get us out of the car, but every time the car went back into motion.

We had been driving for almost ten minutes by my estimate and had to be in the Mission already, when I finally heard Carmela’s voice again.

“Sebastian, I’m really sorry about the coffee. I’ll pay for the dry-cleaning,” she purred.

“Forget it.” He was still cross.

“Oh, come on, don’t give me that silent treatment.”

“What the …” I suddenly heard him say. “What are you doing?”

What was she doing?
I gave Annette a questioning look, but she just grinned. Could she guess what Carmela was up to?

“Why don’t you pull over here, Sebastian? I want to show you something.” Her voice was seductive.

Annette nodded at me. I understood. I felt how the car pulled over and stopped. He kept the engine running but I heard the parking break being set.

“What is this about, Carmela?” he asked suspiciously. He didn’t get any further. “Oh, mama …” he suddenly muttered.

“I want to make it up to you. Go ahead, touch them.”

I took Annette’s hand to communicate to her that it was time to move. As soon as I could hear the ruffling and shifting on the front seats I knew Carmela had managed to get him to succumb to her advances.

As quietly as possible I opened the back door only wide enough to step out and help Annette out. Before I pressed the door shut again, I got a quick glimpse through the small window into the driver’s cabin. Sebastian’s head was buried in Carmela’s breasts and her hands were holding his head, partially covering his ears.
Very smart.

Annette and I ran into the next alley and stopped.

“I admire her for making such a sacrifice for us,” I told her.

“Sacrifice?” Annette said incredulously and laughed out loud. “That was no sacrifice for Carmela, believe me.
That
was Carmela in her element! She’s been after Sebastian for quite a while. Trust me, this little
gift
is worth more to her than your car.”

“Well, I’m glad she’s getting
something
out of this,” I smiled and hugged her.

We went to Transbay Terminal and placed all items into the locker: Entwhistle’s protocol and notes, the half-dissolved capsule, a slide with a trace of the serum and the list with dates and dollar amounts as if the blackmailer had kept track of the payoffs. The half-dissolved capsule and trace of serum would link back to the protocol which contained a chemical analysis of the serum. Furthermore, records at UCSF would confirm Entwhistle had acted without approval, and Entwhistle’s private notes would confirm he knew how dangerous the serum was.

There was no doubt in my mind we had enough evidence to frame him for something which would surely have happened, had I not saved Annette in time.

When I placed a large bundle of cash into the locker, she looked at me with surprise.

“What’s that for?”

“We have to make sure the whole story gels. If they can’t find that this guy actually got any money out of Entwhistle, the whole blackmail set up might fall apart.”

“How much is it?”

“About twenty-five thousand dollars. It corresponds closely to the list I’ve put together.” I pointed to the payoff list.

By the time we got home it was almost light outside. She was exhausted and leaned on me when we got inside. Without hesitation I lifted her up and carried her up the stairs. I wasn’t tired. My animal self provided me with the extra strength I needed to keep going.

“Vince, would the serum have killed me and Carmela?”

I looked at her and knew my expression was very serious. “I don’t honestly know. It depends on the dosage. But even if you had survived it, you would have never been the same.” I swallowed hard.

“Would I have become like you?” she wondered.

“Most likely, but since I’m the only one of my kind who I know, I can’t know with certainty how your body would have reacted.”

The story broke a week later. We were lounging on the couch over breakfast watching the early morning news. I took the remote and turned up the volume.

“… involving a prominent scientist.” The announcer said. “According to the documents released by the San Francisco Police Department, Dr. Ernest Entwhistle, a professor at UCSF’s Center for Aging, has been implicated in the death of a person who it appears has been blackmailing him over the last couple of months. It is believed that the blackmail was related to a clinical trial which had not received approval from the Human Subjects Committee. Dr. Entwhistle was taken into custody this morning. The Department of Internal Audit at UCSF is conducting a separate investigation focusing on the contents of this unauthorized clinical trial, and is cooperating with the San Francisco Police Department. It has now come to light that the explosion of a laboratory on UCSF’s Parnassus campus last week was a laboratory belonging to Dr. Entwhistle. SFPD are now investigating the possibility of these two incidences being connected and won’t rule out arson.”

She muted the TV and looked at me. “Will it be enough?”

I nodded. “We’ve raised enough doubts. Even if they can’t convict him on murder or manslaughter, he’ll be stripped of his license. Conducting human trials without committee approval is a serious offence. It won’t be just a slap on the wrist. His career is over.”

“Can he implicate you?”

“Nobody will believe him now even if he tries. It’s over now.”

“Over for him. It’s a shame we couldn’t get her.”

I shook my head. “It will destroy her all the same. She lived through his success, power and promise of wealth. She will be crushed by his destruction. There’s no need for us to do anything else.”

“I’m glad it’s over. I think this calls for a celebration.”

“What did you have in mind?” I asked her with a grin.

She stood up and took me by the hand leading me to my bed, no, to our bed. It was no surprise for me. There was little she
could
hide from me.

“First one to give up will prepare lunch.”

I shook my head. “Dinner. Or are you going to give up that quickly?”

She pushed me onto the bed and followed me. “Dinner it is – I’d like my steak medium, please,” she ordered.

“Aren’t you putting your order in a little prematurely?” I smirked and locked her in a passionate embrace from which I knew I wouldn’t release her for hours.

Vince’s Epilogue

Entwhistle posted bail and disappeared together with his wife. They left their child behind. I wasn’t sure why, but I knew they would come back for their son one day, and I would be waiting.

And Annette? I couldn’t keep my hands off her, and she didn’t mind when the mountain lion in me came out. She knew how to handle me.

She finally got hired at the zoo doing what she did best: taking care of mountain lions. Living with her and through her I realized that every man had a wild animal inside himself, and that he only needed the right woman to tame it.

Annette had helped me realize I didn’t need to be cured, I was what I was. She accepted me wholeheartedly and I could finally embrace my two sides without feeling any guilt or shame. My life had changed completely. My nights were now filled with making love to her and sleeping in her arms. Being able to hear each others thoughts when I was in my animal state created an unbreakable bond between us and I could not imagine being without this closeness to her. Her love was unconditional and pure.

There was only one small point of friction in our lives together. She didn’t want to age.

“Don’t you think we can wait with this discussion until you’re in your thirties?” I asked her.