Lipstick

The rain steadily pounded upon the pavement, suddenly it’s hypnotic rhythm was broken.

Splash! 

There it was again, the satisfying sound to the end of another nightmare for another soul, she hit the speed dial on her cell phone.

‘Hi,’ the deep voice responded.

‘We can’t keep this up, you know.' she whispered into the device.

‘Why not?’ questioned the voice.

‘It isn’t right,'' came her reply.

‘Oh don’t be silly, it’s fun’ said the voice.

The line went dead.

Driving back into town the wipers of the sleek red sedan slashed from side to side across the windshield throwing the water from the vehicle she turned the rearview mirror towards herself, checking her cherry red lipstick was not smeared. She hated the thought that someone may see her with smudged lipstick. It was a pet peeve she had, satisfied all was in order she twisted the mirror back into place she made a quick glance at the light playing on the wet dark surface of the road behind her. Driving to the condo garage she glided her toy into her designated parking space, shutting off the car engine, she again turned the rear-view mirror in her direction, withdrawing a handy wipe from her designer bag that had been sitting on the floor in front of the passenger's seat she proceeded to brutally clean every trace of the cherry red colouring from her face.

As she entered the condo she could hear the shower running and cried out 'I'm home.'  

‘How was your day, have you eaten yet?’ Fran replied.

Removing her coat she slipped it from her shoulders and shook off the droplets of rain water which somehow managed to cling to the fabric, hanging it on the hook by the door she ignored Fran’s question. 

‘I waited for you.’ Fran cried out.

Bending to place her bag below the small mahogany hall table, she could hear the water from the shower stop, then suddenly she felt Fran’s hands on her hips, straightening herself she turned and with a grin she brushed Fran’s advances aside and walked across the room to the liquor cabinet, lifting the bottle of single malt she began to pour herself a large double. Fran stood in the entryway, small pools of water dripped from her wet body onto the hardwood floor mixing with the droplets of rain water.

‘Do you have to' asked Fran 'we haven’t eaten yet.’

‘Don’t start, tonight’ she snapped back.

‘It’s just that you’ve been drinking more lately, what’s going on.’ replied Fran.

‘It’s a work thing’ she snapped.

Lifting the glass to her lips she downed the drink of peaty liquid in one gulp, as the liquid burned into her throat she poured herself another. Walking to the sofa she reached behind her waist and unfastened the hook on the waistband then pulled down the zipper letting her skirt drop to the floor she turned and plonked her body down onto the sofa, raising her feet onto the coffee table she kicked off her shoes. Reaching over she lifted the remote flicked on the power to TV frustrated Fran walked to the bedroom and pulled on a brightly coloured floor-length kaftan. Walking back into the room, she picked up the stash box from the shelving unit and laid it on the table, opened the box and reached inside removed a pack of papers a clump of grass and began rolling a joint, lighting the joint she took a deep drag inhaling deeply then she passed it to her.

After dinner, they sat in their respective corners of the sofa and watched a couple of repeat shows on the box. Later they sat listening to the ten o’clock news as the announcer reading from an off screen monitor stated. 

‘DCI Charles Jones of the Norfolk police detachment reported there were still no new leads into last month’s disappearance of the young girl from Norfolk town square.’

The screen flashed a pre-recorded news clip. 

‘I need the community to show their support by telling the police anything they know concerning the whereabouts of this young person,' said DCI Johns.

Smirking inwardly she stretched like a contented cat, raised herself from the settee and ambled across the room discarding the remaining garments she had been wearing as she went.

 ‘Are you coming to bed?’ she asked.

The next morning, she awoke to rays of sunlight streaming through the window lazily she tossed back the duvet and walked out of the bedroom. She could smell the rich aroma of freshly brewed organic coffee, stepping to the counter she poured herself a cup, lifting it with both hands as she walked across the living room to the balcony. Fran was already on her second cup as she sat down, both looked out towards the river, she looked over and smiled.

‘Good morning’ she said.

‘Are you going in today?’ Fran responded.

‘Maybe later’ she replied smiling. ‘How about you, do you have any plans for today?’

‘I was thinking of going down to see my mom, then I thought I might do a bit of shopping in the Lanes while I’m there’ Fran responded.

Taking a sip from the cup Fran’s gaze drifted back across the river.

‘That’s nice’ she replied nonchalantly ‘to do some shopping I mean.’ Feeling she had to clarify her statement.

‘You want me to pick anything up while I’m there then’ Fran asked.

‘No, that’s fine.' she replied ‘Nice of you to ask though.’

After Fran left on her day trip to visit her mom in Brighton, she walked from the bedroom into the bathroom wearing only a black lace push up bra, scarlet red garter belt and black stockings, she applied her makeup then pulled her hair back into a tight bun, slipping on her tight grey skirt and freshly starched white blouse admiringly she smiled at her reflection in the mirror. Stepping into the hallway she picked up her purse and began rummaging through it, finding the square red YSL limited edition studded case she removed the top, twisted the base and watched as the waxy solid fire-engine red stick emerged, she looked into the wall mirror and began to apply a heavy coat to her lips, ‘no need to hide this little indulgence today’ she thought, satisfied she replaced the cap and dropped the lipstick case into her purse, then entering the hallway she slipped on her black blazer noticing her warrant card had fallen out she slid it into her blazer pocket opened the door and stepped out closing it behind her. As the elevator descended she watched the numbers over the door count down and thought silently to herself ‘I wonder where the next location will be and what she will look like?’

Two weeks later while reading the Morning Star newspaper as she waited to collect her morning coffee she read the story in the bottom right-hand column at the foot of page three, about the two young boys who made a gruesome discovery while playing along the riverbank and how they had found a rubbish bag containing the dismembered torso of a young female victim. Looking up from the page she could hear the rumble of thunder as the sky darkened and the rain clouds rolled in from the coast then suddenly the heavens opened. Standing there grinning like a Cheshire cat she was caught in yet another downpour.