Et Tu Brute?

Today I learned why others value certain people despite the fact they might not be the most important people in our lives, they can decorate the borders of our lives yet manage to hold the keys to the kingdom. After the strange meeting with Edith Neal yesterday, I decided that I would leave the house early to avoid being accosted by Gervais before I could get hold of Zizi. I could not but wonder if she will be as surprised as I was to hear that my cousin was indeed the one holding the key to our plans. Elyce was fast becoming a more vital part of our plan that I wanted and though I would have preferred my cousin to remain peripheral to our meetings, Edith had ensured that I now was going to seek out the one person who could betray us all to Gervais, at least that was my thought upon leaving the house.

As I stood in the garage looking at the Mercedes I realised that I might as well drive around with a big sign saying ‘here I am’ in bold letters. If anyone wants to find me, they know what to look for, as despite the brisk traffic of the town it is not too hard to track me. I needed a few minutes away from the ever-increasing impatience of my cousin as he was pressing me to state a time and although I had fobbed him off with the temporary excuse of shopping and getting my household in order nothing was going to restrain him for very long. Maritka was not pleased with me lately; in fact, she was not pleased with me at all, and had taken to scowling with verbal grumbling to reinforce the point that she was very much against me going to the compound. I would have liked to bring her along with the excuse of being my assistant but that bad idea left me with visions of her and Ladonna in a fistfight while Gervais chained me in his dungeon.

There was no point lying to Maritka about why I want to use her car, she is not stupid and anything I say can be easily disproved so I decide to stick to the truth. I went back into the house and asked if I could borrow her car, as I did not want Gervais to be able to follow me. I knew that he would eventually find me if he wanted to, there was not a nook or cranny in town that did not have some of his vermin lurking in it ready to squeal their reports back to him. If I could buy a little time before he starts applying his unrelenting pressure then maybe I could get the wheels of this plan rolling before some, or all of us wind up the corpse on the evening news. Maritka gives me the usual glare at the mention of his name and shakes her head, I am mindful she is only trying to protect me however she is also aware that nothing will shake my resolve so I tell her that I have to go to town and I can either go quietly or be stalked by Gervais. She gives me a hard stare as if I was missing some obvious point and then hands me her keys. As much as I love her, I sometimes wonder what it is she is not saying to me, there was something beneath all those dark rumblings but she is not going to tell me until she is ready.

I decided for good measure to go to town via the back roads which means driving up around the hill, perilously close the compound but I would not be seen unless Gervais had put spy cams on the surrounding trees and if he had then he is truly bonkers. Life of course is a bitch for it was not the machinations of my insane family I had to worry about it turns out that the knife that lands the fatal blow is more often delivered by a friend than an enemy. This is a road familiar to me, for the lookout that had become the new meeting place to discuss plans is on it and as I drove past the bottom of the compound I turned the corner expecting to find the little used lookout unoccupied but the sight that greeted my eyes soon put that expectation to rest.

There were two cars resting in the parking bay with two figures standing outside speaking animatedly while facing the town and the bitter acid of dismay filled my heart as I looked at my life. I knew the cars because they belong to my friends, I knew one for it belonged to my ex lover, the other belonged to the person who held my confidence, the one I was counting on, the one I needed to ensure everyone else did not run screaming into the streets. I saw his hand on her back, possessive, intimate and her hand resting on his chest, so engrossed in the private universe they had created with each other that neither noticed the small car drifting past them, almost silent in disapproval and alarm until it was no more than a faint rumble in the distance. Zizi and Jojo hiding out from prying eyes, who knew how long this had been going on, or what madness had overtaken them. The sharp blade of panic and betrayal pierced me until the shock reverberated through my mind like some mantra of disbelief. I tried to think of a million innocent reasons why those two would be meeting but none came to mind, Jojo wanted in and here was Zizi holding open the door and a steady anger filled me for surely she knew he was a worse loose cannon than Tiah, the sleaze of Tony and inability to shut up of Chantal. I prayed she had the sense not to tell him a thing but all I could see was his hand on her back and hers on his chest and a fury gripped me as I sped down the mountain for Zizi of all people should have had more sense.

I drove to the Northside of town and found myself a quiet corner in Millie’s. I needed time to work out a plan or a counter plan or anything to keep myself alive as I had already set the wheels in motion. I was going to wind up in the compound or Gervais would sprackle the entire town into hell, me with it. A thought of rescue flickered across my mind, one I could not entertain so I dismissed Simon the second his name hit my mind. I wanted to run into his arms, beg him to take us away, flee the madness of my family but I knew if it took years for Gervais to find me, he would spend years. I could not ask someone as decent and kind as Simon to spend the rest of his life in hiding, fearful of every strange look or conversation. I made this bed and it’s time to lie in it so with a heavy heart and a panicked mind I pressed Elyce on my phone and asked her to come out for a cup of coffee.

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