Melina watched, terrified, as the SUV that looked like Lucia’s slowly approached the diner she stood waiting in until Nara could rescue her. Closer and closer it came. But then suddenly it swung left and she could see enough of the driver to tell it wasn’t Lucia. Melina never breathed a sigh of relief so big before in her life.
She waited anxiously by the door, wanting to maintain a good view of the parking lot, but not wanting to be easily visible in case Lucia did pass by. The minutes seemed to last for hours. When Nara finally pulled up in her own SUV - though hers was black - she bolted out the diner’s door and hopped into the passenger seat.
“What’s going on, Melina?”
“You got money for a motel?”
“What?”
“Just answer the question.”
“Well, yeah, I suppose. But why…”
“Go to the nearest motel or hotel that you don’t think your mother would look for us at.”
“Melina, what the hell is going on?”
“Just drive!”
“But I have nothing with me. I need to go home and get some clothes and…”
“We can’t do that,” Melina said, shaking her head. “Just get us checked in somewhere as fast as you can.”
“Is mom ok?”
“No, she’s not ok. Now just drive, Nara. Everything will be explained to you once we’re safely tucked away somewhere.”
“Have you lost your mind or something?”
“Just about. Hurry!”
“I’m driving as fast as I can, Melina. Do you want us to get pulled over?”
Melina said nothing.
“Where’s Mom?”
“She went to give a ride to a friend who had to have her car towed somewhere.”
“And I take it mom doesn’t know where you are?”
“That’s right.”
“Just give me some clue,” Nara urged.
“Soon.”
“Melina, this better be worth it.”
Melina gave Nara an if-you-only-knew kind of look. “Unfortunately, you’re going to be very sorry as to just how worth it that it truly is. Try to find a place where your SUV won’t stand out as much from the road. And preferably a hotel as opposed to a motel so that the only way to get to the room is from the inside. Make it a big hotel, too.”
They pulled up to the reception area of a fairly large hotel and Melina waited anxiously in the SUV as Nara booked them a room. She glanced nervously around her as she waited.
A few minutes later Nara returned. “I could only get a room with one bed,” she said, as she parked in back of the building.”
“That’s the least of my concerns,” Melina said.
“Ok, what the hell is going on, Melina?” Nara demanded as soon as the hotel door shut behind them.
“Lock every lock on that door,” Melina said, pulling the journal and its words of horror from her bag.
Nara added the chain lock to their security just as Melina threw the journal down on the small round table by the window.
“What’s that?” Nara asked as she started to open the drapes.
“What, are you crazy? Shut those drapes!”
“We’re on the sixth floor.”
“I don’t care. Turn on the lights instead.”
Nara, patience rapidly thinning, turned on extra lights. “Anything else?”
Melina shook her head.
“Good,” she said as she sat at the table opposite Melina. “Now what in the world did you drag me here for?”
Melina pushed the journal towards Nara.
“What is it?”
“Your mother’s written confessions.”
“What?” asked Nara, quickly glancing up at Melina, then back to the journal. She opened its cover.
“She killed Ari.”
Nara looked both stunned and horrified. “What?! That’s crazy!”
“And Clara Esposito, too. She was also posing as Gothic Beauty online.”
Nara began to tremble and Melina felt just terrible for her. It wasn’t easy telling someone you cared about that her own mother was a killer, and then having them read about it in their own words.
As Melina watched Nara, she realized that under ordinary circumstances she would be very attracted to the woman. She was undeniably beautiful.
Nara leaned an elbow on the table and supported her head by resting her forehead in her hand while her other hand flipped through the damning pages which confessed to lust, lies, selfishness, obsession and murder. “Where did you get this?” she asked about five minutes later, voice choked with emotion.
“From the safe in the bedroom closet.”
“She gave you the combination to it?” she asked with surprise.
“No, I cracked the safe out of pure nosiness and curiosity. The combination turned out to be my date of birth. Funny, ain’t it?” Melina said grimly.
Nara read on, elbows now on either side of the book of deadly confessions, forehead resting against both hands. A moment later she turned the page with shaky fingers. “Did you read all of this?”
“No. There wasn’t any time from when I discovered it, and Lucia started sticking to me like glue as if she suspected something. Two days ago I decided to organize the master closet. That’s when I discovered the safe. She came home early that day, practically just minutes after I found the journal. I only had long enough to read the first page, but that was enough for me. When I heard her coming up the stairs I ran and locked the journal back in the safe. I played sick - although there was certainly more than a grain of truth to my insisting I was ill - so she wouldn’t touch me that night. The thought made me sick for real and trying to keep it together and act all normal and as if nothing was wrong was a hell of a challenge for me despite how good I am at acting. But by playing sick I ended up getting her worried about me and she stayed home the next day, today, until she went out to help her friend. At that point, I knew I couldn’t stand to stay in that house another minute…” Melina’s voice broke off.
Nara looked up at her sadly. Melina wanted to comfort her and to be comforted as well, but she understood that that might make Nara feel even worse since it was she who had been the object of her mother’s deadly obsession.
“Oh, Nara, I am so, so sorry!” Melina lost it at that point and collapsed onto the table in a heap of tears.
“Hey, hey,” she heard Nara say softly as she rose to kneel down in front of her. She pulled her into her arms. “Please, don’t fall apart on me, hun. I need you now more than I’ve ever needed anyone else before in my life.”
Melina held onto Nara tight, then she pushed back just enough to see the woman’s attractive face and said, “You mean you don’t blame me?”
Nara frowned. “Why would I blame you?”
“Well, because in a sense she did this because of me. If I hadn’t come to Italy and if she hadn’t become so obsessed with me, Ari and Clara would still be alive.”
“Yeah, and so would her little brother.”
“What?!”
Nara rose to her full height on shaky legs and took off her black leather jacket. She was so tall that she towered over Melina who was still sitting in her chair.
“You didn’t see that part of the journal.”
“No, what part?”
“She dropped her baby brother shortly after he was born,” Nara said as she collapsed onto the bed that was just a few feet away. “And it was no accident.”
“Oh, my God,” Melina moaned as she rose from her chair.
“Come on,” Nara said, patting the bed beside her.
Melina lay beside Nara and they held each other tightly, Nara gently rocking them back and forth as she sobbed against her chest. “What are we going to do?” she asked a few minutes later.
“I don’t know,” said Nara. “She obviously needs help and she needs to be stopped.”
“I know she does, but no one will help her. They’ll only stop her. You know that don’t you?” They were still pressed up against one other and still rocking gently, though Melina could feel Nara nod. She knew she was crying as well. “I’m sorry. I’m just so, so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” Nara said through her tears. She stopped rocking and pulled away long enough to wipe the tears from her face, then she pulled Melina to her once again. “Oh, babe, it’s not your fault.”
“I just can’t help but feel so guilty for coming to Italy in the first place as much as I don’t regret a moment I spent with Ari or with you when I’d hang out with you at your place.”
“It’s pointless to feel guilty for coming to Italy. If you could, then you might as well say you feel guilty about ever being born. You had nothing to do with her brother and God knows how many others. And if it wasn’t you, it might’ve been someone else she became obsessed with.”
A moment of silence passed, then Melina said, “It explains a lot of things.”
“Like what?”
“Like how well she seemed to handle Ari’s death.”
“Yeah, a little too well,” Nara agreed dubiously.
“I thought she was just a very strong woman. And the so-called joke made by Gothic Beauty telling me that she hoped I enjoyed the doll as much as she enjoyed giving it to me was no joke after all. It was just Lucia slipping up and accidentally letting her real self shine through.”
The two women continued to lie in each other’s arms, both trying to absorb the reality of the situation.
“What do we do?” Melina asked again.
“I don’t know. I need to think.”
The minutes ticked on, each of them lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Nara said, “We have to call the police. There’s just no way around it. I hate to turn my own mother in, but if I don’t she’s likely to kill again at some point, maybe even us, Rena, or the boys.”
“I know,” Melina said sadly, squeezing Nara tightly.
Nara hugged her back, then she rose from the bed. She took a tissue from the nightstand and blew her nose.
“You gonna call them from here?”
“Yes,” Nara said, heading towards a pail to throw the crumpled tissue away.
It was easy for Melina to see that it was the most painful thing she ever had to do as she watched her trudge over to the phone and tell the dispatcher in Italian that she had a murder to report.
In just a matter of minutes, two detectives were in their room and they were explaining everything they knew. Neither detective could read English, and so the journal would be turned over to someone who could.
At one point one of the detectives received a phone call on her cell phone. After she exchanged a few words, she informed Melina, Nara and the other detective that an arrest attempt had been made, but no one was at the house.
The male detective ordered them to stay put and not to open the door for anyone who didn’t identify themselves as part of the hotel staff. They promised to call if they located Lucia or had any additional information or questions for them.
“Thank you,” Melina said after the detectives had gone.
Nara turned to her, brows knotted. “For what?”
“For not hating me.”
“Oh, hun, I couldn’t hate you. You didn’t make Mom do what she did.”
A moment of awkward silence passed, then Melina said, “If I didn’t know you I wouldn’t have the guts to be here with you. I’ve lost so many people in my life, Nara.”
“I know.”
“So many. They either die or they turn out to be murderers. Please don’t ever kill me or die, Nara.”
Nara made somewhat of a snort. “If it weren’t for the shitty circumstances at hand I’d probably laugh at that one. I can promise not to kill you, Melina, but I can’t promise not to die.”
Melina gazed at Nara, emotion evident in her eyes. “Well, I really hope you don’t. You’re all I’ve got left in life.”
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