Rainy Nights Pt.2

Lily turned to me and gave me a polite smile much like the smile you’d give a stranger. To her, I had become practically a stranger. I smiled back as politely as I could. She went to the corner of the police station to talk to the officer who was doing my fingerprints. I see a red velvet-suited woman come into the station frantically. It’s my family lawyer Francesca Ramirez. She grins when she sees me. First Lily, now Francesca. This is great for me.

“What’s up now, you Casanova?” Francesca says to me, rolling her eyes and huffing.

“Casanova?” I said laughing. Francesca glared at me. For someone who was supposed to be professional, she had a way of making you regret hiring her.

“First of all, don’t laugh at me. Second of all, there’s work we have to do,” she said with a glare. I sighed. I had been cooped up in this forsaken police station for so long... Hours pass as I sat there, waiting for my details to be processed. Lily didn’t say a word to me in the past 6 hours but her presence haunted me. The way her eyes looked into my soul piercingly. As if I was the killer. Sure I had a history of DUIs and my parents paying the officers off, but I swear it wasn’t me.

“Mr. Dominic Madrigal, you’ve been let out on bail but you still have to report to your court procedures.” said the officer grimly. He clearly wasn’t happy I was getting let out on bail.

“You better thank me with a proper gift basket for getting you out, it was a tussle between me and that ex-girlfriend of yours.” huffed Francesca. I rolled my eyes.

“Lily isn’t a girlfriend, she was my classmate at Wesleyan, class of ‘98 mind you,”

“Right, we all know what a flamboyant partier you were at Wesleyan, so much so that Vogue interviewed your parents about your shenanigans.” I sighed as Francesca ranted on about my antics as a young man. It had been almost 10 years since I was a young 20-year-old making regrettable choices.

“First of all, it was an interview for Mother’s swimwear line she had with Versace-” as I said that, I got punched in the side of the face. I could feel the forceful blow and it knocked me to the ground. Lily had tears streaming down her face now, and the rage she had kept bottled up all this time finally came down.

“YOU DESPICABLE PIECE OF SCUM!” she roared. The whole police station could hear her now. Her parents tried to restrain her but to no use.

“And to think I trusted you, that was my mistake.” she sobbed.

Lily’s mother finally brought her away from me and the police rushed to my side with a first aid kit. While the medic on site was treating my injuries, Francesca was chuckling away.

“So, the ex-girlfriend got a taste of revenge, eh?” I was too tired to tell her Lily wasn’t my ex all over again.

“I guess so? I mean-- I did hit her sister with my car on accident.”

“You’re admitting guilt? I thought I told you not to.”

“Francesca, this isn’t like all the other cases you’ve gotten me out of,” I said disapprovingly while nursing my hurt left cheek covered in a big bruise.

“It’s my job to protect you, Dominic. From psychos like that girl and others who’ll hurt you.” I was about to quip when I feel a piercing pain in my jaw cheek area, where Lily hit me. I couldn’t quip any further. Francesca noticed and handed me another icepack. I showed her my grateful look and she laughed once more. My family had already abandoned me since the disaster of ‘04 in the Maldives housing market, so the only family I really had was Francesca. My sister Rebecca and I used to quip to each other the way Francie and I did now. Sigh. Those were the days.

I sat there until Francie handed me a coffee. I gulped the hot drink since no one had offered me any sort of refreshments in the past few hours.

“Can you drive me home?” I asked.

“Sure, as long as you send me that gift basket,” said Francie with a chuckle.

I got into her car’s passenger seat. I saw a dagger covered in blood within a Ziploc bag in the back of the 2010 Honda Civic. Before I could say anything, Francesca came in the car.

“Oh, that. Don’t worry, that’s just some evidence from the scene of a crime for another case,” she said nonchalantly. We both drove home without another word to each other. Last I remember, lawyers weren’t allowed to have weapons but Francie was quirky. I was suspicious that something had happened between Francie and the Havens but I set that thought aside. There was no way it could be, could it?

*This is an ongoing series and there will be updates soon.*