Chapter 19: Rachel Speaks

It was three months after Riggleman gave Tonya and Austin the latest information on the case. Austin’s reassignment to a new role at the office was going well and he was again getting very good reviews by his employees. The weather was warming and he spent Saturday morning with Tonya in the front yard planting new flowers for the spring. The twins were playing nearby.

“What a beautiful day,” said Tonya as she peeled off her outer shirt and arched her back. “If this continues we’ll have a perfect summer.”

Austin nodded, but said, “Yeah, if we ever get all of these flowers planted.”

“They were on sale!” protested Tonya. “Plus, once they’re in you’ll love them.”

Austin knew that was true, but he was approaching his limit of acceptable yard work for any one weekend.

It took over an hour to finish the last of the planting, but like Tonya said, the flowers already looked good. They would be fantastic when they came into full bloom.

As Austin tied off a garbage bag with the last of the flowerpot remnants a FedEx truck pulled up to curb in front of the house. The driver bounded out of the truck. Austin waved as the driver approached and handed Austin a letter-sized envelope. It was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Hilton with a vague return address. Austin tore the package open.

“Holy shit,” he muttered as he read.

Tonya’s head jerked up as she asked, “What? What is it?”

Austin read for another moment then looked up at Tonya.

“It’s from Rachel. She invited us to her house tonight.”

Tonya rushed over to stand by Austin and read the invitation for herself. “It sounds more like a summons than an invitation.”

“Yeah, maybe, but how can we not go?” Austin replied.

Tonya pointed to the very bottom of the page. “Do not contact Detective Riggleman. I have cleared everything with the police and want private time with my team.”

“It’s been three months,” Austin said, “maybe it is all over?”

Austin stepped into the garage and looked at his phone sitting on the trunk of his Camry. Unsurprisingly, there were text messages from Stephanie and Jackie. He typed a brief reply.

“Yes, I got a similar invite. No idea what’s up. We are looking for a sitter and will see you tonight.”

Tonya and Austin put away the tools and collected the children. Back in the house they arranged for Carolyn to come over and babysit. They had to pay her a premium to cancel her movie plans with friends, but she agreed to come over at 6:30. After lunch when the kids took a nap, Tonya and Austin nodded off while watching television in the living room.

Austin turned into Rachel’s neighborhood to find a red Miata sitting outside of the gate with the top down. He rolled up alongside it to find Derrick and Stephanie.

“Did you guys forget the code?” he asked through Tonya’s open window.

“No,” said Derrick. “We were really early and decided to wait here for you and Jackie. Figured we could all arrive at once.”

Another car turned into the neighborhood and Austin could see it was Alex and Jackie. He rolled down his window and motioned for them to follow. He punched in the code and the three cars wound their way through the neighborhood to Rachel’s house. When they pulled in they could see a realtor sign in the yard indicating that an offer was pending.

A note was taped to the front door. “In the solarium.”

“Déjà vu,” said Stephanie as she looked at Jackie.

The six entered the house and went directly to the solarium. They entered to find the lights dimmed and Rachel lounging in the hot tub. She was nude and resting her head against a headrest with her eyes closed. Her breasts just broke the surface of the bubbling water. Austin spoke first.

“Uh, hi Rachel. Uhm, do you think this is a good idea?”

Without opening her eyes Rachel said, “Humor me. Get undressed and get in. Glasses and drinks are on the bar.”

The six paused, not sure about their next step.

“Just get naked, get a drink, and get in,” repeated Rachel in a snippy tone.

Unsure glances were exchanged with each another, then one by one, they slowly removed their clothing and stepped into the hot tub without getting a drink. The feeling in the room was not one of fun erotic teasing, but rather one of ‘what the fuck is going on?’ When everyone was settled Stephanie broke the silence with a concerted effort to not condemn Rachel for her prolonged silence.

“Hey Rachel, how are you? Where is Aaron?”

Rachel finally opened her eyes and sat upright in her seat. She reached behind her and took a shot glass, threw the contents down her throat for liquid fortification, and returned the glass. Without making eye contact with anyone she began her tale.

“There have been a lot of moving pieces and it has taken time to get them settled.”

Jackie interrupted, “Hey, Rachel, it’s us, are you OK? What’s going on?”

Rachel’s head snapped to her left to stare at Jackie. Her lips were pursed as she silently willed Jackie to silence. Everyone understood the message They sat quietly and waited. Rachel started her tale with the weekend of her attack.

“As you know, probably from Riggleman,” Rachel said with no attempt at hiding her disdain toward the detective, “Sam knew about my secret playtime at work. He slowly increased his requests from dirty talk, to a flash, to what happened that Saturday. My last agreement with Sam was that I’d let him fuck me, and then we would close the Morders deal.”

Rachel went on to explain that Sam forced her to include her team in the invitation to the party.

“I knew you would puss out.” Rachel quickly glared at Jackie and then Stephanie. “But I also knew if I didn’t at least invite you the deal would be over anyway. As you ran out that night I was tired of Sam’s games and told him to just fuck me and be done with it. He was rough and began yelling at me. At first it was just ‘bitch this’ and ‘bitch that,’ but after a while his real motive came out when he brought up his son.”