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“Maybe you can tell us, what might have brought her to Roman Hill in the first place?” Robin asked the shivering woman on the couch.
Remy looked up at Robin nervously.
“I really don’t know,” Remy replied. Her eyes refused to focus on anyone.
“Zelda, Eve I mean,” Martha began, “told me that you wrote to her about strange things happening here. What did you tell her, dear?”
Remy’s chin trembled. “Oh, I’m sure it was too much. I must have told her that you and Felicia were, you know … playing your games.” Remy’s voice turned cold, as if her entire body had been suddenly hit with a blast of snow. She shook, her arms drawn in close to her sides.
“Remy, hon, perhaps you need to lie down,” Martha suggested, worriedly.
“No, I don’t need to lie down,” she wiggled away from the woman’s grasp. Her eyes stared blankly ahead, then looked up as she realized that everyone was staring at her.
“You told her about the S&M?” Leslie asked.
Remy looked up, her eyes darting about the faces of the women looking at her.
“Yes,” she answered, “I told her that my lover was into S&M games with another woman, that I couldn’t do those things, and I was very concerned about my relationship with Martha.”
“But Remy, I thought we’d talked about this?” Martha said.
“How did she respond?” Robin asked.
“She wrote back not to worry, that there was nothing wrong with variety in sexual expression, that perhaps I should talk to Martha about my feelings.”
“Quite a sane thing to advise you,” Leslie said.
“I can’t believe how devious she was,” Martha said, shaking her head. “I still can’t believe that you three rescued me from this. I would have died.” The look of shock on Martha’s face was as real as the one she’d had the day before, when she was finally aware of exactly what had happened in the middle of her scene.
“It’s going to take some time to get over, I’m sure,” Robin said kindly.
“But Remy,” Martha said, “You mean to tell me that you didn’t have any doubt about Eve when she came here. I mean did she really look that much like the real Zelda?”
Remy shook. “I told you,” she said icily. “The woman looked like the Zelda I knew. But you know as well as anyone that I was not well when I knew her. Please, Martha, stop browbeating me!”
“Remy?” Martha tried to calm the woman down, but it was obvious that Remy didn’t want Martha’s affectionate concern.
“Perhaps we could all use something to drink. I’ll see if I can find something.” Martha’s discomfort was showing, and she rose from the sofa, patting Remy’s hand softly. “I’ll be right back. A little iced tea?” she said addressing the whole room. There were enough nods to send Martha on an expedition to the kitchen. Remy quickly jumped up and followed her lover.
“Maybe she needs my help,” she said nervously.
“You think that woman is going round the bend?” Jane asked, as the two disappeared into the back of the house.
“She doesn’t look very sane,” Robin agreed. “This has obviously shaken her badly.”
“I’d put her back in the mental institution and let her calm down,” Jane suggested. “But then who am I to say anything?”
“Did Zelda kill anyone else between her stay at Brightwood and Felicia?” Betsy chimed in. “I mean, is she some kind of serial killer?”
“That’s not clear, the police will be looking into it, as they check their unsolved murders,” Leslie said. For an instant, she caught Jane’s attentive eye, and Leslie stared at the Domme. Her legs were crossed in a masculine way, her cowboy boots still caked with mud on the heels. She squashed a cigarette in the ashtray beside her, the husky finger pressing the butt into the glass while Leslie stared at her. The detective felt her body jump, as it had on so many occasions. Her mind fast forwarding to their private talk, the one they would need to have when this was all over. It made her nervous, even as the possibilities excited her.
“So, what’s your explanation about those tricky little rope knots you two were so worried about?” Jane asked. She was smirking, almost anticipating the answer.
“Eve had seen the pictures,” Leslie explained. “In one moment of lucidity, she spilled the beans to the police, started talking, told them all kinds of things. She thought she was quite clever pinning this on you, Jane. Of course, when Betsy was arrested, she had no problem supporting that theory too. It seems that Eve was very cunning, giving her lovers what they wanted most, only to run a knife in their gut to complete her own twisted needs. It wasn’t until Felecia that she used the S&M fetish, but that worked perfectly into her schemes and she pulled it off without a hitch. Moving on to Martha was as easy as repeating the same crime, which was amazingly bold given the circumstances. You would have thought that she’d have cleared out… or at least laid low. I guess that suggests how much her insanity was in control.”
“She tried doing the same thing with me,” Jane said. “I laughed in her face, she wasn’t clever enough to know that’s something I’d never do. But Zelda hasn’t a clue what S&M is all about, the bond of trust that’s nurtured between Dominant and submissive is so essential to a good scene. We’re a safe, sane and consensual world, as the saying goes. Not a bunch of crazy perverts. Zelda wasn’t sane enough to understand the beauty of that special bond – or the need for it. But she was clever enough to use the fetish to serve maniacal schemes.
“I think I might have been a little different for her, however. She may have wanted a way out with me. She wanted me to take her hard, she wanted the punishment to hurt her, really hurt her. It’s too bad Felicia was so naïve and didn’t see the forces that controlled that woman.”
