Ma Vie En Bleu

 

Malcolm never did call me that night. When I woke up the next morning, I still hadn't heard from him. At this point, I didn't know whether to be angry or worried. Naturally, having been together since junior year, we'd had our share of little spats, but he had never just ignored me. I decided that he was probably just as bored with me and I was with him and the best way to feel better would be to have a little R&R with my best girlfriend, Beatriz. We heard that some woman had just bought and remodeled the old salon in the historical district and I just had to see that for myself.

 

 "Welcome, Ladies," beckoned a sultry voice, dripping with a thick European accent. "I am Lillith, won't you please come in." I was taken aback not only by her exotic dialect (and trust me, there wasn't much of anything else exotic in L'Enfer parish), but the place had truly been completely remodeled. I couldn't help but marvel at how much money it must have taken just to gut the place. Hell, I couldn't even afford to replace the old water heater my father installed back when he was still alive.

"You are my first customers today," She continued after we introduced ourselves. "Perhaps I've scared everyone off this morning!" She added with a sharp laugh.

I gave a polite smile and Bea laughed along with her. "So, where you from, exactly?" Bea asked (she always had been more forward than me).

"Everywhere," Lillith replied with a grin. "I have done quite a bit of traveling in my time. My home is simply wherever I find myself at the end of each day."

"Must be nice," I chimed in, just to be a part of the conversation. "What made you come to Twinbrook, though? I've been here all my life and I've never noticed anything spectacular."

"Perhaps you haven't been looking in the right places," she drawled, with a slight pause to study me quickly. "I found  the business prospects to be excellent, and I discovered a property outside of town that I quite liked."

"You don't mean the old Toliver Place, do you?" I inquired. I'd just seen a small column in the newspaper that someone had refurbished it and rescued it from the wrecking ball.

"Yes, yes, I find it to be quite... homey," She told me. Homey was the last word I would use for the Toliver Place. We used to make up stories about it in grade school and I had experienced more than one of my childhood nightmares had taken place there.

"And I guess the business part is workin' out for you," Bea concluded, glossing over the wretched house.

Lillith smiled a wide, toothy grin before replying, "Yes, I am, as you might say, making a killing."

Before we could even ask about the services Lillith offered, I felt my phone vibrate in my jacket pocket. As soon as I heard the voice on the other end of the line I knew I wouldn't be getting prettied up today. It was Officer Shafer. They found Malcolm's car, less than a mile from my house. It was parked just off of County Road 20... at the bottom of an old pond.