“ You know, the way he's led you to me?”
Emanuel smiled, eyes alight with fire now.
“ Come on,” said Thommie, finishing his White Grenache. “I know somewhere where we can be alone.”
Emanuel countered. “I know a make-out spot where we won't be disturbed.”
“ Why not my place?”
“ Is it nearby, because I'm extremely horny.”
“ Getting very hot in here myself, hon. It's just around the corner.”
“ First, I need to use the little boy's room.”
“ C'mon, you can take a leak at my place.”
“ All right, if you insist.”
“ I insist… and if things work out, I may insist again.”
The stranger laughed sweetly at this, and Thommie Whiley laughed with him. Others seeing the pair took them for lovers having a good time in one of New Orleans' oldest gay nightclubs, but no one paid very much attention when they got up and left together, as everyone was after his own conquest tonight.
They couldn't wait for the privacy of Thommie's bedroom, or at least Thommie couldn't, and in the elevator he tore at Emanuel's clothing with his hand, and then his mouth with his own, but E, as Thommie had teasingly begun to call the other man, kept him at arm's length, saying, “Calm down, baby… whoa… you want to have the neighbors complain-ing? Take it easy… we've got all night. Besides, like I said, I need to drop a loaf. But I did bring something to wear.”
Emanuel snatched a red teddy from the brown leather bag he carried slung over one shoulder resting on the opposite hip. “How'd you like for me to wear this?”
“ Jesus, I like… I like… think you can fit into it?” Thommie half joked.
“ Don't worry, I'm slim at the hips and I brought falsies.”
“ Good… good and plenty and sweet…” Thommie's mouth was watering now. “Maybe later, I can try it on?”
“ Sure… sure, sweet thing. Whatever turns your crank.”
The elevator deposited the would-be lovers at the top floor and Thommie worked the lock open with nervous fingers. He kept talking nonstop. “Vic…Vicki was a tender guy and a great, great lay, and we respected each other tremendously, like I told the cops, but like I said, we just grew a little apart… you know… shit happens…”
“ Grew a little apart,” Emanuel repeated, nodding. “Sure, I understand. Don't worry about it, Thommie Marie.”
As soon as the door closed behind them, Thommie Whiley, a.k.a. Marie Dumond, was at him again, forcing him against the door, kissing and caressing, his tongue finding Emanuel's deep throat, jabbing in and out, enjoying E's intoxicating, provocative perfume. E knew how to give what he got, and he smelled so damned good.
“ Wait… easy… back off and let me get situated and dressed for you, Marie… and Marie, get out of that dress…” He spoke through gasps and kisses.
“ Sorry…just so… I don't know… turned on by you. What's that perfume you're wearing? God, you're good- looking, you know that?”
“ Thank you; now, I'll see you in a moment. Why don't you get undressed and pull the covers down, huh? Got anything to drink? Why don't you pour us something to drink?”
“ Coming right up. Bathroom's that-a-way.”
Thommie Whiley impatiently and breathlessly waited, going naked about the room, pacing and moving several times from the bed to the bathroom door, almost knocking, speaking through the door, asking if everything was all right inside, wondering how long E was going to take and just what he had to do to freshen up. He'd never known a guy with so much cool and restraint before.
“ Everything all right in there, Ms. E? Am I going to have to come in after you? Spank your behind? Can I call you EZ?”
“ Just a minute,” Emanuel repeated in his most feminine voice for an insufferable third time.
When he finally came out, E was stunning with long, smooth legs and an incredible shape, dark, alluring eyes and sensuous mouth, filling out the little teddy like a pro on the runway at the Blue Heron, Thommie thought as he went for him, or rather her, Thommie's hands outstretched, the drinks he'd poured earlier forgotten, the ice in them melted.
“ Wait,” she said, “my bag… bring me my bag.”
God damnit, he silently cursed, but with a little frown of impatience, he glanced around and then retrieved her bag, a large, leather Gucci. “Jeeze, whataya gol in this thing? It must weigh a ton.”
“ The icing on the cake,” Emanuel replied in a soft, purring whisper as she now pulled forth first a vibrator to his delight, allowing him to take charge of this, and then she pulled forth an enormous carving knife with serrated edges, the blade glinting in the half light of the room.
“ What the hell's that for?”
“ Like I said, hon, I'm after your heart.”
“ What the fuck's that supposed to-”
''Ayyyyyyyyyyyl'' Emanuel screamed and lunged at him with the blade, but Thommie dodged the blow, lunging for the floor beside the bed where he tore from below the bed a baseball bat which he'd kept there forever for protection.
He brought the bat to bear, but he was twisted round in such an awkward position that he couldn't negotiate it properly, unable to get his weight behind it. With the swing, however, he lost his footing, and E was rushing at him a second time with that damnably huge knife, trying to find his chest and his heart, and all in that one instant, Thommie realized that Surette had been butchered by this motherfucking fiend who claimed to be Victor's brother, and that this monster had also killed and mutilated all the other Queen of Hearts victims, so Thommie put what force he could into a backswing blow from a kneeling position, lashed out at the raging madman's hairless legs, but E just kept coming, and suddenly Thommie felt a sharp pain to his temple, the bone crack sound reverberating in his brain, and next Thommie felt something sharp penetrate the skin beside his ear and sink almost to his left eyeball before he passed out.
When Thommie came to, he was lying on his back in bed, where E had placed him, blood caked at his temple; he was disoriented and seeing through a thick blur, the sound of his own blood and pounding heart in his ears, threatening to send him into deafness so loud was the sound of it along with a sentient ringing noise, as if his own internal alarm clocks were all going off at once. When his eyes fully opened and focused, he realized that Emanuel's red teddy and enormous, blood-smeared breasts were dangling pendulum fashion over him, and E's curly head worked back and forth, her hands doing something up and down along a slippery path.
Christ, atop every other indignity, he really is a she.
Thommie's eyes coming clearer now, he saw E reach into an enormous cavern that'd opened up in Thommie's chest, and he felt the other's hands tugging at his beating heart when Thommie suddenly saw only a blinding white light which he allowed himself to fall into; it was not a natural light but a light that blinded both his vision and his feelings, like a shower of mercy and Thommie gratefully retreated into it. All life was severed with the connections between his heart and body and Thommie stepped into a never-ending sleep.
17
The world stands out on either side No wider than the heart is wide; Above the world is stretched the sky- No higher than the soul is high. The heart can push the sea and land Farther away on either hand; The soul can split the sky in two. And let the face of God shine through. But East and West will pinch the heart That cannot keep them pushed apart; And he whose soul is flat-the sky Will cave in on him by and by.
IAD had advised Alex to remain home until the incident at Tully's was officially declared a righteous bust, and
