17Chapter Eleven: The Real Target
"It doesn't make sense," I mumbled, trying to speak clearly but really struggling with my bloody and swollen lips. "Karla knows about Taylor and me. She brought us together! For her to go to the police, and falsely accuse him of . . . of something awful . . ."
"Lie still," Zuleika said. The kindly motel owner was cleaning my bloody face while I lay flat on my back on the couch in her office.
"How do you know Karla is just making everything up?" My Aunt Cora snapped. She was pacing back and forth while her friend Zuleika quietly tended to my cuts and bruises.
"Because I was with Taylor all night! The two of us were . . . ow!"
"You must lie still." Zuleika didn't get excited easily, like Aunt Cora. But when I tried to rise from the couch she used both hands to force me back down onto the soft cushions where I was resting. Closing my eyes, I could smell the ointment she was using to soothe away all my aches and pains. It smelled a lot like roses, mixed with herbs from Zuleika's far-off home in the Middle East.
"You were in his bed all night," Aunt Cora bit off, as though she were spitting out something nasty. "But were you up all night?"
"We were making love." I was so tired of telling the same story over and over. Aunt Cora wasn't being mean. She just didn't believe me. With my eyes closed, I soon found myself drifting back to the night before.
The first time we made love was on the beach, right after Karla made that naughty crack about leaving us alone together. I remembered the fireworks going off and the sand under my bare bottom. The second time was when we ran up to Taylor's house, and he pushed me right down on the rug on the living room floor. The third time was in his bed, wrapped in Taylor's arms and breathing in the musky male fragrance of his flesh. It was imprinted on everything in his room, even on his sheets and pillows. Afterwards I fell asleep, still enveloped in the scent of him.
"Could he have done it?" Aunt Cora spoke softly to Zuleika, clearly not wanting to yank me back into the conversation. They thought I was sleeping. Only I wasn't.
"I do not know." Zuleika kept her voice down too. "Your nephew is the first person in years to fashion some sort of a friendship, a closeness with my very wealthy and very mysterious neighbor."
"Yeah, and look what it got him." Aunt Cora sounded cynical, and I could picture her looking down on me with her hands on her hips. "Poor baby, you really fell for him, didn't you? Taylor must've worn him out in bed, completely, and then gone for a walk on the beach. Maybe that girl Karla met him alone and threatened to tell the town about the two of them. Or maybe she just made some sort of crack about the great Taylor Brent not being a real man."
"I do not believe it," Zuleika said quietly. "When young Chris went to the police station this morning, he said he saw the girl. Her face was bruised. But a beating would not silence such a brave girl. And a proud man like Taylor Brent would not beat a woman ever."
"A jealous boyfriend?" Aunt Cora asked. "Maybe the same boys who attacked Chris after he left the police station attacked Karla last night. But then, why would she falsely accuse Taylor Brent?"
"I do not know," Zuleika sighed. "I only know that your Chris and his friend Karla have been badly hurt by the people of this small town. And I fear worse things are in store for Taylor Brent. Come, let us go to the store and get the latest news. Poor Chris must rest. A little sleep will do him good."
"Sweet dreams, kiddo." Aunt Cora blew me a kiss, but I didn't open my eyes. I didn't smile or wave. I didn't want to let on that I had been listening the entire time. I wanted to be alone, because Zuleika's wise and thoughtful words had taught me something. All this wasn't about sex. This was about money. Karla and I had been hurt, but we were like innocent bystanders. Taylor Brent was the real target. Someone was out to get him, and I wanted to know why.