Free Candy

Chapter Thirty One

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

It took Cecil three months before he took the note out of the drawer. He finally got used to the fact that Ted was gone for good, so he took it out and unfolded it. He just shook his head as he read the hand written note, the last message he would ever get from Ted Bundy.

“Cecil, I told you that there were more women out there than I could ever handle, so here’s one I picked out just for  you. Call her, she will do you some good. She’s a little pudgy for my taste, but I remember how much you liked that Darlene girl we met at the bar. Her name is Rebecca, she loves Volkswagen Beetles and you can call her at 545-8199. CALL HER! Sincerely, Ted.”

Cecil put the note down on the counter, wishing it would just disappear. He had no intention of calling this girl, no matter who thought she could be good for him. Little did he know that she was already someone he saw every day when he was working in the lab and that Ted wasn’t going to let the matter rest. 

Ted called Rebecca the next week, figuring six months was long enough to let Cecil stew, and told her all sorts of amazing things about him. Eighty percent of what he said was fiction, but the rest was everything Ted knew about Cecil, and he made it all sound so very interesting to a lonely postgraduate who hadn’t been on a date since her senior prom.

When Cecil was in the lab that following week, he walked in and ignored everyone, just there to do his job. He cloistered himself in his office while he put together some paperwork for an article he was writing, but someone was at his locked office door. There was a little window that he had a taped a picture over, and someone was casting a shadow on it while they tapped. Three taps, then the doorknob rattled.

“Who is it?” Cecil asked from his desk.

“Cecil Willis?” the voice came through the transom.

“I’m Cecil, who are you?”

“I’m Rebecca Sundstrom, can I come in?”

Cecil didn’t make the connection at first, not ready to have his world at school be invaded by someone he’d rather forget ever existed. He got up and opened the door to see Rebecca standing in the hallway, her red hair shining in the afternoon sunlight that streamed down through the hallway. He saw her bright green eyes and her impossibly straight teeth in a smile framed by a round face with freckles in all the right places.

“Can I help you?” he asked, forgetting her name already.

She reached up and brushed her hair behind her ear, then she held out her hand.

“I’m Rebecca, a friend of yours told me all about you and I just couldn’t wait to meet you in person,” she said as he shook her hand.

Cecil remembered the note, then remembered falling on his ass while everyone laughed at him. He remembered that Bundy had stolen the VW that he wanted and he remembered every girl that ran away from him in the playground. 

“I’m sure he didn’t tell you much,” he said, pulling his hand back and putting it in his pocket.

“I’d rather find out from you anyway,” she said with her perfect smile.

Cecil turned around and looked at his office, hoping to see another door that had never made itself known. He walked back behind his desk and sat down in his chair. Rebecca followed halfway around the desk and leaned up against it, her flowery skirt just a little too short, but really the perfect length.

“I’m busy right now,” he said, looking at her legs.

“Come on, your paper doesn’t need to be finished for a month. You can chat for a while,” she said lifting her right foot to prop it on the bottom drawer of the desk. The motion lifted the hem of skirt just a little higher on her left leg, to exactly the spot where Cecil was staring.  He looked up at her and she winked.