Broken Marilyns

ANONYMOUS

ANONYMOUS

"There were several uniform lesions on Charlie's body. Do you care to tell us how he acquired these?" Our lawyer pointed to spots on an enlarged photograph of Charlie to Mr. Henley. This was the first and only time the bastard looked sorry for anything. As he hung his head, he mumbled something.

"Sorry? I didn't catch that."

"A belt buckle!" Mr. Henley barked. If I didn't know better, I'd say there was shame in his eyes. Monsters don't feel shame.

It had been a couple of weeks and I hadn't heard from Julia even though I'd given her my phone number and asked her to check in so I knew she was okay. After pestering the police department for an entire week, I was finally able to track down the Officer who responded to the hiker's phone call and I set up a lunch date with him today.

As Officer Stephens walked in, I quickly took inventory of his sandy brown hair and tan skin. He was easy on the eyes and well built. Scanning the room, he set eyes on me and I offered up a polite smile. Giving the hint of a nod, he sauntered over and eased into the booth. "Hi, I'm Jenna," I smiled and reached out my hand, "you're Officer Stephens?"

Taking my hand like he were taking a newborn, he shook it for a moment, his hand un-humanly hot. "Bradley. You can call me Bradley," he grinned uncomfortably.

I'd taken forever getting ready for this interview but could feel the makeup melting off my face. Today was a scorcher. "Listen, I'm gonna get right to the point. I write for The Drift and I'm working on a possible story about Julia Eisner." Bradley kept his composure and looked me dead in the eyes as I laid out pictures of Julia on the table.

"Jenna, I'm a Police Officer. I know what Julia Eisner looks like so I don't need a reminder. But if we're looking at paperwork, I have some for you too." A dense thud caused me, as well as other patrons in the diner to jump as Bradley plopped a thick pile of papers on the table. "This is Julia. Have at it," he challenged coolly.

The charges were shockingly extensive: prostitution, theft, drug possession, assault, there was nothing this girl hadn't done.

"This girl is missing," I shot daggers through my eyes at Officer Bradley who was treating the entire thing like a joke. "A couple of weeks ago she was found out in the woods by a hiker. Who was the responding Officer?" I was tired of tactics, I wanted answers.

"Ms. Pierce. You know who the responding Officer was, that is why you requested this interview, and Julia has been 'missing' for quite some time now."

"Then why didn't you do anything?"

"I responded to the call. When I arrived at the location she wasn't there."

"And what about the tree, was the tree not there?"

"Trees? We're talking about trees now?"

"I heard the call on my police scanner and found Julia on the side of the road. She told me she was tied up to a tree, beaten and raped." Bradley looked confused. If he did know anything he was very convincing.

"I saw trees but nothing suspicious about any of them. Nothing to indicate that a person was tied up or beaten." I took a second to breathe and get a hold of where this conversation was going.

"As a writer my job is very similar to yours. I question people and find out the facts - the truth."

"Well you're very good at it, Ms. Pierce. Ever thought about becoming a Police Officer?" Bradley cracked a smile.

"I told you, my name is Jenna. Ms. Pierce was my mother," I gave a smile of my own. A little flirting never hurt anyone, especially in these types of situations.

"Well listen. I know you're just trying to investigate, but I need you to know that we're on the same team here. I want to find out what happened to Julia too."

Well, that was uneventful, I told myself as I walked into my house and kicked off my heels. Plopping down at my makeshift office on the dining room table, I typed up the notes I'd taken during lunch with Bradley. My work e-mail's inbox sounded so I opened it up, needing a break from the whole Julia debacle. "Geez Louise," a submission to my column, "I had sex with this girl a couple months ago and ever since she has turned into a nasty whore. What should I do? - Anonymous." About sixty percent of the submissions I received consisted of garbage. They should let me have another column where I could actually answer.

About to click back to my notes, another submission came through. "Geez Louise, you are the biggest bitch I have ever met and I hope you die. P.S., I visited you at your house the other day. Isn't it funny how the night makes it so you can't look out your window? I was right in front of you and you had no clue. - Anonymous."