Murky Waters

My mama always told me to watch out for the bad boys but she never told me how dangerous the rich ones were. Oscar was the only son of the Frost family. Their family was basically royalty in Barrowview. Our city was small. Despite the prime waterfront real estate, only about 50,000 people lived within city limits. The brutally cold and harsh winters may have something to do with that.

The Frosts owned over half of all the businesses in the city. What they didn’t own, they pointed their pit bull lawyers at to absorb or crush. Even I was on their payroll for a time. I worked for the local news station as an investigator. When we got wind of a story that would paint Barrowview’s high family in a bad light, I was assigned to vet the report. I found more than enough evidence to confirm the initial report and then some. Our reporter had written up the story and I was given the greenlight to reach out to the Frosts. I got a ‘no comment’ brush off and submitted everything to the editor. But when we were set to go live with the story a few days later, we were told to drop it at the behest of our new owners, the Frosts.

That was how I met Oscar. He was put in charge of the station and all stories had to flow through him. He was at every pitch meeting, every staff meeting, even the birthday parties. Despite the things I knew about his family, given my investigation into their business practices, I found myself charmed by him.

It may have been because he was cute; because he was so cute. He had a head of soft curly brown hair he usually wore slicked back into a modern pompadour and icy blue eyes that were anything but cold. His eyes were where he held all his emotion, they shimmered when he laughed and clouded over like a storm when he was upset. He had a tendency to chew on his full lips when he was focused so he carried a tube of lip balm with him wherever he went, he even stashed them in places he visited frequently. Every day, his tight and trim body was wrapped in a different tailored suit for each day of the week. The gym was certainly his best friend if the way his suits hugged his muscles were any indication. I questioned how he could find the time to go to the gym and get enough sun to provide his deep tan when he had so much work to get through.

Two months after his takeover, I met him officially when I turned in my resignation. My integrity wouldn’t allow me to work for a news station that allowed the subject of its reporting to buy it out in an effort to squash the report. In the five years I’d been doing my job I’ve had stories scrapped, just never for that reason. I thought he wasn’t going to accept my resignation at first because of what I knew but he did. He even offered to write a letter of recommendation for my next job. I was stunned.

As he walked me out of the building, Oscar invited me to a dinner party his family was throwing. I’d never been to a dinner party so I didn’t know what to expect. I bought a new dress, a sparkling ice blue strapless gown that clung to my body like cellophane. A slit ran from the top of my thigh to the bottom hem. I’d gotten my hair and makeup done too. My usual bone straight blonde hair was twisted into a beautiful braided low bun. My makeup perfectly matched my dress and my mom had even given me diamond earrings that had belonged to my great-grandmother to wear.

Oscar met me at the front door when I arrived. His home was on the opposite side of town. I felt so out of place driving my beat up station wagon to this party where no car that cost less than $50,000 sat parked along the driveway. But Oscar had gone out of his way to make me feel at ease. He guided me through the party, introducing me to everyone and even helping me network with various people that could help me in my career. In the rare moments he left me alone, most of his family made me feel just as welcome as he had.

“I’m Esmerelda Frost,” an elegant woman said startling me from gazing at the sunset on the patio. “You must be that investigator, Mavis Parsons. Are you here for dirt?”

I was taken aback. Everyone had been so kind up to that point. “I was invited here,” I said.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” she sneered. “My brother doesn’t always do his thinking with the right head. Sometimes I have to clean up his messes. Are you going to be messy?”

I didn’t know how to respond to that but I was saved when Oscar rejoined us on the deck.

“Sister, I hope you’re behaving yourself,” he admonished.

“I wouldn’t dream of anything different.” With that she whirled away in a cloud of perfume that smelled as delicate as she looked.

“Sorry about that, she can be… protective,” he hedged.

“It’s not a problem, I know how siblings can be,” I smiled.

The night was like a fairytale. He stuck close to me the rest of the night before walking me to my car. I was smitten, charmed, and completely his.

Following that night we saw each other at events around town. Art gallery openings, night clubs, restaurants, it had become such a regular occurrence we decided to make it an official thing. People were already talking anyway, we might as well give them something to talk about.

Oscar was a romantic. He borrowed one of his family’s boats. Actually, calling it a boat was totally underselling it. He explained it was a 62 foot yacht. I’d never been on a yacht before. In fact, I don’t even think I’d seen a yacht in person before that night. He took us on a night ride, anchoring us far enough away from the shore that all I could see of Barrowview was a mess of tiny lights as the city bustled on without us. I knew if they were looking back at our boat on the horizon, we’d blend in with the stars dotting the skyline.

“Mavis,” Oscar started. I loved the sound of my name on his lips. “Come with me.”

He held out his hand, taking mine in his to lead me down from the deck at the top of the boat to the second level where the main living space was. I thought he was leading me to the table and booth-like seating at the bottom of the steps but instead he took me through a sliding glass door that led to a narrow passage seemingly circling the perimeter of the vessel. He led me to the bow of the boat, I only knew what that was because of the movie Titanic, and set me down on a couch built into the space below the tinted windshield. Ahead of us was nothing but the expanse of the ocean and twinkling stars I wouldn’t normally see because of all the city lights. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

Oscar sat on the cushioned platform in front of me, partially blocking the view. I didn’t mind, he was just as beautiful to me.

“Mavis. I have a question for you,” he began.

My heart raced in my chest. What could he possibly be asking? It was entirely too early for a marriage proposal. Right? I mean, I didn’t even know what I’d say. This was so sudden but not unexpected.

“Have you been stalking me?” he asked, his face a mask of seriousness.

Maybe I was being dramatic but I could almost hear the beauty of the night crackling with the same fervor of ice melting in the spring time or glass shattering. My breathing became shallow. Did he bring me out here to embarrass me? Of course I wasn’t stalking him, the thought was crazy. If anything I should be asking if he was stalking me. I’d seen him more than I’d seen my own mother recently.

“What?” I asked incredulously. “Stalking you?”

“You have been at every one of my recent public appearances, my presence at these events was highly publicized beforehand. Once or twice I could understand—“

“Where is this coming from?” I could feel my ears heating, the heat wasting no time spreading to my cheeks.

“Mavis, I need you to stop. This is highly inappropriate. The way you crashed the dinner party was completely inappropriate.”

“Crashed? You invited me!” I could hear the shrill edge to my voice but there was nothing I could do to control it. This was unreal.

“Mavis, I never invited you. After you handed in your resignation I said I’d walk you out because I had a party to prepare for and needed to leave early.”

No. No, that wasn’t right. “You told me to come. I remember you said I should come.”

“That never happened. Before that day, I had never seen you before.”

Why was he lying like this? All the moments we shared, the looks and smiles and touches. Why would he be so cruel to me? “That’s not true.”

“Mavis-“

“Stop! Stop saying my name like that! Why did you even bring me out here?”

“I needed to bring you somewhere private where we could speak without being overheard.” He reached behind him and produced a dark blue folder which he handed to me. “This is a restraining order. You are not to be within 500 feet of me, you are not to show up at my home or place of business, you are not permitted to show up to any public appearances I may make. Do you understand?” My fingers held onto the folder loosely. “Also, I need you to sign this non-disclosure agreement. It basically states the events of tonight will remain between the two of us and the details of the restraining order will only come to light if you fail to adhere to the terms within. Lastly, you will find a letter of recommendation for your next employer.”

He handed me a shiny silver pen. It had a weight to it. I could tell it must have cost a small fortune. I ran my thumb along the side, feeling the letters of his name engraved into the metal. He probably valued this pen more than he valued me.

Next thing I knew, my hand was covered in sticky red liquid and Oscar looked at me with a mixture of shock and fear. Those icy blue eyes had never looked so beautiful. They only rivaled my mother’s. She had looked the same when she had realized it was my car careening around the curve. I could still feel the echo of the car thumping over her body.

“I could have loved you,” I whimpered. “I could have made you happy. We could’ve been happy.”

I yanked the pen out of the side of his neck and stood, watching as he flailed. His life slipped from him in rivets of red spurting between his fingers. I calmly walked back up to the deck on top where the radio was. I found the small black box and took the microphone in my hand which was moderately difficult with my hand being as slick as it was.

I pressed the trigger and said, “There’s been an accident.”