Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 13:13:12 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Theresa - Chapter 5 Message-ID: For those of you who know of "Romance, Romance", the play Scott performed in, let it be know that the name of this chapter is in no way meant to infringe on any copyrights to that play. The title just seemed to fit this chapter. Also, there is one reference to "The Leap Back". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 5 Romance, Romance "So, what do you think?" Al asked Verbina as they sat in the cafeteria. Al was having some nachos, the first thing he had since breakfast that morning. "About Sam or Theresa?" "Both. Neither," Al sighed. "Have you had one of those days when so much is going on that it makes you dizzy? Well, this is one of those days for me." "I know, Al," Verbina nodded. "You really want my opinion? I think you need to focus on one problem at a time. Sam's problem will be over in a couple of days. Theresa's will take a while. You need to find a balance between them yet not mix them together." Al rubbed his eyes, fatigued. "Go home and get some sleep," Verbina suggested. "You'll have a better perspective on this tomorrow. Besides," she stood up, "in about ten minutes, you're going to be the only person awake who doesn't have guard duty." She smiled at Al just before she left the cafeteria. Al finished his last nacho and chased it with a glass of water. It was time for him to return home for some sleep. Ziggy would have the information he needed in the morning. ****************************************************************** Theresa's face stung from being scrubbed clean. In fact, it hurt terribly and the redness of her face told so. "What did you put on your face, girl?" Tina asked her, giving her some lotion to soothe the burning sensation. "I never had to scrub anything so much to get it clean! Put this on your face. It'll help." Theresa started to put the lotion on. "When you're on the streets, you can't afford regular make-up. So, when I need some make-up, I go to this guy I know and he does my face up with body paint. Unlike most body paint, though, these tend to stay on a long time." "And it does hell to your complexion," Tina commented. "Would you like some tea?" She went into her kitchen. "If it's not a bother," Theresa told her. "Nonsense. I have the best raspberry herb tea. You'll love it." There was noise as she exclaimed. "Alexander! What are you doing in there? I thought you were in your room!" Theresa smiled. "Who's Alexander?" At that moment, Alexander meandered into the living room. Theresa screamed. Tina hurried out of the kitchen. "Is that..." Theresa started pointing towards the crocodile. "Oh, don't worry about him. He doesn't bite. He's only a baby." "That's one big baby!" Theresa exclaimed, still on edge. Tina saw that she wasn't going to relax until Alexander was gone. She picked up the crocodile and put him in his room, the apartment's balcony, closing the door behind her as she returned to the living room. "It's okay. He's in his pen." Theresa took a deep breath. "You keep a crocodile in your apartment?" Tina laughed. "Al reacted the same way when he first saw Alexander. He was tempted to shoot him. He'd thought someone had played a cruel trick on me." Tina watched as Theresa started to put the lotion down. "Don't forget your neck and ears." Theresa obeyed. Tina nodded with approval. "Now tomorrow, right after you shower, put that lotion on your face and don't wear any make-up for a couple of days. You've got to let your skin heal itself first." Theresa laughed. "You act as if you're an expert on the subject." "I've had some experience," Tina smiled. "My mom wanted me to be a beautician but I found computers more interesting." The two were quiet while Tina returned to the kitchen and made the raspberry herb tea. She returned some minutes later with the teapot and two mugs. She poured Theresa a cup and then poured herself one. Theresa gave her a quiet thank you and drank a little before speaking up. "How close are you and Al?" she questioned without looking at Tina. The question made Tina pause. "What do you mean? Intimately close?" Theresa didn't answer. Tina nodded. She'd hit the mark. "We're very close. We've been together for almost five years." "Why didn't you marry?" Tina sighed. "Tough question. I'm not sure why we haven't married. I don't think either of us are ready for what marriage will entail." Theresa nodded her head. "Have you been married before?" "Once but it didn't even last a year. In fact, I don't know why I kept the hyphenated name. Al, on the other hand, has been married five times." Tina stood. "You know, I forgot the apples. Do you like dried apples?" "I've never had them. But I like dried apricots." "You'll love them then. I'll be right back." She returned from the kitchen with the apples. "Try a slice. How about you? Have you ever been married?" Theresa gave a cynical laugh. "I was engaged for one glorious week. But then my mother died," she said sorrowfully. "My fiance refused to allow me to be away from him for even a minute so we separated. After that, I didn't have time to enter into a romantic relationship with anyone." "Do you want to?" Theresa smiled gently. She was actually a very lovely woman without all that make-up on. Her eyes were bright as they glanced across a picture on Tina coffee table. "Some day," she said softly. "Some day." Tina got the entire picture. ******************************************************************** "She's jealous." "Jealous? Of what?" "Of your going out with me rather than her," Tina told Al. He shook his head. "How do you know?" "Trust me, Al. I know." Al looked towards his guest bathroom where he knew Theresa was relaxing in his bathtub. "She's just a kid." "She's twenty-one years old, Al. She's a very impressionable young woman who, for the first time in three years, has been treated as a real person by a man. She loves you. Or at least she thinks she does." Al sighed. "So what do we do about it?" Tina shook her head. "I don't know. I doctor machines, not people." At that moment, Theresa came out of the bathroom and went towards the guest bedroom. She turned and smiled at Al before entering the room. "Oh, boy," Al muttered. "You didn't notice before," Tina surmised. "I didn't have time to notice before." Al rubbed his forehead. "Listen," he said after a moment of quiet. "I'm gonna go talk to her. Why don't you go on home and I'll see you in the morning." He kissed her gently on the lips. Tina smiled and nodded. She gathered her purse and left the house. Al looked at the guest bedroom door and sighed. *Here it goes*, he thought as he went to the door and knocked. "Yes?" Theresa asked from the other side of the door. "May I come in?" "Just a minute." There was a pause. "Did Tina go home already?" "Yes," Al answered. "She'll be here tomorrow morning for breakfast." "You may come in how," Theresa told him. Al entered the room and stared in astonishment for a moment before nabbing Theresa's robe and covering her. *This isn't how I wanted to tell her!* Theresa had been laying completely naked on the bed, looking very seductive. Al's actions to cover her up astonished her - and him - greatly. "What's wrong?" she asked him. "Theresa," Al told her gently as he gave her nightie, "I'm very flattered that you think of me in this manner but..." He sighed. *How should I put this?* "We see each other in different lights." Theresa's face became hard. "I'm not attractive to you." She put on the nightie in despair. Al shook his head. "No, it's not that. I think you're VERY attractive and, believe me, if I were someone else I probably would take your offer. It's just that..." He paused and shook his head. "Theresa, I think you've been misunderstanding my intentions." He sat down on the bed, keeping a friendly distance between them. "I suppose my showing concern for you made you think that I love you. And I do love you....but the way a father loves his daughter." Theresa stared at him with realization. "Oh, my god!" She collapsed down into the bed, burying her face into her pillow. She was crying. "I'm sorry." Al gently placed his hand on her shoulder, which she promptly shrugged off. Al nodded with understanding. He took the spare cover from the closet and covered her. Then, he left the room quietly, closing the door behind him. He shook his head. "Damn it. I must still have some of Sam's morals." ********************************************************************* Theresa woke to the smell of eggs cooking. She had cried the entire night until she finally fell asleep. She cried not because her heart had been broken. Her heart had been broken many times before. No, she cried because she had allowed herself to believe that there could actually be a deep relationship - a sexual relationship - with Al. She felt like a fool. She decided that she couldn't stay in Al's house and embarrass him anymore. She was going to go back to where she belonged. She was a prostitute and she belonged with other prostitutes. She put her old street clothes on and gathered what little she owned: about a hundred dollars in cash and the pink negligee which she had bought. The rest she left in the closet; she would not take anything which wasn't hers. She paused for a moment. *Maybe one thing to remember Al by.* She took the comb and brush that Al gave her that day after he took her in. Having everything she wanted, she wrote a quick note and slipped out of the house through the bedroom window. Al had finished making the omelets as Tina came into the house. She went directly into the kitchen and hugged him from behind. "So, how'd she take it?" "Not well," he sighed. He wouldn't embarrass Tina or Theresa by going into details. "She cried herself to sleep." "Poor girl! She must be devastated!" Al nodded. "I'm gonna let her sleep in but I have to get to the Complex. Would you stay her and watch over her?" "Are you sure that's such a good idea? I mean, after all, I'm the other woman." "I don't think she'd want to see me when she wakes up. It might be.... uncomfortable for her." "I can imagine," Tina muttered as she took the omelets Al had made and put them on the table. *I don't think you can*, Al thought as he sat at the table with Tina. "So, what does Ziggy have on Sam?" Tina asked as she started eating her omelet. "Well, he has to prevent his law partner from committing suicide. Only now it looks like it was murder." "How awful!" "I've been having Ziggy do some checking on anything having to do with the incident. Maybe we can find out who'd want to murder Sam's partner." "I hope so. Are there any leads?" Al told her all about the death of Jeff's uncle and how it could have been linked to Jeff's death. They talked for some minutes more over breakfast after which Al put on a jacket and left for the Complex. ******************************************************************** "What have you got, Ziggy?" Al asked as he entered the Control Room. "I did as you requested, Admiral. Theresa is a disk waiting in your office. On it is a complete file on the Sterling Murder-Suicide case as well as complete dossiers of all the parties who may be involved. Dr. Conelf had it sent up." Al smiled. "Thanks." "You're welcome, Admiral Calavicci." Al went up to his office and slipped out of his jacket. He found the disk just as Ziggy said he would. He put the disk into his computer terminal and listened as he got himself a glass of water. "Admiral," the recorded voice of Ziggy told him, "as you requested, I have done a thorough check on the Sterling Murder-Suicide case. I am sure that you will find my findings intriguing. I shall first inform you of the case itself and then of those involved and of the possible suspects of the murder of Joseph and Jeffrey Sterling." Al shook his head. Sometimes he wished Ziggy wasn't so talkative. "On March 22nd, 1990, Joseph Charles Sterling was murdered in his home on Manhattan Island. Evidence at the scene of the crime indicated at the time that the murder was the result of an attempted robbery. There were no suspects. "March 26th, 1990, Jeffrey Sterling committed suicide by jumping off the roof of the Stevens and Sterling Building in Manhattan. His friend Christopher Raj-ad-Allah pressed the police to investigate the matter further, believing the suicide to be murder. "March 31st, 1990, Christopher Raj-ad-Allah was killed as he crossed a busy street on his way back to his apartment after attending services at his local mosque. The driver of the van that killed him disappeared from the scene before police arrived. The van had no license plates and was clean of all evidence which would help to identify the driver." "Hold on!" Al exclaimed. The computer terminal obeyed, freezing at a picture of the scene of the accident. "Replay Rah-ad-Allah accident." The computer obeyed, repeating the entire sequence. "Oh, my god," Al muttered as he watched the viewscreen flash up pictures of the accident. The wheelchair looked as if it had been crushed by a trash compactor. Blood covered the street and on the left side of the screen was the body of Chris Raj-ad-Allah. He had been run over more than once. He no longer had any distinguishing features - except his eyes. "Freeze," Al ordered the computer. "Enlarge one three left." The computer obeyed. Chris's face was enlarged. Al closed his eyes. He didn't want to believe what he saw but his insides were turning in knots. "Oh, god," he whispered to himself. "Sam." He straightened himself forcibly. He couldn't allow his emotions to get the better of him, especially now. Sam was counting on him more than ever. "Continue," he ordered the computer. "The police were unable to locate a suspect for the crime. Both the Sterling murder and the Raj-ad-Allah accident were filed as unsolved. Jeffrey Sterling was filed as a suicide. "Now a profile of those involved. "Joseph Charles Sterling. Born November 4th, 1926. Married in 1944. Wife died in 1985. No children. Brother: Henry Andrew Sterling, father of Jeffrey Barnabas Sterling. Joseph obtained a law degree shortly after returning from fighting in the Pacific during World War II. He was accepted as a full partner in the law firm of Harris, Stevens, and Sterling in 1954. In 1976, the senior partner of the firm, Sebastian Harris died of a coronary, allowing Joseph and Edward Stevens to found Stevens and Sterling Law Firm. In 1986, Edward Stevens declared bankruptcy, making Joseph sole owner of Stevens and Sterling Law Firm. Sterling retired from practice in 1988. He died in 1990. "Jeffrey Barnabas Sterling. Born September 15th, 1946. Junior partner for Stevens and Sterling. Following his uncle's example, he earned his degree shortly after serving in the Korean War. He was heir to ownership of the law firm before his death in 1990. "Christopher Raj-ad-Allah. Born April 12th, 1944, in Saudi Arabia. His family moved to the United States shortly after his birth. Christopher earned his way into law school where he met and became friends with Jeffrey Sterling. With Jeffrey's influence, Christopher became one of the junior partners of Stevens and Sterling. He died in 1990. "Edward Stevens. Born October 31st, 1929. Born of a wealthy family, Stevens was heir to Harris and Stevens law firm. He has two children: Andrew, born in 1947, and Lucille, born in 1950. During World War II, he helped provide entertainment to Allied troops in both the Pacific and Europe. Stevens enjoyed spending his earnings until he declared bankruptcy in 1986. However, he gained financial ground when he inherited Hastenson Law Firm from his father-in-law. He had been attempting to purchase Stevens and Sterling Law Firm until 1990 when he succeeded upon the death of Jeffrey Sterling. The reason for his wanting Stevens and Sterling is unclear. However, it is possible that he felt cheated out of his inheritance. He died in 1993. "Of the possible suspects of the deaths of Joseph and Jeffrey Sterling, there are only two who had plausible motives. However, recent evidence indicated that Edward Stevens killed both Joseph Sterling and Christopher Raj-ad-Allah in order to gain control and ownership of Stevens and Sterling Law Firm. Jeffrey Sterling's death is still considered a suicide. The other suspect was Jeffrey Sterling, who could have killed his uncle for the law firm and then later committed suicide. However, from Christopher Raj-ad-Allah's own words, Jeffrey is acrophobic. Therefore, it is most likely that Edward Stevens murdered Joseph and Jeffrey Sterling and Christopher Raj-ad-Allah." The review ended with a picture of Edward Stevens at the age of seventy-four years, shortly before his death. Al shut off the computer. He had a headache from all the information that Ziggy gave him. His viewphone rang, insisting an answer. Al pressed the receiving button, sitting before the screen. "Al?" Tina said before Al asked, not very interested what Tina would have to say. "I think you'd better come home." "Why?" "Theresa's gone." Tina suddenly had Al's attention. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 6 right afterr this one. Kat Freymuth