"CAT GOT YOUR tongue, Mischa?" said her boyfriend, Sebastian.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxJ4QdNxL0N
It was now six days since Felice's death. Six days of staring at the walls of her cell, at the bed once occupied by Felice, barely eating, barely speaking other than when she went to the infirmary for her job. The prison had conducted its typical "investigation" into Felice's death and come back with the unsurprising "finding" that Felice Julie Laffitte had died when she slipped in her cell and struck her head on the floor. Four of her five cellmates, in their interviews, corroborated this version of events. Mischa was the sole holdout. The official paperwork described her as pen cooperative----uncooperative----and "unwilling" to give a suitable account of the event."
The guards had been shrewd in their write-ups. They estimated the time of death as falling between 7:30 and 8:30 in the morning, which placed the occurrence right near the 8:00 a.m. shifted change. This, Mischa had come to learn, was how it worked when fatal "accidents" occurred at JRF. If there were ever an official inquiry by the Ministry of Justice and Liberty, not only would it be hard to isolate a particular guard as the culprit, but it would be impossible to even identify which shift of guards was on duty at the time----the crew that was ending at 8:00 a.m., or the one that was just starting.
"Anything," said Sebastian. "Tell me what you think."
Across from Mischa, dressed comfortably in a button-down shirt and blue jeans, sat her boyfriend. This was Sebastian's first time visiting her. It only took him three and a half months just to get up the nerve. Sometimes he'd tried excuses----the move to the States, adjusting to being temporarily without work in New York City, spending weekends with Zoe and Hania, who were still having a rough time with all this. Sebastian's secondary talent, apart from his acting, was inventing reasons not to visit.
If he even bothered with an excuse at all.
Not that Mischa could really blame him. They hadn't parted on good terms, after all, and it wasn't like their relationship was in fantastic shape before her arrest.
"Mischa, c'mon," Sebastian repeated. "Talk to me."
She gave him a cold smile. "You pass on a dozen chances to visit. You wait almost for months before you show your face. Then, within ten minutes of gracing me with an appearance, you tell me you want out of our relationship. And you've got the balls to put the burden on me to say something?!"
"Mischa....."
"All right, I will say something. 'Fuck you, asshole'. There! You satisfied!?"
A large part of Mischa wasn't surprised. Should she have been grateful he didn't just write a letter to her saying "We're through, Mischa. Get the hell over it"?
"Listen, Mischa," he said, knifing a hand on the table. "We both made some mistakes...."
She laughed out loud. "You have speech prepared? Are you shitting me?" She leaned into him. "Yeah, we both made mistakes. Letting you talk me into dropping my career and temporarily moving to Austria, for starters, so you could screw your leading lady while my Anglo-American back was turned...."
"And I believe the whole world knows of your indiscretion," he hissed back. He read the expression on her face. "Oh, what---your little roll in the hay was different? It doesn't count if it's with some actor other than me?"
Incredibly, this was the first time they'd ever discussed the topic. Both of their "indiscretions," as Sebastian put it, became part of her trial, part of the overall story, part of the tabloid hysterics the world over. But they avoided talking about it one-on-one.
"You'd already broken us," Mischa replied. "You, with your damn affair. What I did was wrong, and I take responsibility for it. But it wasn't some planned, long-term relationship, sneaking around behind your back and inventing all kinds of excuses. It was an impulse, after I'd drunk more alcohol than......"
"Oh, just spare me that 'spur-of-the-moment' bullshit, all right?" Sebastian waved a hand. His face was crimson and his eyes rabid. "As if you didn't go to Monte Carlo looking for it. As if you weren't looking for it earlier that day at the pool. You carrying on like a little tramp! Giggling and flirting at the pool in your skimpy little bikini...."
One of the guards slapped a hand down on their table. "Si vous ne restez pas tranquille, votre mari devra partir," he said, threatening to end the visit if Mischa and Sebastian didn't quiet down.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSKbzFPHW1
"Excusez," Sebastian said in apology. He took a breath and calmed down.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf0wiTzstTz
Mischa's blood had gone cold. She just stared at Sebastian, her body still as a statue but her mind racing. She was pretty sure that the color had drained from her face.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNxBHekfiqN
Sebastian let out a long sigh. "I'm sorry for what I did. I've paid a pretty damn high price for it---but I'm sorry just the same. But now it's a....."352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ00xherq6EO
Mischa felt herself get up from the table. Suddenly, she couldn't be in the same room with this man. "You don't want me, I don't want you," she said, or words to that effect. She didn't know what she said. She just wanted to get the hell away from him. She needed to think.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZoGWeFIzK
As if you weren't looking for it earlier that day at that pool.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡigOlcNGTDB
Carrying on a like a little tramp. Giggling and flirting at the pool in your skimpy little bikini.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9GXFcQCJ3
"I really am sorry," Sebastian said. "But really, Mischa----this shouldn't surprise you."352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5fDOErJI7j
Surprised? It depended on what he meant.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBzN0xwL9ix
She wasn't surprised that he was asking for an end to the relationship. She knew that day would come.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2UX9M6Py2
But she was very surprised indeed to learn that Sebastian had been in Monte Carlo on the day that President Cesar Diderot was murdered.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHJtVYdJ7so
