Free Cat 'N Mouse by Yvonne Harriott Page A

didn’t care much for Rebecca. She was on husband number five who had just celebrated his eightieth birthday. With the amount of plastic surgery Rebecca had, funded by her husbands, she didn’t think the woman had any of the original body parts God had given her. The thought of her getting her hands on Sam was unsettling.
    “He’s taken. Can we get on with our meeting?” She took the seat at the head of the table and called the meeting to order.
    The morning flew by without any of them agreeing on anything except for the formal dance. They couldn’t decide on a theme because Rebecca kept steering the conversation back to Sam. Rebecca wanted to know where they met and why she had kept him a secret.
    “My personal life is not on the agenda, Rebecca. Can we get back to what is actually on the agenda?”
    “Someone didn’t get any last night,” Rebecca smiled.
    Lunch was brought in at noon with Sam following closely behind the staff as they laid out the food on the boardroom table in front of them. He probably tasted everything on the menu she thought to herself. God forbid if she should die on his watch.
    Rebecca asked him to join them. He declined politely and left with the staff. By the end of the afternoon they had decided upon a fairy tale theme and music from the Motown era.
    “Are you sure about Motown?” Alexandria said to Michelle. She reminded Alexandria of a young Lena Horne. “Somehow fairy tale and Motown don’t go hand in hand to me.”
    “With the amount of money my husband and I are contributing to this event, we better have some music we can dance to. The band that played Bark last year, not impressed.” She waved her forefinger through the air.
    “It’s Bach,” Rebecca chuckled. “Johann Sebastian Bach. The gala had a classical theme, remember?”
    “Well,” Michelle addressed the committee, “
Bach
is out and Motown is in.”
    “Amen to that,” Sahara said, pushing her braids over her shoulders. “All in favor?”
    “Since no one objects, Motown it is,” Alexandria said with a laugh, watching Rebecca tease Michelle about being musically illiterate.
    The meeting ended with Alexandria agreeing to finalize the catering menu with the hotel.
    Alexandria didn’t see Sam when she exited the boardroom and rushed to the washroom wanting to return before he got back. The washroom was just around the corner. If she returned before he got back then there would be no reason to tell him.
    The hotel spared no expense on the washroom décor. From the black marble floor to the glass bowl sinks, every thing was about detail. She entered the stall, closed the door and the lights went out. Her heart was beating so loud she could hear it in the dark.
    The washroom door opened and she saw a sliver of light from under the stall then darkness. She heard footsteps. Someone had entered the washroom. She opened the stall door. It could be Sam, but why would he turn out the lights. Perhaps he wanted to frighten her to teach her a lesson. Let it be him she prayed silently.
    “Sam?”
    “He can’t save you.” The voice was muffled. The smell of sweat and alcohol overpowered her senses and made her nauseous. “You belong to me.”
    Fear like nothing she’d ever felt before cloaked itself around her to the point of suffocation.
    She couldn’t breathe.
    She couldn’t move.
    She couldn’t scream.
    Something wet hit her chest splashing in her face. It tasted odd. She was pushed to the floor; her hand went down breaking her fall. Footsteps ran away from her. The door opened and a sliver of light came in and it was dark once again.
    Alexandria crawled to the door feeling her way up the wall until she found the handle and the light came on. The handle of the door was covered with blood. The floor and the wall where she pulled herself up also covered with blood. She was drenched in it and fought the urge to scream, stumbling from the washroom. When she stepped out into the hallway she heard someone screaming. It