I need a little vacation from writing

I'm taking a mental break. I'll get back to the blog in a few days.

RoB- more tattoos

After each murder, Pauline celebrated with more ink. Phyrrus- scarecrow on fire. Sexton - $100 bill with Pauline's face on it.Atila- baby with fangs. Evelynn's brother- capital G with x over it. Now she decided to get two more tattoos in memory of her dead teammates. Alina- black stiletto with studs. Myrtle- unicorn. She paid cash and had them inked at the same time.( She had to get out of her depressing motel room; it was beginning to remind her of prison time.) All the while, however, Pauline could only think about the safety of her ex-wife Jean and beautiful daughter Remy. Will they be in the crosshairs of her latest predicament?

Comment about the story I am writing

I had planned to have a plot twist after settling the reader into thinking the female serial killer quartet would be having more projects, and that would be the ongoing focus.Now, someone is killing off the killers, so to speak, and a mystery component is added. The questions are: Are you rooting for malevolent Pauline and Sharon- with all her perverse "trophies" ( moral ambiguity because, after all, evil men justifiably died)? Do we feel bad that Alina and Myrtle died? Should we be able to get away with murder? Who's killing off the team and making it look like suicides? Will there still be more "projects"? What about Evelynn and Jillian? What about Jill's staff? None of the main women are very likable, and they all are suspect. Some bad men died, but the women are the bad guys, too. I am enjoying the process, wherever it leads.

RoB: Short list?

Sharon Chiron couldn't sleep and kept looking at her bedside clock. 2:28 am; 3:01 am ; 3:17 am. Exasperated,she finally got up and went to the small kitchen. The extended stay hotel served her purposes well, but she felt some paranoia, and her insomnia was a side effect. She reached for the goat cheese to spread on some rosemary crackers, and poured herself a small glass of milk. As she ate, she thought of the men she had killed, not with remorse, but as a short list in her mind of related people who may be trying to kill her. Her dead husband has no relatives, and neither does she. Check. Her first kill with the quartet was Trey Pyrrhus,pedophile. Maybe someone had seen the group the night of his murder- to be investigated.Second kill was Robert Sexton, who had bilked his female prey out of millions. The Sangue situation will need to be revisited. Third hit was the young teenager Len Atila, baby killer. Did the motel's night manager or a motel guest see something? The latest murder for the quartet was Evelynn's perverted, rapist brother Garrett, although he is officially only " missing." We did her a favor, didn't we? Could Evelynn want Sharon dead? And then there's Jillian, the mastermind, so to speak...what about her? and neither Sharon nor any of the defunct quartet had met Jill's staff...Finally....Pauline.... her only friend left alive. Could she be the betrayer? Sharon grimaced and wondered whether Pauline was also pondering these same disturbing questions. Sharon was wide awake and decided to read more of Dante's "Inferno" ,which she had begun when she started her exile, until she would hopefully get drowsy. "It milks the tears that boiling brook unlocks." She loved all the punishments and contemplated in what ring she would be located."The stream of blood, where those who injure others,boil....the bloodred, boiling ditch's banks, beside the piercing cries of those that boiled...." She momentarily forgot about her dangerous predicament and smiled.

RoB: ABC on guard

Without being too specific, the ABC crew ( Abby, Barb and Cheri) was told to be on high alert and extra vigilant 24/7 for the next few weeks.Jill and Evelynn had been"threatened", and that's all the crew needed to hear. Jillian assured them that they would get extra compensation, and ABC needed to guard her and Evelynn if either woman left the estate. The dobermans were allowed to roam the property, and the cameras and security system were double checked and scrutinized.The crew was happy to step up its game, because ABC admitted that they had become somewhat complacent with their wonderful jobs. They felt reinvigorated and essential, and ABC vowed they would protect and defend Jillian, Evelynn and property. Jillian recognized their excellence, and especially with this nebulous danger, she felt safe within the confines of her estate. In addition,nobody was allowed on the estate for any kind of "maintenance, delivery, or visitation". Ruby, Yung and ABC all joined in Jill's protection.Jillian developed a bunker mentality, and she doesn't deal well with uncertainty.

RoB: Get out of town.

Pauline and Sharon were visibly shaken when they met Jillian and Evelynn at a private club, called , appropriately,"La Femme Fatale." Jill wanted to make sure no photos were taken or no surveillance could be done on them, which might have happened if they had met elsewhere in public. The club was very discreet and only women were admitted,members who had been branded or guests who knew a 7 digit code that changed four times a day. Evelynn and Jill were already seated when Pauline got there, and then Sharon showed up a little after that. Jill gave them plenty of cash, small suitcases with some new clothes and toiletries,fake IDs and untraceable phones and told them to get out of town now,and not together,not stopping at their apartments etc., until the deaths of their teammates were figured out. No other phones,no texts, no emails, no credit cards. Wait for a one word text from Evelynn when contact may be resumed. Days? Weeks? Months? They were instructed to tell nobody - including each other - where they would be hiding out.Their lives could well depend on it. In addition,Pauline and Sharon were assured that Evelynn would pay their bills and have their mail held.The club's underground escape tunnel would take each one away from the building, and Jill had Pauline leave first, after giving her directions and keys to a Ford Fusion which was parked about a mile away. A while later Sharon left to find the KIA that she would use. Evelynn and Jillian took a completely different exit, which landed them in a club member's apartment building about 2 blocks away.Yes, all Hell had broken loose, and they were all justifiably worried.

RoB: Myrtle 's " suicide"

The Atlanta news station announced that the police identified the drowned body as that of "Myrtle Rinier, age 34,widow, no children. Apparent suicide. Longtime worker at soup kitchen.Body found this morning in Savannah River after what appears to be a fatal jump off the Talmidge Bridge." Evelynn practically spit out the coffee she was sipping as she heard this astonishing news. Myrtle's purse, shoes and coat were left on the bridge, and that was the reason her body was identified so quickly. Next of kin had not been located at this point, but the soup kitchen manager, who had been interviewed did not think Myrtle had any close relatives. Evelynn's mind raced. Why had Myrtle been in Savannah? Why now? It was " too coincidental" that Myrtle's drowning should occur only a little over five weeks after Alina's hanging.Someone knew about the quartet and was targeting them, or Pauline and Sharon had some explaining to do.Either explanation was deeply problematic.

RoB: Jill's and Evelynn's revelations

The week turned into a month, so they were both overjoyed to reunite. The cliche " a sight for sore eyes" equally applied to Jill and Evelynn, because neither had slept well the past few weeks, both preoccupied with Alina's death, without the other knowing it. Evelynn hugged Jill - the only person she ever hugged- and Jill didn't want to let go. Evelynn caught Jill up about Anais as well as her visit to her mother. Jill filled Evelynn in about the goings on at the estate and other business matters. Two hours flew by, and they laughed so much, that both needed to use the bathroom. When they returned to Jill 's library, the mood changed.Both had been delaying the Alina discussion, but Jill broached the subject straight on."I don't think Alina's death was a suicide." Evelynn gasped and revealed that she had believed the same almost from the first moment she had heard of Alina's hanging.Over five weeks had passed since Alina's death,so assuming she was murdered, it was going to be a cold trail.Jill suggested that it might have been the Rodriguez brothers, it which case the question was moot. Evelynn posed the idea of the possible murder being committed by one of the other quartet members. Jill thought it unlikely, but didn't dismiss the theory out of hand. The ladies mulled over the possible scenarios and went through the "suspect" list carefully.Nobody stood out more than anyone else,and after what seemed like hours, Jill and Evelynn took a break and went to the kitchen to get something to eat. Yung wasn 't there, so they got themselves some chicken salad from the frig and a pitcher of iced tea. While eating, they concluded that doing nothing might be the best course of action. They could be wrong about their assumptions, and there certainly wasn 't much to go on. Unless something evidentiary comes to light they will accept the autopsy and police report. Perhaps they should just move on and get over the unfortunate event.Evelynn thought they were callous; Jill thought they were pragmatic.They shrugged.

RoB- Jillian's conundrum (34th entry)

Jillian just couldn't shake off Alina's untimely death.There were two categories of deaths for her: people Jill loved and people she hated. She didn't love Alina - especially the way she had loved her darling daughter Lily -but she didn't hate her either.So a third category.... It was more of a business relationship; and of course since she and Alina had been complicit in a few men 's deaths,they were forever tied through their murderous actions.Jill considered filling Alina's spot in the quartet, but dismissed it, since the other "lethal"women had already bonded.Besides, she thought, the trio would be fine, even though Alina's youth and energy were advantages for the misfit group of misandrists, because the others were all approaching middle age. Jillian gave the man killers a month off to grieve, but part of the leave of absence was for herself as well. She knew what malevolent projects she wanted "executed", but she was preoccupied with the hanging. Had she so misread Alina to miss her suicidal thoughts? Jill thought Alina's anger,misandry and need for revenge would drive her forward, not be halted by despair.She couldn't talk to anyone except Evelynn about the Alina " problem ", because no one else knew of the quartet- now trio. She loved the ABC crew,Yung and Ruby, and Jill would be devastated by any one of their deaths.This somehow made her think that she should feel more disconsolate about Alina than she did. Jill recognized that Evelynn was her anchor, her dearest friend of all, so she would just wait until Evelynn returned from her brief sabbatical to New York City. She knew Evelynn was a voice of reason and the perfect- albeit only- sounding board for Jillian's nagging feeling that the young murderer was herself murdered .Jill knew in her gut that Alina's death was a homicide not suicide.

250 posts ; 15,500 views ; thank you

Well, it isn't half way through the year yet, but I am persevering with my story "River of Blood". I have 32 posts related to RoB, and I'm hanging in there with my New Year's resolution to " get it done." The act of focused writing has proven arduous for me. If you have read any of the framework, the story concerns a team of female serial killers, but one of them has died as a plot twist, so more to follow. If you go back to January postings, anything entitled River of Blood or RoB will show my thought processes about the story in sequence from January until now. Will I write a whole book? I don't know. This is my first concerted effort - mental practice you might say- and I may end up going a whole other route with a different idea to explore. I have the time. I appreciate the people who take time to read my blog; I know you could be doing a dozen other things. So could I, I guess. Thank you.BTW, it's Easter weekend, so I will blog again starting Monday.

Easter

He is risen! Halleluia! I love Easter! I look forward to worshipping and then having brunch with my family. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

RoB- Fallout over Alina

Myrtle 's despondency over Alina's death hindered any immediate planning for the team's next project. Jillian gave all three the next month off in hopes that it would be enough time to for everybody to get some closure on the terrible event. What was surprising to Jill was how hard Evelynn was dealing with the whole thing. Evelynn wanted some time off too, and Jill agreed. Evelynn agreed to check on Anais first, however, since they had not contacted the young Querencia initiate since Anais left the estate and got her pricey apartment in Manhattan.Perhaps Anais would be hospitable and let Evelynn stay with her for a week or so. They could see " Kinky Boots" together, go to MoMA and hear some Woody Allen and his band at the Carlyle. Evelynn loved New York and hoped it would lift her spirits.She would indulge in some guilty food pleasures and have a Hotdog or two from a street stand, some Lombardi's pizza and Carnegie Deli's over- the- top pastrami sandwich.But there was another reason she was glad to be in New York. She would visit her frail mother and feign sadness over her hapless brother's disappearance.

RoB - regroup

The manner in which the grieving trio decided to honor Alina's memory was to kill her acid attacker Santiago Rodriguez and then plant a hidden murder/ suicide note among Alina's possessions as if she had planned the deed. Time, therefore, was of the essence,since Alina had been dead for almost four days, and with Jillian's approval, Evelynn supplied the pertinent research info and a recent photo. S.R. had conveniently been arrested recently and was released on bond to his brother Miguel. Both brothers had very long rap sheets including Santiago's non guilty verdict for assaulting Alina, so getting bond and being put in his brother's sole care was yet another ludicrous example of the " injustice" of the court, but at least the women had a current address.Pauline, Sharon and Myrtle waited and waited but finally watched the two men get into an old chevy Impala , and Pauline followed at a distance. She had placed the small but effective car bomb under the Impala's hood earlier that day, and they would detonate it with a remote when the car was a safe distance from anybody else.Earlier that day, Myrtle slipped into Alina's apartment and placed the typed note, with gloved hands, into one of Alina's medical textbooks , just having it stick out enough to be seen. The note would have no fingerprints on it, but they decided to go through with the plan anyway.It would appear that the motive was revenge- which it certainly was- and also appear that the bomb was on a timer, based on when the car would be started, which could then explain why the car exploded after Alina's death; perhaps it would be concluded that the Rodriguez brutes had no reason to drive anywhere for a few days.Alina's note would state that as long as one of Rodriguez's family was maimed or killed , that would satify her.Of course, the conspiring trio intended to kill more than one family member. The main thing was the pond scum known as the Rodriguez brothers would be dead. Sharon merrily detonated the bomb, and that was that. Later the women drank shots of agave tequila, Alina's favorite alcohol,making toasts in her name and waxing nostalgic about how kind, smart, talented and good she was, and that the lovely Miss Buitrago died way too young - forever a virgin. Meanwhile at the estate, Evelynn wondered whether Alina 's death was really a suicide. She would keep that nagging thought to herself for now.

RoB - unexpected death

Evelynn stared at the cell phone in her shaky hand for what seemed like a long time after she talked to Pauline. Pauline was crying as she shared the shocking news that Alina was found dead earlier that morning from an apparent suicide. The quartet had been home less than a week from their road trip to Death Valley and Vegas, and Alina, in particular, seemed very cheerful and relaxed, and was looking forward to the team's next project. This made the terrible announcement even more jarring and confusing.Alina had hanged herself, and no note or clue to her reason was evident. Alina's housekeeper had found the body, and the investigators figured that Alina had been dead for at least two days. Myrtle was the first to know, because the police found her name with the number of the Southside Soup Kitchen where Myrtle still worked once a week. Myrtle immediately called Sharon and Pauline, and they met at the Downtown park an hour later. They realized that they could 't claim Alina's body or even show up at any possible funeral or memorial service. They would have their own private gathering later, but first they had to break the news to Jillian, and see what their boss wanted them to do or not to do.Pauline called Evelynn so that Evelynn could tell Jill that the quartet was now a trio. Jill listened, then requested that Evelynn take care of making " an anonymous donor's" payment for cremation.Jill went to her bedroom to be alone the remainder of day. Evelynn talked to the house staff. ABC, Yung and Ruby were only told that a friend of Jill's had died, and that Jill did not want to be disturbed.

R of B- Vegas break

The quartet settled into an averaged priced hotel a block off the strip. Each got her own standard room, but the plan was to meet up for dinner and to see a show.Together,they seemed like an unlikely grouping. Sharon, middle aged and biracial,who cared nothing for fancy clothes, seemed like the default leader of the group and managed to keep them organized and on schedule both now and while they planned and "executed" their projects. She was the only one of the four who liked mementos/ trophies of the men they had killed. Alina, with her severe facial scarring, often repulsed strangers who gave her eye contact. Ironically,the rest of her body could be a double for Scarlet Johannsen, and Alina always dressed very stylishly. Myrtle's grandmotherly, benign look fooled many acquaintances, because she cursed a lot and drank a lot and got very loud when she chose. The most visibly noticeable member was Pauline who dressed to the nines and loved to wear lots of makeup and jewelry. Already tall, Pauline would wear very high heels, and had the look of a woman who may have once done modeling. They decided to eat at the Bellagio's top restaurant , because they all felt like splurging and getting some mental distance from their most recent hot, dirty desert job.They all ordered rare filet and lobster. They had male waiters , and Sharon gave them a hard time. In fact, all four women were really demanding throughout the meal time, but they left a 25% tip which most assuredly surprised the waitstaff. Then they went to see Celine Dion by paying through the nose to get last minute tickets, and enjoyed the concert tremendously. Afterwards, they all found it amusing that not one of them wanted to gamble.They decided to do that the next day when they would play Black Jack in the high roller area.So they went back to the hotel, changed and got into the hot tub. With nobody else around, they drank a bottle of Grand Marnier, smoked a couple joints, and felt themselves relax and enjoy this particular evening of post-mortem chatting and laughing. The unusual team had coalesced.

R of B: 7B Death Valley Lane ,part 2

The quartet was getting more efficient with their projects. Evelynn's brother Garrett was , in fact, an easy target. He stayed in a rundown, small apartment that didn't even have air-conditioning, and no security locks nor any cameras. Sharon and Pauline easily suffocated him with the plastic bag and wire, and they carried him to the trunk and threw him in. They were the only ones on the dark road and even though it was 3am, the temperature in the valley was already 97. They pulled up to the designated spot and left the headlights on. Alina and Myrtle were waiting with shovels in hand.The hole was certainly deep enough and wide enough to hold the body, and they all got busy throwing the dirt back on top of the corpse until the makeshift grave had been filled.Sweaty and exhausted from the heat, all four were relieved to get back into the car and turn on the air-conditioning and gulp their bottles of Gatorade. They took turns driving so they could all sleep,and two hours later they were in Las Vegas ready to clean up and spend a long weekend celebrating their relatively easy kill. Alina called Jill who in turn gave the happy news to Evelynn. Evelynn proceeded to have her best night of sleep in years.