Black Iris: Chapter Thirty-One
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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Because of the drugs, I can’t tell if Tammy’s lava lamp is actually just a fish tank that my mind is distorting. I’m staring into it, following the bubbles with my eyes as she sucks my dick.
Once we hit the bed, sex is a blur. She’s on top most of the time, bouncing, sweating, crying, and laughing. The air is thick like corn syrup, and Tammy is leaning hard on my solar plexus. The oxygen deprivation is kind of doing it for me. I want to caress her champagne glass breasts, but I can’t lift my arms. This proves to be a good thing because I don’t have the motor function necessary to keep my claws under control when I cum. By the time it’s over, her sheets look like coleslaw.
I’m not sure if she came or not. I’ve heard some women don’t make any noise but instead get really quiet and still. Perhaps we can have another go in a little while. I’m currently still at half-mast, which I take to be a good sign. Hopefully, it means I can refill the tank when I need to but also won’t have to go to the hospital in the morning.
“Do you want anything to eat?” she asks.
“Not badly enough to go through all the trouble of chewing and swallowing.”
That goofy lamp of hers really lights up the room, at least for my cat eyes. The drugs are making everything a little fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure the rectangle I see hanging on the wall is a drawing of a mushroom.
“Hey, do you think Grace heard us?”
“Probably. You were really loud.”
“Are you sure it was me?”
She answers with a breath on the edge of sleep. My arm is numb, and I kind of have to pee, but the bathroom is so far away. I let my eyelids fall as they may.
“Hey, Snowball,” she whispers. “Can I tell you a secret?”
“Sure.”
“I hooked up with Tommiss.”
“I kind of figured. Did you tell the police?”
“No. I didn’t trust that guy at the station. He tried to hypnotize me. It didn’t work, but I played along.”
“Did he tell you to hurt yourself?”
“No, he just wanted to know things. I didn’t tell him anything, though.”
“What about Grace and Vance?”
She yawns. “They don’t know anything.”
“I’m pretty sure they do.”
“They might know about me and Tommiss hooking up, but that’s it.”
“What else is there to know?”
“That I met him before he started working at City Hall.”
“What do you mean?”
She opens her eyes and looks at the ceiling. “His little gadget didn’t work. I remembered everything. And the next time we got together, he told me who he really was.”
“Oh.”
“You know, too. That’s why I told you.”
She rolls onto her side and begins to snore.
***
The theme song from the show Veep plays for 30 seconds before I realize it’s Tammy’s ringtone. I nudge her, but she doesn’t budge. The ringing stops, and I lie back down.
Before I can fall back to sleep, the phone rings again, but Tammy still doesn’t move.
“You going to get that?”
She doesn’t answer, and the phone continues to ring. I feel like I’m being kicked in the temples by a donkey.
“You’re killing me here.” The phone is nowhere in sight, but I track the sound to her bag in the corner. I find it between two smooshed pot brownies just as it stops ringing. The missed calls are both from “Madam Veep,” who I assume is Annette. There are also texts from her and Grace.
7:48 a.m. Grace:
Meeting starts in 10 wher are u?
8:34 a.m. Grace:
U better be on ur way. Bottom is pissed.
9:31 a.m. Madam Veep:
Is everything ok?
10:30 a.m. Missed Call & Voicemail Madam Veep
10:32 a.m. Missed Call Madam Veep
“Shit, it’s after 10:30. Are you going to…”
Tammy is still as a rock, her skin is sallow, and her lips are a pale blue. I feel her wrist, and she has no pulse.
“Shit, shit, shit.”
I roll her onto her back and start giving her chest compressions. After five cycles of CPR, I give up.
I start pacing the room. Normally, I’d call Mandi at a time like this, but something tells me that’s a bad idea. And I don’t want to call 911 either. The fact is I don’t actually know what happened, and this doesn’t look good for me.
Tammy’s phone rings, and it’s Annette again. Realizing she’s probably going to keep calling, I answer it.
“Hello?”
There’s a pause on the other end. “Snowball, is that you? What the hell are you doing there?”
“Uh — ”
“Just put Tammy on.”
“I can’t.”
“What’s going on, is everything ok?”
“No. Tammy’s dead.”
“What?”
“She’s… she’s… I don’t know what happened, but I woke up this morning in her bed, and she… didn’t.”
There’s another long pause. “Were you guys doing drugs?”
“A little bit last night, but it was just a few drinks and some pot. She was fine when we went to sleep.”
It wasn’t just pot. It couldn’t have been. But Annette doesn’t need to know that.
“Have you called the police yet?”
“No.”
“Well, don’t. Leave that to me. Just get the hell out of there and try not to let anyone see you. I’ll call you in an hour, and we’ll get your story straight.”
“Ok.”
“And Snowball?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t touch anything.” She hangs up.
I don’t know why Annette has decided to help me, but if anyone can keep me out of jail, it’s the mayor’s wife.
My fur is everywhere in here, and there’s no time to clean it up. Luckily, there’s a fire escape right outside Tammy’s window so at least nobody will see me leave.
On my way out, I grab one of Tammy’s brownies. If everything goes sideways, I may need to prove that I wasn’t myself last night.