06.Evil.Beside.Her.2008 Read Free

Linda. “That he was a cripple and we were making fun of him.”
    After his return, the children were relegated below to-be-seen-and-not-heard status. He ordered them to sit quietly at all times, their hands folded on their laps. If they stood up or talked without permission, they were subject to his vengeance. Their every move was his concern. Even whenthey studied, he was not happy, sometimes turning off the electricity so they would have no light to read by. Day after day, they were barred from playing outside with friends, instead banished to their rooms. The happy times became those brief episodes when Santos and Jesse drove off together, leaving the children at home. They escaped, spilling over the street and yard. Bounding with pent-up energy, the Martinez brood ran the block. “Sometimes we played kick ball and made too much noise and we wouldn’t hear them drive in,” said Linda. “When that happened we all rushed inside and hid in our rooms. We knew he’d be coming and that he would be furious.”
    Santos Martinez, a handsome woman on whom the pain of the years, like the dark circles under her eyes, hung heavy and thick, understood her children were suffering. Finally she determined her husband’s reign of terror had to end. With her brood urging her on, she ordered him out. “Jesse was acting crazy, he even waved a gun threatening to kill the whole family,” she said. Still he came around, one night attempting to force his way into the house. Terrified, Linda and her brothers and sisters barricaded the door with a sofa. As Jesse’s youngest daughter, Alice, watched through a window, in desperation he feigned a heart attack, throwing himself to the ground clutching his chest. When no one opened the door to investigate, he reluctantly left. Days later, Santos filed for divorce.
    As the late seventies approached, Linda was developing into a vaguely troubled but beautiful teenager. She made average grades in school. Though the family had little money, the freedom afforded by her father’s absence made her feel wealthy. Like her girlfriends, she craved rock ’n’ roll and fast cars. She suffered the occasional crush, and sometimes her mother fretted, with a laugh, that she was becoming “boy-crazy.”
    By the time she turned fifteen, Linda was five feet tall and slender. She had an infectious laugh and a wide smile. Only those who looked closely would see that it often melted intoa slight frown. That year, Linda was allowed to date for the first time. In school, her boyfriend was considered a real catch. He was not only handsome but played bass guitar in a neighborhood Latin band. With typical teenage enthusiasm, Linda felt her life was changing, that from here on out, nothing would ever hurt her again.
    Of course, she was wrong.
    One night when Santos was busy, she asked a close friend to watch over Linda. The older woman offered to take the teenager to a local club to hear a popular new group. Linda agreed. The club was a hot, smoky place filled with a Latin beat and the pungent odors of alcohol and sweat. There, Linda happened upon the manager of her boyfriend’s band. He was a bossy, disagreeable man at least ten years her senior, who had never paid any attention to her in the past. This night, however, was different. As Santos’s friend danced, he plied Linda—who had little experience with alcohol—with one drink after another. When she didn’t drink fast enough, he playfully chided her for falling behind. Before long Linda felt fuzzy-headed and giddy. Then the older man whispered that he had something in his van for her, a copy of a new publicity photo just taken of her boyfriend and the other members of the band. “Would you like one?” he asked with a smile. Linda jumped at the chance and padded along behind him as he headed for the parking lot.
    The moments after he opened the back of the baby blue van and motioned for her to go inside will live with Linda forever. Instantly he was on top