Within a Dream - a Short Story Read Free

the
surveillance footage –”
    “ Put it up.”
    Her lips pressed down. “Hun, you need to
sleep. Really.”
    “ When Hank gets back, I’ll take a nap
with him. I promise. A real nap. But run the footage. Maybe I’ll
spot something that you’ll miss.”
    Maria looked as if she might refuse, but at
last she sighed and hit a button. “Just fifteen minutes.”
    It looked like an ATM camera from diagonally
across the street. A stream of Bostonians moved past in their
autumn finery, Red Sox jackets and cell phones glued to their ear.
And there, crossing the street -

    * * *

    I bolted awake in my bed, tears streaming
from my eyes. I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. 3:01am.
    Hank’s side lay empty.
    I shook my head, wiping at my face. It
wasn’t bad enough the bimbo was sleeping with my husband in real
life. Now she was in my dreams, too?
    I grabbed up my cell phone, drew on my
jacket, and went out to the balcony. It overlooked a rolling
stream. When Hank and I had moved in here it had seemed wonderfully
romantic. Now it made me think of drowning that secretary of his –
repeatedly – until this whole nightmare just went away.
    Maria’s voice sleepily answered. “Suz, girl,
it’s after three in the morning.”
    My voice shot out of me. “Hank’s cheating on
me.”
    She shrieked, and I heard the mumble of her
husband in her background. Some footsteps and after a moment she
spoke again. “I’m in the bathroom. We can talk. What the Hell
happened?”
    I slumped against the wall of the balcony.
“I took him that tiramisu, like you said. But he wasn’t at the
office. I found his car at the secretary’s house. And when I looked
in the window, I saw her crimson-red lips locked around his cock.”
Tears bubbled up fresh.
    “Oh, Suz, Suz, I’m so sorry. He’s a jerk.
He’s slime. He’s sewage.”
    “I came home to wait for him – but I must’ve
fallen asleep. And then Barbara was in my FBI dream, too!”
    Maria sighed. “Suz, that slut secretary
being in your dreams makes sense. You had just seen that awful
sight. She’s probably burned into your brain right now. It’s lucky
you didn’t dream she was a psychotic vampire out to kill you
all.”
    I shook my head. “This seemed real. I dreamt
she was involved in my FBI case. That she is the one who met up
with the guy I was chasing, Kevin, and tried to disrupt my sting to
catch him.”
    Confusion traced through her voice. “What? I
thought you were chasing after this guy because you liked him!”
    “It doesn’t seem so. He’s some sort of a
child trafficker and I’m trying to bring him down. I’m working to
rescue the girls. But Barbara is somehow screwing everything
up.”
    Maria snorted. “Barbara is screwing
everything up,” she pointed out. “She’s screwing up your entire
life.”
    I shook my head. “It’s not just Barbara
that’s at fault here,” I pointed out with resignation. “Hank is
guilty, too. He’s a part of it.” I sat down, staring out at the
river. “He’s just as involved.”

Chapter 5
    I was parked in the far corner of the
underground garage beneath Boston Common, The place was packed with
cars but the only sign of life was a tourist couple in matching
Miami Dolphins jackets and thick fur hats waiting in the far
distance by the elevator.
    A black car slowly drove down the aisle and
pulled in alongside mine.
    Maria stepped out, glanced around, and then
slipped in the car with me.
    Her voice was tight. “Suz, are you sure this
is necessary? We don’t want to blow your cover. Not after all these
months of effort.”
    I found it hard to say the words. “Hank’s
involved.”
    Maria blinked at me in shock. “What? You’re
kidding. Hank’s a decent guy. And he’s a civil lawyer, handling
insurance fraud. How could he possibly be involved in a Chinese
prostitution ring?”
    I gave a low shrug. “He is.”
    Her frown deepened. “Did you see him on the
tapes? How did we miss that?”
    I shook my head. “No. But I