This story is sort of a continuation of "The Stranger" so please read that story first before reading this one. Thank you.
Opening Scene: Maria Guzman, a 16-year-old Hispanic girl, is making out with a black guy in a crowded hallway of a high school. A teacher breaks up the couple, and the two go opposite ways with their friends. A Hispanic guy stops Maria and the two argue. She puts her hand in his face to cut him off and leaves. Later that day Maria is in the backseat of a car with another black guy. An angry black girl pounds on the car window, throwing her hands in the air and screaming. Maria gets out the car and the two girls begin to push each other. The guy breaks them apart, and Maria walks away. She meets up with a friend on a rooftop to smoke a cigarette. A few minutes she gives her friend a hug and says good-bye. When she leaves, it is dark outside. As she takes a short cut home through a dark alley, she is struck from behind. Everything goes black.
Scene 1:
Nina Moreno buries her face into her cool pillow, trying to hide her sensitive eyes from the sunshine that peaked beneath the window blinds. Her whole body still ached from the industrious previous week of five cases back-to-back. Her mind ached from the argument she had with her boyfriend, Eddie Torres, the night before. He had came home late from his workout with JC that night, which was perfectly fine with Nina. After all Eddie was a grown man and if he wanted to have a guy's night out, what could she do? Then he was supposed to have a guy's night out with a couple of his friends. The only problem was that there were no "guys" going out with Eddie that night. It was a woman. And only one woman. The thing that pissed Nina off the most is that Eddie was not even going to bother to tell her the truth. She had to find out by picking up the phone and hearing another woman's voice on the other end.
(Flashback)
The phone rings and Nina picks answers it.
"Hello?" Nina asked.
"Hello? Who is this?" a woman asked.
"This is Nina Moreno. And who is this?"
"Nina Moreno? Oh yeah, Eddie told me about you."
Nina chewed her lip in confusion.
"Oh did he now. And who might you be?"
The woman on the other end laughs a flirtatious giggle.
"I'm sorry. I did not even introduce myself. I am Kathy Gordon. A friend of Eddie's."
Nina took a couple slow breaths and tried to keep the hostility out of her voice.
"So you're a friend of Eddie's, huh? It's funny how he never mentioned you."
Judging by the tone of her voice, Nina could tell that the woman was surprised.
"Really? It is funny that Eddie never mentioned me considering we're suppose to go out tonight."
With those words, Nina could fell a burning sensation at the pit of her stomach. She knew that if she didn't hang up the phone, she would end up cussing out this woman she didn't even know.
"Listen, Kathy," Nina said as calmly as she possibly could. "Eddie isn't here right now. But as soon as he comes in I'll be sure to give him you message." Nina slammed the phone down on the receiver.
"Who the hell does Eddie think he's fooling with?" Nina mumbled to herself. Nina knew their relationship was not carved in stone. But they loved and trusted each other. So why didn't Nina trust Eddie on this particular issue?
"Am I overreacting?" Nina asked the empty apartment. She immediately made it up in her mind that the answer to that question was No. She was supposed to be the main woman in his life and she had every right to know about the other women in Eddie's life.
The front door opened and Eddie walked in after the workout with JC. Precipitation made his thin sleeveless t-shirt and baggy gym shorts cling to his hard body. His thick hair was matted to his head with sweat. There was something incredibly sexy to Nina about the way he looked at that moment. But she took her mind away from his physical appearance and directed it towards the reason why she was so angry with him.
"Man that was one hell of a workout!" Eddie exclaimed, in an exasperated voice. He dropped his duffle bag along with his towels to the floor beside the door and opened the refrigerator for a bottle of water. He took a few gulps and looked at Nina with those intense eyes that she could not resist.
"You should have seen you man in the gym today. I even took JC by surprise."
"Kathy called for you," Nina blurted out. Nina waited for Eddie's face to turn white with shock. She waited for him to make up a ton of excuses to cover up his deed. But instead, Eddie acted as if he did not care that Nina now knew about Kathy.
"Oh yeah. Kathy. Me and her were supposed to have a little get together tonight." Eddie pulls off his shirt and heads for the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
Nina stood in the middle of the living room completely numb. She could not believe that Eddie had acted so nonchalant about her discovery of his "friend" Kathy. A few seconds later, Nina heard the shower turn on.
"Who the hell does that man think he is?" Nina said to herself. "Oh hell no."
Without hesitation, Nina opened the bathroom door to find Eddie standing there completely nude.
"Hey, baby, I'm kind of about to do something," he laughed motioning towards the shower. Eddie wrapped his arms around Nina's waist and pulled her closer to his body so she could feel his hardness.
"Not unless you want to join me in the shower," he whispered seductively in her ear.
"Who the hell is Kathy Gordon?" Nina asked angrily, ignoring his advances. Eddie's smile disappeared as he unwrapped his arms around her waist.
"Well I can see someone isn't in the mood." He steps in the shower and pulled the curtain.
"Well who is she?"
"She's an old friend I've know for a couple of years."
"Oh and out of the blue she just calls you and wants to go out?"
"Basically yeah."
"And you thought it was perfectly ok not to mention to Kathy that you had a girlfriend and not to mention to me that you were going out with her?"
Eddie turned off the shower and steeped out. Water glistened off his body, as he grabbed a towel hanging on the wall.
"Nina, you're not my mother. I do not need you permission to go out with one of my friends." He wrapped the towel around his bottom half, left the bathroom and went into the bedroom. Nina followed him closely.
"So now I'm acting like your mother because I want to know why some other woman is calling, asking for you?"
"No," Eddie responded, dropping the towel and putting on a pair of black boxers. "I'm not saying you shouldn't be curious, but you shouldn't make it seem like I'm cheating on you or something either."
Nina's eyes tinged with tears of anger.
"How do I know that? For all I know you could be cheating on me with her!"
Eddie stopped dead in his tracks from getting dressed. His face-hardened. He stared at her with more anger than she had ever seen in her life. After what seemed like an eternity of staring at each other, Eddie finally spoke.
"I cannot believe you just said that, Nina," he said quietly. Nina could tell by his voice he was genuinely hurt by her accusations.
"Well I'm sorry if you're so insecure about this relationship that you think I'm cheating on you, Nina, but the truth is I'm not. I have never slept or even thought about sleeping with Kathy. So if you would excuse me I have a get together to attend to." And with that, Eddie finished getting dressed and leaves the apartment.
Nina paced the floor for a while after Eddie left. She could not believe he was acting like this. It was arguments like these that made Nina scared to take a pregnancy test; despite the fact, her period was late. She did not want to bring yet another baby into an unstable relationship.
After hours of pacing, thinking and eating chocolate ice cream to cure her depression, Nina collapsed on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
(End of flashback)
Nina yawned deeply and forced her heavy eyelids open. She turned her head away from the window and towards the nightstand beside her bed. Standing neatly on the small table was a picture of her and her mother on her sixth birthday, a picture of her and Eddie shortly after they started dating, and a small digital clack that read 10:30 am.
"10:30!" Nina yelled at herself. Realizing she was about two hours late for work, she quickly jumped out of bed and went straight to the shower.
Thirty minutes later Nina walked into the pack fourth precinct. Uniformed officers were bringing in a few guys who had attempted a bank robbery. One woman was yelling at another officer that her husband had hit her. Right next to her, were two men arguing to another officer about a car accident. There was so much noise and confusion, that Nina thought her head was swelling. She dodges by the clumps of people standing around the police station until she reaches her desk. In one hand, Nina carried a cup of coffee. In the other hand, she carried a small crumbled paper bag.
Two police officers slammed an out of control black man on her desk, knocking her belongings to the floor.
"Damn, watch it!" Nina yelled
The man in custody struggle to get away but the two officers pent him down on the desk.
"Get the hell off of me!" he yelled. "I didn't do anything!"
"You have the right to remain silent. Now shut your mouth!" One of the officers exclaimed.
"But I'm innocent, I keep telling ya'll that!"
The other officer smirks. "Yeah you're so innocent that you tried to grab my partner's gun, huh?" The two officers handcuff the man and pull him off Nina's desk.
Looking at Nina, the man said "Come on, I'm innocent. Help a brother out."
"Shut up!" The two officers yelled. They begin to walk him to the holding cell.
Nina signed, pushing her hair off her face. She bent down to pick up her picture frames and files that were knocked to the ground and sits at her desk. Nina's eyes searched to crowded station for Eddie, but his desk was empty, along with his partner's. Making sure no one else was checking her out, she reluctantly unwrapped the crumbled paper bag and took out the square white box, which contained the store brought pregnancy test.
"Detective Moreno?" The secretary asked.
Nina jumped in surprise and quickly stuffed the test in her drawer.
"Yes?"
"Lieutenant Cooper said she wanted to see you as soon as you got in."
Nina rolled her eyes. "She's probably just going to spit fire at me for being late again. Thanks."
As the secretary walks away, Nina goes to Cooper's office. As she opens the door, Cooper is sitting at her desk on the phone.
"Honey, I know you want to go to the party… but baby it's on a school night." Cooper motions for Nina to have a seat.
"Saying you hate me is not going to change my mind, Megan…Look we'll talk about it when I get home…okay? Bye." Cooper hangs up the phone.
Nina gripped the arms of the chair preparing herself for Cooper's rants.
"Well Detective, I'm so glad you cleared your schedule for your job this morning," Cooper said sarcastically.
"I'm sorry, Lieutenant."
Cooper takes a sip of coffee. "Save your apologies Moreno and don't let it happen again. This is not high school where you can be late whenever you want.
"It won't happen again."
"Glad to hear it. Now while you were sleeping late or doing whatever, a couple of our uniforms found a 16-year-old girl's body on a 131st street. Torres and Williams are already on their way there."
"So am I working this case with the two of them?" Nina asked.
"Yeah, and I need you to be focused on this one, Moreno. That means no fighting with Torres, no coming in late…"
Nina interrupted her angrily "Haven't I always been focused on my cases?"
"Yeah you have until recently. Which is something I wanted to ask you about. Is everything okay?"
Nina paused, uncertain if she should tell Cooper about her problems with Eddie and her possible pregnancy.
"Everything is fine," Nina lied. She stood up and headed towards the door.
"If you ever need to talk, Moreno, you know I'm always here," Cooper called after her.
Nina looked back and smiled at Cooper before shutting the door.
Scene 2: Eddie and JC are in JC's car driving to the crime scene.
"So what's up with you and your lady?" JC asked, controlling the steering wheel with one hand and turning up the radio with the other.
"Nothing is up. She's been acting weird around me lately."
JC bent his head back and laughed. "Well you know how women get around that time of the month."
Eddie chuckled at his friend. " Oh yeah I definitely know how they get when it's that time of the month. With Nina, it is never a pretty sight. I mean take this one time a couple weeks ago…"
"So what happened that night? You got some?"
"No. And that's how it's been for weeks now. No kind of love whatsoever. And the thing about it is I had the whole night planned so perfectly."
JC laughed. "Yeah I bet you did. The multicolored condoms, the sex lotion and all."
"Don't hate the player, hate the game."
The two guys burst in laughter.
"But anyway," Eddie continues "She came over to my place from her class at the city college. I had the Isley Brothers playing on the stereo, the dinner made, the lights dim, and the perfect love making satin sheets on the bed…I am anxious as a mother because I have not had sex in weeks…and what does Nina do? She gives me a peck on the cheek and says she's tired and goes to bed."
JC tried to keep a straight face but failed. His face crumbled with amusement at Eddie's misfortune.
"Maybe you need a new approach, papa. That high school thing must not be working anymore."
Eddie signed, rubbing his hands on his exhausted face. "I guess not although it's worked on every woman I've been with before. Oh and you would not believe what happened last night. Nina accused me of cheating on her."
"What! Are you joking?" JC exclaimed in surprise.
"I wish I was joking, but I'm not. This girl I used to date named Kathy, in high school came into town a few days ago and asked if I wanted to have a little get together with her. I forgot to mention it to Nina so when Kathy called…"
"Oh I got to stop you right there, man. You broke the number one rule in dating. Never have old girlfriends or even a plain girl who is just a friend call your house without telling your lady ahead of time."
"Well now I know that. But why would I take relationship advice from someone who can't get a date?"
JC laughs at Eddie's comment. "Oh so now you're trying to diss, huh?"
The two guys cannot help but to laugh.
"Yo, yo here's our scene, man,"
JC pulled the car to the crime scene. There is a bunch of bystanders and a uniformed officer on the sidewalk. JC and Eddie approached the officer and show their badges.
"I'm Detective Torres and this is my partner Detective Williams from the fourth squad."
"What happened here?" JC asked
"The victim is 16 year old, Maria Guzman. A homeless man looking for food down that alley found her. Looks like blunt trauma to the head," the officer explained.
"I'm going to go check the alley out," Eddie said.
"Alright man," JC said. The two guys give each other a pound before Eddie leaves.
"How long have she been here?" JC asked.
"I don't know. Judging by the bluish tint of her skin probably since last night after she left an Adrienne Santiago's house."
JC bent down, put on a pair of latex gloves and pulled off the white plastic sheet that uncovered Maria's head. "Who is Adrienne Santiago and have we questioned her?"
"She's the victim's best friend and no we haven't questioned her yet. School is still in session."
JC carefully examined Maria's battered face and the back of her head. "Damn. Some one did a job on her."
"Hey look what I found in the dumpster," Eddie said with a small black purse in his hand.
JC takes the purse from Eddie and opens it.
"This is the victim's purse. Nothing much in here but a five-dollar bill, a pack of cigarettes and two pictures."
Eddie looks over JC's shoulder at the first picture. Maria and an older lady were in a swimming pool laughing. The other picture was Maria sitting on the lap of a younger guy.
"Maybe that's her mother and that one is her boyfriend," Eddie pointed out
"Yeah probably," the officer agreed. "The only probably is we have know ideal where her mother is and it doesn't look like she has any other family."
Eddie signs. "It's a shame."
Nina pulls up to the scene and walks up to JC and Eddie
"What happened here?"
"16 year old girl killed last night. Blunt trauma to the back of the head," JC explained
"Well if she was hit from behind, why is she laying on her back?" Nina asked.
"Possible sexual assault. We won't know for sure until the autopsy," the officer said.
"Why don't we do this. Moreno, see if there are any witnesses here. Eddie and I will try to contact the parent."
"Alright."
"JC wait in the car for me. I'll catch up." Eddie said. JC walks away.
"Everything alright?" Eddie asked Nina.
Nina rolled her eyes and walked away. "Why does everyone keep asking that?"
Eddie follows her. "Because you've been acting strange around me lately. I mean you barely let me touch you anymore!"
"Look it's not you. I've just have a lot of things on my mind right now."
"Then talk to me about it. I mean damn Nina, isn't that what people do in relationships? They talk about things that are bothering them."
"There's nothing to talk about, Eddie. Nothing is wrong with me. Just because I don't want to give it up every time you're in the mood doesn't mean something is wrong with me," Nina said hastily.
Eddie laughed in frustration. "This isn't about sex and you know it."
JC blows the horn
"You know Nina, if you ever want to call this whole thing off, let me know."
Nina was surprised at Eddie's comment. "What?"
Eddie turned and walked away without answering Nina.
Scene 3: Eddie and JC wait in the car outside of Maria Guzman's Bronx apartment. JC glances at his watch.
"Damn, it's almost six o'clock and the mother still isn't home. That's probably why her child is dead now."
Eddie threw JC a hard look
"That's a real nice comment, JC," he said sarcastically.
"Come on, Eddie you know it's the truth… That is why there are 13-year-old girls walking around pregnant. 10 year olds on the corner selling crack…."
"Wait, wait I think this is her," Eddie points to a woman a little ways down the street. The older woman had just gotten out of a guys car. She wore a tight leather mini skirt and halter-top. She walks towards the apartment building.
"Are you sure that's her?" JC asked.
Eddie pulled out the picture he found in Maria's purse.
"Yeah that's her. Come on, man."
JC and Eddie got out of the car and followed Maria's mother into the building.
"Ms. Guzman, may we have a word with you?" Eddie asks showing his badge.
Maria's mother quickly turns around with a bewildered look on her face. "What the hell do you want?"
"I'm Detective Torres and this is my partner Detective Williams from the fourth precinct…."
"Oh no…look officers I can't afford to go to jail again… I-I got a daughter and…"
"Look we're not here to bust you on prostitution. We just have to talk to you about your daughter," JC explained.
Ms. Guzman gasps. "Maria? Is-Is she all right? What's wrong with her?"
Eddie bit his lip not looking forward to telling Maria's mother the bad news. "Ms. Guzman we found a body this morning…we think it might be Maria's."
Ms. Guzman's face slowly trembles as her eyes fill with tears. She shakes her head with disbelief.
"No, not my baby."
JC looked down and signed. "Ma'am we're sorry, but we need you to identify the body…"
"No! Maria is not dead. Do you hear me? You have her confuse with someone else!"
"Ms. Guzman we know this is hard but…"
"No! Maria is not dead!" Ms. Guzman violently swings towards the two detectives. Eddie grabs her hands and wraps his arms around her. She sobs uncontrollably into his chest.
Scene 4: Cooper's office
"Alright Detectives tell me what we have on this case so far."
"The autopsy came back in and confirmed that she was hit in the back of the head multiple times with a blunt object like a rock, baseball bat or something of that nature. Also, she had intercourse shortly before she was killed," Eddie confirmed
.
Cooper raises her eyebrows. "Really? Well that could be our lead. Maybe the boyfriend got mad at her for whatever reason and took a swing at her. Are there any pictures?"
"Yeah autopsy pictures and a few from the crime scent." JC hands the pictures to Cooper.
Cooper stares at the pictures of Maria's lifeless body. "Poor, poor child." Looking at her watch, she puts the pictures in the envelope and hands them back to JC. "Look it's getting late. First thing in the morning, I want the two of you and Moreno to interview her mother again and see if you can get any more information there. Also, check out the school she went to. Find out who her friends were, who her boyfriend was and who might have wanted to do something like this to her. You're free to go home."
JC and Eddie both walk towards the door.
"Torres, let me have a word with you."
"Hey man I'll catch you later," JC said. They give each other a pound and JC walks out the door. Eddie walks back to Cooper's desk and sits down.
"Torres, I'm very worried about Moreno. She hasn't been herself lately."
"Yeah, I know. I think she is just stressed out from the caseload recently."
"Well that's the most important characteristic of this job. You can't crack under pressure."
"I'll talk to her."
"You need to do a lot more then talk to her, Torres. I love Nina to death, but I cannot afford a slacking detective at this precinct. I have to put up with enough crap as it is."
"She'll be fine. Like I said it's just stress but she will make a come back.
"For her sake I hope so," Cooper said.
Scene 4: Nina sits on her bathroom toilet with the pregnancy test in her hand, waiting for the applicant to change colors.
"Come on, hurry up and turn a damn color," Nina said to the test. "I need to know it I'm pregnant or not." Nina looks at the small clock she put by the sink. Five minutes to go. Nina impatiently blows her breath. The front door opens.
"Baby, I'm home!" Eddie calls from the living room.
"Just a minute. I'm in the bathroom!"
Nina's eyes frantically search for a place in the bathroom to hide the pregnancy test. She places it in the medicine cabinet. Then she opens the bathroom door to see Eddie standing in the living room with a dozen red roses. Nina could not help but smile. He looked so incredibly cute with his ivory skin and jet-black curly hair. His eyes looked hopeful at her as if he was ready to work everything out.
"These are to the most beautiful woman in the world." He hands the roses to her and affectionately places a kiss on her lips.
"Thank you," Nina responded after the kiss ended.
Before Nina could get out another word, Eddie kisses her again, but with more intensity. With her eyes closed, Nina signed with bliss. She missed tasting Eddie's kisses. She missed feeling his arms around her as if she was the only woman in the world. Her breath quickened with need as she felt Eddie's hands make their way underneath her sweater. His thin fingers felt like silk on her warm skin as both of his hands made their way to unhook her bra. Within seconds, her bra and sweater laid in piles on the living room floor
"Baby it has been to long," Eddie said softly. His voice was barely a whisper.
Nina agreed. It seemed like it had been ages since Eddie touched her in an intimate way. Her whole body arched for Eddie to make love to her. But she needed to talk to him about their problems, and where this relationship was going. She needed to tell him that there was a possibility she was carrying his child.
Nina forced her lips off Eddie's. "Eddie we need to talk."
"Mmmhmm can we talk later?" he mumbled.
Nina tried to protest but could not resist the fact that she needed him. Eddie gently pushed Nina back onto the living room sofa. He led a trail of kisses from her neck to her naked breast. He broke apart only to pull off his flannel shirt, revealing his hard chest. Nina felt his fingers beginning to unbutton her pants.
"Eddie we need to talk," Nina repeated louder.
He ignored her as he continued to unbutton her pants.
"Eddie I'm serious!"
Judging by the tone of her voice, Eddie stopped and signed in disappointment.
"Didn't you hear me the first and second time I said I wanted to talk? Or was you more interested in getting you some tonight?"
"Oh here we go again," Eddie thought. He laughed bitterly as he pulled back on his shirt.
"I'm sorry I wanted a little affection tonight. Especially since you've been treating me like a disease the past couple weeks."
Nina felt as if she was going to explode. "I have not been treating you like a disease! Is sex all you think about in this relationship? How many times I'm going to give it to you?"
Eddie bitted his lips the way he always did when he was mad.
"You know Nina, I'm sick of you treating me like so cold sex fiend. I do not just want sex from you. I want you. I want Nina Moreno. And I though I did have you but I guess I was wrong. I don't know where I'm going with you."
"You don't know where you're going with me? What the hell is that suppose to mean?"
Eddie opens his mouth but quickly closes it. After a few moments, he started to speak.
"Listen it's obvious for whatever reason that you're not happy with me anymore. And I'm not sure if I'm happy with you, so maybe we should just end it."
Nina opens her mouth in shock. Tears of pain fill her eyes as the love of her life breaks her hearts. She blinks the tears away.
"Fine. It's over."
Without saying a word, Eddie grabs his jacket and leaves. Nina slowly puts back on her sweater and pants. Her body that was warm from Eddie's body a few minutes ago was now cold. Now that she was alone she let the tears that she had held back fall. Placing her head in her lap, she cried all the tears she thought she had.
The pregnancy test in the medicine cabinet popped into Nina's mind. Nina quickly made her way to the bathroom hoping the pregnancy test was negative. What good what a baby do if she and Eddie were no longer together?
Nina opens the cabinet and carefully picks up the test.
"God, please don't let me pregnant. Please."
As Nina looks at the applicant, as it began to turn a dark shade of blue. Nina grabbed the box and skimmed the directions to see what dark blue meant.
Red means negative, dark blue means positive.
She was pregnant.
To Be Continued…