Chapter IV : False Forgiveness

Gustavo, Alphonse and Bernadette left the casino late. They all left at the same time. They walked out the building laughing "Bernadette, we must do this again, real soon!" Gustavo said with a broad smile. They said as they waited for the valet drivers to bring their cars.

"Oh yes, you two are so much fun!" she said.

"Oh next time you two decide to get together, please call me, I am always willing to be in the presence of a pretty lady."Alphonse said. He kissed the back of Bernadette's hand. "Oh I am so flattered!" she said happily. Then they laughed again. Their cars arrived promptly from the valet parking lot. After wishing one another a good night, they left at the same time.

When Bernadette got home, she put her puppy to bed and and went to bathe.

Gustavo arrived at his hotel room and checked his cell phone for messages. He had a voice mail from Aurore. "Oh god" he muttered. He put it to his ear and listened.

"Gustavo, please please come home. I forgive you. Let's put this all behind us. I'm begging you to please come back home."

The message ended. Now, he hated he even looked at his cell phone. "Shit." he said. He started toying with his phone, he was pressing random buttons and he ended up in his phone book. Suddenly he froze.There, in his phone book was Bernadette's name and number along with a picture of him and her at the bar. He shook his head and swore not to erase it. He did set it on private so only he could view the contact. Tomorrow, he would have to go home. But, he still had not forgiven Aurore. He stayed up thinking long and hard.

Bernadette was sitting on her sofa eating a chocolate lava cake and watching the last 45 minutes of Casablanca. She was in her night gown. Suddenly, her apartment phone rang. She looked at the clock. "What the hell? It's 1:00am." She reached over the sofa arm and answered it. "Hello?"she said. There was silence. "Hello?"she said. There was more silence. When she was just about to hang up, a woman said, " I'm going to kill you." Bernadette gasped and slammed the phone down. Then she got up and ran to the door and locked it. She ran to every window and shut it. Then she went back to her TV room and called the police.

An Inspector arrived promptly. "Bonjour Ms.Poesy. My name is Inspector Bagot. I was the one that received your call."

"Yes. Just before I called you, someone called me and said 'I'm going to kill you."

"I see. Do you recognize the voice at all?" he said.

"No." she said

"Was it a man or a woman?"

"A woman." she said.

"Hm. The only thing we can do is put a tap on your phone line so that we know who is calling you."

"That is fine with me." she said

"Good. I will do that when I get back. Are you afraid to stay here alone?"

"No, I should be fine. Thankyou."

"Ok. I will have officers patrolling these areas to see if there is any suspicious activity. Oh, and I will tell the door man to call if there is anyone suspicious that comes in."he said. They walked to the door.

"Thankyou so much." she said. He walked out of the door.

"Oh, if you want to call directly to my desk about this or...anything else. Here is my card." he said.

"Ok thank you Inspector Bagot. Goodnight."she said with a smile. He smiled and left. She rolled her eyes and shut the door. Then she tried to get some sleep.

The next morning, Gustavo prepared to go back home. He threw all of his things in a small suitcase and checked out of the hotel. When the valet parker came back to him without a car and out of breath, Gustavo just looked at him. "What's the matter with you?" Gustavo asked.

"Sir, I am sorry but you will have to come see your car. It's bad, very bad." the boy said. He went to his manager and the three of them walked through the parking garage to Gustavo's car. When they got there, they saw a beaten Bentley with smashed windows, slashed tires, and beaten in all over and it was smoking as if someone poured acid all over it. "Who could've done this?!" Gustavo yelled.

" I dont know sir. I didn't have any suspicious characters enter here last night. We take turns watching the cameras so no one ever falls asleep on the job." the manager said.

"Someone had to miss something!" Gustavo said.

"We should call the police." the parking boy said."

"Oui, we should do it immediately." the manager said.

When the police arrived, the valet parkers and Gustavo were busy explaining while other employees continued to help people check out of the hotel. A tall woman wearing a dress, a boa, shades and a hat came to one of the inspectors and said, "My my, what happened here? It looks terrible."

"Yes, it seems people can no longer enjoy vacations anymore." the inspector said.

"Oui. Maybe that means they don't need them then." the woman said. Then she and two tall muscular men walked away. Gustavo had to get a limo to drive him home. When his limo arrived, he was just about to get in when he saw Bernadette. "Gustavo! What happened here?!" she asked.

"Someone destroyed my car." he said

"What?! That is terrible. I'm sorry to hear that. But it is awfully strange..." she said.

"What is strange?" he asked

"Well, last night, I received a terrible phone call. Someone threatened to kill me last night after I got home."

"Oh! Bernadette! I am so sorry." he said."But it is awfully strange. These two events happening within 24 hours."

"Oui." she said. "Where are you going?"

"I have to go home. Aurore said she wants me to come home. I am thinking that I should go now after all of this."

"Oui. I am thinking of skipping town for a few days." she said. Gustavo nodded. Then the tall woman that was in the parking garage walked by and bumped into Bernadette

"Excuse me." the woman said. Bernadette only looked at the odd looking trio walking down the sidewalk. "I will be going now Bernadette. I hope everything turns out okay." he kissed her hand and then looked at her. She hugged him,"Bye Gustavo. Good luck with Aurore"

"Oui. I hope we will get together again soon." he said. Then he got in the limo. Bernadette waved goodbye and looked across the street. The two men and the tall woman were staring at her from a bistro across the street. Bernadette turned and walked down the street.

Gustavo arrived at home. He went through the front door. "Aurore, I am home." he said.

"Hello Gustavo."Aurore said. She sounded cold and monotone. He saw her sitting in a comfortable chair looking at a magazine

"You would think that you would be happy to see me after I left for a few days." he said

" Gustavo, you tell me, why did you leave. To go see that girl Bernadette? I saw you with her you know." she said

"So what?" he said, " It isn't like I was screwing her." he said.

"Oh? You weren't? Well that surprises me! I thought for sure you would be screwing her after that game of Baccarat."

"Go to hell." he said.

"No! You go to hell!" she yelled. "I thought I could forgive you for what happened the other night! But no! You had to run off and see her again!!"

"I'm sorry but weren't you the one that sat there and accused me of all of those things the other night when I was innocent. I am not having any affair with that girl. She and I are only friends! Would you like me to leave again?"

"Fine! Go to your whore, see if I give a damn!" she yelled.

"That's fine! But this time, I will not come back." he shouted with the vigor of every bone in his body.

He actually startled Aurore and then, this time, he emptied almost all of his clothes into the limo and left. "Where would you like to go sir?" the driver asked.

"To the Eiffel Tower Town Homes." Gustavo said.