Chapter FIVE
EJ walked into his house and looked around.
"Is Mrs DiMera in Polly?" he asked the maid.
"No sir," the young maid said with a shake of her head, "She went out late this afternoon and hasn't been home since."
EJ looked at his watch and saw that it was past nine o'clock now. He'd intentionally lingered over returning home after his afternoon with Sami. He was just so happy that the last thing he wanted to do was deal with Nicole and all her clingy neediness. EJ wasn't concerned at his wife being out this late, she often stayed out very late with any one of her silly little socialite friends. He was just glad that he didn't have to make polite conversation with the woman.
EJ began to walk up the stairs, pulling on his tie as he went. He'd cleared up the last of the details in regards to his bank accounts and booked Sami and himself tickets on the train to New York for the day after tomorrow, first class of course. He was so looking forward to showing her a totally new world to the one she'd known previously. EJ had decided he would tell Nicole first thing tomorrow and then simply go to the hotel and wait for Sami. He'd checked their little hidey hole for a note from her earlier this afternoon and had been a bit disappointed not to find one but had left her one anyways, telling her how much he loved her, how excited he was about their future together.
EJ had reached the top of the stairs by now and headed towards the bedroom. Only one more night of having to share a bed with Nicole and then it would Sami in his bed forever more. The thought made him smile as he went into the bathroom and started to get undressed. He undid his shirt, the same one that Sami had worn during their lovemaking. It still smelled of her and EJ couldn't help himself once he'd taken it off, pressing it to his face and inhaling deeply. The delicate scent of Sami's perfume and something that was just Sami still lingered and EJ breathed deeply, his pulse quickening as he thought of her. He showered quickly and headed to bed. If possible he wanted to be asleep before Nicole returned home and as it turned out EJ got his wish.
oooOOOOooo
"EJ."
EJ stirred as he heard his name, slowly coming awake. He felt kisses being pressed down his chest and stomach and lower still.
"Mmm," he mumbled, tangling his fingers in soft hair, not opening his eyes and still half asleep.
He gave a little groan and tightened his fingers in the soft hair as those lips reached his no longer sleeping member. She took him into her mouth and began to pleasure him expertly.
"Yes," he mumbled, moving a little under her touch, a smile coming to his lips, "Don't stop."
She began to speed up, sucking on him harder, taking his rapidly hardening manhood repeatedly into her mouth and EJ growled his approval. He forced his eyes open, wanting to watch Sami doing this for him, enjoying her attentions. He focused groggily on the blonde head that was at his thighs and frowned. It was the wrong colour blonde and her hair was too short and EJ finally realised who it was in the bed with him and it wasn't the woman he'd been dreaming of.
"NO!" he growled, still hardly awake and pushed Nicole off him and rolled to his side, his back to her.
"What's wrong?" grumped Nicole, pushing hair out of her eyes as sat up from where he'd shoved her none too gently over on the bed.
"I'm not in the mood," said EJ, climbing out of bed.
"You looked like you were in the mood," said Nicole flatly, "It's nice to know that you could still even rise to the occasion, it's been that long."
"Not now Nicole," said EJ coolly, pulling up his pyjama pants and without a backward glance he headed towards the bathroom.
Nicole watched him go as her lips tightened in anger. She wasn't used to being so summarily dismissed but EJ had another thing coming if he thought she was that easy to get rid of. EJ's plans to run off and leave her were heading up river even as she sat there thanks to last night, not that EJ knew it of course but he was going to figure out soon enough that there was only room enough for one woman in his life.
"And that isn't going to be you river trash," she said to herself with a quiet little smirk.
oooOOOOooo
Nicole returned to the bedroom after breakfast looking for EJ seeing as he hadn't seen fit to join her. She walked into the room and the first thing she saw was an open suitcase sitting on the bed.
"Going somewhere?" she asked, arching an eyebrow at EJ as he unhurriedly went about packing the suitcase.
"Yes," said EJ, folding up a tie and slipping it into the open case.
"When will you be back?" she asked him calmly.
EJ stopped what he was doing and turned around then to face her.
"I'm not coming back Nicole," he told her steadily.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked him tightly.
"It means exactly what I said," said EJ determinedly, "I'm not coming back. I'm leaving you Nicole. I've met someone…"
"You're always meeting someone EJ," interjected Nicole tersely, "You meet them, have a little fun, I turn a blind eye and then you come home to me. That's how the game goes remember?"
"I'm not playing anymore Nicole," said EJ quietly, "I've fallen in love for the first time in my life and I want to be with her."
"For the first time?" asked Nicole, her voice wavering a little on that bit of information, "So what was I EJ, chopped liver?"
"You were something I thought I wanted at the time," said EJ simply, "But that was only because I didn't know what real love was. I am sorry for the way I've treated you at times Nicole - I know I've behaved shabbily towards you with my affairs…"
"But I forgave you!" said Nicole, tears starting to fill her eyes, "It doesn't mean you have to leave!"
"You said you did and perhaps you even wanted to believe you could but in the end I don't think you did forgive me Nicole," said EJ simply, "For a time you and I wanted the same things and that was fine but now everything is different…"
"Because you're in love?" spat out Nicole, starting to get angry now.
"I know it sounds corny but yes," nodded EJ, "Loving Samantha has changed me, made me into a better man."
"A better man who leaves his wife you mean?" she asked him bitterly.
"I'm sorry Nicole but neither of us have made each other happy for a long time now," said EJ truthfully, "We were just both too complacent to change anything but now I have a reason to. We should only have ever been an affair Nicole, we should never have married."
"Don't say that!" she choked out.
"I don't mean to be cruel Nicole," said EJ with quietly, "Just truthful for a change. I don't love you and if you're honest with yourself you don't love me either."
"I do love you EJ!" she raged, "You have no idea how much I love you!"
"You want to own me like a possession," said EJ with a shake of his head, "It's not real love and I really hope you'll find out one day what I mean by that when you fall in love properly."
"Like you and this Samantha I suppose you mean?" she said bitterly.
"Yes," said EJ with a little shrug.
"And that is where you're going now is it?" she asked him angrily, "To meet up with your little slut so you can run off into the sunset together?"
EJ looked at her then, his jaw tightening at how she'd referred to Sami but nodded.
"Yes," he said, keeping his voice determinedly even.
EJ did up his suitcase then and picked it up in one hand and started to move towards the door and Nicole panicked.
"You're not going anywhere EJ!" she shouted at him.
"I beg to differ," said EJ dryly, his hand on the doorknob and looked back at her, "I'll be in touch about divorce proceedings. You needn't worry, I'm not interested in your money so let's make this a clean break eh darling?"
"You're not going anywhere because your little whore doesn't want you!" blurted out Nicole, thinking furiously as she desperately tried to get him from leaving.
EJ took his hand off the door knob and turned around slowly, putting down the suitcase and fixing Nicole with a hard stare.
"And what does that mean?" he asked almost too calmly.
"She came here yesterday," said Nicole, squaring off against him, "Bold as brass she turns up on my doorstep. The little hussy was looking for you of course."
"Samantha would do that," said EJ with a shake of his head, "She wouldn't come here, that wasn't the plan."
"Well apparently the plan changed Junior," said Nicole bitterly, "Because she did come here! Sees that she was desperate to see you, it couldn't wait and took a chance that I wouldn't be home and you would be. Unfortunately for both of us she got me instead!"
EJ's eyes narrowed, not believing for a second what Nicole was telling him but he was quickly working out that something had happened yesterday and a little feeling of dread stirred in his stomach.
"She came here to tell you that it was over," said Nicole snidely, "That she couldn't leave that flat foot hubby of hers when it came down to it. She wanted to tell you to your face but I guess she chickened out huh?"
"You're lying," said EJ, his face hardening, "Samantha loves me, and she would never end things between us like that."
Nicole gritted her teeth as she met the same resistance to the idea that the other person wanted it to be over from EJ as she had done with Sami. They were both so damn sure in their love for each other and Nicole hated them both with a passion for that.
"Guess again lover," said Nicole, enjoying twisting the knife, wanting EJ to feel the pain of rejection for a change, "She came here yesterday while you were out and told me she wanted nothing more to do with you. It's not so much fun being the one thrown to the curb now is it Junior?"
"You're lying," EJ said again tersely and shook his head, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that Samantha wouldn't leave him now, "You're just making yourself look pathetic now, please, don't embarrass us both."
"Lying am I?" spat out Nicole, incensed.
She dug around in her skirt pocket and dragged out the ring she'd taken from Sami's finger last night and held it aloft triumphantly.
"If I'm lying then why do I have the ring you gave her?" she asked triumphantly, "She wanted you to have it back the little sap. So who's the pathetic one now EJ? Rejected by gutter trash, oh how the mighty have fallen hey?"
EJ's eyes widened as he instantly recognised the ring Nicole was holding up and his stomach dropped. Before Nicole realised what he was doing EJ was covering the distance between them in two giant strides and grabbing the tops of her arms in a vice like grip. His long fingers bit painfully into her flesh as EJ put his face level with hers and for the first time Nicole was actually afraid as she looked into those dark, angry eyes.
"What have you done Nicole?" he asked her fiercely.
"N… nothing," she stammered, "It happened just like I said!"
"How did you get that ring?" he asked her, beginning to shout now as his hands tightened even more around her thin arms and Nicole just knew that he was bruising her badly.
EJ shook her almost violently then.
"TELL ME!" he roared in her face.
"You're hurting me EJ!" she gasped, trying to get free but it was no use, he was far too strong for her.
"If you've hurt Samantha I'm going to kill you!" he raged and Nicole began to be in fear of her life.
She'd never expected this kind of reaction from EJ in a million years. No matter what he always remained in control, even when they fought, usually using his tongue to inflict most of the pain but looking in those dark eyes of his Nicole could actually see a deadly rage that she'd never encountered before.
"I didn't do anything!" said Nicole, cowering in front of him.
"Tell me now Nicole!" he ordered her, shaking her hard again.
"S… sir, Ma'am?"
EJ almost didn't hear the quiet little voice over the wild pumping of the blood in his ears but he turned his head to see Polly standing there nervously.
"I'm sorry," she said, looking down at the ground and not at the obviously volatile scene in front of her, "But the police are at the door and they are demanding to come in."
Having delivered her news Polly scampered away as quickly as she could, not really wanting to be party to whatever was going on. EJ looked back at Nicole, his heart beginning to thunder in his chest now as an overwhelming feeling of dread began to overtake his body.
"What have you done?" he asked her wide eyed, shaking his head at her slowly.
"I… I…" Nicole was shaking from fear and shock now and couldn't get her voice to work properly.
EJ made a frustrated face as he heard footsteps on the stairs leading up to the bedroom. He made an angry noise and shoved Nicole violently away from himself, slamming her into the wall where she made a whimpering noise of pain, leaning against the wall heavily and rubbing her arms. The police detectives were at the door and EJ didn't even turn his head as they introduced themselves, still just staring at Nicole.
"We'd like you to come down to the station Mrs DiMera," the older one said, EJ hadn't even bothered to catch their names, "We have some questions to ask you."
"About what?" rasped EJ, still not taking his eyes off Nicole as she glared at him and rubbed her arms.
"We were called to The Drake Hotel this morning," said the detective who seemed to be going to do all the talking, "Do either of you know it?"
"Yes," said EJ, closing his eyes as he felt himself beginning to fall.
"It seems that the maid discovered some blood under a bed," he said, "You used to meet a young lady there didn't you Mr DiMera - a Mrs Samantha Roberts?"
"Yes," said EJ thickly, looking over at the older man.
"Well she checked in yesterday afternoon but no one's seen hide or hair of her since," he said.
"Maybe the little slut couldn't take the shame of sleeping with another woman's husband and just left town," offered up Nicole sullenly.
"Did you know Mrs Roberts?" asked the detective.
"My wife was just telling me how Samantha came to see her yesterday," interjected EJ tersely.
"She wanted to end the relationship she had with my husband," said Nicole, drawing herself up to her full height and going through with her lie.
Even though her heart was racing so hard that she could hardly breathe Nicole made sure to show no outwards signs of her anxiousness. All she had to do was keep a cool head and stick to her story. These flat foots had no way of proving that anything different she reassured herself.
"Mrs Roberts came here yesterday?" he asked with an arch eyebrow, "Can someone verify that?"
"No I was home alone," said Nicole with a shrug, "Polly my maid was running errands for me."
"See I find that a real interesting story Mrs DiMera because I've got a desk clerk at The Drake telling me a woman answering your description was at the hotel yesterday and had gone up to the room Mrs Roberts was staying in," said the detective thoughtfully.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Nicole with a dismissive wave of her hand, "What did he say, a tall blonde woman - that could be a thousand women in this city. I've never been to The Drake in my life - I wouldn't go near such a flea bitten dump if you paid me too!"
"Then how do you explain this?" he asked and held up a pen for Nicole to look at, "It's a pretty fancy pen and it's got your name on it Mrs DiMera."
Nicole's stomach dropped as she recognised the pen she'd been going to use to sign the pay off cheque she'd been intending to write for Sami. She'd forgotten about it in her haste to clean up and get out of the hotel to dispose of Sami's body.
"I gave you that pen last year," said EJ, recognising it.
He looked over at Nicole in disbelief.
"You were in the hotel room with Samantha!" he accused her, "That's how you got the ring I gave her! Why was there blood under the bed Nicole?"
"That's a good question," nodded the detective, looking at Nicole steadily, "Got an answer for us Mrs DiMera?"
"It was an accident!" exclaimed Nicole, starting to panic.
EJ swayed a little and had to put his hand on the dresser to steady himself as his worst fears began to be realised.
"What was an accident Mrs DiMera?" asked the younger detective, speaking for the first time.
"We pushed each other a little," said Nicole hastily, "She fell and hit her head."
"Really?" said the older detective with an arch of an eyebrow, "Then why did we find blood on the fireplace poker?"
Nicole grimaced, she never had been good at tidying up after herself, even when her life depended on it, it would seem. The hand that EJ was using to steady himself against the dresser tightened until his knuckles went white.
"There may have been a bit more to it than just some pushing," conceded Nicole reluctantly and then she threw a desperate look at the men, "But I was just trying to protect myself, the little witch went crazy - I thought she was going to kill me!"
"Samantha would never lift a finger against anyone," rasped EJ, looking at Nicole with growing hatred in his eyes.
"Yeah well she did yesterday!" countered Nicole hotly.
She looked at the two detectives then pleadingly.
"I'm the victim here!" she exclaimed, "My husband and that tramp were having an affair and when I go over there to plead with her to end it she laughs in my face! That little troll got exactly what she deserved!"
"You mean she deserved being beaten with a poker and then dumped in a laundry basket and wheeled out of the hotel?" asked the detective flatly, "We found a laundry basket in the back alley of The Drake… and there was blood in it."
EJ felt bile rise up in the back of his throat at hearing that and slumped against the dresser heavily, his legs barely able to support him any longer.
"We're guessing that you put her in the boot of your car," continued on the detective, "We'll have our guys look at it and seeing as you weren't so tidy at the hotel I'm thinking there will be plenty for them to find. What we don't know is what you did with Mrs Roberts after that?"
EJ was listening to the conversation around him but it wasn't quite penetrating the fog of shock and horror that had descended on him. It was totally inconceivable to him that Sami was dead, it just wasn't possible. This was all a huge mistake and this talk of bloody pokers and boots of cars couldn't have anything to do with Sami, it just couldn't. It was all too surreal that EJ just couldn't accept it. A few hours ago he and Samantha had been making love and planning a future together, there was absolutely no way that she could be gone, EJ just wouldn't believe it.
By now Nicole realised the jig was up and she had nothing more to lose. She looked over at EJ and took a twisted delight in seeing him slumped there against the dresser, looking as though his whole world had just shattered into a thousand pieces. Nicole was glad he was in pain, she hoped he burnt in hell for all the misery he'd put her through over the years and what he'd made her do.
"Let's just say that there are going to be a lot of fish eating well for the next little while," said Nicole with a smirk of her lips - in for a penny, in for a pound after all.
That last crack finally cut through EJ's shocked inertia. The thought of Sami being just tossed into the river like yesterdays garbage and the look of enjoyment on Nicole's face as she said it was EJ's undoing. With a noise more animal than human EJ lunged at Nicole, grabbing her around the neck and throwing her up against the wall, lifting her up so her feet were off the ground. Nicole couldn't even make a sound, she just stared in wide eyed horror as her eyes bulged out of her face and she began to turn blue. The two police detectives immediately tried to get EJ off her but he was a big man and they were struggling to do it in time. EJ could feel Nicole's slender neck under his hand, knew he was very close to snapping it and tightened his grip, just wanting to wipe the smirk off her face, to take his revenge for Samantha. The two detectives gave it one last shot, working together they managed to tear EJ off Nicole who promptly fell to the floor, only semiconscious now.
"NO!" shouted EJ as the two men wrestled him to the ground and tried to subdue him, "NO!"
They finally managed it, the younger detective actually having to put a knee in EJ's back and put as much weight as he could into it as EJ lay face down on the ground. EJ finally stopped struggling and all three men where panting loudly by this stage after EJ's frantic outburst. His initial anger temporarily spent EJ lay there on the ground and let the reality of what had happened slowly sink in.
"No," he whispered in despair, hot tears starting to streak down his cheeks and dampen the carpet beneath him as he realised that his whole world had just ended, "No…"