Chapter 15

Across the room from the bed and against the glass wall was a large desk with a flat screen computer and leather executive chair. On one end of the room was a mirrored wall with a large walk-in closet in the middle. Inside, she was amazed to see several pairs of brand new elegant designer shoes neatly organized on stacked wooden racks. Arranged on wooden hangers throughout the closet were sheer clothes and stockings that looked like lingerie. She came out of the closet and walked to the other side of the room and through the opened door of her spectacular bathroom. She saw a sparkling gold trimmed mirror inset with another flat screen TV over a long marble counter with a built in sink and brass fixtures. Across the bathroom she saw another closed door. She shut the outer bathroom door, walked over and opened a glass interior door and used the fancy toilet inside. There was a private Jacuzzi upon a raised platform for bathing and a massage table set up against the far right glass wall that had a view of the California coastline all the way from Seaside City to Santa Monica. Dazzled by the opulence, she walked out of the bathroom.

“I trust everything is to your liking, Ms. Mauricio?” Firmin asked.

“Yes, it’s all very pretty, I must admit.”

“Mr. Williamson had it custom designed. I will leave you to get more acquainted with your accommodations. Before I leave I just want to point out to you the communication system Mr. Williamson alluded to. Mrs. Potcia, or Maria if you’d like, is accessible by pressing this button on the intercom on your desk. Here is your personal computer. It is always on for your use.”

Firmin pressed a key and the computer screen lit up.

“As Mr. Williamson is constantly working behind his computer and does not wish to be disturbed, he prefers to be communicated with through Google Talk. Just click on the cloud icon and you can talk instantly with Mr. Williamson, Maria, I or any member of the security team in the event of an emergency. Shall we see if Mr. Williamson has left you a message?”

Firmin clicked on the W cloud icon.

“Ah yes, he’s already left you a message. Would you like to type in a response?”

Bella Lisa walked over to the computer and read the message.

“How do you like your bedroom, Ms. Mauricio? W,” flashed across the screen.

Bella Lisa typed in her response and hit enter.

“Fine, if you are a canary.”

The response was instantaneous.

“You are such a pretty bird. W.”

“You are such a sicko. BLM,” she responded and turned off the computer.

“Pardon me,” Firmin said. “But Mr. Williamson prefers to keep the computer on at all times.”

“Too bad for him then…”

“Well, I’ll leave you now, unless there is—”

“No thank you, Firmin.”

“Please contact Maria when you are ready to prepare for dinner.”

As soon as Firmin left, quietly shutting the door behind him, Bella Lisa walked out onto the balcony. She watched as the sun slipped into the blue horizon, the lining of the clouds turning from a bright pink to a dark blue. Even up so high she could distinctly hear the soothing sound of the surf against the shoreline, lapping the sand with its wide curling tongue, before it receded back into itself. She brushed her fingers through her hair and felt a warm ocean breeze wash over her. She suddenly felt very tired and wished she could go to sleep and wake up at the end of the week. She slipped through the curtains of her bed and lay down under the sheets on her side, her hands tucked under her cheek on a pillow. The bed had one of those thick expensive memory foam mattresses from Sweden that conformed to the contours and curves of her body, enveloping her. The sheets and pillow cases smelled freshly laundered. The thought of how comfortable she was in this bed flitted through her mind as she fell asleep.

What seemed like only a few minutes later, Bella Lisa was awoken by a light persistent tapping on the bedroom door. A small, smiling, middle-aged Hispanic woman in a starched white maid’s uniform peeked through the crack in the door and turned on the light switch, stabbing her eyes with brightness. Half asleep and now cranky, she asked herself why every other room in this place was as dark as a dungeon but her bedroom had to be lit up like the stage of a Broadway theater.

“Excuse me, Ms. Mauricio? It’s you helper, Maria Potcia. Are you awake?”

Bella Lisa threw the sheets over her head and crawled under them further.

“No, I’m not awake. Please go away.”

“I so sorry for to wake you, madam. I try call you on intercom, but you no hear. Mr. Williamson, he prepare a very fine dinner and we must—”

“Please tell him I’m not feeling well and I won’t be coming to dinner. I’m not hungry.”

“Yes, madam, I see. Again, my apologies for to wake you,” Mrs. Potcia said, closing the door behind her but leaving the lights on.

After tossing and turning on the bed, she threw the sheet off and walked over to the door and flipped the light switch off. On her way back to bed, she noticed the computer screen was on and was shining brightly. She thought she had turned it off earlier.

Did the weird butler slip in while I was sleeping and turn the damn thing back on?

Bella Lisa wished she had a lock on her door.

There was absolutely no privacy in this place.

She noticed the cloud icon was blinking for her attention. She turned off the button but nothing happened. There did not seem to be a way to power it off.

‘I’ll just unplug the fucking thing,” she said out loud to herself.

She got down on her hands and knees to search for the electrical outlet in the dark, following the cords, but they led directly into the wall. She got up, swearing to herself and crossed back over to turn the overhead lights back on. Shielding her eyes from the brightness, she walked back to the computer screen and looked behind it. Like with the wall, the cords seemed to have been customized to go directly into the back of the laptop and there seemed to be no way to disconnect them. She felt like picking it up and hurling it across the room, but the wires were so tightly connected, she probably couldn’t budge it off the desk.