Spindrift

Chapter Thirteen

1500

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Ariel stood at the galley sink, washing dishes and hissed when she cut herself on a paring knife.

"What's wrong?" Lee asked, coming to inspect the wound.

"I cut myself."

"I see that, stop flinging your hand so I can inspect the wound," he said, catching her fingers.

He took a towel and wiped the soap away.

"The wound's fine," he said. "Shallow. I don't think you need stitches."

"Last thing we need, another medical bill," Ariel said, turning to run the wound under the water again.

"I would just get the super glue and fix you back up," Lee said, leaning against the counter. "But there is something else going on, something deeper. Its about Lino, isn't it?'

"It's not – directly about Lino," Ariel said, rinsing the silverware.

"Then HellGate," Lee said. "Its about Marisol and the other night."

"Yes, to all the above. Why the hell did Kent have to be married to her," Ariel said, slamming the handful of cutleries into the drainboard.

"I didn't pick his wife, and I certainly don't remember meeting Marisol when we were teenagers," Lee said.

"She killed him, you know," Ariel said, rocking against the counter.

She turned, pressing the small of her back into the edge, crossing her arms.

The house felt strangely quiet, now that Lee's parents left. Searlas hadn't had an episode the entire time the couple was here, and he hadn't had an episode in the five days since. But the stability wasn't enough that Ariel went with Lee to work; she remained at home, or at least in sight of home, in the five days since.

The monotony of the work set her mind to stewing. She relived more and more the trial she went through. Every interview in the case detectives – being arrested in front of her people out on Hockney docks, in the middle of her work shift of all places.

"She killed him," Ariel said, repeated. "And no matter how many times I told the detectives that they needed to look at her, they never seriously did. They looked at me, and why?"

"I don't know why," Lee said. "But people did look into it, your prayers for vindication were answered and your sentence got overturned."

"It did," Ariel said. She thought for a moment. "Do you know how badly I want to strangle her."

"I can imagine you wanted it pretty bad. Lino was a good guy -."

"No, do you know how much I wanted to strangle her the other night?" Ariel asked. "Do you realize that I had nothing to think about in that prison cell except exacting the revenge on her that she did to him."

Lee stared at her. "Ariel, no," he said. "No, you can't think about going to see her."

"And why not?"

"Because, it would be premeditated murder. You would have no chance to stand on and there wouldn't be any hope for you being released early," Lee said.

"She killed him."

Ariel turned her attention to what was left of the dinner pans, trying to scrub the stubborn, stuck on food off the surface.

"What about us?" Lee asked. "What about our business – hell, the last five years of our lives."

"You don't understand. I spent five years in the worst hell hole of a prison on this planet, and I spent those five years wishing I had this opportunity," Ariel said, slamming the pan she scrubbed into the sink.