"The experiment" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ransom Glen)

CHAPTER TWO

The huge iron bell atop the tower in the campus quad gonged ten o'clock as throngs of students criss-crossed the square on their way to class. Overhead, the Monday morning sky filled the day with a deep blueness, peculiar to the late fall season; the air was fresh here outside with a new crispness about it that made everything around seem new and exciting. But inside Miss Hendricks' office the atmosphere was like that of an old neglected library, musty and dry.

Thea Carter felt nervous and tense. She adjusted herself in the chair, making a determined effort to relax the area between her shoulder blades as she talked to Miss Hendricks about the accident.

"It all happened so suddenly that the funeral arrangements have already been set for Lisa's parents. The most difficult thing I face right now is breaking the news to her, and as her aunt, I'm here to see that she is spared as much shock as possible. In the mean time, I've made plans to take her back home until she is ready to return to school again." Thea paused and brought her right hand to her eyes in a gesture of despair. "I can still see the horrible mutilated bodies at the morgue when they called me in for the identification… They said their car lost control on a curve, hitting the stone pillar of the bridge." She brought her eyes back to face Miss Hendricks, "They were both killed instantly."

"Try not to dwell on the past," Miss Hendricks gently interrupted, "let me go get Lisa. You can talk to her in privacy here in my office while I make arrangements to temporarily check her out of her classes." She started to make her way for the door then hesitated and placed an understanding hand on Thea's shoulder in sympathetic condolence. "Is there anything I can get for you before I go get Lisa? You look exhausted."

"No, I'm fine… really. I guess I'm still not over the shock of the news yet," she responded as the older woman left the room.

Thea stood up and stretched her legs as the door closed behind her. Smiling a little, she moved to one of the tall narrow windows that framed the background behind Miss Hendricks' desk. At thirty-nine, Thea Carter was still a beautiful woman, as she had been a lovely girl. One large flaw, however, was the hard determined line of her mouth, unfeminine and bold. But Thea prided herself on being hard headed and it would be a necessity now if she were to carry out her plan successfully.

She had never married, though she had loved once. She could remember years back to the time when Lisa's father used to constantly badger her about finding a husband and settling down, but Thea had other plans. She spent most of her time caring for her invalid father, planning on the day when she would inherit the family estate. She had never been highly sexed to begin with. Men were not a necessity to her, at best they were unreliable, at worst devouring parasites sucking your emotions dry. The one affair she had been involved in had ended when her lover left her with a casual indifference. After that she avoided emotional situations of any kind, remembering the devastating breakdown she had suffered when he was gone. Gradually, slowly and steadily she lost her capacity for love or compassion. Although she had a few scattered sexual experiences, she had never had an orgasm, and if at times she felt a vague restlessness within her womb, she told herself sharply that it was not hunger for sex, but probably a nervous condition brought on by the deep sense of insecurity she had felt since her father's death.

On that bleak day when the will was read certifying that all the estate was to go to her brother with some money held in trust for her, she had completely lost control of herself. She could remember, even now, stumbling from the room in shocked disbelief thinking of all those years she had cared for her father. A man that was selfish and senile before death. A man she had grown to hate and despise. Perhaps he sensed her feelings through his withering mind for he stated in his will that her brother, who had done nothing for him, would control the estate… doling her out a meager allowance to live on until death.

"That ingrate! I hope that bastard knows he's rotting in the grave," she shrilled at her brother when he followed her from the lawyer's office into the hallway. Then she had burst into hysterical sobbing as she started to run to her car in the driveway. He ran after her and caught up with her at the front door, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her back and forth with his fingers digging deeply in her arms.

"Control yourself, for God's sake, Thea. Those people back there heard everything you said."

"For God's sake, hell," she sputtered back at him, "for your sake. Isn't that what you mean. For your sake… you're always so worried about the family image."

His face grew white with rage and his steel gray eyes smoldered threateningly down at her. She thought for a moment he was going to strike her.

"You've embarrassed me and my wife beyond belief with your unbelievable raving."

Thea thrust her face defiantly back at him. "Fuck your family and fuck you. I'm not living my life waiting for meager handouts from you. You know as sure as that monster is in his grave that half of the money belongs to me."

"What I know," he said in a slow determined voice, "is that I find your vulgarity disgusting, and right now I'm getting sick of the sight of you." He released his hold on her and took a step back. "I'll make arrangements for the trust fund. It can be mailed to you wherever you choose to live… and that's not here, I trust." He paused, letting the meaning of his words sink in, then with a tone of finality added, "Even though you're my last living relative, I'll not tolerate your selfish temperament, Thea. Call my attorney in about two weeks and give him your new address. By then the arrangements will have been made concerning your income… Goodbye, Thea."

Thea stared at his back and he turned without waiting for her response and left to join the others. That was the last time she had seen her brother alive. Before she left the porch of the large mansion, she promised herself that she would return someday and claim the rightful share to the estate.

It hardly seemed like ten years had passed since then, and now that the accident had wiped out her two chief barriers, she had only one left, Lisa Carter, her spoiled niece. But if her plan worked out as she hoped it would, the girl wouldn't be an obstruction to her goal for long.