Cali lowered herself slowly into the driver’s seat of her sedan. The over-the-counter pain medication she had taken that morning had long since worn off, leaving her body aching. As much as she hurt today, she was still better than yesterday. She had called in sick the day before, for the first time in her two years of teaching third grade at Franklin Elementary school, electing to stay home to give her strained muscles time to recover. She’d been achy all day, but her co-workers just thought she was still recovering from the aftermath of the flu. They never needed to know it was the aftermath of an especially long and strenuous Kevin Bennett exercise session that had her in pain.

The drive from the school to their upscale suburban home was gratefully short. In fact, in better weather, Cali liked to walk to and from work.

The house was quiet when she entered the kitchen through the garage. She didn’t expect her husband home until much later that night. Luckily, he’d been out of town on business the night before, allowing her body a night off to recover. She knew better than to hope he would be detained another night.

Life had been particularly hellish in the two weeks since her last visit to the doctor. She prayed this was the month she would get pregnant. Things would be so much better once they had a baby on the way.

At first, Cali hadn’t understood Kevin’s big rush to have kids, but she had since found out the details of her grandfather-in-law’s will. The man was as egocentric as they came, wanting to leave behind a legacy of decedents. It was so important to him his grandchildren would inherit shares of the sizable estate based on the size of their families. Considering they already lived in a house much too big and owned three vehicles for two people, Cali didn’t understand her husband’s urgency to get a bigger piece of the family pie.

Once upstairs, she swallowed another dose of Tylenol before slipping into a steaming hot bath until the ache of her muscles had eased.

After her bath, Cali fixed a simple grilled cheese sandwich, settling into grade papers and read a book. The sound of her cell phone startled her. It was his ring.

“Hello, Kevin.”

“Hey. I’m gonna be stuck here another night. I won’t be home until tomorrow night now.”

Conflicting emotions invaded. Relief won. “That’s too bad. I haven’t taken my ovulation test yet, but it’s gonna be any day. Do you think you’ll be home tomorrow night?”

“Yes, Calista. I’ll be home tomorrow night in time to service you properly. I haven’t forgotten my duty as sperm donor.”

His words sparked her anger. She was always so much braver over the phone than when he was there in person.

“Do you even hear yourself? We’re married, Kevin. I’m your wife. I think you’re supposed to be a little more than just a damn sperm donor in my life.”

“Dammit, Calista, I’m not going to have this discussion over the phone.”

“If not over the phone, then when?”

She heard a shuffle at his end. “Listen Calista, I know things have been kind of rough for us these last few months. I have my reasons for being so stressed. You’re right. We should talk when I get home tomorrow.” He spoke in the gentlest voice she had heard in months. It reminded her of the Kevin she had been in love with once.

Hot tears prickled. She was tired of being afraid. She wanted to trust her husband. “I’d like that Kevin. We can’t go on like this anymore. Things have to change.”

He was quiet long enough, she’d begun to think they’d been disconnected.

“I can’t do this right now, Cali. I should be home early tomorrow. Why don’t we go out to Rivers for dinner?”

Damn him. Just when she had her protective walls built around her heart, he would show her a glimpse of the Kevin she had thought she was marrying. His split personality seemed to be on the same biological clock as her menstrual cycle. Two weeks of hellish rutting followed by two weeks of making love. Her heart was developing a case of whiplash.

“I’d love that, Kevin.”

“Go to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He didn’t wait for her reply, the call dropped.

It took her a few minutes to realize what was so different about their exchange. It was the first time he had called her Cali in months... even in private.

She dozed off thinking of how happy she had been when he had proposed at Rivers over two years ago and how much had changed since that magical night. Could they get back some of that magic tomorrow night?

The sound of a bell ringing, followed by a pounding jarred Cali awake. The dark bedroom was quiet. Her husband’s half of the bed was still empty. What had she been dreaming about that had woken her so abruptly?

She looked at the alarm clock on the bed stand. It read 4:04 a.m. She took a few calming breaths to settle her nerves. She was just lying down to try to get back to sleep when the doorbell rang.

Panic invaded. They lived in a safe neighborhood, but did someone know she was home alone tonight? Who could be at the door at this hour?

She knew Kevin had a handgun somewhere in the house, but she’d never learned how to use it. She jumped up and ran to the window facing the front of the house, pulling the gauze drape aside enough to peek out.

Panic turned to dread as she saw a police car in the driveway. Her mind raced to think of possible reasons for a visit by the police at this hour. Each scenario seemed worse than the one before. She rushed to her closet to grab her terrycloth robe before she jogged to the stairs, turning on the lights to the entryway to alert the police she was awake. The in-progress knocking stopped immediately.

Cali looked out the peephole. Standing on her porch were two uniformed police officers. They looked official, but she was still afraid. She wished Kevin were home with her to handle this.

She didn’t want to open the door. “Hello, officers. It’s late. What’s the problem?”

She watched through the viewer as the taller of the two responded to her question. “We’re sorry to disturb you at this hour ma’am, but there’s been an accident. We’d like to come in to discuss it with you.”

An accident. Her first thought went to her father. She hadn’t talked to him in months. “An accident? Was it my father?”

“Honestly, ma’am, we’re not sure. If you’d open the door, we have a few questions for you. Perhaps you could help us sort things out.”

Cali took a deep breath and unlocked the front door. A blanket of dread surrounded her as she let the two officers into the foyer. The shorter, stockier man reached out his hand with a business card.

“I’m Officer Jackson, and this is my partner, Officer Stanton. If you don’t mind me asking, who might you be?”

The question was unexpected. They were standing in her foyer. Surely, they knew who she was. “I’m Calista Bennett.”

She didn’t miss the quick glance between the men before Officer Jackson spoke.

“And who is Kevin Bennett to you, ma’am?”

“Is Kevin in some type of trouble officer?”

“Just answer the question if you would, ma’am.”

Cali’s voice quavered in her reply. “Kevin’s my husband, but he’s out of town on business this week. He’ll be back tomorrow afternoon if you need to speak with him. What is this about again?”

It was Officer Stanton who spoke, “Perhaps we could sit down before we answer your questions.”

Panic had her heart pounding in her ears. “I don’t want to sit down. I just want to know why you’re here.”

Officer Stanton’s eyes filled with pity before he spoke.

“I’m sorry to tell you this, Mrs. Bennett, but we believe your husband was in an accident a few hours ago.” He stopped long enough to take a small notebook out of the front pocket of his bulletproof vest. Flipping the pages, he finally continued, “Does your husband own a silver 2016 Audi R8?”

Her answer was a whispered, “Yes. It was a graduation gift from his parents when he passed the bar.” The truth was sinking in. Kevin had been in an accident. “Let me go change my clothes. What hospital did they take him to?” Only then did Cali realize he hadn’t even shared what city he was in. “He’s on a business trip. Where do I need to go to see him?”

The officers hesitated. “I’m sorry to inform you that your husband died from his injuries.”

Cali would have collapsed to the floor if Officer Stanton hadn’t caught her. He let her lean on him heavily as he steered her to the nearby living room. They sat on the closest love seat, and he wrapped his arm around her as unconscious tears overflowed down her cheeks. Her mind reeled. There had to be a mistake.

“Where did this happen?”

“On Interstate 395 headed into the city. Do you know where he might have been heading?”

“No! I told you. He’s out of town.” Relief invaded. She turned hopeful eyes on the officer. “Someone must have stolen his car! It had to be someone else in the car. Let me phone him.”

“I’m sorry, but we’re almost certain it was your husband driving.” The pity in his eyes had grown stronger. “He had his identification on him, and they were able to identify him at the scene from his driver’s license photo. Of course, the coroner will make absolutely certain in the autopsy.”

“Autopsy? Wait. I don’t believe it. It can’t be Kevin! I just talked to him a few hours ago. We’re going to Rivers tomorrow night for dinner.” Her voice had taken on a manic quality as her tears increased.

“We normally don’t recommend family members identify their loved ones when the bodies have been traumatized by high-speed accidents, but we honestly would appreciate it if you could accompany us to the morgue.”

He hesitated long enough that Officer Jackson completed the request, “I’m afraid your husband wasn’t alone in the car at the time of the accident. His companion didn’t have any identification in the vehicle they were able to find on the scene. If you feel up to it, we could sure use your help in identifying the other victim of the accident.”

Other victim. Accident. Cali’s mind reeled. It was hard for her to focus. Had he been trying to come home tonight after all? If so, why had he been going in the wrong direction? And who was in the car with him? The officers gave her time to mull the devastating news around long enough, she started to formulate her own suspicions.

“It was a woman?” she finally asked although it came out as more of a statement.

“I’m afraid so, ma’am. We came here unsure if anyone would be here. We thought perhaps it had been you in the car with him. Is there anyone else you can think of he might have been with around midnight?”

Cali knew. She just knew. Still, it didn’t make it easier to say, “No one he should have been with, no.”

“I know it will be difficult, but could you please help us identify the other victim? We’d like to notify her next of kin.”

Cali wanted to tell them she didn’t give a damn about her next of kin, but even at the moment, she knew some other unfortunate family would be getting a visit exactly like the one she was suffering through to tell them someone they loved was dead. It wasn’t their fault their loved one was a whore who dated married men.

Could she even do this? There was a slim chance she would know who the woman was, anyway. She knew it wouldn’t be any of her friends or fellow teachers. They wouldn’t do that to her. That left his business acquaintances.

“I don’t know how much help I can be. I didn’t know any of Kevin’s associates except a few I met at the holiday party a few weeks ago.”

“Still, it would be helpful if you’d try. Is there someone you can call to go with you?”

She thought of her best friend, Lucy, but dismissed the idea immediately. They’d been arguing. Lucy was angry at Cali for letting Kevin treat her so badly. She wouldn’t be able to hold her tongue, and as angry as she would no doubt be one day at Kevin for cheating on her, at that minute, all Cali wanted to do was cry for his sudden loss.

“No. I’ll go alone. Let me change.”

Cali moved on autopilot, refusing to let the news sink in deep enough to hurt her. She went through the motions of putting on a worn pair of jeans and a sweater. She slipped on a pair of flats and pulled her long, thick black hair back in a ponytail. Out of habit, she reached for her makeup. Kevin had made sure she always looked her best when she left the house. As she looked at the pale version of her disheveled self in the large mirror, the reality started to sink in.

Kevin was gone. He would never again be there to even notice how she looked. Emotions raged through her brain—conflicting and confusing emotions she knew she needed more than a few minutes to examine. She forced them down deep, vowing to get through the next few hours, then she could collapse later when she was alone again.

The drive to the county morgue was thankfully short. With each minute that passed, she felt more numb. She was conscious enough to suspect she was in shock, but she was helpless to change it. She let herself be led by the two kind officers through a darkened building, quiet at five in the morning. They stopped outside a room with a plaque on the outer door labeling it as the County Morgue.

Officer Jackson sensed her fear and wrapped his arm around her supportively. “We’ll be there with you Mrs. Bennett. The coroner will pull back the sheet covering just the face of the victim long enough to see if you can identify her.”

She didn’t answer. It didn’t seem like she needed to. He led her through the double doors, across the large, clinical room to a small alcove sectioned off by hanging draped partitions like you’d see at an emergency room. Her eyes flew to the two long tables sitting side by side, both covered with white sheets.

Cali felt as if she were leaving her body, levitating above the surreal spectacle. It was as if she were living this scene through someone else’s eyes. It seemed her brain knew it was the only way she could get through.

The three men in the room let her stand rooted to her spot until she finally looked up into the kind eyes of the elderly man she assumed was the coroner. He smiled a mourning smile he must have perfected over his decades in his grizzly job.

“Mrs. Bennett, I’m sorry for your loss. This has to be very hard for you. I do appreciate you coming down here tonight to try to help us identify the second victim in your husband’s car. I’m going to warn you. There was some obvious damage done in the accident. This won’t be easy. I’ll pull back the sheet covering the woman...”

Cali cut him off. “I want to see Kevin first.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Mrs. Bennett. I’m sure you’d rather remember your husband as he was alive. Not here tonight.”

“I want to see Kevin. I need to see Kevin. I won’t believe it was him until I do.”

The three men shared a concerned glance before the doctor walked around to the other body. Cali felt her feet move like lead to stand next to the doctor. She took a deep breath as he pulled the sheet back from the face of the dead body below. That brief second seemed to last a lifetime. She wasn’t sure what she hoped at that moment. Life with Kevin had been difficult, but there was a small part of her that still loved him.

There was no doubt. The body was that of her husband. She could see multiple deep cuts and abrasions, and it was clear the doctor had attempted to clean him up at least a little. He was so white... chalky. She reached to touch him, but the doctor stopped her.

“You won’t want to do that, Mrs. Bennett. His body is already getting cold. It’s best if you remember him as he was.”

She bent to his guidance, unable to rally enough emotion to do anything but follow directions. A single tear tracked down her cheek as the sheet was replaced over his face. It felt so final.

The doctor looped his arm through her own, leading her slowly around to the second covered body in the room. Cali had almost forgotten about this part.

“Again, I’m sorry to make you go through this after all you’ve already experienced. This victim has a bit more damage than your husband.”

For the first thirty seconds after the sheet was pulled back, Cali had to fight back the urge to puke. The head of the dead woman on the table was crushed in several places, making it impossible to make out her facial features. Her question flew out, unguarded.

“She must not have been wearing her seatbelt?”

When none of the men answered her, she looked up, locking eyes with the doctor. “She wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.”

Cali’s sixth sense picked up on the doctor’s hesitation. “What aren’t you telling me?” she probed.

The doctor hedged. “You don’t want to know the gory details…”

“Tell me everything. I deserve to know the truth,” she urged.

The three men in the room exchanged worried glances. Kevin was dead. Didn’t they realize there couldn’t be worse news than that?

The doctor finally nodded before choosing his words carefully, his answer clinical. “Based on the evidence at the scene, we believe this woman had your husband’s penis in her mouth at the time of impact. His organ was severed completely, and her head was crushed between the steering wheel, the airbag, and your husband.”

Calista’s legs collapsed from under her. The officers were not fast enough to catch her before she slammed her head against the metal of the stainless-steel examination table holding the woman’s body—the woman who had bitten Kevin’s cock off his body.

Finally... emotions coursed through her body. Many conflicting emotions, but the most prevalent was rage—pure, unadulterated fury. It manifested itself in manic laughter. The officers attempted to lift her to her feet, but she slapped their hands away. She sat on the cold concrete floor of the darkened morgue, laughing and sobbing in equal measure. Surely, this was what a nervous breakdown felt like.

To their credit, the men stepped back, letting her expend her rage until she had no more tears. Officer Jackson held out several tissues for her as Officer Stanton helped her to her feet. They were being so kind, yet she felt infuriated they had put her in this position. It was wrong of them to ask her to identify the woman who had severed Kevin’s cock. Strange thoughts flicked through one’s brain in times of stress, and Cali wondered that surely, there had to be some unspoken etiquette rule about this.

A sudden need to be as far away as possible from this room of death consumed her. She needed to think. She started to step away, but the doctor had lowered the sheet to display more of the woman. Cali avoided looking at the mangled face but focused on the shoulder length sandy blond hair with salon highlights. Nothing remarkable. The body wore a gold necklace, again nondescript.

It was only when the doctor pulled the body’s left hand from under the sheet to hold it up for Cali’s examination that the first flare of recognition stirred. In her precarious state, it didn’t come to her immediately. A niggling memory floated through her brain, trying to take hold. The long, manicured fingernails were not unusual. It was the wedding ring. The home-wrecker was married too. Somewhere, a husband slept in their bed not knowing his wife had died a few hours ago with another man’s cock in her mouth. A wave of empathy for the unknown man invaded. Only she could know what he would soon face.

It took several long minutes before it came to her. She forced her brain to focus long enough to remember seeing that huge square cut ring with dozens of surrounding baguettes set in white gold. She had admired it at the time while thinking the shrew wearing it didn’t deserve it. She snorted a laugh as she realized maybe the bitch had gotten exactly what she deserved.

Cali looked at the officer across the body from her. Their eyes locked before she answered his questioning gaze.

“Her name was Veronica Mikos. Her husband is a lawyer at the same law firm where my husband worked. His name is Nicholas Mikos.”