Cherie stepped back, suddenly worried by Carmen’s seriousness. She threw a look around, then at Carmen’s car, parked just a few feet away from the house. She swallowed, regaining her high-class composure immediately, and glanced at Carmen with scornfulness.

“The door in front of you is open”, she just said.

Carmen didn’t need any further encouragement. She walked to the sliding glass door right before the seashore and opened it rapidly, smoothly. She saw Cherie motionless on the marble staircase, her right hand on the banister, that look of disdain still in her eyes.

“Where?”, Carmen asked simply, throwing her an annoyed glance.

Cherie pointed her finger.

“Swimming pool. Right ahead. But you have to know that she’s not in condition to stand on her feet and –“.

“Shut the fuck up”, Carmen cut in, flatly, moving rapidly to the door.

”All the flowers that you planted, mama
In the back yard
All died when you went away…”

Shane lied on her stomach by the pool. Her back was naked but she still had her jeans on. They were dripping wet, just like her hair. Her face was hidden behind her right forearm, while her left hand was floating lifelessly in the water. She seemed asleep, or fainted, Carmen wasn’t sure.

“Dios mio…”, she whispered in Spanish, flipping a strand of hair behind her ear and kneeling down right beside her. Shane’s back was pale and cold, and when Carmen talked, didn’t bother to turn around.

“What the fuck have you done to her?”, she murmured, gently brushing Shane’s back.

Her voice sounded furiously calm.

Cherie rested her shoulder against the doorframe, her arms still folded, not unlike Melissa had done just some hours earlier. She chuckled.

“The real question is: what did she do to me, tonight?”, she shook her head, “More than you can ever imagine, Carmen…”.

Carmen gritted her teeth and grabbed a white towel from the floor. She tried her best to avoid the rapid image of a purple strap-on laying right next to it.

“Fuck…”, she hissed, starting to dry Shane’s back.

“Baby… baby, wake up…”, she whispered then, softly, worriedly. Shane didn’t move, she didn’t talk. She did nothing.

“Shane, honey… Please, wake up…”, Carmen repeated, trying to swallow the sobs that were threatening to come up.