A Little Drop of Venom, page 17
She bit the inside of her cheek as she thought of Asher. She hoped that he wouldn’t put it all together in that head of his and realize that she was the one behind everything. But more than anything, she hoped that if he did find out, he wouldn’t condemn her for it. She hoped he would see that she did it for him, for them. Sadie was an afterthought, and one that Marie had the hardest time with. Sadie was innocent in all this. Marie hardly knew the girl, but she was a part of Asher and he loved her something fierce, even if he was absent most of the time. The only way she could justify it was by thinking she could give Sadie more than Camille had. Camille was always sending the girl off; she was never home acting like a real kid. She would benefit, in the end. Marie had to tell herself this or she wouldn’t be able to go on. And she had decided early this summer that nothing was going to get in her way this time. Not even Sadie. She made sure of that.
When Marie went to bed that night, sleep eluded her. She spent hours staring up at the ceiling, looking out the window, overthinking. There were no signs of anything going on next door. All seemed to be still. And it was the stillness that pushed her over the edge. She could no longer handle all the waiting and wondering. She had spent all of last year waiting for Asher, and wondering what he was doing. Was he thinking about her? Was he ever going to leave his wife? She was done waiting. She got out of bed and paced back and forth, peering out the window each time. All the lights inside the Carmichael’s house were off, with the exception of the foyer. Even the motion lights outside were dark on this eerie night. The moon was bright; its light illuminated the street. The clouds billowed, casting shadows in the distance, making everything more ominous.
Marie crept up the stairs, being careful not to wake the kids. The last thing she wanted was to piss off Cindy and have a witness that she was awake at an odd hour. She needed an airtight alibi. She had spent her day off at the house all day with Cindy and the kids; no one saw her leave. She stepped into the kitchen and popped the top off one of Randy’s beers, needing something to take the edge off enough so she could breathe. She positioned herself again at the chair by the window, slowly slid into the seat, sipped her beer, and watched the house next door wrapped in darkness, while she waited for chaos to take over.
CAMILLE
Camille had always been one step ahead in life. That’s the way she liked it. It gave her a sense of power, control right at her fingertips. Camille was a woman who thrived on power. She liked things done her way, and she wasn’t afraid to let anyone know when they were doing it wrong. She had a fake ID before any of her friends. She graduated college a year early due to her diligent work ethic. She had been the first of her friends to get married, and the first to welcome a child into the world. So, when Camille found out her husband was sleeping with the girl who worked next door, Camille knew she had to be one or two steps ahead of them to expose the truth the way she wanted to. Asher could think he was in control, but Camille was pulling the strings, and she would have the final say. And in true Camille fashion, she was several steps ahead. The plan was already in motion.
Camille made sure to cover every possible avenue. She started with surveillance, since she couldn’t get her hands on her husband’s phone. It was practically a part of him. But she didn’t let that deter her. She had little cameras installed all around her house, inside and outside. Small enough that Asher would never notice them. Some had even been hidden in various USB wall chargers. Camille made it a bit of a ritual to end her night with a cigarette and a glass of wine, stretched out in the hammock, surrounded only by wildflowers and the light of the moon, as she watched what her cameras picked up during the day. They had motion sensors in them, so they only clicked on when they sensed movement in the room. It was mostly boring stuff, tons of footage of Mira cleaning, or Asher walking down the stairs for a glass of water in the middle of the night. But every once in a while, the cameras revealed something useful, something that caught Camille’s attention.
When Camille settled into the hammock that night, she placed her glass of Pinot Noir down on the plush green grass. It was overgrown, and Camille made a mental note to talk to the landscaper the next day. He could do better, and Camille would see to it. She kicked her sandals off and stretched her long legs out in front of her. Placing the cigarette between her crimson lips, she lit it and inhaled deeply, before pulling the surveillance app up on her phone. 87 new motion alerts; a busier day than most. Camille pulled up the first video and watched as Asher made his way out the door and towards his car. He was heading to work for the day.
She continued watching as Jo and Sadie left. She fast forwarded a bit, until she saw Marie in the backyard. Camille rewound the video and played it from the second Marie came into view. She pulled on her cigarette, filling her lungs with a cloud of poison smoke. Her eyes bore holes into the screen, as she watched the little tramp strut across her backyard like it were her own.
Camille sat up, her blood boiling beneath her skin. It was one thing for Marie to sleep with her husband; Asher was weak, and she knew it. But this girl had some serious balls coming into her home, unannounced, and uninvited. Camille’s hands gripped the phone tightly. She brought it closer to her face, so she wouldn’t miss a thing. Marie walked up the steps leading to the back door. She looked over her shoulder back towards the Schaffer’s property before sliding the door open and stepping inside. The feed cut off, and switched to another camera, a camera inside the home.
Camille adjusted herself on the hammock. She planted her feet firmly on the floor to ground herself, and watched the screen with intense fascination. Finally something interesting, something she could work with. Camille waited, half expecting Asher to come walking through the door any minute. Maybe they were meeting for his lunch break. It seemed a little early, but Camille was entertaining all ideas at this point. And that’s when it happened. Camille watched in shock and then looked down beside herself at the nearly full glass of Pinot Noir. Her first instinct was to kick it across the grass, forcing the poisonous liquid to disperse across the yard. But Camille knew better than to act rashly. This poison shouldn’t go to waste. After all, Marie did go through quite a bit of trouble to set this whole thing up. The gears in her head began turning. Camille’s lips curled up into a smile that resembled a snarl. She laughed loudly and wickedly at the irony of it all. If she hadn’t set those cameras up, she would have consumed all the wine in the fridge. She would have been poisoned and it would have been at the hands of Marie. What kind of mess had Asher brought into their lives?
“Would it be a shame if Asher drank the wine?” Camille said aloud to herself as she looked around the starlit backyard.
Camille’s brain began working overtime, thinking of all the different ways she could spin this to benefit herself. Marie had almost made it too easy. Camille had her on tape, first breaking and entering. Then very clearly, the video shows her dumping something into the open bottle of wine. Now the bottle wasn’t marked with a skull and crossbones, but surely most people could make the inference. Especially if someone who drank the wine turned up sick, or worse.
“Makes me seem like an amateur,” Camille said under her breath.
Marie really had made this too easy for her. Camille quickly pushed all of her plans to humiliate Asher and Marie to the side. This was much better. This was almost too good. Leaking photos of Marie, and embarrassing Asher in front of his many wealthy clients was child’s play in comparison to what Marie set up.
Camille watched the video until Marie finally exited the same way she came in. Then, she watched it three more times for good measure, not wanting to miss a thing. She made a copy of the video and saved it directly to her phone, before quickly fast forwarding through the rest of the footage to make sure she wasn’t missing anything else. Satisfied, she carefully grabbed the glass of poison at her feet and marched back into her house, awkwardly cradling the glass between her long fingers. She paced her kitchen, trying to quickly come up with a game plan. Asher would be home soon and she didn’t want to be caught with her tail between her legs.
Camille wasn’t used to working under pressure this way. She was a planner, always had been. But this… this caught her off guard. She hadn’t anticipated that Marie wanted her out of the picture, although she should have. Young girls always tended to get their emotions too involved. You see Camille thought this was a summer fling, Asher getting off on being with some newer, younger model. She hadn’t realized Marie had feelings involved and that she actually saw a future with Asher. This complicated the situation, and the poison further complicated it. Camille knew she had to act quickly, it was all in her hands now. She had to decide what the best course was to take.
Camille didn’t want to kill her husband. She didn’t buy the poison; Marie did. Marie tipped her hand, giving Camille no other choice. The poison couldn’t go to waste, so she would have some fun at Marie’s expense. Asher may get hurt, but he wouldn’t die. At least, she would try not to kill him. It was hard to know how potent something was when it was already mixed in a deep maroon liquid, and even harder to know how much to administer when you didn’t know the name of poison being used. But, if things went wrong, she always had the video.
Now, why would Marie want to kill her lover? Maybe her lover decided to patch things up with his wife? Affairs are a dirty business, and one shouldn’t play the game if they aren’t prepared to lose.
CAMILLE
Camille sat at the kitchen table, with her head held high. She placed her cigarettes and lighter to her left, and her cell phone directly in front of her. She watched the front door as she waited. Asher would be home at any moment. She was calmer than she thought she would be. Camille tapped her freshly manicured fingers against the glass table as she glanced at the clock that hung on the wall to the left of her. The big hand crept its way slowly down to the three.
Tick, tick, tick.
It was almost 8:00. Camille had prepared everything. All she needed was a bit of cooperation from Asher, and then he would be eating straight from the palm of her poisonous hand.
Her heartbeat caught in her chest when she heard the pins from the lock slide into place and the front door sprang open. Asher’s keys jingled as he pulled them from the lock and spun them around on his index finger. He looked tired; that might make this easier. His hair was tousled and his suit disheveled. His tie was undone and hung loosely from around his neck.
Camille watched as he tossed his briefcase next to the stairs and ran his hand through his hair. She wasn’t even sure he knew she was watching him. The room was dark. The only light came from the moon outside, casting its shadows across the kitchen. In that moment, watching her husband after a long day of work, the strings of her tired heart pulled at her chest. The guilt wrapped around her, but she shook it off. Asher was the one who should be feeling guilty, and it appeared Asher didn’t care. Asher only cared about himself.
Camille cleared her throat, instantly gaining Asher’s attention. He stepped into the kitchen and eyed her curiously.
“I didn’t see you there” was all he said, as he looked down at his wife.
“That seems to be a reoccurring theme,” Camille said as her eyes pierced through his.
“What does that mean?” Asher questioned as he loosened his tie from around his neck. “Why is it so dark in here?”
“It means we need to talk, Asher. Pour some drinks and sit down,” Camille ordered.
Asher wrung his hands together as he walked towards the bar cart. He pulled a wine glass out for Camille and a small whiskey glass for himself. He flipped the light switch on as he passed it.
“We’re out of whiskey. Mira forgot to order another case. I’ll handle it tomorrow. I don’t have the strength to keep on top of everybody today,” Camille said condescendingly, as she blinked her eyes repeatedly, trying to adjust to the light.
Asher placed the whiskey glass back onto the cart and grabbed another wine glass. He crossed to the refrigerator and pulled out the half full bottle of Pinot Noir. He poured two generous glasses and made his way back to the table. He stood with his hands pressed against the chair, facing Camille.
“Have a seat,” Camille said as she cradled the glass of wine in her delicate fingers. “You’re definitely going to want to be sitting for this.”
Asher pulled the chair out. He ran his hand along the back of his neck, letting out a long sigh.
Camille watched as Asher took a sip of the wine. Anxiety pulled at her insides. She had to do this right, and quickly, but not too quick. She needed to have full control. She wanted to see the fear seeping out of Asher’s pores. She wanted him to see that she was the one with the power. She wanted him to be at her mercy.
“Let me start off by saying, I know what you are up to. And I must applaud you. The girl next door… I would have never thought you would bring it so close to home. And Asher, let me tell you, she really seems to like you. I think she may even be in love with you.” Camille paused, placing a cigarette between her painted lips. She stared at Asher as she lit it.
Although he was barely meeting her eyes, his body language changed dramatically. He was tense now. His jaw was set tight and his eyes appeared to be hollow. He kept his gaze downcast, unable to meet his wife’s intense emerald eyes. He looked down in shame. Like he should.
“It’s not like that, Camille. You have it all wrong.” Asher shook his head.
“Oh, I’m so glad to hear it wasn’t like ‘that.’ Please, Asher, enlighten me. Tell me all about what it was like.” Camille puffed her cigarette like a chimney, as Asher gulped down half his glass of wine, in a feeble attempt to gain some composure.
“I don’t know what you want me to say, Camille.”
“You don’t know what I want you to say?” Camille hissed, as the anger radiated from her body. “I want you to explain yourself, but we have a bigger problem right now. So, your dramatics are going to have to wait.” Camille’s lips spread into a smile that curled up at the edges. She looked manic.
“What’s that?” Asher asked, confusion spilling onto his handsome face as he looked up at his wife in shock.
“Well, we should probably call poison control. Although, now that I think about it, I don’t think that’s going to do much good, considering I don’t know what kind of poison you just drank. It could already be too late; I can’t be too sure. Maybe we should just call 911,” Camille said as she stubbed her cigarette out right on the glass table and placed her hand on top of her phone.
“What? What are you talking about, Camille? What did you do?” Asher trembled, the panic evident in his voice.
“I didn’t do anything, Asher,” Camille snapped. “Marie did this. You did this. You did this when you brought a fucking lunatic into our lives. We have a daughter, Asher; did you think about Sadie once? Did you think how Sadie would be affected?” Camille stared at Asher hard. “Did Marie think for a moment what it would be like for Sadie to grow up without a mother? Did she? Or did she just decide to kill me, so she could have you all to herself? Or were you in on it? Was it your idea? Huh, Asher? Luckily, I’ve always been one step ahead of you. Luckily, I’m not as big of a fucking idiot as you. Who do you think dumped the paint all over your precious car? Huh? Why do you think you spent the entire Fourth of July party on the toilet? I tried warning you. Hell, I thought last year was warning enough. But you just couldn’t stop yourself. You’ve always been weak, Asher.” Camille’s voice rose with each word she said, until she was screaming.
Asher sat still at the table, trying to hold his head up. He appeared to be trying to focus on the words coming out of his wife’s mouth. His eyelids grew heavier with each passing moment, just like Camille wanted. She had all the power. If Asher wanted to see another day, he would pay close attention to everything she had to say.
“That’s right, Asher. Your little girlfriend tried to poison me. Tried to get me out of the picture by murdering me. Is that sexy to you, Asher? She wants you so bad she’s willing to kill me to have you.”
Camille watched as Asher held his head up with his hands. She paced the kitchen; the fire in her eyes searing Asher, leaving him marked with her rage.
“You have poison running through your veins. You see, your little girlfriend decided to poison my wine. Pretty clever, hell, I would probably be dead right now if it weren’t for those cameras I had installed. I mean, we all know I love my wine. A smart little thing, I must give her props. It was ballsy to break in and plant the poison. She must have planned this for weeks. Did you have any idea?” Camille stood in place, pressing another cigarette between her lips, and lighting it.
“You see, I don’t know what kind of poison we’re dealing with here, so this will be a surprise for all of us, mostly Marie. Boy, is Marie going to be surprised.” A wicked smile reached all the way to Camille’s sparkling green eyes.
“What is happening?” Asher forced the words out.
“It seems the poison is starting to kick in. We really should be making that phone call soon, assuming you want to survive, that is.”
Asher nodded his head furiously. “Enough. Please call Camille.”
“I will. But first, we need to go over our story. Otherwise, things can go very very wrong from this point. If you know what I mean. Our story has to be solid, and that is going to rely heavily on you. So, the quicker you catch on, the quicker you get your stomach pumped.” Camille tapped the heel of her shoe against the tile, as she puffed on her cigarette, and blew the smoke in Asher’s direction.
