The green plastic bowl looked just like the others but it didn’t fit. On second look, the shade of green was out of sync with the rest, more bluish than yellowish. Saffron shook the last drops of water off of the strange bowl and pulled it away from the cupboard where she stored her leftover containers, picnic ware, salad set, and other plastic items. She opened her mouth to call to her father-in-law, stretched out in mid-snore on the couch, and then stopped herself.
“Raisa,” she sighed. “This is what she brought the grapes in. She forgot it when she went back over.”
Rex answered the door, just rolling down his sleeves.
“Raisa left this behind after lunch,” Saffron informed him, waving the bowl.
“Great,” Rex said, retrieving the bowl. “I just loaded the dishwasher. I’ll let Raisa know when she gets home.”
Saffron replied with a long, slow blink. “But she is home. She’s been there all day.”
“Can’t be. I called her repeatedly when I came in and heard nothing.”
“She hasn’t left. I would have heard her go out, lock the door behind her.”
“You must have missed her leaving because she’s not here.”
Saffron stood firm, staring at Rex, until he gave an exasperated sigh. “Have it your way. Come in and see. Search the house if you like.”
Saffron drifted towards the stairs. “She spends afternoons upstairs after she does her walk on the beach.”
“I have to say, I’ll be glad when she finally gets a job because I think you’ve spent too much time—”
Saffron cut Rex’s speech off with a shrill shriek. “Caramba! She’s here. She’s hurt! Honey, can you hear me?”
“Yes,” Raisa managed. Her body still sprawled across the landing, a bloody smear marking the spot where her head had impacted the wall.
Saffron turned on Rex and shoved him back. “You animal! What did you do to her?”
“Me? How can you think that? What sorts of lies do you people tell each other?”
Saffron shoved him again and said, “If you really cared about Raisa, you wouldn’t be standing here trying to make excuses for yourself. You’d call an ambulance.”
Rex stared into the eyes of his raging neighbor until she screamed, “Now! Ahora!”
“Oh, right,” he said in a small voice. He stumbled back into the kitchen and reached for the phone. It rang under his hand.
To Rex’s greeting, a familiar voice responded, “Rex? It’s me again—”
“Get off this phone right now!” Rex roared. “And know this, Sydney Westcott…I am going to kill you dead!”
