Mouse, Maggie and Kate sit at the bar in the pub as Elsie intently tries to peel the label off her beer bottle. It isn’t coming off easily, she has to scrape and fiddle with it. As fragments peel off she adds them to the pile of shreds on the bar.
Mouse says, “I think it sucks. Just because some creep is running around hurting women we’re all supposed to cower behind closed doors waiting for big men to keep us safe?”
Elsie shakes her head. “This is the twenty first century for god’s sake, not Victorian England.”
“Works for me.” Maggie sees how annoyed they are so she says, “All we need to do is buddy up until they get him.”
Mouse turns to Maggie. “Kate said you met the rapist.”
“Maybe, maybe not. It was a flasher. He jumped out of the woods in the rape zone.”
“No!” Mouse laughs out loud. “What did you do?
“It was ridiculous. So I just laughed. At him. I guess he didn’t know how to handle it and he just took off.”
“That was brilliant, Maggie.” says Mouse. “What made you think to do that?”
“No thinking, Mouse, it just happened.”
Kate says, “It was brave.”
“I hope this isn’t the same guy ’cause I never reported it.”
“This sounds like a timid man, not the same man I think.”
“Maybe not, but Officer Wolfrom said it might be.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” says Elsie. “Mouse is right. A flasher is minor. What happened to Natasha was not.”
“They don’t even know if it’s some random guy or if Natasha was targeted specifically.” says Maggie.
“Who would do something like that to Natasha on purpose? Surely she has no enemy that would do this thing.” Mouse frowns. “It would have to be a serious enemy. I do not like to think this, but the rapist must still be out there.”
It’s quiet as they all stare at Mouse, wishing she hadn’t said it out loud.
“I got the idea they think it might be Boris.” Maggie says.
“Not a chance!” snaps Elsie.
“I don’t think it’s him either, but when it comes down to it. I mean how do you know that about somebody?” asks Maggie.
“It isn’t in his nature.”
“You can’t know that Elsie.”
“Yes I can. I saw him that afternoon. The guy was devastated.”
“You think he’s innocent because he was upset? How do you know he wasn’t upset because he’d attacked Natasha?”
‘I don’t buy that.” Elsie shakes her head. “He was too fragile.”
“That’s crap Else and you know it.” Maggie says. “It could be anyone without a solid alibi. So maybe it is Boris. Or Eric. Or even Jake.”
Elsie says, “Then don’t leave out Oscar. Or Nick either for that matter.”
Maggie nods slowly. “You’re right we can’t. How well does anyone know anyone? People see what they want to see. I mean look at Dexter.”
Kate snorts. “Maggie, Dexter is a fictional character. You guys can think what you want but I know it’s not Nick.”
“You know what they say,” Elsie says, “The wife’s always the last to know.”
Kate glares at Elsie so Mouse leans in and says. “The police will investigate. Arguing will not solve anything.”
Kate says, “It could be anybody. Except Nick.”
Suddenly there’s a strange man standing beside Elsie and they all startle, except Elsie.
Making eye contact with Elsie, he says, “Excuse me, I’m Harry. I was wondering if you’d maybe like to dance?”
Elsie smiles and slides off the stool. “Hi, Harry, I’m Elsie, and I would love to dance with you.”
The others silently watch Elsie follow Harry to select songs from the jukebox before heading onto the tiny dance floor.
Mouse says, “How does she do that?”
“She must transmit some kind of subliminal ‘come hither’ signal,” says Maggie.
Kate laughs. “That’s it exactly. It’s called pheromones.”
Mouse says, “Maybe that’s the guy.”
“That’d be convenient.”
“Well, yeah. Then it wouldn’t have to be somebody we know.”
“Don’t say that, Maggie” insists Mouse. “I want to be able to sleep at night.”
Elsie’s chosen an Allison Crowe torch song from the jukebox. It’s a very slow dance. Naturally. Elsie slides into Harry’s arms and they begin to dance.
Sighing heavily, Maggie says, “If he is the guy, after Elsie’s through with him he won’t be bothering anyone tonight.”
Elsie and Harry sway to the music, pressed as tightly together as is possible. Elsie’s auburn mane undulates, drawing a veil across a good bit of the face to face contact.
Mouse frowns. “Rape isn’t about sex, Maggie. It is about violent domination.”
Maggie says, “Yeah I know. I was trying to make a joke.”
Kate says, “Bad taste.”
Harry and Elsie steam up the dance floor, clearly enjoying themselves as they bump and grind. And grind
The side door to the pub opens and Jose walks in, followed by Eric. On his way into the room Eric’s attention is caught by the familiar torch song and he glances over at the dance floor and stops dead as his eyes light on Elsie. On the dance floor with some guy. Coming in after, Amelia only just manages to not run into Eric. He just stands there, mesmerized, watching as Elsie runs her hands down some guy’s back and grabbing his butt. Elsie throws her head back and the guy nuzzles her neck, more groping than dancing.
Amelia grits her teeth at the sight of the Medusa screwing up some other poor schmuck. Eric certainly doesn’t look like he’s gotten over her. His rigid back tells her that Elsie is carving two notches for the price of one.
As Allison Crowe sings passionately about how she never loved a man, Amelia can’t believe the fury she feels wash over her as she watches that bitch Elsie giving all women a bad name. Why do guys fall for women like that? Every time. Poor sap.
Elsie locks her eyes on Eric and smiles. She licks her lips and arches her back, doing some groping of her own, all the time keeping her eyes on Eric. Amelia is floored by the viciousness of it, just as Eric turns on his heel and stalks out.
Jose is ordering a drink at the bar before he realizes that he’s lost Eric. He sees Mouse, Maggie and Kate sitting on the other side of the bar when Maggie smiles and waves. The three witches, Jose thinks as Amelia joins him.
“What happened to Eric?” he asks.
“She did,” Amelia says, nodding gesturing back toward Elsie’s display on the dance floor.
“Shit,” mutters Jose.
“Look Jose, You’ve been his friend longer than me, is he gonna be all right?”
Jose thinks, says, “Probably not. I better go find him, take him to some nice bar far far away from the red menace.”
“I didn’t think she’d be here. She’s never here.”
“S’alright. You OK to get home?”
“Oh yeah, don’t worry about me.”
Jose takes a swig of his beer and starts to get out his wallet, but Amelia waves him away. “I’ll get it, just go find him.”
Jose smiles ruefully at her, “Thanks,” then he heads out.
Amelia turns back to the bar and orders a fuzzy navel. One good thing, the guys didn’t hear her order the sissy drink.
