Fancy Was Her Name

“And this is why we must support our schools, especially since the politicians that we sent to Washington aren’t doing their jobs!” She finished her speech and received a standing ovation. Pride flashed through her body as the applause continued.

Anyone who was anyone in the town of Cherryhill had attended the fundraiser that her husband had insisted she put together. Malcolm was planning on running for a state senate seat, and needed all of the good press that he could garner. Since she was good at giving parties and getting people to hand over money, whether they had it or not, a fundraiser seemed to be the answer.

The smile stayed plastered to her face, it felt as if nothing could bring her back down to earth. That is until she seen those familiar dark eyes staring back at her. Panic raced through her body, how had she been found? If anyone ever found out about her past, she would be ruined and Malcolm would divorce her. He knew what she had done in her past; he was fine with it as long as it didn’t affect his political aspirations.

Her name was Meryl Warner and as far as everyone standing in front of her was concerned, she came from a wealthy family in Michigan. According to the backstory that she and Malcolm had provided for everyone, he had met her while on a business trip, which was technically not a lie. However they had not bumped into one another at the mall and she had not helped him pick out a tie as they had led everyone to believe.

“Everyone enjoy the food, and make sure to put in high bids for all of the merchandise and prizes that have been generously donated to support our schools!” The waiter began bringing out the food, which gave her a chance to slip out and take care of business. This blast from the past was not a welcome one, and needed to be taken care of as soon as possible.

As she made her way out of the building, hoping the unwelcome guest would follow her, people stopped and congratulated her. Since Cherryhill was such an exclusive neighborhood, they all wanted to brag about how much they had donated and were willing to spend in the auction. When she finally made it out of the building, the cool southern breeze hit her. This was not the time or place for what she had to do but then there was never a time and place for murder.

“Well, well, well if it isn’t Fancy Johnson, the easiest girl in Ferndale, well easy for a price, right?” Fancy was the name her mother had given her but she had changed it soon after meeting Malcolm. She turned to face the man from her past, the man who was set on destroying the cushy life she had set up for herself. “I loved you. I gave up everything to be with you! Then I find out that everyone was eating the cake that you said was mine!”

“Brian this isn’t a good time. We had a fling and it didn’t work out, I am sorry about that but sometimes that is how life goes,” She watched him with a pang of guilt. The truth was that she had loved him and had planned on being his wife. When he had given her a ring to establish their engagement, she found out that he had drained his savings and borrowed against his car. It was then that she had turned back to her old life of selling her body, to help fund their new life. Word had gotten back to him about the career of his betrothed and he confronted her about it. As he stormed out of the house, she got the call that a wealthy businessman wanted her services, Malcolm, the man she had married. She patted her pocket book, thankful Malcolm insisted on her carrying a piece.

“Please just leave it be. We could never be a stable couple, I could never have been happy with you.”

“Why because you like selling your body for money? Or because you think that you have this town fooled into thinking that you are some sort of classy lady?” His handsome face was red; tears clung to the corners of his eyes. “You never even gave me a chance to make you happy. You just ran off with the first customer who offered you a little more money, who offered you a little more financial security.”

She aimed the gun at him, at his heart. At one point he may have been the love of her life but everything in her life had changed. The only thing that mattered to her was the position she held in the community and the eight figures that her bank statement read every month. “You wanted more of me than I was willing to give. You wanted me to change and be who you wanted me to be and that was never going to happen. “
Without another thought, she pulled the trigger. Blood soaked the shoulder of his shirt, where she had hit him. Pain and anger played out in his eyes, his lips were set in a line, he spoke no words but none were needed, he was angered.

“I had to protect myself,” She noted that a few of the guests were peeking out of the hall to see what the commotion was all about. “You tried to rape me! I am a married lady and we do not take kindly to criminals in our neighborhood.”
Police cars and an ambulance raced into the parking lot. Meryl gave her statement to the cops, while Brian was carted off to the hospital but not before he had given her a cryptic warning. “You may have won this round but thanks to your bogus rape charges, I will be here and your secret will come out.”

Word count: 999