Twenty Letters

Prologue

May 16th , 1998

San Francisco, California

The rain began to pour hard, seeping into Marie's thin jacket. As she looked up at the unpleasant gray clouds she thought to herself...what a bad omen this must be. Now, Marie had never believed in omens or superstition before, but today seemed to be an exception. She still didn't know how she was going to tell Lassiter that she didn't have the money. If only her father had kept his nose out of where it didn't belong, that way she wouldn't be here now fixing the mess of a life he had given her, when he died two years ago.

Marie's father was a good man; he just got himself into trouble more than once with the wrong guy, who just happened to be a mob boss. Just my luck thought Marie, him of all people. Tomas, her father, would "borrow" money from him and just gamble it away and never repay any of it. That was the sole reason she was here right now, to pay off her father's debts. Except one minor detail...she didn't have the money. And if it's one thing her father taught her before he died, it was to never go up to a mob boss and say "Hey, I don't have your money...bye." It just didn't work out that way. She knew that, because that's exactly what her father did, and look how he ended up. Marie always had suspicions about her father's death, but could never prove the mob had anything to do with it, she just knew in the back of her mind that they did. So here she was, just about to do the same thing her father did two years ago.

Sending up a quick prayer of protection and courage, she walked into the bar, where he had told her to go. It was hard to get the look "I'm all business" when she was soaked to the bone and dripping wet. Despite that, she drew up to her full height of 5.7" and strode towards the back table. Lassiter wore a completely white suit and a matching fedora. On both of his hands was an assortment of different colored rings. His hair, or at least what you could see of it, was jet black and curled at the base if his hat. His outfit complimented his olive skin tone and seemed to make his teeth whiter than they really were when he smiled.

He motioned for Marie to sit across from him. His smile was the least bit welcoming, if anything it was frightening. He probably could sense that something was wrong, because his smile quickly faded and he leaned forward and looked her directly in the eye. Marie tried not to squirm under his scrutinizing gaze and look him straight in the eye. It must have worked because he leaned back and put a cool smile on his tanned face.

"So..." he said, "Do you have my money that your fool of a father never paid back?"

That's all he needed to say to make Marie want to kill him, nobody talked about her father like that, because it was far from the truth. Yeah, he had gambled a lot of their money away, but he had loved her and treated her like a good father should. No, he was not a fool, he was a human... a human that made mistakes like any other, and she loved him no matter what.

"Look here... you good for nothing piece of crap. You could never amount to anything in this world, you haven't and never will. All you do is sit there and put terror and fear into people who made a little mistake. And my father was anything but a fool. You know if you want to call someone a fool it might as well be you. A fool to think I'd actually give money to a low life like you. So you know what, go ahead, do whatever you want, but just know this, you will get caught and tried for every heinous crime you've ever committed, including the murder of my father. Yes, I know you did it, even if I don't have any proof, but mark my words I will find it. And when I do, you will fall down on your knees begging for mercy, but I will show none, because you didn't show any to my father or any other lives that you've cut short. Then finally I will be able to rest in peace knowing you are where you belong, behind bars for the rest of your life!"

She could tell her words had an impact, because she could literally feel the heated hatred coming off of him. Marie then stood up abruptly letting her chair crash to the floor behind her and stormed out of the building in a blind rage. Her heart pumped with adrenaline at the realization of what she had just done.

It had started to thunder and rain even harder as Marie burst through the bar door. She didn't even dare to look behind her to see if Lassiter was following her. Then that's when she heard it, his creepy, all too familiar, ear retching voice coming from behind her.

"You can't run forever, my dear Marie. I will find you again and you will pay for what you just said. Good thing for you I like pretty innocent girls and wouldn't want to ruin that quit yet, even after your rude behavior. I'll let you live this time, but I can't promise the next I will feel the same. Just know that nobody you love will ever be safe. Matter of fact, I believe my men already got to your beloved husband. Oh, come on don't look so shocked. I'm ashamed you didn't think I would have back up plans just in case something like this happened. So I don't think you will be seeing him any time soon. That also goes for your child there."

Marie stopped dead cold in her tracks, instinctively putting a protective hand over her abdomen and feeling the cold fear crawling up her spine, threatening to paralyze her. "No, not my baby girl and my dear husband" she thought to herself.

"Ah, there we go that got your attention. Now, if you want your baby to be safe, just come on back over here and give me back what belongs to me. Or do you want to suffer the same fate as your father, now your husband, and soon your baby?"

Slowly turning around with pure hatred laced into her words she said, "No I don't, but I am done with you. And if I ever see you lay one of your grimy fingers on my baby girl, I will kill you myself, right there and then," Marie said with a lot more courage than she really had.

"Not if I kill you first and make you watch while I, slowly and painfully, kill your precious little daughter, while you yourself are dying."

"Over my dead body" thought Marie. But after she thought that, she couldn't help but think how that wouldn't stop Lassiter. Nothing would stop him, until he was 6 ft. deep.