High Priestess

2.7

February 20, 1978. 

Stevie had gotten home from work and cocked her eyebrow when she spotted Mick's wallet sitting at the little table by the door that they use for keys and such. He's usually not home until around eight or nine so the fact that he was there when she walked through the door at six-thirty was alarming. 

She slowly put her purse down next to Mick's wallet and her black jacket and then she made her way into the kitchen. She could see him sitting at the rarely used kitchen table with Jack Daniels next to him, half of the bottle gone and some in a cup in front of him. He smirked at her and then swigs back the drink.

"Stephanie." He spits.

"Mick, I didn't expect you home until later." She states.

"Why, is your boytoy coming over?" He inquires.

"My what..." She trails off.

"A Mr. Lindsey Buckingham perhaps." He stands up the chair tumbling behind him. It was then that she registered the crows in the backyard, not entirely a murder but pretty close and the warning cries coming out of them. 

"Mick we have an open marriage." Stevie crosses her arms.

"I TOLD YOU, THAT YOU DO NOT MESS AROUND WITH MY CLIENTS!" 

"HE'S NOT A CLIENT, YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED HIM YET. I'M JUST DOING WHAT YOU ASKED!" 

"IT IS PLAIN AS DAY IN OUR CONTRACT THAT YOU DO NOT EMBARRASS ME IN PUBLIC. AND THIS RIGHT HERE, THIS IS FUCKING EMBARRASING!" He bellows slamming the magazine down infront of him. She looks at the pictures of her and Lindsey kissing infront of the shop and then the Tarot reading and the crows outside finally clicked. Lindsey wasn't the one that needed protection, she was. 

"MICK I WAS JUST DOING WHAT YOU ASKED ME TOO!" 

"I ASKED YOU TO PROPOSITION HIM THREE MONTHS AGO!" 

"AND I AM! SOMETIMES IT TAKES LONGER THAN OTHERS!" 

"SURE YOU ARE, PROPOSITIONING MEANS HAVING SEX WITH HIM THE NIGHT OF THE PARTY TO MAKE HIM WANT TO SIGN WITH ME ONLY TO SEE MORE OF YOU! NOT FUCKING GOING TO YOUR WORK!" He screams in a rage flying over to her, before she can react or respond he grabs her neck and slams her head against the fridge she screeches and falls to the floor her hand going to her temple. 

"I never even told him where I worked." She whimpers.

"THAT'S BULLSHIT!" He throws the plate that was on the counter at her, it hitting her face flat out and then breaking as it fell to the floor. 

"I s-swear, I j-just told him the n-name I never told him w-where it was located." She was dizzy and black spots her clouding her vision not to mention she could feel the blood dripping down her face. 

"I...DIDN'T...EVEN...WANT...YOU..,WORKING...THERE...IN...THE...FIRST...PLACE." His steel toed crocodile pointed dress shoes meeting her ribs hard between every word, but somehow she manages to stand up after he finishes talking and she steady's herself against the counter.

"That's the o-only reason, I m-married y-you. And j-just so you k-know. I will be going to the p-police, and I w-will be filing for divorce." She musters enough strength to say.

His hands go to her neck, "You will do NO SUCH THING, if you want your business to succeed." 

"I-f....y-you d-don't...let me...d-di-divorce y-you I w-will go t-to the p-po-police and I will s-show them what y-you've d-done to my b-body and I will di-divulge y-your d-drug trafficking b-business." She pants out clawing at his neck.

"It's not going to do you any good princess, because frankly...they'll nab you on it too, how many hits have you had today...four, five...or wait...has it been twenty?" He smirks throwing her by her neck into the counter and that's when it all goes black. 

***

The fact that she's unresponsive should alarm Mick Fleetwood, but it doesn't. He just simply cleans himself up and finishes off his alcohol. He drags her lifeless body to the end of the stairs and he sets her up to look like she maybe fell, he also goes the extra mile to trash the enterance of the house and then he goes upstairs. Her blood was all over his clothing so he quickly changed and threw the bloodied clothing into the trashcan at the back of the house and then he picked up the house phone. 

"911, where's your emergency?" 

"6579 Maple Street, in the Sun Valley subdivision. My name is Mick Fleetwood I just got home from work and my wife...she, she...I think she was looking for drugs. She's been using cocaine quite a lot and she mixes it with alcohol. Our enterance way is trashed so I think she was looking for her stash. B-but I walked into the house and she's laying at the foot of the stairs. I think she fell down them." He feins being the stricken husband.

"We'll have an ambulance to you immediately." The responder answers.

"Please, the Crossley Institute, It's a hospital, they should be able to save her right...And you should know that she was going to go there for rehab and detoxification at the beginning of the month, please." He begs.

"Yes Sir." the responder hangs up. 

As soon as Mick disconnects from the operator he dials the Crossley institue and requests Dr. Joe Walsh. 

Joe was one of his good friends, and the irony of the whole situation is that Joe was doing just as many drugs as his patients were-Mick was his supplier-but no one needed to know that. 

"Mick how are you old buddy?" 

"Joe I have a proposition for you." Mick smirks sinisterly.

"Oh yeah?" He asks.

"Stephanie Fleetwood is being brought in by Ambulance. Let's just pretend her injuries are subcontanious to her falling down the stairs in our house. If you keep her locked up until I say so, i'll give you as many free drugs as your little heart desires. She's um...she's been a very bad girl, having an extramarital affair and well she has been doing drugs as well so we'll just say that she had a mental breakdown. I need you to erase any memory of Lindsey Buckingham and my little drug mule business...does that sound like a plan?" Mick inquires.

"I don't know man...I don't feel comfortable shocking someone for no reason." Joe replies. 

"Free cocaine Joe." Mick states.

"I...okay Mick but if something happens it's falling back on you."  Joe warns.

"Nothing is going to happen." Mick hangs up and smirks to himself.

End of Part 2