The sun was set and rush hour was a fierce storm raging at the end of the unexpectedly balmy March day. Marla and Dex were snapping the cover over the canvas sail on the boom when the downpour began.
"I knew it!" he shouted running from the dock to the marina's rancid public restroom.
"I though you were nuts!" Marla hollered back as she rounded the corner into the women's restroom. Cold water dripped from her drenched hair as she half squatted over the toilet. She chuckled remembering Dex's frantic announcement that they had to return to shore ASAP! One minute they were lazily drifting in the warm sinking sunlight fully delirious with spring fever and the next, Dex is standing over her with a serious face and crisp words - we gotta get back, there's a tempest.
"yeah" she drawled unconvinced.
"No, I'm very serious. I'm raising the sail, we gotta get off the water. It'll take well over an hour to get back to the marina."
Marla looked around for the demon. The lake looked utterly blank stretching east toward Michigan - the invisible opposite shore. Chicago's skyline had transformed into a prickly silouette since lunch, the sun held over the shore beaming wholesome goodness - all this during a month that is usually one of Chicago's banal studies in gray. Where are the clouds? Marla thought.
Dex busily swung the boom around and began tightening ropes. I've gone on a day-trip with I nut I barely know, who suddenly decides the world is ending. What do I do now? Is seemed like a question out of a book you find next to a cup of potpourri on the toilet in a bathroom at a house party you've crashed where the hosts are clearly more dull than you had hoped. The wind began to pull at the boat and Dex steadied the rudder, staring forward as if his eyes could pull the boat faster toward the shore. A long invisible knotted rope extended from Dex to the city and with each second his eyes reeled in another knot. Maybe it was rubbing off, or maybe Marla's intuition was waking because she started to dread the possibility of being lost at sea. The water did seem more choppy.
"The waves are coming in from the north tight and fast" He tried to explain in plain English, "A front must be coming down the lake. That extra time over the open water will give it resources to pack a punch."
"Can I help? I can doggie paddle" Dex smirked. Does this chick dig me? He wondered. He couldn't think of anything charming to reply so he just laughed. Maybe he over-laughed.

They reconvened briefly outside the nasty latrine building. Then, while running for the "Dexter Spedermobile", a dumpy red 1989 Pontiac Fiero, Marla gave directions to her apartment. The Spedermobile crawled from red light to red light from the marina to Marla's neighborhood.

"Soderstrom!" The mayor barked as he topped the staircase. He tried the locked doorknob and barked again. Werner quickly opened the door and closed it behind the mayor.
"Do you have any idea what God Damn nonsense is going on down at City Hall today?"
"We spoke at length on the phone"
The mayor stared at Soderstrom looking for some trace of sarcasm. There was none. Soderstrom knew the shit hit the fan.
"Yes we did, the point is, well, Gus hasn't located her yet. He lost her OVER 24 hours ago and she hasn't been back to her apartment. That's unacceptable. And this sicko over at the building department."
"The decoy?"
"You don't dress a man up like a woman for a decoy, Soderstrom. That was pure evil. It was a set up and she ... he demanded to be allowed into the mayor's office, to speak with me! About blueprints? I don't think so, Werner. Marla is assembling an army of nightlife sickos. It was one thing when she started working in city hall, but now she's playing games with us, or she has begun her attack. Washington, my father, Cermak, they didn't know what hit 'em. But I'm on top of the situation. I Know and I don't need Gus or You or any others fucking it UP! She must be stopped now, even if the press gets a whiff of it. Hell, your inept driver almost made a headline of it!"
"I've got several other men looking for her, sir, we will locate her quickly."
"Have they searched City Hall?"
"Why would they--? Gus--"
"She has probably learned of The Access. She's probably holed up in some nook of some narrow corridor in the network. Waiting to make THE move. She must have known about The Access before, during previous administrations and therefor was able to get at the Most Honorable Men and bring about their demise. I secured my office already, but the Building is still vulnerable..."
Daley's initial barking had toned down several notches to an agitated whisper.
"Listen Soderstrom, I'm putting it all together now, do you see? We should have sealed off The Access after those drunk pile drivers blew through that tunnel in [ 96 ]. The media was all over it." The mayor put his arm around Werner and leaned in close, "Marla looks at blueprints everyday. She can read them like any architect. If at some point she got ahold of city hall blueprints, she could read the plans and realized that there's more than meets the eye, see, Werner. They didn't have to write everything on the blueprints when they built it. The architects were there with the construction crew putting things in, you understand, The Access, and she can see that. She knows."

Werner sat back in his old leather office chair pensively taking in the mayor's analysis of the situation. Clearly Daley had been thinking it over incessantly since they had talked on phone that morning. Werner now had minutes to sort out the tenuous connections that the Mayor had sewn into a knot of "fact".
"If Marla knew of The Access network, why hasn't anyone from the church seen her there?"
"Why would she run the risk of being seen in there?" The Mayor scoffed, "That's her ace in the hole, for years, decades, she waits until her attack to use The Access. But she has always known about it. She's probably only been in there three times. Now maybe four!"
"The only time she uses The Access corridors is for an assassination? How does that work, Cermak was in Florida, not City Hall."
"Black Magic. Do you honestly think she does a kill?"
"I don't see why you think she lies in wait, then suddenly infiltrates the network to work some magic, then ESCHEWS the entire network, not returning for a decade or more."
"A curse is cyclic. And cycles often occur over long periods of time. A successful curse or vengeance requires patience on her behalf. This isn't like what you hear about at The Church."
"She waits twenty years, not even knowing who will be elected?"
"You question my judgement?" The mayor glared but his stomach growled, betraying the levity of his remark. Rain had begun to pelt the window behind Werner.
"No. But I'm definitely not fully informed here. I just don't get it."
"I am beginning to wonder about you, Soder---" Daley's cell phone interrupted, "It's Gus" Daley looked at Soderstrom like a patient about to hear test results,
"Well?" he barked into the phone.

"What's it like? I've never been around here."
"Lively" replied Marla, " It's almost entirely immigrants and first generation. There are all kinds of specialty shops and restaurants everywhere and I don't understand any menus."
"Good food?"
"Yeah, but I couldn't say what."
"I'm hungry, you wanna-"
"-yeah, I know a couple places we could go to. Park anywhere after this block."
"No problem. So have you met people around here?"
"I'm a complete outsider. I'm sure many of my neighbors would recognize me, but its not like we talk or hang out or anything. There are a lot of tight knit families on my block, they walk around calling each other Gertrude and Jasper and Regina and, um, Edmund..."
"What do you mean?"
"Old movies and children's television - they learn English from tv and adopt names of their favorite characters."
"Cool"
"Well, maybe, the guy who sells vegetables calls himself Kermit. He's too friendly. He's creepy. Left at the light."
"Damn" Dex nearly slammed into the car stopped in the intersection, "can't see shit."

Gus was still waiting for Marla to return to her apartment. The job HAD been pretty easy so far. Marla had a highly structured schedule, thanks to the last few months of therapy, so Gus learned her routines quickly and it took little effort to keep up. Perhaps he had become too complacent. He had wondered when she got into the car with all the clubber types after coming out of her usual bar. But sleepiness and a sense that he would see her coming into work the next morning got the better of him. Though he was trailing the car of freaks, they lost him with their erratic driving. At the time it didn't seem too bad. Now the Mayor of the City of Chicago was furious with him. It may be a decisive moment in his career. When he was first contacted for the job, Gus felt flattered that he, a small-change PI, would be hired by the mayor's office. The pay was decent and following Marla was pretty easy. She was a strange woman, no doubt. Gus tried to figure her out, her history, her psychology, her mannerisms, but it all seemed to defy understanding. She was an incredibly complex person with a very simple lifestyle. And now he had little idea about how to locate her. The mayor was expecting an update and as the time drew closer, Gus felt increasingly panicky. He finished off his BLT and cup of coffee and pulled out his cell phone. Minutes passed. The waitress refilled his coffee. Gus stirred the coffee and stared at his phone, open on the table in front of him. The sky was gathering dark slate-grey rain clouds. Marla and Dex were closing up the sailboat. The mayor was giving his dissertation to Werner. Aaron was walking down Lincoln with a spring in his step. Heather was thinking about orgasms. Joyce was in a jail cell awaiting her hearing for disorderly conduct. Julius was frantically calling Marla's apartment. Earl, Mr Black and Novotny were dead. The first cold drops of rain blew onto the forehead of a bald man walking his dog at the lakeshore near 49th Street. Then it began to pour. Buckets of lakewater were unleashed on Chicago at the end of the first warm day of spring.
Gus dialed.
The Mayor answered.
"No change, sir. I'm near the apartment. No sign---"
The Mayor began shouting expletives.
A person in the next booth looked over.
The shouting continued.
Gus sat in agony.
Werner fidgeted quietly.
Aaron ran for a bus, knocking on the door window at the last second.
Marla and Dex jumped into the "Dexter Spedermobile".
Julius turned left, heading towards Marla's apartment.
The Marquis de Sade wandered up to Heather hoping for dinner.
Heather called a close friend and canceled plans for that night.
Traffic on the Kennedy slowed to a crawl in the grey downpour.

The mayor hung up.
"I'm starved, let's get some dinner!"
Werner didn't argue.
The mayor informed the bodyguards of his dinner plans and they summoned the driver.
Werner locked his office and informed Heather of his departure.
"No problem, I'll lock up" She replied, thinking 7:30 not eight.
The mayor, the bodyguards and Werner made a run for the armored sedan but all were soaked and musty as they sat inside. The driver headed south.
Gus paid for his dinner and ran to the bar next door and ordered a Sprite.

Twenty minutes later, the armored sedan pulled into the parking lot of Harold's Chicken Shack Number 71 at 2111 S. Wabash. The restaurant and carry-out were closed. In fact, it looked as though it was out of business.
"I know a place in Pilsen" Werner offered.
"Better be good." The Mayor replied. He felt a little delirious from hunger.

Marla and Dex sat at the counter in the Little Red Wagon. An embroidered decoration next to the dessert case read:
If you don't like the cookin
you can kiss mah grits
Embroidered next to the phrase were two wooden spoons in a crossing arrangement with a bowl of food between them, presumably the grits.
"Marla!" Dex whispered loudly, "Check out the skull and crossbones!"
Marla followed his gaze to the embroidery.
"Are you sure the food here is safe?" he scoffed.

Aaron grabbed two Eggo waffles out of the toaster and dribbled syrup over them thinking about his upcoming date with Heather. He opened the Chicago Reader and scanned section 2. He was looking for something fun, not too romantic. Perhaps a little "cultured". She was definitely goth, but was she interested in more than lighting candles? Oh, yeah, Spidey, Peter Parker. She knew that stuff like skyscraper geeks memorize building heights, to the inch. Aaron wondered, 'if I shaved, would I look more or less like Peter Parker?'

Gus was nodding off. A day of panic takes its toll faster than a day of routine. He tried to drink some of the bar's coffee, the coffee was terrible, so he switched back to soda. It seemed incredibly stupid to sit and watch the entrance to a building and hope a certain resident would arrive or depart. He spent the day seeing familiar faces, he had nicknames for some of the more conspicuous tenants, like "Frumpy Girl", "Grampa Joe and Gramma Josephine", and "Beef-Guy".

A wet hand gripped Marla's shoulder as she took a bite of her spinach salad. She turned to a man in a long brown raincoat who was still dripping from the brim of his hat.
"Marla, I need to speak with you, in private"
Dex looked up with a hint of jealousy.
"College friend" She assured him. But given Julius' dire countenance, she said no more to Dex and walked over to the vestibule with Julius.
"I suggest you go on a long vacation starting now,"
It was clear to Julius that Marla didn't understand,
"They've tried to kill you, and now they're getting desperate. Didn't you get any of my messages?"
"What messages?"
"I tried to be obscure in case they were tapping your line."
"Who would tap my line?"
A couple ran up to the door from outside. Julius stopped while they passed through. Dex glanced over and caught Marla's eye during the pause.
"We can't talk here. We should go for a ride, if you really don't know what I am talking about. This is bad."
Marla hesitated, thinking that her day with Dex would have an awkward ending if she left with Julius.
"Are you staying somewhere? I can give you a ride, you can get some of your things, but don't go to your apartment."
"I am staying at Dex's place for a few days. A little vacation" She nodded toward the food counter inside.
"Does he know?"
"I don't know, " Marla burst out, "Julius, I don't know what's going on. I do know I've been attacked."
"If you want, grab Dex, but lets go."
"This is ridiculous. You're flipping out."
As the conversation had been dragging longer and longer, Julius felt that he was losing the battle. He looked at Marla and slightly shook his head no.
"I'll bring my car around." It was his last effort.
Marla went back into The Little Red Wagon.
"Dex, we should go with Julius. I'm in trouble and he knows more than I know about it."
"That weird shit you were talking about. The people following you?"
"Yeah. I gotta go. He's a friend. Come if you can."
"Sure," Dex replied. He honestly had nothing better to to than get messed up in something he could not possibly comprehend the scope of.
Marla took a twenty from her pocketbook and tucked it under her glass of iced-tea.
They got into the car as it pulled up and they headed west.

The armored sedan pulled in front of a carneceria. The Mayor was quite pleased with Werner's suggestion. While the driver waited, the two bodyguards, Werner Soderstrom and the Honorable Mayor Daley went into the little run-down butcher shop and stood in line.

"Marla, I can't believe you don't have a clue about what's going down - "
"What am I supposed to say?
"This is serious stuff, I'll tell ya straight-up, some government officials want you dead, they've tried and failed and now they're pissed."
"If you know who's after her, why don't you say, who are you protecting?" Dex blurted out.
"Look buddy, I don't know shit about you. I do some work for some nasty dudes - I heard our friends name come up a few months ago and I'm doing what I can to get her out of here, get it? I don't wanna look into a barrel hearing what I told you told back to me as grounds for my execution. Now have you got somewhere you can go, Marla? Until this blows over."
"Months ago! When did you help me since then? You've known about this for--"
"I called you to get the hell out of your apartment, that was back when you had that splint. Then I tried to talk to you at my party but you took off. The PI was on your ass anyway -
"You called me that night?!" Marla remembered the weird voice coming from the answering machine. "That was you?! I ran out of there and some creep grabbed me out front of the building. You think you helped me?"
"They got a guy watching your apartment - he calls the boss who sends a hitman. The hitman is headed to your apartment. I got you out. He's not gonna take you out in plain view on the street. You're fuckin luckier than you know."
Marla was silent.
You know that gunshot that missed you by a mile. I fired that shot. The thugs think I tried to take you out - I figured you'd get the idea. Get the hell out of Chicago. Right now, the PI has lost you - this is it, baby."
Marla burst into tears, "Julius, I have to go to the apartment first!"
"No way. The PI will call in when he sees you. Forget it"
"I have to!" Marla sobbed.
"What the hell do you need that bad?" Julius barked, " I'm talking about your fuckin life, I'm-"
"Prandicle!"
Julius immediately understood. Marla told him about it back in college. He never forgot about it. Without saying anything, Julius turned the car back toward the apartment.
Dex grew even more anxious when it was clear the conversation wasn't continuing.
"What the hell is Prandicle?"

The clerk stacked 5 packages in front of Werner.
"Thirty one fifty five."
The mayor tried to contain his excitement but his stomach gurgled rambunctiously and his phone rang. His eyes widened with an intensity greater than the digestive juices' ph level.
"She's there!" He exclaimed nearly dropping the phone. Werner froze for exactly one second. He dropped two twenties on the counter, slid the packages in front of the mayor and ran out of the shack. Daley was both shocked and impressed with the way Werner removed the driver and launched the armored sedan into traffic. The car quickly sped out of sight. The clerk cleared his throat, Daley scooped up the change and hefted the pile of brown paper wrapped flesh. He tried to look anonymous in the corner near the exit as he quietly ordered his men to call his limo.

It was a little early, but I couldn't wait any longer. If I had to kill some time talking to her while she closed up or giving her cat a good swift kick, well, that's great. Checking to see that I had the paper clipping in my pocket, some cash on hand, keys, breath mints, ID, saline drops, condoms, a pen and a book to read on the bus, I headed out with my backpack and jacket slung over my shoulder. The rain had let up but it was far colder out.

Gus debated whether to go into the apartment building after her. If he lost her, she using a fire-escape and the alley, he was clearly going to get fired. Did she know her apartment was watched? She came running up from around the corner - but where was she coming from? The light was on in the front room of her apartment, the bedroom. A minute later it went out and all looked dark.

As Werner pulled up to stopped traffic at a red light, he checked to see that the gun was loaded. He was only blocks away.

Gus crossed the street to peer into the lobby. He clutched and squinted at a piece of paper to give the appearence of trying to find a specific address, just in case. A pair of legs began descending the last run of stairs that lead to the lobby. Knees, waist, breasts, Gus went to step back but an extremely well landed fist connected with the back of his head, following through as Gus lost his balance. The attacker pushed the crumpled PI against the intercom and wall and struck his head from behind again. As she came through the door, Dex grabbed Marla's hand and the two ran to Julius' car as he pulled up.