The Last Sighting of Mademoiselle Virginia

The moment that the chocolate cake was set down before her, she knew something was wrong. She could feel it in her very bones, like a deathly heat in her marrow slowly dispersing throughout the rest of her body. She didn’t want to know what was happening, but every instinct in her told her to turn her head. And she did.

It was just as she’d suspected.

A grinning mouth greeted her, and all at once, she knew that she was face-to-face with the legendary Mademoiselle Virginia. At least, everyone else called her legendary. The press, the officers on the force, and any other person who wouldn’t know a thing about crime if it bashed them over the head with a shovel. To Detective Donovan, the woman was a nuisance who never seemed to go away, a femme fatale with a knack for stealing jewels right out from under rich men’s noses and hearts from the chests of all the young ladies who weren’t careful enough with their feelings. Ladies like Detective Donovan, before she put away all of that emotional nonsense.

“You!” Detective Donovan hissed. “Why, I ought to—!”

Virginia pressed her finger to her lips and winked beneath a stray lock of her black hair. “Come on now, Detective. You’re going to spoil my fun if you cry out now. Besides, I wasn’t planning on hurting you.”

“Funny thing to say. Last time we saw each other, I almost died.”

“If I remember correctly, it was I who took the bullet for you,” Virginia said, rubbing her right arm teasingly. There was still a scarred outline where it had grazed her, but the dame healed faster than most normal people. “We both almost died that time. And that one wasn’t really my fault, was it, Dorothy? It wasn’t me who was digging around in the basement of that old casino. I was just one of the gals sent to dispose of the remains.”

Detective Donovan glared at her. “If I know you, you were the one who slit his throat.”

“Not my style. Now, are you going to eat the cake? I made it for you especially.”

It was as though her hand no longer belonged to her in that moment. She turned back to the lovely slice of chocolate cake before her and, against her better judgement, she picked up a fork and took a bite of it. She usually wasn’t one for chocolate, but it was heavenly. And so addictive. The moment that she began, she found that she just couldn’t stop eating, as though it were laced with the drugs that Virginia’s last boyfriend had sold at the political machines to sway the impoverished masses toward a mayoral candidate who would let the mob run amok in the city. It was so sweet and intoxicating. She wanted to be sick to her stomach and eat it for the rest of her life all at the same time.

By the time she’d finished the delicious dessert, Virginia was sitting in the chair opposite her, watching her with those intense green eyes and her parted pink lips. It was a moment of weakness that made Detective Donovan wish that she could lean across the table and kiss them. Virginia’s delicate lips turned up into a smile. Detective Donovan suddenly wondered whether the thief could read thoughts.

“What was in the cake?” Detective Donovan asked carefully.

Virginia ignored the question and turned her head to look out the window. “You know what’s sad, Dorothy? This is probably the last time that I’ll ever be able to see you again. That’s why I wanted to come here. Say my goodbyes. Bake you a little something.”

“You’re usually not this sentimental. What’s really going on?”

“It’s exactly what I say!” Virginia said, shaking her head. She laughed to herself softly. “Because crime’s my life, and I have to go where crime is, so I have to go. Right now, crime’s not in this grimy little city. It’s out there. It’s where nobody knows my name, and nobody knows what I can do and where there aren’t wanted posters plastered on every street corner with my face on them.”

Detective Donovan shook her head, tears filling her eyes. “You can’t leave, Ginny.”

Virginia looked back at Detective Donovan sadly. “You know, I appreciate that you never squealed on me. For all the times we’ve been at each other’s throats… well… at the same time, you’ve been my only friend. And don’t forget that night at the Ritz. Even though it was only once… well… I remember it like it was yesterday. It’ll always be yesterday for me.”

“Please…” Detective Donovan whispered. “Don’t go.”

Virginia smiled and stood up, slowly. “For how much you claim to hate me, you’re sure attached to me. And for how much you claim to care about this city, you sure don’t seem to care about this restaurant. Everybody’s been unconscious since you started eating. And I know you don’t miss things like that.”

Had they...? She’d… she had missed it…

Everything was spinning. Detective Donovan tried to stand up to match Virginia, but she couldn’t manage it, and instead, sank back into her chair, defeated. Virginia slowly walked over to her, agonizingly, and put her hand on Detective Donovan’s cheek. She flicked away a tear rolling down her cheek and then pressed a kind kiss upon her pale skin. Detective Donovan held her breath. She hadn’t expected those lips to be so soft, like the petals of a flower, and once the thief had pulled away, she could only wish it had lasted longer. She could only continue to cry amid the darkness clouding the vision.

“I’ll come back, Dorothy,” Virginia promised. “Someday.”

Detective Dorothy Donovan slipped into a deep sleep then. And when she awoke, Mademoiselle Virginia—the love of her life—had disappeared along with the wallets of the rich men and the purses of their wives and one soft kiss. And she disappeared with Detective Donovan’s heart.

It wasn’t the first time. It certainly wouldn't be the last.