by Brittle, D M
“Hey,” I closed the gap between us and wrapped my arms around her. “I know that you didn’t sleep with Cooper, God of course I know that, look at me please,” I placed my hands around Jo’s face and lifted her gaze to mine, her eyes were blood red and still full of even more unshed tears.
“What if he did rape me Blake but I just don’t remember?”
“He didn’t,” I replied firmly. “I was there, remember? I saw everything and I damn well stopped him before he had a chance to do anything to you.” Jo looked down at the floor as she continued to sob.
“I am sorry that you thought I was angry with you at the airport, I was not angry with anyone other than those scumbags who were waiting to pounce on us. I didn’t mean to push you away and I am so sorry that I did that but they were upsetting you and I didn’t like it Jo, I don’t like to see you upset.” I leaned towards Jo and kissed her lips gently, tasting the salt from her tears that those pathetic excuses for human beings had caused. “I will get to the bottom of this, I swear to you I will. And then I will hunt those bastards down and sue every single one of them for the shit that they have caused you okay?” Jo nodded slowly as she continued to cry.
“Why would they say that to us Blake? Where would they even get that kind of story from?”
“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “But what I do know is that I love you and I hate to see you upset, it isn’t good for you, and it isn’t good for our babies.”
“Please Blake just fix this, please.”
“I will fix this Jo, I promise.” I said firmly.
“Why did we have to come back here? Why couldn’t we have just stayed where we were? Where life was so happy for us, we have only just got here Blake and I want to walk straight back out of that door and go back to London.”
“We have to be here for the trial,” I said calmly as Jo nodded. “We need to see you get justice for what she did to you.”
“I know,” Jo nodded sadly. “I was so happy when she lived Blake, when Sara pulled through against all odds I saw it as justice, she was about to suffer rather than just die and it all be over, but now? Now I wish that she was dead.” Jo rested her head on my chest and cried as I held her tight wanting desperately to make it all okay for her.
“I want you to go and lie down while I run you a bath and then I will call Theo and see what has happened, okay?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Hey, don’t you ever apologize to me for being upset, now go and lay down and I will be through in a couple of minutes with a nice hot cup of tea and a bubble bath ready for you.”
Jo nodded slowly before turning and walking towards the bedroom, as she stepped into the hallway she turned back to me, “we stick together through this, promise me?” She asked.
“I promise you, more than anything; we will stick together through every step of this.” Jo smiled slightly and continued out of the room. I grabbed the phone and headed to the bathroom, there were over twenty messages on the answer machine. This is where I was about to find out what the hell we had walked back into.
Jo had been soaking in the bath for just over half an hour when her lawyer, Theo arrived at the apartment; he had left home to come straight here the minute I had returned his calls, he told me that he had some very important news for Jo along with some vital new evidence against Sara that had come to light during our time in London. After explaining to him what had happened at the airport, he informed me that he wasn’t at all surprised that the scumbags had been there waiting for us, as information had somehow leaked to the media causing a sudden frenzy for them to get to us as soon as possible, the story was apparently all over the news which we hadn’t seen and until Jo was in the room with us, I didn’t think it would be appropriate to know what had been going on before she heard it too but it must have been something huge to cause such a stir.
Jo walked into the room looking less distraught than she had when I had left her to soak in the bath, she had changed into sweats and a hoody and was tying her hair up into a messy bun, she gave me a tired smile before turning her attention to Theo.
“Hello Theo, it’s good to see you.” She placed herself to the left of Theo at the dining table before patting the seat next to her for me to sit. As soon as I sat I reached over and took her hand in mine, she clung to me tightly, her nerves were displayed clearly as her hand shook against mine, I gently ran my thumb up and down her hand in an attempt to calm her nerves.
“So,” she began, “I hear there is new evidence and something important that you need to tell me.” Her tone was business-like and formal but I could sense the fear she was desperately trying to hide behind.
“Yes Mrs. Mackenzie, I have vital information that changes the trial and it’s procedures somewhat. But before I get to that, congratulations on the wedding,” he smiled.
“Thank you,” Jo smiled. “Now please Theo, tell me what is going on; we should have been informed of what to expect when we landed here, we should have been prepared for the mob that awaited us.”
Theo looked to me briefly before clearing his throat, I had told him before Jo entered the room that I hadn’t told Jo about the calls and even though I now regretted it somewhat, I hoped that he wouldn’t rat on me to Jo; she was under enough stress as it was.
“I sincerely apologize Mrs. Mackenzie but….”
“Please Theo, call me Jo,” She interrupted with a smile.
“Sorry, Jo,” Theo corrected himself. “The kind of information that I have for you could not have just been spilled out over the telephone, you never know who could be listening into phone calls these days. I intended on being at the airport to greet you but I’m afraid I got my days jumbled up and wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow.” I was grateful to Theo for his quick thinking, even though I didn’t condone lying I needed to thank him at some point for saving my ass.
“So,” Jo said nervously, “please don’t keep me in suspense any longer, I need to know what has happened and I need to know why those prats thought it was okay to tell my husband that (a) I had been having an affair with Cooper, and (b) that these babies may not be his.” Jo’s voice quietened towards the end, she had found it so hard to say that out loud to Theo.
“Okay, here’s the thing Jo.” Theo removed his glasses briefly as he rubbed his eyes. “The new evidence that I have told you about, well, a couple of weeks ago, just as you were leaving for London to be precise, a lady called Bea Henderson,” Theo looked down at his notes before continuing, “Cooper’s aunt so I am told. Anyway, Mrs. Henderson was clearing out Cooper’s apartment when she found something that potentially could clear Cooper’s name from involvement with your attempted murder.” Jo turned to me briefly before releasing my hand and sitting forward on the chair.
“Go on,” she prompted.
“Mr. Henderson kept a journal, Jo.” Theo smiled happily.
“What?” Jo asked in disbelief, “Cooper kept a diary?” She exhaled a deep breath as she shook her head in disbelief. “Are you sure?”
“Completely,” Theo nodded. “The journal has been in the hands of forensics, it has been cross checked, double checked, triple checked even and the journal definitely belonged to Cooper.”
“So how does this affect the trial? Please don’t tell me that it somehow clears Sara too because that is impossible, she admitted everything to me when she was in hospital and thought that she wasn’t going to live. Please don’t tell me that she is out there walking free?” Jo placed her hand to my thigh for reassurance. I moved my chair closer and placed my arm around her.
“Please Theo, cut to the chase; my wife doesn’t need this stress, look at her,” I said sternly.
“Of course, my apologies to you both.” Theo reached into his briefcase and retrieved a thick pile of papers before handing them to Jo. “This here is a selection of photocopied pages that I think you need to see; they are from Cooper’s journal. I will warn you that you may find some of the pages upsetting. You featured a lot in his journal Jo,
but, the main thing that you need to know and what I have been waiting to tell you,” Theo looked to me before smiling at Jo, “is that when Miss McDonnell was presented with this evidence, she changed her plea.” Theo sat back in his seat seeming pleased with himself.
“But she already pleaded not guilty.” Jo said in shock.
“Exactly,” Theo smiled. “The evidence that you are about to read places Sara at every single event that was an attempt at hurting you. She has admitted everything Jo, she has admitted that all along all Cooper was ever trying to do was save you and that she was the one who had tried over and over again to hurt you; she cracked under the pressure that was being forced upon her. She admits that she sent the threatening letters, that she slashed your tyres and vandalized your car. She has confessed to trashing your dressing room too; Jo, she has admitted to it all, she is going to go down for a very long time.” Theo leaned forward placing his elbows to the table, “do you remember when Cooper was attacked?”
“Yes, it happened when we were in the Hamptons visiting Blake’s parents.” Jo replied.
“Sara attacked him. She beat him and left him to die and she has admitted it; it’s all in the journal, he was very thorough about jotting down everything that happened in his life, especially in those last few vital weeks.”
“But there is something that I don’t understand Theo, why would Cooper have been in the car with her the day that she ran me off the road, the day that Cooper died? That puts him as much to blame as it does her, doesn’t it?”
“He wasn’t in the car with her when she ran you off the road Jo. When Sara cracked she confessed that shortly after running you from the road, Cooper caught up to her and convinced her to get into his car with him, they were heading back to Washington when the accident occurred because Cooper had somehow convinced Sara that she needed help. When the car hit the tree, Cooper may have been the one driving, but it was Sara that took the wheel and spun them off the road because the police were hot in pursuit of them.”
“So she killed him? Sara killed Cooper?” Jo gasped as she placed her hand to her mouth. “This can’t be true, it just can’t be happening.”
“This is a lot for you to take in Jo, for both of you in fact. But the news that was most important to tell you about this case was that now Sara has pleaded guilty on all counts, including Cooper’s death, you will not need to take to the stand in court, there will be no trial in two weeks’ time Jo, we are now just awaiting a date for her sentencing.”
I could see Jo’s mind working hard to process what Theo had just told us both. “I can’t believe this, I mean, officer Grayson told me that she had been staying with him, he sat right there where you are sat now and told me that Cooper and Sara had as good as been living with each other, I don’t get it.” Jo said.
“When you read the evidence Jo, it will all make sense, everything that you need to know is right there in front of you.”
“How long do you think Sara will get? I mean, she’s pleaded guilty, doesn’t that mean her sentence will be reduced?”
Theo exhaled a long breath, “That is usually the case I agree, but she had pleaded guilty to every single charge placed against her Jo and all of those charges are serious. She may think that she is going to get a lighter sentence because of that but I will be honest with you, in all of my years as a lawyer, I have never seen a case where even though the defendant pleads guilty; whether she was made to or not, she has shown no regret for her actions, none whatsoever so in my opinion, and if the judge sees it that way too; she will never see the light of day again.” Jo sat back in her seat and sighed with what seemed to be relief.
“Can I be at the sentencing?” Jo asked suddenly.
“No.” I said firmly.
“I want to be there Blake, I want to see her get what she deserves. I was going to be giving evidence in court anyway so what’s the difference apart from the fact that I won’t be taking the stand?”
“Jo, listen to me,” I said calmly. “You are already a nervous wreck, you are sat here shaking just because Theo came over to give you some news, I don’t want to see you getting upset even more. There will be journalists there, paparazzi, the media. What happened at the airport will be nothing in comparison. It will be a vile, horrible day Jo and they will all want a piece of you, please, I don’t want you to go.”
“But you will be there with me Blake, surely you can understand that I need to see her go down for it all, I want to see her suffer just how she has made me suffer.”
“Look, I am going to leave you two alone, I have given you a lot of information that you need to process and you obviously have things that you need to discuss.” Theo stood and gathered his belongings together.
“You will let me know about the sentencing won’t you? If I can be there or not and when it will be?” Jo asked as she stood from her seat.
“I will give you a call in a couple of days when you have processed everything that we have discussed this evening. However, you may feel differently when you read the journal Jo.” Theo smiled as he headed to the door; I followed quickly behind while Jo stood looking down at the papers that he had presented to her.
“Thank you for coming over at such short notice Theo.” I shook Theo’s hand before opening the door, “and if Jo asks you again about the sentencing, could you please try and talk her out of it? It won’t be good for her.”
“I can’t tell her not to go Blake, but I will do what I can. I’ll be in touch.”
“Bye Theo.” I headed back into the dining room to find Jo staring blankly at the pages in front of her, I sat next to her as she placed herself back in the seat while I waited for her to speak, but she remained silent while her eyes stayed focused on the evidence.
“Do you want me to read it for you?” I offered.
“I’m not sure that I even want to know what he wrote in there.” Jo pushed the papers towards me but our eyes never made contact. I cleared my throat and turned to the first page. I wasn’t so sure that I wanted to see what he had written about my wife either, but we needed to know what had made Sara change her pleas to guilty.
I scanned through the first couple of pages quickly before finding the first part that had been highlighted by Theo for Jo to read.
Case number 15896.
Cooper Henderson diary entry for prosecution.
Evidence log number 23.
“There is nothing I enjoy more than rewarding myself with a night at my favorite strip club getting entertained by my two favorite hot ass chicks and tonight has been no exception. Having them both grind their barely dressed bodies against me worked every single time, I then enjoyed unwinding with a few good friends as we played poker and snorted a couple of wraps of coke. Okay so I take drugs occasionally, but I am nothing like my mother; I have full control over everything that I do. I am not addicted, and neither will I ever become addicted. Cocaine has the ability to calm me when I need that feeling of calm. Usually after a night like this I would come home happy, relieved and back to the life I have become accustomed to; single and without ties. Yeah, that was exactly how I liked it, until now. Why the fuck can’t I get the taste of Jo Summers’ lips from my mind? Why do I suddenly feel as though I am cheating on her every time I get laid? Which by the way is becoming more and more frequent as the days since our kiss have passed by.
We shared one kiss that was all, just one short innocent kiss. But it seemed that just that one kiss was all it would take for me to get tied up in all kind of knots over her. Her kiss hadn’t even been meant for me, she had wanted to wrap her tongue around Blake’s, but it was me who was sat next to her outside her apartment the night that she changed my feelings for her forever.
I have spent the past seven days ignoring her. She has called on numerous occasions and sent a lot of texts, but I can’t bring myself to reply, how can I act normal around her now that my feelings towards her have completely changed? I have turned into a complete jerk. A complete and utter selfish waste of space jer
k; I even yelled at Jo in the car telling her not to use me, I mean what the fuck was that all about?
Only weeks ago I gave Jo the help and friendship that she desperately needed; on the night she got the call from her mother, it was me that was there for her, no one else, just me but now? Now I am avoiding her like the plague, and that is simply because I don’t like the way I have started to feel about her, I don’t like the way my stomach knots with the weirdest yet most delicious feeling every time I imagine our kiss. I may not have been in love before but I am no fucking fool. I am in love with Jo Summers and I hate myself so much for allowing it to happen. I have one rule in my life, just one - and not only have I broken that rule; I have taken it, chewed on it and spat it out like it tasted of shit.
I need to make everything better, I need to see Jo and make myself fall out of love with her. She has told me time and time again that we are friends and only ever will be friends. She couldn’t have been clearer when she told me that nothing could ever happen between us. Of course she would tell me that, she knows what a male whore I actually am. So regardless of how I feel now, nothing is ever going to happen between us except for the fact that I am about to lose one of the only genuine friends that I have here in New York. I can’t allow that to happen, ever.”
A thickening silence filled the room just as I finished reading the first page of Cooper’s journal. I looked up at Jo slowly just as a tear fell from her face and landed on the table. I had just sat and read to my wife a page from a dead man’s journal; that dead man had been in love with my wife before he had died. “I’m sorry Jo,” I said quietly as I choked back my emotion, “I can’t do this; I can’t sit here and read about someone who was in love with my wife, the same person who I saw trying to rape you after he had drugged you. I just…. I can’t.” I pushed away from the table and grabbed my coat and keys before heading for the door.
“Blake!” Jo called to me as she pushed away from the table and followed me to the door, “where are you going?” She asked as she reached me, I forced a smile onto my face and turned back to Jo.
