The Good Listener

by B. M. Hardin

  ~***~

  I looked in my rearview mirror.

  There had been a car following me for a while, and I wasn’t sure who was behind the wheel.

  I made a left and so did the car.

  Driving past my turn to my house, I kept driving so that they didn’t follow me home.

  I waited at the stop light.

  I tried to see the person’s face, but they were wearing sunglasses and a hoodie that covered their head.

  I was reminded of the person that had been hiding by the side of the building late that night and wondered if it was the same person.

  The light changed, and I signaled and turned right.

  And so did they. I didn’t recognize the car, but I had a feeling that maybe it had something to do with the strange roses that I was getting as well.

  I made a U-turn and just like I knew that they would, so did they.

  It was my early day.

  I’d finished my session with Blake, and I was on my way home. But now I was going elsewhere.

  I headed towards Joel’s job.

  Hopefully, someone would be outside just in case the person in the car tried something crazy.

  Just as I turned into the business park, the car stopped, dead in the middle of the road, turned around, and went the other way.

  Huh?

  Who was that?

  I drove to my husband’s building and sat there to try to figure out what had just happened.

  Had the driver known where I was going?

  What is it that they wanted with me?

  I immediately spotted Blake’s car and concluded that he had come straight back to work once we were done with our session.

  But looking around the parking lot, I noticed that Joel’s car wasn’t there.

  I called his cell phone, but he didn’t answer it.

  Instead of sitting, I headed back out of the business park, and cautiously checked my surroundings.

  I looked for the black sedan, and seeing that it was nowhere in sight, I sped off and headed home to see if Joel was there.

  But he wasn’t.

  Hmmm…

  Where was he?

  ~***~

  “You’ve had that nasty cough for a while. Maybe you should go get it checked out,” I suggested to Joel.

  “Yeah, I will. I will.”

  I’d told Joel about being followed the other day, but he didn’t seem to believe me.

  He thought that maybe I was thinking more of it than it actually was.

  He questioned why anyone would be following me in the first place.

  And when I asked him why he wasn’t at work, he simply said that he had taken a late lunch.

  He stated that he’d left his phone on his desk, which was his excuse for not answering his phone but he was lying.

  Joel never went anywhere without his phone.

  But instead of causing an argument, I let the conversation go.

  We were out for dinner and so far, thankfully, we were having an amazing time.

  “I have something for you,” Joel said and pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket.

  It was a picture of a newborn baby boy.

  “What’s this?

  “I was hoping that it could be our son. I know we discussed you actually carrying a baby with a donor, and you still can, but we can start with him. We can have a house full of kids if you want to. The mother signed over the rights at birth, and the father passed away only months before. I’ve been in contact with the agency. We can start the adoption process, and he can be all ours in no time. What do you say? Let’s make this happen.”

  Joel sounded so excited, and I didn’t want to disappoint him.

  But I still had a lot on my plate, and way too much on my mind.

  I couldn’t tell him that his boss was a lunatic, who I was trying to stop from killing someone else.

  And I wasn’t sure what fantasy world Joel was living in, but our marriage was still up and down.

  Of course, I could probably fix that if I cut down on my hours at work but I couldn’t do that.

  Not right now.

  And not anytime soon.

  “Say something. This is actually why I was on that late lunch the other day. I was at the agency. I know we should have gone together, but as I started to think about my life and about what we were missing, I kept coming to the same conclusion. We’re missing children. I want a baby Hannah.”

  “I want a baby more than anything in the world to Joel but,”

  “But what?”

  “I just think that we should wait a little while longer.”

  “For what Hannah?”

  “Until my workload lightens up a bit. If you’re fussing about there not being enough time for us, how are we going to have time for a baby?”

  “That means you are going to have to make time Hannah and stop dedicating your entire life to that job.”

  “But the job is a big part of my life, Joel.”

  “Not a bigger part than me, right?”

  “Right. But I just have so many patients, and some of them are dealing with some really big issues, and a baby would be a lot for me to handle right now.”

  “Why are you making up excuses Hannah? You don’t want to spend time with me. You don’t want a baby with me.”

  “That’s not fair Joel. For over a year I can count the times that you touched me.”

  “But I was going through something Hannah. I wasn’t happy with myself, so, of course, I couldn’t make you happy. But things are better now.”

  “They are, but I just needed a little time.”

  “What’s wrong with you? You have been acting so different lately. I hope you don’t think that I haven’t noticed. What is it? Who is it?”

  “It’s no one.”

  “Who is he, Hannah?”

  “No one Joel.”

  “I’m excelling at work. I thought starting a family would be good for us. But now the problem isn’t me. It’s you.”

  “Starting a family would be great. Just not right now.”

  “So this is about work? Work is more important than becoming a mother? Starting a family? Making your husband happy? Stop trying to save the world and save your marriage.”

  “Whoa. Wait a minute. So our marriage needs saving?”

  “I guess you have been too busy to notice. And it most definitely will if you don’t get onboard with this. I’m ready for a child Hannah. What’s wrong with you?”

  “What’s wrong with you? Why the sudden rush?”

  “We’ve wanted this for years, Hannah. Had I not lost my job we would already have a child. It’s the perfect time to start a family.”

  “Not for me it isn’t. You just don’t understand.”

  “Right. Because you can’t talk about work right?”

  “Right Joel. You know that.”

  He hit the table with all of his might and stabbed his steak with the knife that he was holding.

  People started to stare and whisper.”

  “It’s either your job or me, Hannah!”

  “Joel, you can’t do that. You can’t make me choose.”

  Joel breathed heavily, but I just didn’t see why he was making such a big deal out of it.

  “Let’s just go.”

  Joel stood up and waited on me to do the same.

  The car ride home felt as though I was a convicted felon taking my last stroll, heading for the electric chair.

  “Joel,”

  “I don’t want to hear it, Hannah. I just don’t want to hear it.”

  “I do want to start a family. I didn’t say that it was never going to happen. I just said not right now.”

  “Why Hannah? And don’t say because of work.”

  “But it is because of work.”

  “The only problem I have ever had with your job is that you work too much. But you, you have never seen a problem with it, and you have never seemed to care how I felt about your long hours, almost every single day.
But at the same time, you have never worried about work or even mentioned it as though it was some kind of burden. Why now? Why all of a sudden?”

  “Because.”

  “Because what?”

  “Joel, just because.”

  Joel exhaled loudly, and I knew at that very moment that things were going to be a bit shaky between us again for a little while longer.

  This whole situation with Blake was affecting everything and everybody around me.

  I’ve always worked hard and long hours, but I also knew how to step back and balance time when I needed to.

  I definitely would have done so seeing that Joel was giving our marriage a real effort and pressuring starting a family.

  But I couldn’t step back this time.

  I didn’t even know how much time I had before Blake made his next move so I couldn’t take any days off.

  Even on the days that I didn’t meet with him, I was still working on him and his issue.

  Sixteen-hour days were a must.

  And now that I was already in it, I didn’t have a choice but to continue the sessions because if I didn’t help Blake, someone was going to die.

  Was Blake being honest with me?

  I felt like he was.

  Would he really kill?

  There was no doubt in my mind about it.

  I tried to consider the small possibility that maybe he wouldn’t.

  Maybe he was playing some kind of game.

  But I couldn’t take that chance.

  I could only hope and pray that Joel could hold on and that I wouldn’t lose my marriage from trying to save someone else.

  But what else was I supposed to do?

  I just didn’t have a choice.

  “I’m sorry Joel. I really am.”

  “Yeah, and so am I,” he said.

  What was that supposed to mean?

  ~***~

  “Did Joel tell you?”

  “Tell me what?” I questioned China.

  “He introduced me to his boss, Blake. He is one tasty piece of meat, isn’t he? And I think we are starting to hit it off.”

  It took me a while to comprehend what she had just said to me.

  “We have only been on a few dates, but I think he just might be the one. And don’t worry, he isn’t married. I asked.”

  No!

  I clutched my chest, and I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth fast enough.

  “No! No! No! Stay away from him!”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me China. Stay far away from him.”

  “Why? What’s wrong with him?”

  What isn’t was what she needed to be worried about.

  “He’s not a good fit for you.”

  “Why?”

  Because he’s a psychopath, that’s why!

  But of course, I couldn’t say that.

  Why was Blake playing it so close to home?

  Joel was already working for him, and now he was dating China?

  He was up to something.

  I could feel it.

  “Please. Trust me.”

  “You’re always going to find something wrong with every man that I date.”

  “Well, the last one was married.”

  “So.”

  “So, you had no business dating him in the first place.”

  “Tell that to him and why you’re at it tell him to stop calling up my phone,” China said, and greed to think about what I’d said and then she was gone.

  Though I wasn’t scheduled to see Blake for a few more days, I needed to talk to him.

  I needed to see what he had up his sleeve.

  With Summer on lunch, I headed to her computer to pull up his contact information.

  Blake had my personal number, but he’d never called it, so I didn’t have his information saved in my cell.

  I looked through the address book that she kept for me, copied the number and headed to e-mail it to myself.

  I don’t know why I started to scroll through her emails, but I did, and something caught my eye.

  An email from Mrs. Whiteside was in her inbox.

  It was old, weeks before she committed suicide.

  I read it and all it said was:

  “Okay. Thank you.”

  I headed to see what Summer had sent to her, but it wasn’t there.

  There weren’t any emails sent out to Mrs. Whiteside from Summer, but surely she must have emailed her something in order for Mrs. Whiteside to have responded.

  Why hadn't Summer ever mentioned that to me?

  I hadn't seen any emails from her, but then again Summer came in an hour before I did and she usually went through my emails for me and told me what was important.

  I headed to her trash folder, but it was empty.

  That was strange.

  Getting off of Summer’s computer, I headed back to my office.

  Of course, I’d talked to her about Mrs. Whiteside’s death and not one time did she mention that they had shared any kind of recent email correspondence.

  Maybe it was something between them.

  Maybe.

  I dialed Blake’s number and waited for him to answer.

  “What are you up to Blake? With China?”

  In a crazy, cynical way he chuckled.

  He knew exactly what I was talking about.

  “Just a little insurance.”

  “For what?”

  “I still don’t trust you yet. You understand, don’t you? Let me give you something that you can take to the bank and even share with your other patients. Even those that appear to be on your side, never really are. You can never truly trust anyone. Not with everything that you have. But I’m ready to trust you with enough. I’m ready to take our conversations up a notch and China is my insurance plan. In other words, some of the things that I’m going to reveal to you might make you a little itchy; they might even make you want to head to the police station or something because I have done some horrible things, Hannah. But other people around you, that you actually care about, just might get hurt if things don’t go as planned. I would be very disappointed in you if you betrayed me, Hannah. So, like I said, she’s just a little insurance. I’ll see you on Thursday.”

  And with that, he hung up.

  Paranoia.

  Trust issues.

  I just kept right on adding to the list of things wrong with him.

  At this point, even I knew that going to the police would be pointless.

  Blake was entirely too smart, so I was sure that he already had a plan, but I really wanted to help him.

  To be honest, I was just ready to help him and be done and over with it all already.

  And he was trying to attach himself to the people around me so that he had some kind of leverage.

  He was like my worst nightmare, and I hated myself for getting involved.

  I really did.

  Later that day, Summer headed out, and I stayed behind to catch up on a few more things and snoop on her computer again.

  I didn’t find anything more, but I was curious.

  I hadn't been able to stop thinking about the email all day.

  There had to be a way to pull up deleted history, and if there was a way, I was going to work on finding it out.

  Summer was my friend, and I couldn’t imagine a better assistant.

  I trusted her to the fullest, and I hated that I felt like there was something more, but I did.

  Had she mentioned the emails to me, maybe I would have felt different, but something just didn’t sit well with me about the whole ordeal.

  Maybe it was because of all of the little proverbs about trust and lies that Blake was filling my head with every session.

  Maybe it was just because I wanted to know if there had been something said that I could have used to help her.

  Either way, I had to see what had been said, I didn’t think asking Summer about it was the best route to take.

  I was going to have to call
in some kind of computer technician.

  I tried not to stay as late as I wanted to with all of the mysterious things happening, so only after about an hour, I headed out.

  No one else seemed to care, but surveillance inside and outside of the office was now a must.

  I headed towards my car, and just as I grabbed for the handle on the car door…

  I tried to get away from them, but I couldn’t.

  Someone had grabbed me from behind.

  I dropped my purse and tried to turn around to protect myself, but somehow I lost my balance and fell to the ground.

  “You think that you are just going to sleep with my husband and get away with it? You ruined my family! You ruined my life! My husband doesn’t love me anymore, and it’s all because of you! I sure hope you kept those roses because they would look nice on your casket at your funeral!” She screamed.

  What?

  I hadn't faced my attacker from the ground yet but hearing that it was a woman and everything that she’d said, I sat down on the ground and turned to face her.

  She was holding a gun and instinctively, I held up my hands.

  But as she studied my face she looked confused.

  “I don’t understand. You’re not her. You’re not the woman that I saw with my husband.”

  What did she say?

  “You’re not the bitch that ruined my marriage.”

  I looked at her as she stepped back.

  “What? I have my own husband. I’m not sleeping with anyone else’s.”

  She lowered the gun, and I became even more confused.

  “I don’t understand. I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else. I thought you were Hannah.”

  What?

  “I’m sorry. This is where Hannah works, and you were driving her car, and this car is always parked at her house. You even somewhat look like her, but you aren’t Hannah. I stared at her pictures in his phone for hours. I know every feature of her face. And you are not her,” she said.

  Huh?

  “But I am Hannah.”

  “No. Not my husband’s Hannah,” she said and ran away.

  Huh?

  I watched her as she got into the black sedan that had been following me that day.

  Confused and still in shock, I managed to stand up and get myself together.

  I watched her speed away, and I felt as though someone had just played some kind of horrible trick on me.

  What in the world just happened?

  The police left, and China pulled up just as we were about to close the front door.