“Why won’t you walk away, Tanie?”
“I make good money, and I don’t work very often. I live well and I have no problems. I’m happy with what I’m doing.”
“This isn’t what I wanted. I’ll have to think of a way out. He says the first one will pay for what I owe in rent. After that…”
“Damn Angela! You’re going to end up in the grave if you keep on. That man will bury your ass alive and keep on moving like you never existed. Don’t think for a minute you’ll be able to change his mind or make him see things your way.”
I wasn’t going to accept what she said. Eventually, I’ll get from under Roscoe, and I’ll make sure he’ll never find me. This was my life, and I was going to live it my way.
The rest of the trip was quiet. When we arrived, Andrea wasn’t sitting outside any longer. All of our stuff was still on the sidewalk. It was just a pile of garbage. It didn’t look like anything was salvageable. The guy that changed the locks on the door was waiting for me on the porch. He handed me the new set of keys and left. Tanie drove away, also.
I stood alone on that porch angry and feeling absolutely embarrassed. I sat down on the top step, buried my face in my hands, and I felt miserably sorry for myself. I didn’t cry, but I was pretty damn pitiful nonetheless.
I had to pull myself together. The furniture wasn’t going to move in all by itself. I searched through the pile of furniture and clothes only to find that it was all mostly crap. My dresser wasn’t worth taking back in the house. So, I left it on the sidewalk. I brought my clothes back in after several trips, and I brought in Andrea’s clothes, too. I should have tossed them in the dumpster. Most of the clothes were old and torn, and now they were dirty because they lay on the ground. I managed to get the big sofa in with a lot of huffing and puffing and wearing myself out. Andrea didn’t help me at all. She sat in the far left corner of the living room with a bottle between her legs, and she had a wet face from crying. I couldn’t stand watching her. So, I kept bringing in whatever I could muscle in on my own.
I was glad to see the movers hadn’t taken out our beds, but they were taken apart. I put Andrea’s bed back together, and then I put mine back, as well. I left Olivia’s bed leaning against the wall.
By the time the sun was setting, I ended my attempt to move back in, and I left the rest of the garbage on the curb. Most of the stuff that was in our home wasn’t in good shape anyway. So, I was content with what I did. I left a copy of the new key to the doors on the kitchen table for Andrea, went to my room, and waited for Pritchard to come home. I had a few choice words to tell him, and he wasn’t going to like what I had to say.
THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2009
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
The next morning arrived with a soft rain hitting my bedroom window. The sound was soothing to wake up to. I turned on my side listening. When my eyes were about to close heavy with sleep again, I heard the front door come open and close. That brought me back to life, and I remembered I was waiting last night to talk to Pritchard about the rent money. I stayed up late waiting on him, but he never did show up. I got out of bed, and went into the kitchen where Andrea sat nursing a nearly burned out cigarette.
Andrea coughed something awful. I asked, “Where is Pritchard?”
“I don’t know.” Andrea answered in between her fits of coughing.
“Did someone just leave?”
“I just came in.” She managed to take in a deep breath before coughing again.
The phone began to ring before I went to my room. I answered it.
Tanie said, “You know Stephanie is leaving today.”
“Oh, I forgot.”
“We’re going to breakfast in an hour. I’ll be by to get you, and we’re dropping her off at the recruiting office in town.”
“Okay, I’ll be ready.” I hung up the phone.
Andrea said, “I wanted to ask you a question. Did you get the apartment back yesterday?”
“Yea,” I answered.
“What did you do for him?”
“For who?”
Andrea shifted in her seat so she could look into my face. She remarked, “Roscoe doesn’t let anyone back into his apartments unless you do something for him. What did you do for him?”
I lied again, “I’m not doing anything for him, Andrea. I simply paid the rent.”
Andrea turned away from me. I guess she was satisfied with my answer. “You got any more money?”
I laughed. She wasn’t going to get any more money out of me. “No, I don’t.”
“You gave him all of your money? How much did you give him?”
Telling her a lie was just too easy. It rolled off my lips like it was the honest truth. “However much three months of rent adds up to.”
“You should have given him only two months’ worth of rent. He would have been fine with that.”
“He wanted the full amount. I had no choice.”
“That’s bullshit. Now, I can’t get what I need. I need something to drink and a fix. There isn’t anything in the house.”
“I guess you rather be homeless.” I remarked.
“We weren’t going to be homeless for long. Hell, you should have given him half of the rent like I said before, and he would have let us back in.”
“Roscoe wanted all of the rent money, Andrea. I gave it to him and that’s it.” I was about to go to the bathroom when I happened to look into the living room at the front porch, and I saw Dr. Jameson stepping up to the last step. She waved at me with a smile. I felt bad because I forgot to pass Dr. Jameson’s message. I said to Andrea, “Dr. Jameson is here.”
Andrea moved to look around me, and she tried to straighten herself out. She jumped out of her seat and rushed over to the screen door. Andrea was wearing her night gown, like always, and she had her hair wrapped in a head scarf. Andrea tried to sound cheerful, “Dr. Jameson, come on in. What a wonderful surprise to see you!”
I looked at Andrea like she was losing her mind. ‘What a wonderful surprise to see you!’ Why was she talking like that? She never speaks like that.
Dr. Jameson came in. She looked nice in her dark blue pants and white button up shirt. Her hair was in a bun, and her make-up was lightly applied. I always liked her red hair. She really stood out among other people. She remarked, “I was worried about you, Andrea. How are you?”
“I’m doing very well, much better today. I was in the bed sick for a while. I had some kind of cold or flu. I was going to call you this morning and let you know I was coming in tomorrow.”
Andrea was such a bad liar. She wasn’t trying to go to work on any day, and Dr. Jameson knew it.
“Okay.” Dr. Jameson wasn’t convinced. She smiled at me and said, “Angela, it’s good to see you again.”
“You too, Dr. Jameson.”
“Andrea, I hope you have a minute. I wanted to talk to you about your job.”
“Okay, sure.” Andrea was trying to act normal, but she was failing miserable. The alcohol had her whipped this morning, even though she hadn’t touched a drop yet.
“I want to see you well again. Whether you realize it or not, you are very ill. You are a heavy alcoholic and you abuse drugs, and it has affected your work ethic. You don’t call me when you’re going to be out from work, and when you’re at work, you’re drinking. I’m trying to run a professional medical office, and it’s not easy when my best nurse is sick.”
“Dr. Jameson, I’ll be fine tomorrow. You won’t have to worry about none of that anymore. I promise.” Andrea started laughing. Dr. Jameson did not laugh, and neither did I.
“You will not be fine tomorrow, Andrea. You won’t be fine the day after that. It will take you a long time simply to be okay.”
“Dr. Jame…”
“Andrea,” Dr. Jameson reached in her purse, brought out a folded pamphlet and handed it to her. “I have contacted a drug treatment center in Florida. They are willing to take you in and help you beat your addictions. Before you are allowed to co
me back to work, you must complete this treatment in its entirety. That is a place where you can get full treatment from beginning to end. You can detox there, get counseling, and you can stay there as long as you need to get well.”
“I’m not an alcoholic, and I’m not a drug addict.”
“Do you really believe that? What is it that you do all day, Andrea? What is your number one priority in the morning?” Dr. Jameson continued, “I’m not here to preach at you. I’m here to give you a way out. It’s paid in full, no worries on costs, and you can leave right now if you want. I’ll drive you down there myself. All you have to do is concentrate on getting well.”
“Didn’t you hear what I said?” Andrea asked angrily.
Dr. Jameson answered with pose and patience, “I heard exactly what you said. Either you can do this and eventually get your job back after your treatment is completed or don’t come back to work at all.”
Andrea stared at Dr. Jameson, and Dr. Jameson stared right back. Andrea yelled, “This is absolute bullshit! I worked my ass off for you. You can’t fire me!”
“I am not firing you, Andrea. I am giving you an opportunity to fight this illness.”
Andrea stepped away from her towards the front door. “I don’t need your damn help! I’m fine. I’m doing damn great! I’m doing better than you and everyone else at that clinic!” Now, she was just being defiant.
Dr. Jameson said, “I see you’re not ready. When you are, you can call me day or night. It doesn’t matter the time, and I’ll take you to the treatment facility myself.”
“You are wasting your money.” Andrea said in a low, shaky voice. “Just let me come back to work. I will show you that I’m fine. I can check in patients with no problem. I won’t drink a drop while I’m there. Matter of fact, I won’t drink anything anytime I’m at work. Let me prove it to you. I can come to work today.”
Dr. Jameson approached Andrea and said, “I have done all I can to help you. You have my number. Call me when you’re ready.” Dr. Jameson smiled at me, and walked out.
Andrea was mad as hell. She went into the kitchen and started searching through the cabinets. She was looking for alcohol, but the bottles that she found were empty. Eventually she gave up the search, and she slumped down in her chair at the kitchen table and began smoking. Her hands were shaking, and the tears fell from her eyes.
I tried to get to the bathroom before she could talk to me, but I didn’t make it. She asked, “You think I drink too much? You think I’m a drug addict, too?”
“Yes, I do.” I answered quickly and continued on to the bathroom. I got into the shower. We couldn’t speak if I was in the shower.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
I called Alex before I left my apartment. His phone was no longer in service. Why wasn’t I surprised? I dialed the number one more time just to be sure I dialed his number right. The phone number wasn’t any good. I slammed the phone on the hook. I was about to go see if Andrea was in her room when I caught her from the corner of my eye sitting in the living room. She was looking at the television set that was mostly static and white noise.
Her mind was someplace else. I guess, she was upset about losing her job but at least she had more of a chance to get hers back. I didn’t understand why she didn’t want the treatment. Free meals, roof over her head, and the people there would take care of her. She would rather sit on that old sofa and feel sorry for herself.
It stopped raining before I went to Stephanie’s apartment. As I approached her apartment, I saw her putting an ugly green duffle bag on the porch. She straightened up and started removing keys from her key ring and placing them on a table inside the living room. Stephanie saw me, and she gave me a welcoming smile.
She closed the front door and said, “I am so done with the place.”
“Have you seen Coop yet?” I asked as I joined her on the porch.
“No, I haven’t seen him in a few days, and that’s fine with me. When he comes back home, I’ll be long gone. Then he can sit and wait on me for once. The only difference is I won’t be coming back.” Stephanie laughed.
“You’re so lucky. I wish I was getting out of here.”
“You might be stuck here now that you work for Roscoe.”
“How did you know he wouldn’t let me go, Stephanie?”
“Do you remember a girl name Nessa or Vanessa?”
“Oh yea, I do remember her. She used to jump with us.”
“That’s her. She works for Roscoe, too, and at one time, I was in a bad way. I asked her about working for Roscoe, and she told me straight up that I didn’t want to do that. She said that he thinks he owns you, and if you do start working for him, he won’t let you go. You can’t move out of town because he’ll come after you. She says he’s crazy. She told me to just find another way. So, that’s what I did. I joined the military part time and got a job at the tire plant.”
“I wish I would have listened to you, Stephanie. You were right.”
“If you get a chance to get away from him, you run. You run as far away as you can and you never come back here.”
Now, I was more than concerned. With all the talk about Roscoe, I remembered he gave me a cell phone. I ran back to the apartment to get it.
I dialed Alex’s cell number as I started back for Stephanie’s apartment, and I got the same result as before: a digital voice saying the line is not in service. Why can’t I get this guy out of my head?
When I returned back to Stephanie’s apartment, both Stephanie and Tanie were there. They were about to get into Tanie’s car. I jumped in the back seat, and Tanie took us to the same restaurant that I saw Natalie in. We sat at a table near a window that gave us a front row view the busy main street, and we placed our order with the waitress.
This was our last time sharing a meal together as friends. Stephanie was leaving for good, and it was beginning to hit me.
Tanie asked, “Where are you going to be living?”
“I will be headed to Germany for my first tour. I am so excited. I have never been outside the country before.”
“How far is Germany?” I asked.
“It’s a long way from here, Angela, a very long way.”
“Coop will never find you now.” Tanie said as she started chuckling. “He’s going to be sitting around for days looking for you to come home. I wish I could be a fly on the wall to see what he does.”
“I doubt he will wait around for days. He’ll wait around maybe for a day, and then he’ll go back to his normal routine of staying away for a long time and doing whatever it is he does. It is such a relief to finally get away from him.” Stephanie began speaking about her plans to travel while she’s there and get in all the tourists sites. She hoped to meet a handsome German guy and have an international love affair. Tanie busted out laughing when she said that, and Stephanie was just as loud. I looked at them like they were crazy.
Tanie remarked, “You have to send pictures of all the places you go to.”
“You know I will. Just make sure Coop doesn’t get a hold of my address. God knows, I don’t want him writing me or knowing where I am.”
“I never see him anyway.” Tanie said. “You don’t have to worry about me talking to him.”
Eventually, we started talking about the places that Tanie visited. It didn’t sound so bad when she spoke of all the places she went. I’ve never been any place special. That’s all I could do is sit back and listen.
Our food arrived after a few minutes. The woman was stating each plate as she set them on the table. She left our ticket, and asked us if we needed anything else before she moved on to the next table. We were happy with our orders, and we started eating.
Stephanie said, “Well, I bet Andrea is glad to be back in the apartment. Did she thank you for what you did?”
“She’s doesn’t know what gratitude is, Stephanie.”
“You and Andrea’s relationship is much harder than it should be. You are sisters with a common loss, and you two treat
each other like enemies.” Stephanie said.
“There’s nothing I can do to change her. Dr. Jameson even came by today and was trying to help her. That didn’t work.”
“How was she trying to help her?” Tanie asked.
“Dr. Jameson offered Andrea a chance for treatment in Florida to kick her addictions, and she was going to pay for it all. The only thing Andrea had to do was get better. If she didn’t go, she couldn’t go back to work. Matter of fact, she can’t go back to work until she completes the treatment.”
Stephanie was more excited than I was. She remarked, “That is so good, Angela. I hope she took her up on the offer.”
“Andrea didn’t take the offer.”
Stephanie asked, “What did you say? Did you try to convince her to go, too?”
“I didn’t say a word.” I answered.
Stephanie asked with disappointment, “Why not?”
“Dr. Jameson was talking to Andrea, not me. I had nothing to do with it.”
Stephanie set down her fork. I could tell from the way she shifted in her seat she was angry at me. She said, “You have everything to do with it. Are you kidding me? Angela, Dr. Jameson came over to your apartment today to try and save your sister’s life, and you didn’t help her. You didn’t try to convince her to take the treatment?”
“The conversation was between Dr. Jameson and Andrea. There was nothing for me to say.”
“You should have said everything, anything to get her to go to treatment.” Stephanie was an easy going person, agreeable with everyone, and here she was getting fired up over my sister refusing treatment.
I asked, “Why are you so upset with me?”
“Because your sister has a chance to get better, and you’re not doing a thing to help her. When her life is better, so is yours. But you’re sitting there like whatever she does to herself don’t have a consequence on you.” Stephanie wiped her lips with her napkin.
“It doesn’t have a consequence.”
The Ex Killer Series Page 22
