Unforgivable Sin

by Isabel Lucero

  Troy pins Marc with a look. “What do you mean?”

  Marc looks over at me. “I’ll let her tell you about it, and when you’re done talking, I’ll be in the other room.”

  When Marc leaves, we both stand there in silence.

  “Do you want to sit?” I ask softly.

  “I think I’m gonna stand,” he answers gruffly.

  “Okay. Well, last night Carla came over to my place.”

  “What? Carla was at your house last night?” he asks angrily.

  I look up at him. “Yeah. I had gone for a run, and when I got back, she was parked outside. I waited and saw her get in the car and drive off.”

  “She didn’t say or do anything?” he asks, cutting me off again.

  “Can I finish?”

  He nods once, his jaw tense.

  “When she drove off, she spotted me and smiled and winked. I ran inside thinking she’d be coming back, but she didn’t. Instead, I wandered through the house and found a note she left me in my bedroom window, and saw that my keys had been taken. So, knowing she had a way to get in, I knew I couldn’t stay there.”

  “You could have called me. I have a copy of your keys at my place.”

  I cross my arms. “No, I couldn’t call you. You left me on the street. Why would I want to call you? Anyway, I didn’t want to call Jace and Adrienne and ruin their happiness with being engaged and moving in together, so I called Marc.”

  “How did you even have Marc’s number?” he asks a little harshly.

  I roll my eyes. “You called him from my phone not too long ago. I went to the only number in the call log that wasn’t programmed in.”

  “I hate that you called my friend rather than call me.”

  “I hate that you broke up with me. I hate that you don’t think Marc is my friend, too. You may have known him longer, but he’s a friend of mine as well.”

  “So, what? You just slept over here? Nobody thought to let me know what was going on?”

  “Are you serious?” I ask with a humorless laugh. “Why? You clearly don’t give a shit about me.”

  He’s instantly furious. He throws his arms up and runs his hands over the top of his head as he begins pacing.

  “I don’t give a shit about you? Really?”

  “Well, what do you expect me to think? You tell me you love me and an hour later you’re breaking up with me, leaving me to find a ride home. You’re so back and forth, Troy, I can’t keep up.”

  Troy stops right in front of me and his eyes bore into mine.

  “Everything I’ve done lately, I’ve done for you. I quit my job for you. I quit the life I said I’d never give up, for you, Emilie. I said I’d never be in another relationship again. I told myself I’d never give my heart to another woman, and you have it. It may be slightly fucked up, but you have it. You have all that I can give. I broke up with you to protect you. I did what needed to be done to keep you safe.”

  I shake my head, and with a lump in my throat I say, “That doesn’t make any sense, Troy. You make me feel safe.”

  With a sigh, he sits down on the third stair and motions for me to come to him. With me on the step below him, I angle my body to the side, so I can look up at him.

  “I never wanted to break up with you, and I’m sorry for the way I did it, but it was necessary.”

  I furrow my brow at him in a look of utter confusion.

  “I couldn’t tell you my plan, because I knew you’d never go along with it, and I wanted it to look as legit as possible. Your emotion had to be real.” He pauses. “Carla was following us that day. I made sure she was. That’s the reason why we went by your house, near you job, and then to the store. If she was at or close to either of those areas, she would spot my car and follow behind. I noticed her as we were walking to the store, and kept an eye on her while you were looking around. When we left the store, she was nearby, and I had to do it then. She had to hear it, and she had to believe it.”

  I continue to stare up at him, trying to take in everything he just proclaimed. I do remember him looking around quite a lot that day, and he was awfully quiet. Something was different with him, and I had noticed it, but I never would have guessed the reason.

  “Okay. So, you wanted to break up with me so she would leave me alone? She didn’t, Troy. She was at my house just last night. Your plan didn’t work. And now we’re supposed to not be happy, for her?”

  He shakes his head and grabs my hand in his. “It did work, Emilie. Carla was just arrested.”

  My hand goes to my mouth immediately as my breath catches. “What?”

  “She was arrested at my house right before I came over here.”

  “Your house? Why was she at your house?”

  Troy takes a deep breath. “When I broke up with you, I anticipated she wouldn’t think you were a threat anymore, but I also figured she’d try to have a shot with me again. She ended up showing up to my place and as much as I wanted to kill her, I allowed her in. I got her talking and admitting what she did, all the while there was a recorder in my pocket. I placed it in a pocket of my hoodie in the hopes of her coming over and doing what she did. Before she left, I told her to come back the following day, so we could ‘talk’ some more.”

  I open my mouth to say something, but he raises his hand to stop me.

  “Let me finish. I contacted that detective and told him all about it, and how I had her on tape admitting to what she did, so we planned on them coming over before she was set to arrive, and they’d arrest her. She showed up a little early, told me that she had happened to see you with another man last night. She went on and on about how you were over me, probably fucking somebody else, and I knew it was because she wanted me to hate you. By the description of the man and car, I knew it was Marc. Anyway, the cops ended up coming and taking her away, and now I’m here.”

  So many different thoughts and emotions are flowing through me.

  Happiness.

  Sadness.

  Relief.

  He did this for me.

  Carla is gone.

  He thought I was fucking his best friend.

  “Troy, I… I don’t know what to say. I can’t believe I don’t have to worry about her anymore, and I can’t believe you were the one to set it all in action.” I pause and gaze into his eyes. “I wish you would have told me the plan. I wish I didn’t have to go the past week thinking what I did. I get why you did it the way you did, but I almost wish I would have been there to see it all happen. Nonetheless, thank you. Thank you, Troy for being even greater than I thought you were. For thinking about me and doing what you thought was necessary to protect me. You thought about me when I wasn’t even thinking about me.”

  “Of course. You’re all I think about, Emilie. You mean more to me than anyone else ever has. I’m so sorry about how I left things between us the last time we were together. You have to know that what I said, I didn’t mean. I can do this. I want to do this,” he says, gesturing between the two of us. “We belong together. Nothing has ever been clearer to me.”

  “Troy,” I choke out. “I want you to know that I’d never cheat on you. Even though we weren’t technically together, I couldn’t do that to you, especially not with your friend. I know you have trust issues, and I can only imagine what you might have thought, but know now that I will never do anything like that. You are it for me. Nobody compares to you. You are my match.”

  He smiles at me and pulls me up to where I’m straddling him on the stairs.

  “I love you, Emilie. So much.”

  “I love you.”

  “Let’s go home.”

  “Okay,” I answer with a smile.

  “I’m gonna go thank Marc for what he did for you. Grab your stuff and I’ll meet you here in a few minutes.”

  “Kay,” I say as I kiss his lips and leap off of him.

  When I return downstairs with my bag in hand, both Marc and Troy are standing there and they both look up at me at the same time.

&nb
sp; Marc smiles. “I told you everything would be okay,”

  “Yeah,” I reply with a sheepish smile.

  “Thanks again, man, for making sure she was safe. I promise from here on out, she’ll never have to turn to anybody else.” He lays his arm over my shoulders and pulls me into him.

  “It was no problem, and I don’t doubt you for a minute. I understand the situation fully now and I’m glad everything is okay.”

  “Thanks, Marc,” I say as I slip out from under Troy’s arm and give Marc a small hug. “Thanks for being such a good friend to both of us.”

  He hugs me back. “You’re welcome.”

  We say goodbye to Marc, and Troy and I walk to his car hand in hand.

  “We have more to talk about,” Troy says seriously. “It involves Carla.”

  After we arrive at my place and get settled on the couch in the living room, I tell Emilie about how she needs to go to the police station.

  “Let’s start from the beginning,” she says. “So, you knew that you were going to break up with me and that you were going to do it in front of Carla, so that she’d leave me alone?” I nod. “And you knew that she’d come to you after a while?”

  “I suspected she would.”

  “Okay. At this point, she didn’t know that you knew what she had done?”

  “No. At least I don’t think so. She said she didn’t know I knew she was Christine. When I told her she needed to be honest with me, I asked if she was involved with what happened to you. She admitted she was and gave her reasoning. She did it for me. She said she’d do anything in order for us to be together again.”

  Emilie shakes her head in disgust and probably disbelief. “I know I’ve always said she was crazy, but I think she really is. I mean, do you think she’ll just go to jail, or do you think she’ll go to a mental institution?”

  “I guess it depends on what all she says.”

  Emilie sucks in a big breath. “What did she say when she came today? What happened when she found out she was being arrested?”

  I lean back into the couch. “Well, I think my attitude towards her got her a little suspicious. She asked if I changed my mind. I had previously told her if she told me the truth, she’d have a chance at being in my life.” I pause and look Emilie dead in her eye. “I was lying. There was no way that would happen.”

  She looks relieved and gives me a tiny smile, but still her body is tense as she listens to what happened here today.

  “Anyway, she went on to say it’s a good thing I didn’t change my mind because you seemed to have moved on anyway. She told me the whole story I already told you about her seeing you with Marc and leaving your place with a bag.”

  “Didn’t you ask why she was at my house?”

  “I did. She originally told me she saw you two driving, but when I questioned her further, she admitted to being there to make sure I wasn’t there. She said she had to make sure I wasn’t going back to you and that’s when she saw you two.”

  Emilie narrows her eyes slightly, her brows scrunching up. “That’s a lie. She was there because she had just left my house after she broke in. After she stole my keys.” Her voice fills with anger. “She might have been planning on going back in.”

  “Obviously, she’s a pathological liar.”

  She rolls her eyes. “Among other things. Anyway, what else?”

  “I was so pissed when I found out that you were at Marc’s. I knew that it couldn’t have been anybody else, and I was curious as to why he was there, and why you would leave with him. Even if it wasn’t anything bad, I was just mad that I was out of the loop. She was mad that I was so upset and concerned about you. She said she was going to leave because she didn’t want to be around me while I was flipping out over another girl.”

  Emilie’s jaw clenches and I see her hands ball up momentarily. I stop talking but she urges me to continue.

  “Well, I knew I couldn’t let her leave. I knew the cops were on their way and even though I wanted to rush out and find you, I had to make sure she was taken care of. I couldn’t let another day go by with her out free. But I was pissed. Everything she had ever done to me, to you, and all the things she had said were banging around in my head and I couldn’t control my anger anymore. I started going off on her and telling her how I really felt.”

  I see the slightest hint of a smile on Emilie’s lips. “I wish I could have been here for that. I’d have a few things to say myself.”

  “It did feel good,” I admit. “While I was yelling, and she was pleading with me to take it back, and arguing why she did all the things she did, the cops had come in the back door and heard her. She threatened to…” I hesitate.

  “Threatened to what?” Emilie demands.

  “She threatened to kill you,” I sigh. “She said she wouldn’t fail again.”

  Her eyes widen briefly. “I wish I could say I’m surprised by that, but I’m not. I just have never known someone to be so irrational over a breakup.”

  “The cops took her, and while she tried to resist initially, there was no escape for her and she knew it. She did say I’d regret this. That was her final threat.”

  “What do you think that means? She can’t do anything else to us.”

  “I don’t know,” I shrug. “But you have to go to the station. We have to go to the station.”

  “Okay. Let’s get it over with,” she says as she stands up.

  When we get to the station, we ask to see Detective Johnson and after about ten minutes of waiting around, we’re finally escorted to his office.

  “Ms. Watson, Mr. Thompson,” he greets as he stands up. He moves from around his desk and extends his hand. “Thanks for coming so quickly.”

  Emilie nods. “Of course.”

  “Did Mr. Thompson inform you of the situation as it stands?”

  “I know she was arrested, and that’s a good situation for me.”

  Detective Johnson cracks a smile. “Yes, I can see that it would be.” He rounds his desk and sits in his brown, leather chair that creaks as he adjusts it. “We’re holding her in another room and another detective is questioning her. As far as I know, she hasn’t been too forthcoming, however, she hasn’t asked for a lawyer yet, either.”

  “Is that unusual?” I ask. “To not ask for an attorney when you’re facing the charges that she is?”

  The detective shrugs. “I’ve seen a few people who don’t ask for one right away.”

  “What do you need from me, Detective?” Emilie asks.

  “Well, for one, we need to go over both of your statements regarding her attack on you, threatening notes that have been left, and the break-in at your house recently. We have Mr. Thompson’s tape with her confession, and three of us were at his home today and overheard her confession then as well. So whether she confesses now or not is irrelevant.” He opens a manila colored folder on his desk and flips through some papers. “We have a few prints from your house when the attack initially happened, and we’ve taken her prints here, so we’re waiting for the results to come back on those. We also need you to identify her.”

  “Okay, I can do that.”

  The door opens loudly behind us. “Sorry, Johnson. I need you for a minute,” another detective says.

  Detective Johnson nods and then looks at us. “Here is your previous statement, Ms. Watson. Please add on everything that’s happened since then. Her being outside your place, the things left at or taken from your house, and whatever else may have happened. Mr. Thompson, all I need you to do is write down anything she put at your place, things she may have told you, including the night she confessed to you. Even though we have the tape, we need you to acknowledge that you did this on your own accord. And if you believe she was responsible for slashing your tires, like you told me previously, put that in there and we’ll be sure to find out if that was her and charge her with destruction of property.” He stands. “I’ll be right back.”

  When the door slams closed, Emilie looks at me. “Wow.
I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe she’s in the other room.”

  “I can’t believe she hasn’t tried to get an attorney.”

  “I wonder why that is.”

  With a shake of my head, I say, “I don’t know.”

  After a few minutes of silence as we write down everything we can, Emilie speaks up. “Do you think they’ll let me see her?”

  I drop my pen on the desk and look at Emilie incredulously. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah. I have something I’d like to say to her.”

  I narrow my eyes. “I don’t think they’ll let you in there, Emilie, and I’m not sure it would be a good idea in the first place.”

  “You got to tell her how you felt, and I want the same.”

  “I don’t know about that. Feel free to ask, but I doubt it.”

  “If they say no, do you think I’ll be able to sneak into the room they have her in?”

  “Are you really asking if you can sneak into a holding room in a police station?”

  She smiles. “You never know.”

  We continue our statements and after a few minutes, Detective Johnson comes back in.

  “Sorry about that, guys. Are you all finished up here?” he asks.

  “Yes we are,” Emilie answers, pushing our papers towards his side of the desk.

  “Great.” He pauses and puts his hands on his waist as he looks down at the desk.

  “Is something wrong, Detective?” I question, sensing his discomfort all of a sudden.

  Looking up at me, he clears his throat. “Well, yeah. She says she’ll start talking, but she wants to talk to you first.”

  “Me?” I ask, my voice already rising.

  Emilie’s eyes go wide and she looks between me and Detective Johnson.

  “Yeah, but I understand if you don’t want to.”

  “You’re damn right I don’t want to.”

  “No, wait!” Emilie exclaims. “You should, but only if I can too,” she says, looking directly at the detective.

  He’s already shaking his head. “I don’t know about that, ma’am. You are her victim, and she didn’t mention wanting to talk to you.”