by Terri Reid
He moved to the kitchen. The countertop was filled with an assortment of cereals, snack foods and dirty dishes. The kitchen table was stacked with newspapers. The older model white refrigerator was a little dingy, but it was free of magnets, pictures and take-out menus, except for two newspaper articles that were taped to the door with duct tape. The first one was about the murder of the Taylor family. The paper was slightly yellow and there were a few small stains on the edges, but the photo was the same as Mike had seen in the Chief’s office and on Bradley’s computer. The other article was a small piece about the release of Paul Taylor on good behavior.
Mike took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, it didn’t take a genius to figure this one out.”
He moved through the kitchen and stopped by the bathroom. A nightlight had been left on and it shone on the counter that was clear except for a water glass and several containers of prescription pills. Mike lifted the first, expecting something for arthritis. The bottle read, “Oxycontin.” He remembered that was powerful stuff. Jack’s arthritis must be pretty painful for him to be on that kind of stuff.
He picked up the second bottle. It was labeled “Nexavar.” What the hell was Nexavar for?
“That you Mike?”
Mike dropped the bottle with a clatter and turned. Jack was standing in the hallway, watching him.
“Can you see me?” Mike asked.
Jack continued to peer around. “Mike, is that you?” he repeated.
Mike looked around and saw the wall-sized mirror was in need of a good cleaning, which was perfect for his purposes. “YES CHIEF IT’S ME, MIKE,” he wrote on the mirror.
Jack came over and flicked on the bathroom light. The printing could be clearly seen. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he said. “How ya doing, kid?”
Mike picked up the bottle of Nexavar and held it in front of Jack’s face.
“Oh, that,” he shrugged. “I always thought I’d die in a fire. You know, blaze of glory. But instead it looks like cancer is going to get me. I got colon cancer, Mike. I don’t have much more time. The drugs don’t fix it; they just ease some of the pain.”
“DAMN” Mike scribbled quickly on the mirror.
Jack chuckled. “Yeah, I feel the same way. But, hell, at least I wasn’t poisoned by some kookie woman.”
Mike laughed. “GOOD ONE” he wrote.
Mike moved past Jack and back into the kitchen. He picked up the article and brought it with him to the bathroom. “YOUR DAUGHTER?”
“Yeah, I figured that’s why you were here,” he said. “You kinda like that ghost of Christmas past? Come to show me my evil ways?”
“NO JUST TRYING TO UNDERSTAND” he wrote. “YOU TAUGHT ME TO SAVE LIVES”
“I was a bad father,” he said. “No I was a damn bad father. I missed pretty much everything from ballgames to graduations. There was always a fire, always a drill, always something. My kids grew up and they didn’t even know me.”
He moved past Mike and sat on the closed toilet seat. “Sorry, can’t stand up too long these days,” he explained. “So, anyway, I kind of just lived my life and let them live theirs. But as I started to get older, I realized that work don’t give you the same kind of memories that families do.”
He cradled his head in his hands and sat there for a few minutes. “Mike, I decided to reach out,” he said. “Decided I needed to get to know my kids and my grandkids. I needed to beg their forgiveness and try to start fresh.”
He took a deep breath, coughed a few times and looked up at the mirror. “My damn hand was on the phone when we got the call for the fire,” he said. “The fire that took their lives. I never got that chance, Mike. I never got to make it better...until now.”
“WHERE DID YOU GET THE PHOTO?”
Jack laughed. “Yeah, you are smarter than you look,” he said. “I got it from the evidence box. I put it up there in my office the day after I killed the son-of-a-bitch. I figured someone would see it after I was gone and put two and two together. I just didn’t count on that damn trough falling down and messing up my plan.”
“HOW DID YOU DO IT?”
Jack laughed bitterly and reached over for the first bottle. “Did you know that it’s easy to overdose on these little pills?” he asked. “And when they’re crushed and mixed with a drink it works even better. Makes it seem like the person had a heart attack.”
He shook the bottle in his hand. “It shouldn’t be that easy to kill a man. But it was, damn easy.”
“SO WHAT DO WE DO NEXT?”
Jack shook his head. “Oh, no, Mike,” he said. “You gotta do what you know is right. And I won’t fault you for it one bit.”
Mike looked at the man before him. The man who had guided him and taught him as he worked as a fireman. The man who was like a second father to him. What the hell was he going to do?
“YOU”RE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING STUPID, ARE YOU?”
Jack laughed. “No, I ain’t about to take the easy way out, Mike,” he said. “You do what you have to do and I’ll deal with it.”
“YOU’RE STILL MY HERO, JACK.”
Jack wiped a tear from his eye. “Thank you, Mike, that really means a lot to me.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Mary nestled deeper into the pillows and cradled the laptop against her legs. She had a cup of tea and a small plate of cookies within reach and she had been ordered to get some rest. She knew it was only nine o’clock, but she hoped Bradley was already home. She clicked on the video conferencing and called his computer. A moment later Bradley’s face appeared on the screen.
“Hi,” she said, covering a yawn.
“Hi, yourself. What are you up too?”
“Oh, I’m laying here about to turn in and I thought I’d give you a call.”
“Your life is so boring you have to go to bed at nine?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’ve been ordered to take some R&R,” she said without thinking.
“Why?” Bradley asked. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Nothing happened,” she said firmly. “It’s just been a couple of busy days, preceded by a couple of busy weeks and there was nothing going on tonight, so I’m getting extra sleep.”
Bradley took an audible breath of relief. “Sorry, I tend to get a little overprotective.”
“You think?” she said with a smile.
“So how’s the investigation going?” he asked.
She nodded and snuggled back against the pillows. “Actually, I think it’s going very well. We have a short list of suspects,” she paused and yawned again. “We’ve visited all of them and they are all coming to a brunch on Saturday morning.”
“Let me get this straight,” he said. “You’re going to have a group of possible murderers in your home on Saturday morning and you think that’s a good thing?”
“Well, not when you put it that way,” she said. “But we want expose them to a couple of things and see if they react.”
“Are you putting yourself at risk?”
Mary shook her head. “No, we have total control of the situation,” she said. “Rosie is doing all of the cooking, Jeannine is going to be there to let us know if anything they say or do reminds her of something and the rest of us are just going to be friendly and ask questions. Piece of cake.”
“What?”
“What do you mean, what?” she asked, her eyes beginning to close.
“What is it that you are not telling me, that you think I’m going to worry about?”
“Nothing,” she said, blinking her eyes awake.
Bradley snorted. “I was watching the camera earlier this evening when you came home with Ian.”
“Crap,” she muttered.
“So?”
“Ian’s heavy weights weren’t delivered, so he takes turns carrying us around instead?” she tried.
“Mary.”
“Okay, I had a thing today,” she admitted. “Really, Bradley, I’m just about asleep here.”
“A thing?”
<
br /> “Yeah, well, Ian thinks it could be related to Jeannine using my body when she’s hypnotized.”
“What the hell?”
“Oh, that’s right, that’s another one of those things I didn’t tell you about, right? I must be more tired than I realized.”
“Well, it must be exhausting to have to keep all of these secrets,” he replied. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that we need to find out who did this to Jeannine and the only way we could hypnotize her is to allow her to enter my body. We talked about the risks, we took precautions and we proceeded in a scientific and controlled environment,” she said, then yawned once again. “And, quite frankly, I don’t appreciate your attitude.”
“You’re right,” he said.
“And another thing... Wait, what did you say?” she asked.
He sighed. “You’re right,” he repeated. “Trying to protect you is a gut reaction. I need to remember that you are a very capable woman.”
She smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “I don’t mind knowing that you want to protect me. I actually like that. But, I don’t like feeling you are questioning my decisions.”
“Can I just say that I have never questioned your intelligence or your courage,” he said. “When I do...worry...is when you try to conquer the world on your own, without asking for help. Risk more than you need to risk.”
“Yeah, I can understand that,” she said, then chuckled sleepily. “You would have been proud of me this afternoon. I actually asked for help. I got dizzy for some reason and Ian drove over and rescued me. I almost didn’t call, but then I thought, ‘If Bradley finds out, he’ll kill me.’”
“So Ian got to rescue you today?” he said.
She sighed and nestled into the blankets. “It would have been better if it had been you.”
He smiled. “Good answer.”
She covered a yawn and shook her head. “Sorry, I can’t keep my eyes open.”
“I miss you,” he said.
She smiled sleepily. “I miss you too.”
“Even with Ian there,” Bradley hated himself for asking, but he couldn’t forget how cozy she looked being carried in Ian’s arms.
“Uh-hmmmm,” she murmured, her eyes slowly closing, “Although he has nice shirts.”
“Nice shirts?”
She smiled widely in her half-sleep state. “Bradley, you don’t have any black spandex turtlenecks do you?”
“Spandex shirts?”
“Oh, yes,” she purred, snuggling into the pillows. “Tight spandex shirts.”
“Mary? What the hell...”
“Good night, Bradley,” she said with a dreamy sigh. “Sweet dreams.”
The screen went blank, but Bradley stared at it for a few more moments. Then he flipped over to view the cameras for the rest of the house. He searched the living room, the laundry room, the dining room and then, ah, there he was, in the kitchen. Ian was behind the refrigerator door, obviously looking for a snack. Bradley could only see the back of his shirt. It was black. Then Ian closed the door and turned to face the camera.
“Well, damn,” Bradley said.
Chapter Thirty-three
Mike faded into Bradley’s living room and watched him for a while. His mind was awhirl with so many things. What if this was what he was still on earth for? What if this is what was holding him here on earth?
Could he take the chance of telling Bradley the truth and then be moved on and never see Mary again? Did he want to move on? Did he really need to move on right now?
And why should Jack be punished when he only had a few months to live anyway? Why the hell didn’t they give that jerk the death penalty in the first place?
He sighed. He knew what he had to do. He knew it when Bradley placed his confidence in him. He realized he knew it even before he left Jack’s.
Gliding over to Bradley, Mike leaned forward and looked over his shoulder.
“Why are you looking at black spandex shirts?” he asked.
Bradley quickly closed the page. “Never mind,” he said. “What do you need?”
“Well, I’ve got a story to tell you,” Mike said. “And I want you to listen to all of it without making a decision until the end.”
Bradley sat back and listened as Mike explained Jack’s story.
“So, bottom line, he killed him,” Bradley said.
Mike shrugged. “Yes, he did.”
“Well, damn, that’s not what I wanted to hear. I like Jack.”
“Yeah, me too. He was kind of a second father to me.”
“And I really hate the bastard he killed,” Bradley admitted. “The guy deserved the death penalty.”
Mike nodded. “Yeah, he did. But, that’s not what the court system gave him.”
“Yes, and we were both sworn to uphold the law.”
“Yes, we were,” Mike agreed. “And so was Jack.”
“But you don’t think he should be punished for this?” Bradley asked.
Shaking his head, Mike tossed his hands in defeat. “I don’t know. Obviously I must think the truth needs to be out there because I came to you. But, on the other hand, I think the guy got what he deserved.”
“What the hell do you want me to do about it?”
“Damned if I know,” Mike said. “But I’m just the dead guy here.”
“Is there any danger...”
“Of Jack killing himself?” Mike finished. “No, he said he wasn’t going to take a coward’s way out.”
“Well, I got to think about this one,” Bradley said. “Because right now, I don’t know what I want to do.”
“Yeah, well let me know when you decide, okay?”
Bradley nodded. “You’ll be the first one.”
“Thanks.”
Chapter Thirty-four
The light in the basement room was switched on once again and the lock was slid in place. But this time there were no careful steps taken to plan for the perfect night. This time the chair was dragged over to the freezer and the door was thrown open.
“I found her,” he said to the frozen corpse. “I told you I would and I did. And she’s perfect.”
He took a deep breath and then slowly rolled his tongue over his lips. “She’s going to taste so good,” he said. “And she’s going to feel so good. It’s been such a long time.”
He wiped his sweating palms against the knees of his pants. “And she touched me today,” he said. “It was her way of telling me that we were meant to be together. It was her way of telling me that she wanted to be mine.”
He looked at the corpse and his lips curled into a sneer. “You said no one would ever want me. You said women cringe when I touch them. You said the only way I could have a woman was if I drugged her.”
He sat back in the chair and laughed, a high-pitched girlish laugh. “You’re so wrong and I’m so right,” he said in a sing-song voice. “You’re so dead and I’m so alive.”
He sat forward on the chair. “Her name is Mary and she is pregnant. Just like you were, she’s pregnant. And I’m going to keep her all to myself. She’ll like that. And I’ll help her keep the baby safe and strong. And I love them. I’ll love them both.”
He reached up and took the white box from the shelf and opened it. “Guess what little girl,” he said to the frozen embryo. “You’re going to be a sister. You’re going to be a big sister.”
He put the top back on the box and placed it carefully on the shelf. Then he turned back to the corpse. “I may not be able to visit for a while,” he said. “I have to get things ready for Mary. But when she’s ready, I’ll bring her here to meet you and then we can be a family.”
He started to close the door, and then paused. “Oh, no, she can’t live here,” he said. “She’s going to be my new bride. We need the bridal suite. We need time to be alone.”
He laughed and rubbed his hands together. “We need time to get to know each other, intimately.”
He closed the freezer door and hurried up the
stairs, leaving the latch to the room unlocked.
Chapter Thirty-five
So, how are we feeling this morning, Mary, me darling?” Ian asked as Mary came down the stairs.
“Fine, I’m feeling great,” she said. “I had a good night’s sleep and I’m ready to get going with Jeannine.”
Rosie put a plate filled with bacon and eggs on the table. “Mary, dear, I’ve made you some breakfast. Sit down and eat while it’s hot.”
Mary sat down at the table, stabbed a fork into her scrambled eggs and began to lift it to her mouth when she noticed that all eyes were on her. She put the fork down and sighed. “What now?” she asked.
“I can’t do it,” Ian said. “I can’t let you be hypnotized with Jeannine again. It’s just too dangerous.”
“Yep, we were all discussing it last night and we all feel that it’s not the best thing for you to do,” Stanley said.
