The Crossroads Duet

by Rachel Blaufeld

  Bess looked from Shirley to me, and her eyes widened. She laid a warning hand on my arm. “Calm down, Jake. Let’s hear what she has to say.”

  Shirley braced herself against the doorjamb, her hand visibly trembling. Her chest heaved and her eyes filled with tears as she turned her weathered face up to me.

  “You’re not going to be happy,” she said in a wobbly voice. “I was back to keeping an eye on you and Lane. A few days ago, I was watching Bess because I knew Lane was out of town. Then I saw you come out and give her the dog. The last few weeks, I’d been so happy to see you’d moved on with the redhead, buying her a dog and everything.”

  Frustrated, I slammed my fist against the doorframe. “Shirley, none of this is telling me where my Aly is. Fucking get to it!”

  Startled, she reared back and nearly lost her footing, but Bess braced her fall, holding her upright.

  “S-she’s in the hospital,” Shirley stuttered, her eyes wide with fear. Of me. “Alive, but she’s there because I found her.”

  Bess and I exchanged alarmed looks, then I glared back at Shirley. “What the hell?”

  “Someone took her. Didn’t you hear me? I was keeping an eye on Bess because Lane’s away. When she met you at the rest stop, I followed her there. When I saw you two together, I was confused as to what was going on, so I tailed Bess.”

  “The compact car was you?”

  She nodded. “I saw you give the dog up, and was devastated. I thought you’d broken up with the red-haired girl, and I cried all the way to work. When I was covering the late-night shift at the diner, this woman came in all disheveled and used the bathroom to change. She came back out all dolled up in leather, makeup, and heels. I couldn’t help but take a look at her when she went outside, and I saw your girl—Aly—slumped in the passenger seat, her eyes closed.”

  “Shirley,” I growled. “Spit it the fuck out.”

  “I told my boss I was sick and left work to follow the woman. Once we stopped in front of this abandoned barn that sits way off a state road, I called my husband, Wayne, and gave him detailed directions, so he came to help. If I didn’t follow them, no one would’ve found the barn. It’s been abandoned since I’ve lived in the area, and that’s close to a decade. I don’t even think the teens use it to party anymore, it’s so hard to find.”

  She paused for a second, and Bess twirled her hand in a hurry-up gesture.

  “Anyway, poor Wayne had been so mad at me for sneaking around after you boys and watching you, but your girl was lucky I did in this case. Of course, Wayne wanted me to call the police, but I said no. I was going to be your hero, and I am! I stayed outside the barn, peeking in through cracks in those old wood walls. I could see Aly was hurt but alive, and I waited until the right time.”

  Her face brightened with hope and her eyes sparkled with pride until I glared at her. She shrank back and continued in a rushed voice. “As soon as that other woman was taken away by a strange man—a big bald guy with a gun in his hand—I went right in. It was early morning, and there was Aly. I took her to the hospital and made sure she was okay. For you, Jake. I didn’t give them much to go on until I left to come here. This time, I was going to make everything right.”

  I snatched my keys off the foyer table, ready to hightail it to my girl. “The local hospital?” I yelled. “Why didn’t you call the police? An ambulance? You’re not a fucking saint, Shirley, and you’re not God. You’re a sick bitch. You don’t get to decide when the police get involved and when they don’t. Like you did in the past.” My heart galloped in my chest, spit gathered in the corners of my mouth, and my head pounded with anger.

  Shirley’s face crumpled. “There wasn’t time, Jake. I saved her. For you!”

  “Stop with all the self-righteous crap. Where’s Aly? Are the police with her now? For Christ’s sake, Shirley, do you have to fuck with everyone’s lives?” My fists balled at my side and I could feel the veins bulging in my neck, my heart pushing blood through my body so hard, I could hear it whooshing in my ears.

  Her hands twisted together as she stepped aside from the doorway. “She’s back in Pittsburgh. They Life-Flighted her there for surgery. She’s in a room now, and I’ve been sitting with her the whole time.”

  Bess finally lost it. “Aly’s been gone for three whole days from what we can gather, and you’ve known where’s she’s been for a day and a half and didn’t think to tell anyone? We’ve been pulling our hair out, Jake is ready to tear my house down, and the police have turned up nothing,” she whispered through clenched teeth, shaking her head, her hands trembling. “I can’t believe it, Jake’s been crawling out of his skin, and you held the key to stop him.”

  “I needed to make sure she was going to be all right,” Shirley said with a pathetic shrug.

  Bess pulled up to her full height, nearly vibrating with fury. Her fists were bunched in front of her as if she was prepared to fight to the death. “Shirley, you are so messed up! You’re acting like this is nothing. You knew we were going frantic looking for Aly, and then you sit back and wait to come here? How dare you! And then you stand there shrugging as if it’s no big deal.”

  “Please,” Shirley begged as tears spilled over her cheeks. “You have to understand. I didn’t want to cause Jake any more pain if Aly . . . died.”

  “Died?” I roared. “Get the fuck out of here, Shirley! Thanks for finding Aly and deciding when I should know she’s alive. You’re pretty damn good at deciding what I should and shouldn’t say. Seems to me, it’s history repeating itself.” I shoved past her as I ran out the door.

  “Jake, I just thought we could put that all behind us now!” Shirley called out after me.

  “You’ve got to be fucking joking. No fucking way,” I snarled as I jumped into my truck, then looked back at Bess. “Come on, Bess,” I said as I started the truck.

  Bess waved me off. “You go. I’ll follow after I call May and get her to help.”

  Shirley looked between the two of us with a pathetic expression. “What about me?”

  “Fuck off.” I slammed my truck door and peeled out of there.

  Aly

  Tears dripped off my chin onto my puke-green hospital gown as I lay in my hospital bed, my head spinning, confused. The doctor’s words still hadn’t settled.

  “You’ve lost the lower half of your leg. Nothing we could do . . . tried everything, but too much damage . . . nerves, bones . . . clean amputation above the knee.”

  A jumble of random words sifted through my mind. The words clean amputation were on repeat, but not fully registering.

  Footsteps sounded in the hall, coming closer as the machine monitoring my pulse beeped. I blinked up at the man and woman in uniform who entered my room and stopped by my bed.

  “Hi, ma’am, we’re . . .”

  They were apparently with the police department. Their names could have been Cat and Dog or Tom and Jerry; it didn’t matter. Nothing was sinking in.

  Clean amputation, clean amputation, clean amputation.

  “Sorry to disturb you,” the female officer said, and I tried to focus on her next words, but failed. “The hospital reported you were here . . . a woman brought you in . . . and you’re finally awake after they saved your life. We’re here to help you.”

  Nodding was all I could manage, so I bobbed my head once or twice.

  My life, but not my leg.

  “Do you have family?” the male officer asked.

  I shook my head. My mom would be of no use. These days she usually didn’t even know who I was.

  “Significant other?”

  Shrugging, I mumbled, “Not sure what he really is.”

  “Do you know the woman who brought you in? She seemed very concerned about your well-being.”

  “No.”

  “Was she the person who did this to you? It appears as though your coworker reported you missing over forty-eight hours ago, but we haven’t been able to reach him since.”

  I shook my head again.
r />   “Do you know where you were? How this happened? Who may have been responsible? How you got there?”

  I cleared my throat. Fiery embarrassment licked at my vocal cords and I coughed. The man in uniform handed me a plastic cup of water. After I took a sip, I cleared my throat again, and this time a trickle of shame trailed up my throat. I was a strong, independent woman—how did this happen to me?

  “I was in a barn of some sort. Not near here . . . I don’t think. A blond woman, Russian accent, attacked me during my workout.” Squeezing my eyes shut, I wheezed.

  “Take your time, ma’am.”

  How many times was I going to be questioned? I’d just done this a few weeks ago with the officers at my apartment.

  “I think her name was . . . Marina . . . that’s what I overheard the guy, Gus Cameron—my client—call her. He was there, I think. I don’t know, I could’ve been hallucinating. But she took me . . . Marina. I think she drugged me, and then Gus came and took her.”

  The female officer focused on her little notebook, apparently taking notes, and the man nodded at me to continue.

  “And she broke my leg.”

  Understanding slammed into me, and a shriek and a defeated cry ripped through my throat. I flexed my right foot. It was there! Then I could have sworn I felt my left foot flex too, but when I looked down toward the end of the bed, the covers on that side of the bed were flat. There was nothing there.

  “My leg is gone!” I shrieked as Barry ran into the room, his hair a greasy mess, his shirt wrinkled, his face twisted in pain. “Help! Help! My leg!” I kept screaming as long as my vocal cords would allow.

  The officers scrambled and one raced out of the room, calling out, “Nurse? Help, nurse!”

  Frantic, I grasped at Barry’s arm and yelled, “My leg is gone, where is it?”

  A woman dressed in scrubs rushed into the room and pushed Barry out of the way. Leaning over me, she patted my shoulder. “Honey, you have to calm down. You were in a terrible accident. Your leg was damaged, but you’re alive.” She ran her hand up and down my arm, trying to soothe me, before lifting a syringe to my IV.

  “No!” I heard a familiar deep voice yell just as I faded out.

  Jake

  “Someone tell me what the fuck is going on here?” I shouted, raising my voice over the beeping machines, practically hyperventilating as the room closed in around me.

  One of two police officers standing in the room stepped up, blocking my view of Aly lying in that damn bed. “Sir, I’m sorry, you’re going to have to leave if you’re not immediate family.”

  I shrugged his hand off my shoulder. “I’m not going anywhere. That’s my girl in that bed. With a stump for a leg. What the fuck happened?”

  “Sir, please.”

  “Get your fucking paw off me.”

  The old Jake rumbled deep in my belly; angry-and-fighting Jake was taking over. I was mad-at-the-world Jake, the man I’d been before her, my Aly-cat.

  “Legs!” Tears squeezed from my eyes as my legs weakened and I dropped to one knee.

  “Sir, you’re going to have to take this out to the waiting room.”

  “Legs,” I shouted.

  “Jake!”

  Bess was next to me, her dark hair spilling over her face as she leaned down to hug me, her own eyes filling with tears. She ran her hand down my back. “Jake, stand up, honey. Aly’s in the bed over there, she needs you. Okay?”

  “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but who are you?” the female officer asked.

  Bess ignored them until she helped me upright. Turning to the officers, she extended one hand in greeting as she swiped at her tears with the other. “Bess Wrigley. I’m this man’s sister-in-law. This is Jake Wrigley, and that’s his significant other lying in the bed.”

  Her expression soured as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “And this is Shirley, she’s the woman who found Ms. Road and brought her here. She may be able to answer some of your questions.”

  I vaguely remember the cop saying something about being back to speak with me, not to go far—fucking-A, I wasn’t going far—and Shirley following the officers out of the room.

  In a haze, I stepped away from Bess and staggered to the bed, then did what came naturally. I crawled in next to Aly. The bed was narrow, so I made myself as small as possible, lying on my side next to her. Hesitant, I ran my hand down her leg closest to me, and let out a sigh of relief when it seemed fine. Then my hand hovered over the left, scared to hurt her. There was one of those air cushions vibrating life into the stump.

  Frustrated that I couldn’t do anything for her, I simply cupped her cheek and kissed the edge of her mouth. Trying to avoid the IVs that ran into her arm, I watched her chest rise and fall with each beep, and closed my eyes with my arm wrapped around my Aly-cat.

  “Jake.” The voice was ragged, but I swore I heard my name spoken in my dreams.

  “Jake.” There it was again.

  I struggled to wake up. Prying my eyes open, I found Aly looking at me. Her nose was red and swollen; she’d been crying. Realizing we weren’t alone, I glanced around. Bess was still sniffling, curled up in a chair in the corner, and a cop stood in the doorway.

  “Al, you had me a fucking mess.” My knuckles grazed her cheek, and she brought her hand, the one free of wires, to my rough cheek.

  Her eyes squeezed shut as she whispered, “I don’t have a leg.”

  “Shh.” I gathered her close and rubbed my cheek against hers, mindful of my stubble. “Shh.”

  We stayed like that for a while, her cheek tucked into my neck, a river of tears falling from her eyes and sliding down my throat. Eventually Bess left the room, murmuring a few words to the cop as she left. My shirt was soaked, and my head was a fucking mess.

  “Aly, what happened?” I had to ask.

  She looked up at me and lay back on her pillow, closing her eyes. “I still don’t know it all, but I was running on the stairs, and then I was in a barn with a Russian woman yelling about fixing the case, and going on and on about justice. Cameron showed up and took her. My leg was already crushed. I don’t know how it first broke . . . I think it was broken when I came to . . . but then that woman kept stepping on it.”

  Inside I was screaming, but on the outside, I schooled my expression. Stepping on it? Jesus Fucking Christ.

  “I don’t have a leg,” she whispered, her misery plain. “You can’t call me Legs anymore.”

  “Doesn’t matter, babe. I got you. We’re gonna find that bitch and guess the fuck what? Rain justice.”

  She didn’t say anything more, only sobbed.

  Aly alternated between sobbing and sleeping for days, but refused to say anything more. The physical therapy people came and went, and she merely nodded or shook her head when necessary.

  It broke my heart that she wouldn’t talk to me, but I understood. She had a lot to process, so I gave her the space she needed, mentally anyway. Physically, I stuck to her like glue.

  I ignored Shirley, who waited in the hall or the waiting room for a week. I slept and showered in Aly’s room, despite her ignoring me. When the nurses kicked me out of the room to tend to her, I did push-ups and sit-ups and pull-ups and power jabs in the waiting room.

  Bess checked on Aly’s mom, and then went home to her own family and my dog. Tony brought me clothes from the gym. Reluctantly, I called Camper and asked her to check on the construction. After all, she owed me. When we spoke on the phone, I told her about Aly, and we eventually made the connection between Camper’s stalker and the woman who attacked Aly. The police were able to get a pretty good sketch from Camper’s description.

  Afraid of his woman, who I learned was named Marina, Gus Cameron turned himself in. He spilled everything she’d been up to, including how he’d found Aly and what condition she was in when he dragged Marina away. He did call 911 to send help, but by then, Shirley had taken Aly. The cops had thought it was a prank call when they found an empty barn, so didn’t bother to look close enough for
blood or evidence.

  Barry stopped in daily to report to Aly on the case’s progress, stale smoke and coffee on his breath. Aly continued to be silent. She listened to his updates with a blank expression and nodded at what seemed like the appropriate times.

  Drew Fucking Burnes sent flowers. I wanted to throw them in the trash, but instead I set them on her windowsill and read Aly the card. She didn’t even smile as I hoped she would.

  The police finally caught Marina. While searching her bag, they found a key to a storage locker where she kept enough evidence to lock her up without bail until she would stand trial. She had been the one setting up hate crimes all over the city. Yes, Cameron shared beliefs with her, but he was mostly the hired muscle and Marina was the mastermind.

  Of course, Cameron immediately cooperated, and I didn’t know what kind of plea deal they cut with him. But at the end of the day, I had to give him props—he got that bitch away from Aly with only a gun shot in the air. Who knew what his original plan was, or if he even had one. According to Barry, Cameron probably thought he could protect his girl and pin it on someone else. But he rolled over like a dead fish when given the chance, handing over Marina, unharmed and smeared in guilt.

  With all of us rallied around her, fierce Aly didn’t lift from the silent fog she’d cocooned herself in. She went about everything that was expected of her, doing her stretches and following the hospital staff’s instructions. But all the while she stared blankly, not speaking, ignoring what happened to her, and apparently not caring.

  One afternoon, a woman named Hilary showed up to visit. I assumed this was the roommate Aly had mentioned once before, and I welcomed the support, swallowing back tears. I was a mess, and not a very manly one. Everything between Aly and me had grown so deep and gone so hard, I didn’t know much other than she was the one for me, and she was lying there suffering.

  I didn’t care whether it was irrational or not. I just knew she was my “it girl,” and I needed her back.

  Apparently, Aly’s friends at work had called this Hilary, and she immediately hightailed it to Pittsburgh from Cleveland.