SECRET SALVATION

by Chad Josey

  Liz sat quiet, still in a state of disbelief to what Ruth had explained.

  “He talked for hours about the codes and the messages in them. I thought he was crazy at first. But, I realized he was a genuinely nice man. So, I listened… eventually, he told me about you and your son, Jacob.”

  “Look, so you know about our code and my son’s name… that doesn’t prove you met him, especially since he’s been dead since 1979, Honey.”

  “Explain this then,” Ruth said as she reached into the front pocket of her gray uniform. “Here, take this.”

  Ruth stretched her fist to Liz, who instinctively met her hand as Ruth dropped something into Liz’s palm. “What, an old watch—” Liz stopped. Her complexion became as pale as the white towels Ruth had carried into the room earlier. Liz turned it over and read the words of a faint inscription: Eli + Liz = Forever.

  “Eli gave me this watch to give to you when I left the hospital.”

  A large, single tear fell from Liz’s left eye. “Eli… How? ... I remember filling out a form at his funeral listing everything in his casket. This watch was supposed to be inside... How?”

  “It’s okay, Liz. I’m sure it has to be a lot to take in right now?”

  More tears formed on the top of her cheeks below her eyes. Liz held her breath. “But… but, he was… the robbery?”

  “Eli told me the same people responsible for the things in those pictures were behind faking his death.”

  “Faking his death? Huh… uh, why?”

  “He never explained it. I just listened. I’m sure he thought I was you he was talking to.”

  “But, let’s see… if you met him in what… 1996 and were released the next year… then… he’s still there?”

  “I’m afraid he’s not anymore. I left the hospital because the doctors thought I was no longer a threat. A couple of months later, I went back to visit him, and he was not there.”

  “But, why didn’t someone at the hospital inform me he was alive?”

  “I don’t know if the people at the hospital believed him? He kept saying his name was Eli. But, the name tag on his wrist said his name was Robert.”

  “But, you… why didn’t you come tell me when you got out?”

  “I wanted to so badly... But, the things he said… the people responsible for faking his death… what they did… I was afraid they would come after me."

  Ruth darted her eyes around the room.

  "I did finally get up my courage. That’s when I came to the homeless shelter on Thanksgiving.”

  Liz stood from the chair. “I... I remember you, now. You were the young girl who didn’t speak English. But, you had a baby with you?”

  “My niece… I had to babysit her for Thanksgiving while my aunt worked.”

  The air came out from under Liz’s feet as she plopped down back into the chair. “But, why didn’t you say anything?”

  “Would you’ve believed me? Do you even believe me now?”

  “Huh, good point. I don’t know what to believe.”

  “That’s when I went back to visit him at the hospital. I wanted to tell him how nice you were to me and that you were doing okay. But, no one there knew who I was talking about. They claimed to have never had or released anyone by the name of Robert or Eli. I even described his old gray jacket and black Yankees baseball cap he loved.”

  Liz smiled at the memories of the Christmas when she gave Eli the hat from his favorite team.

  “That’s when I got scared and ran away from the hospital… as far away as I could. I have family down in Mexico, so I went to stay there for a while.”

  “So, that’s when you sent me the coded messages?”

  “Yes.”

  “But, if we met on Thanksgiving in 1997, why did it take you so long to send me the next message?”

  “I don’t know. I believed what he had said and was afraid the same people after him would come after me. I tried to forget everything. Then 9/11 happened.”

  “9/11, you mean Osama Bin Laden, that 9/11?”

  Ruth laughed. “Yes, that 9/11. Several of his coded messages in the hospital warned that in the future the same people responsible for faking his death, and the countless despicable other things he told me about, would do something very terrible someday."

  Liz listened rocking slowly side-to-side in her chair.

  "And, the way 9/11 happened… Eli didn’t talk about planes into a building or anything like that; just that something tragic would occur that would stop the whole world. As soon as I saw the second plane hit the tower, I knew what he was talking about was true, and needed to reach out to you.”

  “But, why me… why tell me all those terrible things you sent in the notes?”

  “Uh… um, I needed to prove to myself that I wasn’t crazy. So, I sent them in a code to the only other person I knew who could read them.”

  “But, you sent me encoded messages with no way to contact you back. You spoke of things about my family and me that only Eli would have ever had known.”

  “I’m sorry if I’ve upset you… I… I needed to reach out to you.”

  “Gray jacket and Yankees hat… I knew… dammit, that was him.”

  “What? You saw him?”

  “It was my grandson’s high school graduation. I was filming the ceremony and saw this man take my grandson’s picture. I didn’t want to trust what I thought I had seen, but that didn’t stop me from trying to find him.”

  Tears filled her eyes again as the memories of Joseph’s graduation night came back to her. “I felt like it was him, but I convinced myself it couldn’t have been… that is until I found your note at the shelter. No one could have known about our code?”

  “So, you never got close enough to him to confirm that it was Eli?”

  “No, he was down on the field, and I was up in the stands. At the end of the ceremony, it got crazy, and I lost him in the crowd.”

  “What was he wearing… uh… I mean, did he look normal?”

  “Other than wearing a jacket and a hat in the middle of June, he seemed normal… Ha! I… I still can’t believe I am talking about him like he’s alive… or was alive.”

  “But, if you had doubts about thinking it was him sending you the messages, why did you go along with my plan to bring you here?”

  “Uh… good question… I… I wanted to believe it was him and that it would be him in this room.”

  “I’m sorry to trick you like that. I knew if I didn’t make you think I was him you would never have agreed to meet me.”

  “I still can’t believe I went through with these instructions. Chalk it up to an old woman’s fantasy for her dead husband.”

  “Do you believe the things in my messages I sent?”

  “You mean like saying some organization is behind assassinating JFK or that the same people also killed Princess Diana?”

  “Yeah.”

  “To be honest… not really. It’s too much to accept conspiracies like that. But, in the same notes, you would mention trips we had taken in the past or other personal details… and—”

  “Liz, Eli loved you so much. She spoke of you all the time. And, I got to know you well through his stories. I added those comments because I thought you would keep the messages and not throw them away.”

  “You didn’t even know if I knew what these codes were about, but you kept sending them anyway. For all you knew, I could have been throwing them all away each time they arrived.”

  “True,” Ruth said, “I wanted to think you would keep them. In my way, I was having a conversation with you.” Ruth walked over to the closed curtains, peeking through to scan across the parking lot. “Did you tell anyone else about the messages or anything?”

  “No. No one would have believed me if I said I was getting encoded messages from my dead husband.”

  “What did you do with the messages, if you didn’t throw them out?”

  “Funny. I didn’t know what to do with the codes, so I kept them in a scra
pbook.”

  Ruth closed the curtains and spoke in a softer voice than before. “Okay, I need to go, now. I don’t like to stay in any one place too long.”

  “Go, but, I’ve got a million questions about Eli.”

  “All in due time, Liz. But, here’s what I need you to do.” Ruth motioned her over to the window and opened the curtains a single inch, wide enough to peek through. “You see that blue Toyota there?”

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “Here are the keys. I’m leaving, but you stay in the room until nighttime. Take the car and drive to this address.” Ruth handed her a slip of paper along with the keys to the car.

  “Why don’t I come with you?”

  “Liz, we can’t be too careful. One, or both of us, may be followed. That address is a safe place. I can tell you more about Eli, there,” Ruth said as she walked toward the door. “And, remember to be careful and make sure no one is following you,” Ruth said as she left.

  The room fell silent, again. The dripping of the water and the ticking of the clock returned.

  Did that conversation just really happen?

  Liz looked down at the keys and address in her hand.

  Is Eli really alive?

  A smile appeared on her face followed by a worried feeling.

  But, what was he involved in that would make him fake his death?

  Christmas Day, 2005, 4:44 p.m.

  THE FLOOR of the hallway cracked under Ruth’s feet. She left Liz alone in Room 201 and proceeded to the stairs, walking up one flight.

  Ruth opened the door to the third floor and walked down the matching hallway to Room 301. She knocked on the door.

  “It’s me,” she said.

  The door opened. A man in a wheelchair greeted Ruth as she entered the room. He closed the door behind her.

  “So, has she been in contact with Eli?” the man asked.

  “No. We thought sending Liz those messages would trigger an attempt by her to reach out to Eli. If she knew he was still alive, surely she would have tried to make contact. But, she really believes he died in ’79.”

  “Well, that’s disappointing to hear,” the man said as he wheeled over to the window.

  “But, I do have some good news. Liz saw Eli at Joseph’s high school graduation. So, we at least know he was still alive in 1997.”

  “That is good news because we lost his location after ’93.”

  Ruth joined the man at the window. They saw Liz walking fast across the parking lot to the parked car Ruth had pointed out earlier.

  “So, what do we do with her now?” Ruth asked.

  The man spun his wheelchair away from her rolling to the desk. He grabbed and pressed a button on his cellphone to make a call.

  “We’ll try our way to get more information from her when she comes to the address you gave her. We’ll make sure she’s telling the truth about him, whether she knows where he is or not.”

  “And, if she doesn’t have any more information?” Ruth asked.

  “Even if she does or doesn’t, she’s as good as dead now anyway, isn’t she?” the man said as turned his attention to the cellphone. “Luther, she will be there soon. Make sure she doesn’t leave until we get there.”

  19-Secret Told

  PRESENT - Stony Brook, NY

  1,805 Days Prior to Impact

  LAUGHTER FILLED the tiny house on Harbinger Street tonight after the twin’s birthday party. Mary helped Becky with dinner while Charlie and Joe were in the garage. The twin girls were in the living room watching television. A typical house, on a typical street, all seemed normal to Joe for a change.

  “You see this driver right here? I can knock the shit out of a ball on the course with this thing.” Charlie took two slow, practice swings with his new club he had bought in Myrtle Beach. Each swing almost knocking over his bicycle.

  Joe reached out and said, “Let me see it before you break something.” He took the club from Charlie. “Wow, this club is so light.”

  “Yeah it's light, but it’ll drive a mutha fuc— ”

  “Dinner’s ready, Guys,” Becky said poking her head into the garage from the door leading into the kitchen. The smell of stewed tomatoes and gooey cheese followed her.

  “I need to get you out on the course someday,” Charlie said.

  “Yeah… maybe… one day,” Joe replied.

  As the guys came into the kitchen, the aroma of homemade lasagna and garlic bread smacked them in the face. “Smells great, Honey,” Charlie said standing behind Becky. He placed his large hands on the sides of her hips kissing the back of her head.

  “Thanks. Now, go take Joe and Mary to the table, Mr. Host,” Becky said with a sarcastic giggle. Becky pulled the aluminum foil off the oven dish. The lasagna bubbled with mozzarella cheese. A spray of steam rose across the countertop.

  “Girls, dinner’s ready,” Charlie yelled as he walked into the dining room.

  “Honestly, Mary, I love that Man, but why does he have to yell through the house,” Becky said as she cut the lasagna into squares.

  “Oh, you know you love his deep voice,” Mary said smiling.

  “Did I ever tell you the first thing he said to me when we met?”

  “No?”

  The twins turned off the television and came to the table. With no sound coming from the living room, Charlie and Joe heard Becky’s question to Mary.

  “What I told her was how beautiful she was.” Charlie’s deep voice came thundering at Becky and Mary as they entered the dining room from the kitchen carrying the food.

  Becky gave Charlie a dirty, playful glance as she sat across the table from him. “Yeah, not exactly. He came up to me in the Quad at Stony Brook. It was the first day of our Junior Year… Joe, you were there.”

  Joe laughed remembering what had happened.

  “So, here comes this big—” Becky said until Charlie interrupted her.

  “Go on… say it, Honey… this big black man.”

  “Uh… no, I was going to say, here comes this big guy coming up to me with a handsome smile.”

  “That’s better.”

  “And, I thought he was going to ask me something bright and intelligent. Or ask me for directions. But, no. Mr. Big Smile over here comes over to me and tells me, hey you know you’ve got a nice…” Becky mouthed in silence the word ass because her ten-year-old girls were at the table.

  Everyone erupted in laughter knowing this sounded like something Charlie would do.

  Joe interrupted and said, “Yeah, and that’s when I saw Becky here slap Charlie’s face.”

  As the laughter subsided, one of Becky’s daughters said, “Mommy, you do have a nice ass.”

  Horror came over Becky’s face at her daughter’s comment. At the same time, what his daughter had said caused Charlie to erupt into a frenzied laughter joined by Joe and Mary.

  “Honey, thank you, but we don’t say that word,” Becky said. Her girls sat on opposite sides of the table from each other.

  As soon as Becky was confident her daughters understood what she meant, she turned to Charlie. “What have you been saying around them?”

  “Me? It’s you, Miss Potty Mouth.”

  “Huh, well, I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

  “What did you call the Giants today?”

  Not answering his question, Becky said with a smile, “So, everyone, please dig-in. The food’s getting cold.” She lowered a piece of lasagna onto her plate. “Well, they are.”

  “What did you call them, Mommy?”

  “Oh, your Mommy just called them a bunch of pleasant guys,” Charlie said. His response made Becky giggle sending wine up her nose as she sipped from her glass.

  “See, You Guys, that’s why I love this man. He makes me laugh. I don’t know how you put up with him in the lab, Joe.”

  “Becky, this lasagna is delicious,” Mary said with steam escaping from her mouth.

  The next few moments no one spoke. Scraping silverware against plates chimed acr
oss the table. "Thanks, it’s a family recipe from my grams. She was originally from Sicily, so I’m like half Italian.”

  “So, where did your blonde hair come from?” Mary asked.

  “Grams was a waitress, and I remember her telling me about my gramps who one day came into her restaurant. Once she saw this tall, blonde German come in, she said it was love at first sight.”

  “Awe, that’s so sweet,” Mary said looking over and smiling at Joe.

  More silence fell across the table as the lasagna disappeared.

  “So, Joe, Charlie tells me you’re getting new funding for your research.”

  Joe looked over at Charlie before responding to Becky. “Uh… yeah, it’s not a big deal.”

  “Not a big deal? Did Joe tell You Guys about this organization that's funding him? They picked him up in a limo and flew him out to Denver in a private jet,” Mary said.

  “No. Joe… never… mentioned… that,” Charlie said. “In fact, he’s not told me much about the trip. He has been acting a little crazy since though.”

  “Charlie… uh… I, it wasn’t a big deal.” His words stuttered as Joe attempted to find the right thing to say, next. “They’re just excited about funding my research. They see the potential it could lead in helping find a cure for cancer or other diseases.”

  “Yes, Charlie, you’ve noticed it too. Joe's not been acting the same since he got back,” Mary said.

  Everyone looked at Joe. Even the four, ten-year-old eyes peered at him. “Uh, yeah… sorry about that. I think I’m just feeling the pressure since I’ve never had my research funded like this before.”

  “Awe, Man, it’s all good. We’re just bustin’ your b—”

  “Charlie!” Becky interrupted him by slamming her fork down on her plate.

  The banter at the table continued. Joe was relieved the focus of the conversation changed from no longer talking about him or his research.

  I wonder if Salvation has this house bugged since Charlie’s my best friend?

  The conversation shifted from politics to vacation to the twins’ outfits for Halloween. Joe injected comments where he could, but his thoughts drifted to Colorado.

  “Mommy, we’re done now, can we go watch TV?”