Ties That Bind

by Neeny Boucher

  “What can I do for you, Riley?” Eddie asked abruptly and without a hint of warmth. Riley hadn’t expected a warm welcome, but he didn’t expect an overtly hostile one either.

  Meeting Eddie’s eyes in challenge, Riley started, “I’ve come to talk about, Dina,” but Eddie interrupted, laughing derisively.

  “Have you now?” Eddie rumbled, clenching his hands into giant fists, and resting them on his legs. The action made Riley recall Eddie’s glory days. He was the man no one messed with in Shanwick, unless they had a death wish. He could beat four shades of shit out of someone without breaking a sweat.

  “I’m not here to cause trouble,” Riley smiled, trying to placate the older man, but Eddie was unconvinced.

  “You do nothing, but cause trouble, Riley, especially for Dina,” Eddie scoffed. “I might be sick, but I’m not stupid and I’m not away with the fairies like Jack Martin. So, don’t try to bullshit me.”

  “Okay,” Riley nodded. Although he could feel his hackles rising, he decided the best course of action was to speak his truth without any of the niceties. “I want to know about the attack on Christina in town. I know you were there and I want to know what happened. But what I really want to know is who did it.”

  Eddie stared at Riley and for a moment Riley thought he was going to order him out. Sighing in resignation, Eddie’s jaw ticked in agitation. “There were three of them… the goddamn cowards. They’d cornered her by Apron Park. I knew she wasn’t safe in town. I used to try and keep an eye on her, but I was nearly too late that day. They beat her up good.”

  “She was on the ground with blood on her face,” Eddie added, his eyes narrowing in fury. “I thought they’d broken her ribs from the kicking.”

  Blood? Kicking? Riley felt the color drain from his face and it felt like the top of his head was going to explode. The term ‘attack’ didn’t really encompass what Eddie was describing. It was a beating. Someone had beaten Christina.

  “I got them off her,” Eddie said quietly, shaking his head. “I wanted to kill them, but I couldn’t protect her if I was in jail. I’ll never forget picking her up off the ground and having to clean her up. She had a black eye, fat lip, and bruises on her face. Asha and Mandy said she had bruises all over her body.”

  Riley’s fists clenched. He wanted to leave this house, find whoever was responsible, and choke the life out of them. He was running revenge scenarios through his head that ranged from a quick death to something more elaborate.

  Eddie glared at him and snorted. “Oh, yeah. Never mind being angry now, Riley. If you really want to know why this happened you should be asking questions closer to home.”

  Staring at Eddie in confusion, Riley frowned. “I don’t understand what you mean. Ask questions closer to home? Are you saying my family is somehow involved?”

  Eddie scowled and shook his head. “You’re as deaf, dumb, and blind as the rest of them. Blind and deaf as the Police, and dumb as all the other people that believed lies spread about her.”

  Jabbing his finger at Riley, Eddie asked, “Who do you think in this town can make the Police turn a blind eye to assault? And it was assault, Riley! Three men beating on one woman… and worse... The Police refused to take a witness statement from me. Me. A man who served in the military and they wouldn’t press charges against those punks. How do you think that happened?”

  Riley felt the acid churn in his stomach. He rubbed his hands over his face and head. “I want their names Eddie.”

  Eddie stared at him in disbelief and then laughed out loud. “Is that what you came here for? Revenge? You’re still a hotheaded fool, aren’t you?”

  Riley met Eddie’s unblinking stare and all pretenses at friendliness disappeared. Eddie’s criticisms stung and Riley felt guilty enough about what happened to Christina. He didn’t need Eddie rubbing it in.

  Sighing, Riley put his hands up appealing to what Eddie valued most. “How can I let this go, Eddie? If it was Asha or Mandy, would you let it go?”

  Eddie grunted and turned his face away. “No. I wouldn’t. I didn’t let it go with Dina, either. I made sure she was safe.”

  “Thank you,” Riley said quietly and he meant it. “For everything you did, Eddie, when I wasn’t here.”

  Eddie sighed and for a moment, Riley could see how tired, and ill he was. “It was Shane Palmer, Carl Beaumont, and Jason King. Jason’s dead now, but the other two low lives still live here. Whatever you do, you make sure there’s no fall out on Dina. You understand me?”

  The two men locked eyes and Riley nodded. Eddie wasn’t making a request. He hadn’t anticipated his family’s involvement, but he’d opened the door to a conversation and the only way he was going to be sure is if he asked the questions.

  **********

  Riley drove to his parents’ place under no illusions of what was to come. This would undoubtedly be an uncomfortable and frustrating experience. Unlike the Martins, his family didn’t do confrontation, or talking, or much of anything beyond a kind of uniform politeness.

  He had always envied the Martins with their loud, expressive, and sometimes physical approach to family drama. Sure, at times it bordered on insanity, but in comparison, his family was expert at avoidance and denial. They exerted control through disapproval, but he was long past caring about their faux politeness especially, if it masked some involvement in what happened to Christina.

  On entry to his parents’ house, Riley heard them in the lounge talking about the Shanwick project, farming, church, and the weather. As luck would have it Steven and Heather were there, which would save him an extra journey. He wanted to see their reactions when they were all in the same room together, to see if it was true or a misunderstanding.

  Riley waited until they greeted him and then got straight to the point. Clearing his throat, his statement of, “I need to ask everyone a few questions,” was predictably met by a blank wall of silence. “So, I found out not long ago that when I first left town, you know, after Dina and I split up, that the Police questioned her.”

  Silence. In fact it was so silent, Riley could swear he saw tumbleweeds rolling outside. “Yeah. It seems someone thought she’d murdered me, so I’m wondering if anyone knows anything about that?”

  He waited for a response, but none was forthcoming. It didn’t surprise him, but it was almost like speaking to cardboard cutouts. He made eye contact with everyone in the room, but they all stared blankly back at him, as if he was speaking a foreign language.

  Riley should have been used to this by now, but it still annoyed him. “I want to know where someone got that idea from,” he insisted. “And why none of you cleared it up?”

  His family members stared at each other and then back at him. There were subtle shifts in body movements and he felt his temper rise in the face of their passive-aggression. Pointing at his parents, Riley seethed, “I left a note for you, telling you I was heading to Seattle to stay with Mason Glenn, and I called every week, asking about Dina.”

  Turning to his brother, Riley narrowed his eyes. “And Steven, you picked my truck up from Mason’s. So, how did someone get it in their head Christina had murdered me?”

  Surprisingly, it was his father that spoke first. Leo Riley was a tall man that even in his early sixties had an impressive physicality to him. Leo cleared his throat and then crossed his arms. “Nick, I’m sure it was just routine procedure. You know, the Police checking up on things to see if everything was okay.”

  Riley looked at his father and raised an eyebrow. “Really, Dad? You think the Police routinely question people about murder?”

  His father looked confused and Steven stepped in, as he always did, playing peacemaker. “I’m sure Dad’s right, Nick. It has to be procedure, even though it does sound strange. I can make a few phone calls to the boys and ask them if you’d like?”

  Riley tried to hide the anger in his voice, but his words came out in a low growl, making the rest of his family nervous. “Thanks, Steven, and you can if you w
ant to, but I’m pretty sure it’s not routine. I think someone had to put that idea into the Police’s head and I want to know who did that.”

  For everything, Riley loved his family, but they were different to him. In his younger days, he’d been a wild disappointment. He’d felt like a changeling, a cuckoo in the nest with his fierce temper and rebellious streak. In the last five years, they’d built a relationship or come to some kind of understanding, but its strength was about to be tested.

  Riley could feel the tension in the air and knew that his family was worried he might actually make a scene. He counted the quiet with the passing of the clock. No one spoke for a full eight minutes, which felt like an eternity, but he refused to budge. He could play this game too.

  He discounted Steven’s involvement, although he thought his brother might know something. It definitely wasn’t Heather and his father looked bemused by the whole affair. That left one person in the room and he focused his attention on her.

  Holding eye contact with his mother, Riley said quietly, “She got beat up in town. Bad. Some guys laid hands on her.”

  Steven was the only one to react in outrage. “Are you serious?”

  Riley nodded, continuing his staring contest with his mother. “Oh, yeah. I’m serious. They punched her and knocked her to the ground. If you want a witness, Eddie Robinson was there. He stopped it.”

  He looked at everyone in the room and spoke through the anger in his throat. “She had blood on her face. Someone put graffiti all over their house, smashed their windows – they even killed Mrs. Gustafson’s cat - thinking it belonged to the Martins.”

  Everyone reacted to the murder of the cat with: “that’s terrible”, “how cruel”, and “the poor thing”. Steven was the only one who showed any sympathy for Christina, meeting Riley’s eyes in anguish. The lack of concern by the others made Riley grind his teeth.

  “So,” Riley menaced. “I want to know who did it. Who made the complaint that started all of this?”

  Leo cleared his throat, looked at everyone else and then at Riley. “You can’t be suggesting one of us did it, Nick. Surely? I knew there were some problems over at the Martins, but I didn’t know Christina had been hurt. None of us want to see Christina hurt in any way.”

  Riley turned his head, making eye contact with his mother. “Mom,” he asked raising an eyebrow, but she stared at him coldly, without saying a word. Green eyes met green eyes and where Riley’s burned with intensity, Grace’s were glacial. Rather than being bowed or embarrassed, Grace stood erect with her chin up and not a hair on her perfect head out of place.

  Leo scoffed. “You can’t think your mother had anything to do with this, Nick? That’s just absurd…” and then he turned to look at his wife. Horror dawned on his father’s face. “Grace?” Leo whispered. “Tell him you didn’t… Oh, Grace, you did not.”

  Staring at them impassively, Grace shifted her gaze to Riley. Mother and son locked eyes in a battle of wills. “I want to talk to Mom alone,” Riley said quietly and when the others went to protest, Grace nodded her head in silent agreement.

  They waited until everyone left the room because this was going to be ugly. “Mom, why did you do this?”

  Raising a perfect eyebrow, a thin smile settled on Grace’s lips. “Why? She hurt you. She ruined your life and drove you away.”

  Riley was having difficulty processing what was unfolding before him. He’d hoped that his suspicions would prove unfounded, but confirmation was staring him in the face with cold green eyes. His mother was vindictive and vicious with a ruthless streak that he’d never imagined, but so was he.

  Pinching the bridge of his nose, Riley softened his stance. “Mom, she didn’t ruin my life and we hurt each other, more than any of you know.”

  Grace’s eyes flashed and her mouth went tight. “I just wanted to make her feel the pain she caused me, us, and you. I never meant for her to get physically hurt, but I’m not sorry either. She’s as cold as ice, Nick, and cruel. I don’t know what you see in her. I never have.”

  Riley’s eyebrows went into his hairline and he almost laughed out loud. Talk about irony. “Gee, Mom, you’re calling her cold? You’re not that much different, are you? I guess Christina doesn’t have the monopoly on being mean when pushed.”

  Grace flinched and Riley stared at her conflicted. He hated to admit it, but a part of him was impressed. He never thought his mother had it in her ice-cold veins to fight so viciously in his defense.

  Then there was the other part that was horrified her actions had put Christina in danger. “Mom,” he said quietly, “she’s not cold. She’s the opposite of cold. She’s hot-headed and stubborn. I don’t think you ever really knew her. We both made mistakes and we’re trying to work things out. We’re talking a future here – kids, house, picket fence – all of it.”

  Grace hissed. “I’ve known Christina since she was a baby. Her mother and I were good friends once. I looked after Johnny while Ella was delivering Christina in the hospital. I looked after Johnny and Christina when Ella was having Gabby.”

  Riley rolled his eyes. “I get it. You had history with Ella. You’ve known Christina a long time, but that doesn’t mean you know her as a person, Mom. You don’t know her and that’s been your choice.”

  Grace’s mouth went tight and her eyes glittered. “If you’re looking for a future with someone, I suggest you look elsewhere. I had hoped you’d have moved on, but she comes back, gets her hooks into you and you act like a little puppy. And don’t you think it’s interesting that Christina wants you back now? Now that you’re wealthy and successful with money… she wasn’t prepared to stick around before.”

  Riley tried not to laugh out loud. Christina, after his money! What a joke.

  He knew this would be an uncomfortable conversation, but he hadn’t realized it would be so spiteful. His mother had sat back all these years with this festering resentment and now it was oozing out like poison. He knew his mom carried a grudge, but this went way beyond that. It was unhealthy and now he realized, they shared this pathology in common.

  Running his hands through his hair, Riley tried to appeal to her reason. “Mom, she doesn’t want my money. She’s never wanted my money – our money. Money is important to you, not her. Christina is giving up everything to move to Seattle with me next year so we can make this work.”

  Grace gave him a thin tight-lipped smile that was devoid of any warmth. The malicious gleam in her eye unnerved Riley a little. “You had a nice girlfriend, Nick. Bianca, she made you happy. We all loved her and you threw it all away. Please don’t tell me it was for Christina.”

  Riley didn’t say anything. He had broken up with Bianca, not for Christina per se, but because he still loved Christina. At the time, he and Christina weren’t together and a relationship wasn’t even a possibility.

  He let Bianca go because he believed she deserved better than to be saddled with someone who could only half love her at best. Bianca was everything his mother said she was. She just wasn’t Christina and if she’d made his heart beat the way Christina did, he would have married her a long time ago.

  “Why did you have to bring her back here at all, Nick”? Grace snapped and shook her head sadly. “I just don’t understand why you want to torture yourself this way. Worse. You want us to witness your misery. You know it’s only going to end in heartbreak.”

  Riley groaned and rolled his eyes. “She’s here to work, Mom-”

  “Do you expect me to believe there is no other lawyer that could do this project?” Grace sneered in disgust. “I just don’t believe you. Our money is in this too, Nicholas. We should have had some say in Christina’s appointment.”

  Riley eyes narrowed and his smile was chilling. He’d always been able to identify people’s weak points and press on them until they unraveled or caved. His mother’s were hard to identify, but he had one, and he was going to use it.

  “If you don’t like Christina’s involvement in the project,” he
said firmly, “I’ll happily return your money and take the project some place else.”

  Grace’s face blanched and her mouth opened in shock. He was threatening to take away more than the project and both of them knew it. If he withdrew, he was effectively ending his family’s farming legacy.

  “You know, Mother,” he seethed, stepping toward her. “I believe that inside us all lives a ‘wild thing’, and you never know what you’re capable of until it gets loose. You have no idea what I’m capable of, Mom. Do you think someone like me gets to where I am by being a nice guy? Because let me assure you, I’m not. I’ve done things that would give you nightmares.”

  Over the years, Riley had been surprised at what he was capable of both professionally and personally. It was as if there was some quirk in his nature where the wild part could only be caged for so long. Every now and then, he needed to let it off for a run.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Nicholas,” Grace scoffed. “Stop speaking in riddles! Your wildness comes from your association with the Martins.”

  Staring at Riley, Grace’s eyes opened wide. “Are you on drugs?”

  “Only prescription,” Riley quipped, feeling satisfied at his mother’s fury. Her top lip curled and her eyes glittered dangerously, but he was beyond the point of caring. “For the last time,” he snapped. “She’s here because I want her here. Sure there are other people who could do it, but I want her. I want her near her family and me, but if I’d known she’d been attacked in town, I wouldn’t have done it. It’s too late for that now. She’s included in the family business because she’s family, Mom. She’s my family.”

  Grace’s face contorted and she spat bile. “Ella would be so ashamed of them all. That dignified, strong, decent woman, it would have broken her heart to see what they’ve all become,” her voice dripped with contempt. “I’m glad she’s not here to witness it-”

  Moving closer to his mother, Riley looked down at her. “You need to make this right. All the other stuff is between Christina and me. What you did was wrong.”