Evan shook his head, praying his brother would catch his eye contact and shut the hell up.
“Oh no, no suspicions, and Evan has been looking for a way to get you out of prison since the day you went in.”
“Darren, I said that’s enough.” Evan’s voice was firm.
Megan put her hand on Evan’s knee. “Is that true?”
“I was just upset, that was all.”
“Upset? I had to stop him from confessing himself just to get you off the leash.”
“Darren, can I speak to you out in the hallway, please?”
Evan stood. His brother was going too far.
“Oh, come on, little bro. It’s all in good fun.”
Megan stood. “Why would you try to confess to something you didn’t do?”
The room was silent. Evan felt trapped. He didn’t know how to get out of the mess his brother had drunkenly gotten him into. The room began to spin around him. He felt the way he did after seeing Megan on the television announce that she would stop at nothing to find his uncle’s killer. Was Megan about to learn the truth? Was she about to find out that he was responsible for the nine years of her life that were wasted in a prison cell?
Darren joined the two standing. Rachel tried to pull him back down, but he wouldn’t budge. “Because he’s been so annoyingly in love with you since the moment he met you. God, you’re all he ever talks about.”
Megan turned to Evan who laughed bashfully and looked away. “Um, I think I need to take a walk.” Without another word, he spun around and made his way out of the room.
But Megan wasn’t finished with that thought. She chased after him.
“Where are you going?”
“To hide my face in shame.”
“Stop.” Megan reached out to him, wrapping her fingers in his. She wanted to tell him that she was annoyingly in love with him too, but instead, she rose to the tips of her toes and kissed him. It was a different kind of kiss than the one they normally shared. It was a different kind a passion. It was soft and gentle and everything they were not to each other. But it was everything they could be.
With that kiss, Evan knew that she annoyingly loved him too.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you.”
“Want me to ditch my brother?”
“I would love more than anything for you to ditch your brother.” Megan teased.
They walked back in, hand in hand, but when they did, they saw Darren and Rachel both kneeling on the floor.
Rachel called out to her. “I’m so sorry Megan, I clumsily knocked your purse onto the floor.”
“It’s okay,” Megan smiled as she leaned down to join them. “I clumsily knock my purse to the floor all the time.”
“What is this?” They all turned to look at Darren, who was holding up an evidence bag with a pink post-it note on it.
Megan quickly tore it from his fingers and clutched it to her chest. “That’s…umm, it’s nothing.”
“I saw ‘Covington’ written at the top.” Darren pointed to the bag in her hand.
“Right…it’s…umm…” Megan stalled, trying to find some way out of sharing the evidence with the group.
“Megan?” Evan came up behind her and placed his warm hands on her shoulders. She couldn’t hide it from him. She didn’t want to.
“I found this today at the station. It’s the evidence that got me released from prison.”
“And you took it?” Evan flipped her around to face him.
“It was filed incorrectly. If anyone was missing it, they never would have found it.”
Evan looked down at the clear plastic bag in her hand. Through the film, he saw the recorder…the exact same recorder that he had given anonymously to the police.
“What is that, little brother?” Darren had suddenly sobered up.
“It’s a recorder.” He tried to act aloof.
“What’s on the recorder?” Darren might have been baiting Megan earlier, but this damning evidence was a whole new extreme. What had his brother done?
Megan looked at the group. “I don’t know what’s on it. I haven’t listened to it yet.”
Evan took it. “Maybe we shouldn’t.”
“Evan, I have to know.”
“Yes, but this might be hard for us all to listen to.” Evan tried to find a way out.
“You’re right.” She nodded at him. “I’ll listen to it on my own.”
“Megan,” he took her hand. “I mean it may be hard for you to listen to.”
Rachel stood up, joining the group, and grabbed the evidence back from Evan’s hand. “That’s enough of this.” She tore it open and lifted the recorder in the air.
She pressed ‘play’.
There was a beat of silence, and then…
“I am the man here. Not you. I stuck my cock in her mouth, and I gagged her. I fucked that girl until she was blue. And the naïve, scared, little puppy dog look on her face while I took her was absolutely priceless. So, she got kicked out of school. So, she’s destined for mediocrity. What the hell do I care? It was worth it to be the man to take away her virtue. It was all worth it just to be the man who put her in her place. And, believe you me; that little Megan Coulis is better for it.”
Then there was the obvious sound of a physical altercation. There were a few moans, a few grunts, but nothing was discernable.
That is, nothing was discernable until the gun fired.
The recorder beeped to its end, and Megan fell to her knees, forced to relive the night she found herself in Dr. Covington’s study. She was forced to relive everything she had worked so hard to forget.
But it was so much easier to remember.
“How old are you, Miss Coulis?”
“Fifteen, sir.”
“You’re very smart, especially for your age.”
“How old are you, Miss Coulis?”
“Fifteen, sir.”
“You’re very smart, especially for your age.”
“Thank you.” She shyly looked away.
“I’d like to dig a little deeper.” Dr. Covington shut the door behind him.
“Excuse me?” Megan felt a bout of claustrophobia sweep through her.
“Can I analyze you?”
“Um, okay?” Her chest began to rise and fall at a quickened pace.
“Great. Why don’t you lay down on my couch?”
She looked around the room. “Oh, now?”
“What better time than the present?”
“But it’s your party.”
“It’s not my party.” He put his hand on his chest as he slyly smiled.
“Right…yes…but there’s still a party happening at your house.”
“Lie down, Miss Coulis.”
“Okay, sir.”
She lied down on the couch and looked to the ceiling.
“Tell me about your parents.”
“Well, my mom is great. She’s always been really supportive and caring, and we’re…” Megan closed her eyes. “Umm... well, we’re really close.”
“It must be hard not to see her every night.” His voice was soothing, but eerie.
“It is, but the trade off is worth it. If I stayed in that public school, there’s a good possibility I would never amount to anything. But here, with the caliber of teachers and staff at The Valley School, I have a real chance to go somewhere…to achieve something.” Megan didn’t know why, but she began to feel very open and very vulnerable.
“And what about your father?”
“I’ve never met him, sir. He left my mother before I was born.”
Dr. Covington hummed before he continued to speak. “I’m sorry about that.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you find yourself seeking the company of men who could be possible father figures?”
“Excuse me?” Megan didn’t understand the question.
When she turned to look at him, his pants were down around his ankles. It took her a brief second to realize that he was je
rking himself off.
“Do you like this, Miss Coulis?”
“I should get back the party.”
Megan sat up, trying to avoid looking at her psychology teacher.
“Not so fast.” He sprung in front of her and pinned her against the couch. “Open your mouth.”
“No.”
His hand was across her face with a loud slap.
“Got it? Now open your mouth.”
Megan’s cheek pierced from the pain. She tried to hold back the tears, but she was not strong enough.
“Did I say you could cry?” He slapped her again, this time across her other cheek. “Open your goddam mouth.”
She did as she was told.
“I need to…I need to…um, go. Yes, I need to go.” Megan stuttered as she grabbed the recorder from Rachel.
“Megan, please, stay.” Evan pleaded, hoping he could get a read on her before she stumbled out of the door.
“Um, no…no, I think I should go.”
“I really don’t think you should drive right now.”
Megan held the recorder high above her head, not quite sure how to move her body. Her brain felt as though it had been scrambled: her heart was lurching up her throat. She stood there, still, with only her head swinging back and forth, repeatedly saying ‘no’.
Rachel grabbed Darren’s hand and led him from the room. “We’ll give you guys some time.”
“Thank you.” Evan mouthed to the two as they fled the scene.
“Megan, I’m just going to take the recorder from your hand.”
“No…no…no.”
When he was close enough, he lunged forward, wrapping his arms around her torso. Then, sure his hold on her was secure, he reached up and pulled the recorder from her hand. He allowed her body to collapse against his, but from there, he was at a loss. She wasn’t moving. She wasn’t talking. What had happened to her?
He slung her legs up into his arms and moved over to the plush armchair where he sat down and cradled her in his lap. He brushed his hand through her hair as he rocked back and forth, aiming only at soothing her.
Now, more than ever, Evan was certain that Megan could never find out about his involvement in the death of his uncle. She wouldn’t be able to handle it. Somehow, he needed to stop her from looking into the case. She wasn’t strong enough to find out the truth.
“I can’t feel.” She finally spoke, without inflection.
“What can’t you feel, Meg?”
“Anything. It’s back. That numbness. It’s back.”
He hugged her tighter. “What can I do?”
She took a second before responding. “Make me feel.”
“Okay.” He pushed her hair from her face and kissed her forehead.
“I can’t feel that.”
He kissed her cheek.
“I can’t feel that.” Her voice began to crack.
He kissed her lips.
“I can’t fucking feel that, Evan.” She screamed.
Her energy pushed him back. It was the first time he had heard Megan use a curse word. It startled him, and yet he felt as though he needed to fight. He screamed right back at her.
“Well, what do you want me to do?
She jumped off of his lap, and pulled him up to stand in front of her.
“Hit me.”
“What?” Evan took a step back, fearing the fire in her eyes.
“I said hit me.”
“Megan, I won’t hit you.”
“I need you to.” She looked up at him, clearly begging.
“No. This has gone too far. I’m going to end up hurting you.”
“That’s what I want.”
Evan threw his arms up in the air.
“No, Megan, no. I don’t want to be pushed to that point. I don’t care what you think you need. There’s another way. Please,” he carefully took a step toward her. “Let me help you.”
She didn’t want to be treated like a child. She knew what she needed and she was going to get it, no matter what. She just needed to bait him.
“Aren’t you angry?” Her voice was low.
“Yes, actually, I am a little angry at you.”
“No, not at me.” She lowered to an intense whisper. “Someone killed your uncle.”
Evan really didn’t want to head down this path.
“Ten years ago, yes. I’m over it.”
“No you’re not.” Megan shook her head as a faint smile appeared across her face.
“What?”
“I see it in you. You’re different than you were. I was afraid that you wouldn’t love me because of who I have become, but the reason you can still love me is because you have become something else too.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Evan tried to move away from her, but she grabbed his hand.
“Yes, you do. There’s hatred inside of you. There’s fear, and there’s doubt, and there’s a hell of a lot of hatred. What happened to you, Evan?”
“Nothing happened to me.” His words were fast with angst.
“Hit me.”
“No.”
“Let go of that hatred. Hit me.” She squeezed his hand tighter.
“I will not.”
“Don’t you want to feel better?”
“I feel fine.” Evan pulled away from her.
“You’re lying to yourself. Stop hiding.”
“I’m fine.”
“Hit me.”
“No.”
“Hit me.”
“No.”
“Goddammit, I said hit me!”
Megan fell to the floor, as Evan backhanded her square across the face.
He didn’t apologize; he didn’t pick her off the floor. He just stood there, staring at his yet again shaking hand. The power he had felt the first night they were together, the strength and the fire…they were back, and they were multiplied to an unimaginable level.
Megan saw that fire, and she could feel his presence surrounding her. She didn’t want him to lose the power she had tried so hard to free from him. She needed it to stay.
So she stood. And she baited him again.
“Hit me.”
He didn’t respond.
“Hit me. You can do better than that. You can feel. Hit me, Evan. Fucking hit me.”
She fell to the floor, yet again.
But this time, she stayed there.
“Now, fuck me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“It was all worth it just to be the man who put her in her place. And, believe you me; that little Megan Coulis is better for it.”
Megan couldn’t stop herself from listening to the recording over and over again. She couldn’t stop listening to his voice, his words, and the gunshot. She played it when she woke up in the morning and when she went to bed at night. It became a sickness; it became an obsession.
But then the questions came.
From where did this recording come? Who anonymously turned it in, ten years after the fact? Who was the person on the other end of the conversation?
And, then more questions arose.
Was the killer the person who turned in the recording? And, why did it take so long for them to come clean if this was in their possession the whole time?
And, finally the questions became deeper.
Why did she have the strange feeling the Dr. Covington was killed because of his admission regarding the night of the Christmas party? Why did she have the strange feeling that the person on the other end of the conversation was trying to protect her? Why did she have the strange feeling that she knew the killer?
Megan’s brain hurt. She popped two ibuprofen and listened to the recording yet again. Intermittently, she answered anonymous tips regarding kids doing drugs in the woods, drag racing on the one straight road in the town, or suspicious elderly folk absolutely certain that their neighbors were planning to kill them; but just like the evidence lock up, her new position was a quiet one.
“Hey, Coulis. How do y
ou like being up here with the windows?” Chief Davis stopped in front of her desk.
“I have to tell you, sir. It’s a far cry from the dungeon. I actually might be getting a tan.” She tried to joke with him, but comedy wasn’t one of her strengths.
“Coulis, I’m pretty sure I could put you next to the sun and you wouldn’t tan.”
Apparently, Davis wasn’t so good with the jokes either. But they both laughed, out of a co-worker type respect for one another.
“Do you need something from me, sir?”
“No…no...” He was stalling at her desk, dragging his finger along the corner of her computer. “You just seem a little distracted, so I wanted to make sure everything was okay.”
“Everything is fine, sir. I’m sorry if I’ve seemed distracted. I’ll try to snap out of it.”
“Don’t get me wrong, your work is great, stellar. So that’s not it.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Davis pressed his lips together and nodded four times. He went to turn away, but stopped mid spin.
“Did everything go okay at your hearing?”
Megan perked up. She had a hearing regarding her settlement a little over a week earlier, so she was forced to take a day off from work, but no one had asked her about it. That wasn’t a strange thing; she just assumed everyone was avoiding her, as they normally did. Even months later, no one was quite sure how to talk to the girl who they had all locked away nine years earlier. She didn’t mind; to her, it was better than the alternative.
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