by Alta Hensley
Why the fuck would she leave with them?
“She’s on the run with them now,” Mother adds. “Which tells me that she was part of their sick acts all along. You know the police will see it that way. She’s a criminal on the run.”
“That man has brainwashed her. Nothing more,” I defend. “You have no idea just how sick in the fucking head he is.”
I can’t allow myself to believe that Ember would ever condone or be a part of killing. She’s merely a puppet and he the master.
I glance back at the letter.
“She knew deep down that they’d find her. How they did, I don’t know. But I bet she was scared for me. For us. I bet she left as a way to sacrifice herself. That’s the only explanation,” I say, my voice coming out gruff and muffled.
My mother simply shakes her head.
I point at her. “You never liked her. You never made her feel welcomed. She sensed that. She knew!”
“You can blame me if that makes you feel better,” she says calmly, which only infuriates me more. “But the person to blame is you. You should never have brought her home. And you should never have left her to figure things out on her own. That poor girl was thrown to the wolves by you.”
“Yes!” I shout. “And you were the leader of the pack. Why couldn’t you have been nice to her? Why couldn’t you have acted like a mother figure she so desperately needed?”
“It wasn’t my job to love her. It was yours.”
Her words were like a punch to the gut. It was my job to love her, and clearly I didn’t make her feel loved enough, or she would have never left me. If she truly knew how deeply I did….
“You truly are a despicable woman,” I snap. “I’ve lived my whole life trying to be better than you. Trying not to let money change me like it clearly changed you. You have been the perfect example to me as to what not to be.”
“I know you’re angry and acting out,” she says, proceeding as if she doesn’t hear a word I say.
“No,” I reply, shaking my head in disbelief that this woman is actually my flesh and blood. “This is no act. I’ve reached my max, Mother. I can’t ignore who you are or the things you do any longer. I’ve spent my whole life making excuses for your behavior. I used to write it off as it just being part of you being a rich socialite. But I was just putting my head in the sand. You simply are a bad person. Period.”
“Listen to me,” she says, walking over and placing her freshly manicured hand on my shoulder. “You refused to see just how unhappy Amber was here. You also didn’t want to face how broken she was. She needed help, and you were too busy with your job and trying to get your life back on track to see it. But at the same time, you can’t fix her. She’s lived that life for far too many years to just step into our world and survive. I knew this the minute you brought her home. You can’t tame a feral, son. It’s against nature.”
I snapped my shoulder away from her touch, stormed over to my phone, and picked it up off the ground. “She’s not a fucking stray! She’s my goddamn wife, and you allowed her to leave with monsters!” I pointed to my door and then dialed the detective in charge of the case. “Get out while I deal with this. Get out before I say something I’ll regret.”
“Christopher—”
“Get out!” I shout. “Now.”
“You’ll see soon enough why I made the decision I did. Someday, you’ll understand.”
“Get. The. Fuck. Out.”
3
Christopher
* * *
Agent Martinez looks as annoyed as I feel. “So, let me get this straight,” he begins. “A serial killer and his possible accomplice enters your house, and you don’t call the police?”
“What do you think we’re doing right now?” My mother counters his question with the cool demeanor only she can pull off.
“And you allowed Ember to walk out the door with him?”
“She chose to go with him,” my mother says, darting her eyes at me. “I’ve always felt from the beginning that Amber wasn’t completely innocent in all this. She showed me today that she isn’t afraid of Richard one bit.”
“Because she’s brainwashed,” I cut in. “She grew up believing he was her father. She loves him, no matter what he did. She can’t help it. Just because she left with him, doesn’t mean she’s guilty of any crime.”
“I think that’s left to be decided,” Agent Martinez says as he nods to another man standing next to him, who is taking down all the notes in a black leather pad. “Christopher, did Ember have any phone calls or contact with Richard since returning?”
“Absolutely not,” I snap. “She was terrified that he was going to be able to find her. All the media and attention really scared her for that reason. She believed he was coming for her, and that is exactly what he did. He came and took her.”
Agent Martinez looks at my mother. “But your mother just said she went with him willingly.”
“She’s wrong,” I say. “It might have appeared that way on the surface. But I know Ember. She wouldn’t want to go back to a life with that man. There’s some other reason why that we don’t know.”
“Mrs. Davenport,” Agent Martinez says, acting as if my words aren’t even heard, “do you have any idea where they were headed? Did they give any clue or say anything?”
My mother shakes her head and gives a slight shrug. “No. Richard simply told Ember to hurry up and that they had to get out of here quickly. Ember rushed upstairs, packed a bag, and was out the door before I could do anything. I wasn’t exactly going to try to fight with a serial killer. Frankly”—she looks at me—“I was scared. But this wasn’t the first time I’ve been scared in my own home since that woman entered our lives.”
“Why did you wait to call us until after Christopher got home? Why didn’t you call 911 the minute they left?” Agent Martinez asks.
Yes, Mother, why?
“For Ember,” she answers with a deep sigh. “I knew how this would look for her. And regardless if she’s innocent or guilty, I wanted my son to hear it from me first. I wanted him to handle this and make the decision. She’s his… wife. And, well… maybe I should have called right away, but like I just said, I was scared.”
My mother’s lying. I know why she didn’t call right away. She wanted to give them a head start. She wanted Ember gone, and here was her chance to have her desires granted. If she called right away, they could have been caught. She’s hoping that Ember, Richard, and Scarecrow get as far away as possible. She doesn’t ever want to see Ember found. I know this.
My own fucking mother….
Ultimate betrayal.
I can’t stand to be in this living room another second. I stand up and say, “Unless you have any more questions for me, I’m leaving.”
Ms. Evans finally steps from the farthest corner of the room, where she’s been the entire time, standing quietly. “Is there anything I can get you for dinner?” she asks. I can tell she’s distraught, and out of everyone in this house, the housekeeper treated Ember the nicest.
“No thank you. I just need to be alone.”
Not waiting for Agent Martinez or my mother to speak, I charge upstairs as a million thoughts swirl in my head.
I enter my room… our room… and feel my knees weaken.
She’s gone. My wife’s gone.
Something inside me tells me she’s never coming back here.
I sit on the edge of the bed and inhale deeply. I close my eyes and try to focus on her smell that still lingers in the room. Strawberries and flowers—her delicate fragrance since the first day I met her.
I have no idea what to do now. If the police haven’t found Richard up until now, what’ll make that change now? Is Ember truly gone forever? Would she leave me like this?
Her letter said goodbye, but… how can she simply walk away from us? We have love. We truly do love each other. This I know.
But the biggest question of all, and one that makes me ill just thinking of it, is—is Ember in d
anger? Will Richard hurt her?
He has to be angry for how we escaped. We burned down everything and left his body to go into flames with it. Would he punish Ember for it? Would he kill her in order to never let her truly be free? Would he chain her up someplace far worse than the cellar I was chained in? Is she suffering?
Is my poor wife suffering right now?
A knock on the door interrupts my morbid thoughts that are growing darker by the second.
“I want to be left alone,” I shout, hating that they can’t give me a moment to fucking grieve my wife leaving. “Give me a goddamn second please!”
“Christopher?” I hear Ms. Evans’s voice call from the other side of the door. “May I have just a moment of your time? Please? It’s important.”
I get up and open the door. It’s unlike Ms. Evans to be pushy and not give me privacy when asked. “What is it?” I ask, softening my voice as I allow her inside the room.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” Ms. Evans says, her hands fiddling with each other in front of her. She avoids eye contact but eventually takes a deep breath and looks me directly in the eye. I see pain, fear, and even anger. So many emotions are dancing in the eyes of a woman I’ve come to love like family.
“What going on?”
“I’ve worked for your family for a very long time,” she begins. “I’ve seen you grow from a rambunctious little boy to a respectable man.”
I study her face, looking for signs of what she is clearly struggling and even procrastinating to tell me.
“What I’m about to tell you will most likely cost me my job. But I can’t in good faith stand by and allow what I know to remain a secret anymore. I’ve always been loyal. I would do anything for your mother… at least until now. I can’t be part of it. It’s wrong, and you have the right to know.”
“What’s wrong? What do I have the right to know?”
I know she’s talking about Ember without her saying so. I also know my mother never liked her and feels her leaving is good riddance. But seeing the turmoil blanketing every feature of Ms. Evans, makes me realize there could be more.
Much more.
“It all started with the straw,” she begins with shaky breath. “I caught her in the act. Your mother. She was placing straw in places that Ember would see. She was trying to convince Ember that Scarecrow and Papa Rich had been in the house. They never were; it was your mother doing it.”
“What?” Her words are like a slap to the face. “Why would she do something like that?” My mother could be a ruthless bitch at times, but never devious. Never evil. And her claws only came out for her enemies who, in many cases, deserved her wrath. There has to be some sort of miscommunication.
“I think she wanted to make Ember feel like she was losing her mind. She wanted you to think she needed mental help. Maybe you’d send her away to a mental institute. I know Louisa was researching many facilities and trying to find one that would be a good fit. Her goal all along was to get Ember out of your life.”
Sighing, I say, “I know she thought Ember needed psychological help, but… placing straw around the house seems farfetched. Are you sure? Did you actually see her do it?”
Ms. Evans nods. “She did it. I saw it with my own eyes. And Ember was such a sweet girl. She didn’t deserve to be treated the way she was. Your mother… she didn’t make her stay here easy.”
I know she didn’t welcome Ember, but—
“There’s more,” Ms. Evans blurts as if she had to or risk never telling me the truth.
I can’t process the idea of my mother tormenting Ember by trying to scare her with the straw, so I welcome hearing something else. Anything else.
“Louisa hired a private investigator to find Richard. Actually, she hired a few.”
I nod, not really surprised by the news. My mother has always been the type of woman to take matters into her own hands. In her eyes, if she wanted something done correctly, she’d do it herself… or hire someone to do it for her.
“She found Richard. Her hired investigators tracked him down, hiding with Scarecrow.”
“So, she knew where they were hiding all along and didn’t say anything? She didn’t let the authorities know?” I ask, stunned by the news. Why wouldn’t she help in having the man arrested? It makes zero sense as to why she’d keep his whereabouts a secret.
Ms. Evans took a deep breath and looked out the window before saying, “She hired a pilot to fly them from Nevada to New York. She was the one who brought them to the house. She helped them come for Ember. She also helped them go off into hiding again.”
Each word that comes from Ms. Evans’s mouth feels like a bullet piercing my gut. I knew something was off with the way Ember left, but no way could I have imagined this.
Betrayal.
Sick, twisted, evil acts.
Criminal.
I shake my head in hopes that blinding rage won’t take over. “My mother is guilty of many things. She has her own moral code at times, but no way could she do something so awful. You have to be wrong on this. Maybe you misunderstood something or just don’t have all your facts right.”
I’m lying to myself.
I know Ms. Evans is only telling me the truth, but I need a moment to lie to myself to simmer down the madness that is threatening to engulf me.
My mother couldn’t have done this to me.
To me. Her only son. To a man she loves. To me!
She couldn’t have. No way.
But she did.
She fucking did.
“I didn’t help your mother, Christopher. But at the same time, I didn’t stop her. I started figuring out what she was doing, and I should have told you sooner. But you have to understand just how deep my loyalty is to that woman. I would do anything for her. But this… I can’t stand by and let this happen. I can’t watch you and allow you to believe Ember left of her own free will.”
“Did they force her?” Rage begins to fully set in no matter how many calming breaths I take. “Did my mother lie about that? Did she not walk out the door with them?”
“Ember left with them. But she was driven to do it. I can see why she did. That poor girl never had a chance under this roof. She was miserable and scared, and Louisa made sure to keep it that way.”
And I didn’t fucking see it. I chose to put my head in a damn hole and avoid the feelings of my wife. I should have been here. I should have watched, listened, and felt that something was off. But I was too damn focused on making life return to normal.
Normal.
Nothing would be normal again.
And what the fuck is normal anyway?
All I know is I want my goddamn wife back. They took her from me, and I want her back.
“Do you know where they took Ember?” I ask.
Ms. Evans shakes her head. “I overheard them saying they were going back to Nevada for a short time. I know your mother allowed them to use her pilot to get there. But that’s it.” For the first time, she approaches me and tentatively touches my arm. “I’m sorry, Christopher. I should have told you sooner. I have always tried to mind my own business when it comes to your family. I hear things but try not to react. It has served me well up until now. I even tried to be a friend to Ember, because God knows the woman needed a good friend. But I couldn’t be enough. She deserves happiness. You both do. And I sincerely believe you love her as she loves you. I hope you can find her. I hope you can take her back.”
I nod as a million thoughts on how exactly I am going to try to do it run through my head.
“But, Christopher,” Ms. Evans adds, “if you do find her… don’t bring her back here. Start a new life with her. A life that you both create. Your life is not for her. So, create one that belongs to the both of you.”
Without saying the words, Ms. Evans makes it very clear to me… I had a part in all this too. I tried to force Ember into a world she didn’t want to be in. I was selfish. I was focused on the past, rather than the future with my n
ew wife. I did this. I fucking did this.
“Do you know where my mother is?” I ask between clenched teeth. I can’t even breathe through the fury attacking my body.
“She’s downstairs.”
My mother… how do I forgive what she’s done?
I may never be able to, but for now, I need to focus on finding Ember. My mother will at least know where the plane went, and I can start from there. I’ll find Ember, and I’ll make my mother help me in doing so. She’ll pay for what she did to my wife. For what she did to us.
4
Christopher
* * *
“I’m trying really hard not to scream and strangle you right now,” I say, clenching my fist to try to contain the rage that wants to erupt from inside. If she weren’t my mother….
Lucky for her, she is.
“You can be mad at me all you want,” she calmly says, not showing the slightest remorse. “But I did it for Ember. The girl didn’t belong here and never would. You were bringing home a broken person. I told you this, but you were being too selfish and wrapped up in your own world to see it for yourself.”
Her words are like a blow to the face. Maybe because they’re true. I was selfish. I did want my life back, and that meant forcing Ember to live it. Was she miserable? Was she lonely? Clearly, she had to be if she left on her own. She saw Richard and Scarecrow as a way out… a way out of the prison I put her in.
“So let her go,” my mother adds. “I know you want to go find her. I know you want to save her. But you can’t, Christopher. You need to allow that awful part of your past to remain just where it is now. Behind you. You deserve better, but so does that woman.”
“You’re right,” I say, clenching my fists and then focusing on releasing the tension as I let out a deep breath. “Ember does deserve better. She deserves to be happy, but she also shouldn’t be with those crazy men. I might have failed her, but I sure as fuck am not going to allow her to be with those two. She doesn’t deserve them either. I need to give her the option of an out. I have to at least try.”
