The Velvet Caress

by C. P. Mandara

  'Is she okay? Do you have any news?' My hands were shaking as I gripped hers. My eyes begged her not to say the words I was dreading.

  'She's hanging on, Mr Matthews, but just barely. The private toxicologists you employed work far quicker than our laboratory associates. The information we needed was delivered back to us much sooner than we expected, which gives your wife a fighting chance. I don't want you to get your hopes up, because she's not out of the woods yet, but the doctors are doing everything they can to save her.'

  I gripped her tightly and looked her in the eye. 'Your team know that money is not an object, right? Anything you need, and I mean anything, I'll immediately pay for. Do you need more help, or some more…'

  'We have everything under control, Mr Matthews. Money can't save your wife at this point, I'm afraid. What happens next is up to her. She'll either respond to treatment, or not, but we thought we should update you on what's happening.'

  'How long have I been asleep for?' I asked, running a hand through my dishevelled hair, before feeling for the scratchy stubble I knew would be there.

  'Seven hours, give or take a half hour. You'd been up for nearly forty-eight hours though, and your body was probably close to collapsing.'

  'Dammit. I should have been there for her. I can't believe I fell asleep.'

  'You aren't allowed in there when they're working. They need to concentrate on what they're doing. You had to let them do their jobs.'

  What she actually meant was, they had to jump start my wife's heart twice with the crash cart and I'd have thrown a major fit if I'd been in there.

  'Can I see her now?' I knew she wasn't conscious, or the nurse would have told me by now, but I desperately wanted to be in the same room as my wife. At least I could hold her hand, and reassure myself that she was still alive, if only just barely.

  'Yes. That's why I thought I'd come and wake you. The doctors want to talk to you and I'm afraid a police offer is here and he wants to ask you a few questions.'

  Ah, so that was the real reason. The law was breathing down my neck. That was going to be a fun conversation. I could imagine it now, 'Where were you last night, Mr Matthews?' Then I'd reply, 'Oh I was out at a sex club, and then some mysterious stranger came and offered my wife poison, which she then drank, even though it was meant for me.' Yep, that was going to go down really well. I couldn't wait to get started on that one. Praying to God that the poison was something really exotic that I could never be reasonably expected to obtain was too much to hope for, wasn't it? Yes, I suspected it was, and Redcliff was nobody's fool. Taking my cell out of my pocket, I immediately texted Khalil and asked him to send a lawyer over. There was a good chance I was going to need one.

  Forty-eight hours earlier

  When Jen crashed to the floor in Escape, it took less than two minutes for a trained first-aider to be on hand, but they could do little more than monitor her vital signs. Her pulse rate was all over the place and she was vomiting repeatedly. The poor guy tried to get as much information out of her as possible, but she couldn't talk to him because she couldn't stop retching and that was as good an indication as any that what she'd just taken was going to kill her.

  Jen had been virtually unintelligible as she tried to answer his questions, and she kept slipping in and out of consciousness. The words burning, tingling and numb were all I managed to catch. When Jen did open her eyes there was so much pain in them I could hardly bear to look at her. It seemed that she'd already accepted her fate and her face was pale, bleak, and completely devoid of hope. Standing by the side-lines I felt utterly helpless. There was nothing I could do. The ambulance had been called, and that was her single best chance at survival. If traffic was bad, or there was a shortage of paramedics this evening, I could probably kiss her life goodbye. You can't think like that. Oh, but I was. Having already contacted a private ambulance company the best they could do was forty-five minutes. It wasn't going to cut it. Jen was already gasping for breath and unless I was much mistaken, it wouldn't be long before she needed to be intubated.

  Dear God, I know we haven't had a great relationship in the past, but I really need a huge favour right now. Please don't let my wife die. If anyone needs to die, let it be me. We both know I deserve to.

  Standing in panicked silence I held Jen's hand and willed her to breathe.

  'Don't let him win,' I whispered. 'You can fight this. Fight this for me.' I shook her hand gently to let her know I was serious. 'We'll both take him down together when you get well. Don't let him win, Jen.' I had no idea if she heard me. Her eyes were glazed and beginning to roll about. The strain lines upon her face were truly terrible, and I would have given all that I owned to ease her pain, but there was nothing I could do. Never having felt so helpless in all my life I prayed again for a miracle. Please let them get here in time. Don't let her die.

  A small crowd had gathered round us, but I barely heard or saw them. My attention was focused solely on Jennifer. I refused to let her leave this world without me.

  'Mark, Mark, the ambulance is here. Can you help me clear a path for the paramedics?' Dominic had an arm at my shoulder and he helped me up, which is when I finally heard the sirens. They were blaring so loudly it was hard to miss them, but my focus had been elsewhere.

  'Yes.' Fully aware that speed was of the essence Dominic and I recruited a few of the bigger lads, who swiftly moved everyone back with sharp words or brute force where necessary. While the paramedics did their initial assessment the staff of Escape made short work of dispersing the crowd around us, for which I was thankful. The last thing we needed was an audience.

  After a quick check of Jen's breathing, pulse-rate and blood pressure, there was some animated discussion and from the looks on their faces there was no good news to be had. One lady paramedic went rushing off back to the ambulance, and when she returned she was carrying a heavy red bag. All sorts of apparatus came out, but when she got out a steel pole with a curved hook I knew things were not looking good. When they'd finished securing her airway they lifted her up onto a trolley and began to wheel her along, shouting for me to follow. They needn't have worried, because they weren't going anywhere without me.

  A young male paramedic turned to me and asked, 'Are you a relative?'

  'I'm her husband,' I replied.

  'Okay, hop on up.' He helped me into the back of the ambulance, where they began plugging Jen into all sorts of bleeping machines. 'Do you know what happened?' He didn't look at me as he talked, he was far too busy doing his checks, but it was an important question.

  'Yes. Yes I do. She's been poisoned. Can you help her?' My tone was pleading. I'd have let someone pull out every single one of my teeth if there was a way to save her, and without an anaesthetic.

  'Do you know what she's taken? If we can figure that much out she stands a fighting chance.' He looked at me and waited for my answer, but all I could do was shake my head.

  'I don't. She was given something that was soluble in water, but that's as much as I know. What I do have, though, is a few granules of the poison that were left on the table. Can you work with that?'

  'We can, but that might take time she doesn't have.' I nodded, and my mind went into overdrive. Where did I go from here? Pulling my cell out of my pocket I phoned Khalil and gave him an update on the situation. Knowing he'd pull all the strings necessary to get a toxicologist report as soon as humanly possible, I arranged to meet him at the hospital. That was plan B, though. Plan A was preferable, but I didn't fancy my chances of success. Scrolling through the names in my cell, my finger hovered upon Michael Redcliff. As much as I never wanted to speak to the man again, Jen's life dangled in the balance and if I didn't make this call I'd never forgive myself.

  Although I called Michael's private line, which was a present since the wedding plans had been instigated, there was no answer. Looking down at my watch I realised it was two thirty am in the morning, so that was no great surprise. Pinching the bridge of my nose I decided I'd get Khalil
to send someone round there and bang the door down. I had no qualms about disturbing Michael Redcliff's beauty sleep. His face was going to be a picture when he realised what he had inadvertently done with his vicious scheming. There was no guarantee he'd tell me what the poison was, though. Already knowing there was little love lost between Jennifer and stepfather, I suspected he'd deny everything. It would be nice to think that he wouldn't be able to kill his daughter without a hefty attack of conscience, but I certainly wouldn't count on it. Having seen Redcliff in action on several occasions I knew the man didn't have too many morals, and if he did understand what the word 'family' meant, he wasn't the type to show it.

  There was no more time to dwell on the horror that had currently befallen me, for there was more to come. The ECG machine that had been slowly but irregularly beeping away with two concerned paramedics glued to it, chose that moment to flat-line. For a moment I just stared at it in horror. There had to be some mistake. Poison didn't work that quickly, did it?

  There was no mistake. The crash paddles came out and before I knew what was happening my wife's heart was being jump-started. After the first shock I prayed to the guy upstairs with everything I had, but he must have been busy, because bar a brief blip that line didn't move. Come on, I begged silently. Don't let her die. Not like this. Not here. Not now. Clenching my fingers into tight fists I watched as they charged up the paddles again. Never having felt so helpless in all my life I sat and watched while the life drained out of my wife's body. This might be it. My last two words to Jennifer might have been spoken, and I'd never get the chance to say sorry. Come on, Jen, I pleaded, rocking back and forth on my seat. Come on.

  The second shock was delivered and I could feel my whole body tighten into taut lines as I waited for that green line to magically start beeping. It didn't. There was another brief flicker, that was all. Fuck, how was I going to live with myself? Guilt would claw at me, and quite rightly so.

  Hearing the thin electrical whine of the paddles charging for their third and final round, I closed my eyes and prayed. I mean really prayed. If the devil wanted my soul in order to seal the bargain, I offered that up too. Just let her live.

  There was a big thud after the paramedic said 'Clear' and then complete silence surrounded me. My head swirled with grief, pain, and disbelief. This could not be happening to me, to her. She was so young. Jennifer, just a few scant minutes ago, had her whole life to look forward to, and that would have been at least another sixty years or so. What had Redcliff been thinking? Why was my death so important? Did he need to get his hands on my money so badly? If he'd told me what he was planning to do in order to get it I'd have happily given it to him.

  My thoughts were smothering me, until it got to the point where I could barely breathe. 'What if's' crashed into 'how could's' and there were no answers to be found. No answers that made sense, anyway. Nothing made sense any more.

  I have no idea how long I sat there rocking like that. It felt like a lifetime, but in actual fact it couldn't have been more than five minutes. Time was warping into painful shards that pierced my body from all angles, before letting my blood drain out to the floor beneath. Mumbling 'please' over and over again I prayed for a miracle I knew would not be granted. Any God worth his salt wasn't going to look twice at a prayer from me. I wanted to scream out, but no sound would leave my lips. This was a pain that could not be voiced. Sooner or later I would have to deal with what just happened here, but I was happy for that to be later. Coming to terms with this whole mess was going to be hard.

  'Sir.' Someone was shaking me. 'Sir, we're here.' I opened my eyes and blinked up at the glare of floodlights that greeted me from outside the Accident and Emergency Unit. Then I heard it. A bleeping sound. It was still erratic, but that meant she was somehow still alive, didn't it? Oh fuck. Thank you, God.

  'You managed to get her back,' I said in astonishment.

  'Yes. We didn't think we would, but somehow she made it. Now we need to get her seen to immediately.'

  When Jennifer went through the double doors to the emergency ward, I was left behind. A nurse grabbed my arm and told me the doctors needed to be left alone to concentrate, but I'm not an idiot. I can read between the lines. There's a very good chance your wife is going to die within the next few minutes, and they don't want you throwing a fit. Punching Redcliff's number into my phone again, I was once again met with a ringing tone that went swiftly to answer message. Shoving the cell back in my pocket with considerably more force than necessary, I cursed him every foul word I could think of under the sun. Staring despondently at my hands, I wondered what the hell I should do next. What could I do? I wasn't a doctor or a paramedic. Until Khalil got here my hands were tied, and I was just going to have to sweat it out and hope for yet another miracle. It was going to be the longest wait of my life.

  'Khalil. Thank God. Did you manage to get hold of him?' My eyes lit up with hope, but they were dashed almost immediately as he shook his head.

  'No one was answering the door and all the lights were out, as you'd expect at this time of the night. So we snuck in through the back and busted up his back door. There's no one there. We searched the whole house, but it's neat as a pin and there's virtually nothing in the refrigerator, so it looks like he's not at home. Any idea where he might have gone?'

  'None. There'll be no one to give me answers at this time of night, either. Can you look into it first thing tomorrow?'

  He nodded and then produced a small square case for me. 'For the poison,' he added. 'I've got a courier waiting to take it to a private company that will give us a report within a few hours or so.'

  I had no idea how Khalil accomplished that at this time of the morning, but I guessed it had something to do with lots of money. However he'd managed it, I was eternally grateful. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out the envelope into which I'd managed to scoop some stray grains of poison. Khalil could have half of them and the hospital could have the rest. It didn't matter who figured it out first, but it needed to be done quickly. Jennifer didn't have a lot of time, judging by what had happened in the ambulance on the way over.

  As soon as I'd put a few grains in the plastic box he held out for me he shot off towards the exit at full pelt, before I'd barely had time to say thank you. After this was all over I was going to owe the man big time, one way or another. At least he was on my side. These days it seemed that everyone was out to get me.

  Waiting on a cold hard plastic seat, my backside slowly went numb. The wait seemed endless, but I knew that no news was good news in this place. If a doctor or nurse came towards me with a sympathetic glance I was going to throw an epic fit in the middle of the waiting room, and I didn't care who saw me. Right now I was so angry, at Redcliff, at Jennifer, and at the world in general. Although I'd be one of the first to admit that life wasn't fair, life generally wasn't this unfair.

  Having already given a hospital technician the rest of the poison that was left, there was nothing further for me to do, except drink endless cups of watery coffee that tasted more like the Styrofoam cup it came in, than any attempt to resemble a caffeinated beverage. Drinking my plastic and chemicals with a shudder, I slowly plotted my next moves.

  Now that Marianna had been found she would need to be questioned. I wanted to know about her involvement with Redcliff, and how close she had gotten to the man. Anything I could learn at this stage would be a bonus. The trouble was, I wasn't sure I had the stomach for that kind of thing any more. There was no way I'd be able to focus with Jen in hospital, and neither hell nor high water would drag me away from this place without knowing that Jennifer was going to be okay. That meant I might have to enlist outside help to do the job for me. I'd have to think that one through. Who owed me a favour?

  When I'd dealt with that little problem I also needed to discover the whereabouts of Michael Redcliff, and more importantly, why he wanted me dead so desperately. Logically, Jennifer Redcliff would have inherited everything if I had died, so if he
thought he could control her - and I suspected he could - he would have a very large income at his disposal. That was the most obvious reason that came to mind. If Jennifer died I would be of little interest to him any more as he would have nothing to gain through my death, but if she recovered I might still be living on borrowed time. It was yet another thing to add to my list of seriously depressing thoughts which were getting more numerous by the second.

  The nurses gave me regular updates on my wife's progress, but the news was always the same. Unless the nature of the poison was discovered, the outlook was not promising. I took to pacing up and down the halls, and frequently got dirty looks from the cleaning staff. Clearly I was making the place look untidy. Seconds turned slowly into minutes, minutes took years to become hours, and hours were almost an eternity of anguish.

  In the end even pacing became too much for me. The adrenaline was wearing thin, and even though my body desperately wanted to continue on full throttle, it needed rest. That was a laugh. Sleep was an elusive beast at the best of times, and the chances of me getting any rest in this place were less than zero. Sunlight was beginning to stream in through the blinds, and the nurses had just had a shift change. Someone tried to bring me some food, but the thought of eating was nauseating. A couple of people tried to strike up a conversation with me, but I didn't have the attention span necessary to speak in answers more than one syllable long. My head was everywhere. When my cell phone finally rang, just after nine o'clock, I wanted to get down on the floor and weep. Please let it be good news, I prayed.

  It wasn't. Leyland Forbes, of all people, had chosen that moment to ring me, to add insult to grievous injury.

  'Leyland, this had better be good. I'm at the A&E, and my wife is at death's door. Don't say anything that will make me want to kill you more than I do already.' He didn't laugh, which said something.