Hero

by Shani Greene-Dowdell

  Cherise threw up a hand and kept advancing on him. “This is my office, my stalker. I want to know what the hell you’re going to do about him.” She was enraged and had taken charge. It was fucking awesome as I covered her back.

  The officer was reduced to stuttering in the face of that ferocity. “Ah, ma’am, we, well, we need to speak with you about your history with the man you and Mr. Underwood—”

  “Staff Sergeant Underwood,” the officer older by ten years or so edited for him.

  The young one blushed red. “We need your report of why you and Staff Sergeant Underwood seemed to think one specific person did this. When forensics arrives, we’ll have them dust the box and the letter then open them.”

  Ten minutes later, it was a whole production wrapped in a shit-show outside the office. More officers had been summoned for the questioning of the construction workers at work nearby. Cherise gave an account of her saga with Chad promptly. While we waited for forensics huddling with Andre at the end of the sidewalk, the box started to bleed at the bottom. As my luck would have it, Cherise spotted it first. The second the blood appeared, she clammed up tighter than a virgin, went pale, pointed at the box then buried her head in my chest.

  “Fuck,” the older officer blasphemed under his breath. “Tell forensics to make haste, Robinson.”

  “Yes, sir.” Robinson got on the phone and didn’t get off until forensics pulled up in a repurposed ambulance.

  Andre and I did all we could to comfort and surround Cherise. Shielding her from the next bad thing to happen was my priority until I couldn’t. It broke my heart when she looked up at me, frightened to death, trembling, and almost in tears.

  “What if some part of Eva is in there? What if he hurt her so badly that… Her family…” Her voice cracked. She gave up on speaking, burying her head once more in my chest.

  Not one time did she ask if Chad would hurt her too. So damn big-hearted, she showed more distress for her co-worker’s well-being than her own. I was here to see that her well-being stayed well. Within its limits anyway. It was time to put Operation Fuck Chad Up into rotation. He was about to be cornered like the wild beast he was. It had to happen soon. Cherise couldn’t go through one more thing because of him. I prayed he came out of the corner I planned to put him in mad and untamed on me. I had nothing but murder on my mind. The only way to ensure Cherise was safe from him was to eliminate him for good. Until then, I held her and would hold her so tight there was no way to tell where my body ended and hers began.

  Cherise

  What if some part of Eva was in that box? went round and round my head like a merry-go-round that I couldn’t get off of or stop. This was a horrible, horrible way for the day to begin. And I thought waking up to Tobin being gone was bad.

  “Dr. Johnston,” the young officer yelled unnecessarily over the low chatter from the spectators, mostly the construction crew working for my landlord. I jumped at the sound of my own name, which had never struck fear in me when spoken. PTSD was the last of my worries. I was headed for a full-blown meltdown.

  Tobin’s arms went from snug to almost suffocating around me. “Just wait until she feels ready to look at that shit, Officer Robinson.” Tobin was beyond incensed. That didn’t bode well for me. Whatever they discovered in the box had to be worse than the worst.

  “We need her to examine the letter, not the content… of the… box.” Robinson’s hesitation to even refer to the box had my imagination and anxiety levels raging out of control.

  Don’t think about it, Cherise. All you have to do is read the letter. Unable to let go of Tobin, I was epically failing at mentally pep-talking myself into facing the hell behind me. I tried rallying my strength out loud. “You can do this, Cherise. The faster you look, the faster you can turn away again.” Yeah, no, that wasn’t working either.

  Tobin bent over to whisper in my ear, “You don’t have to let go of me, just turn around, baby.”

  Turning around didn’t seem so hard. I managed it barely but didn’t have to go from the safe space Tobin represented. The officer was right there with the letter in gloved hands. The words were bold and black, obviously penned in a black sharpie for effect.

  Warning! You’ve accepted the wrong man, Cherise. Stop now. Don’t make me get rid of him. It’s time for you to come home to me. I’m the only man for you.

  The letter’s effect on me was immediate; unmeasurable anger and terror that Tobin would get hurt, or worse, killed because of me. Chad was going to take me like he had Eva.

  “Yes, it’s Chad’s wording. Accepting him is all he talks about. Officer, I’m not going to let him hurt Tobin.” I stepped away from Tobin toward Robinson. “I’m not going to let him take me. I will kill him if he comes near me. The second you slap handcuffs on me for saving my own life, I will sue the fucking boxers off LIPD!” It registered that I was yelling at Officer Robinson, who was backing up as I steamrolled on him.

  Tobin seized my arms. I struggled to get to the officer. Officers like him had let Chad intensify his terror campaign on women. Officers like him had let Chad take Eva. Officers like him were going to get us all killed before Chad was stopped. Apparently, I screamed all of that at Robinson. He was appalled. I didn’t care, I had cracked the fuck up.

  Tobin picked me up off the ground from behind, caging my arms to my sides. “Cherise, dammit, calm down. Baby, we’re going to fix this.”

  I kicked and screamed my frustration, rampaging in midair, and making a fool out of myself, but my stress was being exorcised. So, it was worth it. Tobin carried me toward my business’s entrance. The bleeding box had been removed from in front of the door. The forensic scientist examining the box’s contents was standing nearby with it, talking with another.

  “Yep, it’s a human heart already.” He poked around in the box, tipping the block of flesh upward with a finger. Catching just a glimpse of the organ, I seized up in Tobin’s arms. The forensic scientist had no idea I was painfully riveted on him. “I’m sure it’s no coincidence that the city morgue was broken into last night, a body stolen, and a heart was found here today, though.”

  It may not be Eva’s heart, was all my mind could handle right then. The rest of the world had stopped for me. I knew I was grasping at the only thing that might be sane about this whole affair, dying for it to be true. For Eva to be alive. Granted, someone’s deceased loved one being stolen and mutilated was terrible. Eva not having died so Chad could terrorize me was the lesser of the two evils, however.

  Tobin stroked my face. Skin to skin contact with him unlocked my mental prison. I felt the chair beneath my body, saw the white walls and decor. Tobin perched on my desk in front of me, had gotten me inside my office without me being aware.

  “Baby,” he called worriedly.

  I patted his knees with both hands. “I’m okay, sweetheart.”

  “No, you’re not. You haven’t said a word in five minutes. You weren’t seeing or hearing anything around you.”

  “My mind zoned out of reality for a much-needed break. A human heart in a box is too much, even for me.” Suddenly, I was too excited, too energized. I lunged for him, gripping both of his knees with my hands. “Did you hear the forensic scientist? Eva may not be dead. Tobin, what if she’s alive somewhere, maybe hurt, and no one can find her?”

  His frown and wrinkled brow had become a permanent part of his face. “I’m certain that’s exactly her predicament. Chad doesn’t seem like a very accommodating man to anyone other than himself.” Tobin’s tone had changed from apprehensive to sorrowful. “Right now, I’m concerned about you.”

  “Don’t be concerned about me. I’m going to need some therapy for sure, maybe a month-long vacation in the Bahamas. Right now, I want to be done with this situation. It’s gone on too long. People are getting hurt and kidnapped, bodies being desecrated. Chad needs to be taken down, not tomorrow, not next week. Today.”

  He shushed me. Cupping my face with fingers that kindled a tingling something fierce in
my flesh, he delved deep into the mirrors of my soul. I let him look for as long as he wanted, for whatever it was he was seeking. Finally, he sat back on the desk, keeping me locked in the gray storms swirling in his pupils.

  “You sure you’re okay?”

  “I’m okay, Tobin. I’m sick and tired of this shit with Chad, but I’m okay. We need to find Eva.”

  He did a double-take. “Not we, Cherise. You are going somewhere where Chad can’t find you. California, the next city, I don’t care. Just not Long Island. Me and Andre will trap Chad.”

  “Chad won’t come to you, Tobin. He wants me. We should give him me.”

  Cherise

  Tobin practically sprouted wings and flew to the side of my chair. “No, no, no, and no. Cherise, no.” That was a lot of no’s. Did I want to be in the company of a nut? That would be another no, and no one could disagree that tricking Chad into thinking I was one place when I wasn’t, wasn’t a brilliant idea. I thought it was one anyway as I leaped out of my chair to block the path Tobin was taking out of the room.

  “Think about it, Tobin. He goes where he thinks I am. Thinks,” I emphasized, “I am.”

  Cocking his head, he studied me carefully. “Let me get Andre. Someone needs to grab Athena when she gets here, or she’ll get a good look at what’s in the box and probably check out of reality too.” He didn’t seem to be bothered by the heart in the… Let’s not even say that in my head. The New York streets and war were some of the best desensitizers to atrocities known to man. If Chad’s terror campaign was anything like war, it had to end this day.

  Until then, busywork would keep me sane. I retook my seat, grabbing up my phone to transfer Athena’s phone lines to mine. “I wouldn’t blame her if she did check out, and I didn’t see the… the whole thing in the box. A piece of it is still an awful, fucked up thing to see. When she gets here, I’ll put her on paid leave and make sure she gets home.”

  Tobin slapped both palms on my desktop, leaning over to snarl, “You’re going home too, Cherise.”

  Dialing out on my keypad, I put the phone to my ear. “Can’t. I have to be here when the alarm guys come. We both know how badly that alarm should be installed.”

  He hung his head and exhaled. “Then, you stay in this room with the door locked at all times.”

  Considering who’d walk in if I didn’t do as Tobin demanded, he’d get no fuss from me. “Done.”

  My compliance took the winds right out of his sails. “Okay, then. I’ll be back.”

  “I’ll be here,” I guaranteed.

  He stood up, then bent back over to grasp my shoulders and hauled me up to him, kissing the living shit out of me. When he was done, I was clinging to his forearms, panting, and wondering if the couch was big enough to hold us both if I didn’t pull it out.

  “I don’t want to lose you,” he uttered against my mouth.

  “Same, Tobin, so be careful. Please.” The service I’d called was giving options to the desk. The handset had fallen down when I reached for Tobin. After he twisted the locking mechanism on the knob then went out, I finished the call breathlessly.

  Successful with getting the lines transferred, I put the phone on its base. It rang. I snapped it back up. “Johnston Psychiatry Services. We’re not taking appoint—”

  “Cherise,” Chad interrupted me, ”It’s time to come home to me.” God in heaven, did the man have a radar for when I’d had a good few minutes? He was nothing but the devil, and I had had enough of him.

  Pressing the record button on the base, I lost my shit. “Why don’t you come get me, you bastard?” Challenging a psycho might be my worst decision yet, but fearing him damn sure wasn’t sending him on his merry way either. I was fed up. It would take too long to get the cops in on the call. They wouldn’t be able to trace it anyway. Chad was too smart for that, presently chuckling evilly in my ear.

  “Oh, I planned to come to get you soon, darling. You don’t seem to know who you belong to. Tell your loverboy to stay far away from you, or he’ll face the consequences for touching what’s mine.”

  “What consequences, Chad? You’ll send another dead animal or body part? Better yet, live flowers? Freshly picked breakfast? When are you going to get that a woman’s heart isn’t yours until she says it is. Have you tried actually asking a woman out? Some kindness and time spent together on a mutual outing would go a long way. Or, are you just too goddamn thrown off mentally to see that your way isn’t working?”

  A beat passed before he came back low and strong, “Don’t you ever in the life I let you live speak to me like that again?”

  “Let me live? You don’t let me do anything. You disturb me, you piss me off, but you don’t let me do anything.”

  Eerie silence filled the line until he spoke, “I let you leave California, didn’t I?”

  “Did you?” I asked in my utmost professional manner. “Or, did I outsmart you when I packed up in secret, left the house on what looked like a store run, and just didn’t come back one day? I knew you were watching me.” Packing boxes that were wasting away in my pantry had come in handy when I least expected it. I had planned to throw them out instead of paying a moving company to stash my belongings at an indoor security storage facility. I waited a week for my trail to go cold then had someone else move my things to the condo. A lot of smoke and mirrors for sure, but it worked. Until it didn’t.

  “Aw, you’re mad because I did find you, Cherise,” he patronized. “If you had stayed off the internet promoting your business, maybe I would’ve never found you. Well, I did, and it’s time you learned your place. It’s at home with me!” he spat.

  “Jesus, you are caught in a chauvinistic time warp. The fifties want their old, tired ass standards for men and women back. Grow a pair and ask a woman out already.”

  He harrumphed sarcastically, “Fine. Will you go out with me, Cherise?”

  I took the phone from my ear and stared at it as if aliens were climbing out the mouthpiece. No, no aliens. Just Chad’s madness. I put the receiver back to my ear. “Hell no, I won’t go out with you! Did you conveniently forget all the shit you’ve done to me?”

  “That’s what I thought. You’re just like all the other women that—”

  “All the women that don’t want you or will ever forgive you for the shit you’ve put them through!” I shouted. “Yes, I’m like them! Contrary to belief, everyone is not attracted to everybody who’s handsome or pretty. We don’t always get who and what we want. You should know that since you’ve passed childhood ten times already. Why and where the fuck did you take Eva?”

  An honest to goodness growl resounded in the line. “I think I need to teach you a lesson about being in my fucking business.” Right. My business, personal and the one that paid me, was a free-for-all for him.

  Someone banged at the door. “Cherise, open up! Cherise! Dammit!” Tobin was frantic, about to knock the door down.

  A desperate thirst for him rose like a tidal wave. I dropped the phone, running to let him in. Chad and I were going in circles anyway.

  “Tobin, he has her!” I barked at him and by proxy, the cluster of officials behind him.

  Tobin snatched me up in his arms, embracing me so close it was hard to breathe, let alone quiver with rage against him. I draped trembling arms around his neck, realizing how bad I was shaking. He sunk down on the couch with me in his lap.

  “We heard you yelling all the way outside, Cherise. This room is not soundproof by far. Who were you talking to?”

  I shifted in his lap. “Chad, of course. He has Eva, he didn’t deny he had her. I recorded the conversation. We have to find her, we have to find him. I let my defiance go too far. We can’t let him hurt anyone else.”

  A lot of commotion resonated behind me as I confessed my sins. People were at my desk, fumbling with my phone, talking about tracing calls and recordings. More barged in behind the others. I wouldn’t be shocked if the whole Long Island precinct was here.

  “This is what happens
when a body goes missing from a morgue, and it shows up here,” Tobin spewed nastily. “Too bad they don’t move like this for harassed and missing women.” A couple more of them were missing as a matter of fact.

  I palmed Tobin’s chest and back, pushing off him. “Where’s Athena and Malaysia?”

  “She’s okay,” Tobin contended, swinging my legs right back on his lap. “Just breathe and talk to me for a minute.”

  “Okay isn’t good enough, Tobin.” I looked from person to person. “Where exactly is Athena and Malaysia?”

  As if on cue, Andre came strolling in the room over to us. “Athena really is fine. I took her home myself and made sure she got in the house after talking to her about taking a paid leave. It wasn’t hard to do after all this, although she hated going home.” She and her mother lived not too far away in a rundown neighborhood that they were both eager to escape.

  Assured that Athena was out of danger didn’t make me feel any better. “What about Malaysia? I don’t trust Chad not to grab her too to get to me. He said he was going to teach me a lesson about being in his business when I asked about Eva. I have to go.”

  Out of habit, I searched visibly for my keys and purse at the desk. There were too many people crowding it to see the furniture. I could forget spying my possessions on it. Then, my brain kicked in, reminding me that my things were in Tobin’s truck. I swung my feet to the floor again. An officer in suit and tie navigated around Andre, introducing himself as Detective Miguel Cortez.

  “Dr. Johnston, I’d like to speak to you about that call from Chad Lowell.”

  “I don’t have time, I need to find my sister.” I stood up, Tobin following suit.

  “Do you know where she is right now? I can have an officer go get her. We really need to get all the information you got from the call with Lowell.”

  “No, no, no and no,” I embodied Tobin. “You guys take too long for what’s important. I’ll come back when I’ve picked her up from the fashion house on Merriweather Street.”