“Are you sure that you are okay?” asked the man.
“Yes, of course,” he said as he straightened out to find the man’s attention already returned to the burning car.
Somewhere in the distance, sirens sounded. More locals began circling the carnage. He looked around at them and noticed that no one seemed to be paying him any attention. But as his senses further returned, something told him that their ignorance wouldn’t last.
The crowd continued to grow in number. His time here had run its course. He turned from the chaos. As casually as he could, he walked away, scooping up the beggar’s handkerchief and coins as he moved. With the fresh mindset of someone gifted with a third chance, he melted into the streets of a city foreign but a world familiar. Somehow, he knew he would be okay.
CHAPTER 29
Three months later…
In the two weeks since Ed had awoken from his coma, he’d made remarkable progress. Rehab had already returned most of his motor functions back to normal. His recovery had been what the doctors called a textbook success. He sometimes had a little trouble with his balance, but other than that, he felt normal.
The world he’d awoken to had changed. He could barely believe what he’d been told when the authorities had visited him. Jane dead, Ron buried and Abn deported. In all essence, he’d never felt so alone in his life.
When he’d left the hospital, he’d been escorted by Jane’s lawyer. Ron had been a lifelong investor and saver and the lawyer had made it clear that Jane’s family had no interest in the estate. This left Ed as the sole inheritor of the family house and all of the assets. On any other occasion, he would have gone to the nearest bar and celebrated. But he wasn’t in the celebratory mood and the coma had eliminated his need to drink. In a way, he felt as if his brain had been rebooted, just as his body had been detoxed. His old addictions and wounds were now nothing more than odd memories that felt alien to him, as if they belonged to another person from another life.
Now, as he sat in the visiting area of Auckland’s maximum-security prison, he had only one desire. He needed to confront the man who’d punched him and almost killed him. He needed to know why.
He’d seen pictures of Henry in the newspapers. So, as the guard escorted him through a security door and into the visiting area, he immediately recognized him. Henry wasn’t the kind of man you forgot. He’d looked fierce in the pictures he’d seen of him. He looked like a man to be feared. But as the guard seated and cuffed Henry to the table before Ed and left, he didn’t feel the intimidation he’d anticipated. All that he could see in Henry’s eyes was a measured level of tranquility.
“Hey, Bro. I was wondering when you might show up,” Henry said.
“Do you know me?” Ed asked.
“Of course, Bro. I’m not an idiot.”
“You almost killed me. I was in a coma for months. You’re not smart, either.”
“Yeah, well, sorry about that, Bro. How do you say it? It was a crime of passion.”
“Passion? What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. That’s just something I always wanted to say, Bro.”
“No, you don’t get off that easy. I need to know why you hit me? You don’t know me. I don’t know you. Why did you knock me out that day?”
“I didn’t intend to knock you out, Bro. I tried to knock your head off. I must be getting old. Ten years ago, you’d never have lived if I’d punched you.”
Ed knew he should be feeling a degree of fear by now. Instead, he felt calm, cool, collected. He wondered if the fear section of his brain had also been damaged. But he soon rationalized that Henry’s hands being cuffed to the table might also have something to do with his inner sense of security.
“You still haven’t answered my questions. How do you know me? Why did you try to kill me? You killed those innocent people in the hospital and the hospice. What was so special about me? Why did you step outside of your M.O.?”
“My what?”
“Your modus operandi?”
“What the fuck does that mean, Bro?”
“It’s Latin. It basically refers to your usual operating pattern.”
“Oh, well why didn’t you just say that? I can’t understand why people do all this fancy talk, when they should just say what they want to say.”
Again, Ed felt as if Henry was trying to avoid his questions. He had limited time with the visit. He still hadn’t gotten what he’d come for and he now began to wonder if that were at all possible.
“I did what I did because you were always bothering that boy,” Henry said.
Ed shook his head in confusion. “What boy?” he asked.
“Abn. I owed him. I had to protect him. I had to take you out.”
Ed held up a hand. “Hold on a minute. Are you talking about my nephew?”
“Who else would I be talking about?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Must be because of that hit to your head. Don’t worry, your brains will come back. And anyway, why were you always picking on your nephew? What was your beef with him?”
Ed thought about that question for a moment. From somewhere deep inside of him, the truth spilled forth. “He reminded me of a time I needed to forget,” he said.
“That’s it? That’s all, Bro? Jeez… And that made it okay to try pin murder on him?”
Ed had to admit that he may have gone a little overboard with his actions. He guessed the clarity of his newfound sobriety now put this detail into better perspective; a more rational perspective. He could see things now. He could see how much hatred he’d felt toward almost everyone and everything. But his ability to feel guilt for these feelings still eluded him. “No, you’re right. I suppose it didn’t make it okay,” he said.
“Your nephew never deserved what you did to him. You must’ve been out of your mind, Bro.”
“I was drinking a lot.”
Henry chuckled, “So was I, but I didn’t go messing with innocent family, did I?”
“You allegedly murdered your own son,” Ed argued. But he immediately regretted his words as he witnessed Henry’s expression wall up with pain.
“My son was already dead. And there was nothing alleged about it. I put him to sleep out of compassion.”
Ed could see he wouldn’t get any further explanation on that detail and he quickly pushed on. “I still don’t understand. What connection could you possibly have with Abn?” he asked.
“I just told you. I owed him. I’m a respectable fellow. I always pay my debts.”
“What did you owe Abn for?”
“Aha… Now, that’s a question you’ll have to ask him.”
Ed shook his head. “Abn isn’t exactly available for questions,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, he was deported back to Iraq. He’s in the custody of the Iraqi Federal Police.”
“Jeez, Bro… That boy loves trouble, don’t he? What’d they get him for?”
“As yet, I have no idea. I’m still just trying to piece it all together since I regained consciousness. But I figured Abn was responsible for the hospital and hospice murders,” Ed said.
“And that’s why you were always bothering him, sneaking around and trying to cause him trouble?” Henry asked.
“I was trying to expose him for the criminal he is.”
“You were barking up the wrong tree, Bro. Those murders were all me. Abn’s a good boy. He likes trouble, but he’s a good boy.”
“You still haven’t explained your connection to him. How did the two of you meet?”
“Let’s just say, he helped me out with my son when he was dying in the hospice. That’s where we met. Abn gave me comfort, Bro. He gave me peace,” Henry said with a sad expression.
“And that’s it. That’s all you’re going to tell me?”
“That’s all there is to tell, Bro. But I can see by the look on your face that you don’t believe me, do you?”
“No!”
“T
hen I better get back to my cell. I was in the middle of watching a show when you interrupted me. I kinda like this new prison. Warm bed, cooked meals, a flat screen TV in my cell. We’ve even got Ping-Pong. All the mod-cons, ya know?”
Ed stood up to leave. He felt sure that he’d hit a dead end with Henry and he now wondered why he’d bothered coming to see him at all.
“You don’t have anyone, do you?” Henry asked.
“What do you mean?” Ed said.
“No friends, no family, no one.”
“No,” he admitted, seeing no reason why he should lie.
“That’s sad, Bro. A man needs something to cling to. Otherwise, he might lose his way.”
“Is that what happened to you? Did you lose your way?”
“No, Bro. Many of these fellas in here are as much of a family to me as anyone I have left on the outside.”
Ed turned to leave as the guard came to collect Henry.
“Hey Bro?”
He looked over a shoulder at Henry. “Yes?”
“Glad to see that you’re okay,” Henry said.
EPILOGUE
As Ed made his way out of the prison and climbed into the back of a waiting taxi, an odd sense of calm enveloped him. Maybe Henry was right. Maybe he’d been wrong about Abn all along. And if that were the case, then he felt sure that he should at least give the boy a chance. Afterall, Abn was the only family he had left.
His phone vibrated in his pocket as they drove away. He pulled it out and answered the call, without pausing to glance at the caller ID.
“Am I speaking to Edmond Morrison?” said a voice.
“Yes,” Ed said.
“Sir, you have a collect call from Turkey. Will you accept the charges?”
“Yes,” he agreed, as a strange mixture of confusion and intrigue swept through him.
“Connecting you now, Sir,” said the voice.
“Hello! Are you there…?”
“Who is this?” Ed demanded, all the while noting a sense of desperation in the caller’s voice.
“Uncle Ed. You are okay. You are awake,” said the caller.
“Abn! Is that you?”
“Yes, it is me. Thank God you are alive. I need your help.”
OTHER WORKS BY L.W.WEDGWOOD
Redemption Kills
The Babylon Coordinates
December Reigns
Brazil Trigger Warning
View the official author website of L.W.Wedgwood here: http://lwwedgwood.wix.com/lwwedgwood
THE LIFE LEFT: A GRIPPING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER Page 26