by Willow Rose
“Free as a bird. Boy, it feels good,” he says, and stretches in his seat.
Blake rolls down the window while we drive across the bridges and sticks his head out like a dog. The rest of us laugh. It’s such a relief for me. I can’t believe I actually pulled it off, that I actually got him out.
We drive back to Joey’s house, where Blake gets the bedroom and I sleep with Joey on the couch. It can be pulled out, so it’s big enough for the both of us.
“Are you guys…?” Blake asks the next morning when we eat our pancakes that Joey so generously made for all of us. I am smearing mine with Nutella when the question is asked.
I stop moving. I can feel Joey’s eyes on me. I don’t know what to answer. I have made no decisions yet. I don’t want to. Right now, I just want to enjoy whatever it is we have. I don’t want to think about the future. I really don’t.
I avoid looking up. I don’t want to look at anyone. I want them to stop staring at me. It makes me uncomfortable. I can’t help it. I can’t help myself. It starts as a giggle. Soon it turns into a loud laugh. I can’t stop it. It overwhelms me.
Seconds later, the others laugh along with me.
Chapter Ninety-Two
October 2015
Blake is packing his suitcase. It’s been three days since he left the prison. He has been to his studio once to grab his clothes and the few belongings he can’t live without. His paintings, he has placed in Joey’s garage. He’ll ask Mary to try and sell them for him. She has put the one from Starbucks up in Joey’s living room. He likes to look at it and sense how proud she is of him. He has no idea when he’ll paint again, though. He’s not going back to the studio. Too many bad memories. He needs to move on with his life. Jail was a bad experience. A real bad experience.
Mary steps in.
“So, Joey took Salter to work with him today. Guess it’s just going to be you and me here.” She pauses and looks at the suitcase. “What are you doing?”
He detects disappointment in her voice.
“I’m leaving, sis. Gotta get out of here, you know?”
She looks surprised. “You’re leaving? But why? To go where?”
Blake shrugs. “Anywhere but here. I need to get away. I’m kind of tired of Cocoa Beach, if you know what I mean.”
“But…but what about Dad?” she asks. “He might wake up soon.”
Blake sighs. “Sis. Come on. The only reason he is alive is because of the machines breathing for him. You know it. I know it. He is not going to wake up. You have to let it go. The doctor even told you to shut off the life-support. I’ve already given my consent. Even Laura agrees. He’s gone. You’ve gotta realize that.”
Mary shakes her head. “I’m never going to shut him off. He’ll wake up soon and then…then what?”
“You’re hopeless,” he says with a sigh. “I’m sure you’ll take very good care of him. If it ever happens. “
Mary grunts and slams her hand onto the suitcase. “You can’t just leave. Goddammit, Blake. You’re the only family I have.”
“You have Joey. You have Salter and Snowflake. Besides, you’ll be going back to New York soon, and then what? I don’t want to be left down here alone. I’m running off. Getting out while I can.”
“I’m not sure we’re going back,” Mary says.
“What? What about your career?”
“I was fired. I didn’t tell you because of all you were going through, but they sacked me. I have nothing to go back to. Salter doesn’t even have a school anymore. He stayed down here for too long. They gave his spot to someone else. I can’t pay for it anyway. I used all my money on a lawyer for you.”
Blake sits down on the bed next to Mary. “Wow,” he says.
“I know. It’s bad. You can’t leave too. You just can’t. You’re the only one I have here.”
“What about Joey? What about the crew?”
“Alright, I have them as well. And I love them, but I don’t know what to do about Joey. I love him, but I still don’t know if I want to be with him or not. You know what I mean?”
“Sure.”
“See. That’s why I need you. You understand me.”
Blake puts his arm around Mary’s neck. He kisses her forehead. “I’ll come visit.”
She sniffles. “Do you even have any money?”
“Well, I don’t. But Olivia does.”
Mary stares at him, startled. “Olivia?”
“Yeah. She’s leaving with me. The general agreed to a divorce.”
“So, you’re still together?” Mary asks.
“I guess so.”
Mary smiles and looks at him. “As long as you’re happy.”
“Well, I am,” Blake says, and gets to his feet again. He walks to the suitcase and grabs it with the intention of closing it.
Mary watches him. She gets up and walks to the door. On her way, she passes his phone on the dresser. It lights up. Before he can stop her, she picks it up.
“Olivia sent you a message,” she says teasingly.
Blake opens his eyes wide. “Give it to me,” he says. “It’s private.”
But she doesn’t. She opens the message. “I’m your sister. You can’t have any secrets from me. Not anymore. Let’s see what she wrote…”
Blake lunges towards her, but it’s too late. Mary stares at the phone, her mouth open. It looks like she is trying to scream, but no sound comes across her lips.
Shit!
Chapter Ninety-Three
October 2015
“WHAT’S THIS BLAKE?”
I stare at my brother. I can’t believe my eyes. “What IS this?”
I yell in frustration. I am shaking all over while I stare at the picture of Jamilla Jenkins on the bed at the motel. Olivia is sitting next to her dead body with the chisel deep in her chest. Olivia is smiling and making a gesture like she is standing in front of the Statue of Liberty or another tourist attraction. I have never seen anything this appalling in my life.
“Why did she send you this picture? Can you tell me that? Blake?” I try to control my voice as I speak. “Why?”
Just like that, my brother’s expression changes completely. He laughs, then walks to the door and shuts it. “Well, dear Sis, if you must know. That…is Jamilla Jenkins.”
I drop the phone. I clasp my mouth with both my hands. I can’t believe it. “You killed her? You killed her with…with Olivia?”
“Yes. Jamie Barley was there too. Just as she told the police she was. We picked them up at Squid Lips, then drove to the motel. To have some fun. They were very drunk. Apparently, Jamie was so drunk she believed we had gone back to my studio and not the motel. That was my luck, since it made it all so unbelievable, didn’t it? Once you came down, you couldn’t believe I would have moved the body, right?”
“But…but…Blake…why?”
“Let’s just say Olivia and I like to play games. It went a little further than expected. When Olivia handed me the chisel, I didn’t think I could do it, but she cheered me on, aroused me enough to do it. We cleaned the room, took the bloody sheet with us and burned it. Left nothing but the body. We knew we couldn’t move it without someone seeing us. But we left no trace, no fingerprints, no DNA. I even used a condom and we took the chisel with us.”
“So, the general didn’t frame you? He didn’t plant the chisel, nor did he pay off Jamie Barley to testify against you? He didn’t do those things to get rid of you because you were screwing his wife?”
Blake laughs. “He certainly didn’t. He only told Jamie to never talk about Olivia, but that wasn’t hard, because they knew each other well. But it makes a good story, doesn’t it? It is very believable that the big bad husband, a general in the army on top of it, would go to these lengths to get rid of me, doesn’t it? I can see why you would believe that. So I played along.”
“And…what about the confession?”
“All part of it. I had a feeling you could get me out somehow. And I was right. I knew you wouldn’t let it
go. Especially not if you believed the general was getting to me. I knew it would make you speed up the process. I had nothing to lose, did I?”
I can hardly breathe when I speak. I can’t wrap my mind around this. It’s too much. It’s simply too much to cope with.
“And the purse at Ally’s house?”
“Planted by Olivia. We had the purse all the time. Or Olivia did. It was easy for her to drive down there and plant it in the closet behind some clothes. It was our luck that it turned out that Jamilla Jenkins had also been Ally Meyer’s client. That made things a little easier on us. So, I guess what I am saying here, Sis, is thank you. I owe you one.”
“What?”
I stare at my brother, who is approaching me slowly. I don’t like the look in his eyes. “But that’s not you, Blake. This is not who you are!”
He tilts his head while walking closer. “And, just how do you know that, Sister dearest? You left when I was three years old. You have hardly seen me since. How do you even know who I am? How do you expect to know that when you were so far away and you left me all alone with that dad of ours and a stepmom who would rather see me fall off a cliff than have to deal with me. HOW do you expect to know ANYTHING about me?”
He is getting too close to me now, and I back up. What is he going to do?
“Blake…I…”
“Shhh. No more talk,” he says, reaches out his hands, and grabs me around the throat.
Chapter Ninety-Four
October 2015
Sandra is whistling as she crosses the street with Lucky on his leash. She has just gotten back from three days in Germany doing a big runway show in Berlin with Heidi Klum. Tomorrow, she is off to New York for the shoot for Vogue. This morning, she just received a call saying that they want her in Milan next week.
It ain’t over till it’s over, she thinks to herself. And I am definitely not over yet.
She is beginning to think she might be able keep doing this for years to come. The thought makes her happy. This is what she is good at; this is what she knows. So what if she never has any children? You never know how life will turn out for you, and hers turned out differently than others. Sandra likes to be different and not just go the same way everybody else does. She even went out surfing yesterday and people on the beach gathered to watch her, clapping when she did a 360 in the air. She still has it. Indeed she does. Even at the age of thirty-eight.
Children aren’t for everyone.
Her whistling turns into humming. It’s that old song again, the one by Nirvana. Sandra can’t get it out of her mind again. Not after that day in the car with Mary. Sandra enjoys having her old friend back so much. She doesn’t know how long Mary will stay in Cocoa Beach, so she is going to swing by Joey’s townhouse and have a coffee with her, enjoy her while she is still here. Maybe it’ll be their last for a long time.
You never know.
Sandra walks with quick steps, thinking she might burn a few extra calories before the shoot. She is terrified that they’ll think she is too fat or too old. The last part, she can’t do much about. She refuses to do Botox, even though it has been suggested a few times by her agency. That, she is never going to do. Ever. But losing a few pounds, she can do. That, she is actually very good at.
A young pool guy is working at the community pool at Joey’s place. Sandra greets him as she walks past. She enjoys feeling his eyes examining her body as she walks by.
Yup! Still got it!
Maybe she will be able to work for another five years? It’s certainly not impossible the way things are turning out for her right now. She’s at the top of her game, her agency says. The demand for her is growing. They can hardly believe it. It never happens, they say. And the names asking are big. Versace wants her for the spring fashion show in Paris. Versace.
Sandra walks up to Joey’s front door. She can hear voices coming from inside. Loud voices. She wonders if Mary and Joey are fighting again. Her heart drops at the thought. She sure hopes that is not the case. She loves Mary and Joey together. It has always been them. Sandra is rooting for them. They are the ones who did things right. They chose right. Sandra loves Ryan, she really does, but she often wonders what her life would have been like if she had married Alex instead.
It’s all water under the bridge, Sandra. No use crying over spilt milk. You might never have gotten the career you have if he had been your boyfriend at the time. He would have held you back. He would have kept you in chains.
The voices calm down inside the house. Sandra stays outside, not knowing what to do. Mary is the one who called her this morning and asked her to stop by for coffee. She must be expecting her.
Sandra knocks on the door, but no one answers. The door is ajar, and when she touches it, it pushes open.
“Hello?”
Chapter Ninety-Five
October 2015
“HELLO?”
Sandra’s voice cuts through the air. I want to yell back, I want to tell her where I am, tell her to help me. I want to scream, but I can’t. I can hardly breathe. Blake has me pinned up against the wall. He is holding my throat tightly between his hands. He is pressing hard, his face strained with the effort, his eyes flaming with anger and hatred. It hurts. It hurts really badly. I can’t get free.
“Please,” I manage to whisper. “Please…stop…you’re…”
I can’t anymore. I can’t hold on. I am getting tired, the lack of oxygen is making me dizzy. My vision is blurry. I am only making gasping, spurting sounds. I am feeling a distinct tingling sensation in my legs and fingertips, my head is hurting badly; it feels like it’s about to explode.
“Hello, Mary?”
I can still hear Sandra. She is entering the living room now.
Help! Sandra I’m in here! Help me!
“Are you home, Mary?”
Help me! Please help me!
It feels like I am about to slip. I can’t hold on anymore. My vision is so blurry, I can hardly see Blake anymore. I can hear him. I can hear him grunting with effort as he puts further pressure on my throat.
As I am drifting in and out of consciousness, I suddenly remember something. A thing my mother always taught me as a child. What was it again?
Sandra’s steps are on the stairs. She is coming closer. I can’t determine where they’re coming from anymore, nor can I sense what is up and what is down. It’s all so fuzzy.
“Are you in here?” I hear her say. Her voice seems close now.
That’s when I feel the grip on my throat loosen for just one second as Blake turns around. Just enough for me to get back to reality.
I hear Sandra gasp loudly.
“What are you doing, Blake? What are you DOING?!”
Go for the eyes. If someone ever attacks you, poke them in the eyes!
My mother’s voice is loud and clear in my head. She taught this to both me and AK back then, when we had been a family. A kick in the crotch followed by a poke in the eye, then run, were her words.
“Stay out of this, Sandra!” he yells.
As Blake turns his face to look at me again, I have managed to lift my arm and poke two fingers forcefully into his eyes.
“My eyes!”
He screams in pain and lets go of me. I fall to the ground. I am gasping and coughing, making sounds I didn’t know were even possible. Blake is yelling and screaming in pain. Sandra runs to me and helps me get up. I try to speak, but I can’t. I get up and we start to run. My body is aching and hurting, but there is no other way if I want to survive. I gotta run. Get out of here as fast as I can.
We storm down the stairs. When we reach the door, Blake is yelling at us.
“Oh, no you don’t!”
He is behind us quickly. Sandra lets out a scream. I open the door, and we rush out of the house, Blake right behind us. My vision is still blurry, my head dizzy, and it is hard for me to run. Sandra is in front of me as we enter the pool area. I slam the door to the fence after me, right when Blake reaches it, and he gets his hand s
tuck in it. Blake yells in pain and stops. I run across the pool area. The pool guy is standing with all his chemicals in big bottles, carefully measuring the acid in a small cup.
“Run, Sandra!” I yell.
But Blake is already over the fence. He is running the other way around the pool and cuts us off. The pool guy stops what he is doing and stares at us. Sandra and I both stop. Blake is standing in front of us, panting. His face is strained with anger. The pool guy remains clueless.
“Let us go, Blake,” I say.
“You’re not going anywhere! You’ll only ruin this for me.”
“If you mean that I am not letting you get away with murder, then you’re damn right,” I say. I know it’s not tactically prudent, but I want him to know I would never let him get away with this. I can’t believe how stupid I have been to let him trick me like this.
“Stop it, Blake,” Sandra says. “You’re never going to get away with this.”
“Shut up!” he yells at her. “Just shut up!”
I look at the fence. It’s not very tall. We can jump over it easily. I just want to get out of there, then call the police. I am ready to make a run for it. I grab Sandra’s hand and start running. She follows me. I climb the fence and jump over it. Sandra is right behind me. As she is in the air, Blake grabs her foot and pulls her down. I watch as her face is slammed into the railing on the fence when he pulls her down.