by MJ Masucci
Julian thanked the doctor and carried Bear out to the truck. The dog drowsed on the way home with his head on the seat.
At home, Julian carried Bear to his bed in the corner and gently laid him in it.
He didn’t realize how tired he was until he sat on the couch, kicking off his boots. Stretching his body lengthwise, he passed out. He awoke to the ringing of his phone. Seeing it was light outside, he realized he had slept through the entire night. His body felt creaky and older than his twenty-seven years. The bruises on his torso had now sprouted in hues of blacks and purples and were painful.
He swiped his phone off the coffee table as it began to ring again.
“What!”
“Wow, is that any way to answer?”
“I’m sorry, Moey. Yesterday was as fucked up as the day before it. Why are you calling me so early, it must be five in the morning there.”
“No, it’s eight in the morning where I am. I just got into the airport. Do you want me to come up to your house or stop at my parents?”
“I need some time. I’m a mess, Bear’s not doing well and my house is a disaster.”
“Shit, Julian, Nina’s only been gone for two days. What the hell.”
“It’s a fucked up story. I’ll see you in a little while.”
“I’m very worried about you.”
“Don’t be. I’ll live.”
“I love you and I’ll see to you in a little bit.”
After he had hung up, Julian went to take a shower. He was slow moving because of the pain in his ribs and back. Joey had worked him over pretty good. Bear was still sleeping when he got out of the bathroom. The dog weakly licked his hand and closed his eyes when Julian petted him.
“You still don’t feel so good, do you?”
He began to worry because normally the dog was nudging him awake for food, but not this morning. His concern was that the vet had missed something internally, then again, with Nina missing; Julian didn’t feel much like eating either.
When Maureen arrived, he had nearly completed righting the cabin. The dog went to her and she petted him gently. Julian put Bear’s food in the dish and the dog made a half-hearted attempt to eat. He then limped back to his bed by the fireplace and went back to sleep.
“He didn’t want to eat earlier this morning. Maybe it takes a woman’s touch.”
“Julian, I’m so sorry,” Maureen said as she hugged him.
“Thank you. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Tears welled up in his eyes and Maureen held his head against her shoulder. She knew the pain that he had dealt with when his family had died, how an already reclusive Julian sank into darkness. Now it seemed like he might take the same path with the disappearance of his wife.
“I can drop out of the movie if you need me.”
He looked at her horrified, “Absolutely not. I would never expect you to give up your dream for me.”
She put her hand on his face, “You know I would do it. I love you, Julian and I would do anything for you.”
They heard a car pull into the driveway and both looked out the window to see a police car park behind Maureen’s rental. Detective Rigger stepped from the car and Julian felt a chill down his spine. He opened the front door before the detective got to it.
“Detective, what can I do for you?”
“I got some questions for you. Who's this?”
“My friend, Maureen Kelly.”
“Friend?” he implied slyly.
“What can I do for you?” Julian said annoyed. He was livid that the man dare assume that Maureen was anything but a friend.
“I need to ask you about some things that are a little confusing.”
“I’ll tell you what, why don’t you call Logan and we’ll set up a time to come to the station. I have nothing to say outside of his presence.”
Rigger scowled at him, “That’s how you want it? You could make this easy on yourself.”
Julian tensed up and Maureen put her hand on his arm.
“Detective Rigger, he said he wants his attorney present. He’s having a hard time dealing with his wife’s disappearance. Please don’t make it harder than it has to be.”
“I’m sure you’ll help him deal with it just fine now that his wife is out of the picture.”
The detective stepped towards the door and Maureen pulled on Julian’s shirt as he made a move forward. She gently closed the door rather than allow Julian to go after the cop or slamming the door in the officer’s face. When Rigger was gone, Julian turned to her.
“Fuck that bastard. I know exactly what he meant. He thinks that now that Nina is gone, I’m fucking around with you.”
“Julian, you’re not going to make it any easier on yourself by antagonizing him. He’s a first class dick. He uses his badge to bully people. Don’t let him get to you.”
The damage was done. The next time Julian went to town, rumors were all over about how he had taken up with Maureen now that Nina was gone. The things people were whispering about him were not very nice. It made his heart sick for them to speak about him that way.
After that, Julian rarely ventured into town during the light of day. He holed up in his cabin during the holidays even declining invites from the Kellys and the Tallmans. He spent it with Bear, who was rapidly improving. By Christmas, he was walking much better with no limp. Julian heard nothing from his in-laws and that frightened him the most.
He tried to call Rosie, but Frankie answered the phone and told him not to bother her, she was in mourning. How could she be in mourning? There was no evidence that Nina was dead. Nobody wanted to do anything about her disappearance.
The police asked him to take a polygraph test and Logan declined on behalf of his client, saying it wouldn’t be in Julian’s best interest. Julian was more than willing and eventually submitted to one that came up negative. They had come out to his place two more times searching.
A warm spell had arrived and a good majority of the snow had melted. By the time the New Year came, most of it was gone.
Maureen had gone back to California, telling him he should come out and stay with her to get his mind off things. Julian wanted to yell at her and tell her how could she expect him to clear his mind of his wife? He was miserable without Nina and the sleepless nights and lack of food were taking their toll.
Both he and Bear missed Nina terribly. The worst part was that there was no trace of her. As soon as the property became passable, he searched places he thought she might be. He went to the cave he had shown her. Everything in it was untouched from when they were last there.
Julian even climbed into the tree house and again, nothing was touched, but there was something added. He found several beer cans, cigar butts and a pack of matches from the Red Smoke Saloon. The Saloon was a bar on the outskirts of town. It was the kind of place that bikers would frequent and they did.
Julian put these things in his pocket with his gloved hand. He brought them to the police department and they bagged them but said that it was a wild goose chase. Kids using the place as a hangout could have left them there. It was a cheap beer, not the kind and adult with a discerning palate would choose. The cigars were also of the cheap variety.
Later, Julian scaled the rope again and looked out of all the windows in the tree house. From that vantage point, you could see straight down to the cabin, especially with the leaves off the trees. Anyone could have waited for the right moment and struck.
Julian and Nina would’ve been seen from up there preparing to head into the woods. He cursed himself. He gave whoever had taken her the perfect chance to do it by going so far ahead of her. Julian had promised to take care of her and he had failed.
Each day after her disappearance, he searched his property. Thad helped him sometimes, sympathetic to his loss. But it was no use. Nina had disappeared without a trace.
Two days after into the New Year, he was making a bowl of food for Bear when he heard a car in the driveway. The light was f
ading as the early evening approached. He opened the door and was greeted by the gloved hand of Tony against his chest with Joey close behind.
“Ya got something to tell us?”
Julian backed away out of the reach of Tony’s fist.
“I have nothing to tell you.”
Behind him, he could hear Bear growling.
“You better lock that dog up unless he wants to get some more of what I gave him last time we were here.”
“You know you injured him. He’s Nina’s dog and I’m sure she wouldn’t want you abusing him.”
“She ain’t here, is she? Lock him up.”
They waited while Julian put him in the bedroom and closed the door. Bear could be heard howling and scratching at the door.
“Now, what do you want from me?”
In a flash, Tony grabbed him in a tight hug while punches rained upon his body by Joey. This time they didn’t touch Julian’s face, but the pain in his almost healed torso was like fire. He flexed his abdominals as tight as he could to protect himself from the blows.
After what seemed like hours, they dragged his limp body to the couch and dropped him on it. He lay breathing heavy while his blurred vision cleared. Tony coughed and laughed loudly.
“Nina really married a pussy. She should have married a Brooklyn boy. At least he could take a punch.”
Never mind the fact that Julian had taken many punches.
Joey spit at him and it landed on his arm, “Until you have something to tell us, this will be a weekly occurrence. People don’t just disappear. Dad wanted to put a bullet in your head, but we told him this was more fun.”
“I keep telling you I don’t have any information,” Julian screamed.
Joey grabbed the front of his hair and put his face inches from Julian’s. He was so close that he could see the sweat that had beaded on Nina’s brother’s face.
“I’m going to tell you this once. Nina is precious to us. You either did something with her or you know someone that did that something. Don’t fuck around with us. The beatings will stop once you give us information.”
“Please, Joey, I don’t know anything,” he pleaded.
“We’ll be back next week.”
Julian’s life was hell for the next several weeks. He had been questioned by the police four times with Logan by his side. The only evidence they had was circumstantial and even that was weak. The district attorney told Logan in confidence that they couldn’t charge Julian, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t in the future.
The beatings continued and on the eighth week, Joey cracked one of Julian’s ribs. He knew it was something worse than the injuries he normally sustained because the pain was far greater. By the second day after the beating, he dragged himself to the hospital.
The doctor questioned him and he told them he was in a mixed martial arts group that bruised him. The doctor didn’t believe him, but it seemed more plausible than what really happened. How would he tell someone that each week he had what amounted to scheduled beatings?
Each week Julian sank deeper into depression. So much so that Maureen told him if he didn’t snap out of it, she was hiring a babysitter. Her unspoken worry was that eventually, he would become suicidal.
Several times, he spent the entire day under a blanket on the couch only venturing from underneath to feed Bear and let him out to do his business. His cabin was a mess and he had nothing to do. All at once, his clients dried up leaving him with time on his hands during the day.
They didn’t want a man who could possibly be arrested any day working on their projects.
Then came the thirteenth day of April. Julian woke up early and let Bear out, set the coffee maker and went to take a shower. By the time he came out, he heard Bear scratching at the door and threw on his robe to let him in. Upon opening the door, the dog was followed in by Tony and Joey.
Julian steeled himself for the questioning and the subsequent beating that fortunately never came except for a hard slap. They were called away by a phone call. He had escaped the inevitable, but they would be back.
He got himself dressed and went into town. A snowstorm was predicted for today, much like the one that they had the day Nina disappeared. He normally didn’t go shopping in the day, but he needed supplies and Bear’s food was almost gone. At the grocery store, he was greeted by stares and whispers. Madison, Nina’s best friend, checked him out at the counter and as usual, was nasty to him.
As he drove home, the snow, which started earlier than expected began to coat the road. The last straw that sent him over the edge was the email.
Mr. Gennaro,
You don’t know me, but I have proof that your wife is alive. Don’t reply to this email. I’ll contact you with further information in the near future.
Who would send such an email? The day left him on edge and he spent from the afternoon on, drinking until he fell asleep with a glass of whiskey in his hand.
Chapter 18
Present Day
Julian cradled Nina in his arms. She was cold and he could feel it even through the blanket he had wrapped around her. His wet tears dripped onto her beautiful face. It had been a half-hour since he found her on the porch huddled in the corner. Her eyes had fluttered open and she had said his name.
He rocked her in his arms and sang her favorite song over and over. His back grew stiff and his voice hoarse, but still he kept on. Eventually, her body started to feel warm in his arms. He carried her to their bed, a bed where he had not slept since the night she disappeared.
Julian laid her on the sheets and climbed in next to her, cuddling her tiny body. Outside the storm raged. She probably needed a doctor, but as with months earlier, it would be suicide to attempt to drive down the mountain. He tried to text or call on his cell phone but he could find no signal. Because of the storm, his internet connection was also down.
He held tight to Nina as she slept, her breathing wheezy. He wondered if she was getting sick or it was the cold that caused her lungs to sound that way. It was his hope that she wasn’t getting sick.
Julian fell into an uneasy sleep with his arms still wrapped around Nina. He awakened sometime during the night to her mumbling in her sleep. He listened closely, but couldn’t make out the words, she sounded scared. What had happened to her? She stopped talking just as fast as she had started and he faded back to sleep.
The next morning, her breathing was raspier than during the night. He uncurled his arms and tried to wake her, but it was no use. He went to touch his lips to her forehead and could feel the heat emanating from her before he made contact. She was sick.
Julian got the thermometer Nina had used on him so many months back. He gently stuck it into her ear and was alarmed when it read over one hundred two degrees. She couldn’t stay wrapped in the blanket; it would only make the fever worse. He gently tugged to loosen it from her grip and took her in his arms.
Tears came to his eyes at the feel of her. She was light as a feather, much lighter than she’d been when she disappeared. In the light of day, he got a closer look at her. Her ribs and collarbone protruded against her delicate flesh. As Julian pulled back the sheets to slip her under, he spotted something on her back.
A look of horror came to his face when he realized that he was looking at scars. She had been beaten with a whip of some sort. He ran his fingers over the light pink marks and winced. He wanted to scream. Someone had taken her, beat her, starved her and God knows what else. After he had settled her under the sheets, he got a washcloth and ran it under cold water for her head.
When he came back, Nina was shivering. As he put the cloth on her head, her eyes fluttered open. She gave him a vacant stare as if she were looking right through him then closed her eyes again.
“Please, baby, come back to me. I can’t lose you again,” he pleaded.
Julian began to sing softly to Nina, anything he could remember from childhood until his voice began to grow hoarse. Outside the snow had let up some and was suppos
ed to end later that afternoon.
Nina needed medical attention and with the roads full of snow, he wasn’t going to be able to get her to town. Likewise, no one was going to be able to come to the cabin even if the phone did work. Julian checked her temperature every few minutes. It had decreased to just below one hundred two, but it was still too high. He hoped she would wake up so he could at least give her aspirin. Sometime during late morning, he dozed off in the chair near the bed.
“So thirsty.”
His eyes opened, she was talking. Julian went to her side and stroked her face. Nina’s eyes fixed on his and he could see all the former brightness in them was gone.
“Sweet pea, you want some water?”
Tears began to roll down the sides of her face and it tore at his heart.
“Baby, don’t cry. You’re safe, I promise.”
He ran to the kitchen not wanting to be away from her side too long and got a glass of water. When he came back, her eyes were shut. He touched her and she flinched.
“Come, drink this. I’ll help you.”
He took her in his arms, holding her up while she greedily drank at the water.
“Slow small sips.”
Nina did as he asked and when she had enough, Julian gently laid her back on the bed.
“You need to take aspirin; you’re burning up.”
He went to refill the glass and get some aspirin, holding them out to her. She shook her head and began to sob.
“It’s just aspirin. You need it to help with the fever.”
“No more pills. I can’t; they make me sick.”
“Baby, this is aspirin. It’s going to help you.”
“No, no, no.” She began to get hysterical and Julian put the aspirin and water glass on the dresser then turned to take her in his arms.
“What the fuck did they do to you? We have to get you to a doctor.”
“Please, Julian, don’t make me go. They hurt me.”