Broken Sky

by Saurav Dutt

“I don’t see a ring on her finger” Ben snapped, his hands now clasping the glass tightly as he hovered around the fireplace.

  “Well you’re a smart man” Sean sighed “you don’t need 20/20 vision to see there’s still a ring on her finger and to realise we’re still officially a married couple”

  “Let me pay you the compliment of being blunt” Ben sighed as he casually poured them both a drink “Andie never told me you guys were this or that or the other..I bought her a drink in a restaurant bar one night, we got on well…I saw her ring finger and she had nothing on it. She only told me about you and Peter after a couple of weeks, made it clear what was going on”

  “She just moved here recently” Sean replied “unless you’ve been seeing each other every moment of the day I don’t see how the both of you became so cosy so quickly”

  “Either way…” Ben answered as he sipped the glass carefully “I didn’t intend to come between you guys, the way I saw it and the way Andie made out..there was history between you but it was all dead and buried”

  “Dead and buried?” Sean laughed as he brushed his fingers against his beard, his eyes glancing over to a framed picture of Andie cradling Peter in her arms “she always had a flair for drama..we’re not divorced yet however she makes it out, sure we haven’t shared a meal for a good while or slept with one another..but she is still legally my wife..”

  “Until you sign the divorce papers” Ben bit back as he swayed the glass from side to side, strolling over towards Sean to hand him his own.

  “Ah I see..” Sean shook his head as took a protracted sip “I take it that’s why you’re still here invading my private time with my son..I was wondering why you were still hanging around..are you hoping to be some kind of witness to the signing? You want me to sign them in blood and make you a copy for framing in your bachelor pad too? Or maybe to hang it up on your mantelpiece? Why else would you still be here, unless you’re a little scared of competition”

  “It doesn’t matter to me buddy..’cause I’ll tell you straight…” Ben sneered “you’re originally from Virginia I hear so I’ll be blunt like we usually are in New York..Andie doesn’t love you anymore, and the both of us are very deeply in love..and whether you like it or not she will divorce you..and she will divorce you to marry me…maybe not anytime in the very near future, but I am very serious about my intentions with her, and you better believe that slick…I’m in this for the long haul”

  Andie’s steps rattled the floorboards as she carefully moved down towards the drawing room. Her face was solemn as she saw both Sean and Ben staring each other down; Ben’s expression coiled in grizzled disdain, a perpetual sneer etched across his face as Sean remained stoic, unflinching yet containing up that quiet rage she knew all too well. Her timing could not have been worse.

  “Ben perhaps you better leave..” she murmured as she folded her arms, trying hard not to meet Sean’s gaze “Sean and I do have a lot to talk about tonight”

  “Benny here has already spilled the beans, honey..” Sean replied as he turned carefully towards her “I’m not gonna waste my time or yours, I just really wanted to see my son”

  “Peter’s asleep” Andie shot back as she stared down at her feet, ignoring Ben’s reassuring hand upon her shoulder.

  “You know it usually takes him about an hour to get to sleep” Sean replied “I’m not leaving ‘till I see him..whatever business you and I had to talk about isn’t going to get done while your asshole buddy here is still around..and there’s a reason you kept him here, isn’t it?”

  “You can go up and see him” Andie grumbled “we can talk about our business another time…if we get into it now, I don’t want him waking up and hearing us”

  “That’s the smartest thing you’ve said in a long time..” Sean nodded as he flashed a glare at Ben “seems every time we get together to talk, you manage to completely stone wall me…that’s twice now..I’m staying at the Novotel downtown. I’ll be here for two days and that’s it. Contact me and sort something out Andie, and leave your boyfriend behind this time would ya?”

  “Y’know Sean” Ben smiled as he extended his hand “in different circumstances we could have been friends, been able to share a beer and sort this out like gentlemen”

  “Somehow” Sean smirked as he stared down at Ben’s sweaty palm “I doubt that Ben…I really do”

  He turned and walked out of the room, glancing briefly at Andie as he did so, and faced the top of the staircase before him. Sean gripped onto the banister as he made his way up, the sound of Ben’s gruff voice muttering in between Andie’s sighs as he ascended.

  As Sean reached the top of the staircase, he instinctively knew that Peter was still awake. He knew the sliver of light from the light of the corridor had crept into his room and prevented him from falling asleep as it always did.

  “How you doing soldier?” Sean smiled as he knelt down at Peter’s bedside “I missed you so much..” he trailed off as he embraced him.

  “Mom said you might not be coming back” Peter mumbled “but I didn’t believe her, I knew you would”

  “Whatever happens, as long as I’m breathing” Sean sighed, delicately brushing his palm against Peter’s hair “I’ll find a way to see you”

  “But you and Mom aren’t talking anymore” Peter interjected as he stared away “and whoever that other guy is, I don’t like him”

  “Listen” Sean grimaced as he squeezed his son’s hand “promise me you won’t say anything to him. Just be nice to him for your Mom....he isn’t replacing me, nobody will replace me, do you understand son?”

  “I haven’t seen you in a long time” Peter yawned as he gently rubbed his eyes “when you coming back?”

  “Your Mom and I have to sort that out” Sean murmured “but I promise you’ll see me more than you have lately, we just have to work things out…but I love you and I always will, and you need to know that son. I promise you that.”

  Sean embraced Peter again, feeling the warmth of his face against his chest and he fought back a tear as he gently placed his head on the pillow. He rose to his feet and kissed his forehead offering a beaming smile that his son returned. He stepped into the corridor and saw Andie standing there a few feet away, her arms crossed and her face indifferent to what she had seen.

  “You know where I’ll be and how to get hold of me..” Sean snapped as he brushed past her, letting his hand slide down the banister as he descended the stairs “I didn’t come all this way to play games Andie, whatever we have to say, we have to be open about it” he boomed.

  “We will” Andie replied as she leant against the wall “we will..” she trailed off. She heard the front door open, wondering if Sean had left before she heard the distinctive sound of his Zippo lighter snapping to life as she spotted the swirl of cigarette smoke snake into the hallway, and then she heard the door slam loudly shut.

  “Honey, you coming?” Ben called from downstairs “I just poured you a fresh new glass, come and get it babe”

  “Just coming” Andie muttered as she made her way down the staircase. At that moment she noticed a small manila envelope resting on the bottom step. As she wound her way down and knelt down to pick it up she sensed that it wasn’t empty. She flipped the envelope open and peeled out a crisp white sheet, realising full well what it was. A love letter from two years ago scrawled on distinctive high quality cream paper, as she studied it carefully her eyes flickered as she digested Sean’s distinctive scrawl and bowed her head solemnly, recalling when she first read it, swallowing hard as she read the last sentence:

  Always together, you and I, this is written knowing we are meant to be together forever. Love, Sean. 16 April 2011.

  Chapter Seven

  The morning sun slinked its way through the drawer room blinds, the rays dancing around the dust of John’s dishevelled apartment. He couldn’t sleep. His groggy eyes focused on the digital clock atop the television set. It was scarcely six in the morning. He took a deep breath and let h
is fingers trickle over the surface of the suitcases she had brought in with her, remembering the way she clung onto them as if they were children eager to squeak out of her grip at any given moment.

  He fiddled momentarily with the locks. They were taut, as if fastened by superglue. He hesitated for a moment but after Durning’s suspicious appraisal of her the night before, he had to know more.

  John wrestled with the lock, grimacing as his fingernails attempted to yank back the fastened steel. He exhaled loudly, pushing one of the suitcases away from him angrily and as he did so he heard a faint noise emanating from inside it. At first he glanced around him, surmising that the sound was croaking in through the ventilator shaft or from a window left ajar. Then he realised it was from within the case he had just pushed away. It started low, an almost warbled sound before crackling into the distinctive tinkle of a music box stuffed under a mountain of refuse.

  He put his ear to the surface of the suitcase and listened hard to what sounded distinctly like the tinkling chimes of ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’ and a quizzical smile came to his face. The tune danced along before ceasing altogether. He gently pushed the suitcase again, hoping the melody would restart but it would not. All it would take was one trip to the kitchen, one long sharp knife to wrestle open the locks and reveal all he wanted to know about her. He rose to his feet, pondering the thought before he realised he was being watched.

  He saw her from the corner of his eye. She was leaning against the door frame, peering down at him, her eyes wistful, her expression unmoved and her posture quite still.

  He turned to face her, noticing that she had wrapped her arms around her waist, her eyes glaring at the suitcases, the concentration so fierce she failed to discern John was staring right back at her.

  “Maybe” he asked “maybe you know exactly what’s inside, and that it’s best left unopened..”

  “You heard that music?” she replied, her voice trailing off as her eyes seemed to mist over “I hadn’t heard it for a long time…just then I could hear that melody in the other room…just like that I found myself humming to it. Isn’t that weird? Something I’ve never even heard before”

  “You’ve never heard ‘London Bridge is falling down’ before?” John laughed “why would you have a music box playing it then?”

  “Why are you looking in my suitcases?” she interrupted, moving forward as she deflected his question “I don’t go through your drawers, search through your clothes or go sticking my fingers in your wallet now do I?”

  “Didn’t you think it was odd how my Captain responded to you last night?” John explained “he’s dealt with drug dealers, politicians, rapists, armed robbers and psychotics… I’ve never seen him respond to someone like he did with you”

  “Maybe that fat man just don’t like sassy women like me” she quipped as she knelt down to face John, carefully moving his hands away from the suitcases and onto her breasts, peeking out through the unbuttoned shirt she was wearing. “Maybe..just maybe” John sighed “you could figure out where you’re going if you just look inside these…there could be a whole world in there you don’t know about”

  “There is” she sighed as she looked away from the cases in disgust “nothing but a world of hurt within those two suitcases, that’s all I can remember… like a fuzzy group of pictures in my head..there’s people, there’s faces, there’s things I can see…and in the middle of it all is this burning fever, like some sick illness that burns there and goes right down to my stomach..like an ugly virus..”

  John blinked for a moment as his eyes studied her taut, clammy hands. He gripped her left hand, delicately flicking his thumb against her ring finger, enclosing it within his palm, noticing the dulled silver band. He stared at it for a moment and then let the hand fall to her knee.

  “You’re married…” he scowled, his face coiled up sullenly, as if he had been sucking a lemon.

  “I’m not.. I’m not..” she shot back, wrestling the ring band against the dry skin of her finger.

  “Lady I know a wedding ring when I see one, I used to be married too, once upon a time remember” John replied “now let’s put the cards on the table…after what we did last night together, I wanna know..what’s really going on here?”

  “But I’m not having you on” she gasped, swallowing hard as she looked up into his eyes “I promise..I promise I’m not lying..I really can’t remember..It’s all just a fuzz..I can’t remember everything that’s happened”

  “What’s your real story?” John shook his head “now don’t play dumb with me.. this just doesn’t fit anymore…suitcases, music boxes, bowler hats with dry blood..what’s stopping me from ripping open this goddamn suitcases right now and finding out what’s what? What are you some kind of actress pretending to be a hobo for a movie role or something?”

  “Believe this when I tell you” she explained “I can only remember certain things... images… feelings.…and that’s sometimes...but all I can see are faces..faces and images of people and places I’ve been to..but no names, I can’t remember anything…only a horrible feeling of something very bad that happened”

  “I don’t wanna be getting mixed up with a married woman” John grumbled as he rose to his feet, gently prodding the side of a suitcase with the tip of his right toe.

  She sat there kneeling by his legs, her face morose and her chin cupped within her palms as she looked up at him suspiciously.

  “If I was married to anybody..” she sighed “I can tell you I didn’t love him..you can forget many things, your telephone number, your address, your cell phone number,..but you can never forget the feeling of being loved..and I don’t remember that…not even when we made love last night..i didn’t feel anybody else, I didn’t want to be with anybody else”

  “Either somebody really conked you hard over the head” John shrugged “either that or you’ve snorted so much coke you’ve fried your brains…or…or you’re the best damn actress I’ve ever met…but whatever you say, you’re wearing a ring and if there is somebody out there waiting on you, there’s a good chance he might be looking for you..whether you like it or not…y’know I shoulda seen this coming, I knew the first moment I laid my eyes on you that you weren’t no bum on the street, nothing was normal about you”

  “No” she snapped “there’s nobody waiting on me, you can ask Pollard..”

  “I’m supposed to believe the story of a junkie” John spluttered as he carefully hoisted her to her feet, kissing her gently on the lips as he embraced her.

  “Well I ain’t had a drink in four days” she smiled “and as for the other stuff, it’s been months…”

  The rapping on the door was sudden. John glared up, ushering her away from the hallway. He knew that knock all too well. ‘Open the door’ grumbled a voice, followed by another loud series of knocks. He motioned for her to stand back as he calmly strode forward.

  He slipped off the steel lock catch and casually let the door creak open, hardly batting an eyelid as he stared back at two uniformed NYPD officers. He knew the shorter of the two, had seen him around the precinct offices before. He didn’t recognise the other one, the sterner looking of the two.

  “Is this work business?” John enquired as he glanced at his wrist watch “’cause I’m sure this can wait until I get in later on..”

  “Captain Durning was most insistent” grumbled the tallest of the pair as he looked over John’s shoulder, admiring the long bare legs of the lady leaning against the wall behind him.

  “Look…uh” John replied as he noted the officer’s badge name and number “Officer Pearce..what’s this all about? It’s hardly eight in the morning”

  “We’re sorry to have to do this Detective” Officer Pearce intoned “but we have reason to believe you are harbouring a suspected felon. Captain Durning just asked us to-”

  “-what are you talking about?” John interrupted, folding his arms as he blocked Officer Pearce’s entry “whatever the Captain has been telling you, it�
�s BS..look let me just sort this out with him later, clearly there’s been some misunderstanding here”

  “We’re here to arrest Gina Rossi” snapped the shorter cop, who John realised was Diaz according to his badge “Captain Durning suggested that you could bring her in yourself or that we could intercede here”

  “Well guys you have me at a disadvantage..” John laughed as he scratched his head “’cause I don’t know no Gina Rossi..so sorry to waste your time but maybe the Captain has been barkin’ up the wrong tree”

  “The captain was most insistent” Diaz shot back as he struggled to peer over John’s shoulder.

  “I don’t care if he’s the tooth fairy” John snapped “you guys have been misinformed, there is no Gina Rossi staying here and in any case you haven’t got a warrant with you, right? Now guys we can let this go and brush this off as a misunderstanding, or we can go by the book and I can throw some paperwork your way first thing I get into the office…now I hate paperwork and I promise you’ll hate reading it…so what’s it gonna be?”

  “We’re here to arrest Gina Rossi” Officer Pearce replied as he sized up to John, gently pushing the front door in with his foot as he did so “the lady behind you there is wanted for money laundering, dealing with stolen and counterfeit goods and monies and aiding and abetting a known felon in the execution of at least five prosecuted counts of racketeering, extortion and drug smuggling”

  “And who might this felon be guys?” John demanded “Santa Claus?”

  “No sir” Diaz replied “Dennis Rossi”

  “Guys.,” John shook his head “there has to be some kind of mistake here, this woman here, she’s just..she’s-”

  “-Sir” Officer Pearce interjected “we’ve been through the mug shots and the FBI faxed us earlier this morning after Captain Durning requested them to..the hair is a different colour, a forehead lift, maybe some basic cosmetic surgery..but it’s the same woman…if she is a friend of yours sir, we will handle this as discreetly as possible..but we have instructions to bring you in as well for questioning”