Truth and Consequences

by V. J. Chambers

“Who did you call?” said Patrick.

  “A guy I work with,” said Elke.

  “Another lawyer?”

  “He’s a police detective, actually.”

  “Geez, are you crazy?”

  “He’s…” Elke licked her lips. “Something happened once with his girlfriend. I don’t really know what, but I think… I think he’ll help us. I trust him, and I think he has experience with…”

  “With what?”

  “With fixing scenes so they don’t look suspicious,” said Elke.

  “You work with a dirty cop?”

  “I don’t…” She let out a noisy breath. “He’s not dirty.”

  Patrick raised his eyebrows. “Are you dating this guy or something?”

  Elke snorted. “Absolutely not.”

  “Right, you said he had a girlfriend,” said Patrick.

  “Anyway, he said we should just stay in here. He’s coming to help.”

  “Isn’t it going to look suspicious that we let the bodies sit there and didn’t call the police?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I really have no idea what we should do.”

  * * *

  “So, what’s this duffel bag?” said Iain, pointing.

  “That’s the drugs I told you about.” Elke was on the other side of the bodies, near the master bedroom. Iain was standing in front of the kitchen. He had brought several grocery bags with him, and they were sitting behind him on the table. She couldn’t see what was inside them, though.

  “The ones that your brother stole from Jeremiah Russell?”

  “No, he didn’t steal them,” said Elke. “He just didn’t give them back.”

  “And that’s the sticking point, here, right? You don’t want your brother in trouble. You did all of this to protect him.”

  “I did,” she said. “But it’s not just about him. Powell thinks that I’m involved. He thinks I’m selling Felix’s drugs now. I’m not, and I’m afraid this makes me look more guilty.”

  “No, it’s fine,” said Iain, scratching the back of his head. He was wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of jeans. She’d never seen him in anything so casual.

  “How is it fine?”

  “Well, if you were the head of a big drug-selling circle, you’d have someone else shoot people for you. And people to cover up for you. You wouldn’t, um… No, I think that the only problem we have is the duffel bag,” said Iain. “And here’s what I propose. You don’t do anything about it.”

  “Like that’s going to work?”

  “Well, I think you assume that the drugs must have been left here by Felix, and these guys must have come to get them. When you saw them, they tried to eliminate you, and you shot them in self-defense. Where’d the gun come from?”

  “Patrick found it at a campsite,” she said. “Apparently, they were camping out and watching him or something?”

  “Hmm,” said Iain. “That doesn’t make sense. You didn’t find a campsite, Patrick, you found a car in the woods.”

  “Uh… okay?” Patrick was sitting on the bed in the master bedroom, listening.

  “A car,” said Iain. “You saw the gun and you took it, because you were frightened. Basically the truth, yes?”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” said Patrick. “But look, maybe we shouldn’t lie. I mean, this is all my fault, and—”

  “No,” said Elke. “It’s bigger than that now, Patrick.”

  Iain nodded. “Okay. Then I think it’s fine. There’s nothing suspicious here that I can see.”

  “But you don’t think Powell—”

  “He’s not going to respond all the way out here,” said Iain. “Don’t worry about him yet.”

  “But will it look suspicious that we haven’t called anyone yet?” said Elke.

  “Called how?” said Iain. “You have no service on your cell phone, and I see the landline phone hung up here in the kitchen, which you clearly can’t get to without contaminating the scene, which you would never do. Besides, you knew I was coming back, and you were waiting for me.”

  “What?” said Elke.

  Iain gestured to the grocery bags. “Yeah, see, when Patrick called you, you called me to come up with you, because you wanted some backup, and I’m a police officer.”

  “Oh,” said Elke. “I guess that makes sense.”

  “Yeah, and I looked around and didn’t see anything,” said Iain. “So, I went out to pick up some groceries and the guys came into the house while I was gone. You didn’t call anyone because you knew I’d be back soon.”

  Elke nodded. “Okay. Okay, I guess that makes sense.”

  Iain looked at Patrick. “Got it?”

  “Yeah,” said Patrick.

  “Good,” said Iain. He nodded at the phone. “I’ll call the police now.”

  * * *

  “You couldn’t have stepped over the bodies?” the police officer was saying. “To get to the phone, I mean.”

  Elke shook her head furiously. “I didn’t want to contaminate the scene. I used to work as a prosecuting attorney, and I know how damaging that can be to a case.”

  “Right,” said the officer. “Well, that makes sense.”

  “I’m sorry, but I was pretty shaken up. I mean, my brother had been shot, and these men tried to kill us. Plus, we knew that Hudson was coming back.”

  “Iain Hudson, you mean? Your co-worker.”

  “That’s right,” she said.

  “And you don’t know who these men are?”

  “I think they work for my ex-husband,” said Elke. “Although I heard them say something about Mr. Russell, who I’m fairly sure is Jeremiah Russell? He was a friend of my husband’s. I think maybe he’s running things now.”

  “Oh, okay,” said the officer. “Well, we’ll need to get a statement from you, Ms. Lawrence. Can I say that you’d be willing to testify if other officers are trying to put together something against Jeremiah Russell? We work out here in the boonies, but I hear about that drug stuff even out here. I know that they want to stop that ring in Gathopolis.”

  “Absolutely, I would testify against Jeremiah Russell,” said Elke. “Absolutely.”

  “Great,” said the officer. He smiled at her. “I know you’ve been through a lot today, ma’am, but I want you to know that I think you were very brave. You should be proud of yourself for protecting yourself and your brother.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “Sounds like awful timing. No one’s usually up here, you said?”

  “That’s right,” she said. “Patrick was just up here for a little peace and quiet.”

  “And he called you?”

  “After he found the car with the gun,” she said. “I probably should have called the police then, but I thought if Iain came with me, it would be okay. But he didn’t find anything, so he left for groceries. And then, those men burst into the house looking for that duffel bag. I don’t know why they couldn’t have just gone once they had it. I don’t know why they had to try to kill us.”

  “Men like that are desperate, ma’am.”

  “Yes,” she said, “I guess they are.”

  * * *

  It was a long night. She was interviewed by a couple different officers, and she had to make an official statement. Eventually, they released her, and she found Iain waiting for her in the waiting room at the local police station.

  “You didn’t have to stay,” she said to him.

  “I did,” he said. “They asked me a lot of questions too.”

  “Oh, right,” she said. “I’m really sorry to get you involved in this.”

  “It’s okay,” he said. “You heading to the hospital to see your brother?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “I’ll give you a ride,” he said.

  “You really don’t have to do that,” she said.

  “I want to,” he said. “Besides, maybe we should talk? About why you called me?”

  She sucked in a breath. And then she nodded. “Okay, yeah.” />
  They walked out of the station and across the parking lot to his car in silence. Iain got in the driver’s side and Elke got in the passenger’s side. He started the car and got the heat running, but he didn’t put the car in gear.

  She turned to look at Iain. “Look, the reason I called was because I thought…”

  “I didn’t kill him,” said Iain.

  “I never thought—”

  “Maybe you did,” said Iain. “It’s okay if you did. I didn’t kill Dale Adams, but I have to admit that I don’t much care that he’s dead, and that I might have done it if the circumstances had been right. But I didn’t. Harley did it.”

  Elke licked her lips.

  “I’m going to tell you what happened,” said Iain. “And that’s why we’ll trust each other. Because we’ll both know each other’s secret. I know about you covering up your brother’s being a drug dealer. And you’ll know that I made a premeditated murder look like reactive self-defense.”

  “So, she planned it?”

  “I don’t know for how long,” said Iain. “But he was asleep on the couch when she did it. He definitely wasn’t trying to kill her. Maybe she just saw her moment, I don’t know. She got his gun. She blew him away.”

  Elke shook her head. “How did you fix that?”

  “Well, we rearranged some furniture,” said Iain. “I made it look like he was standing in front of the couch. Couldn’t have been the way the living room was set up before. So, we moved that, and I told her to say that she got his gun away from him and pushed him onto the couch. Told her to say that he started to get up and that’s when she shot him.” He massaged the bridge of his nose. “I did that because…”

  “I know why you did it,” she said.

  “Because women who kill their abusers get a raw deal,” said Iain. “The justice system isn’t always set up to do the right thing. It’s not perfect.”

  “I know,” she said. “That’s why I wanted to protect Patrick.”

  “It’s not because of anyone who works within it,” said Iain. “Because by and large, I think, the people who we work with are good people and they’re all trying to do the right thing.”

  “Yes,” said Elke. “But that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes, people’s lives get ruined, and I’m not always sure that’s the right way to handle things. Sometimes, I feel like all the system cares about is punishment, not about making anything better. Sometimes, I’m not even sure why I’m part of it. I wonder if it should all be torn down?”

  “Well, you can’t do that.” Iain was sure of that.

  “No?”

  “It’d be chaos. It’d be so much worse than everything is now,” he said. “What we have isn’t perfect, but it’s better than nothing.”

  “Even if it means we bend the rules, like we both have done?”

  “They’re bad rules,” said Iain. “Your brother was manipulated by your husband. He was young and stupid. But going to jail is not going to make him a better person.”

  “No,” said Elke. “It wouldn’t.”

  Iain sighed. “We have to work from within to change things. Like the CRU, that’s what we do. We fix mistakes. We make things better.”

  Elke nodded. “That’s true.”

  They were both quiet.

  “So, you could tell I was lying about Harley?” said Iain.

  “No, I couldn’t,” she said.

  “Because I’m not really sure that I’m a very good liar.”

  “You are,” she said. “Because you’re not really very emotional, you know, ever, so there’s no difference whether you’re lying or not.”

  “If you couldn’t tell, then why did you call me?”

  “I just… I guess I trust you. I thought you’d help me.” She cocked her head at him. “You strike me as a pretty loyal kind of guy, Hudson.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “I guess I am.”

  She smiled at him. “Thank you.”

  He started the car. “You’re welcome.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Patrick didn’t have to stay at the hospital long. He was patched up and ready to leave by the time Elke got there. Her parents were there as well. They insisted that Patrick come home with them so that her mother could take care of him, and they wanted Elke to come home with them too.

  It was a tempting idea. After everything she’d been through that night, she thought she might like having her mother fuss over her. It would be like descending back into childhood, and she could be cocooned in safety and the lack of responsibility.

  But it would be a lie, and her adult reality would be waiting for her on the other side.

  So, Elke said no.

  “But sweetheart,” her mother said. She was standing behind the wheelchair that Patrick was in, gripping the handles. She was going to wheel him down to their car. “Your car is still at the cabin. How are you even going to get home?”

  “I’ll take her up to get it,” said Iain.

  “Who are you again?” said Elke’s mother.

  “This is Detective Iain Hudson,” said Elke. “We work together.”

  “Oh,” said her father. “You’re all the way up from Haven Hills?”

  “Well, Lawrence and I are friends,” said Iain.

  “Yes,” said her mother. “Such close friends that you call her by her last name.”

  “Mom.” Elke rolled her eyes.

  “Well, you can’t go up to the cabin,” said her mother. “What if there are more of those men up there? What if they jump you and you can’t shoot them all this time?”

  Elke winced. Suddenly, she was right back in that moment, blood spraying out of that man’s neck wound, so much blood.

  “With all the police cars up there, I’m sure they’ve been scared off,” said Iain. “But I’ll keep an eye on her.”

  “You should come home with us anyway, dear,” said her mother.

  “When will I get my car?” said Elke. “It’s a forty minute drive back out here.”

  “Oh, who cares about your car?” said her father. “You’ve been through a traumatic experience. You need to come home with us and let us take care of you.”

  “That Felix,” said her mother, shaking her head. “When will it stop, Elke?”

  Elke hung her head. When would it stop?

  “Maybe they’re right,” said Iain softly. “Maybe you’d rather not be alone.”

  “No, I’m fine,” she said, and she managed a smile.

  And no matter how much her parents tried to convince her, she stayed firm. She’d go back to her own apartment that night, but she’d call them when she got home so that they knew she was all right. She even promised to go over in the morning for breakfast.

  Then she and Iain left the hospital and he drove her up to the cabin. The snow was stopping, but her car was practically buried. She spent a few minutes with an ice scraper cleaning it off. Iain helped.

  She opened the driver’s side door and stepped inside. She paused there, one foot on the ground, one foot inside the car. She looked at Iain. “So, you didn’t kill him. Have you ever?”

  He shook his head.

  She swallowed.

  Overhead, the sky had cleared and the stars shown down on them.

  She started to sit down.

  “You all right?” said Iain. “Elke?”

  She paused. She took a deep breath. “Not really. But I think that’s good? Because if I was all right, that would mean something was wrong with me.”

  He considered this and then nodded. He backed away. “I’ll follow you. We’re headed to the same place.”

  * * *

  She had the weekend to try to get her brain wrapped around it.

  She didn’t feel guilty. She knew that she had to shoot those men. It had been a choice between shooting them or dying and watching Patrick die, and that wasn’t a choice at all.

  But she didn’t feel good about it either. It was the most awful thing that had ever happened to her. But that was the thing. It had
happened to her. In the end, no matter what, it was out of her hands. She’d reacted. She couldn’t change that.

  Still, she decided to schedule a couple sessions with the department psychologist anyway. She figured it couldn’t hurt. And she knew that if police officers had to kill in the line of duty, they had to go to counseling. It would be good for her.

  She had breakfast with her parents on Saturday, though it couldn’t really be called morning by the time she got there, considering they’d all gotten to bed so late the night before, they all slept until afternoon. She ate with them, though, and stayed through the evening.

  Patrick was doing all right. She was glad of that.

  At one point, though, he pulled her aside and told her that he wanted her to know that he was definitely doing what she’d said before. About him doing community service to give back for the trouble he’d caused. He was all over that.

  “Patrick,” she said, “you got shot. That’s punishment enough.”

  “It’s not for punishment,” he said. “It’s because what I did, it caused all these negative consequences. People are dead. I have to do something good or I can’t live with myself.”

  She got tears in her eyes as she hugged him. He was a good kid, her brother. He’d made mistakes, but he was a good kid. She loved him.

  Her mother wanted her back for Sunday dinner. Elke didn’t argue.

  But by the end of the day Sunday, she had to admit she was glad to be going home to her house alone. She loved her parents, but they could be stifling.

  On Monday morning, she woke up and headed in to the office. That was when she realized she’d given no thought to the case all weekend.

  She was fairly sure they were ready to move forward with developing the case to bring before the Conviction Correction Panel. There hadn’t been enough time for the lab to come back on the analyzation of the knife, but they had enough to prove that Curtis Fisher was innocent. Heck, she hadn’t even called his mother. Gloria was going to be overjoyed.

  Neither Frankie nor Amos had any idea what had happened with her over the weekend, and she found she didn’t really want to go into it. If Iain said something about it, she’d explain, but she was fairly sure that Iain would keep it to himself. He wasn’t exactly a sharer.

  She was right. Iain showed up and acted as if nothing at all had happened.