Purple Knot

by Raquel Byrnes

  “I did!” I was offended that I had to make an effort to appear anything.

  Bennet’s head snapped up and he frowned. “And you must be sure not to do that, Ms. Cruz. Any indication that you are rash or quick tempered will count against you if this goes to trial.”

  I felt the blood rush out of my face. Was it a possibility now? Was I going on trial for killing my best friend?

  “Right now, we’re just trying to control what’s happening. If we give them nothing to work with, then Parker will likely drop this. On its own merits, Summer’s power of attorney protects you. I’ve yet to see what Mr. Evan’s lawyers have, but it can’t be much from what I’ve seen so far.” Bennet softened his expression and walked over to my side of the table. He pulled out a chair and sat next to me.

  I wished I could tell Bennet about Parker’s plans to paint me as Doctor Frankenstein. Madly keeping my friend’s body alive long enough to deliver the keys to her bank account into my hands. I wiped an angry tear from my eye.

  Bennet patted my shoulder and got up. “I’ll want to go over some things with you after I’ve reviewed the tape. Tell Mr. Corbeau I’ll call him tomorrow morning.”

  I walked back to Jimmy, buried my face in his chest, and gave him a long hug. I shook with anger over what Parker was doing.

  “That bad?” Jimmy held me close and stroked my hair.

  I nodded and clung on tighter.

  “How about we get out of here?” he murmured.

  We walked out of the cold building and into the warmth of the late afternoon sun. Jimmy held my hand and we ambled past the tall buildings, past the convention center, and along the food vendors. We made our way to the Space Needle and Jimmy convinced me to ride up with him. We walked along the outside of the lookout terrace and tried to pick out the familiar buildings down below. I dropped quarters into the telescope and watched the kids ride the rollercoaster over by the music theater.

  Jimmy took off his coat and draped it over my shoulders. The smell of him filled my nose, and I decided all I wanted to do was be near him for good.

  An hour later, the light was starting to fade and we rode the elevator down and walked around the park. It was early evening and the day was starting to hit me. I yawned and Jimmy did, too. We decided to head back to Bainbridge. The ferry landed just after seven. We popped into the village’s only food market and picked up some cold cuts and salads. We headed back to the marina and had dinner on the deck of My One and Only.

  The light faded to a blush on the clouds. I sat against Jimmy on one of the lounge chairs and we whispered about far away islands and snorkeling in crystal blue water.

  Then Jimmy’s voice got thick and I looked up at his face.

  “What’s the matter?”

  He looked uncomfortable. I sat up and took his face in my hands, one palm on either cheek.

  “Tell me what’s wrong, Jimmy.”

  “This afternoon, in your sleep, you kept muttering.” He reached up and covered my hands with his.

  My mouth went dry and my pulse pounded. I didn’t want to have this conversation. Not now, not after this lovely evening. But I couldn’t stop the words that tumbled out.

  “What was I saying?”

  “You kept saying, ‘my baby’,” he said quietly. Jimmy’s eyes were dark and ringed with sadness.

  “I was dreaming, that’s all.” I stood up and walked over to the railing. I hugged myself and shivered.

  “That was not dreaming, Rain. That was remembering.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it, Jimmy.” This wasn’t happening.

  He wrapped his arms around my waist. I felt his breath on my neck, and fought back tears. He wasn’t going to let it go.

  “This is part of what we need to fix.”

  “No, Jimmy.”

  I tried to pull away but he held me closer.

  “Before, when you couldn’t remember the crash, you’d have the same type of dreams. You’d wake up screaming.”

  I felt my knees go weak. The dark wave surged again and I gritted my teeth. I didn’t remember dreaming about it. I didn’t remember much about that time.

  “Please, Jimmy. I can’t do this right now. Not with everything else going on. I just…” My words came out in squeaks. I felt Jimmy tense.

  “I’m sorry.” He let go and moved to the railing. He looked defeated.

  “No, you’re right. I was dre…remembering the crash. I guess I hadn’t really had one of those dreams in, well a couple of years. I think maybe coming back here and being with you…”

  “I’m making these nightmares come back?” Worry etched across his brow.

  “No. I think that when I left…here, I put all of those memories aside. I hid from them in California. No one knew what had happened. No one looked at me with sadness or pity. No one knew anything.”

  “And you like that. No one knowing about us.”

  “No, Jimmy. Nothing like that. I’m so happy that we’re trying to do this. I’m so grateful for the second chance at a life with you. I thought I’d lost that.”

  “Rain…” A wary look crossed Jimmy’s face.

  “What I’m trying to say, rather horribly apparently, is that coming back here I have to face a lot of things I ran away from. And that’s good, that’s what I need to do to get us back on track. I guess it’s harder than I anticipated. Things are hitting me faster than I thought they would.”

  Jimmy ran his hand along my neck and through my hair. He pulled a ringlet down and let it spring back up. He pulled me into a hug. “Promise me something, Rain.”

  “Whatever you want.”

  Jimmy clutched me tighter and I felt his heart race against my cheek.

  “Don’t run away again.”

  Purple Knot

  20

  Tuesday morning I hit the ground running. I had breakfast with Jimmy at Dinah’s, and I sent a text message to Salem that I wanted him to fax over Chuy’s credit and phone numbers report.

  I chewed on my thumb nail while I watched Jimmy chat with Dinah. I needed to find an office supply store that received faxes, but we were on our way to Hill House for Jimmy to get ready for his deposition. I could use Jimmy’s office to receive the fax, but that would involve him further so I decided against it.

  I checked my watch. It was just after seven in the morning. My phone chimed and Bennet’s number flashed up on my phone screen. My appointment for the deposition wasn’t until the late afternoon. I heard the tension in Bennet’s voice.

  “Ms. Cruz?”

  “Yes, Mr. Bennet, what’s going on?”

  “Ms. Cruz, do you have a pen and a paper?”

  “Yes, what’s this about?” My stomach flopped and I rooted around in my purse for something to write with.

  “Just listen, please, Ms. Cruz.”

  “OK…”

  I licked my lips, nervous.

  “I’m giving you the number of a very good defense lawyer. She’s up and coming and I believe you can afford her retainer and fee.”

  “Defense…what?”

  “Ms. Cruz, write this number down please,” Bennet snapped.

  “Mr. Bennet…” Heart racing in my chest, I wrote the number down and tried to understand what was happening.

  “Ms. Cruz, I urge you to consult with this woman before you attend the deposition.”

  Something must have happened between my meeting with him last night, and now. Bennet couldn’t come right out and tell me, but he was trying to warn me.

  “Mr. Bennet, what is going on?”

  “Ms. Cruz, as the lawyer for the Corbeau family, I think that advising you to seek your own counsel is the responsible thing to do.”

  Bennet was cutting ties with me, taking a step back. Why?

  “Because you have a conflict of interest now?” I asked.

  “Please call her, Ms. Cruz,” Bennet said and hung up.

  I sat with the phone to my ear listening to the empty line and felt the dread start to pool in my stomach. I
dialed the number Bennet had given me and waited through the rings.

  “Sierra Hopkins,” a mild woman’s voice answered.

  “Ms. Hopkins,” I stammered. “Mr. Bennet told me to call you.”

  “Oh yes, Ms. Cruz?” Hopkins had a slight accent. I thought she might be from Tennessee.

  “Yes.”

  “Hypothetical my Great Aunt Edna…Bennet, you weasel.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “You better get yourself over here, Ms. Cruz. I am not kidding. As fast as you can possibly get here.”

  “Oh, what about…” I looked over at Jimmy by the counter.

  “Are you on your way yet?” Hopkins sighed heavily and I heard her snap her fingers.

  “Yes, I’m on my way.” I jumped out of my seat.

  “Just as soon as your little feet can carry you, OK?” Her twang was more audible now.

  “I need your address.”

  “I sent you a text. You’re on a cell phone, right honey?”

  “Yes.” My phone buzzed and I looked at the screen. A message from S. Hopkins popped up.

  “Well, let’s get going, then. We don’t have too much time. I’ll see you in a few.” Hopkins hung up and I realized I was standing at my table.

  “Everything OK?” Jimmy finished his conversation with Dinah and walked over to me.

  “I don’t think so.”

  I gave Jimmy the rundown. We stood on the bow of the ferry heading into Seattle and sipped coffee.

  “So he just dumped you and gave you another lawyer’s name?” Jimmy worked his jaw, his anger palpable. He’d tried Bennet’s office after I told him. Bennet’s secretary said Bennet was unreachable at the moment. I rubbed his back and tried to sooth his outrage with logic.

  “Bennet’s the good guy in this. I think he tried to warn me that something big is set to go down at the deposition today. He told me to call Hopkins before I went. He was very specific.”

  “But Bennet is our family lawyer. If he has a conflict of interest, it’s because someone who he also represents…” Jimmy’s face fell. The same thought had occurred to me two seconds after Bennet dropped me.

  Mona.

  I searched for something to say. I knew she hated me. I knew she wanted access to Autumn, but this? Then I replayed what happened that night in the hospital and wondered. What could she possibly say? My phone rang. It was a call from California.

  “Hello?”

  “Ms. Cruz?” The voice sounded familiar.

  “Yes, who’s this?”

  “This is Detective Wicket. I have a few questions for you about the shooting at your office the other day.”

  “Is there a problem?” My heart rate shot up.

  “Well, there’s a new development I’d like to discuss with you if you’re available today.”

  Jimmy watched me talk and I mouthed Wicket’s name. He frowned, confused. I made a shooting gesture with my hand and Jimmy nodded.

  “I’m out of town, actually, Detective Wicket.”

  “Oh, when can I meet with you then?”

  “What is this about?”

  Wicket took a few seconds and sighed. I heard paper rustling in the background.

  “Are you aware that your apartment was also burglarized, Ms. Cruz?”

  “I am.”

  “Well, there was blood at the scene.”

  “What?” I didn’t remember seeing any blood at my apartment.

  “Well, the blood was in the stairwell. Your musician neighbor, the cello guy, he said he heard the stairwell door slam twice right before he noticed your apartment door ajar.”

  Kyle’s apartment shared a wall with the stairwell. Why was there blood there?

  “OK…I’m not sure what you’re saying.”

  “Ms. Cruz, I had the technician take the bullets out of your office hallway. One of the bullets has the same blood on it, like it went through the attacker and then rammed into the wall behind him.”

  “I hit someone?”

  “It seems so. The attacker went to your apartment, but the timing is weird. Kyle heard the two slams of the stairwell door only minutes apart. That wasn’t enough time to trash your apartment. In fact, he states that the time was well after the office attack.”

  “Wait, now I’m confused. The attacker wrecked my apartment, went to my office, got shot…then went back to my apartment?”

  “Well, not inside. He was in the stairwell, though.”

  “This isn’t making any sense.” I couldn’t wrap my mind around what Wicket said.

  “Do you see why I need to speak with you again?”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, detective Wicket. I’m tied up here with a legal issue.”

  “I see.”

  I gritted my teeth and tried not to think how that sounded to a detective. Sorry I can’t meet with you on the shooting and blood at my house…because I might be charged with murder in another state. “Can I call you after my meeting this morning, detective? I’ll have a better handle on my timeline by then.”

  “Sure but don’t let too much time pass, Ms. Cruz,” Wicket answered flatly.

  “OK, then,” I said and hung up. My index finger went to my mouth and Jimmy pulled it away gently.

  “Let me guess, good news?”

  “You’re not going to believe this…” I told Jimmy that Wicket wanted to talk to me about the possibility of the attacker leaving some evidence. I opted to leave out that it was blood evidence.

  “But we already knew you’d been hit at both places. What does Wicket need to clarify?”

  “I have no idea.”

  Maybe Parker had hired an indecisive henchman? Maybe he dropped his wallet, realized it, and went back to get it? Nothing outside of a comedy of errors play made any sense.

  “You can’t go back to California, not until we figure out what’s going on out here.”

  I agreed, but another thought occurred. Salem. I punched in his number and held my breath through two rings. He answered.

  “Yeah, boss.”

  “Salem, I want you to leave the office.”

  “What?”

  “I just got some disturbing news about the break in and I don’t think you’re safe.”

  “Oh, man, really?”

  “Really Salem, don’t go to your apartment either, just in case.”

  Jimmy motioned for my attention and I covered the phone with my hand.

  “What?”

  “Tell him to come here,” Jimmy whispered.

  “Huh?”

  “Tell him to fly out, I’ll pay. Just get him out here. I think we need to let you two work your magic.”

  I smiled and nodded. Jimmy was right. I needed to go on the offensive.

  “Salem, can you fly out here?”

  “To Seattle? When?”

  “Now, today.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “Salem, I understand if this is causing problems with your personal life, your girlfriend, I mean, but this is your safety we’re talking about.”

  “It’s not that. We’re…I mean, she decided.”

  “Aw, Salem, I’m sorry.”

  “Whatever,” Salem said quietly.

  I could tell he was hurt. Our schedule, my demands, they were at fault. Still, when I offered to set him up with a different job, to recommend him, he’d become insulted. He loved his job, and didn’t want to leave.

  “I’ll fly out on the ticket you didn’t use,” he said finally.

  “Are you sure?”

  “We need to get to the bottom of all of this craziness.” He sounded more like himself.

  “OK.”

  “OK,” he repeated. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

  I hung up and looked out at the Sound, a lump in my throat. I’d just pulled another friend into this colossal mess.

  Jimmy pulled me to his chest in a hug. He kissed the top of my head. “This’ll all work out, Rain,” he whispered. “You’ll see.”

  I nodded, but wondered
if Jimmy knew what he was talking about. I hadn’t seen things ‘work out’ in a very, very long time.

  Purple Knot

  21

  The summer before our senior year, Jimmy’s father died. A heart attack took Samuel Corbeau during a golf game with his friends one Saturday morning. He was fifty-two. It was a week before senior year and Jimmy was at football camp three hours away. No one could get hold of him because they were in the boonies and there weren’t cell phones then.

  Summer called me, crying and worried that Mona was going off the edge. She didn’t want to send Stern, their driver, to get him. She couldn’t go herself because the doctor didn’t want Mona on her own, and there were too many arrangements to be made for the funeral.

  I went to get Jimmy.

  My stomach churned the entire way. How do you tell someone they’d lost their daddy? I pulled into the parking lot just as the team was coming in from practice. Jimmy looked up at my car, confused. His hair was all wet with sweat, his white and blue football uniform covered in dirt and grass stains. He looked too young to bear this news.

  I got out of my car and stood by the open door. I didn’t know what to say.

  “What is it, Rain,” he asked, finally.

  He held his helmet in a death grip and I could see his knuckles were white. I walked toward him and looked around frantically for anyone who could help me do this.

  “It’s your daddy, Jimmy.”

  Jimmy stood rooted to the grass. He shook his head slowly and put his hand up, pointing at me. “No.”

  I walked toward him and his face changed from scared, to angry, and then back to scared. He searched my face and saw tears on my cheeks. I wasn’t playing a sick joke on him. I was the bearer of horrible news.

  “How…what happened?”

  Behind Jimmy, his friends stood watching our exchange. A few of them stepped in our direction.