The Book Glasses

by Arthur Bozikas

  As she gasped for breath, she realised he intended to choke her to death. His aggressiveness and strength took her by surprise. As the room around her faded and she succumbed to unconsciousness, her last thoughts turned to Sue. Sorry I couldn’t protect you…

  “Samantha! Wake up. I’m not going to let you get out of it that easily,” said Garza. “Before you die, you will watch your mother die.”

  Sam jerked and cried out at the intense burning pain in her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see Garza withdraw the bloody blade of his knife from her shoulder. Blood soaked into her sleeve and dripped onto the floor. Her neck and throat ached but they were secondary compared with the pain radiating from her shoulder.

  “Will that keep you awake long enough to watch your mother take her last breaths?” He toyed with her by gently running the tip of his knife from her shoulder, across her collar bone, to her throat.

  “No, don’t hurt her anymore,” begged Sue.

  When Garza glanced over at Sue, taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Sam flicked the knife out of his hand and then head-butted him and tried to push him off her, without any success. Pain exploded in her forehead and she felt dazed. Perhaps headbutting wasn’t such a great idea after all? She’d never trained for it.

  Garza shook his head and blinked a couple of times before focusing his rage squarely on Sam. “You little bitch,” he yelled. “You are going to regret that.” Again, he encircled her neck with his hands and this time he shook her like a rag doll as he tightened his grip.

  Thrashing about, Sam desperately tried to suck air into her lungs but his vice-like grip cut off her airway. Panic rose in her as she tried to prise his fingers off her throat. Darkness began to encroach. She tried to fight it, but the darkness won.

  “Sam, Sam, can you hear me?” Sue cried, tears streaming freely down her face.

  Sam opened her eyes and looked up at her. “What… what happened?” she asked hoarsely.

  “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

  When she tried to sit up, the intense pain shooting through her shoulder made her gasp and she slumped back onto the floor.

  Sue pressed down on her shoulder with a blood-stained tea towel. “Just lie back down and you’ll be okay. The ambulance is on its way, so you just stay there and don’t worry about a thing.”

  “Where’s…?” Sam’s eyes darted around the room.

  Sue took her hand. “Relax, he’s gone. Two detectives came in and arrested that madman before he choked you to death.”

  She looked around to see police swarming throughout her apartment.

  “Look what he’s done to your face! I’m so sorry, Sue.” Sam reached up to gently touch the small part of the nun’s face that wasn’t covered in bruises.

  “I’m fine now that I know you are okay. I love you, Sam!” She said, crying and kissing both of Sam’s hands.

  “I love you too, Mum!” said Sam, teary-eyed.

  “So, you know?” Sue asked, a hopeful light in her eyes.

  “I’ve known all along in my heart from the first day I met you, at eighteen. But it was the book glasses that helped me to research and confirm my suspicions. By then, it didn’t matter as long as you were in my life, so I continued with the game,” Sam said with a smile.

  “I’m sorry, my love. I was afraid you would be angry at me for leaving you at such a young age, that you would push me away after just coming back into my life again. I couldn’t bear to lose you. And then, as time passed, the longer I left telling you, the harder it was to bring it up.”

  “It’s okay. I know all about the crash and especially about how unwell both you and Aunty Joyce were. You don’t need to explain it to me.”

  “Thank you, my love.”

  Detective Roth knelt on the other side of Sam. “Dr Page, it’s good to see you are okay. The ambulance is only minutes away and it would be best if you stay where you are until the ambos check you out. As you can see, Sister Sue needs to be taken care of as well, so be patient. They won’t be long.”

  “How did you know Garza’s son was at my apartment?” Sam asked.

  “We didn’t. You weren’t answering your phone so we called Betty and she said you should be home by now, so we came straight here to go over your police statement from the other day. Once we gained access, we found that maniac choking you to death,” Roth replied with a grin.

  “Where is he?”

  It was Gower who answered from behind Roth. “Don’t worry about Garza’s son. We’ve handed him over to the uniforms who have taken him away to charge him with attempted murder, amongst other things, so he won’t be bothering you again.”

  Two ambulance officers appeared in the doorway and Gower waved them over. The detectives waited until Sam and Sue were both in the ambulance and followed them to the hospital. As the two women held each other, a sense of happiness and fulfilment flowed over Sam and she knew that things were going to be different for her now she knew she had a family of her own.

  Family Of My Own

  They had to stay in overnight as the hospital wanted to monitor the baby and Sue had a concussion. Once they were both given the all-clear, Sam took Sue back to her apartment.

  Even though her apartment had been thoroughly cleaned to remove all evidence of the violence that had occurred, she held her breath when they walked in. But it was as if the blood, brutality, and death had just been a bad dream.

  Sue was still overwhelmed by what had happened so Sam led her into one of the spare bedrooms and phoned in an order for lunch to be delivered.

  “Lunch will be here soon,” she said. But when Sam went into Sue’s room, her heart was filled with joy and such a mix of emotions that she couldn’t speak.

  Sue seemed confused by her reaction. “Come here, my love. What’s the matter?”

  “I’m so happy that I finally have a family of my own.”

  “Well, if that’s how you feel about ordering me lunch, I can’t wait to see how you react when the baby gives you dirty nappies.” Sue gave her a hug and a kiss.

  Sam headed to the kitchen to put on the kettle, still smiling in wonder at thought of having a family—a mother and soon a child of her own.

  As she walked through the lounge room, she reached down to straighten one of the lounge cushions. When she moved it, she noticed a pair of glasses wedged down into the back of the lounge. What were her book glasses doing there? But they didn’t quite look like her glasses as the frames were a darker grey.

  With her heart racing, Sam ran to her handbag and pulled out her book glasses. Comparing the two sets, she was shocked at how alike they were. If not for the slightly different shades of grey in their frames, it would be nearly impossible to pick hers from the set.

  The doorbell rang, and she opened the door still holding both sets of glasses.

  “Lunch delivery for Page,” a young man said, holding out two plastic bags.

  “Yes, thank you.” She took the bags from him and closed the door.

  She dropped the plastic bags on the kitchen bench and ran into her bedroom to hide the two sets of glasses, horrified that she had opened the door to let a stranger in while holding them.

  “Who was at the door, Sam?” Sue called out from the bedroom.

  “The delivery man. Our lunch is here. Are you hungry?” Sam replied as she walked back into the kitchen.

  “I’m starving. What do we have here?” Sue walked over to the plastic bags to investigate the irresistible aromas.

  “No, you take a seat at the table and I will bring it all over to you, okay?”

  “These are delicious. I’ve never tasted sandwiches like this before. The fillings are divine. Thank you, my love.”

  “You’re welcome and if you like this, you are going to love what I’ve ordered to have afterwards with a cup of tea.”

  “Thank you. You bring me so much joy.”

  “This is what families do; they take care of each other,” Sam replied.

  Sam asked Sue to tell
her more about her life and loved listening to her stories about how she’d met her father and how Sue’s sister, Joyce, had been such a big part of her life, especially after the tragic accident that had claimed Nicole and both their husbands.

  When the subject turned to Sam, she avoided talking about her experiences in foster care and kept the conversation mostly about the almost comical mishaps that had occurred while she had been volunteering at the refuge.

  Later, while Sue took an afternoon nap, Sam retrieved the two sets of glasses from their hiding spot. Taking a deep breath, she put on the new set of glasses and opened a book from a pile on her bedside table. She could read the words just as clearly as if she had been wearing her glasses.

  There were two sets of book glasses! But where had the second set come from? And how had they ended up in her loungeroom?

  Still shaken from her discovery, she phoned and left messages for both Gower and Roth to request a few minutes with Anthony Garza. He must have dropped the glasses while waiting for her to return to her apartment. It was a long shot, but perhaps she could provoke the deranged criminal enough to prompt him to tell her where he’d got the second pair of glasses.

  When Gower called back, Sam convinced him to give her five minutes with Garza later that same afternoon as he had been transported to police headquarters in the city for further questioning.

  Sam stowed both sets of glasses in her handbag and went to her mother’s room to find Sue lying on the bed. “Are you awake, Mum?”

  “Yes, my love,” Sue said, sounding half-asleep.

  “I need to go out and sort out some business matters, but I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “I’m fine, my love. You take your time and do what you need to do.”

  “If you need anything, please call me. I won’t be long.” Sam gave her a quick kiss on her cheek and headed out.

  A Second Pair Of Glasses

  Two pairs of book glasses?

  As she walked through the city, Sam contemplated what she had achieved with one set of glasses and imagined the possibilities of having two motivated people working together, both with the power of the book glasses.

  But how had Garza Junior got his hands on them? She recollected Gower and Roth telling her of Garza’s trail of destruction over the decades and was devastated to think that he or his son could have used the second pair of glasses to achieve his evil aims.

  Sam needed to know about the second set of glasses and the only way she could get answers was to meet with Anthony Garza face to face. She needed to get him to admit that the second pair were his and tell her where he’d got them. But to do so she needed to be fearless as he would sense her fear of him and use it against her. Therefore, she consciously pushed aside any residual fear she was still holding onto regarding the man who had nearly killed her and her mother.

  By the time she’d arrived at police headquarters in the heart of the city, she was ready for the challenge. She had even rehearsed the questions she had for him in her head. Gower and Roth were both there to meet her in the foyer and first escorted her to their office to brief her about keeping the meeting short and to avoid creating a scene.

  “Allowing you to meet with Garza is irregular and we would prefer that you do not draw any unwanted attention to yourself or this meeting. And you mustn't give Garza any grounds to accuse us of violating his rights in any way or to mistake this meeting as abuse or harassment. Do you understand?” said Gower.

  “Yes,” said Sam. “Message received loud and clear.”

  “Please wait here while we escort Garza from the holding cells to an interview room.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Roth returned and led her to the interview room where Garza was sitting alone at a table carefully restrained for her safety. She assumed the two detectives would take their place behind the two-way mirror to watch and listen to the meeting without being seen. Therefore, she knew she must watch her words, not just for Garza’s sake, but to avoid contradicting the story she had already told the detectives.

  When Garza looked up and recognised her, his face darkened with loathing. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  “Look, I didn’t kill your father. It was his hatred, evilness and greed that killed him,” Sam said.

  “I know you killed my father.”

  “I will do a deal with you. Tell me where you got these glasses, and I will tell you the truth about your father’s death.” She retrieved the second pair of book glasses from her handbag and showed them to him.

  “The truth is you fucking killed him, you fucking bitch and, if I wasn’t handcuffed, I would kill you myself.”

  “Okay, if you don’t want to hear about his death, fine. It will remain my secret and you will never know the truth.”

  “Wait, bitch. Tell me, what secret?”

  “First, you tell me where you got these glasses, and I will tell you the truth about your father’s death.”

  “What are you talking about? I didn’t have the glasses. They are the glasses you had all along.”

  “Okay, if you want to be like that, I’m walking.”

  “No, wait. I’m telling you the truth. If I already had the glasses, why would my father and I have gone to so much trouble to track you down to get them?”

  “You need to do better than that. I found these glasses in my apartment. Remember? The place where you almost choked me to death. You’re full of shit. I’ll give you one last chance, tell me about these glasses or I’m out of here and you will never know the truth about your father’s death.”

  Garza looked bewildered. “Why would I lie? I didn’t have the glasses when I went to your apartment. Now tell me about my father. Please!”

  Without another word, Sam turned and walked out the door, frustrated and confused. She was beginning to believe that Garza was telling the truth.

  As she closed the door, the next door in the hallway opened and Gower appeared. “Before you go can we see you in here, please?” He let her into the viewing room where they could see Garza throwing a mini tantrum and fighting against his restraints. But he wasn’t going anywhere.

  “What’s up? I’m finished with him. He’s of no use to me. He’s going to take it to his grave,” Sam said angry and frustrated as she pointed at him through the window.

  “Garza’s son doesn’t know anything about the glasses because it was not him who left them in your apartment,” Roth said.

  “I found these glasses in my apartment. The same place he held my mother captive for over twenty-four hours and where he tried to kill me and her. Who else could have left them there? No one else was in my apartment.”

  “There was, actually,” Roth said.

  “What are you talking about?” asked Sam, her anger rising.

  “Calm down. We were asked to look for a pair of glasses, but we’ve been so busy, we hadn’t got around to doing that,” Gower replied.

  “Asked to look for them? By whom?”

  “The glasses belong to your mother, Sister Sue. It was she who told us to look for them,” Roth explained.

  “What?” Sam couldn’t believe her ears. Her entire world then went into a tailspin. She was transported back to the time she had first told her mother about the book glasses and recalled how easily Sue had believed her incredible story and how cautionary she had been. She had insisted that the glasses belonged to the Catholic church and needed to be returned. And Sue knew all about the side effects, the visions. It all made sense now.

  Her emotions were like a whirlwind swirling inside her and she reached out to the wall with both hands to keep herself from falling. She hardly noticed Roth and Gower approach her from each side to help hold her up.

  The knowledge that she had been spectacularly deceived was earth-shattering. Shaken to her core, she felt her mother’s betrayal pierce her like a dagger to the heart. Clearly, Sue had kept much more from her than the fact that she was her mother. What other secrets had she kept?

  “Excuse me, Sam. Hello, can
you hear me?” Gower shouted, still holding her up on one side.

  “Let’s put her down on the chair. She’s in shock!” Roth demanded.

  “I’m calling the ambos. She’s as white as a ghost!”

  “No, give her a minute or two. Let’s see how she goes. She’s got the bloody holy glasses; she been lying to us all this time. If we’d known her mother was talking about them, we wouldn’t have wasted all this time. Now there are two pairs of them, so let’s wait until she snaps out of it. I want those glasses so go get her some water. I’ll hold her here in the chair.”

  This was not what Sam had expected. And the woman who she knew as Sister Sue, who claimed to be her mother, might have other motives for her actions.

  Regardless of what possibilities tomorrow might bring for Samantha Page, she needed the truth.

  Dear reader,

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  Notes

  You Killed My Father

  1 I did not kill your father, but if you kill her, I will never tell you who did it!