The Collectors: Revenge Becomes Her

by Hargrove Perth

  “I guess you could say that.”

  Jonathan paid his bill and waited outside for the rental car. He was never so glad to see someone he did not know before in his life. Jonathan road with the driver back to the city where he called a cab to take him to the airport. Sherri had arranged everything, including having his return flight booked and his tickets waiting for him at the counter.

  Once Jonathan was on his flight back to New York, he closed his eyes and tried to block out the images of Greg’s head being blown off at close range. Images of Jane being raped paraded through his head along with her sad eyes. Jonathan knew nothing about his life would ever be the same again.

  Nearly six hours later, flight 305 touched down at Kennedy International. Sherri was waiting for him outside in Jonathan’s black Audi, one of the many benefits of becoming a full-fledged partner at the firm.

  Sherri immediately noticed that Jonathan did not have a carry-on bag or any luggage with him, and he looked as though he had not slept in weeks. She did not know what had happened, but she knew whatever it was, it could not have been good. She had never seen Jonathan look this way in the time she had been a secretary at the firm.

  “Thanks for rescuing me, Sherri,” Jonathan whispered as he hugged her. Sherri held him not knowing what else to do to comfort her boss. Jonathan was a very private man, and this was not in character for him.

  “Come on, let’s get you home and cleaned up. I told Mr. Briggs you were a little under the weather from your trip and needed a few more days off. He was very understanding. You don’t have to be back at work for another week.”

  Jonathan climbed into the backseat of his car and allowed Sherri to drive him home. He just did not have the strength. Once Sherri had Jonathan home and was sure he was going to be fine alone, she called a cab and went home. Jonathan sat on his leather sofa and stared at the photographs on the wall of his college roommates. For all he knew, they were all dead, killed by a woman who had every right to do it.

  Jonathan took several sleeping pills and laid down on the sofa before he drifted off into his drug, induced sleep. When Jonathan awoke in the morning, he could not remember anything that had happened after he called Sherri or how he had gotten home. Everything else that had happened was as fresh and clear as the day it has all begun.

  Jonathan walked down the hall to the bathroom and closed the drawer behind him. He turned on the hot water and took off his cloths. As Jonathan stood in the shower, he cried for her and not for his friends.

  The next four days were spent in a drunken stupor until Sherri came by to check on him. She had not heard from Jonathan since she had picked him up at the airport and decided to stop by unannounced since Jonathan would not answer his phone. She found Jonathan passed out in the middle of the living room floor with an empty bottle of scotch next to his head.

  “Come on, get up.” Sherri shook Jonathan in an attempt to wake him. Jonathan moaned as Sherri rolled him over onto his side. “You are lucky you didn’t get sick in the middle of the night. What the hell happened to you, Jon?”

  Sherri stayed with Jonathan the rest of the afternoon until he was sober and then made dinner while Jonathan showered. When Jonathan came out of the bathroom, Sherri already had dinner waiting.

  “Sit down and eat and don’t argue with me,” Sherri said as she pulled out the chair and pointed at it. Jonathan smiled slightly at her insistence.

  “Now I don’t know what happened to you Jonathan, and quite frankly, it really isn’t any of my business. I am going to tell you what I do know. You are a good man. You are fair and you never let false judgment cloud your vision. Whatever happened, no matter how terrible it may seem, I am sure you did what was right and if you give it time, you will be able to heal. What I can tell you is that the answer is not in the bottom of a bottle of scotch.”

  “Now you sound like my mother,” Jonathan grumbled as he picked up his coke and took a drink.

  “No, I sound like someone who cares about their friend.”

  Jonathan had never really considered the fact that Sherri cared about him outside of the office environment. He stared at her for a long time as he paid attention to how beautiful she really was. In the two years Sherri had been his secretary, he had never noticed that she was the quintessential girl next door.

  “Jonathan, what happened on your trip?” Sherri asked as Jonathan continued to stare off into the hapless void behind her. He did not answer her, but instead began to cry.

  “You have to tell me, Jonathan. You cannot go on this way. You are going to hurt yourself.”

  “I just want to forget. I just want it all to be a bad dream so I can forget all about her.”

  Sherri did not push Jonathan any further. He was visibly upset about whatever had happened. She decided if Jonathan wanted to tell her, he would. He was not the first lawyer from the firm to call her in the middle of the night needing rescued but this time was different. Jonathan was not like the lawyers at the firm, he was not a womanizer, or someone who frequented the less reputable woman of society. Jonathan was an upstanding man, perhaps the best man Sherri had ever met. She just could not imagine what had caused him so much pain and anguish.

  Jonathan finished his dinner, only at the insistence of Sherri, in the hopes that once he had, she would then go home, but she didn’t and stayed. She could not let Jonathan be alone now. Sherri helped Jonathan to his room and once she was sure he was soundly sleeping, poured the last remaining bottle of scotch down the drain.

  In the morning when Jonathan awoke, he found Sherri sleeping on the couch using his wool trench-coat as a blanket. He really did not want to be alone and was relieved that Sherri had chosen to stay. Jonathan sat in the recliner across from the couch and watched Sherri as she slept. As he watched her, Jonathan could not stop himself from thinking about Jane and wondering what happened after he heard those gunshots in the dark.

  Jonathan knew that Sherri was the ‘angel of the firm’ now, just as some of the other lawyers had named her. She was the one who always cared and offered assistance no matter the time she received the call. He knew she had escorted countless women home who were not in the best condition and called in favors to judges for the other lawyers. Jonathan could not have ever imagined in his wildest dreams that she would one day save him.

  Jonathan went to the kitchen, picked up the empty bottle of scotch on the counter and then tossed it in the trash.

  “The answer you’re looking for Jonathan is not in that bottle. It will only give you another one in its place but it cannot help you,” Sherri said as she sat up and pulled her hair back over her shoulders. “I know you won’t tell me what happened, but you need to talk to someone Jonathan. If you cannot tell me, perhaps you could tell someone else. Why don’t you come to confession with me?”

  “I am not Catholic.”

  “That really doesn’t matter, Jonathan. Whatever you confess is part of the holy sacrament of the confessional. The Priests can never reveal what you have told them, and maybe it would help you. This destructive path you are on cannot change whatever happened.”

  Jonathan leaned against the kitchen counter and lowered his head.

  “Will you promise to go with me?” Jonathan asked.

  Sherri carried his coat into the kitchen and laid it across his shoulders.

  “We can leave right now. I promise I won’t leave you,” Sherri whispered. “Come on, I will drive.”

  Sherri held Jonathan’s coat as he slid his arms into the sleeves. Jonathan followed Sherri to the door and handed her his car keys. She locked the door behind her and followed Jonathan to the elevator.

  Jonathan barely spoke as he rode and watched the buildings fly by in a blur as Sherri drove to the parish rather than taking Jonathan to the church downtown. Sherri’s brother was a Priest, so she was very well acquainted with all the Priests at the parish. She prayed that, Father O’Connor, or her brother, would be there. He was close to the same age as Jonathan, and Sherri hoped that would ma
ke it slightly easier for Jonathan.

  Sherri pulled up in front of the parish and waited for Jonathan to exit the car. He pulled his coat around him and held it tightly as he followed Sherri up the stairs. She was relieved it was her brother that opened the door, and not one of the other Priests at the parish.

  “Sherri, it is so good to see you,” Charles whispered as she hugged his sister. “What’s wrong?”

  “Jonathan needs help, Charles. Something horrible has happened, and he will not talk to me. I thought this would be the best place to bring him. I didn’t know where else to go.”

  Sherri extended her hand to Jonathan, and he held her hand tightly as she led him inside the parish. Jonathan stopped before a large statue of the Virgin Mary as Sherri continued to speak with her brother. He stared at her in silence. Her face seemed so serene and kind as she looked down. Jonathan wondered how even God could forgive him for what he had done. He was so immersed in his thoughts, he did not hear Father Charles approach with another Priest.

  “She is lovely, isn’t she?” the Priest asked.

  “Yes, she is.”

  “I am Father O’Connor. I promise I am a good listener.” Father O’Connor extended his hand to shake Jonathan’s, but Jonathan continued to stare at the statue.

  “How could she forgive them after what they did?” Jonathan asked.

  “She had faith, that in the end, all would be as it was meant to be and God would see her through. That is all any of us can ask. Why don’t you come with me and have some coffee.”

  Father O’Connor motioned for Jonathan to follow him as he walked toward the dimly lit corridor that led to the kitchen. Once they reached the small kitchen, Father O’Connor pulled a chair away from the table for Jonathan and poured two cups of coffee. He handed Jonathan his cup, pulled out his chair and sat down.

  “Should we do this in a confessional Father?” Jonathan asked.

  “We can if that is where you would feel more comfortable. Please call me Michael.”

  “No, I do not believe I will feel comfortable regardless of where we are.”

  “Is that because you are not Catholic?”

  “No Michael, it is because of what I have done.” Jonathan wiped the tears from his face.

  “Whatever you tell me Jonathan, it is between you, me, and God and no one else. Why don’t you start at the beginning?”

  A single tear rolled down Jonathan’s cheek as he looked up at Michael.

  “It all began with an email…”

  Jane stumbled down the dirt road in the dark as she tried to find the road after leaving the cabin. When she had arrived, Jack, Bill, and James had passed out and were still lying on the floor. She contemplated killing them, but after standing in the bedroom that had once been her prison as she stared at Greg and his brains splattered all over the wall, Jane decided that would be the easy way out for them.

  “You got off too easy,” Jane said and kicked his lifeless body.

  Jane decided death was not what they deserved. They deserved a fate worse than death, something like they had done to her.

  She used the last of the ammunition in the shotgun to shoot the two front tires out on the Hummer and then pumped the last shot into the radiator before she began walking down the dirt road.

  Jane collapsed when she finally saw the road ahead come into sight. She was so overwhelmed at her freedom, Jane began to cry until she heard the engine of an approaching car. Jane used the last remaining energy she had to force herself to run to the end of the dirt road. She waved her arms above her head at approaching pick-up. The woman driving the truck slammed on her brakes and stopped just short of hitting Jane. She threw open her door and ran over to Jane who had fainted.

  The woman drug Jane to the truck, lifted her into the passenger side and closed door. She took Jane home rather than taking her to the police station. By the condition of the young woman, she could only guess what had happened to her.

  When Jane awoke the next morning, she was wearing a clean pair of pajamas and lying in the center of a king size bed surrounded by pillows.

  “Hope you don’t mind, honey, but you barely had any clothes on so I put you in a pair of my daughter’s old pajamas. My name is Kathleen, nice to meet you.”

  Kathleen placed a large glass of orange juice on the nightstand. She paused as she walked away.

  “You know, you are the second person I rescued in the last two days.”

  Jane knew Kathleen meant Jonathan. Jane pulled the covers around her tightly and cried into the pillow. At least the man who saved her life had made it to safety. Jane had no idea where she was, or how she was going to get home or if she was even going to go home. Somehow, Jane did not feel as though she could ever go home, not after what happened to her and not since she had left them alive.

  Jane closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep. Jane slept for two days straight before she finally drug herself out of bed. She wandered through the small cabin to the kitchen and found Kathleen at the table drinking a cup of coffee.

  Jane sat down at the table and looked around the kitchen. It had been three days since she had wandered into the woods and even longer since she had eaten.

  “Help yourself, sweetheart, to whatever you want. You need to get your strength back.”

  Jane didn’t want to seem overeager, but she was so hungry. She rummaged through the cabinets until she found a jar of peanut butter and made herself two sandwiches along with a large glass of milk.

  “Protein is a good way to start. Do you mind if I ask you what you were doing out there by that road?” Kathleen asked.

  “I was being held hostage.” Jane spoke without emotion as she continued to eat her sandwich.

  Kathleen had an idea what had happened to Jane given the condition of her body. She had seen the bruises, bite marks, and burns that covered the girl’s body.

  “What do you do up here in the woods?” Jane asked.

  “I am retired. This is my vacation home.”

  “Retired? You don’t seem old enough to be retired,” Jane replied and Kathleen laughed.

  “Trust me, after sixteen years in the military I am glad to be able to say I am retired.”

  “Military?”

  “Yes little one, I was a proud member of the Army. It was a good life for me when I was younger, but when the time came for me to retire, I took it.”

  Jane stared at Kathleen. She could not be more than forty years old.

  “May I ask what you did in the Army?” Jane asked.

  “I took little boys and turned them into men and then taught them how to be elite fighters and how to kill.”

  “Could you do that for me?” Jane asked.

  “What?”

  “Could you teach me how to be a killer?”

  Kathleen knew the reason Jane asked her that question, but she was not going to give her an answer until she knew the truth.

  “I will make you a deal. You tell me what happened to you, and I will teach you what you want to know.”

  Jane laid her sandwich down on the table and wiped her mouth.

  “From what I understand, it all began with a single email…”

  When Jonathan finished speaking, Father Michael laid his hand on Jonathan’s shoulder.

  “I understand your guilt, but you did what you had to do to save her. Do you understand, Jonathan, that if it had not been for you, Jane would be dead right now and so might you. The possibility seems to be pretty good that both of you would be lying in the bottom of a hole, God knows where, wrapped in burlap and covered in lime.”

  “You don’t understand. She is still out there. I don’t even know if she is alive. This is my fault, Father. I answered the email, and I alone sealed her fate. Even if she is alive, she will never be the same. I ruined her life. I killed my best friend, and I don’t even feel guilty about Greg.”

  “God works in ways we do not always understand, Jonathan. There is one certainty in all of this, he will forgive you if only you ask
. You are fortunate to have a woman like Sherri, who cares enough for your soul to bring you here. The path before you will not be an easy one, but in time, even you will be able to forgive yourself. You have to decide Jonathan if you can forgive yourself. God already has.”

  Jonathan nodded his head. He did not know if he had the fortitude to forgive himself, at least not at the moment. Perhaps getting back to work and trying to find some semblance of a normal life would be the best thing he could do. If his time was occupied, perhaps he would not concentrate so hard on what happened.

  Jonathan thanked Father Michael and wandered down the hall to find Sherri, who was sitting with her brother holding his hand as the two of them prayed. Jonathan knew that Sherri prayed for him.

  “I wish we could have met under better circumstances, Father Charles,” Jonathan said as he extended his hand toward Charles. Father Charles stood and smiled at Jonathan.

  “Sometimes we meet people when we need to. Jonathan, and not when we want to. Sherri, why don’t you go ahead and start the car? I would like to talk to Jonathan alone if you don’t mind.”

  Sherri picked the keys up off the bench and obeyed what he brother had asked. Once Sherri was outside, Father Charles addressed Jonathan.

  “My sister cares for you, perhaps more than you realize. I would only ask that you consider that very carefully. Sherri is not what I would call naïve, but she is perhaps a little bit blind when it comes to you. Don’t break my sister’s heart.”

  Jonathan did not know what to say. He had no idea that Sherri felt that way about him. In the two years she had worked for Jonathan, she had never even flirted with him.

  “I would never hurt Sherri,” Jonathan whispered. “I better go, she is waiting.” Jonathan shook Father Charles hand before he went to the car.

  Sherri could see a small difference in Jonathan’s demeanor as she drove him home. She was glad she had insisted he come to the parish. Once they were parked in front of Jonathan’s apartment, Sherri walked to her car and went home. Jonathan stood on the sidewalk and watched until her car was gone from his sight then went inside.