“Officer, he didn’t talk about his business to me. Much less anything else!”
I can feel a serious headache coming on. I grab my head holding it in my heads. Why did he feel like he could not tell me things? Why did he think he could not talk to me? I am at a total loss for words. I do know that if I had known what he was doing with the teenagers and that woman I would have left him. Kill me or not!
“Ma’am, we are doing all we can. It is just that we do not have very many leads. If you can think of anything it would really help.”
Officer Smith stands, shakes my hand, “if you can remember anything please call.” Then they leave.
Mandy comes over to sit next to me on the couch. She grabs my hand to pat it. She has always been very kind to me. What I have to do next is really going to hurt me!
“Mandy” I take a deep breath, “you know I am so thankful for your services all these years. You have been so great to me! I appreciate everything you have done for me. I think it is time that I do for myself. I have never been able to do it. Hugh would not let me do it. Now, that he is gone I need to do for myself.”
Mandy looks at me not surprised at all by what I tell her. She so understands all of it. Almost as if she knew, it was coming.
“Ma’am, you need to feel independent. He never gave you that. I agree with you! I need to move on also. There are other families out there that need me.”
We both stand, holding each other crying. I know I am going to miss her. I thought she would miss me too. She had become such a big part of my life! This is just something I have to try out for myself.
“Please wait here, I have something for you. I just have to go get it!”
I walk into my bedroom returning with an envelope. I hand it to her. She really does deserve this. She had to put up with a lot of Hugh’s shit also.
“Ma’am, what is this?”
She peeks inside the envelope then her eyes get big. Shaking her head back and forth, she tries to give the envelope back to me.
“Keep it, Mandy, I want you to have it.”
I gladly given her the Twenty Thousand Dollars Randy found inside the safe. Taking the envelope, she kisses me then leaves.
It feels so sad to let her go. My house is so quiet now. I guess I will have to get use to that. I want to get use to that!
I walk into Hugh’s room to go through his closet. When I look to where the safe is, I decide to call Randy. I want them to see what was going on in my marriage. Maybe he can help me on what to do.
He answers his phone, “Hi Kristy, are you okay?”
“Yes Randy, I am doing fine. Thanks for asking. I am wondering if you and Heather can come over.”
“Sure, we will be there in a minute.”
I hang up going to the closet to put his clothes away. Fifteen minutes later, there is a knock on the door. I walk down the hall to answer it. As I open it Heather and Randy comes in.
“Hey guys, thanks for coming over.”
I take both of them into Hugh’s bedroom. Randy has a questionable look on his face.
“What’s going on, Kristy?”
Randy looks at Heather who has the same look on her face as he did. I show them the safe in the closet.
“What the fuck?” Randy says as he turns looking at me. He is shaking his head back and forth. He walks into the closet to the safe. He looks inside turning to me again.
“I know, right?” I put my hands up in the air shrugging my shoulders.
Heather goes over to Randy looking inside. She just stands there staring at the money. When I look back to Randy, he is holding the safe of diamonds.
“Kristy, where did these come from?”
“I don’t know, Randy. I was hoping you can use your computer skills to see if you can get into Hugh’s email account.”
Randy is a wizard with the computer. He can do all sort of computer things I cannot. Heather once wanted him to hack Hugh’s emails. She wanted me to see whom he was talking with, what he was doing. Randy would not stoop that low though. Now I wish he would have.
Randy gets behind Hugh’s computer. He goes into his email. Surprisingly, everything is open. Nothing has a password! I guess Hugh knew I would not go in his room. When he made me stay in there all I did sleep. I never even thought about trying to go through his things.
Randy found many emails from South Africa. Come to find out, Hugh was busy buying diamonds from an organized crime gang out of the country. He would take the diamonds from there; sell them in the states for a higher price than he had bought them.
I had no idea where the money Hugh paid for them went to. I could only hope it was not for terrorism. On the other hand, any other crime for that matter. However, after everything I just found out about him who knew!
Randy comes to a stand from behind the desk rubbing the back of his neck. He is in deep thought.
“Kristy, you should keep all the diamonds and money. You could use that to move on with your life.”
I give serious thought to that, but I cannot do it. His diamonds, the money are all illegal. I know what I am going to do. I know what I have to do!
“Guys, I will think about it. I do not want to jump the gun. I don’t want to make any decisions right now.”
“Randy, Heather I have something else to show you. Please do not think badly of me. I had no idea any of this was going on!”
They both just look at me confused. I take them to the living room. I do not want to do this but I feel like I have too. I need someone else to see how he was.
“Take a seat guys, trust me you are going to need one.”
I walk over to the TV and put on the video of me on Hugh’s birthday. I stand behind Heather and Randy. They are not sure what to expect. I can tell that by the way they keep looking at me.
“What the fuck,” Randy screams at me!
They continue to watch and I can hear Heather crying. Randy hands are in a fist. I am looking at the floor not wanting to see it again. Ever again!
When that one is finished, I put on the one of the teenage girls. I hate to do this but they have a right to know. They all used to be good friends back when we were in college and many years after that. We did a lot together after we were married.
Heather gets up and goes to the bathroom. I can hear her in there throwing up. I know exactly how she feels. It also made me sick to see that!
Randy continues to scream and yell, “What the fuck” repeatedly.
When they are sick of watching the tape, I shut it off. I turn to them and they both look at me with pity. I do not want their pity; I want them to know the truth. My husband was seriously sick. Mentally and physically, sick!
Randy comes to me giving me a big hug, “I am so sorry, Kristy. I had no idea. Trust me if I did I would have told you. You know I would have.”
We all are at a total loss for words. We say nothing because there is nothing to say. Nothing at all! The videos already said it all!
The only thing left that I want to know is how I did not know what was going on with Hugh. It was so much worst then I thought!
CHAPTER 8
I wake up the next morning and call, Officer Smith. I could not sleep the night before. I have so much on my mind. I am going to do the right thing though.
“Hi, Officer Smith, it’s Kristy Price - well Coleman. I am wondering if you can come to my house. I found something of Hugh’s I think you would like. I really want to give it to you!”
He would better like them because I knew I did not. I wanted the fucking guns out of my house. Right along with the money and diamonds.
“Sure we can, we will be there shortly.”
When I hang up the phone and I walk back to Hugh’s bedroom. I continue to pack away his clothes. He had very expensive taste in his clothes. I have box upon box when I finish. I decide I will take them to the Goodwill. I hear the doorbell ring. I stop everything that I am doing and I leave the room to answer the front door.
“Good morning, Mrs. Co
leman.”
Officer Smith and Harris are there. I move aside to let them in. When I get inside, I take them back to Hugh’s room.
“I found these in a safe Hugh had.”
I hand, Officer Smith all the diamonds. He looks at his partner with wide eyes.
“Mrs. Coleman, can you tell me where your husband got these?”
“We that is, Randy found these emails on Hugh’s computer from South Africa. I am assuming that is where he got them.”
I walk into the closet to pull some of the money out of the safe.
“Mrs. Coleman, may I please look at the emails?” Officer Harris ask.
I show him the computer. While he is doing that, I hand the money to Officer Smith and take him into the closet to check out the safe.
“I also found these guns in the safe. There was a lot of money to go with them. I only gave you some.”
I step aside so he could get a better look at the safe. He looks through everything.
“He holds up a gun. Do you know if your husband was licensed for these?”
He takes the guns to make sure they are not loaded. When he looks, of course they are. He takes the bullets out.
“I don’t know. I hate guns and Hugh knew it! I would appreciate it if you would remove them from my home.”
Officer Smith takes the two guns placing them in a bag. He then goes over to the safe looking at all the money. He give a slight whistle.
“Ma’am, there is a lot of money in there. Do you know where that came from?”
I really had no idea where it came from! I could only assume. Why would he think I knew anyway?
“I am guessing the diamonds maybe. I have no idea. I told you he didn’t tell me anything!”
He takes the money adding it to the bag with the guns and diamonds.
Officer Harris comes back over to where we are. He hands over printed copies of Hugh’s emails to Officer Smith. He looks them over briefly.
“Well, so far it seems that is where your husband got all of the diamonds. We are going to take all this as evidence. When we complete our investigation we will let you know how it comes out.” Officer Smith is telling me. As if, I cared!
“I understand, Officers. Thank you very much for coming over so quickly.” They shake my hand and leave.
After they are gone, I load my car with Hugh’s belongings. I decide to go to the Goodwill. When I get there, two cars are in front of me. I sit there thinking about what to do with Hugh’s ownership in the bank, his car. I figure I will sell the ownership and his car. I think that maybe I will turn his room into a gym.
A beep behind me startles me. I look up, seeing the attendant waving me ahead. I pull my car forward then get out.
“Hi ma’am, what do you have today?”
I walk to the back of the car opening up the trunk, “everything in back of here goes.”
I help him unload the boxes out of the trunk. After he finished I thank him then I drive away.
I turn on the music thinking about what I want to do with the house now. I decide to cheer up the inside of the house. I stop by Home Depot in Aberdeen to buy some paint. I am so ready for a change. I feel good about painting the walls.
When I get home, I put on some crappy shorts and an old tee shirt. I enter Hugh’s room pulling out everything into the hallway. I paint the wall his bed is on a light green. I want that as an accent wall. I paint all the other walls white.
When I finished, I stand back to check out the room. I love the way it has made it look. It made the room look bigger. Much nicer than before. Hugh had painted them dark blue. I always thought it made the room look small. I decide that will be a spare bedroom.
I head into the kitchen to grab a beer when there is a knock on the front door. When I look out of the peephole, I see Heather is standing there.
“Hey Heather, what are you doing here?”
“I was just in the neighborhood. I wanted to stop by to see how you are doing.”
She looks past me and down the hallway to all the furniture that is there. She returns her look to smile at me.
“Kris, what are you doing?”
I follow her eyes to where she is looking. I smile feeling good about what I did. I hope it makes me feel better on the inside.
“I painted the bedroom. Come on and take a look at it.”
We go down the hallway to the bedroom. She looks at the walls smiling.
“How did you get all this heavy furniture out here? I hope you didn’t do it by yourself!”
I flex my muscles at her, showing off a bit. I have good size muscles.
“I’m no wimp. When I went to the gym I lifted a lot of weights.”
We both laugh heading to the kitchen for another beer. As I stand there, I look around at the rest of the house.
“I think I am going to paint the rest of the house. I need some more spark - life in here. Hugh, of course always did like those darker colors. It makes everything look so small.”
Heather looks around the living room.
She has decorated her house so much nicer than my house. At least I think so. She would never tell me that though. She had an interior decorator come in and do hers.
“Kris, I would love to help you! It will give us a chance to spend some quality time together again. We really haven’t had that in a while.”
I am enjoying the time I get to spend with her. It has been excessively long since we have been able to do this. Now that Hugh is gone, I can!
“That would be fun, Heather. It will be like we are in school again.”
We agree she will help me then we hug each other and she leaves to head home.
My house has three big bedrooms. It has two huge, spacious bathrooms done in wood. All the rooms have large open windows. The house has skylights with vaulted ceilings. The appliances are all stainless steel. The kitchen is open with granite counter tops. A rec room has a pool table with a dartboard. There is a fireplace in the master bedroom. There is also one in the living room. Coming up to the front of the house the driveway has red rock outlining it. Very classy! The front yard is immaculate. There is a two-car garage. The backyard is immaculate as well. A pathway leads to the Ocean. Hugh, made sure our yard always looked good. I love the kitchen, although I did not use it. Mandy always did the cooking. She also was the only one to do grocery shopping. It will be nice to have to go the grocery store to do my own shopping.
I love living in my house. I love the way it looks. I used to love the way it feels! Hugh’s image is everywhere I look now. That I do not like!
I got overwhelmed that night. I decide to go to bed early. Again, I am awaken by who I think is Hugh. He is standing at the end of my bed. I wake up screaming. Sweat is pouring down my face. I finally get back to sleep, but I do not sleep well.
I lay in bed most of the day feeling really burnt out. I would drift in and out of sleep. Around four pm, I get out of bed. I take a shower, which feels so refreshing. I pick up my cellphone to call, Heather.
“Heather, did you and Randy have dinner yet? I don’t feel like eating alone.”
I am so hungry! I have not really eaten much in days. I just do not want to eat alone. Not just yet! Besides, they are great company.
“No, we haven’t yet. What do you have in mind?”
“How about Applebee’s? I have a craving for that.” I love their food and the service.
“How about Applebee’s?” I can hear her asking Randy if that is okay.
“Sure, we can meet you there in an hour.”
I hang up to go get ready. I put on some makeup. I dry my hair than flat iron it. I put on a pair of tight jeans with a sweater.
Getting in my car the radio comes on. Born to Be My Baby is playing. I like to sing but I was always shy about it. I do not think my voice is that great, but on the way there, I sing my heart out.
I pull into Applebee’s; the parking lot is full. I find Heather and Randy sitting at a table in the bar. We all give each other a hug. The ser
ver, Theresa, strolls over to our table.
“Kristy honey, I am so sorry to hear about your husband. If there is anything I can do, please tell me.”
She holds my hand rubbing my knuckles. She is giving me this fake smile. All I could think of was if she slept with my husband too.
“Thank you, Theresa. Can we please get a round of beers?” She walks away to get them.
I feel so guilty about sitting here. Last time I was here, I was with Hugh. Now, he is not here but I am. I cannot get the image of us out of my head. Sitting almost at the same table having an argument over nothing. That was almost an everyday thing. Arguing over nothing, how sad!
“You know, Heather, people are sitting there probably thinking bad things about me. I just lost my husband and I am out having fun with friends. Everyone expects me to sit at home to grieve.”
I always sit at home. This is my night out. I cannot even enjoy myself. I can picture Hugh in my mind he is pissed at me. Like I said arguing over nothing.
“Kris, people don’t know the hell Hugh has put you through. You really deserve to have a night out. Yes, maybe we could have waited for another time . . . who gives a fuck what people think anyway. You have to eat too. And, we are having dinner.”
Theresa returns with our beers. When she sits them down in front of us, I debate and decide I definitely need something stronger. Way stronger than beer!
“Theresa, can you please get us three shots of tequila?” I need to take the edge off.
She has a smug look on her face. She goes and gets them anyway. Like she does not even want to help us. Bitch is what I am thinking!
She brings us our shots taking our dinner order then walks away in a huff. What is her problem? I figure I will have to get use to people judging me now. People always judge you!
Randy holds up his shot glass. Heather and I do the same.
“Here’s to Kristy moving on with her life.”
We all down our shots, enjoying the time we get to spend together. We have not been able to do that in quite a while. Hugh was always so controlling!
Heather is staring out the window. She is lost in her own thoughts. Finally, she turns to look at me, “you know Kris in a couple of days is Hugh’s funeral. Are you okay? I worry about you.”
SCREAMIN' in Pain Page 6