“What do you mean?” asked Amelia.
“Police officers found the stalker’s identification and went to his apartment and found further evidence that he definitely was the one stalking your place. He had pictures of all three of you going in and out of the apartment. Schedules of the times you left for school and work and when each came home. He somehow knew the layout of the apartment, and which room each of you slept in, because he had a floor plan with your names in each room.
“Why was he stalking Betty?” asked Amelia.
Wilson said, “I’m sorry to tell you this, it may come as a shock, he wasn’t stalking Betty, he was stalking you, Amelia. We don’t know why and thought maybe you could help with that.”
Amelia couldn’t believe her ears. What! Did I hear that right, you said he was stalking me?” she said bewildered. “That’s so crazy, so revolting to me. I try so hard to stay away from any of the men on the job, I even have them thinking I’m a guy, I, I, and she suddenly stopped. She was horrified and disgusted at the same time at what Wilson just told her. Then…..the realization hit her like a ton of bricks!
“You mean that he thought Betty was me? And that he, Oh My God, no,” sickened by that, she gasped, feeling the bitter taste of bile in her throat and trying very hard to swallow it back and not to throw up.
“It should have been me and not Betty that was assaulted. Oh God, I’m, I, feel so I mean, I feel so guilty, I don’t know what to say. I’m horrified, God help me, I wouldn’t have this happen for anything. That Betty must go through this when it was meant for me. I wish I could change places with her, but I can’t. Oh Shel, what am I going to do? How can I tell her that all her pain was meant for me and not her?” Shelly took her in her arms and hugged her.
“Honey it just happened you didn’t know.”
Growing more emotional by the second and crying now, Amelia raised her voice, “Who was this crazy, fucker anyway, that he couldn’t tell the difference between us.”
Wilson said, “Amelia, I’m sorry I had to tell you all this, but the three of you are so much alike, slender, long hair, pretty close in height and weight.”
“Betty has blonde hair, mine is brunette.”
“Remember,” said Shelly, “Betty had a migraine and made your room as dark as possible, she took pain pills and had on her sleeping mask. He probably couldn’t tell in the dark and she was pretty out of it from the pain medicine.”
“Why was Betty in your room Amelia?” asked Wilson.
“The ceiling in Betty’s room was damaged and Shelly and I had to study and since Betty had a headache my room was the furthest down the hall and the quietest, she went there,” said Amelia between sobs.
“Excuse me a minute,” said Wilson, as his cell phone rang, “I have to get this.”
“When?” he said, “OK I know the drill, I’ll be there as soon as I wrap up here.”
“That was my boss calling, the stalker I shot just died on the OR table. The only good thing is that he will never try to hurt you again, and you all will be spared the stress of going through a trail and testifying.”
“Who was the bastard?” asked Amelia sobbing.
“His name was Charles Thompson.”
Amelia almost fell off her chair. She grew faint she grabbed Shelly to help her stay upright. Shelly looked as shaken as Amelia. Amelia paled, and they clung to one another both crying and were unable to talk for a minute, feeling raw and exposed as they thought of what happened that night.
“Wilson,” said Amelia sniffling, “I feel as if I want to scream because this is my entire fault, Charles Thompson was my boss at the construction company, and he goes/went by Chuck.
“This is really bad Wilson,” said Shelly, “he was the one who brought us Chinese carry out the night Betty was supposed to meet him in the park. He sat and ate with us.”
“He was very clever, he wanted you to think he was targeting Betty so you would drop your guard and keep trusting him. He also knew the layout of your apartment. The officers found all kind of pictures of Amelia in his apartment and I’m willing to bet that when we talk to his boss and fellow employees, they will tell us he couldn’t stop talking about you. Did you ever go out with him?”
“We went for coffee a few times and dinner at the Silver diner, he kissed me once or twice and I put him off. I told him that if he expected me to have a relationship with him because he gave me a job, I would quit and find a new job. He didn’t want that because Mr. Evans kept asking him to get me to work full time and if I left, he would have been upset with Chuck. I told him I had a steady boyfriend. He asked me why he never saw me with him, and I told him he was in the military. I swear I never gave him any reason to think I was interested in him. I was grateful he gave me my job, but that was all. I feel like such a fool,” said Amelia, “and so sorry I exposed Shelly and Betty to harm. I even told him about somebody following us and asked him for advice, I’m so stupid.”
“You’re not stupid he was a good con man. He was holding all the cards. He knew that your boyfriend was not around, and you were not dating other men, so that made you fair game.”
“I think he would have liked it if I would have dated him, I told him I wasn’t interested in him, because I have Chad.”
“One more thing,” Wilson said, “were you about to come into some money like an inheritance or something?”
“No, why?”
One of the things he said to one of the employees was that you were about to get some money or reward or something and you were going to share it with him.
“Oh my God,” said Amelia, “that’s what must have made him so angry that he reached his boiling point, Shelly. Remember I showed you and Chuck the letter from Mr. Evans saying he was paying for a semester of my tuition, he knew then, there would be no reward money for him.”
“That was probably it, it must have thrown him over the edge, and he wanted to make you suffer because he was not getting a reward, not cash anyway,” said Shelly.
“I will leave it up to you to talk with Betty and tell her what you will,” Wilson said. He’s dead, I have a lot of paperwork to do, and I’ll be on administrative leave until they declare the shooting was in self-defense. Anyway, I needed to tell you everything hoping it would put you at ease and make you stop looking over your shoulders. I have to go now, if you have any more questions please call me anytime. I’ll check up on you next week, to make sure everything is going well.”
Alone, Amelia and Shelly looked at each other. Amelia said, “Shel, I don’t think I can lie to Betty. I feel so miserable that she is forced to go through all this, especially she said, in a very low voice the rape and Darrell and all. She probably is going to hate me said Amelia through her tears.” Shelly tried to comfort Amelia. She was clearly in pain.”
“Let’s wait and see,” said Shelly, “let’s give her tonight, and a little distance, and then tomorrow we’ll talk.
Betty was admitted to the hospital, they kept her overnight, and Shelly and Amelia stayed with her. Betty told no one she was raped.
[ Chapter 30 ]
In the morning they took her home to their apartment and after she was in bed and comfortable Betty insisted on telling them the whole story. She took her pain medicine and fell asleep. She woke up because she felt the presence of someone in the room.
“At first I thought it was one of you checking on me,” she said, “then I heard this deep male voice, he was talking fast saying something about needing money and faking him out by getting school money. I don’t remember more. I was out of it from the pain medicine. I feel guilty because if I didn’t take the medicine maybe I could have fought him off.”
“It’s not your fault and there is no reason for you to think you did anything wrong, it could have been anyone of us, it should have been me,” said Amelia.
“Do you want us to get you the morning after pil
l?” asked Shelly.
“No,” said Betty, “I don’t know what to do.”
“Why didn’t you tell them you were raped?” Asked Amelia.
“Because Darrell would never marry me if he thought I was with another man.”
“But you weren’t with another man,” said Amelia, “you didn’t consent.”
“It wouldn’t matter to Darrell; he has a hang up about that.”
“Fuck, what Darrell thinks,” said Amelia, “you need to protect yourself. What if you have a venereal disease or something?”
“I’ll have to get treated,” said Betty, “I’ll go to my private doctor. I want to marry Darrell, he’s so right for me and my family really like him. He’s the first guy I brought home that they approve of. I’ll have to wait and see if everything turns out alright.”
“Betty,” said Amelia, “I have something to tell you, I’m so torn up about it, and I can’t do anything about it.” Amelia began crying.
“What is it Amelia?”
“It wasn’t you who was supposed to be raped it was me,” said Amelia weeping.
“Why do you say that honey?” Asked Betty.
In a sudden burst Amelia couldn’t stand it in anymore, she whimpered out, “Because it was Chuck my boss who did it, he was mad at me because I wouldn’t date him and because I got my tuition paid as a reward, instead of money, which he thought I was going to share with him. I’m so sorry Betty, I would apologize, but that wouldn’t change anything I feel as if I were the one who beat you up.”
“Chuck the guy we met in the diner that you worked for. My God! Come sit by me,” said Betty, with flat affect, “I’m sorry to say this, I’m so glad he’s dead. I’m sorry for everything, but I don’t blame you Amelia, you had no way of knowing. If I hadn’t had a headache it would have been you.” They hugged and cried together.
“Amelia don’t let this eat on you, maybe if I wasn’t so damn concerned about Darrell’s feelings, things would have been different. I feel guilty too.”
Shelly and Amelia slept in Shelly’s room with Betty that night. Betty told them the next morning that she was going to her parents. “I don’t think I can live in this apartment again. I feel so invaded and powerless and weak here.”
Betty decided to postpone her wedding because she had bruises and a black eye, not to mention the pain that she was hiding, she wasn’t ready after the trauma. She told Darrell she was mugged, and Darrell understood, and he tried to console her. Betty stayed at her parents to recuperate she didn’t know if she could ever come to that apartment again. Before Betty left Amelia talked to her, she told Betty that if she didn’t want to see her or be her friend any longer, she would understand.
“Amelia,” said Betty, “this was no body’s fault. I don’t want to play the blame game. If you feel guilty every time you look at me, then I guess we will stop being friends. I don’t want that to happen, I love you and I think we need some time; we will heal and get over this. I want us to be friend always.”
“Thanks, Betty. I was hoping you would say that. I feel the same.” They hugged and vowed to remain friends.
After Betty left Shelly tried to comfort Amelia, she was so emotional and worried about Betty.
“You know Amelia, we shouldn’t be surprised at Betty not wanting to report being raped. The latest statistics say that over 80% of woman who are raped don’t report it.”
“Why?” asked Amelia.
For a lot of reasons, for one like Betty afraid the man they love will not understand. Afraid people will look down on them, worried some will think they didn’t do enough to try and stop the rapist, and other reasons. It’s a hateful, power mind grabbing crime that a lot of women never get over.”
“I hope Betty is not one of them,” Amelia sad softly.
Late in the evening Chad called, “I hope I didn’t wake you sweetheart, I wanted to hear your voice and let you know I was back.”
“Hi honey,” said Amelia, “it’s good to hear from you.”
“The minute he heard her voice he knew something was very wrong. “Honey what’s the matter?”
“Physically I’m good, they caught the stalker, he’s dead, the police killed him, I’m blown away by all this, and I’m so sad.”
“Can you talk about it?” He asked.
“Not on the phone, I would just blubber and it’s so painful,” Amelia said as she began crying.”
“Honey, I’m going to come to you, it will take me about 24 hours to get everything squared away, can you hold on till I get there and then I will be with you.”
“Yes, Babe, I’ll be waiting.”
As he promised, he was at the apartment at 5:00PM the next day.
When she opened the door, he took her in his arms and held her and she shook with sobs and held him close. He closed the door threw his bag in the corner, took her to the sofa and said, “I’m here Babe, I’m so sorry I wasn’t here before.” After a time, she said, “I’m sorry I didn’t even kiss you hello and I love your kisses, honey,” rasped Amelia.
“Don’t let that worry you. You are more to me than kisses. I had to come I was so worried about you.”
“Thank you for coming, Babe, I was feeling so badly, I’m better now that you’re here.”
Amelia stopped crying and began to tell Chad about what happened and the mix up with Betty being in her room. When she told Chad who the stalker was, he was shocked.
“He looked stunned, that bastard! He said. If he weren’t dead, I would have found him and killed him myself. It’s all over now my darling you need to try and put it behind you. I know you won’t forget it for a long time. You just have to work with it. Did you have a chance to talk with Betty about the mix up I mean?”
“Yes, she still wants to be friends, she says she doesn’t want me to feel guilty. Betty says she is as guilty as me because when all this first started, she didn’t want to pursue is because of Darrell’s beliefs about women being pure and all that. If she brought it all out in the open, maybe it wouldn’t have been so stressful, and she wouldn’t have headaches. If she didn’t have a headache, she wouldn’t have been in my room. She doesn’t feel she can stay in this apartment any longer though, she’s at her parents.”
“How about Shelly?”
“She’s staying with friends.”
“Babe I’m so glad you’re here, thank you for coming to me I was so distraught and stressed out, how did you get away?”
“You don’t have to thank me. I would have been upset if you didn’t tell me you felt bad and tried to do this all on your own. I’m pissed off at Darrell, he should have been here.”
“I knew you were in trouble the second I heard your voice, I thought you were upset at me for something at first, no matter whatever it was I had to come. I told the captain I had to go work on some heavy equipment.”
She smiled at that.
“I got a small smile, thank you Lord,” he said.
“I think I will be OK now that you’re with me, how long can you stay?”
“Only 4 days my sweet one, but we’ll be together every minute.”
I’ll give you all the details later, I want you to hold me and give have some of your restorative kisses now?”
“I would like to think they could restore you. I know that you are life for me. Honey I want you to know one thing, if that was you instead of Betty, I would still be right here holding you.”
In the next few days, Amelia was feeling much better. She called Mr. Evans and her and Chad went to see him. He knew the whole story because the police had questioned him also. He told Amelia not to worry that she would always have a job with his company, he would talk to Andy, and he would arrange a schedule for her. She thanked him and told him she was sorry all this happened.
Their days together flew by and it seemed like minutes had just passed and she was taking hi
m to the airport.
Secret thoughts: (I’m so happy that Chad came to me. I felt as if I were drowning. It is so fantastic to know how much Chad cares for me. I was so embarrassed when Mr. Evens started telling Chad how I saved Mike’s life. Chad was so proud. I can’t even get myself to say Chuck’s name it’s so unbelievable.)
[ Chapter 31 ]
Wilson called and asked if he could come to the apartment to talk with them again. Only Shelly and Amelia were there. He told them they found out that Chuck had a gambling problem and recently he had his pay garnished because he was not making his child support payments. He also told the men in the crew that he had an intimate relationship with you, Amelia and that the owner of the company was going to give you a big cash reward and you were going to share it with him.
“Good God,” said Shelly, “he must have been delusional I know Amelia never lead him to think that.”
“I’m sorry,” said Amelia, “I thought he was going along with pretending I was a guy, you see it was easier for me to work at a construction site to be thought of as a man, and I guess Chuck didn’t honor his promise to do that for me. I don’t want to hear anymore. I’m sorry I don’t mean to be rude. I’m going to go to my room now.”
Wilson said to Shelly, “I didn’t mean to upset her; I wanted her to know what the people at her work were being told.”
“Don’t worry about it, she feels so guilty that it was Betty that got hurt when it was meant for her, she’s upset with herself.”
“Did she tell Betty about Chuck?”
“Yes, they had a long conversation and they are such good friends they care for one another. The three of us have a relationship like that with each other. Betty is not angry with Amelia, only the state of the affairs and she probably won’t be marrying her fiancé, Darrell.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, he has ideas of what a woman should be, pure and faithful and all that stuff. If she tells him the truth, he won’t think she fits the bill now.”
“That’s such a waste, and so weird, what do you mean pure and faithful, Betty was beaten what’s has that got to do with it.”
Secrets of Amelia Page 19