by Jay Lang
Her words slice through my insides. Suffocating. Suspicious. Jealous. Sulking. I don’t know what’s worse—that she’s trying to foist the blame of her cheating onto me, or the possibility that she truly believes what she’s saying. Tears well up as I continue to listen.
“Well, he’s dead now, isn’t he? So, I guess you don’t have to worry about Jade finding out about your little affair. You’d better hope she doesn’t, especially considering that she’ll be babysitting his bastard. How convenient.”
“What the hell did you say?”
I hear the gun cock. I hear Denny tell her to calm down. But Annie won’t stop.
“What about Jade, Denny?” Her voice has a different tone now. “She’s your sister, don’t you give a shit about her?”
“If I didn’t give a shit about her, I would’ve told the cops the truth about her past, but I didn’t. It would’ve made her look worse than she already does.”
“She needs help, Denny. There’s something you don’t know.”
“What?”
Annie pauses for a moment before continuing. “I saw Jade come home in the morning. I was still groggy from the shit we took. But I remember hearing her come into the bedroom. I could feel her standing over me but I didn’t open my eyes, I just lay there. After a few minutes, she left the room and then I heard the front door open. I got up and looked out the living room window. I could see Robbie—he’d passed out on the beach, waiting for you to come back.
“Jade came around the side of the house. She was carrying the floatation pad and something else. I watched as she walked to the wharf where Robbie was. She stood over him for a minute and then bent down close to his head. The next thing I knew, she was tying the pad around his waist. I was too afraid to run out there. I mean…as far as I knew, she could have tied the cushion to him so that he wouldn’t drown if he fell off the wharf.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Lies. My wife, the person I love more than anyone, is telling Denny lies about me. Why? To cover up her own guilt?
My chest is feeling tight and it’s getting hard to breathe.
I hear Annie’s voice again. “I can’t do this anymore, Denny. Jade is in a constant state of panic. She’s always wondering when the cops are going to show up again. She doesn’t eat well and she gets up in the middle of the night and paces around the house. This shit has to stop. I’m going to call the cops. You’re going to tell them what you know.”
“No fucking way. I’m not staying here and waiting for the police to show up. I have a plan and that’s not it.”
“Well, I’m the one holding the gun, so I think I’m the one that’s calling the shots.”
“You’re not going to shoot me, Annie. You’d go to jail for life.”
“Over killing you? I doubt it. You’re a guy with mental problems who happens to be a suspect in a murder investigation. Plus, I’m a small pregnant woman. All I have to say is that you were in my house when I got home, so I grabbed the gun and shot you. I was protecting my home and my unborn child. Case closed.”
“That will never stick, Annie. You’re forgetting that this house is owned by my family, so really, I should be protecting my home.”
“Fuck you.”
There are loud thumps and crashes as, I assume, cans fall from shelves. Then, I hear the boom of the gun.
I yell into the receiver: “Denny, are you there? Annie?” I hear three quick beeps, and I pull the phone from my ear and look at the screen. The logo flashes, and the screen goes black. The battery had died.
I throw the phone on the seat. I try to focus, but my thoughts are starting to fragment and nothing is making sense. I hear a buzzing sound in my ears and my head feels strange, like my hair is made out of electricity.
Confusing pictures flash through mind, and Annie’s words ring in my ears. I see Annie on the bed, naked, then I see my truck with the door open and Tim’s grey medical case is on the seat. Next I see Robbie lying half naked on the wharf. I have no idea if these are memories or visualizations.
I’m still parked in the middle of the road when I hear the faint sound of sirens. When the sounds grow louder, I start the truck and pull over. A police car races by and another one pulls up beside me. I see Dickson in the passenger seat. He gets out and walks to my window. I look into his face, His eyes are serious, like pools of darkness, and I flash to the dream.
Robbie’s black eyes stare at me as he pulls me into the water.
Then, everything fades to black.
Chapter Sixteen
The first thing I see when I open my eyes is a blur of white. Soft pinging sounds in the distance get louder as my eyes focus. I turn my head and look around. I’m in a room, a hospital room. Beside me is a small white bedside table with a box of tissues and a lamp.
Why am I in the hospital? What happened?
On the other side of the room is a closed door with a small narrow window. I lift my head and look down the bed. Am I hurt? Is that why I’m here? I try to sit up but I can’t. I look down and see my hands cuffed to the sides of the bed.
A bolt of fear shoots through my stomach and up to my head. I start to scream for help. My breathing is shallow, but I keep screaming.
Suddenly, I hear a rattling at the door, like a key in a lock. Turning my head to the side, I see a woman about fifty walk in. Her brown hair has streaks of grey and is pulled tightly in a ponytail at the back. She’s wearing pink scrubs and has a laminated I.D tag hanging from a red cord around her neck.
“What’s the problem here, Jade?”
“What’s the problem? I don’t know where here is, I guess that’s my first problem.”
“You’re in the hospital in Nanaimo.”
“Why? And why am I cuffed to the bed?”
“The doctor is just talking with another gentleman in the hall. They will be in momentarily to explain things to you.”
“Can you free my hands, please?”
“Wait until you see the doctor,” she says before walking out of the room. A few seconds later, I hear the door lock.
My mind is racing with questions as I try to recount the last moments before waking up here.
I remember being in the truck on my way home from work. I called Denny. He finally answered. He was at the cottage and I remember feeling scared that Annie would come home. Then, all at once it hits me. Denny, Annie, the fight and the gunshot. That’s it. That’s the last thing I remember. Someone got shot and from what I heard on the phone, it was Annie who had the gun.
Denny! Is he hurt? Is he dead? Oh my God, my big brother. I can’t lose him. It’s only recently that we’ve been able to talk to each other. I need him in my life. He accepts me now, and he is the last link I have to my father.
Then I think of Annie. If she killed him, she’ll go to jail. I’ll lose both of them. My brother and my wife, in one day.
Again, the door unlocks. This time, a youngish doctor with blond hair walks in carrying a folder. Behind him is another man, not a doctor. It takes me a second to recognize him. Detective Dickson. I never thought I’d be glad to see him, but he’s the only familiar face I’ve seen since I woke up.
“Detective. I’m so glad to see you. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here. I just woke up to find myself cuffed to this bed. Can you help me?” I jangle the cuffs.
“Hello, Jade,” he says calmly. “Everything is going to be fine.”
The doctor looks at me. “Yes. We’re all here to help you.”
“Why am I here? What happened? Where’s my brother and where is Annie?”
The doctor and Dickson sit down in chairs beside the bed. I listen as the young doctor tells me that I have been in hospital for a week. He goes on to say that I had an episode called a psychogenic black out. He informs me that I committed a crime while I was in a psychotic state and because of the nature of the crime, I have to be cuffed to the bed.
“There must be some mistake, I’m not a criminal.”
The doctor stands up and
tells me that he’ll be by later to check on me. He nods to Dickson before leaving the room.
“He doesn’t believe me, does he?” I say, looking at Dickson.
“Jade, we need to have a little chat, you and me,” he says softly.
“Okay, but first tell me where Annie is and if my brother is all right. When I was on the phone, they were fighting and then I heard a gunshot.”
“Other than being in some hot water, they’re both fine.”
“Oh, thank God. Wait, what do you mean, hot water?”
“I can’t really comment on their cases, Jade. But as you know, lies were told to the RCMP during an investigation, which is listed in the criminal code under public mischief.”
It’s okay. This news isn’t as bad as one of them being dead from a gunshot. Knowing that Dickson still has something to talk to me about, I take a deep breath of bravery. “You said you have to talk to me about something?”
He nods, leans forward and folds his hands in front of him.
He tells me that I’m being charged with the murder of Robert Aaron James. I know I should be shocked at the significance of his statement, but for some reason, I’m not. And even though I have no idea what he’s talking about, I don’t feel panicked. I feel calm, kind of relieved. I don’t even want a cigarette. The only thing I’m worrying about is being sent to jail and taken away from my Annie.
“I didn’t kill anybody,” I say, as tears roll from the corners of my eyes. “I am not capable of doing such a thing.”
“I know you’re not, Jade.”
“Then why am I being charged with murder?”
Dickson sits back in the chair and takes a deep breath. His chest expands, threatening a few buttons. “Do you remember what the doctor said about you having a condition that causes black outs when you get really upset?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s what happened, only this time, someone died.”
“But, how can you be sure I was involved in Robbie’s death?”
“The autopsy performed on Robbie’s body identified a puncture wound on the back of his neck. Coroner toxicology testing found that he was injected with high levels of insulin. Because of the dosage he was given, Robbie’s blood sugar crashed, which caused him to slip into a hypoglycemic coma. An eyewitness said they saw you holding a grey case and standing over Robbie’s body on the dock, then kneeling at his head. When we questioned your friend, Tim, he told us that you had his diabetes kit, a grey case, at the time of the murder.”
“After testing the case and the insulin pen inside, we found your fingerprints.” I close my mouth. “As for the flotation pad that came from your boat, our witness says they saw you tie it around Robbie’s waist. It makes sense that you would have used the pad to keep Robbie’s body buoyant when you pushed him into the water so that he would float out of your bay.”
I stay quiet for a moment, trying hard to absorb it all. The words bounce around in my already confused mind. He keeps mentioning our witness, but I know that only Annie was home that morning. Then, I think back to when I was listening on the phone to when she told Denny that she had seen me on the dock that morning with Robbie.
No. I shake my head. Annie wouldn’t be a witness against me. And if she had in fact seen me doing something bad to Robbie, why had she stayed with me afterwards, only to go against me now? It didn’t make sense.
“So, that’s it?” I finally say. “I’m being charged with something that I don’t even remember committing, and now I’ll have to spend the rest of my days behind bars, away from my wife?”
He gives me a long look. “This is only the first step, Jade. There’s a long road ahead, and it’ll do no good to lose hope now.” He gives me a tight smile. “I’ve always favoured rehabilitation over punishment. Studies show that it works much better in terms of recidivism. You can hold hope that the judge reads those studies.”
I nod. I feel hollow, but there’s still a flare of life in my gut. I need something, and I ask Dickson. He thinks for a moment, then nods and pulls out his phone. I tell him the number, and he holds his cell to my ear.
“Annie?”
“Jade?” She sounds surprised.
“I don’t have much time to talk, I just needed to hear your voice.”
“Are you okay?”
“I will be.”
“What’s going to happen to you?”
“I don’t know, but I think I’m in the place I need to be right now.”
“I do too,” she says, crying. “I think a lot of things that happened to you when you were growing up really hurt you.”
“I know, and now is the time to confront those old ghosts.”
“Jade, I hope you’re not angry with me for telling Dickson what I saw the morning Robbie disappeared. Also, I’m sorry for the mistakes I’ve made. You’re the only person I want to be with and I know that now.”
“Good, because I need to know that you’ll be standing there when the smoke clears. And, no, I’m not angry with you. In some strange way, you may have saved us.”
“I love you, Jade. Always.”
The End
Jay Lang grew up on the ocean, splitting her time between Read Island and Vancouver Island before moving to Vancouver to work as a TV, film and commercial actress. Eventually she left the industry for a quieter life on a live-a-board boat, where she worked as a clothing designer for rock bands. Five years later she moved to Abbotsford to attend university. There, she fell in love with creative writing and wrote five novel manuscripts in a year. She spends her days hiking and drawing inspiration for her writing from nature.