“Completely normal for any person having to go through such a thing,” she thought to herself.
The other items, however, had no reasonable explanation for their being in this desk. Her fingers shook as she removed the file folders from the drawer and placed them on the top of the desk. Glancing up at the door, still ajar, the light of the hallway filled the threshold of the office, but the shadows protected her presence if anyone was to walk by. Looking back down at the contents that were now in full sight, she wondered what possible reasons Doc would have to be holding these. In the dim light, she made out a man’s high school graduation ring. Upon closer inspection, her suspicion of whom it belonged to was confirmed.
The engraving inside read “T. Bryerson – Class of ‘69”.
The mechanic had always worn his ring with pride on his right hand. There were more items; a watch that she knew belonged to George Hatchet. It had been a retirement gift from his co-workers last year. He had told her about the watch when she’d been assigned to him upon his transfer from the mainland’s cancer treatment facility over to the Oakwood Hospital to be close to his few friends, he’d said.
The pair of glasses that were among these items looked familiar also. Had she seen them in with Patrick Finnegan’s belongings when he’d been admitted to Emergency following his car accident? She couldn’t be sure, but they were very familiar to her. All these people were unaccounted for, but yet here were some of their most valuable possessions stored neatly away in this desk.
Panic came over her as thoughts whirled in her mind. The apparent change in Richard’s demeanour in recent weeks had not gone unnoticed. She had simply associated it with the normal reaction of Peggy Sue leaving him so suddenly. Now she questioned his behaviour and the reasons behind the changes.
Down the hall, she could hear voices near the nurse station. One voice sounded like a man, she knew she shouldn’t chance getting caught at the doctor’s desk, regardless of his reasons, if he caught her going through his desk, he would be angry with her again, and her stomach tightened just at the thought. Hands shaking, she gathered the folders again and put them back as fast as she could, trying to replace everything as it was before. In the hallway, she could now make out distinct footsteps approaching. They fell hard and heavy on the waxed floor. Harriett recognized them at once.
With unsteady hands she closed the drawer and fumbled with the keys for a few seconds. The footsteps in the hallway stopped for a moment. Harriett looked up but nobody was in the doorway yet. Bewildered she ran across the office, realized she left the notepad and pen on the desk and as she turned back to get them, the footsteps started again. She made a run for the door again, glancing back once to make sure she didn’t leave anything out of place on the desk. Her hand grasped the door handle as she began to turn towards the door. Instead of the bright light she was expecting in her eyes, she came face to face with Richard.
She felt an instant warmth spread across her face as he stared at her for what felt like forever before he smiled a forced grin and asked, “Harriett, what’s going on?”
She brought up the notepad and pen in front of her chest and forced a smile herself. “Richard, you startled me! I was just looking for the Patterson file, but couldn’t find it. I must have left it at the emergency desk,” she said as she inched her way out of the office and kept walking.
She didn’t dare look back at Richard, for fear he’d notice how nervous she was. Only when she heard the door closing behind her, once she was sure he was inside his office, did she let out the breath she’d been holding in. She wondered if she should tell someone of her findings. Another perspective on things was never a bad idea. She wouldn’t want to cause more friction between her and the doctor though, especially now. The secret she still held hidden inside her couldn’t be revealed to him until she was sure they were on good terms again. She decided to think it through before she told anyone about the items she found in the desk. She needed to be sure. Her thoughts kept returning to the golden cross, the etchings now carved permanently in her mind, as were the questions she kept asking herself.
* * *
Richard stood watching Harriett walking down the hall. He knew she had acted out of character; her eyes had not been able to look into his as she so often did since their affair had started. She had been clearly nervous when she’d bumped into him on her way out of his office. He walked in and closed the door behind him.
He stood at the doorway and looked around. Everything was in its place. He turned on the overhead light and walked over to his desk. He picked up the stack of handwritten messages that had been left for him and placed his briefcase on the floor. As he sat down, he noticed something odd.
He slouched forward in his large chair, the leathery seat moving forward with him. The tip of a file was sticking out of the middle desk drawer, just enough to see it poking through. He knew he hadn’t left it this way, especially not this drawer. He turned the small key in the lock and pulled open the drawer. He peered down and saw that the top file was placed at an angle. All the others were straight, as they should, as he had left them. This top file had been moved by hands other than his own.
Looking up at his door, he slammed the drawer shut, making the entire desk shake. He knew Harriett had been snooping, but how much had she seen. He was foolish to leave the spare key under the desk, thinking no one would dare go through his desk. But Harriett was apparently getting bold, he thought. Would she recognize the items? He couldn’t be sure and so he needed to be very careful with her in the next little while.
Doctor Edwards’ eyes reflected the light of his desk lamp along with the sudden influx of paranoia that had finally escaped his conscience and seeped into his reality. That’s when he noticed the picture of his wife face down on the desk. Clearly the action of a jealous and nosy woman.
* * *
Floating on the deep water, the fishing boat motioned to and fro, small waves of sea water splattered against its structure. On deck, a large fish net was spread out wide, hundreds of salmon sprawled out in the sun. Normally there would have been fishermen hauling them into crates and prepping them to ship off to the processing factories. Today however, the boat was void of fishermen. The fish looked in all directions with their empty, dead eyes.
A camera flash echoed through the daylight and shone brightly into the dead fish eyes as it went off. The police officer was taking photos amidst the dead fish, the buzzing of flies almost deafening in his ears. He got up and started taking different angle shots of the badly decomposed and swollen human head that had become tangled in the fishing net.
The long red hair that was still attached to some parts of the head had seaweed wrapped around some of its strands. Not far from the head there were more dismembered remains. Three human hands that were caught in hooks were placed side by side. They all appeared to have belonged to different people. This was obvious even with the considerable amount of decomposition, as the sizes of the hands differed greatly.
The officer moved on to photograph the green plastic bag in which a severed leg had been stuffed. Through the plastic, a tattoo was clearly visible on the leg. The tattoo was still clearly identifiable as the bag had apparently remained intact, protecting the leg better than some of the other remains from the salt water and predators of the sea. Nearby, on the wharf, two police officers discussed the findings.
“That leg has to be Ted Bryerson’s. I’d recognize that tattoo anywhere.”
The other officer nodded as he looked on past the taped off area of the wharf. A few on-lookers were watching and trying to catch wind of what exactly was happening on the wharf. The cop turned his back to the crowd and the other did the same, now facing the boat again.
“If the leg belongs to Ted, and this we are almost positive it is, I have a feeling that red head is Peggy Sue Edwards. It’s no secret that they had been having an affair.” The officer jumped a bit as a fisherman w
alked up beside him just as he finished this last sentence.
“Sorry there, bud. Just wondering how much longer you’re gonna be on my rig. We do have some work to do, already lost half a day’s catch, can’t afford to lose much more.”
The officer nodded and replied. “We’re just about done here. Now if you don’t mind, we can’t have anyone but officers near the boat right now.”
The fisherman was already walking back towards the wharf before he was able to finish asking him to leave.
“Let’s hope he didn’t hear any of that, the last thing we need is everyone on the island knowing about this before we know for sure.”
The officer was right to worry about word spreading, as that was exactly what happened. The first thing Lenny did when he got to his truck was to radio his wife to tell her he’d overheard the officers mention Peggy Sue and Ted. Within hours, the entire island was abuzz with the news that pieces of the adulterous couple had been found dismembered in the sea.
* * *
The doctor sat at his desk, fingers interlaced together, resting on the wooden structure in front of him. He knew as soon as he’d unlace them that the two officers standing in front of him would see how badly he was shaking. The taller of the two cops did most of the talking, as he had the most experience.
“We’re terribly sorry for your loss, Doctor Edwards. We are doing everything we can to find any possible leads surrounding your wife’s murder.”
The doctor sunk lower in his chair, letting his head rest against the leathery material. He closed his eyes and immediately there came the vision of Peggy Sue’s dead eyes staring back at him on the cliff-side, her fiery red hair twisted between his fingers just before he sent her head flying over the edge and into the rough sea below. He opened his eyes, distraught confusion now spread across his face. The second officer extended his hand and placed a business card in front of the doctor.
“We know this comes as a shock to you and it’s a lot to process all at once. If something should come to you, anything at all, give me a call. Try to take it easy over the next few days, doc.” With this, the two cops walked out of the office, leaving the door open as they left.
The doctor felt his whole body shake. He thought he had been very careful with the disposal of the bodies, but he’d never imagined they’d be discovered, and so quickly at that. He assumed the parts, lighter than a body intact would be brought further out to sea. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Pushing back the chair, he stumbled as he tried to get up. His legs felt weak and frail. The power he had felt pulsating from within when he killed was now disintegrating into a puddle of illusion that caused him to believe he was a suspect in his wife’s murder.
The police hadn’t even mentioned Ted to him, but he assumed they were trying to catch him in an underhand sort of way. He knew they had found Ted’s remains. The island hummed with the stories of the findings and he felt sure the cops knew he had a part in it all. They were just waiting to have enough to bring him in, no doubt. His legs carried him to the hall, where he saw the officers turning towards the exit. He decided to move in the opposite direction, and turned towards the stairwell which was the next door to his left. Just as the door was closing he heard a woman’s voice calling his name. It had been faint but he was sure he heard it and recognized the voice. It had been Peggy Sue’s voice.
He mounted the stairs two at a time. In his mind, the dead eyes of his ex-wife peered down into his, sunken and glazed over, they watched him and he knew they did. He ran up faster, passing the third floor door. He glanced in the narrow window in the door and just before he turned the corner to commence the next set of stairs, he could have sworn he saw a tall and very dead Ted Bryerson making his way down the corridor towards the stairwell.
Richard lost it completely. He ran up the stairs, his heavy footsteps echoing against the metal stairs. As each footstep fell, the sound reminded him of the loud cracking and popping sounds that Ted’s bones had made as he had dismembered him. His mind reeled images from both the horrid reality he had brought upon himself as well as false images that were now playing within. He needed to get outside, to feel fresh air upon his face, he would be able to breathe deeply again. His chest constricted as he ran higher. When he reached the top of the stairs, he pushed open the door that led out onto the rooftop. The air was an instant relief. He ran out towards the edge of the four storey hospital.
Looking down below in the parking lot, he could see Harriett speaking with Officer Blake Hatchet. Blake was George’s cousin. He must have sent the other two officers to talk to him so as to not rouse suspicions.
Richard couldn’t make out what they were saying but he already felt that he knew exactly what the conversation was about. She was no doubt telling him about how she’d found the items in his desk and that was how they had determined he was the killer. (In truth Harriett was not discussing this, but rather just asking Blake about his cousin George and if they had found any leads on his case.) The doctor couldn’t hear this from this height though and he assumed he’d been exposed as the killer.
Guilt and remorse never came to mind at all for him though, but rather he felt a deep shame that his good name was about to get tarnished because of Peggy Sue and her lover. And he felt betrayed by Harriett. How dare she bring such shame to him after she had professed her love for him so many times in the past few months? He had never once said it back to her, and he had known there was a reason. She was but another bitch with her own agenda.
The only regret he had was not having taken care of Harriett the same way he had Peggy Sue. This way he would have held onto his good name and none of this would have come about. He felt betrayed and infuriated. As much as his feelings of hatred for Harriett wanted him to go down the stairs again and take care of her right then and there, he quickly reminded himself of the situation he had to face. The analytical part of his brain always kicked in when he needed it most. He felt he had done nothing wrong. Again, remorse was non-existent in the sick man’s soul. He did listen to his mind though when it went over the possible outcomes of the paths he could choose to take now. He knew the police wouldn’t see things the way he did, that he had a good reason for each of his killings.
The decision of what to do next took him a full thirty seconds to analyze before execution. With his expensive shoes he climbed on the ledge of the rooftop and placed his arms neatly on the side of his body. He reminded himself to keep his hands on his sides until the very end. The last sound he heard was a woman screaming as he plunged off the building head first.
Even as he fell, his deathly demise summoning him to a certain fate, Doctor Edwards found pride in knowing exactly how to angle his body to ensure the job would be accomplished with instant delivery. He would feel nothing. Death would be instantaneous; the blow would split his skull and destroy his spine, killing him on impact.
Now as he careened towards the parking lot below, the woman’s scream was hushed by the rushing wind in his ears, loud but also calming. He held his breath but kept his eyes open. He wanted to see it all, right up to his last seconds of life. A blur of passing windows and siding of the hospital was all he would see in the few seconds it took for the fall to be complete.
Across the parking lot, Harriett’s scream carried on the wind, her love for Richard already grieving at his loss before Death claimed him. The clouds rolled in shortly after, and the cold summer rain began falling. Harriett felt the rain drench her scrubs, her body down on the pavement, tears flowing as heavy as the cold rain pouring down onto her. The officers held her back. She became hysterical and they needed to call for a third bystander to help her back inside. Harriett would never be the same again.
* * *
Six months later, Harriett Foster was waiting for Doctor Derek Johnson in a small room in the hospital. Uncomfortable on the examination table, her back hurt against the hard surface. Her nurse, Jenny, was tending to the IV dr
ip that had been started about an hour before. Soon it would all come to an end, or rather a new beginning. When the doctor entered, she tried to sit up, her face a display of worry.
“Please, Harriett, it’s alright, no need to sit up. Just relax.” Doctor Johnson came closer and slipped a pillow under her back and helped her turn to her side, a much more comfortable position for her.
“I have good news, Harriett. All the tests show the baby is fine.”
Harriett let out a sigh of relief and closed her eyes, thanking her angels for the life that kept growing inside of her. She felt the golden cross on the chain beneath her hospital Johnny. The same one that Easy Gina used to wear. As if it was a parting gift from Richard, Harriett had taken it before telling the police about the things she had found in the desk, which would be all the evidence needed to prove the doctor had been a murderer.
She held onto the pendant and the very same chain that she would one day place in a small gift box and try to give it to the one person she could pass it down to, in remembrance of the parents she would never really know.
The doctor went on speaking in a calming voice. “I know the last six months have been difficult, but we won’t let anything happen to you or your baby.”
Harriett smiled as the doctor patted her hand to reassure her.
“Now, Jenny is going to bring you back to your room, until the contractions start. Normally, an induced labour can take a bit of time, especially since it’s your first pregnancy. So just try and be comfortable and we’ll keep a close eye on you and the progress of your contractions.”
Harriett squeezed the young doctor’s hand before he let go. “Thank you, doc. This baby is the only thing that I have now. It means the world to me.”
Oakwood Island Page 13