31. Hades
Hades
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
"There was a lot of blood from my girl spread all over the place, mainly in the bathroom, which she said, in the statement she gave after she came out of the coma, was where she 'woke up.' I'm assuming that Kennedy hid there to protect herself," he says, and I close my eyes, imagining the scene and wishing to kill someone. "The fact is that it is stated that these samples still exist. They have her blood, Hades. I'm not a forensic scientist or anything like that. I have no idea how the blood needs to be preserved to be viable for testing whether there was alcohol or drugs in it, but don't you find it strange that if the Prosecutor's Office did it, they never attached the result to the process? Kennedy's defense was entitled to access that test too."
I've read the case several times, so I know there's nothing about her blood being tested, and to be honest, I never paid attention to that. "Or they didn't test it, in which case there must still be samples, or the Prosecutor's Office made a point of forgetting, and the incompetent who defended her before let it slip through."
"I don't believe it was an accident. The prosecution would have wanted the test results. They would be proof of their theory."
"Yes, that's what I thought too," he says. "If it's proven that Kennedy wasn't on drugs, the memory loss could be a result of the shock she suffered. A shock so great that even after spending a year with me in the cabin, being run over, falling into a coma, and surviving, she couldn’t remember the past. It was seeing you that brought her memories back."
"They could have drugged her," I say.
"I don't believe that. Kennedy never broke the law in her life, and she wasn't old enough to drink yet. If I'm right and her fleeing the house without asking for help was the result of the fear she felt combined with memory loss, the prosecution's supposed 'drug-induced frenzy' theory falls apart. All that remains are her fingerprints on the statue, which could have gotten there while she was trying to defend herself from Pam and that bastard."
"I fired the team of lawyers I hired to assist the Prosecutor's Office tonight. They will present their withdrawal tomorrow in court. I also have people investigating Ryan's whereabouts, and my cousin will prove that Kennedy never had anything to do with him."
"How?"
"There's no way not to leave traces in the world today, whether online or physical. Unless Pam's contact with Ryan was by smoke signal, Odin will find the clues and follow them."
"Odin is . . .”
"One of my cousins."
"And what will your brothers say about this? You've completely turned the game around and are defending the woman you considered your enemy."
"They have nothing to do with this. It's my life. King is my son and . . .”
"And what?" he asks, but I'm not willing to reveal my plan to him. As much as Ernest has proved that he loves Kennedy like a daughter, the future I want with her concerns only the two of us.
"It doesn't matter. My brothers will accept what I decide, but mainly, with King being my son and Kennedy his mother, they will protect both even if something happens to me."
"So you're finally convinced that Kennedy is innocent."
"Yes, and I'll prove that she was the victim, not the guilty one in this story."
"What led you to that certainty?"
I'm not going to tell him about the drug Pam put in the whiskey. It's too intimate and only concerns me and Kennedy because it culminated in our night of sex. "A series of clues."
"Clues that you didn't bother to investigate before."
I shake my head. "I accepted the evidence because I was sure that Kennedy had run away with Ryan, or at least met him afterward."
"I was the one who picked her up that night," he says, confirming what I already suspected.
"I thought it was you indeed, but only after I found out that Kennedy had you as a protector."
"Who did you think it was if not me?"
"In the footage the police obtained from the street, although the image was grainy, you could see Ryan running away long before Kennedy was 'rescued.' I thought he had left and then returned to get her."
"My God, what a misunderstanding."
"It wasn't a simple misunderstanding. I admit my mistake and guilt. I became obsessed with the possibility that not only had she helped him torture and murder Pam but also fled with him without any remorse. I was so obsessed that I bought the house where the crime happened."
"What?"
"As soon as Kennedy returned and then fell into a coma, the Prosecutor's Office said they no longer needed the property, that the owner of the house had been asking for it back, claiming losses for not being able to use it while he had to continue paying taxes. The defense agreed, which, I confess, I didn't understand. How could they release a house where a crime still to be judged had happened?”
"That makes no sense!"
"I know, and that's why I bought it. I didn't let them touch anything. The crime scene was preserved. Maybe that can now help Kennedy's defense. The lawyers I hired will bring us the best forensic scientists in the world. There's one expert in particular that I've already contacted, Remo Pellosi. He's the best in his field."
"Why was that girl so important to you? Don't get me wrong: although I'm sure now that Pam wasn't worth the air she breathed, based on what Kennedy remembered, no one deserves to die like that. But I don't consider you a stupid man, easily deceived, Hades Kostanidis. Just as I think you investigated me, I returned the favor."
"Who are you in Kennedy's life?"
"We'll get there, but first, I need to understand what made you defend Pam so fiercely when it was clear she wasn't worth it. You come from a good family, and when I say good, I'm not referring to money. That worm Ryan Corey III is rich too, and yet he represents human scum. I mean that you and your brothers were well brought up, you’re honorable and intelligent men, so how did Pam manage to deceive you?"
"Pam came to us when she was six years old. She was the granddaughter of my grandfather's housekeeper."
"I know."
"Her life story..." I shake my head because it's still hard to relate the little girl I loved, the teenager I protected, to the diabolical woman she became. "She was violated practically since birth. Molested, at first, and then . . .”
"Jesus Christ!"
"Yes. At first, she didn't speak. Her mutism was such that we hired specialists. It took over a year for her to say her first word, and after that, little by little, she opened up. For some inexplicable reason—because I’d never dealt with children, since I'm the youngest of my brothers and cousins—she instantly adored me, and her persistent love ended up winning me over. I saw her as a little sister. She saw me as her hero. I promised that she would never be hurt again. I wanted to prove to her that the world wasn't just a place full of monsters."
"You just didn't expect her to turn into one."
"Yeah." I close my eyes for several seconds. The cold rain falls on me, bringing relief. "The day I arrived at the house in Cape Cod . . . I forgot the promise I made to Pam. I only cared about making sure Kennedy was okay. I searched the whole house for her, and that's how I found Pam and saw what they’d done to my ward. I didn't even try to resuscitate her. I knew she was dead, and even as I saw the police arriving, I was still desperate to find Kennedy. When they finally brought the street footage and confirmed that Kennedy was alive, that she’d walked out of the house and a car had picked her up, I refocused on the young woman I’d promised to take care of. A movie played in my head."
"You remembered when she was a child and everything she went through in her childhood."
"Yeah. Pam died as she was born, Ernest. Being physically and sexually violated."
I see him grow pale, and maybe now he sees some of the pain I felt.
"Let's go inside, my son."
"How are they? Is King okay? Is Kennedy managing to sleep?"
"The boy is great, and Kennedy has been sleeping, but she's restless and also vigilant about King, afraid they'll be separated. That someone will come for him."
Damn!
"That's not going to happen."
"You can't promise that. Besides, the main person she fears is you."
I know he didn't say that to hurt me, yet it hits me hard. "No one will separate them. Even if I have to take her and my son out of the country, Kennedy won't go back to prison."
He stares at me in silence for what feels like an eternity and then says, "Come inside or you’ll end up catching pneumonia."
I start walking alongside him. "A few minutes ago, you said: 'the first time you're arrested...'"
"Yes, I've been to prison more than once."
"How is that possible? I investigated you, and nothing ever came up about you. You were a senator's driver for years."
"But long before that, I was someone else."
"What do you really represent in Kennedy's life, Ernest?"
"The person who loves her more than himself."
"What do you represent to the rest of the world?"
"Someone who lives in the shadows, goes unnoticed, and whom most people don't fear. But they should."