51. Hades
Hades
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
As soon as I get home, instead of immediately saying what I need to, I stay in the kitchen with her, chatting with Ernest and watching as Kennedy feeds our son.
Later, we say goodbye to Ernest and go together to put our little king to sleep.
I never thought of myself as a family man, but I’ve found that I enjoy simple rituals like changing King's pajamas, watching him stubbornly brush his teeth, telling a story, and then stealing his mother just for myself.
When we get to our room, I undress her and prepare a bathtub for the both of us. I wash every inch of her body and then take her to bed and fuck her for hours, unhurriedly.
But I know we can’t go to sleep without me telling her what I’ve discovered, so I invite her to join me in the library.
Remo gave me a copy of the video—the original, by now, is with the police—but instead of showing her that horror movie, I tell Kennedy, in detail, what we watched in it.
"What you just told me . . . does it mean the lawyers will get the Prosecutor's Office to drop the charges?"
"You can bet on it."
"Can I watch the video?"
I nod, because I was sure she would ask me. "It's not pretty. It's actually very bad."
"I can imagine, because I remember the state her body was in and that there was a cut on her throat, but I need to see it because I hope it helps me remember."
There's nothing I can do to prevent her from reliving that nightmare, although I wish I had that power.
I will never forget the part of the recording where Kennedy asked Pam to leave her alone and she replied that she’d promised Ryan he could "play" with my wife.
I grab my notebook, and after preparing the video, I hand it to her.
Kennedy watches everything three times. The first time, she has to stop to cry.
I don't try to console her. I know she needs space to work through her own emotions. Kennedy knows I'm here, by her side, to support her, but this dive into the darkest day of her life needs to be done alone.
I can't imagine what she feels witnessing her own fear and knowing what happened afterward.
In the end, she closes the notebook and covers her face with both hands. "Even so, I can't remember everything. But it helped a lot. I think my memory has been coming back through triggers."
"What do you mean?"
"I remembered my childhood at Riny's house, then our story together from the moment we met at the casino, but only after you came to see me and stayed with me at the hospital in New Orleans. Every memory that has returned happened because something triggered it. Now, for example, I remember some scenes that happened at the beach house, but I think I’m only able to recall because I watched the video. However, my memory only goes up to the moment I first fled from Ryan that night."
"The first time?"
"Yes, from what I understood from the recording, it was more than once, but from what I remember, when it happened, it wasn't after I hit Pam with the statue. I don't even remember hitting her, to be honest, but of course I did because the audio made that very clear." She sounds distressed.
"You don't need to rush to tell me what you remember, Kennedy. I just wanted you to know that we will be able to put an end to this nightmare."
"I prefer to talk about it now. I'm afraid of forgetting again. After watching this video, as I said earlier, I remembered several scenes, but not what led to her death. It was clear to me that I witnessed the murder because I was terrified in the audio, but I don't even remember hiding in this secret closet, let alone seeing Pam being killed."
"But the expert thinks you saw it, and that . . .”
"What?"
"Remo thinks you saw Pam being killed and that's why you hid. He believes you only survived because you found the secret room. Ryan wouldn't have left a witness. You knew he was there. Now, tell me what you remember."
"Both of us arriving at the house and how upset I was when I noticed Ryan was going to stay with us. He had already tried to give me drugs at Pam's party, and it only took me one second to realize that the man was no good. I didn't have a normal adolescence. I didn't go to parties or enjoy life, because I had other obligations, like putting food on the table, but I dealt with playboys at the casino, and guys like Ryan could be found in every corner of that place. Spoiled and disrespectful jerks. So when Pam tried to push me toward him at the club, I said no."
"Pam was his friend."
"I don't know if ‘friend’ is the right term for it. They had already hooked up because she told me so herself. Maybe more than hooking up, because she told me she had 'tried him out,' or something like that. I think she wanted me out of the way, Hades. As you believe yourself, she considered me a possible rival, even before suspecting that we had made love in your grandfather's library, so at the club, she tried to get me interested in Ryan. I have no doubt that even before that nightmare at the beach house, they already had some kind of 'thing.'"
"Do you know her life story?"
"I do. Mrs. Vina told me a bit about it. Very sad, but Pam didn't like her grandmother bringing it up, which is understandable."
"Because of that, I thought she would choose a partner more wisely. In fact, I encouraged her to find a nice guy, and Ryan definitely didn't fit that concept."
"Not at all, but to be honest, I think Pam pretended all the time, like someone with a split personality, you know? She behaved according to what you and her grandmother expected of her, but deep down, she was far from being a good girl. Anyway, that night at the beach house, I locked myself in the room. As you heard in the recording, I was very upset, but when I got hungry, I had to go downstairs."
She squints as if trying to remember.
"If you want to take a break . . .”
"No, I prefer to talk about it all at once. I know I'll have to testify about these memories that have come back. When I set foot on the last step, I noticed they were both naked and completely drugged, and I turned around to run, but I wasn't fast enough. Ryan saw me, came after me, and grabbed my arm, then my neck. I fought with him. I kicked him in the balls just like I did with that creepy manager in New Orleans."
"I'm going to kill him."
"He deserves to face justice. To have his disgusting face plastered all over the newspapers."
"That will happen too. Now, go on."
"I ran away, but he chased me. But he was already too out of it, I think, from a mix of drugs and alcohol."
"And Pam?"
"She just laughed at my attempt to escape. When I got upstairs, I locked myself in the room. I don't think he really tried to catch me that time, or he would have succeeded. I felt pain all over my body. Ryan is much bigger than me and was hallucinating. I was at genuine risk of not surviving that night. That's when I realized things had gotten out of control.”
"Out of control?"
"Yes. I’d heard Pam when she’d called you earlier and the lies she’d told you."
"Why didn't you try to contact me?"
"I was upset with you because we’d made love and then you didn't reach out to me again. That only confirmed the bet story. Now I know that you didn't remember anything, but at the time, I was very angry. Also, when she called you, I didn't really think I was in danger at the time. I thought I could leave the next morning and everything would be fine."
"Tell me why you said things got out of control."
"I don't think they wanted to kill me or even that Ryan planned to kill Pam. You heard the recording. She wanted to film me having sex with Ryan or maybe cause you to catch us both in the act, make you disappointed with me."
That bitch.
How could I have been so deceived by someone? Ernest is right: Pam turned into a monster.
"But you fought. You weren't the scared prey they imagined you would be."
"Yes, and from what I heard on the phone call she made to you, you said you would arrive the next day, right?"
"Yes, but I decided to see what was going on. I came early."
"Well, she didn't count on that, I think. Maybe she decided to take advantage of the night. Maybe she used more drugs than was safe and lost control. We'll never know the reason why Ryan decided to kill her."
"He didn't just kill her. He tortured her for hours too."
"Do you think he'll ever confess to what he did? It would be the only way to fill in all the gaps."
Yes, because I'll make him talk. "Who knows. Once he's caught, we'll find out."
"All I know is this: I fled to my room, not to that hiding place. Then I started to hear screams. They were talking nonsense, making vows of love and saying what they wanted to do to me. I think that was the moment I left the suite again, according to the recording, when I caught them having sex, but that's just speculation because I don't remember that, nor Pam chasing me and me hitting her with the statue."
I can't hold back anymore, and I pick her up, lying down on the couch with her on top of me. "It's okay, love. It's already a lot. Maybe the rest of the memories will come back at some point. What you’ve told me will help finalize several points."
"I still can't believe I had the courage to hit her with the statue."
"You were fighting for your life, Kennedy. We never know what our limit is until we're stretched to the maximum."
"Delores told me something similar."
"Delores?"
"My cellmate. I still write to her every other day since I left prison."
She quickly tells me all about the inmate.
"Is there anything we can do to help her?" I ask.
"No. She confessed. She'll spend her whole life behind bars," she says, sounding sad. "She told me that we are all capable of killing. At the time, I thought the statement was an exaggeration and didn't apply to me. Now, I'm not so sure."
"You don't have to think about it. I'll be by your side. No one will hurt you or our son, Kennedy. I would give anything, all my fortune, to erase what you went through, but I promise I'll avenge you."
"The Kennedy from the past would tell you to forget about it, but I'm not her anymore. I want Ryan to pay for what he did."
I don't think she knows we're talking about different kinds of revenge. For Kennedy, legal justice is enough. For me, I'll only be satisfied when I enact my own justice.