18. Christopher - FB I Desperation
Chapter eighteen
Christopher - FB I Desperation
Y ou can’t imagine how many times I wanted to say “I told you so, Edie. That trip to Seattle was a bad idea and didn’t do Daniel any good either.” But that would be like rubbing salt into her wound and though we usually spoke our mind and didn’t hold back from each other, I kept my mouth shut. She was free from Daniel. She felt badly saying it that way but she told me this story and it’s hard to forget.
“Having him around made me feel like an old dog we had when I was a kid. That dog had killed one of mother’s chickens so to punish the dog, she tied the dead chicken around the dog’s neck for two days while it was tied to a tree as punishment for its transgression. I know I’m being melodramatic but Daniel was my dead chicken around my neck making sure I remembered my sin.” She would not soon forget those consequences.
Wanting to clear the slate, the girls and Edie planned to take a two-month vacation on the island, no work, just play and fun. They planned well and took everything they needed. They planted a garden in the fertile black soil for fresh vegetables, caught fish, dug clams, and took beef and chicken for the freezer. Their days consisted of caring for the grounds, planting flowers, swimming, boating, doing the laundry in an old washing machine on a side porch, and hanging it on a clothesline strung between the huge hackberry trees around the yard.
In the afternoon they’d lie in the hammocks and read for an hour or so. They didn’t have TV but they had a good radio so each night as the darkness fell they would listen to an old show called Tales from the Crypt. The girls would tremble and hide under their sheets but never wanted to turn it off until it was finished. They always announced they would never listen again but just as faithful as the setting sun, each night they would turn the spooky show on and shiver under their covers.
One evening they had just cooked some delicious catfish and corn on the outdoor grill and were eating their catch in the kitchen. Suddenly they heard sloshing footsteps coming through the great room toward the kitchen. Without a moment to react, they were stunned to see a man dripping wet and staring at them wiping the water from his face. Gaining her senses and sucking in a gasp, she realized it was Christopher. He must have swum the river. Edie was thirty years old so it had been three years since she violated his bed. As gut-wrenching as the day she handed him the locket from her neck and walked from his bedroom, shame hit her. It was impossible to hold back her emotions.
Tears spilled from her eyes as she looked into his. They had changed; the gentleness was gone, and the glow of knowing who he was had disappeared. He looked older, worn, and desperate with a wildness that frightened her. His long black wet hair hung in his face as he pointed his finger and in a commanding voice she had never heard from him he said, “You and I need to talk… NOW!” She assured the girls everything would be okay as she led him out the door to the Adirondack chairs in the yard. Confusion swirled like an F5 tornado in her brain trying to make sense of his presence after these long years. They sat facing each other as he reached for her hands. The familiar softness transformed his face from the harshness she had just witnessed as he spoke.
“You know, Edie, I will never stop loving you…ever. No matter what happened before or what the future holds, you are my one true love. I can’t describe what I feel but the very thought of you transports me to places in my dreams of joy and comfort. I pray you feel the same. I know you did at one time”. He gritted his teeth and shut his eyes so tightly, she was afraid to breathe. With a growl in his voice, he continued. “I hate the circumstances that robbed us, cheated us of the life we should have had together. It’s so unfair. Why? Why?” shaking his head back and forth. “Our love was meant to be, we both know that but forces beyond our control stole what was rightfully ours.”
She didn’t know where this was leading but the emotion that he displayed was frightening. She wondered if they were in danger and she couldn’t control the shaking that was taking over her body. She never imagined she would fear him, but this was a side of him she’d never seen. He continued holding her hands and when she tried to pull them back, there was an aggression, a clenching of belonging that caused her breath to catch. He peered intensely into her eyes and she felt she dared not look away. He sighed deeply then asked, “If we had enough money to walk away from our history here and start over where no one knew us, would you and the girls come with me?”
She was not expecting that. She scrunched up her face in disbelief. Money was never an answer to any of her problems. It’s great to have to buy what we need and care for us but she never thought money fixed anything. She didn’t know how to answer; Edie didn’t understand what she was feeling and she was so uncertain about his actions and demeanor, she couldn’t give him a direct answer. When she didn’t respond immediately, he became impatient and more demanding. “I need a yes or no…Now! Right now.” She couldn’t make sense of his aggression.
He looked desperate and fear crept up her back like a spider. “Christopher, how can I possibly answer a question like that? I would need time to think about our options. Why are you asking such a question? Money, or the lack of it, had nothing to do with our heartbreak. How could you think it would make a difference now?”
He released her hands and quickly stood, hitting his fist on the arm of the chair. “Just answer the question. Yes? Or No?”
She sucked in a deep shaky breath and shook her head. “If I have to answer now, my answer is no. I’m sorry.” He looked off in the distance across the water and in one fluid motion, he turned, walked toward the river, and dove in. And just like that… Christopher was gone… again.
After reassuring the girls and telling them as little as she could about Christopher, she let the situation lie dormant, but not for long. Three days later she was picking green beans in the garden when two long horn blasts and one short one sounded from the mainland. That was their standard signal that someone wanted them for something. She skipped to the cottage and grabbed the binoculars to get a look. Two black Crown Victoria Fords were parked in their space and there were four men in dark suits looking across at her with their binoculars. Oh shit! She turned to go inside when one of the men announced themselves through a bullhorn.
“Edie Green, this is the FBI. We need you to come over here; we have some questions for you.” She could barely keep her legs from collapsing and didn’t know what she should do. They looked official but she hadn’t done anything. She hadn’t been off the island in weeks so what could they want with her?
“Edie Green, this is not a request, this is an order. Come over here now or we will have to come there.”
Were they planning to swim? Did their cars turn into boats? Were they going to conjure up a helicopter? This was an interesting scenario. “You have five minutes to start moving in this direction.”
She left the girls on the island and instructed them to go to one of the other cottages if she got taken away and tell them what happened and contact the police. Such drama. They were all shaken to their core. She grabbed her 9mm handgun and tucked it in her waistband. She wasn’t thinking clearly. She certainly couldn’t get all four of them before they nailed her. She wasn’t Annie Oakley for sure but this was serious. She started up the small fishing boat. As she got close to the dock, two of the suits stood on the dock while the other two stood on shore. She threw them the line, instinctively touched her weapon, and as confidently as she could, asked “What do you guys want with me?”
They had done their homework and knew more about her than she did. They knew about her past relationship with Christopher and it seemed he had a mental breakdown two years earlier because of losing the love of his life. Oh boy. That was a guilt trip she had been trying to get over for years. The current situation was unbelievable. He was working as a night guard at a large bank in the city and was somehow able to crack the vault. He had walked out a few mornings before with $350,000 which would be like one billion five hundred eight five million dollars now. They knew he was the only suspect and they also knew he had been to see Edie a few days earlier. She assured them she didn’t have the money and they must have believed her whimpering story because they left and she never heard from them again.
The next day Christopher walked into the FBI office with a duffle bag filled with the money and turned himself in. He didn’t want the money…he wanted Edie. And just like that Christopher was gone to a mental health facility.