Chapter 16 #3
Yet he gave a momentary thought as to whether she could be dangerous to all in that house because she had just shown up, then dismissed it because he’d seen how she cared for the babies. The last thing he needed right now was to get completely paranoid about every person he met.
Hours later, shifting in his chair, Anderson’s instincts told him something was wrong. He got up and slipped into the hallway, checking. It was empty.
Nobody had been in or out, but it just didn’t feel right. He returned to stand at her bedside. She remained in a ward with many hospital beds. So he decided he would sit across from her bed, behind the curtain.
She appeared to have the entire ward to herself now, with no other patients in sight, so not quite the private room he wished she had but privacy just the same.
Not long after he settled down into the other space did the door open, but instead of the standard sounds of a busy nurse coming in to check on a patient, it was a stealthy noise that got Anderson’s attention.
He shifted farther back so his shoes wouldn’t be seen under the curtain on the opposite side.
As the footsteps approached, they went straight to his sister’s bed. Anderson stepped up behind him ever-so-slightly and, without giving his brother-in-law any warning, grabbed him by the nape of his neck and dropped him heavily to the floor. Tim stared up at him in shock and then started to panic.
Anderson sat down on him, refusing to let him go. “You are not leaving,” he snapped. “Not until we’ve had one hell of a talk.”
Timothy panicked, the adrenaline giving him an inordinate amount of strength, and he fought with a fury, but Anderson wasn’t having it.
His sister was in a hospital bed, and her unfaithful husband, instead of keeping vigil at her bedside, or being home with his babies, had been skulking around like some asshole criminal, and that would require an explanation.
Suddenly his brother-in-law stopped fighting and started heaving in agony, as if his chest were compressed.
Anderson knew that was a typical fight response, but he eased up the pressure ever-so-slightly. It wasn’t enough for Tim to get free but allowed him to breathe a little easier.
Finally Tim sagged and glared up at him. “You’re such a fucking asshole.”
“Yeah, you don’t know the half of it,” he stated, glaring back at him. “If you put my sister in this hospital bed, it won’t go well for you.”
He closed his eyes. “You don’t understand.”
“No. I don’t understand at all, but I have already talked to your mistress.”
At that, his eyes flew open, and fear took over. He shook his head. “No, no, no, no.”
“Oh, yes. She came to the house, looking for you, all crying and upset, then soon found out her world was in a far bigger mess than she thought. Needless to say I’m not a happy camper right now.”
Tim sagged even further and whispered, “Shit.”
“Yeah, shit is right. And you’re right smack in the middle of it. Now I’ll release some pressure, and I’ll need an explanation.”
He shook his head.
“Okay, that’s fine. We’ll do it your way.”
Just then Sammy came in, stopped when she saw him, a look of horror on her face.
“Call the police, please,” Anderson told her. She raced out of the ward, and he looked at his brother-in-law. “So, you’ll give me an explanation, or we’re hauling you down to the station and getting it there.”
“Good, at least down there, they won’t kill me.”
“No, but even they will have to let you go at some point in time. If they don’t have proof you did this,” he shared, his voice calm and deadly, “you’ll be out in no time. If you did do this to Talia, it doesn’t matter what the cops have or don’t have. You’ll never recover.”
Tim winced. “You were always so fucking good with the threats.”
“Not threats, Tim,” Anderson countered in a silky tone. “And how would you know that anyway? I’ve never threatened you in the least.”
“No, you haven’t, but your sister has, time and time again. If you do that, I’ll just have to tell my brother. It was a constant with her.”
“How sad that she felt she needed to do that,” he declared, glaring at Tim. “What the hell kind of husband have you been that she was forced to make those threats?”
“Forced to make those threats?” he repeated, groaning. “Jesus Christ. You don’t even understand.”
“No, I don’t, and I’ve been trying since the minute I got here, but you’ve been in the wind. This is your chance to explain.”
“And if I can’t?”
“Then you’re heading into big trouble,” he stated. “The cops have already been called or are in the process of being called. So, whatever you think you’ll try to get out of, you won’t be able to. Are you in some kind of danger, serious danger?”
“Yeah, I am,” he snapped. “Not that you care.”
“It’s a little hard to care about you when my sister is lying in here, fighting for her life, while you are running around like a fucking criminal and living with a woman you aren’t married to. Oh, and don’t get me started on your obvious lack of concern for your babies.”
He paled at that, then glanced Talia’s way and spoke in a subdued voice, “How is she?”
“Oh, don’t act as if you suddenly care now because obviously you don’t. She’s been in this damn hospital for eight days now.”
“And I’ve been doing my best to get in to see her,” he snarled.
“Yeah, so I’m still a little confused on that matter. Why would you not have been either by her side or caring for your children this whole time? And why are you trying to get in to see Talia now?”
“She’s my wife, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember,” he replied, with a mock smile.
“Do you remember? What about your mistress? Surely you remember Alice.” Tim closed his eyes and just shook his head.
“Right. Don’t tell me that you couldn’t handle it, …
marriage with triplets and all. Or that Talia didn’t have any time for you. Blah, blah, blah.”
“You don’t know what it’s like,” Tim wailed, opening his eyes.
“You have no fucking idea what it’s like.
It’s just babies, babies, babies. There’s no time for me.
There’s no time for us. And the whole time she was pregnant, she was this massive spider,” he shared in a venomous tone.
“This huge belly and arms and legs sticking out on either side. It was just gross.”
It was all Anderson could do to not kill Tim for that alone. “She’s carrying your babies, and that’s how you treated her? As if she’s some spider to be squashed?”
“I couldn’t even think about squashing her,” he snapped. “Just in case that huge belly erupted and baby spiders came running out everywhere.”
“Jesus Christ,” Anderson muttered. “You’re an evil little bastard for even thinking about her like that.”
“I couldn’t stop. Once I started, I just couldn’t—I couldn’t see her in any other way. She would want to snuggle, not have sex.”
“Don’t—”
“Never sex, she would just want to cuddle. She was always too exhausted.”
“Of course she was exhausted. She was taking care of your three babies.”
“They’re not just my babies. They’re also hers.”
“Of course but they are also yours, and that comes with responsibilities.” He stared down at the man he realized he didn’t really know at all. “The fact that you couldn’t begin to see that they are your babies too is damn scary.”
“Always crying for something, never a moment of peace. Whatever. I’m so done with all these pious accusations.”
“I guess you don’t have to worry about that anymore. I mean, pious accusations and all, it’s obvious that you’re in some issue right now that includes more than being a shitty husband and horrid father. Come on, out with it.”
“No! I’m not telling you. I’m not talking about it. It has nothing to do with you.”
“That depends. As far as I’m concerned, you’re about to be arrested for domestic violence. Assault and battery at the very least.”
Tim glared and snapped, “That would be the easy part, but it’s not that simple.”
“So, did you do this to her?”
“No.”
Yet something more was in his tone that didn’t quite ring true to Anderson. “Or was this done to her because of something you refused to do?”
At that, he closed his eyes and whispered, “Shit.”
“Right. So, now that we know they abused your wife—your struggling wife—because of something you did, how will that be a solution to your problem? What did you do that made somebody think that beating up Talia would make you cooperate? Oh, but you’re mad at her anyway.
Now, maybe if they’d beaten up your mistress instead, maybe that would have done it.
Would you have given them what they wanted then? ”
That last one seemed to hit Tim hard. He just blinked and muttered, “You don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t understand at all. Can you help me with that?”
“You’ve already judged me,” he whimpered, misery in his tone, “so it’s not as if anything I say will matter.”
“Out with it, Tim,” he snapped, “because the cops should be here any second, and I want to know what trouble you’ve gotten into.”
“If the cops take me away,” he said, “you won’t ever get answers.”
“Maybe, maybe not, because right now I’m not sure I care enough.
You aren’t telling me anything, so what do I care what happens to you, as long as you’re locked up?
You are the one who’s supposed to protect my sister.
You are supposed to look after her and those babies.
Instead I find out you’re responsible for her being in this hospital. ”
“And I feel fucking guilty as hell, all right? But I couldn’t do anything to stop it. These people? … They aren’t normal.”
“No, they probably aren’t. They’re after something they think you have,” Anderson said, with a disgust, “you weak and slimy man.”
“How do you know that they think that?” he asked resentfully.
“Because that’s the only reason people have for doing this shit. If you’re hiding something from them, or you have stolen something from them, you need to give it back.”
“I don’t have it.”