Chapter 28 #2
“He could have snuck out for a short time.”
“Surely the police would have uncovered that.”
“He could have hired a hit man. I bet that happens all the time in these parts.”
“What about the security cameras?”
“They were never triggered.”
“Well, there you are. Doesn’t that tell you something?”
“Not really, no. Our whole security system is operated remotely, using an app. You can change the codes, lock and unlock the doors, and turn the cameras on and off at will. The front and back doors have their own codes. I don’t think it would be hard for him to send someone to kill his wife and orchestrate the whole thing from his iPhone.
The police didn’t check any of this very thoroughly.
I think they saw the case as open and shut.
” I lean forward. “But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. ”
“Oh God.” She puts her hands over her face. She looks genuinely spooked by all this. “Okay. Tell me. What else?”
I tilt my head at her. “You know, for someone who doesn’t even know the parties involved, you seem very engaged, I like that.”
She takes her hands away. “Just tell me.”
I bite the edge of my lip. “I found something.”
“What did you find?”
“I got the combination to his safe. I opened it.”
She gasps. “What did you find?”
“A video,” I tell her, my voice low. “And my sister was sitting in some strange room, crying, confused, and he was being this cold, horrible, hateful person to her. And she wanted to leave, and he wouldn’t let her.”
Erin claps her hand to her mouth.
“He was telling her that she was making herself ugly on purpose because she wasn’t a good enough wife, that she was fucking the gardener, like that’s original, and she looked so…” The back of my eyes sting. I take a breath. “…devastated.”
“Okay…”
Now it’s me who jerks back. “What do you mean, okay? It was horrible, Erin.”
“And this was on a video?”
“Yes!”
“What kind of video? Like a DVD?”
“A thumb drive.”
“I see. Do you have it?”
“I lost it.” I press my finger on the plate, pick up some cake crumbs, and lick them off.
“You lost it.”
“I know. Inconvenient.”
“Can you tell me more about it?”
“Wasn’t that enough?”
“I’m just trying to understand.”
“Okay, well, she looked awful, like she’d aged twenty years, and he was giving a psychology session and blaming her for everything that was happening to her.”
She doesn’t speak for a moment. Then she says, “You don’t think he was trying to help her?”
I narrow my eyes at her. “What’s wrong with you?
Of course, he wasn’t trying to help her.
He was gaslighting her! Making her think she was crazy!
He was making mincemeat out of her face and then blaming her for it.
And Erin…” I bite my bottom lip. “He’s doing it to me, too.
” I bring my face close to hers and pull at the skin under my eye.
She squints at it. “I don’t see anything.”
“Well, no, because I’ve got truckloads of product and makeup on.” I pull away and rub my face with my sleeve, over and over.
She puts her hand on my arm. “Stop, Jodie, stop it.”
I yank it away. “No, I want you to see. You have to see.” I keep rubbing at the spot until it burns, then I rub the side of my mouth, too. I bring my face an inch from hers again. “See?” She recoils, her lips curled in disgust. I grab her arm and pull her toward me. “See, do you see?”
“Stop it, Jodie. You’re scaring me.”
I rub again and again. “Do you see it now? Look! There! You see? The swelling? And the mark there. Like a scar. But I don’t have a scar, Erin! I’ve never had a scar. He’s doing it, don’t you see? He did it to her, and he’s doing it to me, too. Don’t you see?”
I shout that last bit, and people in the coffee shop turn to look.
Erin pulls away from me. “Jodie, stop. You’re sounding crazy. Just stop.”
“He’s a sick man, Erin. He’s a monster, and a psychopath, and he’s cruel and dangerous and he’s going to get away with it unless we do something, Erin! We have to do something!”
But she’s on her feet now, looking at me like I’ve just spun my head around like Linda Blair in The Exorcist.
“You should go home now,” Erin says. “Go home and rest.”
“Go home and rest? What the hell is rest going to do?” I pull at her sleeve.
“Please sit down, Erin! You need to help me! I can’t call the police because I’m her sister, and also I’m a convicted felon, but you can!
You need to tell them he is a sick, sick monster and tell them to look at everything!
Go through his office in town, too! There must be proof somewhere, a contract, something! ”
“Jodie,” she says gently, unhooking my fingers from her sleeve. “You need to go home, and maybe you should consider seeing someone.”
“Oh, don’t you start.”
She takes a couple of steps back, pulling her bag over her shoulder. “I hope you feel better. I really do.”
And then, she’s gone.
I sit there for a moment, trying to calm myself. What am I going to do now? I could call the police myself, but without the video… Anyway, I can’t. I can’t let Roy know about me. I just can’t.
I take a breath and stand up, shake my fingers through my hair. What is it Abigail always says? All options are on the table.
I have no choice. I’ll just have to kill him.