Chapter 15 #2
Just then, my cell phone rang in my pocket.
I didn’t recognize the number and was reluctant to answer it.
I’d had several anonymous calls since I was arrested.
They were mostly crank calls from people telling me I was a murderer and deserved to rot in jail.
I could tell from their young voices that they were probably kids from my school.
I answered anyway. Maybe I was a glutton for punishment. “Hello?”
“Hey there, Rhett.”
The lazy drawl on the other end was one I knew all too well. A voice I would recognize in an instant, despite not hearing it in years. The person it belonged to made me both angry and very, very worried.
“Marty.”
He laughed low and deep. “Wondered if you’d know who it was. It’s been a long time, buddy. Though maybe not long enough for you, huh?”
The last time we had seen each other, he had threatened to kill me. He had threatened Jenn too. I hadn’t known the man I befriended was a psychopath. That night had been a blur of blood and savagery.
He knew more than anyone else about what happened the night Jenn died. He was the one holding the rope that could hang me.
“How could I forget you?”
For a short while it had felt like he was the only one who knew the real me. He had made me ashamed of myself, of how weak I was, and then he had changed my way of thinking completely. Now I was only ashamed of the thoughts that had been planted so easily and nurtured into something horrible.
But those thoughts and ideas were still there bubbling below the surface. I simply had learned to keep them quiet. Most of the time.
Marty had been the one to change me. He had turned my innocent thoughts into seeds. Seeds that had eventually grown into something dark and wicked. And once the tree had matured, there was no uprooting it.
“It was a long time ago.” I could hear him exhale as he smoked. “I’m back in town for the big event,” he continued, “wondered if you wanted to meet up to talk. Reminisce about old times. Maybe we could grab a beer or two and head up to the cliffs.”
I knew his suggestion wasn’t as innocent as he made it out to be. Marty always had an ulterior motive. It was because of him that this whole sorry mess had been dragged back up again and I was about to lose everything.
It was partly because of him that I had lost her.
Yet, there were so many questions I wanted to ask him. How’d he end up with my bloody shirt, anyway? I hadn’t given myself any time to really think about that in the chaos of being charged with murder.
The truth was, Marty had never been my friend and he’d been lying in wait to destroy me all these years.
But why?
Why did he hate me so much that he’d resurface now to torpedo my life? What had I ever done to him to deserve this?
Even as I thought it, I knew the answer.
Jenn.
The woman that we had both loved.
The woman we had both hurt.
“You have some nerve,” I growled through clenched teeth.
He let out a low whistle. “I have some nerve? My friend, you’re the one accused of murder.”
“Because of you!” My hands were shaking, and I gripped the countertop to steady myself.
Marty had always known how to get under my skin. He could get under anyone’s skin if he wanted to. It was something he seemed to enjoy.
“Now Rhett, we both know what happened that night. We were both there—ain’t no point lyin’ to me, even if you’re still lyin’ to yourself.”
“I’m not lying about anything, and you know it.” I felt hot and sweaty. “You were there, goddamn it. You saw her alive.”
“What I remember is you got really angry after she told you she was leavin’ town. You got violent too.” His voice turned to a growl. “I saw what you did to her.”
“I didn’t mean to.” I sounded whiny and heartbroken.
“Sure looked like you meant it. She wanted to get away from you, buddy. And who could blame her? After you embarrassed her at that party and turned her into the town slut.” He tutted in my ear.
I slumped into a chair, fearing I might fall over if I didn’t sit down. I had never meant to do that to her. To do any of it. Things just got out of control. The lies … the truths, it all got mixed up in the end.
But I had never meant to hurt her. At the party or at Jagged Point.
The man I had been reduced to because she wouldn’t hear me out was not someone I was proud of.
If she had only shut up and let me explain myself, none of this would have happened. I loved her!
That mattered more than the awful things I did to her.
“It should never have happened, and it wouldn’t have if you hadn’t egged me on,” I said finally, at least partially admitting that he might be right, but putting some of the blame at his feet as well.
He whistled low in my ear. “Wow, you really believe that too. I wasn’t the one who spilled her blood, Rhett. I wasn’t the one who scared her that night.”
The weight of his words settled between us both.
“Why are you doing this to me?” I said, my words a whisper as my too-tight throat tried to keep them inside.
“If you can’t see why, then you’re even more of an idiot than I always thought.”
“Marty, please, leave me alone.”
There was a beat of silence where I wondered if he’d actually agree to go. I should have known better.
“Listen, I’m in town to testify at that preliminary hearing of yours. Let’s meet. We can talk about this like men,” Marty suggested, but I knew I had no choice. “It time we finally hashed out everything that happened, don’t you think?”
“Where?”
“Usual place. Around five. I’ll bring the beer, just like old times.”
And with that, the line went dead. It had always been like this. He spoke, I listened, and then I made stupid mistakes.
I had a lot of regrets in my life, but getting mixed up with Marty Richards was one of the biggest.
Regardless, I had no choice but to meet him. My life depended on it.
I stared down at my blinking ankle monitor. I needed to remove it without setting off the alarm, which would be tough since I wasn’t particularly good with tools. Another way Marty would say I was completely inadequate.
But I needed to figure out a way. And fast.
I looked at my watch and saw I only had an hour before I was supposed to meet him. I covered my face with my hands and wished, not for the first time, that I could wipe away the years and go back to that night and change everything.
But when I pulled my hands away, I was still here.
Alone in a house that I hated, with my life being held together by threads.