Chapter Thirty-Three
Roy – Thursday
“Wakey, wakey,” I teased above June, waking her up with breakfast in bed. “Rise and shine. I got you something to eat.”
“At least you waited until the sun rose today,” she half grumbled, sitting up with sleep in her eyes. She looked so cute, with her hair a little more mussed up after a good night of sleep. As she rubbed her eyes, I smiled to myself, thankful to have found her, despite how much of a morning person she was not. “Thank you; this all looks lovely.”
“So, I have something to tell you,” I admitted, perching on the edge of the bed while she chewed on her toast. I knew this was something that I should have told her the night before, but I hadn't wanted to bring up the awful subject of the murder when things were so good between us. Considering what happened afterwards, considering we told one another that we were in love, I was glad I had waited.
“What’s that?” She eyed me curiously, waiting for me to confess.
“When I was at the police station yesterday and they asked me to make a statement, I told them everything.”
“About us?” she asked innocently, not fully understanding what I was trying to tell her. “I already told them that part, so you didn’t really need to.”
“No, I mean everything. I told them all about Lewis, all about the gambling, the murder… I know that I probably could have gotten away with it anyway, without telling them the truth about everything. But I had a moment of clarity where I realized that I just couldn’t help him anymore and that was okay.
“I had done my best for Lewis, given him my everything, and it hadn't worked. I realized that it was time to give someone else a try. Plus, I might not have known who that man who died was, but his murder deserves justice. This is the only way that I can help him with that.”
“Wow,” she gasped in amazement, sliding her body closer to mine. “That’s incredible. I’m really proud of you. That must have been a hard decision to make, but I think you did the right thing. I’m proud of you.”
As her arms wrapped around me, and she held me close to her, I felt her pride flooding me. She was right about it being the hardest choice to make, but at least I knew for sure that it was the right one. My conscience was clear. “But what about the business?” she suddenly asked in surprise. “I mean, obviously you can’t give it over to him anymore, so what are you going to do? There will be a whole lot of sorting out to do, financially, right?”
“The first thing I need to do is call a press conference, which I will get to this morning. I know that all the local media will be interested in this story, so I would much rather them hear it from the horse’s mouth.” I sent her a sad smile at that moment, remembering what she’d given up for me all over again. “It’s just a shame that you won’t be there, firing awkward questions at me.”
“I’m glad,” she mused thoughtfully. “I don’t think I would want any part of this. I’m done with that world now. It’s just time to move on and to find something new that makes me happy.”
“So, you won’t be running off to the big city anytime soon?”
“No,” she replied softly, looking at me lovingly. “No chance. I want to be here, with you. This is my home now.”
That statement secured my future and made my heart swell with joy. If she wanted to stay with me, then we could continue living here in the one place that made me happiest of all. And once all of this mess was behind us, we could really start living again.
***
“I hope that’s answered all of your questions,” I announced to the members of the press in front of me. “And, thank you very much for listening.”
I had decided to use the only tactic that I had left to my advantage: honesty. I had the strong feeling that it had worked. It hadn't been easy to admit that I had allowed someone so erratic, so potentially dangerous, to run my company, but I felt like I’d expressed myself in the best way that I could. I just hoped that it had been enough.
It had been very difficult, considering dealing with the press wasn’t what I was used to at all, but I felt like I’d done okay. I spoke professionally, clearly, concisely, and I’d answered all the questions fired at me in the best way that I could. It might have been a little terrifying to do, but I was glad that I’d done it. It felt like a positive step in the right direction.
I felt like people’s perceptions had already loosened a little more towards me because of the article that June wrote, which came out today. I hadn't been expecting it, and it was likely that she hadn't, either, but I got the impression that the positive light she’d shone on me had worked to my advantage. Luckily, no one seemed to have cottoned on to the fact that we were a couple just yet, so it hadn't been questioned or seen as biased, at all.
I knew that I still had a long road ahead of me, a lot of people to convince that things would be okay in the future, investors, stockholders, staff, etc, but I felt like I had what it took to do it. Sure, it would mean that I wouldn’t get the retirement that I’d planned for, but that didn’t feel quite so important anymore.
Maybe what I hadn't realized before was that I was just looking for a little more from my life, and that was why I wanted an escape from the business, or maybe I was just feeling a little left out from it all. With a load of new excitement in my life and a solid purpose to return, I found a small vigor inside of me, one that actually wanted to carry on.
As everyone filed out of the room, looking like they had what they wanted from me, I sat back in my chair and considered what I wanted to do next. I knew that I probably should head over to the office and begin trying to work out the state that the finances were in, but that felt like a fresh start sort of move. I wasn’t quite ready for that just yet. There was still something hanging over my head that I felt needed to be tackled first; I just wasn’t quite sure how to do it.
I tugged my phone from my pocket and scrolled through the names, until I reached the one that I wanted to call. Lewis. I wanted to tell him why I’d betrayed him, why I’d told the police what he’d done, because I felt like he at least deserved an explanation. We’d been through so much together; he was like a younger brother to me, someone I cared for deeply. I wanted him to understand that I thought I was doing the right thing.
But of course I couldn’t call him; chances were he was already at the police station. I guessed that I could go there to find out more. They might not allow me to speak to him, but I had to try something.
With a deep sigh, I grabbed my car keys and drove to the station, all the time trying to work out what I was going to say, how I would explain myself. I wasn’t sure that he would ever understand, that I would ever be able to make him see, but I had to try.
“Hi, Officer Hurley,” I smiled, glad to see her as soon as I walked inside. I had a feeling that she would be the one person who could understand where I was coming from with this. “Do you have Lewis here?”
“We do,” she eyes me a little suspiciously. “Why? You aren’t here to change your statement, are you?”
“No,” I shook my head, sending her a sad smile. “I’m not. I guess I just want a moment alone to speak to him. If that’s okay?”
“It isn’t really standard procedure…” she started, but I stepped closer to her, allowing her to see the pleading in my eyes.
“I just want a moment,” I begged. “I won’t say anything that can affect anything. I just want to explain to him why I turned him in. We’ve been very close for years. I just want him to understand that I’m trying to help him.”
“Well…” She didn’t look like she wanted to, but she seemed to get the sense that I wasn’t going anywhere until I got what I wanted. “Okay, but only for a couple of moments.”
She walked me through the hallways that I had become far too familiar with over the last few days. I felt really uneasy. This was going to suck, I was sure of it, but I wouldn’t be able to move on if I didn’t. I would always be worried that Lewis would hate me, and while that still could be true, I had to at least try.
“Here we are,” she let me inside, and there I saw him, slumped over the table looking awful.
“Lewis?” I asked, pleading with him to look up at me. “Lewis, it’s me.” He glanced up at me with such hatred in his eyes that it took me aback, but he didn’t say anything. “Lewis, I know you don’t want to speak to me, I understand that, but I just wanted to come here and explain.”
He snorted, but remained silent, which I felt gave me the right to sit down beside him. He wasn’t telling me to get lost, so I decided to take that as an indicator that he still wanted to listen, even if he didn’t want to talk.
“Okay, so the reason I came to the police, to tell them what you did even though you begged me not to was not to get them off my back, even though I’m sure that’s what you think. I did it for you.” He glared at me with such venom, but even that wasn’t enough to stop me.
“You need help with your addiction, help that I cannot give, and I think that in prison, you will get that. I also think that by doing so much for you, I have given you the impression that there are no consequences of your actions. I have always bailed you out, and maybe that wasn’t the way to go about things, I don’t know,” I shook my head sadly.
“Anyway, this time, someone died for your gambling, and whether that was an accident or not, you need to face what you’ve done. Things have gotten so out of hand now, and you need to accept your role in that.” He glanced down, fixing his eyes on his shoes, but I got the sense that he might have been crying. “I know that you might not get it right now, but I hope that eventually you will. I hope that you understand, and maybe, when you get out, you want to talk to me.”
I stood up, looking down at him with pity in my eyes. However bad I felt, this was the only thing that I could have done, and one day he would see that…at least, I hoped he would.
“Goodbye, Lewis,” I finished, before turning and walking away. I half expected him to reply, to say anything, but he didn’t – he simply let me leave.