Chapter 39
Edward had no idea what time it was. When two guards arrived, and took his only companion away he was left alone with a deafening silence except for the occasional echo of a cell door closing or a buzzer sounding. With no windows or outside connection, he had lost track of time and he was losing track of hope.
He wasn’t sure how long he sat with his back against the cold cement wall. When he heard the opening of a door close by he jumped up and ran to the cell bars. A guard entered and with no eye contact he opened the holding cell.
“What’s going on?” he asked, looking for Bernard.
“I’m here to escort you to your new suite.”
The guard was monotone. He could tell it was something the guard always said, maybe in more of a cocky tone with prisoners who acted tough or lashed out.
“Where is Bernard? I need to talk to my lawyer.”
“Your lawyer had until five o’clock to get you released. I gave him an extra ten minutes just because I’m a nice guy. Looks like you are spending the night.”
Edward’s blood went cold. Every moment he spent in this place was detrimental to his happiness, to his success.
“I need to make a phone call. Can I do that?”
“In the morning.”
“Listen, I have a lot of connections, a lot of pull.”
“I don’t care if you’re the Pope. I have a job to do and right now my job is to escort you to your new home that might possibly be your new home for the rest of your life.” The guy jerked Edward forward by his arm and shackled his hands together behind him.
Edward knew the guy was all talk, just trying to get into his head. He knew better than to let that happen. He was the one who got into other people’s heads. He let the guard lead him out of the room and decided to try and make the best of a bad situation. Just as the guard was signing him out of the holding area, another guard escorted Edward’s lawyer in.
“Bernard! Give me some good news,” said Edward.
“I’m afraid it’s after hours,” said the guard as he took Edward by the arm. His tone was thick with sarcasm as if he knew he was going to win the argument. “You’ll have to come back tomorrow after nine to release….”
“No, I won’t.” Bernard dropped a piece of paper on the desk in front of the guard and folded his hands. “I’ll be taking him into my custody effective immediately.”
The guard read the paper, looked at the lawyer, then at the other guard and nodded. “Very well.” He drew a line through the log he just signed after releasing Edward’s arm and unlocking his cuffs. “You’re free to go.”
Edward didn’t hesitate to follow them out the prison doors. He didn’t say a word until he was outside in the cool night air and headed out toward his lawyer’s car.
“Man, I owe you big. How did you get me out of there?”
“Pulled a few favors with some people I know.”
“Thank you.”
He climbed into the passenger seat, his mind reeling with a million questions.
“Did you contact Eva? Is she okay?”
“I tried. She seems to have disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” Edward felt his body harden. Disappeared to Morocco or disappeared from existence? What if Gracie got to her? What if she….”
“Don’t get too upset over it yet. I spoke with some of her peers and they mentioned some sort of a sabbatical.”
“Morocco. She said she was going there to work on her thesis. I just assumed it was going to be after her semester was over.”
Edward didn’t know what hurt more, the idea she could have been killed by Gracie or the idea she took off with a man who worked harder to get into women’s pants than he did on trying to look good in front of them.
“I am supposed to keep you with me, but I’m going to let you go back to your flat. I don’t want you talking to anyone about the case. I trust that you won’t be a flight risk?”
“Not at all,” he said, his thoughts still on Eva and that long-haired jungle boy, Gerald.
“I’m warning you. I put my neck on the line for you. If you fuck this up I’m not going to be a nice guy.”
“Bernard. I told you, I’m good. You have my word. You have done so much for me in the past. I’m not about to sabotage that.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Have you found anything out yet?”
“I’ve been working on the case most of the day today. The evidence you said you saw in her office is nowhere to be found, but I did find this.”
He pulled a piece of paper out of his case and handed it to him. It was from the university dean’s office with head department signatures at the bottom. After reading it, Edward looked at Bernard.
“It says they were going to fire Gracie. I remember Eva talking about this.”
“Looks like it. Look at the date.”
“This was last year. So why was she still teaching?”
“Looks to me like it might be the starting proof of some pretty serious black mail.”
“The drugs,” Edward said.
“What drugs?”
“I found a bag of crystal meth in her desk along with the gun. I think it may have been the same meth they found on Mr. Housel, one of the department heads. The same meth she asked my holding cell friend to hide for her before she busted him for having it. I think she uses it in her black mail schemes.”
“But why would she want to stay someplace no one wants her in?”
“I think I might know.”
“There are rumors she was having an affair with that teacher who was found murdered a few years ago. She may have been a part of it.”
“I think she was.”
“She left for a while. Came back at the beginning of the school year.”
“She came back for me.”
Bernard looked at Edward. “Why?”
Edward took a big breath. “My partner and I had a weekend cruise party to celebrate our business before I moved out here. Invited a lot of beautiful people. She was on it.”
“You knew her back then?”
“No. I didn’t even know she was there, but she remembered me. Said we had a connection. Said I noticed her in a crowd during a speech I gave.”
“Was she that obsessed that she needed to get to you over a connection glance in a crowded room?”
“There’s more.”
“I’m all ears.”
“I started what I thought was a meaningful relationship with her sister in law, tall, gorgeous, Brazilian model and everything I was looking for in a woman. Turned out she played me. She was married.”
“And when Gracie found out, she became vengeful.”
“I guess Gracie was always the black sheep of the family and always in Talita’s shadow. She told me she regretted the day her brother met her.”
“This will definitely help your case.”
“Do you think she killed herself?”
“It’s a very good possibility.”
“Over me though?”
“Maybe you were the straw that finally busted the cart.”
“But why her brother? Are you sure he died from a gunshot wound?”
“There is an autopsy being performed, but they are 99 percent sure he died from a gunshot wound to the chest.”
“Shit. Why would she kill her own brother, the very man who tried to help her?”
“How did he try to help her?”
“He beat the hell out of me a couple of months back for one thing.”
“He did?”
“Told me to stay away from his sister and his wife. I’m almost certain Gracie put him up to it.”
Bernard pulled up in front of Edward’s flat and shut the car off. They both climbed out and Bernard leaned against the front bumper.
“Has she ever been psychologically evaluated?”
“I have no idea.”
“It’s going to take some time, but I will get to the truth and I will get you out of here. Meanwhile, remember what I said. Don’t talk to anyone about what happened. I’m sure you will be getting a lot of people asking questions. Keep to yourself as much as you can. I’ll get you out of this as soon as I can.”
“That’s why I keep you on my good side, Bernard. You are the best.”
“The money isn’t bad either,” he smiled.
“I do pay you well, don’t I?”
He slapped Edward on the back and climbed back into his car. “Get some sleep. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Edward stayed on the sidewalk until Bernard drove away, his hand in the air, eternally grateful for such a man in his corner.
It didn’t take long for Edward to fall asleep once he was wrapped up in his own blankets, a hint of Eva’s perfume still lingering on his sheets. He knew what Bernard has told him, but first thing on his agenda in the morning was to find Eva. He needed to be sure she was okay and he desperately needed to talk to her. His heart ached for her and he felt desperate to get her back into his life. The last thing he remembered thinking before drifting off to sleep was wondering if Gracie felt the same desperation before killing herself.
He dreamed of the day he made love to Eva in the park. He felt the way her skin reacted when he spread the beads of water from the lake across her body, the goosebumps that raised up beneath his hand when he touched her in just the right places, the slight moans that escaped her perfect lips when he entered her. He made love to her, his emotions running wild for her. He closed his eyes and melted into her, feeling her soft body turn hard and jagged. Each push of his body against hers changed from an erotic and heightened sense of orgasm that slowly climbed higher and higher, to a jab of pain every time he touched her. He tried to keep going as he heard her moans turn to groans but the pain grew more intense like a knife slicing into him wherever he touched her.
When he opened his eyes to look at her, Eva was gone. In place of her beautiful face was a distortion of Gracie’s angry eyes and evil grin. He looked down and pushed off her body that looked more like a jagged body full of thorns and knives protruding from the inside out. He tried to scream but his voice wouldn’t make a sound. He jumped off her and reached down to pull his jeans back up. His body was covered in open wounds that bled profusely and ran to the ground he stood on. Within a few moments, a pool of his own blood gathered around his feet.
“What did you do?” he screamed at her. “What have you done?”
“I knew you loved me,” she cackled. “You are mine forever!” She began to laugh with this horrid shrill that seared through him and rang in his ears, deafening him. He slammed his hands over his ears and sat up in his bed, gasping for a deep breath and looking around his bedroom.
“Jesus Christ,” he stammered.