Mother Nature saw fit to give the Midwest one last day of mild temperatures and sunshine. The winds last night had torn more leaves off of the trees and the weather forecast for tonight was frost. It had been a week since Gary’s arrest. Sam’s headaches were fading, although Jake had suggested she stay home and rest. But Forrest had called and asked her to meet him this morning. She couldn’t let him down.
Her boots splashed through piles of vibrant colored leaves. Of all places to meet it had to be a cemetery. She pulled Abby’s wool cape tighter as she clung to a stack of photo albums. Hidden Oaks Cemetery was one of the oldest in Chasen Heights. Crypts with stained glass windows and tall monuments were unheard of in the newer cemeteries.
Forrest wasn’t hard to find. Sam only had to follow the giggles of a toddler. She found Forrest and Savannah sitting on a blanket in front of a tombstone with a carving of a woman and child on its surface.
“Hey, Forrest.” Sam joined him on the blanket. She touched the beads in Savannah’s hair. “Look at you, how pretty.” Savannah smiled shyly and climbed onto her father’s lap.
“I wanted to thank you, Sam, for all you did. When no one else believed me, you came through. In my heart I knew I was right. If Captain Robinson hadn’t asked you to get involved, I think I’d still be making a pest of myself.”
“Fortunately, by bringing it out in the open, we were able to solve other suspected suicides.” Sam thought Forrest looked a bit more relaxed, although it would still take time for him to get over his wife’s death. “I thought you might want these back.” She handed him the photo albums she had borrowed.
Forrest pulled them from her grasp, then clutched them to his chest. He closed his eyes as though she had given him the last remnants of his wife. “Sorry.” Forrest swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand and took a deep breath. “How are those other two women, do you know?”
Sam shook her head. “It’s too soon to tell if the effects of Gary’s hypnosis are still embedded in their subconscious. Tamara and Crystal will both be under a therapist’s care for a while.”
Forrest picked a rose from the bouquet he had placed on the gravesite and inhaled its fragrance. He stared at Marti’s name for several seconds. Savannah reached for the flower so he made sure it didn’t have any thorns before handing it to her.
“They said on the news that the case against Staples is weak. Other than the phone call to Missus Bordeau, they have little evidence to tie him to all the other victims. He could be out, if not soon, then in less than a year, if he has to wait to go to trial.”
Sam couldn’t find any reassuring words of wisdom to impart. Forrest was right. Gary Staples had been clever. How much more havoc could he unleash if he were allowed to walk free?
“Have you been seeing Doctor Collier?”
“Yes. He isn’t what I had expected.”
Sam could attest to that.
“I thought one of the first things he would have me do was get rid of all of Marti’s clothes and any other fragments of her existence. But he said to hang onto everything until I could accept that Marti is in my heart and Savannah’s eyes, and not in a dresser drawer.”
“You’re going to work every day?” Sam had feared that Forrest would become a recluse, locking himself in his condo and neglecting Savannah.
“Yes, Mom,” Forrest added with a smile. He hugged his daughter close. “Gotta take care of my baby girl.” His smile slowly faded and he stared off in the distance as a flock of geese took flight from a nearby pond. Somewhere someone was burning leaves as the scent floated through the air. “Do you believe in an eye for an eye?” He turned to Sam. Was that regret she saw in his eyes, or fear that she would be disappointed in him? “I thought it would make a difference. I thought I’d open my eyes today and see the world in a whole new light. But I don’t.”
Sam froze. He couldn’t possibly mean what she thought. “My god, Forrest. What did you do?” She hadn’t seen anything in the morning papers and she hadn’t listened to the radio or television this morning. Jake had already left for work and Abby had taken Dillon to the park. Even her car radio had been turned off on the ride over. But it was impossible for Forrest to visit Gary Staples. Only his attorney or the police were allowed visitation before the trial.
Tears pooled and slowly etched their way down his face. He didn’t bother to wipe them away. “The thing is, it didn’t make one damn difference. It didn’t bring my Marti back. I don’t feel any different. Just the same pain and emptiness.”
“Forrest, talk to me. What did you do?”
His gaze settled on her forehead where the cuts and scrapes were still healing. She hadn’t bothered to conceal the black and blue still evident under her eyes.
“What would your husband do if he ever found the man who did that to you?”
<><>
Sam stepped off the elevator and watched the commotion around a television set near the captain’s office. She saw Frank, Jake, Andy, Maury, Captain Robinson, and several file clerks watching what looked like a press conference. She had skirted around a reply to Forrest’s question, remembering how Marino had looked when he exited the interview room after Jake had his allotted few minutes with him, with the blessing of Chief Murphy. When she had pressed Forrest again as to what he had done, his only response was, “maybe it’s best you don’t know.” He had an appointment with Doctor Collier this afternoon. Hopefully, he would open up to him.
“What’s happening?” she asked Sergeant Scofield.
He pulled off his glasses and waved them toward the cluster of people. “Someone did society a favor this morning. Our esteemed magician, Mister Gary Staples, was taking a shower when something more than water came out of the spray. Isopropyl alcohol. Plain old nail polish remover. Even if by some chance a jury finds him not guilty, I don’t think he’ll be a threat to anyone anymore.”
“It blinded him?” Sam didn’t know whether to be glad he wasn’t killed or thrilled he could no longer look at a woman with those demonic eyes. “Do they know who did it?”
“Workmen were in the evening before fixing a leak in that same shower stall. They came in a plain white van, even had a work order, but checking it out today, the company doesn’t exist. The men wore hats to conceal their faces from the cameras, I.D.’s were bogus. Only thing the camera caught were the tats on their necks. It was as though they wanted the camera to see them.”
Could it have been a coincidence? Sam thought. Maybe Forrest had just wished Gary ill and karma took over. But then the word “tat” registered. “Tattoos?”
“Yep, of cobras. My bet is they were gang members.”
Sam mumbled her thanks and slowly made her way to one of the conference rooms. Duke, the gang leader, was in prison in Terre Haute. Forrest had said he still runs everything from inside his prison. Duke had told Forrest if he ever needed anything just to let him know. It was the least he could do to make up for what happened to Bobby, his foster brother.
She stood in the doorway to the conference room, unaware she was staring at the television, the look on her face catching Jake’s attention. He maneuvered through the group and walked over to her.
“Hey, babe. You okay?”
“Sure.” She tried to gather her composure so Jake wouldn’t get suspicious. She pulled him inside the conference room. “I wanted to ask you about Marino.” Although Sam had only heard bits and pieces from Robinson and Frank, Sam had never asked Jake. “What would you have done to Marino if Frank hadn’t dragged you away that night behind the restaurant?”
Jake cocked his head and studied her. “But he did drag me away.”
“But what if Frank hadn’t come out when he did?” An eye for an eye. Forrest’s words kept coming back to her and playing in an endless loop as she waited for Jake’s reply. For a brief second his eyes took on that ruthless glare, his thoughts back in that alley where he confronted Marino. Just as quickly it faded.
He kicked the door shut and pulled her into his arms. “That what this is about? I didn’t bloody him up enough for you?” There was a chuckle in his voice as he said it.
“No, although I would have liked to have seen Marino try to pluck a pound of cinder out of his face. But seriously, what would you have done?”
Again, that deadly silence. Was she trying to convince herself that what Forrest had done was what every husband would have done? Abby had always said that Jake was an honorable man.
Sam wasn’t sure either she or Abby knew him that well, especially when he replied, “I guess we’ll never know.”
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Author’s Note:
For more information on books, essays, and short stories written by S.D. Tooley/Lee Driver, visit her at www.sdtooley.com