We’d been sitting in the waiting room for several long, tense hours while doctors worked to remove the bullets from Leon’s body and repair the internal damage. I still felt numb, not able to put all the pieces together in my mind. From the ambulance ride to the emergency room to hearing the doctors say Leon would die without surgery, it all felt so surreal. I don’t know what I would have done without the support of my good friends by my side.
When Egypt told me she had called Jerome, I didn’t protest for the first time in a long time. In the midst of this nightmare, everything Jerome had done in the past seemed minor. This was life or death, and I couldn’t think of anyone I wanted by my side to get me through this more than Jerome.
He was my first real friend. At one time, he was the person who understood me best, the person I could share everything with. When he wrapped his arms around me, it reassured me in a way I can’t even really explain. Egypt had been a wonderful friend and a strong supporter, and I loved her for it, but it just wasn’t the same. Something about the way Jerome held me let me know that he was feeling my pain as if it were his own.
“It’s going to be all right,” Jerome said with a sigh, stroking my arm absentmindedly and staring off into space.
I put my head on his shoulder. “Thanks for being here for me.” I wiped away a tear that had escaped and was making its way down my cheek. “I know you’ve never really liked Leon, so it means a lot that you’re here praying for him now.”
He turned and looked into my eyes. “Loraine, I—”
“Mrs. Farrow?” I looked up and saw two black men approaching us. My heart skipped a beat in fear that they were here to deliver bad news, but then I realized they were wearing suits, not scrubs, so they weren’t doctors.
The lighter-skinned man spoke. “I’m Detective Tyndale. This is my partner, Detective Ryan. We’re investigating your husband’s shooting, and we’d like to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind.”
I lifted my head off of Jerome’s shoulder. He squeezed my hand to remind me he would be by my side through this. “Okay.”
“We just came from your house. It appears someone broke into your home through the rear bathroom window.”
“A burglar?” I asked.
“I really doubt it. I know you haven’t had a chance to do an inventory, but nothing seemed out of place. You had diamonds on your dresser, your husband had a Rolex and his wallet on the nightstand. Plus there are three plasma TVs in the house. I don’t think it was a robbery.”
“You mean to tell us somebody shot him deliberately?” Jerome bolted out of his chair angrily, but the other officer gave him a stare that sent him right back to his seat.
Detective Tyndale ignored Jerome and remained calm. “We’re not ruling it out. Mrs. Farrow, does your husband have any enemies?”
My hand flew to my mouth. Why hadn’t any of this entered my mind until now? Probably because I didn’t want to face it. I had a sudden flashback of the threat Michael had made at the hotel when we first got back together. He’d told me that if I dumped him again, he wouldn’t be responsible for his actions. Then when Leon pulled up next to us in his car, Michael pulled out a gun. And finally, when he showed up at the house, he’d threatened Leon’s life. I’d never believed Michael had it in him to act on his threats, but now that Leon was fighting for his life, I couldn’t be sure.
“He wouldn’t do something like this. He’s not that kind of person,” I mumbled.
“Who?” Jerome asked before the detective could even speak.
I looked at him and opened my mouth, but no words would come out.
“We really need to know who you’re talking about, Mrs. Farrow,” Detective Ryan said.
I wanted to disappear so I wouldn’t have to face any of this. My husband was lying in a hospital bed, and there was a possibility that I had something to do with it. The full weight of my affair suddenly became clear to me. I thought I was just fulfilling my sexual needs, but now I saw that nothing was ever that simple. My selfish desires led to serious consequences in other people’s lives too. I felt guilty and ashamed, and the last thing I wanted to do was admit I was an adulteress, but I had to tell the truth. If there was the slightest possibility Michael had done this, I wanted him buried under the jail.
“The only enemy Leon has is Michael, the man I’ve been seeing,” I answered, barely above a whisper.
“Huh?” Jerome gasped. “I thought he was out of the picture.” When I wouldn’t look at him or answer, Jerome turned to Egypt. “She’s still messing with Michael?”
Egypt placed her index finger to her lips and gave him a harsh look. “Shush! It’s a long story, and now is not the time to be talking about it.”
“Did you say this Michael is your boyfriend?” Detective Ryan asked, and I thought I heard judgment in his tone.
I couldn’t bring myself to answer him. I felt humiliated.
“Mrs. Farrow, this is something we need to know,” he pushed. “Any information you can share might help to catch your husband’s attacker.”
At the mention of my husband, I snapped out of my self-absorbed embarrassment. This wasn’t about me; it was about justice for Leon.
“He’s the man I was having an affair with. He came to my house with a gun two weeks ago.”
Detective Tyndale raised an eyebrow and whipped out a small pad. “We need his full name and address so we can go talk to this man.”
I gave him the information, adding, “He was very upset when we broke up, but I don’t believe he has anything to do with this.”
“Well, that might be the case, ma’am, but we still need to question him, even if it’s just to rule him out as a suspect.”
“When’s the last time you saw him?” Detective Ryan asked. I gave him the answer, as well as answers to the dozens of other questions they peppered me with. By the time they were done, I felt naked, having exposed every intimate detail of my affair.
As far as having a motive for the shooting, Michael certainly looked like a prime suspect. Both Jerome and Egypt were convinced that he was guilty as sin. I couldn’t condemn him that quickly, though. I wanted to hear what Michael had to say for himself. I hoped like hell that he had an airtight alibi. I was not ready to believe a man I’d been sleeping with could be so violent.
Before the detectives left, they promised to be in touch if there were any developments in the case.
I slumped back into one of the uncomfortable chairs. Jerome placed his arm around my shoulder. “Do you think Michael did it?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know, but that’s their job to figure it out. Right now I’m only concerned about one thing: whether Leon is going to live or die.”
He wrapped me in another tight embrace. “Everything’s going to be okay,” he said. While his words were confident, I could feel his whole body trembling against mine.