Watch for Me, page 17
By the time I left the Royal Orchid Thai restaurant with our take-out dinner, it was a quarter to eight. No wonder I was starving; I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. I called home to let Marie know I was on my way and to ask her to warm the plates up, but there was no answer. Ten minutes later, I pulled up behind Marie’s car and noticed the garage door was wide open. Marie had to be home, because her car was there, but the lights in the rooms on the front of the house were off. Call me paranoid, but considering the weird couple of months we’d had, my first thought was something bad had happened. Since Mahoney’s visit, it didn’t take much to make me jumpy.
Quickly, I grabbed the take-out and ran to the front door. Inside the place was dark and eerily quiet. With a teenage daughter, silence was a rare commodity at our house.
“Marie,” I shouted, turning on some lights. “Are you here?”
No answer.
A crack of light escaped under the closed door when I walked toward the kitchen. Panic barreled through me. I knew Mahoney was behind bars, but had Ali sent someone else to attack my family? Opening the door, I braced myself for the worst.
“Sit down. I need to talk to you,” Marie said in a monotone voice. She was sitting at the kitchen table facing me. Her eyes looked glassy and bloodshot.
“Thank God you’re okay,” I said, my heart still redlining. “Did something happen? The garage door is open. I thought—”
“Sit down, Tom.” Marie sounded weird, almost robotic.
My mind turned to our daughter. “Where’s Freya?”
“She’s staying over at your mom’s.”
“Ugh? I got her favorite sweet and spicy red snapper.” I placed the take-out bag on the table, and that’s when I first noticed the brown envelope in front of Marie.
“I’m not hungry.”
I sat at the table and pushed the food bag to one side. “Something’s happened. What is it?”
Marie looked like she wanted to spit. “Let me see your phone.”
“My phone? What for?”
Marie’s open right hand thrust toward me. “Just give me the damn phone.”
I reached into my coat pocket and handed it to her. “Here. What’s going on?”
“What’s the passcode?”
I told her the four-digit number and watched as Marie punched it in. She opened the photos app and began thumbing through the images.
“You know, if you tell me what you’re looking for, I might be able to help.”
Marie ignored me and kept scrolling. After a couple of minutes, she slid the phone across the table to me. “When did you delete them?”
“Delete what?”
“Come on, Tom, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“Listen, I’ve had a really hard day. I’m tired and hungry. Can we please stop playing games? Just tell me what you’re looking for.”
Marie clapped her hands slowly. “You’re good. All this time, you’ve been making out you’re the victim. You even managed to make me feel sorry for you. I bet it gave you a real kick to—”
“Marie, Marie. I have no idea what you are talking about. Please, tell me what happened. Has Ali been here? Has she done something? I can see you’re upset. Please tell me what it is, darling.”
“Don’t you darling me. Don’t you dare…” Marie’s voice was raised, her face bright red. “All this time playing happy families with me and Freya, you were fucking that woman—our friends’ daughter. What kind of man are you?”
I had no idea where any of this was coming from. In all our years of marriage, I had never seen Marie like this. Such deep-seated anger directed at me. I thought we’d been over all this. I thought we were getting back on track. Obviously, something had happened since that morning and whatever it was, it had caused a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree shift in our relationship. Marie’s mind had been turned against me. What could I say to persuade her she had it all wrong?
“I swear on Freya’s life, I haven’t slept with Ali. I haven’t been anywhere near her. You have to believe that. The woman has a warped mind. You know it’s all in her head.” I could tell my words were bouncing off Marie, like I was speaking a foreign language. “Has she been here today? Is that what this is about? Has she said I touched her? You know you cannot rely on anything that comes out of her mouth. I don’t know how many times I need to say that.”
Marie shook her head. “Still you deny it. You sit there and lie to my face.” I reached across the table to squeeze her hand. Marie pulled it away. “Don’t you touch me,” she said, her tone laden with acid. “Don’t you ever touch me again. You make my skin crawl.”
“Please, what is this about, Marie? Has she been feeding you a bunch of crap about me? Just tell me. What has she said?”
“You can drop the pathetic little act. I know everything. Every single lie that came out of your mouth. How for weeks the two of you pretended to be looking at condos. You’re good; deceiving me seemed easy for you. You certainly had me convinced she couldn’t find anything she liked. Meanwhile, you were screwing her all day. In your clients’ homes and hotels downtown.” Marie chuckled. “Last night, when we were at The Empress, I bet you had a good laugh at my expense. While we were having dinner, all the while you were replaying the times the two of you shared a room there. How sick is that?”
I kept shaking my head no. “Is that what she told you?”
“Oh, there’s much more than that, Tom. You worthless piece of shit.”
“None of it is true. Not a word. What do I need to do to convince you?”
“Tell me you didn’t go to her condo on the weekends when you said you were holding open houses, I dare you.”
“I didn’t. I’ve never been to her condo, other than the one time when we first viewed it.”
“See how easy it is for you to lie. You’re incredible.”
“It’s the truth.”
“I know you’ve been there.”
“Listen, if she’s said these things to you, it’s because she’s trying to drive a wedge between us. Don’t you see? First, she sent Mahoney to attack me, and now she’s trying to destroy our marriage. Don’t let her do this to us. It’s exactly what she wants.”
“You deserved everything Mahoney did to you. I wish I’d never stopped him. I should have let him do what you did to her.”
“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
“I know what you put her through. She told me everything. How she tried to end your sordid affair and how you wouldn’t accept it.”
“None of this makes sense, Marie. She’s been lying to you. This is exactly what she wants.”
“Are you telling me she didn’t try to end your relationship?”
“There never was a relationship. That’s what I’m trying—”
“Save it, Tom. I know how you begged her not to leave you. You’re pathetic.” Marie looked like she was about to vomit. “And when you couldn’t get what you wanted, you broke into her home and raped her.”
The word was like a jolt of electricity. “Rape? This is madness.”
“No wonder she wanted Mahoney to kill you. I don’t know who you are. Did I ever know the real Tom Harper?”
I held my head in my hands. “Please, Marie. You must believe me. Not a single word of this is true. She’s playing with us. Don’t you see? The woman is sick, perverted.”
“Then what the hell are these?”
When I looked up, my heart jammed my throat. Marie had opened the envelope in front of her. Spread out on the table were photos of Ali. Naked, repulsive images. “What are they?” I asked, my words struggling to get out.
Marie stood. Her expression was a mix of disgust and loathing. “I found them hidden in your garage.”
“You don’t think…” I couldn’t process my thoughts. “I’ve never seen them before.”
“I want you out of this house. I don’t want our daughter anywhere near you.”
Chapter 31
Now that the new school semester had started, Vancouver Island’s tourist season was drawing to a close. As usual, there had been far fewer visitors around since Labor Day, and the roads were suddenly much quieter. Fortunately for me, that meant I only had to spend three days in a local hotel before I was able to find a vacation rental property in Owen Bay. I hated hotels at the best of times. Too many people about and there’s always someone in a room nearby with the TV turned up loud when I’m trying to sleep. The rental was available for the next month, if I needed it. More than enough time, I prayed, to straighten things out at home.
For now, at least, I’d have some cooking facilities of my own—there was only so much take-out pizza even I could eat—and, most important, a spare bedroom for Freya to sleep in when she came to visit. Though I wasn’t sure when that would be. Since Marie had put me out, I’d tried to call home several times a day, but on the rare occasions she answered, Marie wouldn’t let me speak with our daughter. She said I wasn’t fit to be her father. On those few instances when Marie didn’t slam the phone down on me right away, I begged her to let me come over to the house and talk things through, explain how I’d done nothing wrong and didn’t deserve her contempt. She wouldn’t entertain the idea. With Marie the way she was, my biggest fear was losing my relationship with Freya. I kept telling Marie she was going to alienate our daughter from me and how that wasn’t fair to either of us. She wouldn’t listen. Sure, I could have turned up on the doorstep and demanded to see Freya, but there would have been an embarrassing scene. Not something I wanted Freya to witness. I wasn’t sure what to do for the best.
How do you prove something you haven’t done? We were being played. This was exactly what Ali wanted to happen. Why couldn’t Marie see that? As hard as it was, I decided to give it some time, hoping Marie would eventually realize I couldn’t have done the things Ali told her. When her rage had subsided, I was confident my wife would remember the kind of man I am. For now, she needed some distance from me, space to think things through on her own. We would get through this.
The temptation to go see Ali and to shake some sense into her was overwhelming. I had to fight back the urge every waking hour. But I knew that would make matters even worse.
That said, I couldn’t just sit there feeling sorry for myself. That would have driven me crazy. I had to do something to wrestle back an element of control over my life. So, the day after moving my stuff into the rental unit, I called my lawyer. Apart from emails, attaching her regular legal fee invoices, I’d heard very little from Collins. For someone so expensive, she seemed remarkably uncommunicative. I was beginning to question what I was getting for my money. Maybe I was projecting my anger onto the wrong person, but I decided if I didn’t get much satisfaction from Collins, I was going to terminate her engagement and look elsewhere. Find someone more proactive.
“I’ve been meaning to call you,” Collins said when I finally reached her on my third attempt that day. I didn’t believe her for one moment. That was another thing that wound me up. She never returned calls when I left a message.
“There have been some developments,” I said. “But first, what news on the peace bond application?”
“That’s what I wanted to speak to you about. Seems the police have considered everything I sent them and they’re refusing to apply.”
“Ugh? Why not?”
“Don’t worry about it. Sometimes happens.”
“I am worried.” It was easy for her to be relaxed, sitting in her plush Vancouver office building billing me at several hundred an hour. This was my life we were talking about. “Did they say why they won’t do it?”
“Some garbage you don’t want to hear.”
“Try me.”
“Seems someone’s fed them a completely different story. For some reason, they now suspect you’ve been the one harassing Page.”
“Are they for real? Nothing could be further from the truth. I hope you put them right?”
“Of course, but they weren’t interested.”
“She was the one who sent Mahoney to my house, not the other way around. What more do they need?”
“Apparently, she’s saying she only confided in Mahoney. Told him you’d been harassing her for ages and that she felt threatened by you. She told the police she had no idea he would get violent. They believe he acted on his own, in some misguided attempt to protect her from you. Off the record, they told me he’d done this kind of thing before. Served some time for it.”
“And she just happened to chance across a man like that? That’s convenient.”
“Mahoney has his own business, offering classes on self-defense. I’m told that’s how she met him. The police are asking why she felt the need to learn how to defend herself. Looks like they’re joining up the dots and drawing their own, wrong, conclusions.”
“She’s not the one who needs protection. That man almost killed me. And she sent him.”
“Listen, not all is lost.”
“It certainly feels like it to me.”
“I can apply to the court directly on your behalf. It would have been better had the police made the application, but we can still do it.”
“Okay, let’s do it. I can’t believe we’re having to do the police’s job for them.”
Collins paused. “Word of warning, though. Now Page is claiming she’s the one being harassed, the police might apply for a court order against you.”
“Are you serious?” A cloud of despair settled over me. Could things get any worse? I exhaled loudly through my teeth. “Look, it’s best you hear this from me.” I found it hard to get the words out. “She’s also claiming I raped her.”
“Whoa…that’s a whole different…” Collins remained silent for a few seconds. I must have caught her off-guard. “Has she said that to the police?”
“I don’t know. I heard it second-hand. She told Marie.”
“It would certainly help explain their sudden change in attitude. When is this supposed to have happened?”
“I’m not entirely sure. Some weeks ago, I think.”
“She couldn’t have reported it; you would have heard from them by now.”
“There was nothing to report. None of it is true.”
There was another pause. Did Collins think I’d done it? “This is a game-changer,” she said, a sudden urgency in her voice. “I need to speak with Marie to find out exactly what was said. Even if she hasn’t reported it, if Page is going around making accusations like this, no wonder the police have become unsympathetic toward us. We need to be very careful.”
I gave Collins Marie’s cell number. “Listen, there’s something else you need to know.”
I heard a loud sigh down the phone. “Go on,” Collins said.
“Marie and I have separated.”
“When did that happen?”
“A few days ago. After she found…” I was going to tell Collins about the photos, but something stopped me. I could sense she was already having doubts about me. With precious few allies right now, I needed her on my side more than ever. “After Ali claimed I raped her, Marie put me out. I’m hoping it’s not for long.”
“You realize this won’t look good to a court? Does Marie believe her?”
“Right now, it seems that way. She’s still in shock. I’m sure she’ll feel differently in a day or so. At least, I hope she will. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost her. I can’t let that happen.”
“You need to stay strong, Tom. I’m going to apply to the court immediately, but it’ll be some time before we hear back with a decision. In the meantime, I want you to stay away from Page. I can’t stress that enough.”
“Please do whatever you can. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
Far from regaining control over my life, things were spiraling down fast. It was as if a vise was crushing my chest, a little more each hour. Not only had the police abandoned me, but it was clear they were also taking Ali’s side. Although Collins hadn’t said anything specific during our conversation, I sensed from her tone an element of panic. For such an experienced lawyer to be spooked, it had to mean I was in a ton of trouble.
The vise tightened some more with my next thought. What would Marie say to Collins? With my wife’s current frame of mind, there was a risk she might alarm my lawyer even more, especially if she mentioned the photos.
Chapter 32
Costco opened at nine on Saturdays. To avoid the weekend crowd, Marie and Freya arrived as the doors were being unlocked. Marie had her regular list and her plan was to zoom around, pay, and get out of there within half an hour. But that was never going to happen. Freya liked to wander up and down all the aisles, checking out the deals, particularly on training gear and running shoes. If she found anything interesting, she’d always find a way to persuade her mom to buy it. Today, whenever Freya sniffed out a bargain, Marie just told her to place it in the cart; she was in no mood to put up even a cursory fight. Her mind was elsewhere. This was the first time they’d done the Costco run without Tom, and it felt weird walking past his favorite items: cinnamon bread, Balderson’s mature cheese, and multi-packs of batteries. Tom liked his batteries.
The lines at the checkouts were already growing when they finished. Minutes later, Marie presented her membership card, paid, and then rushed toward the exit. Freya held back. Even though it was mid-morning, there was one more area she needed to visit.
“You know Dad always stops for a hot dog,” she said when Marie turned to see what was delaying her daughter.
Marie caved. She stood at the counter and watched Freya devour her second breakfast.
When they left the building ten minutes later, Ali’s mother, Sonya, was approaching from the parking lot. Marie pretended not to see her by looking in her purse to find her car keys. The last thing she needed was to get drawn into a conversation. She hadn’t seen Sonya since that night Ali fawned all over Tom at the dinner table.
