The Ones Who Got Away (9 page)

“So I killed him.” Aaron said finally looking at me, sarcasm dancing in his eyes. “Look you can be shocked and disgusted as you want but the truth is, I didn’t care for him enough to kill him. Megan tried she to talk me into taking him in because she was getting hospitalized again. I told her she’d be fine. She had fought the cancer before but she said it was different the second time. Then, Jeremy came in and showed me a picture album. There was a pic of Megan and some guy, Danial. They looked close. Later I found out it was three years she had been seeing that kid.” Aaron spouted off, putting three of his fingers up. So, he was jealous. 

“You think it was romantic?”

“I don’t know how she did it being sick. But from what I saw they were in love.” He really sounded convincing.  I was not really buying it. He was an ex-husband talking out of jealousy. He was prone to exaggerate.

“You can tell that from just looking at a photo?”

“Yeah plus the next day he came to my house. Cusses me off for making Megan cry. Yes that Danial kid had something serious going on with Megan.” This time I was convinced.

***

I dialed Danial’s cell number. After a few beeps, he picked up.

“I talked to Jeremy’s dad.” I said, not bothering with the formality.

“Charmer, huh?” Danial chuckled.

“He said that your relationship with Megan was more than professional. So, can you shed some light on that?”

He sighed. “It wasn’t romantic but it was intense. I mean Megan and Jeremy had such big problems. What was wrong with them I couldn’t fix. I was just nineteen, a kid and it was just a job.”

“And you were getting out of town…”

“Finished 2 years in a community college then got a scholarship to UC Berkeley. Even there I couldn’t escape it. I went there for a few weeks to settle a loan, housing. Then, I got a call from Megan. She had woken up in a hospital and didn’t know where Jeremy was. It had been three days.”

He was silent for a moment but before I could interrupt, he continued, “They had sent him to a mental hospital when Megan got hospitalized. That place was terrible. I could hardly recognize Jeremy when I walked in. He was far from the cheerful, happy-go-lucky person he was. They separated him from the rest because they claimed he was high risk. The record showed that he was charged with sexual assault. So I brought him out of that hell and right back to his home. I stayed with him there until Megan got out from the hospital.”

“That’s a lot for a nineteen year old to handle.” I felt sorry for feeling suspicious of him. He was Jeremy’s father figure. Totally unrelated by blood but cared more for Jeremy than his own father. And they said blood was thicker than water.

“What stuck to my mind until now was how in the middle of that nightmare, when Jeremy saw me, his eyes lit up. He said, I knew you would come. I wished that you would and now here you are. He gave me his JJ and said that the teddy told him to wait patiently for me and he was sure glad he did.” I could hear the faint smile in Danial’s voice.

“Wait,” I said. Something was off. My adrenaline pumped up. “You said he had the teddy with him at the hospital. Do you know how he got it?”

“Yeah sure. He got it for his twelfth birthday. We went to this funfair and…”

I cut him off “But Jeremy gave it to Elena as an apology for the assault when they had the negotiation about it at her house.”

“Sounds like him.”

“But at the hospital, he must have gotten it back.”

“What, from Elena? But why would she go back to see the guy who…”

“Attacked her?” I interrupted Danial once again. “That’s a good question.”

***

“You told me Jeremy gave you his teddy when he came to your house.” I watched Elisha. I did not notice it before but her lips trembled at the mention of Jeremy.

“You know what happened to it?”

“I must have thrown it away,” she mumbled. “I mean, it’s been so many years,” she said not making eye contact with me ever since I marched into her shop, not bothering to hide what I really felt.

“But actually no. He got it back. He got it back from you.” I pointed at her with a finger. Any customer who walked in might have thought I was just a customer that was mad because she ruined my satin blouse. But no, I was mad that she was keeping something away from me. I hated lies and I cannot tolerate people lying to me. Secrets are just the same as lies.

“Well I don’t know how.”

“Let’s start again. What aren’t you telling me. You know what, maybe a trip to the station might refresh your memory. Don’t worry, I’ll be there cheering you on while the police interrogates you.” I said menacingly. It did the trick. She seemed terrified.

“I went to apologize to him.” Elena sighed, her shoulders slumped. She was defeated.

“For what?”

“The music room. The assault. There wasn’t one.”

I looked at her in disbelief. “Nothing happened?”

“Jeremy was sitting with me at the piano and started talking about his mom. How he loved her. Just like he loved me. I felled for him so I let him kiss me. Then Matt came in and…”

“And got the wrong idea?”

“Yes.” She genuinely looked sorry but I was mad and ignored it. She had spun a weave of lies and that might have cost Jeremy’s life.

“You didn’t try to give him the right one?”

“I couldn’t.”

“Why not?!” I yelled at her. My voice bounced off the dirty walls of the dry cleaners.

“Because I was stupid. Because I thought what people would say!” Her voice raised an octave. She was in tears now, her nose pink and eyes blotchy. “Elena’s a slut. Elena wants to make it with a retard? So I made a story that he attacked me.” Elena said, slowing down.

“You wouldn’t spill out the truth even when your parents were involved?”

“I thought maybe Jeremy should leave the school. Go somewhere else. Maybe they’ll be nicer to him.”

“What else happened?”

“Like I said, I went to his house to apologize. He said he was hungry but he couldn’t open the fridge or the cupboards without his mom’s permission. When I asked him where his mom was, he said she was taking a bath. A long one. Since two days ago.” Elena choked out the words between her stream of tears.

“I rushed to the bathroom and found her sprawled face down on the floor. Megan was practically dead. She had been unconscious for almost two days!”

“And Jeremy was swept away by social services?” I made sure.

Elena nodded. “They said they were taking him to a proper place. But before I found Megan, Jeremy told me that he was going to stay with Danial. In Berkeley.” I frowned at that. How could Danial have not mentioned something of that magnitude. Yet another secret I was about to unearth.

***

“I don’t understand it. I’ve told you everything.” Danial said when he found me knocking on his door. It was only seven in the morning on a Sunday but I was getting restless. He would not pick up my phone calls so I went straight to his double-story home. 

“You didn’t tell me you tried to get custody of Jeremy.”

He hushed me. “My wife is still sleeping upstairs” Danial said and led me to a bench outside. He was only wearing a singlet and shorts and shivered a little in the cold misty morning.

“I didn’t think it was important,” he continued.

“Really? Because I think it was the opposite. You tried to hide it because you knew how important it was.” I exploded. “You felt trapped. If you got stuck with Jeremy, your whole life is drained away. But how do you say no to a dying woman.” I lashed out. Gone was the respect I felt for him.

“That’s not how it was.”

“Megan was handing you a life sentence.” I continued. “You didn’t have the guts to turn your back on her so the only way to save yourself was to get rid of Jeremy. For good.” I accused him. It was a wild, random accusation made by a woman who had lost her sleep for the past week and her appetite for any meal.

“I loved Jeremy. I wanted to take him but they wouldn’t let me.”

“Who wouldn‘t?”

“The responsible agencies. They turned down my application saying I was too young. That I lacked the necessary skills.”

“To care for a minor? Jeremy was only fifteen.”

“A minor with special needs.” Danial stressed out “Who posed a danger of possible sexual threat.” He sighed. “If only I had been older. If only he hadn’t attacked that girl…”

“Danial, he didn’t.” I was sick of the lies about Jeremy. He was good and trusting and people made use of that. “Elena let the story get out of hand.” I explained.

Danial face was of pure shock then sadness emanated from him. “If only Megan had known that.”

“Why? Would it have been different?”

“She fought so hard for him. I don’t think anyone has ever fought harder.” Megan was a fighter. Especially when it comes to her son.

“But she was sick. She finally had to give up.” I said, letting my thoughts wander in the open.

“With both of us gone, the world was going to eat Jeremy alive. But we couldn’t do anything to stop it.” Danial said. That was when I saw it. That sadness, the sorry expression. The overwhelming regret. It could only mean one thing. My hunch was right.

“But you could do one thing.” I pressed him. He was so close to confessing.

Denial’s face started to alter. Gone was his placid façade that he has been showing to me and to everybody else. He looked terrified and regretful at the same time. The look of a guilty man.

“Did Megan ask you to take him to the tracks that night?”

“It was never specific.” Danial finally let the cat out of the bag.

***

“How did it go today?” Danial asked. Megan was looking paler than the usual. It was a stupid question but he wanted to believe she was getting better. He was nineteen end even though Megan was twice his age, he fell for her. Love makes you blind and he would rather be blind than lose Megan.

“It’s the end, they’re giving me a hospice registry.”  Megan said, her eyes fell.

“Hospice?”

“Where they make you comfortable when there’s nothing left to do.”

“So, that’s it?” Danial could not believe this was going to be the end. Megan was a fighter. Ever since he had known her, all she kept on doing was fighting. Fighting to raise a kid on her own, fighting the hunger and fatigue of not having enough money coming in for food and countless shifts. Fighting the cancer which was now taking over her.

“That’s it.” Megan said, firmly.

Jeremy burst in the dining room when he heard Danial’s voice. “Yes!! We can go to the movies!” Jeremy was so hyped up. To him, life was turning out pretty well. Danial came to save him from the hospital, his mother had woken up, Elisha came over to say sorry and said she liked him and he was going to live with Danial. Little did he know, it was all an illusion.

“I’ll go get changed.” Jeremy said and ran up the stairs. Megan and Danial kept their smiles but it was devoid of happiness. Just a cover of the tears that threatened to come.

“What’s gonna happen to him?” Megan asked, stifling a sob.

“I’ll handle it. Just leave it to me.” Danial sounded as determined as ever.

“I want you to know that I have always thought of you both as my boys.”