Page 56 of Judas

Squeezing Chet's arm, she made her uncle a promise, "I will make sure you are put in front of a judge immediately and bail is set. I will make sure that bail is paid in full from Paul's account. I will represent you every step of the way and I will make sure you don't serve a single day. What you did is nothing more than a public service and I wish you had succeeded."

***

Judas couldn’t stand the thought of waiting for her in the car. He waited until she was safely inside then walked himself inside as well. Planting himself directly across from the access door he knew she would return out of and he watched, not allowing hiseyes to stray from the doorway for even a second. When Eliza returned he would be ready for whatever reality came with her.

After what felt like a millennia, she emerged and his heart sank. Whatever she learned had ravaged her. Her normal flushed cheeks were pale and devoid of life. She looked like the shell of a person.

Judas rose to his feet, rushing to her side. Eliza's face didn’t react as it usually did when she saw him. She simply stared ahead and took his hand as she marched toward the exit.

Once outside, Judas pulled her arm gently, forcing her to look at him, "Hey, what happened? You're not okay right now."

Eliza pursed her lips as she contemplated what she could bear to share at that moment. She knew if she even tried to tell him what she just learned she would crumble into a useless pile of heartbreak and she couldn’t afford to do that yet.

She shook her head, "I can't talk about this yet."

Concern creased his forehead, "Ahava, whatever this is, we can navigate it together."

She felt the threat of tears but shook them away, "No. No, Judas. I can't yet. If I do, I’ll fall apart and I can't do that yet. I have some things I need to do. When that is finished, we will talk."

The frustration of knowing she was holding in so much just to keep herself afloat was nearly unbearable, but he understood time is something she needed from him, "I'm not happy about that, but whatever you need. Until then, what can I do?"

She breathed in and out several times before walking to the car, "I have to run a couple of errands and I need to do them alone. Can you—"

"Eliza, I'm not letting you shoulder this alone," he interjected.

She stopped, turning to face him, "Look, what I just learned in there is so much worse than I even thought it could be. I need to do some things and I need to do them alone. I'm not asking.I'm telling you that this is what I'm doing. If you want to help, you can go to the hospital and you can stand guard outside Paul's room. You don't have to go in and he doesn't even need to know you're there. Just be there. In case."

Did she just call her father by his name?

He frowned. "Is he in danger? I thought it was just Chet involved. Who should I be watching for?"

Eliza huffed a bitter laugh, "Me, Judas. I need you to guard the door from me and I'm not even joking. I am going to try my very best to go do what I need to do without going there to see him, but I need you there to stop me if I fail. If I show up at that hospital, you have to stop me or I am going to end up right back in that jail, but I'll be on the other side of the table because Iwillkill him. I will march right into that room and I will finish the goddamn job."

The pain in her voice was palpable and he believed every word she spoke. Judas pulled her into a crushing embrace. Kissing her hair, he whispered, "Okay, Ahava. I will be there."

Chapter forty

The wide Texas sky was clear and the sunshine beat down punishingly on Eliza's skin. She had been standing in her father's driveway staring up at the home she was raised in for ten minutes but she just couldn't make herself go inside.

Those walls were full of her childhood. Everything about who she was had roots in this home. She grew into herself from all the seeds of experience planted right here. She’d always thought she’d had a decent childhood, mostly tended to by nannies and Aunt Reba, with the occasional appearance by her father. The younger versions of Eliza remembered Paul as fun and outgoing. He was always laughing and entertaining a crowd. He seemed to understand how to delight her childhood sense of wonder in the world. It wasn't until she was older that those memories morphed into ones of tending to a drunken hypocrite. The man who espoused conservatism by day and drank away his nights. A man who made Eliza's friends uncomfortable when they caught him staring a little too long. A man that she wept for at night because she was afraid this might be the drunken stupor thatfinally did him in, making her an orphan. It was in those later years that she began to come to terms with the fact that her father wasn't a good person. He was selfish and cruel and hate filled. So why was it such a surprise to learn he was a rapist too?

How had she not known? There had to have been clues that he was more than just a drunken idiot. Did she just ignore them as he reminded her that family came before all else except God? She knew they disagreed on everything and most days, as an adult, she was sure she didn't even like him, but she never imagined he was capable of the terrible things she’d been told. Being totally honest with herself, she'd known he was a bad person for a long time but she didn't know he was a monster.

Looking up at the columned entry and tan brick facade, she wondered if anyone else ever knew the kind of deplorable being that lived inside. Were the other homes in their gated community the same? Did they all use these monstrous displays of their wealth to hide all the dirty secrets inside? Was this how all the families in the world worked? Everyone was just living lies to hide their demons?

But then…

She thought of Judas. He was good and pure and kind. He spent thousands of years hearing the world call him terrible things. His name was synonymous in society with being the enemy. A traitor. Yet, he remained good. He didn’t let that taint or tarnish his soul. She knew he was proof of goodness and that was what she clung to as she walked to the front door and slid her key into the lock.

Her shoes tapped against the cold marble floor as she made her way across the grand entry to Paul's office.

‘Focus on what you need to do here, Eliza,’she thought to herself. Taking a steadying breath, she flipped on the light.

She already made a phone call to connections in the prosecutor's office and Chet would be put in front of a judge toreceive a bail determination before the end of the night. She'd also reached out to the bank and ensured the funds would be available to pay the bail the first second she could. Each phone call she made came with vague clues of understanding so that when she was ready to bring this case to court, the system was already tipping in her favor. The legal system really shouldn't be so easy to skew, but in this case, she was glad it was. Now, to further her position, Eliza was in Paul Arthur's home looking for any and all additional help to show his deserving guilt in bringing this whole thing on himself. Did she believe in the death penalty? Usually, no. Especially not at the hands of someone outside of the proper legal channels, but then again she'd never felt such a strong betrayal so close to home. When she was finished, the world was going to know Paul got exactly what he deserved and even that really wasn’t enough.

She had no clue what she was looking for, but she searched through every drawer, cabinet, and closet until she was satisfied there was nothing here to help her. When she cleared the office, she moved on to the next room. And the next. And the next, until she had just one room left.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been s inside the home, but she hadn’t received the phone call about bail. Arriving at the last room gave her pause. She stood outside of the doorway and stared at the closed door, willing her phone to ring and save her from this one. When it didn’t obey, she sighed, turning the knob before walking into her mother's office.

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