Page 41 of The Liar I Married
“Oh, don’t worry.” Alex taps his temple. “I have a ton of stories in here. I’ll make up something on the fly.” As we reach the door, he cups his hands and looks through the window. “All clear.”
I hold my breath as he slowly turns the doorknob. Trying not to make a sound, I follow him inside and we sneak through the pots of flowers. We pause at the door, standing on each side like cops in the movies, and peer into the room overlooking the rose garden. The scent of roses drifts through the open windows but the hospital bed is made, crisp and clean. The drip stand is placed close to the bed. My stomach drops. Nothing has changed. Everything is still the same as if waiting for my return…my slow death. Panic grips me. I can’t do this. I dig my feet in, unable to move. I see Alex staring at me and I shake my head. Terror at Dolly administering the zombie drug again makes it hard to breathe. I pull back and sag against the wall, trying to force air into my lungs. Just being here is suffocating. I’m trusting Alex with my life. Have I just made a huge mistake? Just how well do I know him? What if he’s part of the plan to get rid of me?
“Are you okay?” Alex turns to look at me, concern etched on his face. “I’ll be close by. I won’t allow her to do anything to you.”
How can I explain? He hasn’t been trapped here and under her control. She’s a monster and I’m still weak and vulnerable.She’ll kill me for sure the first chance she gets. I grip his arm. “I can’t do this. I’m terrified. She’ll know something is wrong.”
“Take deep breaths.” Alex’s voice is so low I can hardly hear it over the thumping in my ears. “Nothing will happen. I’ll hide in here and watch her. It’s the only way we’ll be able to discover the truth. We need to stop her and Michael from ever trying this again.”
Trembling, I consider his words and nod slowly. He’s right, of course. I need my revenge and this is the only way of getting it. “Please don’t leave me alone with her. She can’t be trusted. I’m in fear of my life.”
“I’ll be right here in the shadows.” He takes out his phone and wedges it between two figurines on a shelf and hits record. “It will record everything around the bed.”
His assurances don’t help. He hasn’t experienced the feeling of being trapped inside his body like I have. I bite down on the inside of my mouth. I must do this for the girls. My legs tremble and my heart is racing so fast I’m sure it will burst through my ribcage. To think this house, once overflowing with love and memories of my family, has now changed into a torture chamber.My torture chamber. A mind-twisting place that altered my reality into a lie. I swallow the bile creeping into my mouth; the acid burns my throat and the bottled water beside the bed suddenly looks inviting. It’s as if the bed is luring me as if I’m craving the drugs. I stop, my steps faltering. Dolly is inside my head, dragging me down a dark black hole. My mouth is dry and now my legs refuse to move. I don’t want to go back. I can’t do this—I won’t. Blind panic grips me and I turn away. A cold sweat creeps over me and my T-shirt clings to my back. I can smell my own fear. I shake my head. “I can’t do it. Something bad will happen. I can feel it.”
“It won’t.” Alex turns me to face him. “I’ll be here, six feet away, and John is just along the passageway. We won’t leave youalone with her. You’re the only person to bring her to justice. Be strong, Jessie, if not for you, do it for your kids.”
The girls’ faces fix in my mind. I take deep breaths, centering myself. I must do this. We need proof or I’ll never see my kids again. I nod. “Okay, I’m ready. What do you want me to do?”
“I’ll carry you into the room. Act sick or something. Like you’re drugged maybe will be best. Yeah, I can work with that idea. Ready?” Alex swings me into his arms and shoulders his way into the room. “Help! I need help here. Somebody!”
FORTY-THREE
I push down panic as the familiar smells of my hospital room increase the closer I get to the bed. Each day, Maria wipes everything down with disinfectant as if I’m suffering from some incurable disease. The sharp pine scent burns my nostrils as Alex lowers me gently to the bed. I grip his shirt. “I need a drink of water.”
“Okay.” He scans the room and then gives me the water.
I drink, allowing the cool liquid to soothe my throat. I hand the bottle back and curl up on my side, facing the camera. Knowing it’s there soothes my nerves a little but my heart is still pounding way too fast. I breathe slow and deep in an attempt to calm it. I need to center my mind on something nice and move my attention to the rose garden, and the sight is comfortingly familiar. The color of the blooms vary from deep blood red, to a buttery yellow, and from this angle I can see the new blue variety that Grandma included last year. Across the garden there are hundreds of flower heads spreading their petals in varying degrees to the sun and tight buds are evident all over, ensuring there are always blooms on display.
“Hey, is someone there?” Alex moves to the passageway and stops with one hand resting on the doorframe. He raises his voice. “I need help in here. I have Jessie and she needs help.”
Hurried footsteps come from the passageway and Dolly’s voice pierces the quiet like a sergeant major’s to the troops on a parade ground. I flinch but lie still. I must appear to be drugged or she will inject me with something horrible again.
“How did you get in here?” Dolly pushes her way into the room, dark eyes moving everywhere.
“Never mind. Jessie needs help.” Alex’s voice rises as he makes his point. “She’s becoming more unstable by the minute and demanding to see her kids. I didn’t know what to do. She just wouldn’t listen to me so I called the paramedics and they gave her an injection to calm her down. They wanted to take her to the hospital and mentioned a psychiatric assessment. When I told them that she was under home care, with her own nurse, they wanted to transport her here but I insisted I’d bring her here right away.” He sighs. “You’ll be able to look after her, won’t you?”
“Just how upset was she?” Dolly is standing so close to me I can smell the lemon hand lotion she uses.
“She was screaming and throwing things. She tried to steal my truck and she can hardly walk.” Alex shrugs. “I’m not a doctor—she just went crazy—okay? Look, I’m not able to care for her anymore. She needs specialist around-the-clock care.” He rubs his chin. “Why don’t you call her asshole of a husband to look after her? I’m not responsible for her. I hardly know her.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have kidnapped her in the first place?” Dolly attaches wires to my chest and puts a blood pressure cuff on my arm. “I can take it from here. See yourself out—and if you show up again, I’ll call the cops.”
I see Alex from under my lashes. He gives me a long look and then nods. As he walks away, fear of being alone with Dolly againgrips me in waves of terror. The claustrophobic feeling of being trapped inside my body comes back in a rush. I fight to push down a tsunami of panic and the monitor goes crazy. Just having Dolly close by terrifies me. I know exactly what she can do. One apparent accidental overdose and all of Michael’s dreams will come true. Right now, the will still stands. If I die, he gets everything.
FORTY-FOUR
I’m alone, helpless. If this doesn’t work, I’ll be dead and Michael has won.
“You’ve been a bad girl, haven’t you?” Dolly rolls me onto my back. “Your brother will be here soon and we’ll decide what to do with you. I know you tried to have him arrested. He’s no fool. He knows his phone is being monitored, so he purchased a burner.” She chuckles.
A tremble goes through me as I control the terror creeping up on me. Michael is coming here? I hope Alex overheard what she is saying. I breathe in and out slowly and try to relax. She pokes me, and not flinching is difficult. I’m afraid and so angry at her at the same time. She betrayed me and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. I so wish I had my strength back but I’m weak; if she comes at me with a shot, I’m helpless to do anything.
“Everyone believes you’ve lost your mind. You’ve made it so easy for us. I can keep you here forever, living like a vegetable—well, long enough for Michael to have the estate transferred to him.” She gets down close to my face and I can smell her onion breath. “If we come up with any complications and the estate doesn’t go to him—you die.”
She straightens, and I’m afraid she’ll head back to her office. I take a chance and moan and thrash about. I’m risking another dose of the zombie drug but I must do this, John needs time to search her computer, although surely the video will catch her death threats—but what if it doesn’t?
I get her attention and she checks the monitors again. I fall back into a stupor but she hovers over me, watching me. I feel like a mouse waiting for the cat to pounce and my heart rate spikes again. I moan again and toss my head around.
