Center Courtship (42 page)

“I guess. I'm no electrician.”

“Ok, so what are these issues we need to cover?” asked Elsu.

“Well, first of all we are trying to figure out if Bartholomew being at that basketball game last night was a violation of his parole. He's obviously allowed to find employment but must stay away from anywhere you are likely to be. While he was in Independence, he was doing right. Then he lost his job and turned to Steve for a temporary one to give him some cash in the meantime. The question we need to ask ourselves is if he knew you would be at that basketball game or not.”

“How could he not? I've seen him, his brother and his brother's best friend this week. They all know I'm friends with Elsu. They might not have known I was going to be at the game, but hell, most of Massillon was at that game. Isn't that enough?” I was nearly screaming.

“Unfortunately, not by what I'm hearing from everyone including your brother, Max. You aren't on your medications, you're extremely claustrophobic, and have an aversion to crowds, correct?”

“I was diagnosed after the trial BECAUSE of Bart! My doctor said it was one of the worst cases of claustrophobia he'd ever seen.”

“Would Bart be aware of that information?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “What does it matter? He trashed my truck!”

“I wish it were that easy, ma'am. It wasn't Bart who trashed the truck.”

“How couldn't it have been?”

“The power to the deck was out, but the power to the cameras wasn't. So we have really dark images in the garage. But we did get something. They're trying to figure out who it is right now. They are going to send me the image once they get a good one.”

“Then how do you know it wasn't Bart?”

“Because, Bart left the arena after he was kicked out and went to talk to someone at the newspaper's office. He has a solid alibi.”

“So what about his parole?”

“We need to figure out if he violated parole.”

“That's none of our business, that's yours! He knew he shouldn't be near her, hell, he waved across the court to her little brother. He knew what the hell he was doing,” said Elsu. I could see red creeping from his neck to his ears. “If he wanted to fix the problem, he should have left the second he knew Mae was there. End of story. Parole violated!”

“I can't say I disagree, Elsu. Mae, your brother has agreed to take your case, as you probably know. Your truck is parked in the police department's evidence garage for now.”

I nodded.

“She needs protection,” said Elsu sternly as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

“I agree, but the judge here is not so giving when it comes to protection when there is no evidence of physical harm. I have a request in, but I haven't heard back yet. As you know, money's tight and our police force is already spread thin with the extra men needed around the arena. I wouldn't hold my breath, at least not until we know for sure.”

“So we have to wait for him to actually harm her before the cops will do anything about it?” asked Elsu. He was furious.

“Unfortunately, yes.” I could tell Officer Graven was getting a little nervous being so close to a steaming Mount Elsu.

Detective Graven's phone rang from his pocket and he pulled it out.

“Graven…Ok…I'll look.” He hung up and started clicking on his phone. “They have an image of the person who destroyed the truck, ma'am.”

He handed the phone to me. I looked close and zoomed in. “Oh my word!”

“Do you recognize him, ma'am?” asked Detective Graven.

“Yes! That's Jeremy!” I showed it to Elsu who nodded.

“I pulled him off you on Wednesday. I don't recall what I said to him when I took him outside, but I shoved him. I didn't hit him or anything. Just told him to stay away. This could be my fault.”

“This isn't your fault, Elsu.”

“Are you sure it's Jeremy?” asked Detective Graven.

“Yes, that's Jeremy Bradford. Bart's brother!”

“Thank you, we'll go see if we can get him then.” He jotted some notes down in his notepad and looked back between Elsu and I. “Do you have any more questions for me?”

I looked at Elsu hoping he'd ask something that I was forgetting but he had nothing. Detective Graven handed each of us a business card and left my apartment.

Elsu guided me to the couch and we sat together. We weren't touching, but the space between us was slight. I could tell from his posture that he was wanting to say something and I decided to beat him to it.

“I wish it was Bart.”

“Why?”

“I know him better. I know what he's capable of, what he's likely to do.”

He placed his head in his hands.

“Well, you said it yourself, you need to know I'm safe. There's no promise of that now. I'm going back to a life lived in fear until they find Jeremy. I'm telling you, you don't need someone like me in your life.”

“I need you in my life more than you know. I'd never leave you because of this. We'll get him and this will all be over.”

“What about concentrating on your game? If he's anything like Bart, he's not done. And we don't know what he's capable of.”

“I'm not worrying about the game.” We sat in silence for a little longer. “Tell me.”

“What?”

“I said I didn't want to know. I said I didn't want to look at those pictures but I did. I saw. Those images flashed through my dreams all night long. I want to know what happened. All I'm getting is snippets of the story and I want to know. What did Bart do to you?”

I shook my head and stood up. “What will it accomplish? I don't tell that story to anyone. What will knowing do but bring it all back to the front of my mind?”

“I need to know the cause of your greatest pain. I can't help take it away if I don't know what caused it. You're claustrophobic? Why? You don't like crowds? Why? I want to
know.” He reached up and grabbed my hand. “You have somehow burrowed yourself into my soul and to think that some ass did anything to cause what I saw in those pictures makes me physically ill to my stomach. Please, tell me.”

I pulled him to stand and guided him back to my bedroom where the box still sat on the floor. I grabbed it and placed it on the bed and we both sat.

“Everything that happened is in the files in this box, I've already had to live it once and retell it in court. I don't want to do this anymore. I'll tell you what I can but if you have any more questions, the answers are all in here.” I pushed the box towards him.

“Ok,” said Elsu as he grabbed my hand and held it still in his.

“When I was a freshman, my grandfather hired Bart to work at the shop as an apprentice. I was working there too, but grandpa had me working in the office with the paperwork that I still do to this day. He knew I knew how to strip the cars like the big guys, but he felt better with me in the office.”

“Bart was a junior and started hitting on me almost immediately. He was charming at first and I was young and immature so I accepted his invitation to go on a date. Everyone was ok with it. He even asked for my dad's blessing to ask me. He could charm the pants off a snake.

“We dated innocently until midway through my sophomore year when my uncle died in prison. Like I told you before, he got mad that I had lied to him about being a virgin and started pushing me to give in to him but I wouldn't.

“He got really possessive and controlling of me. This one time I had gone to a girlfriend's house for a sleep over with a few other girls and he called repeatedly telling me I needed to go home. I told him I wasn't going to leave, I wasn't doing anything wrong. I hung up on him and a half hour later he was pounding at my friend's door. That was the first time I really saw the rage. He pulled me from the house and dragged me to his car. He said if I wasn't going to sleep with him I wasn't going to sleep with anyone.

“How ridiculous is that? It was an innocent teenage sleepover. We weren't doing anything but watching movies and gossiping. So he took me to his house and pulled me into his
bedroom and yelled at me for what seemed like forever about me lying to him and how he was in control of me now. He finally backhanded me into the wall.” I rubbed my cheek remembering the bruise like it was still there.

Elsu's jaw clenched as he listened.

“Like I said, I was innocent and stupid and the next day when I was home he came over and apologized like crazy and I, like the idiot I was, accepted his apology. He spent the following week showering me with affection and gifts. I honestly thought he felt bad. I even tried to convince my friends that he had been having a bad day and everything was fine. I should have listened to them when they argued, but we fought until they gave up and I no longer had any friends.”

“I suppose it's always hard to look at a relationship from any angle but the one you're in,” said Elsu as he shook his head.

I nodded in agreement and continued. “He graduated at the end of my sophomore year and he continued the hitting and the apologizing. I finally told him I wanted to break up. I was done but he begged me to keep him. And of course I did.”

“What about your dad? I know Max wouldn't have let this happen.”

“Max was away at law school for most of the time. Bart threatened me if I told anyone, he said he'd hurt my family somehow. He had a new threat every day. GOD I was stupid!”

“Stop that, you were brainwashed,” he said quietly.

“Well, long story shortened a little, he had been buttering my grandpa up for the business. My grandpa was Bart's mom's godfather. He was good friends with the family all around. Grandpa kept dropping hints that he wanted to retire soon and Bart was like a grandson to him so Bart felt he should get the shop. Needless to say when I was gifted the shop as a graduation gift, Bart flipped out. His pathetic excuse for a girlfriend was now his boss.”

“WOW!” said Elsu.

“Yeah, wow. I kept myself holed up in the office, trying to avoid him at work at all costs. Back then the office had solid walls so it was easy to hide from him. He started missing work without calling off, messing up when he was at work, he wrecked three different cars we had on the lot for sale. It was
almost like he was daring me to fire him. I had a meeting with Steve and told him I was going to fire Bart and I wanted him there. Steve sat with me when I told Bart and he was surprisingly calm about it. He just stood up, gathered his belongings and left.”

“That can't be a good thing.”

I shook my head. “He started showing up at my apartment pounding on the door wanting in to talk. He'd follow me and show up at places where I was shopping. The one trip to Walmart, he followed me throughout the store. I felt I was safer to stay where there were other people than to try to run so I finished my shopping and asked an employee to walk me to my car. Bart peeled out of his parking spot across the way from me when whatever he had planned didn't go the way he had thought.”

“Max was back and working at a firm by then and I got him involved. Unfortunately, since I didn't have any evidence of actual abuse they couldn't get a restraining order. Not that he would have followed it anyway.'

Then this one time I went on a double blind date with Joe's brother and Joe and his wife. Joe works at the shop, you met him, he's one of my warehouse guys. I wasn't really looking for a boyfriend but you know, I deserved a date. Right?” I was still trying to convince myself all these years later.

“Of course you did,” said Elsu as he moved the box from the bed and sat it beside him on the floor. He then scooted his body closer to mine.

“After the date, I walked to Little José by myself and my whole world went dark. I woke up in the trunk of a car with no padding. It was just the steel frame. I still to this day don't know where he was driving but it felt like he was aiming for every pothole in the state. Quickly. He took multiple sharp turns and slammed on the brakes until I was numb from the pain. I was thrown all over the inside of that trunk. My hands and feet were taped together and my mouth was taped shut too. I had rope tied around my body, keeping my hands tight to me so I couldn't do anything to keep myself from slamming into the metal trunk.”

“So those pictures were all from the car?”

“Not all,” I said as I continued. “At some point he stopped and pulled me out of the trunk on the side of some back road. He laid me on the ground and started yelling at me about how I had ruined his life, he was delusional. He ripped at my clothes and tried desperately to get to me but he had tied the knots on the rope so tight that he couldn't. Apparently he had forgotten a knife. He got so mad he started kicking and punching me. Then he pulled me up and started grabbing my body wherever he could, but the rope was thankfully between my legs and he wasn't able to get what he wanted. That rope saved me.”

I pulled my knees to my chest and hugged my legs close to me. “He finally gave up and threw me back in the trunk and drove around for what had to be hours. At some point I passed out and when I woke up, the car was still. I listened to see if he was in the car or if we were stopped for gas or if he had just abandoned me on the side of the road somewhere. Then I heard voices and I started kicking at the inside of the car and moving back and forth so the car would rock. He had stopped at some diner outside Columbus to eat and I had attracted the attention of a family who were getting into their car. They called 911 and another long story short, I was rescued and brought back up here with what you saw in those pictures.”

“Shit,” said Elsu. “So the other day when I walked into the shop and told you I was there to ‘kidnap you' and you flipped out on me, this is why. I'm a dumbass.”

“How would you have known?” I wanted him to wrap his arms around me and make me feel safe. I wanted to bury my head into his warm chest but he sat forward and away from me. The space between us wasn't more than two feet but it felt like a hundred. I went to reach out to touch him but I pulled back. If he was pulling away from me because of this, I didn't want to show my desperation for him.