Promise Me Eternity (29 page)

He tortured himself with such thoughts until
he answered a knock on the front door.

A man and a woman in civilian clothes showed
their badges, from which Dr. Patterson saw that they were special
agents.

“Good evening,” the woman said. “If you don’t
mind, we’d like to ask you a few questions about your wife’s
murder.”

He gave a desperate sigh. “I said everything
there is to say at the police station.”

“That was the local police. May we come
in?”

He hesitated, wanting to be alone. With
helplessness in his eyes, he looked from one to the other. “OK,
come in.”

The agents followed him down the corridor and
into the kitchen.

“My name is Sandra Grant and this is my
colleague Steven West,” Sandra said. “We’d like you to tell us
exactly what happened when your wife was murdered. Where were you
at the time?”

Simon went to the table, where he had only
moments earlier been drinking his coffee. He pulled some chairs
away from the table for them.

Sitting opposite them, he said, “That night I
came straight to the kitchen. I was thirsty, so I poured myself a
glass of water.” He opened his eyes wide, staring ahead. “I heard a
noise upstairs and thought Helen must have woken up.” He covered
his eyes with his hand to hide the tears.

Both agents wondered if he was telling the
truth; it could be a well-rehearsed act.

Sandra said, “Go on, Dr. Patterson.”

Then he told them how he took some chocolate
candy to Helen. He described to them in a trembling voice how he
lay next to her, thinking she was asleep when, in fact, she was
dying. “The worst moment was when I turned on the light. I’ll never
forget what I saw. Her eyes were staring at the ceiling and there
was blood all around her. It was awful. I can’t even begin to
describe it ….”

“Can we have a look at the bedroom?” Steven
asked.

“Yes, of course.”

He led them upstairs and stopped at the
bedroom doorway. The door was open, and a strong odor of dried
blood hung in the air, bearing witness to the crime.

Dr. Patterson went pale. “I haven’t had a
chance to clean it up. I simply can’t go in there.”

“On which side of the bed did you sleep?”
Sandra asked.

Simon pointed to the right side with a
shaking finger.

Sandra continued the questioning. “After you
realized that someone had cut your wife’s throat, did you touch
her?”

“Of course I did, I’m a doctor. I tried to
help her. I tried to stop the bleeding.”

“So that’s why you had blood on you. That’s
what it said in the report.”

“Yes.”

“Did you move anything?”

“Of course, I told you I was trying to help
her. I can’t remember everything clearly.”

“I know that you don’t like thinking about it
and that you’re upset. But for us, all these details are very
important. Try to understand. Can you remember what exactly you
moved. The bedcover? Did you pick up anything from the bedside
cabinet?”

“I must have moved the cover.” His jaw felt
so stiff he was barely able to speak. “I don’t know if you can
imagine what I was going through. I found my wife dying, lying in a
pool of blood. Her throat. … It was … it was ….”

Sandra waited for him to calm down. “I do
understand, Dr. Patterson. But you must understand our point of
view, too. As far as I’m concerned, it could have been someone else
who murdered her, or you. I’m not sure of anything yet. I’m merely
collecting evidence. But if you can give me some information that
can help eliminate you as a possible suspect, it’s to your benefit.
Wouldn’t you agree?”

He nodded, looking remorseful.

“Well, then.”

They asked him a few more questions and then
returned to the kitchen.

“Did you and your wife get along well?”
Sandra asked.

Simon didn’t know what to say. If he said
they didn’t get along, that could mean he had a motive. “Like most
married couples. We had a few fights.”

“Let me phrase the question differently. Do
you think your wife had a lover?”

Simon shook his head in horror. “Helen wasn’t
that sort of a woman. Never.”

“Is there anyone you think might have killed
your wife?”

“No, nobody. That’s the thing. Helen had no
enemies. I can’t believe anyone would want to kill her.” He covered
his eyes with his hand.

Sandra looked at Steven, who shrugged and
said, “That’ll be all for today, Dr. Patterson. We’ll come and see
you again.”

Simon shook their hands. “OK, good-bye.”

“Bye,” they said and left.

On the way to their car Sandra asked, “What
do you think, Steven? Is he lying?”

Steven thought for a moment and said, “I
think he killed her. There was something in his eyes. I don’t know
….”

Sandra put her hand to her chin. “I believe
him. Something tells me it wasn’t him.”

Chapter 55

_______________________

Maria Melton was staring out the window. In
front of the house next door, a police car was parked.

“Poor Simon, they keep bothering him.”

John was having lunch. Her comment made him
choke.

“You’re crazy,” he said. “Of course they’re
bothering him, he killed Helen.”

“Then why isn’t he in jail?”

“That’s exactly what I’m wondering. Why did
they let him out?”

Maria smiled and kept staring out. “Because
it wasn’t him.” She closed the curtain and faced her husband.
“Listen, John, what if we went over? You shouldn’t leave a friend
all alone.”

John only just managed to swallow the piece
of meat in his mouth. “Now you really are crazy. I don’t believe
it. You want your throat cut too?”

She hesitated a moment. “Some people say he
did kill her, others that he didn’t. I don’t think Simon is capable
of anything so terrible.”

“How come you know Simon so well? What if
he’s mentally unbalanced? Didn’t you see how he and Helen kept
having arguments? Sometimes even in front of us.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Come on, we
all do that. We argue now and again, but that’s not a sufficient
reason for murder.”

“So, who do you think did it?”

She sat next to him confidently. “People
gossip, you know how it is.”

He looked at her strangely.

“Some people say Helen had a lover. They say
it was probably him who killed her,” she said.

“What? I can’t believe that. The things
people come up with. Helen never had a lover. Not her.”

She gave him a challenging look. “And how can
you be so sure?”

“Because I knew her. She wasn’t that sort of
woman.”

A spark of worry appeared in Maria’s eyes.
“What do you mean you knew her?”

“Oh, stop it, Maria. We weren’t sleeping
together. I meant to say that she wasn’t the sort.”

She was angry because he was always so sure
of himself. “I think she was,” Maria repeated. “I think she was
killed by her lover.”

“You know, I’ve noticed something. The older
you get the more stubborn and empty-headed you become.”

She shook her head rapidly. “You know what
I’ve noticed? That everything I say turns out to be right. You’re
nearly always wrong. And because you’re stupid you never learn from
past experience. You’re always sure you’re right and because I
don’t agree, you start insulting me. Have you noticed that?”

He said nothing. He lifted a piece of meat to
his mouth on the fork, glumly staring ahead. Maria went to the
window again. She was sorry she couldn’t visit Simon.

Chapter 56

_______________________

The next morning, Simon was gardening when
his cell phone rang. He was surprised because he hadn’t heard it
ring since the day before. Not one friend had called.

“Hi, its Christine.”

“Oh, Christine. It’s good to hear from you.
How are you?”

“I’m OK, thanks. Listen, I’m in a hurry.
Could we meet in three hours? Do you have time?”

“Of course.”

“OK, I’ll see you at the usual place.”

Even though he hated that hotel, he agreed.
“I’ll be there.”

Exactly at the appointed time, Christine
walked into the hotel room where Simon was waiting impatiently.

“Hi, I’m so happy to see you,” she said as
she approached and embraced him.

“I’m glad to see you too.”

They sat on the bed. Simon looked at her and
said nothing.

She said, “I don’t know if you remember that
when we met two days ago I said that there was a solution.”

With his eyes wide open, he waited for what
she had to say. “Yes, I remember. But how is Carlo? You had to
leave because of him, didn’t you?”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, it was
nothing. I think he had just eaten too much and passed out. As soon
as he sees food he eats like a pig. Only a few hours after I got to
the hospital, they sent him home.”

“I see. So, this idea, what is it?”

“I don’t really know how to start. It’s not
that simple.”

He reached for her hands and held them.
“Please, Christine, tell me. Whatever it is, I can take. I have no
ideas of my own.”

“Yes, but this is different. My solution
demands a sacrifice. It’s not that simple.”

“A sacrifice? I don’t understand. Come out
with it, whatever it is.”

“My husband is very dangerous. If he found
out that we were together—”

“I know, he’d kill us. I realize that.”

She looked at him seriously. “I don’t know if
you do. You think I’m just saying it, but I know my husband really
does kill people. I heard him on the phone.” Her eyes filled with
tears.

Simon was astonished. He put his hands on her
shoulders. “What? This is terrible! Tell me, Christine, tell me
everything.”

She told him about the people Carlo had
spoken about over the telephone who were later found murdered.
“Some were shot, some were drowned, two were stabbed. The police
never identified the murderers.” Between bouts of crying, she
described in detail the individual murders. She talked for about
half an hour.

Simon was staring at her with fear in his
eyes. “And the police have never been to your house?”

“Oh, yes, they came, but only three or four
times. After that, they stopped.”

“Are you sure that it wasn’t just a
coincidence?”

“I thought so too at first. But then it kept
happening. Please, Simon, don’t tell me it was a coincidence, I
know he killed them.”

He embraced her. “I believe you.” He felt an
icy fist grip his stomach. “I got a bad feeling about him the first
time I saw him. There was something in his eyes.”

She told Simon some other things that proved
how dangerous her husband was, again crying as she talked.

“You should run away,” he said to her, with a
lump in his throat.

“I’d like to, but he’d find me anywhere.
There’s no point. You can do anything if you’ve got money. Don’t
think I haven’t thought of that.”

He didn’t know what else to say.

“With time, I got used to the idea that my
husband was a murderer. It may sound heartless, but I don’t care.”
She wiped her nose on the pillow. “It was the only way to
survive.”

“I understand.” The growing fear was
suffocating him.

“The last time he tried to scare me, he spoke
about a guy who owed him money. I said I wasn’t interested and he
stopped.”

“What happened to him?”

“I’m almost certain he killed him. And I
didn’t really care. I didn’t.” Her voice was rising to a hysterical
pitch.

“Calm down, Christine, it’ll be alright.”

She was shaking so much that he got scared
something would happen to her.

“It won’t be alright, I know that much. But
as I’ve said, you can get used to anything. It’s the only way to
survive.”

“But you can’t go on like that. You’ll have
to do something. Have you thought of reporting him to the
police?”

She put down the soggy pillow. “Of course I
have. And what do you think the police would do? They’d start
asking around. They can’t do anything without evidence. Before they
got him, I’d be long dead.”

He stroked her cheek. “But there has to be a
way.”

She sniveled a few times, trying to calm
down. “There is a way, but ….”

“Please, go on.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know, it seems
so—”

“Oh, say it.”

Her eyes became glassy. “Someone has to kill
my husband.”

“What? How? What do you mean, someone has to
kill him?”

Through clenched teeth, she said, “Someone
has to kill him, or he will sooner or later kill me.”

“Maybe, but who’d dare kill him?”

She lowered her eyes.

After a long pause, she finally looked up
again. “You, Simon.”

“What! How can you even think something like
that?”

She stood up. “Even though it seems almost
impossible to you, it’s in fact very simple. If you did it, you’d
save me and yourself. I’d then be able to say that I was with you
on the night your wife was murdered. Do you follow?”

He stood up too, and took two steps toward
the window. “Of course I do. Are you completely crazy? Christine,
I’m not a murderer. I could never do something like that. It’s out
of the question. Just get it out of your head.”

“Please, don’t shout at me. I can’t stand
it.” She started crying again.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout, but your
suggestion. I can’t believe it.”

“I know, I know. You don’t care if Carlo
kills me one day.”

He raised his arms. “Of course I care, but
that’s not a sufficient reason to go to your house and kill your
husband. If it’s that simple, why don’t you get someone else to do
it?”