One Way Or Another You Will Pay (28 page)

Bear
and I smile.

“I
never used those passwords before. Never even thought about it. But after all that stabbing and stuff, I didn’t want to go back to Indonesia. I wanted to stay here and bring my family over. That was my initial plan, remember? So, after I met you and you showed me the video, you know, the one of Tom saying all those horrible things about me and my children, I was really hurt and angry. I loved him so much and he could say those things?” Tears fill her eyes.

After
sniffing loudly, she continues. “I logged onto one of the online gambling accounts the accounts that afternoon, and I was able to transfer $670,000 out of it!”

Bear
and I stare at each other.

“Then
I went into
another
account and found a couple hundred. Took it all. Every cent. Then…I logged onto
another
account and found …$1.1 million!”

I
gasp. “You’re kidding me!”

“You
did not steal their money, Ingrid,” Bear says, his voice tinged with horror. “Tell me you didn’t!”

She
shakes her head. “All-in-all, I was able to get just under $2 million and …” With a big smile, she once again gestures regally to her surroundings. “I made all my dreams come true. As Tom always says, ‘Round of applause, please!’” She rolls around with laughter while Bear and I look at her with jaws hanging.

“I
got all the money Tom stole over the years! All the money he saved.”

“So
that’s
how you got the nice car,” Bear mutters.

“Yes,
but I didn’t pay full price. No way would I do that. Someone I knew was in trouble with the bank and couldn’t afford to keep the car, so I took over the repayment. Got it really cheap.” She links her fingers and pushes them out in front of her.

Bear
snorts. “And here we were offering you a measly hundred grand.”

“Hey,
I’ll still take it,” she says, with a chuckle. “Hundred grand is a hundred grand!”

I
cock my head at her. “So…so…Ingrid, weren’t you like …I mean…didn’t you worry that we would come after you? I mean, we had the tape of …?”

She
cuts me off with a dismissive wave. “I knew you wouldn’t do that. I did suffer when I was with Tom and you were the only people who offered me money and protection. I was grateful. Somehow, I didn’t think you would harm me. But I disappeared because I needed to be alone, to do all this on my own, and I did. Now, I’m okay.”

“So
…so when did you last see Tom?”

“The
day I called Bear. I never saw him again after that.” Her mouth twists. “I’m done with him.” She dusts her hands. “Done! And I’m happy. Now that I am away from him and I have time to reflect…” her lips contort, “he wasn’t nice to me. He was not a nice person.”

“Okay,
fine, but, Ingrid,” I say, “what about …Rodney and Rodgers. They
will
look for their money, Ingrid. Aren’t you afraid …?”

“That’s
exactly what I wanted to ask,” Bear says.

She
flicks her wrist. “Tom gave me a number of print-outs and a memory stick to mail to Jakarta. He said that if Rodney and Rodgers came after him, he would release those print-outs to the press. After he escaped, that is. He planned to use those printouts to blackmail them into leaving him alone, keeping quiet about …
everything
. He thought ahead and …” she shrugs, “I took advantage of all of it.”

“Wow!”

“I sent them an anonymous letter saying that if they look for the money, all the dirt Tom has on them, the ones he collected over the years, will be released to the media. All their illegal activities in prison will be revealed. I have proof, recordings of conversations and a stack of papers that will guarantee them prison time. All collected by Tom over the years.”

“Wow!”
I mutter.

“Besides,
the money was sent to South Africa, then put into a Swiss Bank Account, then transferred into another account, before it came into my brother’s account, who has a different surname and who doesn’t even live here! I learned how to do that from Tom.” She laughs again.

“It’s
anonymous, but they know it’s from me. It’s now their job to keep Tom from shutting up about me, our affair...”

She
shrugs. “It’s true, I will go to prison if they do a DNA test on my kids, but so will Rodney and Rodgers. I will tell all if I’m arrested.”

Bear’s
head bobs. “Have to hand it to you, Ingrid, you’re smarter than I thought.”

She
shrugs. “My time with Tom wasn’t wasted. He bragged a lot, and having the sponge of a memory I have, I soaked as much as I could and …I put it all to use.
Good
use.” More laughter. “Hey, I am not evil, I am just smart and I have two children to think of. You kept telling me that.”

All
we can do is nod.

“So
…so…what do you do now?” I ask.

“Well,
when I wanted to bring my mother over, the migration agents wanted
thousands
. So, because I have to bring in so many family members, I’ve decided to become a migration agent myself! Now, while I’m studying to become one, I work for one, learning the ropes. I don’t get paid much, but that doesn’t matter. Soon, I will have my own practice!”

She
sits up and raises her hands to the heavens. “I have money, I have power, I have my children, I have my family here…what else do I need? I have it all!”

“And
you’re just …what? Twenty-five?” I ask.

“And
I’m just twenty-five!” She beams. “Round of applause!”

When
Bear and I leave Ingrid, we walk in silence to the car. Bear gets behind the wheel but does not start the car. He turns to look at me.

We
both burst out laughing.

“I
underestimated Ingrid,” I say.

“Fuck,
so did I!”

Now
that we know she is okay and her kids are okay, our relief is enormous.

“Good
for her,” I say, bobbing my head. “Ingrid’s gonna be alright.”

“She’s
a survivor,” Bear says.

“She
sure is.” I look at him. “And don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy that frisking.”

“I
didn’t.”

“Bullshit,
an attractive twenty-five year old touches your nuts and calls you sexy at the same time, and you don’t get a hard-on?”

“I
got a hard-on watching her frisk
you
. Wanted to whip out my phone camera and video you both.” He laughs out loud.

“Naughty
boy, you!” I say, sliding my hand slowly over his thigh and brushing against his crotch. “Just you wait for Sunday.”

“Nope,
I’m not waiting for Sunday,” he says. “To…
night
.”

I
laugh. “I gotta feeling, that tonight’s gonna be a greeeat night!”

Six Months Later

When I finally pluck up the courage to tell Bear I want to see Tom, I brace

myself
for his flat refusal, maybe even his anger at my wanting to see a man who caused us so much pain and heartache.

“I
know you’re not gonna like it, Bear, but I have to see Tom and see for myself

that
he really is …
incapacitated
like the detectives say he is.”

His
response takes me by surprise. “If it’ll give you closure, then go see him, Arena.”

For
a while, I just stare at him. Am I dreaming?

When
I recover from my shock, I lunge to hug him. “Thanks for understanding. It’s confirmation I desire more than closure.”

“Just
…” he hugs me back, “just be careful, baby. I worry about you, that’s all.”

“I
will, I will! I promise I will.”

As
expected, Tom is housed in the Acute Illness section of the prison hospital. When I walk into his ward, which has twelve sick prisoners, he is seated in a special wheelchair, his head strapped at the forehead to the top of the chair to prevent it from collapsing.

When
he sees me, his eyes light up.

Do
I feel any sympathy for him?

Nope.

Not a scintilla of compassion. He made me this way – hard.

“Shit,
Tom Thumb!” I say, grabbing a chair and placing it in front of him. “This is awful.” I peer at him. “Can you hear me? Blink once if your answer is yes and twice if it’s no. O…kay?”

“I
can talk, you idiot!” he says. “I can hear you too. No need to speak so fucking loudly. I didn’t lose my hearing, you know!”

“Jeeez,
you’re still so full of shit even though you’re a para, Tom Thumb. That’s the spirit.” I crack up laughing.

“Shut
the fuck up! Do you know how miserable Rodney and Rodgers are making life for me? All because of you and that imbecile. All the money is gone. Ingrid took it. Every fucking penny.”

“Oh,
really?”

As
if I didn’t know.

“Yeah,
that bitch! She stole everything. God, I’d like to put a knife though her temple!”

“Well,
you got what you deserved. You had a good thing going but you stole my baby, cut her hand, came after my family, attempted to murder me and my children and frame Bear and in the process, got your arse kicked. The better man won, Tom Thumb.”

“Oh,
fuck off! If you came here to berate me, to mock me, then go!”

I
jerk to my feet.

“Wait!”
he says.

I
sit down again.

“Fucking
women! Cannot be trusted.”

“Yeah,
you’re right. You were stiffed twice by women you called dumb and stupid. No wonder you’re so bitter.”

“Fuck
you!”

I
smile.

“Why
is this happening to me?” he asks, his voice laced with self-pity.

“Karma,”
I say. “You murdered your baby. Attempted to murder both your children. You have to pay. You hurt me, when I did nothing to you. All I did was love you and you physically and emotionally brutalized me. You have to pay. It’s nature’s law.”

“You’re
talking shit. You just wanted to slut around, that’s all. How quickly you got another man? Huh? You fucking whore. I was too good for you. I should have married better.”

I
shake my head. “Yeah, you’re smart, brilliant. But all your brilliance, your scheming, your underhandedness, your
oodles
of charisma that can penetrate the chastity belt of the most guarded woman, or so you bragged; only to be reduced to this – a baby in a grown man’s body, with a catheter, a colostomy bag, unable to wipe the saliva out of your drooling mouth.”

I
have a look of distaste on my face.

“Except
that babies are cute and you just aren’t. Even Ingrid, the …” I look at the ceiling, “what did you call her again…? Oh that’s right!” I twist my index finger next to my temple. “Dumb bitch? Not too sharp? Huh? Even she outsmarted you. I mean, she called Bear and told him that you were coming after me.
Alerted
him, ruined all your plans. If she hadn’t, you’d be home free. Think maybe you don’t have that much charisma after all?”

His
string of expletives emits like a low growl from a leashed tiger.

“You
underestimated Ingrid. Or as George Bush put it, you
mis
underestimated her.” Another chuckle escapes me.

Fury
dances in his eyes.

I
sigh and look at the grey ceiling, blistering and badly in need of a new coat of paint. “When Bear didn’t kill you, I wondered if he was perhaps a little weak not to have. Because I felt that you would eventually kill me, and I didn’t want my kids raised without a mother. But now, I think Bear is smart. He did worse, he let you live like …” I steal a move from Ingrid and gesture grandly toward the hospital room, “this! Grey, gloomy walls, the smell of ammonia, urine, hopelessness, with grumpy, underpaid nurses, abusive and frustrated assistants, your body quietly moldering away, all this while your sharp, educated, superior mind stays vigilant.” I shake my head. “Man, I’d pray for death if I were you. This is hell. You don’t have to die to know where you’re going. You’re in it already.”

I
stand up. “How could I not pity you?”