Pam (6 page)

“Did Richie have other women?” my father asked me, before the trial, after
the murders
and before he lost his mind.

A strong man,
the
chief of police,
he
was forever marred by the case
,
and eventually it took its to
l
l and he got lost in himself. He’s been in Willow Brook Nursing
Home
for six years.
Too
young to be in such a place.

“Did he?” My father repeated the question when I didn’t answer. “
’
Cause you know, you repeatedly told me he was a good man.”

“Richie is a good man. A good father. He just has bad habits.”

“Like cheating on his wife. He
says
he was leaving her for another woman? What do you know about
that?
”

“Not much. He was always leaving Pam, so she says. But he always stayed. Why are you
asking?
”

“Because he said that was why she snapped. Why the kids were killed
,
”
m
y father said. “And I got to thinking.
Marion Blake.”

My heart skipped a beat. “What about her?”

“Her body and child’s body were found
days
before the babies were killed.” He sighed out. “You went to school with her. Did you know her?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “We did.”

“Did Richie know her?”

I
tightened
my lips.

“Did he?”

“I think so.”

“You know more
;
why aren’t you saying?”

I
shook
my head. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“When did you go to Hartford?”

“We went … a little over a month ago.”

“That’s when they’re saying she was killed,” my father said. “Did Pam ever leave you
r
sight?
”

“Not for a second. What reason would there to be to kill this woman and her
child?
”

“Because her family said she was involve
d
with a married man. That’s why she moved to Hartford
,
because he didn’t want anything to do with her. I was thinking, just random thinking, she was involved with a married man … and Richie was always leaving for another woman, maybe…”

“No.” I cut him off. “No.”

“The state prosecutor is looking into it.”

I stood. “Did you say this stupid theory to
him?
”

“Hey! What
the hell
is
this
attitude?
”

“I was there. I was in Hartford. Looking into
t
his is pointing the finger at me.”

“A little rash of a reaction
,
don’t you think?
What are you scared of?”

My own
father
used that moment
that we were
together to interrogate me. That strained ou
r
relationship forever. I know he was under duress about the murderers, they hit home, but why was he interrogating me?

It had to do with Pam calling out that I knew something about th
ose
murders. What was that about? Why would she do that? I
wanted to
kill her for that. Fortunately, Richie was already pointing his finger at her
,
and I wouldn’t have to deal
with it
.

But Hartford was there.

Despite what I said, my father’s question rang eerily true to me.

“What are you afraid of?”

A lot.

That night in Hartford would forever haunt me, because I know and Pam knows the truth about that evening.

We went to Hartford under the guise of seeing a Guns and Roses
c
oncert. We even bought last minute tickets.

If people ever wondered why I didn’t tell the truth on the stand, why I thought Pam had to be put away
, o
ne word was the answer: Hartford.

I hated,
absolutely
hated Marion Blake. She was that girl in school with a perfect smile and hair and the boys just loved her. She was sweet as pie to all the guys and acted dumb as an ox. Went on to become a hairdresser. Big deal.

She hated me as well
,
and I was always the object of her snide remarks. My hair wasn’t curly enough, my
lip gloss
didn’t shine, stupid shit like that.

So when she up and left town, I celebrated. Until I went to get my hair done and
they all
started talking.

‘
The affair made
her
leave
. First he was
gonna
leave his
wife.
Then he
changed
his
mind
,
’
a hair
dresser said.

‘
It was going on for a while
,
’
a
nother added

‘
But she wasn’t the only one
,
’
a
customer interjected.

‘
She’s pregnant.
He
told her to get an abortion, can you believe that
?
’
s
aid another.

‘How does his wife not know?

‘Shh. Look.’

One pointed to me.

I waited until my perm was done, said nothing
,
and headed immediately to Pam’s house.

“Has he
confessed another
affair?” I asked her.

“Not in a while
,
”
s
he replied. “Richie quit that. He’s happy. Especially now since we’re trying to have a
baby
.”

A knot formed in my stomach
,
and I told her what I heard. I know it was painful, but she had to know, and if it were true, she needed to confront Richie. For as much as Pam loved him, she couldn’t keep dealing with his wayward behavior.

We drove to Hartford, saying it was a girl’s overnight.

But what we really planned to do was find Marion Blake and confront her. Find out.

Pam kept saying ‘no’
,
that we were crazy, and I reminded her of the one girl back in
high school
.
How I heard he was fooling around with her and
how
we stopped that.

“If she
i
s
fooling
around with Richie,” Pam said
,
“
t
hen it’s over.”

“She’s pregnant.”

All color dropped from Pam’s face. That hit her hard and added determination to find out.

Through gossip at the shop, I found out where she worked
.
W
e waited outside the Snip and Clip hair shop. I had gotten out of the car to
peek,
and she was in there, sure enough
,
in a full
-
on pregnant state.

Once she
emerged
from work
,
we followed her home. We waited a few minutes and knocked on her apartment door. She lived in an
apartment
above an auto body shop. Nice qui
et
little place. Didn’t seem big enough
,
though
,
for a child.

She opened the
door
with a smile
,
and then that smile dropped. She saw Pam.

“Since we weren’t friends in high school, I’m curious as to why you are here
,
”
s
he said.

“We need to talk,” I said calmly. “Can we come in?”

She chuckled. “We?” She tossed back her head. “I hated you in school. Why
would
I let
you
in my
house?
”

“
We’re
a little older now
;
can we get pas
t
that?” I asked.

“How you made my life a living hell
,
” Marion quipped
,
“
t
hat’s not easy to do.”

“I
think
you’ve distorted the truth,” I told her.

Suddenly
, Pam, who had been quiet, blasted out. “We aren’t playing
fucking
games with you! I don’t give a fuck who hated who!”

“Pam.” I snapped her name. I was trying my
best
to keep the situation calm. Her
outburst
wasn’t going to help
us
.

“No!” Pam blasted. “Marion, are you
having
or did you have an affair with my husband
?
”

Marion started to close the door.

Pam lunged
forward
stopping her. “Answer me.”

“Pam.” I spoke calm
ly
.

“Answer me!” She yelled.

Marion’s
eyes
shifted back and forth. “You’re nuts.” Again she started to
close
the door. “Leave now or I’m calling the police.”

“Just …” I held up my hand. “Answer the question.”

She exhaled. “I did. It’s over.”

And I believed we got our resolution
.
I wanted to leave, but Pam wasn’t done. My mild mannered friend who rarely swore sounded off
kilter
,
like a mad woman.

“You
fucking
whore. Are you carrying his baby
?
”

“Pam!” I yelled.

“
Yes, but it’s done
!
H
e wants nothing to do with
the child or me
. Yet.” She slammed the door.

Pam reached for it, but I stopped her
,
and then she broke down and cried.

“It’s happening again. How can he do this to me, time and time again?” she sobbed.

“I know. I’m
sorry
I
brought you here.”

“I needed to know the truth.”

I took her in my arms. “Let’s back to the hotel, talk about this
,
and
just
get old
-
fashioned
drunk
while we
figure out
what we’re
gonna
do.”

She could barely speak, only nodded
,
and we walked off.

We did drink that night. In
fact, I drank a lot. We debate
d
on going to the concert
;
after all
,
we bought tickets, but we had
drunk
too
much.

I passed out.

When I woke, Pam was out
,
s
ound
asleep
with
an empty
bottle of
whiskey at her side. We were only a few minutes from Marion’s house
;
I thought, maybe
,
that
I could talk to her
alone
.
See
what her intentions
were
,
what she was going to do about Richie’s baby.

I didn’t wake Pam
.
I left a note that I was going for coffee and drove over to Marion’s apartment.

It was still early
,
and the auto body shop wasn’t open yet.
Hers
was the only
apartment
and as I reached to knock, her door opened all the way.