Rewritten (Unwritten Book 2) (5 page)

“Wait, you had sex with her, after you had sex with Allison?” Jen steps back, pissed.

“God Jen, don’t hate me, too. Believe me, I didn’t want to. When I found out Diane was Allison’s mom she threatened to tell Allison so I tried to end it with her. I was so confused and scared. You know I have nothing to fall back on. After that one time, though, I knew I couldn’t go back. I called her saying I wasn’t coming back, and that’s when she…”

“Kidnapped her…” Jen finishes my sentence, still in disbelief.

I look down, ashamed, “Yes.”

Jason speaks up, “Ok, so what does all of this mean? If she’s ‘kind of dead,’ how is she still pregnant?”

“That’s the thing. I guess she has no family so originally it was my decision to keep her on life support for the baby or pull the plug.”

“Oh my God,” Jen yells out.

I look at her, “I know, right. But now they’re saying there’s a chance this crazy woman could wake up after giving birth.”

“What?” Jason and Jen ask at the same time.

“I know. I can’t tell them to pull the plug now. That’s a little crazy. I can’t tell them ‘No, I want this crazy woman dead.’ When we spoke they assumed I would want to try to keep her alive. So now what do I do?”

“What do you want?” Jen asks.

“How should I know?”

“Well Charlie, how does this make you feel, the thought of being a dad? And possibly a dad with a crazy woman?” she asks.

My lips form a small smile, “I’ve always wanted to be a dad. I never thought it would happen though. Not with my lifestyle.” I drop my head, “At least not like this. After I met Allison though, I thought that it might actually be a possibility. Now this.” I drop my head back in frustration.

“What does she think?” Jen questions.

“She says it’s my decision, though, she doesn’t know that there’s a chance she could wake up, yet.”

“So, she would help you raise this baby?” Jen’s voice is not hiding her surprise.

“I don’t know. It’s all so new. She hasn’t said she would, but she also hasn’t said she wouldn’t. She keeps saying we’re ok and I’m trying hard to believe her but I just don’t know. But now this chance that she could wake up…”

“Man, Charlie… That’s a lot to ask of a girl, especially at her age. Especially asking her to share custody with someone who kidnapped her. Shit, I don’t know if I could even do that. Believe us though, it’s a lot to take on, having kids,” Jen admits.

“Fuck, Charlie, I can’t stress enough how hard it is,” Jason adamantly tries to make his point.

“It is the highest of highs and the lowest of lows,” Jen laughs. “Yes, the highs are great. When they give you that smile, or make your heart melt. But then there are the other times that you really just want to die.”

Jason jumps in, “That is no joke.”

I laugh, “Come on you guys, you sure aren’t good at trying to convince me everything will be ok.”

“No, don’t get me wrong,” Jen tries to set things straight. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, but no one really told us just how much work this was going to be. I just want to make sure you’re fully aware of what you’re getting into. Like I said, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. But wait, Charlie, you don’t have a job… Have you thought about what you will do now?”

I stop to think. “No, not really. Thankfully I was smart, at least when it came to money anyways. I knew I couldn’t keep up this lifestyle forever so I have a good amount of cash saved up. I’ll be good for a while so I have time to figure that part out. I’ve been poor and lived out of my car before; I knew I never wanted to be like that again. The only bills I have are my place, phone, cable and PG&E. Then, I can always sell my place to make it last longer, that will give me more money from the equity I have.”

“Wow, Charlie. I’m impressed,” Jen says and I can tell she’s proud of me. At least for this.

“Ugh, but what do I do? How do I end something that is a part of me? Though I don’t even think I have a choice now.”

“I really don’t know. I couldn’t do it. But I know people who have. Just know that it’s forever. People think only about a cute little baby, but that baby wakes up two to four times a night, then when you finally get sleep, you are chasing them all over the house to make sure they don’t kill themselves. Do you know what Leighton’s favorite term is now to yell at Mason?” she eyes Jason.

“Hey, come on,” Jason interrupts.

“When he’s frustrated with Mason, Leighton yells out ‘you fucking dumbass.’ Thankfully he can’t say the words clearly but that is what he’s trying to say.”

I laugh out loud, looking at Jason, “Really dude…?”

“Hey, sometimes they act like dumbasses. The other day Leighton kicked some kid in the ribs at his daycare for no reason. That’s a dumbass move,” he tries to defend himself, laughing.

“It’s not funny,” Jen yells. “But then there is potty training, and making dinner every night, homework and baseball practice or guitar lessons,” she looks to me giving me an evil eye when she says guitar lessons.

“Hey, look at how good he’s doing. I’m so proud of him.”

“Yes, we are, too. I’m glad he’s taking them. I’m just saying, it’s a lot when you put everything together. As a parent, you’re just tired. But then they do something, like play that song they have been practicing so hard, and it makes it all worth it.”

I sigh, “I just don’t know. I want kids with Allison. Not some random psycho that I barely know.”

“I don’t know Charlie. I know you, could you have really pulled the plug?”

“You really suck you know that? You tell me all of this on how it sucks to be a parent, yet know that I probably couldn’t have pulled the plug,” I tease Jen.

“No, that’s why you love me,” she smiles. “I’m real. No bullshit here. I just love you Charlie. You know whatever you decide we will be here to help. I’d love to have another baby around, one that I can give back when they poop,” she laughs hitting my arm.

Looking to Jason I smirk, “How do you put up with her?”

“I ask myself that all the time,” he jokes. “But really Charlie, whatever you decide, we’ll be here for you.”

I’
m sitting in my office, going over my notes for Jacquelyn’s case when Jack Sanders, Jacquelyn’s ex-husband walks in.

“I hear you wanted to see me?” Jack says as he enters.

I look up, “Ah, Jack Sanders I presume? Please, have a seat.”

“Yes, thank you. So what can I do for you?”

“So, you were married to Jacquelyn Sanders?”

“Yes, our divorce was final about a month ago.”

“I see,” I write that down on my note pad. “So, where were you on August 11
th
, when she was shot?”

Jack gets defensive, “Hey, I’m not a suspect am I?”

“Just answer the question please.”

“Look, this is all pretty stupid. The whole place is wired with security cameras. This should be an open-shut case.”

“Yes, we’re aware of the cameras but it seems the perpetrator messed with the system and the tapes were removed.”

“Really?” Jack says, surprised, “How did they know where they were? They’re hidden in a wall… Jacquelyn had that system set up pretty tight. I always felt like I was living in Fort Knox.”

“Well,” he shrugs, “our guys say the tapes were removed.”

“Removed? Oh, wait, no, it streams live, to some cloud somewhere. Jacquelyn always said that the cloud portion couldn’t be turned off.”

I tilt my head, “Oh, really? And do you know how to access this cloud?”

“Yeah, it’s all written down at the house. Look, I have somewhere I have to be but I can go there right now and show you but then I have to go.”

“Well,” I stand up from my chair, “After you…”

We drive separately to Jacquelyn’s house. Once entering the house Jack stops, surprised to see the entry way still splattered with her blood. “Wow, this just got more real…”

I walk by, not affected at all by the scene, “Yeah, since no one lives here we decided to leave the crime scene up incase we needed to come back to it. So where’s this system?”

“It all happened right here?” his eyes are big in shock.

“Yup,” I say with no emotion. “So, again, where’s that alarm system you were going to show me?”

“Um, this way…”

We walk to the study and he presses on a hidden portion of the wall that opens up wide to display an entire closed circuit security system with twelve monitors displaying both portions of inside and outside the house.

“Wow, yeah, we didn’t know this system existed.”

“Yeah, she had the other system more as a decoy,” he pauses shaking his head. “I always thought it was crazy to need two but I guess in the end she was right.” He looks down to his watch, “Ok, sorry but I really have to go.”

He shows me how to work the system and leaves me alone to watch the tapes.

I press in the system the date of August 11
th
and start to play the recording. Unfortunately there’s no sound so I sit in silence watching for something.

I see Jacquelyn leave and watch more intently for any activity around her property until I see her car pull up again.

That’s when I start to watch everything unravel. Jacquelyn reaches in the back of her white Mercedes, pulling a woman out by her hair, yelling at her. I never get a look at her face but can tell she’s maybe early twenties, long darker hair that looks like it’s about to be ripped out of her head by Jacquelyn pulling so hard.

I sit up in my chair, surprised to see what’s going on.

I switch the big screen view to the entryway camera that shows the woman standing with her arms wrapped around herself but her back is to me so I still can’t see her face.

Jacquelyn comes back into view with a chair where she forces her to sit down and proceeds to tie her up.
What the fuck?
I watch intently.

I can tell the phone rings and watch as Jacquelyn talks on it, obviously changing her mood and forcing the phone up to the woman before ending the phone call and disappearing from any camera views.

I search all the other cameras but none show where Jacquelyn went. I watch as the woman sits, tied up, alone. Her back is still to the camera and I watch as her body noticeably trembles.

Nothing’s happening so I fast-forward the tape twenty minutes or so until I see Jacquelyn come back into view, then a blue older Mustang pulls up out front. A man jumps out of the car and I perk up again, writing down on my note pad the time stamp on the video for reference when someone else arrives.