Under Abnormal Conditions (24 page)

The scene looked like someone dropped a small
watermelon on the ground. There was blood and bits of brain all
over the ground. As much as the sight made me sick, I couldn’t turn
away. I knelt down next to the body.

His dead eyes were still wide open. I
couldn’t believe my whole life was turned upside down, because of
an accident, an accident that wasn’t even my fault.

There was no telling how long he had been
planning his revenge against me. His plan was perfect. All of the
clues would again point at me.

Who could I trust? If the police didn’t
believe me, I would have four bodies pinned on me, all the way from
Sherry to the dead detective and Dr. Pierre.

Don’t trust anybody.

I ran back to my car and took off. The pain
became more intense as I started to drive away. My entire arm
throbbed in agony.

What was I going to do? That meeting was
supposed to free me from all the trouble I had found over the past
week, but it just made everything worse.

I couldn’t believe of all the people in my
life, he could have been the one to cause so much pain and torment.
He was the one person I had no reason to suspect, so of course he
turned out to be the one who framed me.

But worst of all, who was going to believe
that story? The only evidence I had was the bullet in my shoulder
and surely they could explain that away as self-defense on the
doctor’s behalf. No. I had to get more evidence before I went to
the police, but my time was running out.

I didn’t have anywhere to go and there was no
one I could trust. I imagined that was how Ricky felt when he
arrived at my house.

I couldn’t get home fast enough. Whenever a
car pulled in behind me, I was sure it was the police ready to take
me in.

Just as I was about to turn into the
driveway, I thought maybe someone had seen me leave the club, so I
sped past the drive.

I had to find somewhere else to go. I had to
think of a way to end my ordeal. Trey was the only friend I knew I
could absolutely trust, but I didn’t need to bring my trouble on
him.

I had stared in the faces of two dead men.
One I didn’t know at all, and one I had respected. I could not be
responsible for something happening to Trey.

If I had anywhere else to go, I would have. I
didn’t, so I headed to his apartment. The usual security guard
waved me right through. Trey quickly answered the door.

“Damn! You look like hell! What happened to
you?”

As I walked through the door to his
apartment, my entire left side felt crippled.

“Shot. The killer shot me.”

The simple movements of opening my mouth and
talking made the pain even worse. By the time I collapsed on his
couch, I couldn’t even remember where I was shot because the pain
was so intense.

He disappeared for a moment and then came
back with a glass and said, “Here drink this.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“If I tell you, you probably won’t drink
it.”

I took the glass and downed it with one
swallow. It burned a trail from my throat to my stomach. If it was
supposed to make me feel better, it didn’t. If it was supposed to
make me feel nothing, it quickly started to work.

“Easy, easy, that’s powerful stuff. How do
you feel?”

I don’t remember answering him.

Chapter 35

I could hear them talking even before I was
fully awake. I drifted in and out of consciousness as the
well-known voices talked about me like I was already dead.

Maybe I was.

When I finally did open my eyes, I saw Trey,
Alex, and Alex’s girlfriend, Allison.”

She was a tall, slender former guard on the
lady’s basketball team. She was pre-med, white and another piece
put in place by his agent.

I tried to speak, but my mouth was as dry as
a cotton field in the middle of summertime.

“What’s going on?” was what I managed to
utter.

“My girl got you fixed up,” said Alex.
“You’ll be as good as new in no time.”

When my eyes finally focused on Trey I said,
“You shouldn’t have called them.”

“Yeah, OK. I was just going to let you sit
there and bleed to death. You know you can’t afford to buy me a new
sofa.”

I tried to sit up, but Allison rushed over to
keep me from standing. She placed her hand on my good shoulder and
said, “You need to get to a doctor. I was able to take the bullet
out but you need real medical attention.

“Do they know anything?” I strained to ask
Trey.

“Nothing they didn’t know before you got
here.”

“Doc, we are your friends. We wanted to help
you.” Alex said.

“Thanks-,” I replied, but pain cut my
sentence short.

Allison wiped sweat from my forehead with a
damp cloth and said, “Michael, if you don’t see a doctor that wound
could get infected.

“I can’t get you involved in this.” I winced
as I tried to move my arm. The pain shot down my arm into my
fingertips.

“Are you sure he’s okay?” Alex tried to
whisper.

“He really needs a doctor,” she said
again.

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” I
said through clenched teeth.

“I appreciate you guys coming. I’ll take it
from here.” Trey said as he ushered them from the room. He followed
outside.

I tried to listen to what he was telling them
but the pain was so fierce it even throbbed in my head.

He quickly returned to my side. “I’m sorry I
had to call them, but would you rather I had taken you to the
emergency room, like I should have?”

“No. You did the right thing. Have you talked
to anyone else?” I asked.

“Sara called here looking for you. She said
she wanted to talk to you about her dad and the police? I told her
I hadn’t seen you.”

“I got into an argument with her dad, but
nothing really came of it. I thought he was the killer, but he
didn’t murder anyone.”

“Who is the killer?” he questioned.

I hesitated. I knew it was going to happen. I
knew what it was like to be placed in the middle of someone else’s
bad situation and I didn’t want to do that to him.

“It would be better if you didn’t know,” I
worked up the power to stand.

“And why is that?” he asked angrily.

“Things still aren’t adding up. I hated to
even come over here, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go. You
could be called as a material witness. The police could say you are
withholding evidence. I don’t know what could happen, but this is
my problem.”

“You are not going to do this again. You
tried to cut off everyone when you and Ester had your problems. You
can’t do that now. I won’t let you.”

“Trey, you don’t understand.”

“I understand your proud ass is going to jail
if you don’t let me help you!”

For the next few minutes we stood there,
silently waiting for the other to give in. He refused to leave me
alone, and I refused to get him involved.

Our standoff finally ended with him breaking
towards the kitchen, cursing me with every step. He returned with
two coffee cups in one hand and a brewing pot in the other.

“Are you just going to stand there, or are we
going to try and figure out what to do?” he said as he sat on the
sofa and placed the coffee and cups on the table.

We stayed awake most of the night talking,
but every solution seemed to end with me going to the police and
tell them what I knew.

Trey could barely keep his eyes open so we
decided we would sleep on it, and hopefully we would have something
fresh the next morning.

Chapter 36

I tried to lie down but I couldn’t rest.
Every time I moved the wound burned like my arm was on fire. I
tried to close my eyes and all I could see was Dr. Pierre pulling
the trigger. There was a huge explosion of red. Blood was
everywhere I looked. At least with the dead detective, I didn’t see
the actual event.

As I laid there on the cold pavement, there
was nothing I could do as the bullet entered his skull. It was like
I was watching a car wreck. I knew what was about to happen, but I
couldn’t look away.

And his eyes, just like the eyes of the dead
investigator, I would never unsee his cold, dead, unblinking eyes
staring at me. I felt like they would be watching me for the rest
of my life.

Allison had done a good job on my arm, but I
couldn’t find any good position to rest. If it wasn’t the pain, it
was the strong antiseptic smell that wouldn’t allow me to find
comfort. I wished I had another shot of whatever Trey had given me
earlier.

In three days I’d been hit over the head,
accused of murder, beat up by the police, and witnessed a suicide.
My body ached like I had been beaten up with a sack of nickels and
then placed in a cement mixer.

My mind hustled for the answers the doctor
couldn’t or didn’t give me. I met him hoping to end my nightmare,
but all it did was mix me deeper into trouble. I wouldn’t be able
to explain what happened without the doctor being alive. He was the
only one that could have cleared me, but all he was going to do was
lead everything back to me.

But why?

That was the other question that wouldn’t
allow me to rest. After a few hours, I just gave up. I rose from
the bed and walked over to the window. The rain beat a soft pattern
against the glass. On a normal night, the soothing rhythm would
have rocked me right to sleep.

I knew it wouldn’t take them long to link me
to it.

My first thought was to disappear for a
while, but that would make me look guiltier, not that I needed any
help. The doctor set up a perfect plan, but it didn’t make any
sense for him to kill himself. He was smart enough to talk his way
out of any trouble. It didn’t make sense for him to kill
himself.

As I turned, a flash of lightening focused my
attention on a picture of Trey with his parents. It made me think
about my own family. I couldn’t stand the thought of being away
from Regina. I would have taken ten times the beatings I already
had to see her grow up. It was bad enough I couldn’t see her
everyday because of the divorce. I knew no matter what happened, I
had to be there for her. My biggest fear since the divorce was she
would forget me. She needed me more than anyone else did, but she
asked the least. She just wanted time, and it seemed even that was
going to be taken away.

The one thing I learned from sports was that
I knew I couldn’t run forever. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t take
a time-out and come up with a better game plan. I had to find some
way out of the situation, but it had to be away from Trey’s place.
As long as I had a breath in my body, no one was going to take
Regina’s father away from her.

I flipped on the light and started getting
dressed. I wanted to cry out with pain every time I moved my arm,
but I fought it. I couldn’t find my shirt so I searched through the
dresser until I found a shirt I could squeeze into. The reality of
the situation hit me again as I noticed the dried blood spots on my
shoes.

When I opened the door I didn’t see anyone. I
hoped Alex and Allison hadn’t come back over, and Trey was asleep.
I tried to make as little noise as possible as I left, but it
didn’t work.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I heard
from behind. I didn’t know what to say. Hell, I didn’t even know
myself. I just knew it wouldn’t be long until they traced me here,
if they hadn’t already.

“Just getting some air.”

“You need your car keys to do that?” he said
quickly.

I didn’t even realize I had taken them out of
my pocket.

“Look, Trey, it’s only a matter of time until
they look for me here.”

“You’re in my custody. I’ll tell them I’m
working as an agent of the court on my father’s behalf. What can
they say?”

“They don’t have to say anything. They’ll
take both of us in. They don’t care who did this. Williams
practically said as much.”

He hung his head as he searched for a
comeback.

“It’s no use. You can’t keep me here.”

My oldest friend in the world peered over the
top of his glasses. In his eyes I could see he had the need to help
me the way any true friend would have, but I knew he respected my
decision. He didn’t have to like it, but he would have to accept
it.

“At least tell me what you are going to
do?”

“Why? So the police can question you until
you tell them where I am?”

“Is that all you think about me?”

“Trey, you know better than that. You and
your dad have already done so much, but it’s up to me now. I have
to do this alone.”

As I walked to my car, with pain radiating
from my arm with every step, I couldn’t help but think, for so much
of life I’ve felt alone. It didn’t matter whether or not I really
was because that’s the way I felt. Then I found myself at a point
where, if I truly cared about the people around me, I had to be
alone.

Chapter 37

I turned into my driveway right at sunup. I
knew I couldn’t stay there very long. I just wanted to pack a few
things and call Sara.

The first thing I did was to take off my
blood spattered shoes. I went to the kitchen and got an empty
grocery bag and placed them inside. I threw the bag next to the
front door and went to check for the money. It was still there. As
much pain as I was in, I was glad it was my left arm he shot.

I emptied the money into a suitcase and
filled the rest of it with clothes. I placed the case next to the
bedroom door and made my phone call.

“Hello?” she answered with a timidly
depressed tone.

“Hey, it’s me.”

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been
calling. I thought you were -”

“No,” I interrupted. “I’m okay, I stayed at
Trey’s last night. I have got to get away and try to figure this
whole thing out.”