Abe was
sitting in his office staring at the half completed police report. He hadn't
taken John's statement yet; that had to wait; his best friend was seriously injured,
possibly even paralyzed, and it was all Abe could do not to go down and choke
the life out of the other man he had called best friend. It was nearly
impossible to believe. Roman Brady, the perpetrator of a vicious crime,
taunting and shooting John in two places, watching him lying on the floor
bleeding, pistol whipping him, causing him to hit his neck on a table,
attempted kidnapping. How could Roman do such hideous things? An officer of the
law--it just didn't make any sense, but then again, so-called crimes of passion
never did. And by all rights, this was a highly charged love triangle, like no
other. In the back of his mind Abe Carver had sometimes wondered if it would
ever turn violent, and now it finally had.
Lexie was
sitting in a wooden chair across the room from her husband, Bo Brady was
leaning against the desk at which she was sitting. They were all stunned, still
trying to make sense of the situation, wondering how such a horrible tragedy
could have happened. "Oh, Abe...why.. how could he do it? John might be
paralyzed for the rest of his life because of what Roman did tonight."
Shaking his
head, still not able to believe it himself, her husband answered uncertainly
,"Oh.. Lex, I wish I had an answer for you. Seeing Marlena... with John
like that must have been too much for him to handle.. I don't know.. I just
don't know."
Bo was
working hard to find a way to absolve his big brother in some way, saying,
"You know.. he says he doesn't remember it.. maybe he.. blacked out or
maybe he.. really went over the edge. Maybe he wasn't in his right mind."
"Oh..
you're talking temporary insanity.. is that it, Bo.. you want to get your
brother off the hook!" accused Hope, who had just walked in from seeing
John and Marlena at the hospital. She was suddenly feeling the need to ensure
the man would be punished for his acts of cruelty. Hope and John were close
friends now, much closer than she and Roman were, especially since the jungle
trip.
"Hope..
how is he?" asked all three of her friends at the same time.
At first she
was calm, but as soon as her mind called up the visuals, she began to break
down in tears again, "He's.... Oh, you should see him.. he can't see
anything..and he.. can't move a muscle.. from his neck down. They think it's
only temporary.. but they really won't know until the swelling goes down. He's
trying to be brave about it, but he's so.. scared. My heart was breaking for
him and Marlena too."
"Oh..
Hope that's worse than we thought!" exclaimed Abe, in shock.
"Poor
John.. and Marlena.. she must be a wreck.. My God.. haven't they suffered
enough?" asked Lexie rhetorically.
Hope, who was
definitely much closer to John now, than the man she used to call
brother-in-law, said angrily, "No.. thanks to Roman Brady.. their suffering
is just beginning again. I think he knew exactly what he was doing.. and I hope
he rots in jail for the rest of his life!"
"Hope...
there are other possibilities you know.. he could have really lost it.. maybe
he needs help or something. We at least need to find that out, right Abe?"
asked Bo, still wanting to come up with some reason that Roman wasn't himself
when he took such hideous actions.
Abe finally
conceded that possibility, saying, "Right.. I talked with Mike about it and
he had the paramedics take some blood samples to be analyzed and we'll have him
evaluated by one of the staff psychiatrists from University first thing
tomorrow morning. I'll be going over there to take John's statement about what
happened.. if he's even up to it by then." He stopped for a moment,
thinking once again how it all seemed like a nightmare that he was going to
wake up from any minute. As his mind forced him to accept the reality, he said
with a trembling voice, "This is just so.. unbelievable. You know.. I ran
into them at the Courthouse, when they were getting married.. He asked me to be
his witness once he saw me there. John was so.. happy during the ceremony and
right afterward, happier than I've ever seen him before, and so was Marlena.. and
now to think that all their dreams might be crashing down around them. It
just.. makes me sick for them."
Lexie had
tears in her eyes, as she spoke about it, "Oh, Abe... me too, they are so
good and so much in love. They don't deserve this; it's so hard to believe that
it could have happened. Doing something like that is so unlike Roman."
Bo stood up
quickly, deciding that taking some sort of action was the only thing that had
any hope of making him feel even a little better about the gut-wrenching situation.
"Well, I'm going down to talk to Roman again, to see if he says anything
different than he did when we first brought him in. He was in such a
daze."
"That's
because he was drunk, Bo, but that doesn't remove the responsibility for his
actions. He shot John twice and hit him so hard with that gun.. My God, he
could have killed John with that blow, it's a miracle he didn't. I'm sorry he
had to see them together, but I have no sympathy left for him."
Hope was
angry and very worried for John and Bo saw no point in arguing with her.
"I know.. I'm worried about him too, Hope.. very much. I pray that John
will be al lright. I'll let you know what happens with Roman." With that
he was off toward the holding cell.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the guard
on duty let Bo inside the holding area, Bo noticed that Roman was lying on the
cot, completely still and silent. As he approached and got closer, he realized
that his brother was out cold, probably passed out. Bo clanged on the bars a
couple of times and was rewarded with a groan. Roman was awake and he sat up
gingerly cradling his head in his hands. "Oh.. man.. what a
headache," he said with another groan.
His little
brother wasted no time on pleasantries, wanting to cut to the chase on John's
behalf, "Roman.. I want to talk about what happened again. Tell me what
you remember."
Standing up
to look straight at his disbelieving younger brother, he said it again,
"Nothing.. Bo, I told you before I don't remember anything that
happened."
"Well,
let's go back to when you do remember, Roman. What is the last thing you do
remember?" he asked, squeezing the metal bars of his brother's cell in
frustration, wondering whether Roman was being honest.
His face bore
a puzzled expression, as if he had to work very hard to retrieve the
information, then he said, "I.. uh, remember getting a phone call from
someone."
Bo moved
quickly, "From who, Roman? Who was it that called you?"
The prisoner
searched his brain and found nothing. "I.. don't know.. I can't remember,
Bo. I swear it, I don't remember a thing that happened."
Again the
frustration flared, as Bo wasn't sure he should believe anything Roman said.
After all, he and several others caught Roman in the middle of trying to hoist
an unconscious and badly wounded John toward an awaiting helicopter. "You
don't remember seeing John and Marlena at all, you don't remember being in the
penthouse with them, having an angry confrontation with John?"
Roman knew his brother didn't believe him and popped off agitatedly, "No, Bo.. We've been over all of this! I'm sorry, but I just don't REMEMBER!" he shouted angrily.
Shaking his
head in utter frustration, not knowing what to think, Bo started to say,
"I swear it, Roman.. if you're lying to me.."
Roman's own
frustration was increasing. Tired of defending himself, he said, "I'm not
lying, Bo... I remember Abe and you taking me out in handcuffs, I remember
looking at Marlena crying and seeing that she was so.. enraged with me, I
remember handing her the ring.. but I don't know how it got in my pocket. And I
remember seeing John lying there on the couch bleeding and unconscious. You say
that I did that to him, but I have no memory of it. I swear it,
Bo!"
Bo stood up,
still uncertain, and prepared to leave his brother alone. "I wish I could
believe that, Roman. I'll know more when I talk to John tomorrow morning. You
know he's paralyzed from the neck down and he can't see anything. It's hard for
anyone to believe that you don't remember putting him in that condition."
That was
difficult for Roman to face. "Oh, my God, Bo! No..no, I couldn't have done
that to him! Is it.. permanent?" he asked fearfully, as a sickening
feeling of tremendous guilt landed in his gut.
"They
don't know yet.. there's a lot of swelling where you hit him with the gun, and
the doctor's are hoping that once it goes down he'll get his sight back and
they're hoping the same thing as far as the injury to his neck and spinal
cord."
Roman
couldn't believe it and was asking himself, how it all could have gone so
terribly wrong? He had never intended to hurt the man so much, to rob him of
his ability to see or to move. "Oh, my God.. Bo, I'll admit I was jealous
of him, but I swear I never meant for anything like that to happen between us..
I don't remember what I did to hurt him! Please believe me, Bo!" he
pleaded desperately.
All Bo could
do was stand there and shake his head, still unsure what to think or how to
feel about his older brother, the man he looked up to and respected for so
long. "I don't know, Roman.. I just don't know. I gotta go, I'll see you
later."
He was so
torn.... Bo wanted to believe his brother was being truthful, but the images of
John's limp bleeding body lying on the couch kept playing over and over in his
mind. And the blood... there was so much blood, on the carpet, on his clothes,
on his hands from trying to stop the flow of red liquid from his body as he
laid there, at the mercy of a man he had called friend, the tender flesh of
John's right forearm and leg ripped open by two separate bullets. And then..
John seemed so helpless when they'd seen him a short time later at the
hospital, lying there with tubes and IV's in various places, a mask over his
face to help him breath, wires and machinery all around him. His normally
imposing physical presence was dwarfed by all the medical technology required
to support his life and manage and monitor his bodily functions.
Bo found
tears of fear and sadness for his adoptive big brother forming in his eyes as
he walked away from Roman's cell. Thinking of him reminded Bo of what an active
man John always was, how he loved to work out, to run.. so many physical
activities. John Black was a man of action, if nothing else. "Oh, John..
you hang in there... it's gonna be okay.. big brother. Oh, God.. please take
care of him tonight and make the swelling go down. Don't let it be permanent,
please... it'll just kill him!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kristen Blake was sleeping peacefully on New Year's Eve. It was 3:00 Am and she had finished off the bottle of champagne and gone to sleep soon after her luxurious bath. She had been so intoxicated at the time that she didn't even recall the telephone conversation she had with Roman and then with her own people directly after that. It was almost like a dream. The shrill sound of an alarm clock set for the wrong time woke her up and then the radio came on.
"This is late breaking news here on Star 105, Salem's newest station playing your favorites of the 80's and 90's. Live reporting from the Salem University Hospital is Steve Edwards. "Hello, Bill, this is Steve Edwards live at University Hospital and the rumors are flying fast and furiously around here about a long-term love triangle that turned violent on New Year's Eve. Sources say that Salem's most eligible bachelor, John Black was married in secret tonight to his long time friend and some time love interest Dr. Marlena Evans, a psychiatrist on staff at this same hospital. However, that happy occasion reportedly turned sour when Dr. Evans ex-husband saw them together and then had a violent drunken confrontation with Mr. Black, who has just been admitted with serious injuries tonight. Insiders say that Mr. Black played the hero to Dr. Evans damsel in distress, once again by purposely forcing his new bride out of the penthouse, ensuring her safety, and facing the angry gun toting Roman Brady all alone. No details on the injuries themselves are available; all we know is that he is in critical but relatively stable condition as of this moment."
Kristen
bolted out of bed and threw her clothes on. She never meant for anything like
that to happen. "Oh, my God.. what have I done?" she asked the empty
air around her. "Oh, John... you have to be okay.. you just have to!"
she cried. Though she was still impaired, Kristen didn't even wait for a
driver. She raced down the steps, grabbed a coat and keys, jumped into one of
the available vehicles and drove herself to the hospital, hoping to steal a
moment alone with the man she *loved.* "Oh... John, I never meant for it
to turn violent.. oh,.. please let him be okay.. please!"
A short time
later, she arrived at the hospital and pulled right into the visitor's garage and
went on in, loitering around until she got a fairly good idea of where John's
room was located. She snuck up the stairs so that no one who knew him would try
to make her leave. Finally, she overheard some nurses talking about him,
"Isn't that a shame.. I hope it's like they said, that the paralysis is
only temporary."
"Yes..
such a sweet man like that, paralyzed from the neck down.. and maybe even blind
too.. Oh, I just feel so horrible for him and for Dr. Evans too. It's so
obvious how much they love each other."
"I
know..." said the third young woman, "..and now... all their hopes
for the future might be ruined. I hope that Roman Brady.. gets punished to the
fullest extent of the law for what he did to that poor man. It just makes me
sick!"
Kristen was
mortified. John was paralyzed... from the neck down because of what she had set
in motion. "Oh, God.. I never... dreamed.. something like this could
happen. Oh, no.. John!" She had to sit down a minute to absorb the shock.
Roman was so angry that he did something violent to John? She vaguely began to
recall the telephone call made by him an hour or two ago. He seemed strangely
calm, but the anger was there, if she thought about it being there. Roman
wanted her to come get the man, and she sent some of her people over to the
Penthouse. Kristen never knew that Roman had hurt John in some way, and
especially not so seriously. She would never have condoned that kind of
mistreatment, for she did love John, in her way, and though she was willing to
try taking him against his will, she didn't want him to be hurt. That was the
last thing she wanted.
With the
flurry of activity around John's room, she decided she would have to wait to
catch him during a moment when no one was with him. As she worked her way back
down the hallway, she turned and ran smack dab into someone she didn't want to
see at the moment, Michael Horton, who was on his way back to John's room.
"Kristen.. what are you doing here?" he asked accusingly.
"Oh,
Mike.. I just heard it on the radio.. about John. How is he?"
"Kristen..
I'm sorry to tell you, but it's none of your business and I think I should tell
you that Abe Carver is looking for you. He wants to talk with you about
something."
"Mike..
I want to know about his condition. Will you tell me, please?" she asked
pleadingly.
"Allright...
he's critical but stable. We're monitoring his vital signs very closely; he has
no feeling or movement below the base of his neck and his eyesight basically
consists of blurred images at this point, nothing substantial."
"Oh my
God.. Mike this is all my fault.. I did that to him.. I... Oh, No.. I never
meant for that to happen, I swear I didn't!" she said, quite distressed
about the end results of her spiteful actions.
Mike was so
tired. Somehow not remembering
Marlena's comments about John's dream earlier in the evening, Mike asked,
" What are you talking about Kristen? You didn't have anything to do with
what happened. It was Roman who did the shooting. What are you trying to tell
me here?"
Realizing
she'd been incriminating herself, she back-peddled. "Oh.. I don't know
what I'm saying.... I'm just so upset about this that I can't think straight
and I feel bad about hurting him in the past, that's all I meant. Can I please
see him for a few minutes? I know that.. everyone.. hates me now, but I do..
care about him.. so much, please Mike?" she pleaded, hoping that the
doctor would allow it.
Reluctantly,
he relented, saying, "All right.. but I'll be watching and if he gets
upset or asks you to leave you have to go immediately. Right now, even the
slightest added emotional stress is too much. Is that clear?"
There were
grateful tears in her eyes as she nodded her head and answered firmly,
"Yes, it's clear. Thank you, Mike, I really appreciate it."
"All
right.. but you're going to have to wait awhile. Right now, Dr. Jacobs is
talking with John and Marlena. I stepped out to answer a call and I'm heading
back in there."
As the physician
walked away, Kristen sank down in one of the small bench style couches to wait
for her moment. "Oh, John... it really is my fault. What was I thinking?
If I hadn't called Roman to go up there so that he would see you with Marlena,
he never would have been so angry with you, he never would have pulled out a
gun. Oh, my God.. what have I done? What if his paralysis is permanent?"
Sandra H. Bondelier
1998-2004