Page 118 of Requiem

She looks away.

“Julia, look at me, Julia,” I command more sternly than I intend to, but I know she needs to hear this.

She turns her disfigured face toward me once again, and I lean in close so she won’t miss a single word I’m about to say.

“I know what you did. I know that you threw yourself at him so that he would fall down the stairs. You knew that he would take you down with him. You didn’t know if you would survive the fall. And, if you did survive, you didn’t know if you’d lose the baby.”

I use my thumb to gently wipe the tears from her cheeks.

“I know you, Julia. Through the haze of the pain and the fear, you realized the only way to protect David once and for all, was to make sure Jeremy was dead. And when the opportunity presented itself, you decided it was more important for Jeremy to die than it was for you to live.”

Even as I utter the words, the tears are slipping down my face again. I take her hand, already in mine, and press it to my damp cheek, holding it there against my face as I speak again.

“You were willing to give your life for our son. And now, thanks to you, this nightmare is over. Jeremy Corrigan will never hurt us – or our family – again.”

From underneath her bruised and swollen flesh I see the faintest flicker of the woman I have loved nearly every day of my life. It’s going to be a long, rough road back, but, in my heart, I know that we are going to be just fine.

****

Julia is sedated and resting comfortably when Tony pops his head into the room. He gives me a look that asks if she’s okay. I nod and smile, then get to my feet and follow him out into the hallway.

“You told her everything?”

“I did. But, she’s in pain and in shock. She’s got some processing to do when her head’s a little clearer.”

He nods thoughtfully. “Oh!” he says, suddenly remembering he’s holding a cup of coffee in his hand. “I almost forgot. This is for you. Hospital coffee sucks.”

“Thanks, man. How are things at the house?” It suddenly occurring to me that I have no clue what kind of a three-ringed circus is unfolding in my living room.

“The coroner took him away hours ago. The police stayed on for another hour taking pictures and asking a bunch of questions. It’s relatively quiet now, though you’ve got a houseful. Maggie came out from the city so she and Brett could be with Trudy and David.”

“How is Trudy?”

It’s not a question I’ve wanted to ponder, but I know I should. She has, after all, just lost a son. He may have been an evil fuck, but he was her child.

“She’s a rock, Matthew. She was serving coffee to the cops with one hand and shooing them off your oriental carpet with the other. David slept through everything. That kid is something else.”

That makes me smile. He’s always been a heavy sleeper, thankfully.

“Well, man, I can’t thank you enough …” I start to wrap-up our chat so I can get back in to Julia. But there’s something else on Tony’s mind. I can see it in his expression. “What is it?”

“I don’t quite know how to say this. It’s just that …”

“What, Tony? Please, just tell me,” I grumble, feeling the anxiety creep back into the pit of my stomach.

He looks down at his feet uncomfortably, then back up at me. “Matthew, I’m not going to give you too many details here, because the less you know, the better. But, there is something you really do need to be aware of.”

I realize I’m holding my breath as I wait for him to drop the other shoe.

“It’s Jeremy,” he continues slowly, softly. “It’s the way he died …”

“Wait, didn’t he fall down the stairs? With Julia?”

“Oh, he definitely fell down the stairs.”

“Okay, then what, Tony? You’re not making any sense.”

Tony’s eyes dart around the hallway to make certain there is no one close enough to overhear us.