PET SHOP OF HORRORS

FRIEND

Chapter Four – A Question of Truth

Thomas – or Ty – Curtis stepped in the law firm giving Leila such a warm greeting before asking for Miles. He just laughed as Miles' secretary fawned over him, once again harmlessly flirting with him and giving him a hard time about losing so much weight.

The other women in the office giggled but could not blame Leila, although the secretary's teasing would be akin to an aunt teasing a nephew. At the same time, they also wished that they had such license to tease or be around as comfortably as Leila could with Ty.

Ty – the man who quickly rose to the ranks of assistant chief medical examiner due to intelligence and influence – was handsome, charismatic, and single. Just slightly shorter than Miles, he had mesmerizing ice-blue eyes that hid behind rimless frames and neatly-trimmed black hair. He was meticulous, soft-spoken, and more reserved compared to Miles. To others who did not belong in his inner circle of trust, he was more reserved. To those he knew well such as Miles, he shared a more relaxed version of himself who knew how to spark up a conversation.

After catching up with Leila, Ty excused himself and closed the door behind him to meet with Miles. He and Miles sat in silence behind closed doors, with Miles instructing his secretary to keep him away from phone calls and people randomly dropping by to see him.

It had been nearly an hour since Ty arrived along with a folder filled with toxicology results from Abigail Horryce's autopsy. He watched as a focused and unemotional Miles sat and read everything. He knew that Miles was a speed-reader and could have browsed through the entire stack of reports in the fraction of the time that his friend was now spending.

Miles read, and re-read, everything that was in that report. As calm as he was, his blood froze from the contents of the reports. The narrative report that he read did not corroborate with the toxicology results he just saw inside the folder. He placed the folder on the desk and then moved it before Ty.

Wondering why Miles did not look rattled, Ty asked, "What do you think?"

Many minutes of silence passed before Miles managed to say, "Why weren't you able to uncover this before?"

"I'm the one who performed the autopsy. I –"

Miles' eyes narrowed. He normally did not yell at others, especially to those he regarded as friends or loved ones. Yet, he could barely keep his anger in check as he whispered, "So you spent a couple of minutes with Abigail's body, didn't do your due diligence as chief coroner, and signed off the report deeming it as a natural death? Why didn't you do your job thoroughly?"

Ty's silence confirmed that Miles was right. He could not look at Miles because he was ashamed.

"You should've done your job right in the first place, Ty! How could you be negligent about something as crucial as this?"

"I confirmed that she broke her neck from the fall."

Miles could no longer hide his exasperation. His eyes flashed and narrowed as he reiterated, "This report you just showed me confirms that there's more than reasonable proof to doubt your findings. There are traces of poison in her system! This is my wife we're talking about! You know how I feel about her!"

Ty replied in a whispered snap, "You were there when Abigail died. You saw her fall from the stairs."

Miles leaned closer to Ty, although he did not rise from his seat. "You didn't do your job properly and it came back to haunt you. Now, you have the nerve to ask me if I killed my wife. You could've answered that question if you've done your job properly in the first place!"

"I've known you all these years, Miles. You've been straight with me all these times. When you told me that you saw Abigail fall from the stairs, I took your word for it!"

Miles' smile was both appreciative yet bitter. He then let out a sigh to shake off the anger coursing through his system. He gazed at his friend, his tone and demeanor much calmer now as he said, "I know you did, and I thank you. However, our friendship should never cloud your objectivity. You should've done a full autopsy, just as you would with anyone else who's brought in."

After tension-filled silence between the two long-time friends, Ty dared to ask, "What would you like to do? This will ruin both of us. You know how everyone's been looking for something to sling at you."

Miles scoffed at the truth behind Ty's words and then let out a burdened sigh. "I need time to think about it."

Count D was surprised at the mid-afternoon visit which was almost in sync with his tea time with Q-chan. He let Miles Horryce in the shop, showed him in, accepted Miles' gift of freshly-baked pastries with such glee, and motioned his guest to sit down.

Q-chan stayed with Miles while the Count went to the kitchen.

The adorable yet exotic creature fluttering about made Miles smile but the deeper cause of his sadness and worry still embedded in his heart. His mind kept echoing back the words exchanged between him and Ty. The results disclosed in the toxicology report haunted him.

Emerging from the kitchen with tea and pastries for two, Count D placed the tray on the coffee table and then served Miles. He waited for a while for the attorney to state the reason why he visited the shop today, but he was also accustomed to having a long period of silence between them even during the visits that he and Abigail made together.

Today, however, was different.

"Are you all right, Esquire?" asked the Count after he had taken a few bites of the fruit tarts that Miles brought for him.

His mind snapping back to reality, Miles blinked a bit and then smiled faintly. "I'm sorry, Count. There are just too many things on my mind."

"How is she doing?"

"Are you asking about Abigail?"

Count D nodded, not at all distracted with Q-chan fluttering about them.

Miles gave the proprietor the first smile he could muster since he stepped inside the shop today. From hearing the question and being reminded of Abigail and the Chinese fox, he felt as if his heart's heavy load became lighter. "It's great. I feel as if I was given a second chance to set things right between us."

Count D's tone was empathetic as he said, "Yet I can sense certain sadness from you. You and Abigail have been long-time patrons and good friends…."

Feeling as if he were trapped in a corner, Miles gazed at Count D as if his life depended on it. "Would you keep a secret for me?"

After seeing Count D give him a nod, Miles said, "Abigail and I were arguing heavily a year before her death. I came clean and told her that I cheated on her. I told her because I wanted to start all over again with a clean slate - not to hurt her. I figured that knowing the truth from my lips would be the best way to show that I want to made amends. It was stupid to cheat on her, and I've been very sorry for doing that to her. I told her everything...that the affair was not really fully consummated since the farthest that Shana and I had gone through was petting and blowjobs…with Shana doing most of the work. I admitted about the affair that I had with Shana after Abigail and I arrived home from Shana's funeral."

"After that admission, Abigail's health and her sanity began to dwindle. There were mornings that she woke up with bruises all over her body and she wouldn't remember how she got them. She became more paranoid as the days passed. As much as I've ended my affair, she would not believe me. She just started picking fights, only for us to make up that night or the following morning. It became such a vicious cycle, and I just saw her getting worse."

"One by one, our pets ended up dead. She kept having delusions that she saw Shana Burchfield – the legal assistant that I had an affair with. She said that she saw Shana either watching her by the foot of our bed or holding our pets. The police came on certain occasions because the neighbors reported us arguing heavily while they could hear things thrown about inside our home. The delusions worsened. She even went to the police and filed a report against me."

"Eventually, all charges were dropped. They saw evidence in their previous visits that Abigail's sanity was slipping. When they saw her, they surmised that the claims were coming from an insane woman. As much as the police took the right stance in handling the matter, what I didn't like was how they dismissed Abigail. They didn't even hear out what she wanted and needed to say. At the same time, our neighbors looked at me as if I was such a bastard. No one knew that our arguments turned out so badly that I was hiding scratches, bruises, and scrapes from trying to block Abigail's attacks. Then one of our arguments happened while we were at the stairs. I left the house, and worked at the home office away from the main house. When I returned, she was at the foot of the stairs... So much blood. I could just picture what happened. She probably lost her balance and then…."

Grim silence then filled the room, with Miles' eyes tearing up as he remembered how Abigail looked like when she landed at the bottom of the stairs. He closed his eyes and squinted, taking in a deep breath before saying in a near-whisper, "I just found out this morning that Abigail might have been murdered or poisoned."

"Why was that the case?" asked the Count as he pondered upon everything that he had heard so far.

"I told Ty that Abigail fell down the stairs, and I found her dead hours after we were arguing. He performed the autopsy and confirmed that she broke her neck during the fall. I'm surmising that the police know Ty and me very well, so they didn't question anything. The toxicology reports that Ty Curtis ran a couple of days ago indicated that there were traces of poison in her system. The information wasn't disclosed in his formal reports. He submitted the autopsy reports before he did the toxicology results. For some reason, he filed the report with the toxicology information missing and the police honoring his findings."

Count D shifted from his seat to take a sip of tea after a long period of silence transpired between him and his guest. After Q-chan finally settled on his shoulder, D asked, "Do you feel as if the world sees you through a mask, Esquire?"

Miles' eyes narrowed at first, and then blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"Do you feel that the world has mostly misjudged you all this time?"

The attorney's honey-colored eyes and tone reflected such authenticity as he gazed into Count D's eyes. "My family's been influential in the community. I reached where I am today through hard work. At the same time, I can't deny that family influence helped me get to where I am today as well. I went through life either getting it too easy or being judged too harshly. Some think that I'm this golden child that has a bright political future. Some think that I'm this silver spoon-fed brat who lets the scum of society loose and beats up his wife for fun – knowing that I would get away with it."

Count D was quiet, listening to what was being said and having Leon's rant about Miles stew at the back of his mind.

Miles had a rueful expression on his face, remembering who the real victim was. "At the same time, I felt that Abigail had been misjudged as well. She was the only one who saw me for who I really was. She was the one who grounded me, reminded me that I am my own man. I turned my back on my family because they wouldn't accept her. So you could just imagine how sad I was when she became sick. Still, I shouldn't have cheated on her."

"Instead of everyone doing their due diligence to uncover the truth, they just pushed everything aside and moved on. No one bothered to ask as to what was truly going on, save you and Ty. Certain investigators at the police department already pegged me as a culprit without thoroughly searching for the truth. Others didn't do their jobs because they thought that they were doing me a favor by cutting corners, with my friend Ty now being included."

Gazing more intensely into Count D's eyes as if he were baring his soul to the other, Miles added, "I just want a peaceful, purpose-filled life. I became a defense attorney for a reason, in spite of what people think. I can't live life knowing that justice wasn't served for Abigail. I now have her back, and I want to make up for the cheating and to set things straight. I want to make up for everything that I've done wrong to her."

As an understanding smile graced his lips, Count D said after taking a sip of tea, "I now understand why the Chinese fox chose you for her master."

Miles' expression turned grim as he gave Count D a probing gaze.

Count D placed the cup and saucer on the coffee table, and then relaxed on the sofa as he explained, "You and the Chinese fox are kindred spirits, Esquire – just as much as you and Abigail were. The Chinese fox changes her nature to conform to her environment, use her cunning to gain advantage, and exude her wiles to hold power. You know how to leverage your gifts and blessings but also work hard to keep them."

In a quiet but more intent tone, Count D added, "Just as much as she thirsts for someone to see her for who she is, so do you."

The handsome attorney's eyes glistened in held-back tears, his heart feeling the truth behind Count D's words. He became tight-lipped, closing his eyes to make a last-ditch effort not to cry but feeling that he was about to fail. For a long while, he buried his face in his hands. When he gained a grain of composure, he looked up and said, "I don't know what to think anymore, Count. I want to make things right, but I'm tired of the scrutiny."

The proprietor kept his gaze at Miles and said, "Masks are meant to fall off, Esquire. The question that you need to ask is whether you can handle what is revealed before you once the mask is no longer there."

End of Chapter Four