Chapter 11: Would You Break Me? (part 2)
Mary stood there, gun in her hand and shock on her face. Pure adrenaline pumping through her veins as she could hear her heartbeat in her chest. Only seconds ago, she had pulled the trigger. On purpose, she had aimed off to the side to try and miss Greg, but she had failed. Instead of hitting the wall or the window, she hit his shoulder.
"You missed," Greg angrily informed her from his spot on the ground where he had fallen back. In reality though, he was surprised that she had even pulled the trigger. There was no way that he ever thought he could actually get her to do it. At most, he thought that it would be possible to get her to trade shooting him for performing another favor for him.
Mary looked down. Her hands were still gripped around the gun. Suddenly realizing what had happened, she dropped the gun and started to step back. Why had she even tried? Why did she even pull the trigger? Now, she regretted it. Knowing him, she knew that he would never let this go.
By now, someone had to have called the police. Gun shots were not something that one could keep secret. That meant that she had to prepare herself for whatever story Greg was going to tell them. The evidence was somewhat against her, he was the one on the floor with a wound in his shoulder. She would throw everything back at him though. The bruises, the verbal abuse, the threats. She wasn't going to be alone either, she knew that there were a lot of people that would back her up. It wasn't as if this were a well liked man.
"Now what?" Mary desperately questioned. She had to brace herself for the worst.
Greg sighed. "Well, it would be stupid for me to do anything to you now. I could just go ahead and tell them that you shot me," he answered. He was tyring to think of all his options, it was just that there weren't many at this point. The damage had been done by Mary and he looked innocent. That was all that mattered right now. There was just one problem though, deep down, he didn't want to get her in trouble. Getting her in trouble meant that he couldn't have her. Locked up behind bars, she could never be his.
The only thing that he could possibly gain from her going to jail is the custody of the baby. His baby. It wasn't her, but it was as close it he was going to get. The only part of her that he would be able to own.
"Right," Mary agreed. There was no use in telling him that he would lose. The last thing she wanted to do was upset him. Until the police showed up, she was left completely vulnerable with and an unloaded gun.
There was a knock on the door causing all three to quickly look over. "The police!"
Mary went over and quickly opened the door to let the three men in. "What happened here?" asked the first one to enter the room.
Mary stood there and watched as the other two entered into the room and looked around. As hard as she tried, she couldn't bring herself to calmly tell them everything that had happened. Instead, she just tried her hardest to not break down. "He came in here with a gun while I was gone," Mary told them through tears.
Greg's head quickly shot up from the floor. "She shot me!" he argued.
The first policeman looked down to him. "Over the phone it sounded more like you were threatening her to shoot you," he stated.
Greg briefly glared over to Rhoda who nervously smiled to him. "Yes sir, that is true," he started. "But, when she first pulled the gun on me, I didn't think she was actually going to do it. She was trying to hold me here against my will and I was just trying to get her to give up. I figured if she realized that she couldn't bring herself to actually shoot me that she would let me go," Greg calmly explained.
Mary coldly stared to Greg. Nothing from him shocked her anymore.
Rhoda hastened to her feet. "He's lying!" she argued. "That man doesn't live here! Mary does! And she found him here this morning. He broke into to her apartment," Rhoda said.
The second policeman sighed and looked over to the first. "Two different stories," he breathed out.
The first one looked over at Mary and Greg. "Call him an ambulance and get him treated. I want you to make sure to get him to the station as soon as possible," he demanded to the third one.
Mary watched as the officer went to the phone and dialed the number. At the moment, she was pretty sure that she hadn't hit him in a bad spot. The blood was all over his shoulder, but he didn't seem to be all that bad off. He was still being himself, lying and arguing.
"And you! You'd better come with us," the officer ordered.
Mary looked to him and nodded. Without even trying to stand up for herself, she followed him out. It was better this way though. Once she got to the station, she could actually tell them what was going on without having Greg interrupt her.
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Mary sat at the table, across from Detective Kinderman.
"Now," he started. His dark eyes were set on her as his folded hands casually rested on the table. "In your words, could you please tell me everything that happened this morning in your apartment?"
Mary nodded. Right now, she was sure that she was probably one of the most excited people to ever be questioned. This was her chance to finally get rid of Greg. She needed to be able to move on once and for all. "I had spent the night up in my friend's apartment and then this morning when I came downstairs to get ready for the day, I saw Greg sitting there, with a gun," Mary explained. For some reason, she started to feel uncomfortable. The paranoid feeling that she was so used to instinctively came back to her. "He started telling me that he was planning on killing himself and that since I had walked in, I had to watch. It then somehow got to him threatening me that he would stab me if I didn't shoot him," Mary informed the detective.
Detective Kinderman sat back and thought the story over for a moment. "Now, why do you suppose he had done this? Did something happen between you two earlier?" he asked.
Now that was a good question. He would never know how happy she was to answer that one. Mary sat forward a bit as she thought back on everything that had happened. From the moment that Greg had entered the office to the last time she had seen him just minutes ago were all images that started playing through her head.
"About four months ago, Greg and I started dating. He came in to work at WJM for a few weeks. While we were dating, I found out that he was married and I told him that we were over. I guess when I told him we were over, I was done with him, but he wasn't done with me," Mary stated. She took a second and looked down at the table. As much as she wanted to tell him what happened, to get Greg in trouble, she would never have an easy time telling anyone what had happened between her and Greg. "A little over a month after he had left Minneapolis, he had to return to work at WJM again. He wanted me back, but he wasn't too aggressive about it, just simple grab my shoulder ask me out for lunch. It was after he had found out that I was pregnant with his baby that he had started..." she trailed off. "Going insane? Maybe? I don't know, but he got scary. He became obsessed. He was waiting for me in the hall at work, he told me that he would sue for custody. When I told him that I was getting rid of the baby, he hit me. Then yesterday he told me that he wanted me, and it didn't matter how he got me, just as long as he had me," Mary said as calmly as she could. It was hard though, her heart was racing and her throat was drying up.
Kinderman nodded. He saw that Mary was getting a bit worked up, so he decided to give her a brief moment before continuing. "If you were so afraid of this man, why didn't you alert the police about what was going on?" he questioned. Kinderman pretty much knew the answer, he just wanted to make sure of what was all involved.
"I was scared. I was scared that Greg would find out and that he would come after me for it," she answered.
Kinderman again nodded, noting everything that she had said. He leaned back forward and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. Mary watched as he scribbled down a few things. "Do you mind if I talk to a few of your friends? People that you work with?" he asked.
"No," Mary replied. "Do you just want a list of names?" "Yeah," he responded. "Um, okay, well, there's Rhoda Morgenstern. She lives in my apartment building. She's the one that I spent the night with last night. Then there's Phyllis Lindstrom, and she lives in the same apartment," Mary was cut off.
Kinderman laughed. "We are capable of finding people Ms. Richards," he informed her.
"It's fine, I just wanted to save some time," he assured her. "Now uh, please continue."
"Well, then there's Lou Grant. Um, Murry Slaughter, David Campbell, and uh, as a last resort, you could use Ted Baxter. I would recommend against it though. He doesn't know much about the situation at all. I actually don't even know if he is aware that Greg and I were fighting," Mary said.
"Thank you, I will probably talk to these people within the next few days. As of right now, there are no charges against you and the shot can be written off as self defense. That could change depending on what we find out from Greg's side and the people we talk to about him, but, I highly doubt it," Kinderman explained.
Mary softly smiled. This was something that needed to happen. The authorities needed to find out about Greg. There was only one question that she needed answered though. "Now, Greg, is he going to be held here? He did trespass, he did threaten, he physically, verbally and mentally abused me."
"Would you like to press charges?" he offered.
"Yes," she plainly answered.
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"Now, Mr. Thompson, could you please give us a brief description of what had occurred this morning at Ms. Richards apartment?" Officer Federman requested as he sat across the table from Greg.
Greg stared to him for a moment as he thought of the perfect thing to say. This was certainly not the time to mess up. "I went to her apartment this morning to come talk to her. Lately, we had been fighting and I wanted to try and talk to her. I got no response when I knocked. The door was unlocked though and I wanted to make sure that everything was okay. Mary then came back to her place, got mad at me and eventually pointed a gun to me and shot me," Greg explained without showing any emotion.
Greg kept his cold eyes locked on Federman as he jotted a few notes down. The perfect thing about what he had said was that there were no lies. They really were fighting, he really did come to find the door unlocked, and Mary really did shoot him. They could never get him on lying.
Federman pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. "I should inform you Mr. Thompson, you do have charges pressed against you. Ms. Richards claims that you trespassed, threatened and abused her," he stated. Looking up from the paper, he watched Greg for a reaction. "Would you agree that any of this is true?" he questioned.
Greg nodded. "You could consider what I did to be trespassing," he answered.
There was something about Greg that made him uncomfortable. Something about the way he was coolly speaking or the blank expression in his eyes. Either way, Federman did not like it. However, it was pretty hard to get someone on the way that they look. And it wasn't that he thought this man was lying, he just felt that there was something else to him. A deeper side to him, perhaps, a darker side. A sinister side that he hides with a crooked smile.
"I have one question for you now," Greg requested. He slightly leaned forward on the table. "Can I press charges against her for the injury?" he questioned as he motioned to the bandaged spot where he had been shot.
Federman nodded. "Yes," he answered.
"Good," Greg responded as he sat back.
You can see that I swim
Through the sea of painful
You have watched as I pull
Myself from the floor
And you were there when I
Built my tower like pebbles in the rain
Trying to balance all that I had left
With what I didn't have anymore
But would you tear my castle down
Stone by stone
And let the wind run through my windows
'Til there is nothing left but a battered rose
Would you tear my castle down
Stone by stone
And let the wind run through my windows
'Til there is nothing left but a battered rose
If I had another place to go
Would you break me, is it that you know
I have no choice but to rebuild again
I'm tied so hard I can't remember when
I last walked free upon these feet of mine
But I'll draw the line
There will come a Time
When I am stronger
Your words won't hurt any longer
~ Castle Down by Emilie Autumn