The Return of the Prodigal: Part IV
Ethan found it hard to get to sleep that night, despite how busy his day had been and how exhausted he felt; however, after a brief period of restlessness, he finally closed his eyes, and his racing mind was able to put itself on hold for a while. Across the hall, it was not so easy for Nick and Jeff, and both lay awake. Ethan had eventually decided that it would be best to tell them absolutely everything that Drew had told him, as he would need their assistance the following day. The fact that Drew had a daughter had left them both stunned; they could both understand his desire for a child, but they had to question the wisdom of his decision in the light of the actions of his wife. They had kept their thoughts to themselves though, sensing that the situation was tense enough as it was, and that their words would not help. They had also agreed to say nothing about her existence to anyone until Drew was able to tell them all himself.
"That poor little girl must have seen and heard some awful things in her short life," said Jeff quietly as he lay by his husband's side in bed that night. "Just the thought of all the things that she has done to Drew gives me nightmares; what that would do to a child I do not like to even consider…"
"It can't have been easy for her, but if I know Drew, he will have done everything in his power to shield her from the worst of the fighting, and to hide his injuries. I am actually more concerned about how he will feel after all of this is finished. He was always such a strong and confident person when we were all at Dalton, but I fear that now he will be a shadow of his former self… I mean, he broke down completely when he saw Ethan in front of him; I heard him apologising to him, when he had done nothing wrong. All he did was fall in love…"
"Just like my mother did," replied Jeff, and Nick went quiet as he realised the truth in what his husband had just said. What had happened to Drew was indeed remarkably similar to what had happened to Elspeth. She had survived, and had come out the other end, but if all of Hunter's plans had not gone awry, how much more could she have stood from her husband? "The thing that makes it worse, Nicky, is that she is a doctor," Jeff continued. "A doctor should be a compassionate human being… Remind me that no matter how sick little Wes gets, and God forbid he should, but if he does, we do not take him anywhere near that hospital." Nick nodded, in full agreement with his husband; he was just as determined to keep his son away from a woman that could be so calculating and cruel.
When morning came, a plan that had been formulated late the previous night was put into play. Ethan had come to the conclusion that it would be for the best if he did not travel with Drew to the airport, given just how nosy the neighbour was. He had a feeling that just the sight of Drew getting into a cab with his daughter and half a dozen large cases would have her dialling Lucy, out of neighbourly concern of course, and that would probably get her running home. A description of him would be all the clue that she would need as to his destination, and then she would be en-route in that fast car of hers to Heathrow, the logical airport. True, she would not be able to get past security, but she could quite easily report Drew to the police on some spurious charge and have him prevented from boarding the flight…
No, they had to ensure that she was delayed, and better still, misdirected. For that reason there was really only one course of action open to him; he had to confront her, face to face. When he had first said those words to Nick and Jeff the night before, they had both looked at him as if he had taken leave of his senses, and maybe to an extent that was true. The fact was that he had so much he wanted to say to her, things he had wanted to say for years, and if he did not get them off his chest now, he would explode with anger eventually. He had to make her pay for all that she had done to his best friend. Their little confrontation also had the potential to help smooth through the process of both the house sale and the divorce. What he had to tell her would hopefully remove all her objections to both, as she would realise that there was no point in fighting the process. If she did, then she would pay a very heavy price…
Going along with Ethan's plan did not mean of course that Nick and Jeff approved of the scheme. Had they been able to think of a better or more conceivable way of doing what was needed themselves, they would have gone all out to persuade Ethan to use it instead. However, they had come up with nothing, not even during the night. There was no rear access to the house, no convenient back door to leave by to avoid those prying eyes. They also had no way of guaranteeing that the neighbour would leave home that morning and be absent at the crucial time. The best they could hope for was that she was a churchgoer, and that she would be at her prayers at the crucial moment; these days though, particularly in England, such things were really not that likely anymore.
Jeff had found himself co-opted to be the one that took Drew and Evie to the airport, although he knew that as the taxi arrived, he was to announce their destination loudly as Victoria Station, from where you could take a train to Gatwick airport. As both of London's two main airports had flights to the relevant destinations, it was not implausible, and hopefully the neighbour would hear, and send Lucy off on a wild goose chase. By the time it became clear that he wasn't at the airport in West Sussex, it would be too late to stop the flight from leaving Heathrow, or so they all hoped.
The second part of the plan involved Nick, who would just happen to be walking down the road at the relevant moment with his son, and they would create a suitable diversion for the neighbour; she would be so busy watching them that she would not notice Drew handing the keys to Ethan, and the latter heading into the house. He would leave the house an hour after his friend, which he hoped would be long enough to let Lucy get back, and allow him to have his little chat with her. Then he would head to the airport, using the same misinformation campaign; with his fast clearance privileges, he would still make the flight in good time. If he did not, then Jeff was to ensure that Drew would be on board. If that happened, and it was unlikely, Ethan would ask Beats and Flint to go to JFK, and ask them to meet the relevant flight. It would be a shock to them, but he knew that they would both drop everything to help out an old friend…
Just after 11am, there was a knock at the door, and a courier making a delivery for Ethan. Nick and Jeff had no idea what was in the envelope he took, and he did not enlighten them, just smiled and tapped the side of his nose. Then all too soon the appointed time was upon them. At the last minute, Ethan had decided to request that the cab come just a little earlier than originally planned, with the idea that it could convey him, Nick and little Wes to the top of the street and let them out. They could head down the street and make a quick check that there was no sign of Lucy's car, text Jeff, and he could then come down the street in the cab to pick up Drew and Evie as originally planned. The cabbie did look a little perplexed at all of the instructions, but he agreed to them; after all, he was on the clock. There had been a quick discussion of what their Plan B should be if Lucy was actually still there. They had not managed to come up with anything concrete and workable, although they had all agreed that much as she deserved it, hitting her over the head with something heavy and knocking her out cold, or worse, was not the way to go; that would only lead to even worse drama in the long run.
Little Wes of course had no idea as to what exactly was happening, other than the fact that his Uncle Ethan was going back home, and his papa would be helping him by going to the airport. He had said his goodbyes to Ethan back in the house, so as he stepped out of the cab with his father at the top of the street, he just gave his papa and Uncle Ethan a wave as he walked off with Nick, his hand holding his son's tightly. Ethan followed on, walking a little faster and passing them on the opposite side of the street. As he approached Number 10, he was glad to see that there was no sign of that distinctive and expensive car. He smiled, and sent the text to Jeff to proceed, before pulling the little black book that he had taken from Drew's house yesterday and used as part of an act out of his pocket. He headed this time to his friend's front door, and knocked…
As he waited, he could feel eyes upon him, and he had to fight hard against the temptation to just turn around and wave at the woman across the street; he knew it had to be her. Then the door opened, and he saw Drew standing there, waiting for him, with the beginnings of a fresh black eye…
"Don't say it… I was busy with the packing, and I lost track of time, and the pie that she had asked me to make for her dinner got a little browner than it should have, and well, she doesn't like burnt pastry… It was my fault, I should have paid more attention…."
"It is not your fault! You burnt some pastry for goodness sake! She should not have hit you for something like that, and to be quiet frank, there is nothing that excuses that kind of behaviour," Ethan replied to his friend, trying his best not to scream at him. "So, are you all ready to go? The cab will be here in a moment; Jeff will be in it, and he is taking you to the airport."
"Jeff!? Why aren't you coming with us right now?" Drew asked in an anxious voice.
"I thought that you going with him might be for the best, given that we have a very attentive audience. She will describe to Lucy how you left with a blond haired man, not the Mormon missionary that pestered her on the doorstep yesterday. I want you to give me your keys, and when the 'distraction' that I have set up takes place, and she is staring at that, I will let myself in past you. I will stay put for a little while, and then leave discretely and join you at the airport. The only thing I need from you before you go is a signature…"
Before Drew could question the plan that was now being put to him, and what the signature was for, a cab drew up outside, with a familiar blond head at the window. It was then that he hard a voice that he had not heard for years, yelling at someone. "Nick has just got a call from someone that he is really angry with; his raised voice will inspire her curiosity, as will the reaction of little Wes to his father's rage. So whilst he is the centre of attention, I will do this…" He slipped round Drew and stepped into the hallway "…and you can get on your way. Right, I will see you at the airport, I promise. Jeff will come with you, give you a hand with your bags, get you checked in and see you through security. You have to promise me that you will get on that plane, regardless of whether I am there or not. I need you away and safe above everything else. Jeff will hang around with the other two bags that will be mine, and check them in for me once he knows I am en route. If I don't make it, and that is very, very unlikely, then I will ensure that there will be a friendly face waiting for you at the airport. No protests, Drew, just go. I need you safe above everything else…"
Before Drew knew what was happening, he was being swept along in a tide which he could not swim against. Jeff was at the door, helping him with the cases; he had a pen in his hands and was signing two documents that he had no time to read, and then, before he knew it, he was in the back of the cab as the last of the cases were passed in, where the driver did look a little startled at the amount of luggage that was being taken for a minute, and then he twigged what was going on; the new man was leaving someone… Jeff came over to the cab, told the driver to head to Victoria at the top of his voice, and then got in. Without a backward glance, the taxi was speeding off, the driver merely asking if their destination had changed, and smiling at the resounding no he received.
With Drew on his way, Ethan found himself alone in what had been his home. He headed upstairs for the first time, and couldn't help but smile as he found himself in a room that by its décor had to have been Evie's, but was now stripped bare of everything but the furniture. There were no pictures, no toys, no books; even the bed had been stripped of its duvet cover. As he turned to leave, he suddenly spotted a tiny stuffed toy under the bed, and without pause for thought, he grabbed it, and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. He moved on into the room that had once been his friend's; he shuddered at the thought of what he had suffered in that space. The drawers and a wardrobe lay open and empty, and then he spotted something that made him smile. On the bedside table lay a ring, left for the wife that he was leaving behind. Ethan grabbed that too; it was more than likely that Drew had paid for it, and as it was a plain gold band, it could be sold, even for scrap. He was determined that he wasn't leaving a cent for that woman…
He headed back down the stairs then, but as he crossed the hallway, he heard a loud and insistent knocking at the front door. "I know that you are in there! I knew you were up to no good! I have called the owner, and she is on her way. Don't think that I won't call the police too!" It was that statement about calling the owner that made Ethan open the door to confront the woman that was standing there; the lady from across the road that was too nosy for her own good. "I knew it! I knew you weren't a missionary! You have abducted my friend's husband and child! On top of that, you are probably a thief!"
"Oh, you have so many things wrong in that statement… So let me enlighten you. You are correct, I am not a Mormon missionary. My name is Ethan MacKenzie and I am a school friend of the actual owner of this property, Mr Drew Symons. I assume that Dr George told you she was the owner, and you assumed that had to be true as she was a doctor, and he was a stay at home father? I have to say that if you have called her, I am grateful, as I have no problem with seeing her again."
"Yes, it was Dr George that I called, and we will soon see what is going on. I would have called the police, but she asked me not to."
"Now that is interesting. You did tell her that her husband and child had been abducted, and yet, she didn't want you to call the authorities. Did you ever stop to wonder why? Now, could it be related to the state of his eye this morning? I trust that you did notice it… Do you know how he got it? Not from an accident, as I am sure she will tell you. He burnt the pastry last night, and she was upset, and so she punched him in the face. It's not the first time she has treated him like that either; she began abusing him before they married, but he like a fool thought he could change her…"
"I am quite certain that she…"
"Are you, because there is just a little bit of doubt in your voice now. What is it? Are you remembering hearing them argue, raised voices that made you shut the window and turn up the television? Are you recalling the times you have seen him with a limp, or bandages, or just quite obviously in pain, whilst she has never been like that - in fact, she has always been so healthy? Or is that you have recalled some burst of anger from her in your own meetings? The fact is, you watch this street every day, and I guess you do recall it, but always thought two things. Firstly you thought that as she is a doctor, she would never be like that. Secondly, and this is what is worst and almost unforgivable, you turned a blind eye because he was a man… If a woman had just emerged from that house with a black eye, after months of other minor injuries, with a stack of cases, you would be calling the police on her partner, willing to stand witness to the crimes committed against a fellow woman. But as he was a man…"
There was no reply from the woman on the doorstep, who now had a look of horror on her face, as she realised that every word Ethan had just said was true.
"Well, maybe if it, God forbid, happens around here again, you will call the police at the time, rather than just sit back and ignore it. I might also suggest that you make better choices as to who you befriend. Right now, you just need to go home, and pay no more attention to this house." With that, he slammed the door shut in the woman's face, and headed to the kitchen for a seat…
With the neighbour now gone with a flea in her ear, Ethan began to prepare himself mentally for what was now inevitable; the moment that he confronted face to face the woman that had destroyed the life of his best friend. He realised that he had actually been waiting for this chance since he had found out about the wedding, but now he had so much more to avenge. She had tried to enslave him, had forced him out of his job and away from the career he loved. She had taken him away from his friends and family and stopped all contact. In his eyes, Lucy George had no redeeming features whatsoever; she could be the best paediatric surgeon in the world, but as a human being she was a complete failure. He knew of course that what he was doing was very risky; he knew what she was capable of after all. The sensible thing would have been to have just headed to the airport, but he couldn't without saying what he needed to. He had set up a security net; if he had not sent a message to both Nick and Jeff within the hour, they would alert the authorities. All he could do for now was wait.
He had decided to wait in the kitchen, hidden from view when the front door was opened. He considered whether he should make himself a coffee, then decided that hot water was probably a very bad idea. In any case, he had no sooner dismissed the notion than he heard the sound of a car being driven up outside; a car being driven up at excessive speed, coming to a halt with a screeching of brakes. There were angry footsteps on the path outside, and the sound of a key being forced into the lock…
Then the front door was slammed open, the door furniture rattling as it bounced back off the wall, and then slammed just as hard shut. "DREW! You had better be here! Answer me!" He said nothing as he heard the sound of feet pounding up the stairs, and then a string of expletives as she obviously walked into the bedroom and discovered the state that it was in; how it had been stripped of any trace of her husband. Ethan took a deep breath, knowing he could run now, but he stayed put. He heard the sound of feet thundering back down the stairs, a voice cursing continually, then those same feet rattling over the woodblock in the hall towards the kitchen. She came in, and stopped abruptly as she found herself facing Ethan. She looked much older than he had recalled, and her face was twisted with rage. Her eyes widened as she saw him, and then with a snarl, she said one word - "You!"
"Yes. Me, Lucy," replied Ethan calmly. "You're too late. He is gone, and he isn't coming back."
"Really? Trust me, he will be back. He can't get far, and when I call the police and tell them of my distress that my husband has snatched my daughter from me, they will soon bring him back where he belongs. I will forgive him in front of them, but once they are gone, he will pay for this!"
"Actually, I think you will find he can get much farther than you imagine," said Ethan with the tiniest grin. "I guess that you think that because you destroyed all of his identity documents, and his passport, that he was stuck here forever? Wrong! Dalton Academy keeps very thorough records on all of its students, including copies of birth papers, driving licences and even passports. With that resource, sorting out the necessary replacements is so easy."
"That kind of thing takes time. He will be found long before that, especially if he is hanging around the US Embassy waiting for them to be processed."
"The one thing about Dalton alumni, and former Warblers in particular, is that we share a bond which remains firm throughout our lives. So although normally it would indeed be a lengthy process, and impossible at the weekend, when one of your former classmates and a dear friend to boot happens to have direct access to a man you might have heard of, a certain Joe Kennedy, well things can be expedited. In fact, getting them all took just over an hour…" Ethan replied in the same calm measured voice. "Oh, and as for telling the police that he has snatched your daughter, well, she isn't your daughter, is she? Your name is not on her birth certificate, nor have you adopted her. To all intents and purposes, she is merely his child, that happens to live here with you. She is nothing to you, and the police will do nothing, except maybe arrest you for wasting their valuable time."
"True, but when I tell the authorities that he is a known abuser, they won't let him leave the country until he can prove he isn't - and that might be hard."
"That is true, I grant you, but the fact is that when they find him, they will see that you are uninjured, and he has a black eye. The one that you gave him last night. They will examine him and see all the other bruises and injuries on his body. They will check medical records. And then they will ask who it was abused him? There only conclusion will be that it was you. There is also a little three year old witness to so much of it. Trust me, the authorities will not have the same attitude as your spy; they won't think 'She's a doctor, she couldn't have done it.' By the way, I spoke to her about ten minutes ago, and made her think; I think it is safe to say that her eyes are now open, and she has seen the reality of what is going on; the monster you actually are…"
Ethan stopped, and ducked as a plate came hurtling in his direction, passing over his head to smash against the wall. "Oh, so it is going to be like that, is it? Are you going to hit me for speaking up, for making you look bad, just like you constantly hit Drew? Or maybe you think that I deserve much worse because I have set Drew free and ruined your reputation in the neighbourhood? Just remember, I am not like Drew; I have no love for you, and I certainly don't think that I could ever change you and save you like he did. Plus I am prepared; if I do not send two messages to two contacts on my phone in less than half an hour from now, then the people in question will contact the relevant authorities. They know where I am, and who I am with. Even if you do succeed in removing me, my place will be quickly taken up by all of our friends from Ohio. We are a very close band of brothers and indeed sisters these days. You hurt one of us, you hurt us all… I would suggest that you don't even start a battle that you will never win."
He looked at her, her face puce with the anger she was feeling; the knowledge that he had her. "Fine. He was starting to annoy me too much in any case; him and his little brat. Good riddance to them both. I was considering ending it anyway; I have taken him for all that I can, and I've done pretty well…"
Ethan shook his head, then said sardonically, "Oh, I'm sorry, are you labouring under the impression that you are getting to keep everything he left behind? Oh, Lucy, for a doctor you are really, really dumb! I know that you took him for every single cent that he had, and transferred what you could not spend to a so called joint account that he has no access to. He told me that last time he snuck a look at the balance that it was in the red, and we are more than happy for you to keep that account and its lack of contents. However, I also know from the helpful people at the land registry that the house was bought outright by him and him alone, so he will be keeping that; indeed, it is already on the market as of yesterday. That means that you will have to move out and find somewhere else to live. Then there is the little matter of the divorce that you are going to give him, one that you will not contest naturally. I had these papers drawn up by a lawyer overnight, and took delivery of them this morning…" Drew went into his pocket, and pulled out the envelope for the second time that day. "It's quite simple; he is divorcing you on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour, which you admit, and thus take no claim on the house or any other article of his property."
"No chance," said Lucy. "I will be staying here, as is my right as his wife. I will start proceedings against him for desertion, and he will be paying me hefty amounts of alimony…"
"Really. That sounds nice, but I have a big problem with all of that, so no."
"I don't give two hoots what you think, Ethan! You are nothing in all of this, just a biased observer."
Ethan shook his head sadly, then smiled smugly at her. "Oh, my dear Dr George, it is such a pity that you did not take time to get to know your husband's friends properly, instead of regarding us as a group of singing preppy losers. I mean, I am his best friend, his loyal buddy, but all you know about me is my first name; you don't know my surname even, and that is such a pity…"