Chapter 41
Max lies in the hospital bed where he woke after being put under anaesthetic during an emergency operation on his wounds. His cuts and bruises are now bandaged. Tahlia sits beside him, crying. He sits up slowly, painfully.
She’s excited by his stirring and jumps up but is gentle as she puts her arms around her injured husband. He winces at the pain and she softens her grip. He slowly, painfully, stands and puts his arms around his wife and kisses her.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispers. Both teary eyed. “Everything changes now.”
“I thought I’d lost you.” She says stroking his face.
“So did I.” Max smiles, he looks deep into his wife’s eyes as though seeing them for the first time. “Things will change for us. From today. I'll do better for you.”
He notices Alan and Irene standing at the end of his bed. They smile at him and he smiles back thankful they came after he put them at risk by not telling Alan about the text message. The two detectives shake hands.
Chapter 42
Max is still sitting in his car listening to the audio recording from his phone that Heath made before he died. As his brother’s voice fills his ears he glances out his window for the first time since he began listening to the recording. The cemetery, graves stones surrounding him, weaving their way underneath trees until they meet the high steel and sandstone fence surrounding the graveyard. He can see staff using an excavator to dig a new grave site not far off.
The scene around him is silent as Heath's voice continues to project through his headphones into his ears, “So I find myself sitting here with an amazing view of the end. I can see it from here but I'm still not entirely sure if I will win.” Heath’s voice takes on a friendlier tone. “I've told you all of this to encourage you in your plan. If I've done my work well, you now have everything you deserve. If not, then you no doubt find yourself in the deepest part of Hell. You may well deserve that even more.
“I should leave you now, my dearest, I hear footsteps downstairs. I think Max is here. If I have won and we now share an incredible bond please destroy this recording. I ask this, for you to break our final link, in the hope that everything that has happened between me sitting here speaking this and you sitting there listening, has all been worth it. I tried so hard to give you the best.
“Of course, if I've failed and my audience is made up of detectives investigating my horrors - I dare you to look over at Max Myer and tell me that after everything I've told you, he deserves the life he has. My brother, if you're listening to this, I love you anyway.”
The recording stops.
Max dumps the headphones on the passenger seat, climbs out of his car and walks between the tombstones spread throughout the cemetery. Some are large and bare down on him with images of crosses or angels. Some are small and inscribed with heartfelt words ignored by most who would walk by. He comes upon an area which appears modern. Modest marble stones lay flat and half buried in the freshly mown grass with small plaques dedicated to those six feet below.
He stops by one stone and looks down. The name: Heath Bruce Myer, lifts off the plaque with raised lettering which is accompanied only by his dates of birth and death. Max lets a tear role down his cheek as he speaks to the grass at his feet, “I only wanted you to love me.”
He removes the tiny memory card from his phone and holds it between his burned and scarred fingers. He stares at it and thinks over the weight of its contents. He thinks over the truths in the story he just heard himself tell. He says, smiling, to the grass below him, “The press has made me out to be a hero, you know. I did a TV interview about everything. It was pretty scary. Your friends investigated everything and agreed I killed you in self-defence. And you’ll never guess what. Alan confessed that Irene gave Tahlia the idea of leaving to teach you a lesson. Apparently during the dinner they got to talking and Irene told Tahlia that she left Alan ‘cause he did to her what you did to Tahlia. Funny, hey? I said, ‘all’s well that ends well’. Wouldn’t you agree? You’ll be glad, she’s happy now. We went away for a couple of weeks. We spent time with mum and dad. Claire too. Everyone is happy. They're relieved.
“I don't know if you fully appreciated what it's like to hold your wife in your arms as you fall asleep and wake with her gentle breath on your neck. I think we're all in a better place. Please don't hate me. Don't worry I'll make you proud.”
He places the Micro SD card between his teeth before sucking it into his mouth and swallowing it.
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