Please Forgive Me (35 page)

‘And what would you know about it?’

‘I just know what these kinda guys are capable of. How else do you think they get where they are?’

‘Again, I’m touched by your concern but we’re doing just fine, thanks.’

‘Alex, just be serious for a second, OK? You’re right, this
isn’t
any of my business, but I still can’t help but worry about you – and Leonie. You two really don’t know what you’re getting into.’

‘Seth, like I said, butt out.’

‘How can I butt out when my wife is getting involved with dangerous stuff like –’

‘For the last time Seth, I am not your
wife
!’ Alex cried exasperated. Where did he get off patronising her like this? ‘Don’t you get it? You and me are
over
, the divorce is going through as we speak, and there are no more last minute stunts for you to pull.’

‘Really.’ Seth’s tone was flat.

‘Yes, really. You lost Seth, deal with it!’ Then Alex put her hand over the mouthpiece when out of the corner of her eye she could see one of the girls in the office waving frantically at her. ‘What?’ she asked Jill.

‘There’s a women on line three who says she wants to talk to someone about the letters, and this one sounds like she really knows what she’s talking about.’

‘How so?’

‘She passed not one but
two
of the checks you gave us,’ Jill said eagerly, referring to the criteria Alex had set down for separating the crank calls from potentially genuine ones. ‘A surname called Abbott and an address on Green Street.’

What?
Alex wanted to whoop for joy. The TV slot hadn’t given out either piece of information so this sounded
very
promising. ‘Seth, gotta go. I don’t have time for any more of your games just now, OK?’ she muttered into the phone and without waiting for his reply, immediately hit the flashing button for line three.

‘Hello?’ she said, trying not to sound too eager. The majority of crank callers could smell desperation a mile off.

The voice on the other end sounded small and nervous. ‘Hello, um, I saw the piece on TV about the letters to Helena from Nathan. I used to know a man called Nathan you see and I just wondered…’ she sounded almost apologetic.

‘I’m sorry Ma’am but is it OK if I ask you your name? Mine’s Alex,’ she added warmly, trying to put the woman at ease.

‘Oh yes, I’m so sorry.’ Unfortunately this seemed to have the opposite effect and now she sounded flustered. ‘Silly me, of course I should have said so before. It’s Helena Freeman here, although Nathan would have known it as Abbott.’

Alex’s dark eyes widened. Helena Abbott? Was she still alive? Well if this woman on the phone was who she said she was then …

‘Nice talking to you Ms Freeman. And how can I help you today?’
 
Then she frowned, remembering that she and Leonie had deduced from the letters that Helena’s
married
name was Abbott? So where on earth did Freeman come from? Unless, Alex wondered, her mind scrambling to try and put the pieces together, the woman had since got divorced and reverted to her maiden name? No wonder they’d had no luck finding her!

‘Well, it’s
Mrs
Freeman actually,’ she corrected, sending Alex’s assumptions flying all over again. ‘Like I said, I thought I recognised some of those letters you showed. At least, I thought I recognised the handwriting…’

Alex was perplexed. ‘You mentioned to reception something about Green Street?’

‘That’s right yes. It’s the family home – well it was, we sold it recently after my mother died and –

At this Alex’s ears pricked up. The family home? And recently sold too – the executor sale the landlord told Leonie about. So if this woman was in fact Helena, then it was not her but her
mother
who had died. Alex’s mind was doing cartwheels now.

Could this finally be the Helena Abbott they were looking for? Not dead, not living in Green Street anymore but still alive and well in –

‘Mrs Freeman, do you still happen to live in the Bay area?’

‘No, I’m in Santa Barbara now actually, why do you ask?’

‘Well, I think maybe we should meet up and talk some more.’ She smiled, knowing that Leonie would be over the moon with this development. ‘And if you are who you say are, then I believe we have some things that belong to you.’

‘I still can’t believe we actually found her!’ As expected, Leonie was beside herself with excitement when later that evening she and Alex met up after work at The Crab Shack to discuss the day’s developments.

Having spoken to her on the phone for a while longer, Helena Abbott had agreed to travel to the city to meet with Alex on Monday, and collect the letters in person.

‘I don’t want to hand them over until I’m a hundred percent sure it is her, although from what she told me over the phone, I’m pretty confident.’

Their conversation had indeed convinced her; who else would have known the details about Green Street or that the letters were addressed to not just Helena but Helena Abbott?

‘So, did she say anything else about Nathan, or have any idea about where he might be now?’ Leonie asked.

Alex shook her head. ‘I got the impression that they haven’t been in contact for some time and it sounds like she’s married to someone else.’

‘So she did stay married to that other guy then,’ Leonie said, and Alex sensed she was somewhat disappointed on Nathan’s behalf. ‘So what will you say when you do meet her?’ her friend mused then. ‘Are you going to tell her where we think Nathan is, or…’

‘I don’t know Leonie. If we do establish it is in fact the right Helena, then it’s not really any of our business after that. We just pass on the letters that are rightfully hers and then it’s really up to her what she wants to do with them, don’t you think?’

She knew Leonie couldn’t figure out how she could be so blasé about it all, considering all the effort they’d put into finding the couple, whereas Alex knew that for her part Leonie was simply
dying
to find out what Nathan had done. Well it had always been more her baby than Alex’s, for reasons that were still unknown. Why had she been so dogged about this along? Was Seth right, had something similar happened to Leonie, something she was projecting onto this situation?

Thinking of Seth, Alex now felt a little bad about the way she’d spoken to him that morning. It was kinda out of line, given that he’d sounded so concerned about her, and she probably shouldn’t have said some of those things. Then again she mused, annoyed with herself for worrying about it, chances were most of it would have just bounced off Seth, he had such a damn thick skin …

A few minutes later, she and Leonie paid the check and headed back towards Green Street, their conversation still full of Helena Abbott and what she would be like.

‘Well, I really think I should come along on Monday too,’ Leonie said and Alex knew it wasn’t a suggestion. ‘Just in case you’re not sure if it is her; at least if we’re both there we can decide for sure, as the last thing we want to do is give the letters to the wrong person.’

‘Yes, I kind of guessed you would.’ At this stage, Alex couldn’t really care less who they gave the letters to, she was that tired of the whole thing. ‘Which is why I told her there’d probably be two of us – ‘

‘Who’s that?’ Leonie asked, cutting her off.
 
They’d turned onto Green Street and were approaching the house when something or actually
someone
standing on the steps outside their place caught their attention.

‘I don’t know,’ Alex said, and as she tried to make out the solemn looking figure standing on the sidewalk, she suddenly felt an inexplicable shudder.

And when she looked further down and spotted the flashing lights of an SFPD cruiser parked alongside the curb, she realised that she was right.

Something was wrong.

‘What’s going on?’ Leonie asked, seeing it too.

Quickening her pace, Alex approached the figure, which they could now plainly see was a uniformed police officer.

‘Are you a resident of this building Ma’am?’ he asked, without preamble.

‘Yes,’ she replied, in a suspicious tone.

He looked down at his notebook. ‘I’m looking for Alex …?

‘That’s me,’ she said, understanding immediately that whatever was going on, it was bad.

‘You’re listed here as spouse and next of kin for Mr Seth Rogers?’

Alex tried to force air into her lungs, and stop the ground from moving beneath her feet. ‘I’m his … wife yes,’ she spluttered, barely able to keep her composure.

‘What’s happened?’ Leonie managed to utter the words she couldn’t, and for this, Alex was grateful.

‘I’m afraid I have some bad news, Ma’am. Earlier this afternoon, Mr Rogers was airlifted from the waters beneath the Golden Gate bridge.’

‘Airlifted…? Why? How?’

‘We’re not sure of the full details yet, but witnesses reported seeing him leap off the bridge.’

‘What?’
Alex gasped, hearing Leonie’s sharp intake of breath alongside her. People jumped off the bridge all the time, it was one of the most popular spots in the whole country for…that kind of thing… but it couldn’t be… Seth
wouldn’t
…? Again, Alex remembered her last words to him, something about the divorce being inevitable and no more stunts for him to pull, but surely he didn’t think she meant
anything
like…? Oh no, hell no, he couldn’t be…
couldn’t
have…

‘He was taken downtown to Memorial and straight into surgery. I understand he’s pretty banged up, so you might want to get on down there.’

Alex didn’t know what to make of this, and the relief she’d felt upon hearing Seth was in hospital and not in the morgue was immediately undermined by what he’d said afterwards. Did it mean he’d be OK, or was in trouble … what?

Her fingers trembling, Alex quickly unlocked the garage and took out the Mustang.
 
She made the trip to the hospital with Leonie in a complete daze, her mind fraught with the various possibilities. What had Seth been trying to do? What was he trying to prove? Alex’s emotions seemed to suddenly swing from terror to distress and finally to anger. What the
hell
had he been thinking?

‘There could be another explanation,’ Leonie was saying now from the passenger seat. ‘I don’t know Seth as well as you, but I
do
know but that’s not him. He wouldn’t do something like that, Alex.’

‘I don’t know,’ she replied, her mouth set in a hard line. ‘I don’t know anything anymore. I don’t know what’s going on with him. Since he came back he’s been so weird and completely unpredictable. Not in that way but ….oh my God, if something happens to him…’

‘Don’t think like that,’ Leonie reassured her. ‘We’ll be there soon and we’ll see what’s going on then. In the meantime, just try and stay calm and think happy thoughts.’

Think happy thoughts! This conversation was so surreal it was almost funny, and despite herself, Alex forced a brief smile. Good old Leonie for always looking on the bright side of things; what would she do without her?

But when they reached the hospital, she soon realised that she would have to do without her – temporarily at least – as Seth was in theatre and the medical staff would only allow family access to the waiting area.

‘That’s OK. I’ll wait here.’ Leonie insisted, and Alex didn’t have the energy to argue.

‘What’s going on?’ she asked the nurse who accompanied her down to theatre. ‘Will he be OK?’

‘It’s difficult to say at this time,’ the nurse said evasively and Alex felt frustrated, knowing it was a complete non-answer.

She quickly took out her cell phone and dialled.

‘Sweetheart calm down, OK?’ Jon said when Alex
 
explained what had happened. ‘I’ll be there as soon as I can.’

True to his word, Jon made it to down the hospital in record time and following a frank conversation with one of the nurses he managed to extract the true nature of Seth’s condition.

‘Honey, I’m not going to sugar-coat this for you,’ he told Alex gravely. ‘He’s critical, he has multiple broken bones and fractures, and possibly some injury of the spine.’

‘But what does that mean? Will he be OK or –’

‘All I can tell you is he’s got good people in there working on him. I know Richard Harrison, he’s one of the best.’

‘Oh God Jon – this is all my fault!’ Alex confessed. ‘He phoned me at work today and I was horrible to him …’ She still couldn’t believe that Seth would have reacted so badly to it, or maybe he’d just decided that her behaviour was the last straw and enough was enough. Maybe he’d finally realised that she really meant what she’d said and wasn’t coming back to him.

Seth had after all, always been a man of extremes …

‘Don’t be crazy, of course it wasn’t your fault. Maybe it was an accident or something?’

 
But Alex knew he was only trying to make her feel better. People generally didn’t fall off a two hundred and fifty feet bridge by accident. This couldn’t be just another one of Seth’s silly tricks to obstruct the divorce; anyone who went off that bridge did it for one reason and one reason alone.

Oh, my God Seth what have you done?

Leonie was still waiting outside when Jon and Alex re-emerged a while later, Jon having convinced Alex that there was no point in her waiting around, especially as it looked as though Seth would be in surgery until the early hours.

‘You should go home and get some sleep,’ Alex urged her friend, when she’d updated her on what little they knew about his condition.

‘So should you,’ Jon pointed out when Leonie (reluctantly) left, but there was no way Alex was going anywhere while Seth’s life still hung in the balance. ‘There’s nothing you can do here.’

‘No, I’ve done more than enough already,’ she said grimly.

‘Alex come on – don’t do this to yourself.’

‘Jon, he could only have done something like this because of me – because of
us
!’ she cried distraught. ‘He’s been trying so hard to stop the divorce, which I always thought was just out of sheer pigheadedness. But what if it wasn’t? What if he really thought there was a chance that I’d change my mind?’