The Testimony, Richard Shekari [book club books TXT] 📗

on the chair as though she would stand up.
“You’ve confessed the wrongs you’ve done to one another.” He said, “Nothing you both said affected me in any way! This is about something you did today that pierced my heart. This isn’t about your infidelity to each other, guys. I don’t care what you do with your lives. Let’s face it, it’s your life!”
“Then what it is?” Chloe asked.
“Freeze!” Said a female voice. “I swear to God I won’t hesitate to shoot if you move an inch, Greg!”
 “Drop your weapon!” Said another male voice.
Jerome turned and saw the two officers that knocked on the door earlier. Chloe calmed herself on her chair. The Officers stood in the space between the dining area and the living room. As soon as Greg turned, the bracelet fell off of Samantha’s hand and ricocheted on the blade, Officer Helen fired a shot as her eyes picked the reflection from the blade before the bracelet landed on the floor; the bullet pierced through Greg’s throat. He held on to Samantha and managed to fall on the cushion as blood gushed from his neck wound. The little girl began to cry on sighting Greg trying to save his breath as he held his neck with his right hand.
“Uncle Grey?”  Samantha cried, “Mammy? Daddy!”
Officer David rushed and seized Samantha from Greg. “Call the paramedics!” He said.
Helen ran and checked his pulse, “Greg, can you hear me?”
His cold eyes gazed into the officer’s soul, he smiled.
“Where are the rest of your kids?” She asked as she turned to the couple.
“They’re…dead, in the basement!” Jerome said. “He killed them!”
The officer then ran towards Jerome and Chloe. After studying the device she said, “Help is already on the way, you guys should hold still. I know nothing about this stuff. We’ll get the experts, okay?” She pulled out her walkie-talkie and put a call through to dispatch and informed them on the current situation, she asked them to hurry up.
“All units have been dispatched to your location ten minutes ago!” Said the voice over the walkie-talkie.
Chloe sobbed and asked for Samantha be brought to her but the officers insisted that Samantha be kept far away from the house as possible. The two officers left the couple in the living room and by the time they got to the door, sirens were already wailing. The police surrounded the building with their vehicles. Ambulances and news trucks arrived the scene as a chopper hovered above the neighbourhood.
A bomb squad was quickly sent in to defuse the bomb but they discovered that the devices were all dummies. Jerome and Chloe were ordered to move out of the house immediately after being set free, and the officers searched throughout the house for any other hidden device or bomb.
While outside, Officer Helen handed Samantha over to her mother.
“Thank you, Officer!”  She said as she wiped her tears, “How did you know he was in the house?”
“Well,” Helen remarked, “When we came to your house earlier, your husband came out and demanded that my new partner provide his I.D, which was okay, but when he insisted that I provide my mine, I smelled something fishy because we’ve known each other for quite some time and he knows my husband, I mean; they work in the same hospital so I got a little suspicious. I explained it to my partner after we left the house and he advised that we sneak into your home. My partner helped break through your kitchen window and that’s when we heard the conversation.”  She snorted, “But before then, I had put a call through to dispatch about a possible hostile situation.”
“Thank you, Helen!”  Jerome said. “We can’t thank you enough!”
As the chopper hovered above the building, an officer ran out of the house to meet the couple outside with some news. “We’ve found two kids alive in the basement but heavily dosed and asleep,” said the Officer, “Injected with some kind of anaesthetic, I think. But they appear fine! There was a small bottle of chloroform found in the dead guy’s pocket.”
“Oh my God!” Chloe said. She and Jerome hugged each other joyfully.
“Alright, get the stretchers!”  Helen ordered, “How about Andy and his team?”
“They’ve skimmed the entire house,” the Officer added, “Found nothing”
“So it’s safe to go in?”  Helen asked.
“100!”  He nodded.
The officer along with some paramedics wheeled in three stretchers and a body bag into the house. Minutes later, Greg’s body was taken out of the house. Another officer called Helen aside and spoke to her, she then walked to Jerome and Chloe.
“The gun Greg held was fake!”  She said, “But the blood wasn’t. It’s his blood! There was a tube found strapped around his right arm under his shirt. It is discovered that he had a plastic tube sealed off with a cap, attached to a needle that’s inserted into his vein. It was held in place with tape and bandages!”
More paramedics came out with Jacob and Tiffany all strapped on stretchers and fed oxygen through a Venturi mask.
“My babies!” Chloe said as she rushed towards them, “Oh my babies!” She kissed Jacob then Tiffany. Who appeared to be heavily asleep.
“Ma’am!” Said one of the Officers. “Please allow the medics to do their job. Your kids are going to be fine. They are safe now!”
Jerome held Chloe and they both moved aside, the paramedics wheeled in the stretchers into the ambulances and zoomed off.
“It’s cold outside,” said Helen, “Maybe you need to take Samantha in.”
“Yeah, that will be a good idea.”  Officer David added.
The officers assured the couple that their kids were in good hands as they led them into their home. Some men in black suit later walked into the house and interviewed the two officers before approaching the couple.
“Hello Mr and Mrs Shortner.”  Said one of the men as he opened a booklet, “I’m Detective Hazer, I understand that this is rather a tough time for you but hope you don’t mind me asking you some important questions?”
“Not at all,” Jerome said, “It’s alright, Detective.” He held Chloe while she kissed Samantha on the forehead.
“Do you have any idea why the deceased, Greg Clark, would want to attack your home?” The Detective asked. “What exactly happened here? I am sorry but this is a normal procedure, it’s for your benefit!”
“Well,” Jerome said, “Not that I know of, however, he did mention that my wife and I did something earlier today that hurt him. He was bitter!”
“He used to be a nice man!”  Chloe said, “A perfect gentleman…Very kind, until this evening!”
“We don’t know what we’ve done wrong.” Jerome said, “He was a cool guy! Used to…buy nice things for the kids. Very calm and sweet fellow!”
“Remember what I said when I came to your house earlier?” Officer Helen said as she walked towards them.
“Yeah,” Jerome responded, “You said something about him having some issues or so?”
“Well,” she remarked, “did he tell you he had a seven year old son out of wedlock?”
“No,” Jerome said, “he was single, that we know, and all the while he never said anything about having a kid. Had only one girlfriend that we know of, Gina, yeah…that’s her name.”
“How often did he uh…come around the house?”  The detective asked.
“The kids loved him.” Chloe added, “He bought lots of gifts for Sam. He comes from time to time, and we loved having him around. He was…kind. A nice man.”
“Well,” the detective said, “The truth is he had a kid…”  He sighed, “…and the child was supposed to come stay with him for the first time in a long while. Because Greg was denied access to see his son since birth, recently he and the mother of his child reached an agreement in court and Greg was granted the opportunity to be with his son, but uh…I guess Greg never saw him, and didn’t hear from the child’s mother as well the day his son was to be brought over.”
“What does that has to do with us?” Chloe asked.
“Greg’s son and his mother were among the few people that died in an accident that took the lives of four other people last Friday. They were badly burnt.” Helen said, “And I think he found out this morning or so, and um…that’s why I came to tell him after their bodies were identified. So on sighting his vehicle parked in front of your house, I thought he was here.”
“This doesn’t make any sense!” Jerome said.
“Did he say why he attacked your family?” Helen asked.
“Not really,” Jerome said. “Like I said, he only stated that my wife and I did something wrong that hurt him today, and that if we confess…he’ll uh…let us go in peace…” he turned to his wife. “Oh shit!”
“What’s that?” Helen asked. “Why did you say that? Did you know anything that could aid in this investigation, Jerome? Talk to me!”
“He was there at the church this morning,” Chloe said, “When we gave the testimony about how God saved our kids from the crash.”
“Are you Christians?” The detective asked.
“Yes, sure!”  Jerome answered. “We are…”
“You said your children were involved in an accident,” Detective Hazer interjected. “Is that correct?”
“Yes!”  Jerome answered, “Two days ago, their school bus collided with another vehicle.”
“The one that happened last Friday?” The detective asked, “The one the driver was found to be drunk?”
Chloe and Jerome nodded.
“His son was in the other vehicle that collided with your children’s school bus that day.”  Helen said.
Chloe looked at Jerome, “Oh my God!” She said, “Maybe it’s…maybe it’s what we said when we gave the testimony!”
“You said he made mention of you guys doing something that hurt him today…” said the detective, “Can you clarify that, please?”
“What exactly did you say in church?” Helen asked.
“I uh…”  Jerome remarked, “I uh…we said that um…”
“We said, ‘thank God…’”  Chloe interjected.
“Thank God?”  The curious detective remarked with a lift of his eyebrow.
“Yeah,” Chloe responded in a sad tone, “We said, ‘Thank God our children were not among the ones that lost their lives in an accident that occurred two days ago. So we came to offer our praise and thanksgiving…to God!”
Jerome lowered his head. Helen and the detective looked at each other.
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Publication Date: 02-23-2017

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