You Don't Know

59

*Luke*
My brows furrowed in confusion and I looked up at Abby.
She managed to stop the tears but she couldn't hide the pain even though she looked away trying to avoid the eye contact.
_I found it in my mailbox,she spoke her voice wavering.
I focused on the envelope in my hands again longing to see what was inside. That's when I saw different pictures.
As I looked them one after one, I closed my eyes, my lips turning into a thin line.
Since the accident I didn't think about my last visit to Ella Reed but now our meeting came back like an arrow to my mind.
"Jack Hood" I said and she shot me a look that drained the blood from my face.
But she was finally listening so I carried on trying to get her to talk.
_The day Joy was thought to have committed suicide he was there. He has a restaurant next to the building she jumped off and that night he was having dinner with his family. He got a call and left just some minutes before the incident. He even talked to the police when they came. He may have pushed her off the building, I concluded.
Her eyes were focused on my face studying it.
_What makes you think that? She asked carefully.
Her question caught me off guard. I came here to ask not to be asked. I needed answers not more questions.
_ He has no alibi, I simply said.
She shook her head slowly.
_ I mean why him? She insisted.
I grew more confused but I tried to keep up.
_ After he talked to the police he ordered someone to take his family back to their house but he stayed at the restaurant and spent the night drinking. He was guilty, I said but she didn't seem convinced so I tried to think of something else. I paused then I continued, the other day, I saw Joy's book "Tears Of The Devil" in his home office but when I asked him about it he lied. He was so disrupted when I asked him about Joy. Denial, I pointed out.
That's when Ella shifted in her seat and invited me to sit.
By then the music in the background turned from a calm melody to an agitated one as if anticipating what she was going to say or just following the mood in the small space of the room.
I sat as asked and she turned to me.
"You know for a fact now that Joy and Jack knew each other." I remembered she said when I looked at the first picture.
It showed a man with a big black coat and a hat coming out of what seemed like a hotel with a woman in a white dress and huge sunglasses covering her face holding a small handbag with both her hands. The man's hand was on the small of her back.
"Very very well might I add..." Her words resonated as I took the second on which, the same couple was in a small restaurant that barely had any customers. They were so caught up in a lively discussion in which the woman was laughing her head thrown back at something her companion must've said. He was wearing a huge smile looking at her.
"But it's not what you think"
Another one was taken on a beach in the middle of the night. The only light provided was coming from the moonlight and the fire behind them. The hands of the man were encircling the woman's waist his head slightly bent down while the lady stood on the tip of her toes until her lips met his. The fire was casting shadows on their faces emitting an angelic image. It was like a picture you can find in a romantic painting.
"They were having an affair..."
On one of the pictures, shadows of sticking bodies in the darkness were reflected on the thin fabric of the curtains covering the window. They were making love.
I raised my eyes to look at Abby's face. She met my gaze and this time her tears were back.
_ But that's impossible! Jack was married back then. And he loved his wife, I said.
Abby opened her mouth two times in a row then finally managed to speak.
"All those years... He was cheating... all those years" she sobbed motioning to the dates scribbled on the corner of each picture; the dates on which they were taken.
_And Joy she was... I stammered.
_ Getting a divorce, she finished for me her eyes daggers.
I knew what she was doing. She was telling me that Joy was innocent but I loved Abby and I only felt the urge to defend her. Love or not love that was cheating!
_ Still! He was married, I repeated anger clear in my tone.
_ For your information, my sister didn't know back then, she said through gritted teeth.
The tension was palpable in the room. Each one was defending someone they loved.. And I thought for a second that she would chase me out but I was lucky enough because she continued
_ In fact, she only knew he had a family a couple of days before that infamous night. She paused, you may think she was stupid but she was blinded by her feelings for him, she added.
_ How did she know? I asked.
_ She wanted to talk but she met his wife and in the middle of the conversation things were getting clear so she left, she answered.
_ Then why did she come back that night? I asked.
Abby was pacing around one hand on her hip and the other on her mouth trying to muffle the whimpers.
When she looked at me I tried to comfort her with a look.
_ And... and who knows what else he's...he's hiding! She sniffed
"She needed to... She was pregnant" Ella's voice wavered.
I wanted to answer Abby's question but I wasn't in the right place to do it.
_Everything you just said is against Jack, I pointed out in confusion.
_ Jack might've done some horrible things but he never hurt my sister, she said.
_ Why are you so sure? I asked.
_ If we're talking emotions I'd say because he loved her, she paused, but if we're talking logic I'd say because he never knew plus I know who did it, she finished.
I closed my eyes again trying to gather my senses as if my soul came back to my body after a short visit to my meeting scene with Ella Reed. Abigail was finally sitting on one of the stools in front of me her hair sticking to her sweaty forehead and her hands holding a glass of water.
_ Did you confront him? I let out the question that burnt my tongue.