The Fury - Jason Pinter [101]
kept it for protection. He taught me how to use it, just
in case. I was scared, of your father and for Stephen. I
got carried away."
"Where was Stephen during all of this?" I said.
"I'm not sure," Helen said. "He told me he was going
to try and talk to someone. He said there was one
person who might be able to do something if he knew
the whole story."
"Oh God," I said. "He was with me. He was at the
Gazette waiting for me." I felt sick. I put that from my
mind, tried to focus.
"My father said he took the gun from you. Is that
true?"
"It is," Helen said.
"Would you be willing to testify to that? The police
say my father's fingerprints were found on the gun. If
you testify that they got there another way--other than
him actually firing it--it will help his case."
"I don't know if I want to help his case," Helen said.
"As long as he's locked up, the cops aren't hunting the
person who really killed my son."
"So you know it wasn't my father," I said. Helen said
nothing. She turned away. Didn't even look at me. I was
taken aback by this indifference. Stunned, I said, "Don't
you care about your son's killer getting what he
deserves?" I said.
Helen's face turned to stone. She said, "It must be
nice to live in a world where everyone who deserves
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justice gets it. My son was taken from me. I tried to save
him...help him save himself. And now he's gone. And
let me tell you what I want now, Henry... I want to live.
And if living means letting this end, letting the people
out there think that someone is taking the fall, I can't
say that's an ending I dislike."
"You must know, though," I said. "You have to know
who killed your son."
"I don't know for certain," Helen said. "After James
and I had our...talk...he left for the airport. He put the
gun back down. We both knew I wasn't going to use it.
And I knew that was the last time I would ever see your
father."
"Then what did you do?" I asked.
"Then I went out. I needed a drink. Needed to smoke.
James didn't have that much money, only a few
thousand dollars. I didn't know what was going to
happen with Stephen. He was so scared, so afraid."
"So your choice then was to go out rather than see
him."
"That's right. I did. I had to calm my nerves. I just
needed something to get me by. And I thought if I could
relax, I could figure out just how we were going to get
out of the city. I must have been gone for, I don't know,
two hours or so. When I came back to the apartment, I
walked in and saw him...Stephen...facedown on the
floor. Blood everywhere. And I just started screaming."
"And you felt you were in danger."
"I knew I was," Helen said. "Whoever killed him did
it because they thought he knew something he wasn't
supposed to. And if he knew, then chances were I would
too. I left that night, before the cops ever came. And I
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remember the street, the quiet, the neighbors who didn't
even know what had just gone on. I went right to BethAnn's apartment, and we went up to the lake. I had no
idea they would find us there."
"So you didn't see who killed Stephen," I said.
"No. Just the people on the street. Neighbors,
people I'd seen around before..." Helen trailed off,
looked at Clarence.
"What is it, Mom?" he said.
"One man," Helen said. "There was one man
standing on the street, staring at me as I left the apart
ment. He was just there, standing by a lamppost, and I
could have sworn he was crying. And honest to God, I
think that boy looked at me and said..."
"Said what?" I asked.
"Said he was sorry. And all I could think to do was
run."
"I don't understand," I said. "Why didn't you call
anyone? The cops? Someone?"
"Stephen told me a long time ago not to trust anyone
in this city. He said the people he knew, the people he
worked for, if they thought you might hurt them they
would hurt you first, and hurt you worse than you could
ever do to them. When he came home that night, scared
out of his mind, he told me our only option was to run.
That if we told anybody, we would be in