Cheryl Tardif - Children of the Fog

Leah left without a word.

After she was gone, Sadie experienced a flash of regret.

Leah doesn’t deserve this.

Part of her wanted to apologize, beg forgiveness. But that would just make things worse in the end. Leah was never going to forgive her for what she was about to do.

She strode across the room to the closet, grabbed a couple of sweaters and added them to the suitcase. She had no idea where she was going, but she wanted to be prepared. In the ensuite bathroom, she rifled through the bottles in the medicine cabinet. She hit pay dirt. Three bottles of prescription muscle relaxants and sleep aids. At least a hundred pills.

She went downstairs, making a beeline for Philip’s office. The door was closed and she hesitated in front of it. There were two more things she needed. Both were on the other side of the door.

She stepped inside. Shutting the door behind her, she disregarded the mess and headed for the filing cabinet where she grabbed the last three bottles of Cabernet. She wrapped them in one of Philip’s t-shirts and stuffed them into a small duffel bag that Philip used when he went golfing.

She hurried to the closet.

The cedar box was still there.

“Ok, Sadie. Now what?”

She reached for the box. It was heavier than she expected, and her hands shook as she lifted the lid. They shook even more when she touched the frigid metal of the gun. She picked up the magazine and studied it. It held a single bullet.

“I hope to God you know what you’re doing.”

She stuffed the gun back into the box, placed it in the bag, then searched the closet shelf for more bullets. She came up empty. She looked in Philip’s desk, in the filing cabinet, in an old briefcase. Still nothing.

“Well, it’s not as if you need target practice,” she muttered. “How hard can it be? Point and shoot.”

She grabbed the duffel bag and made for the door.

The knob turned before she touched it.

Damn!

The door opened.

“Sadie!” Leah exclaimed. “I, uh…”

“What are you doing here? I thought you went home.”

Leah’s eyes flitted across the room. “I was going to, but… then I remembered I left a book here.”

Sadie frowned. “In Philip’s office?”

“Well, I thought maybe someone moved it in here. It’s not in the kitchen. Or the living room.”

“What’s it called? I’ll help you look for it.”

“Uh, don’t worry about it. Actually, I think I left it in my car.”

Sadie watched her friend, puzzled by her odd behavior.

Why was Leah here, in Philip’s office?

The answer washed over her with tsunami force, subsiding silently, then lashing back with a vengeance.

Damn them both!

Philip must have told Leah about his hidden stash of Cabernet. And since she’d already seen a bottle in Sadie’s bedroom, she’d come back to dispose of the others.

Leah said something in a low voice.

“Pardon?”

“I don’t know what to say anymore,” Leah said. “Or do.”

“No worries.”

“But I don’t want things to be like this between us. Just tell me what I can do to help and I’ll do it.”

“There’s nothing you can do.” Sadie turned to leave, but Leah’s arm shot out.

“Sadie, I…”

“What?”

The air dripped with tension.

“Nothing,” Leah said finally. “Forget it.”

As Sadie edged past her, the duffel bag bumped Leah’s legs.

“What’s in the bag?” her friend asked.

“Legal documents. Sorry, but I’m not in the mood to chat. I’m going to lie down for a bit. I’ll see you to the door first.”

“Fine,” Leah said with an audible sigh. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Sadie eyed the bag. “I’ve got everything I need.”

Just after six that evening, Philip called from prison.

“The house is sold,” she told him. “I said we’d be out by the end of the month.”

“No problem. I’ll call a moving company. Everything’s going into storage, including the furniture, right?”

Not everything.

She flicked a nervous look at the duffel bag. It sat on the table near the door. Ready, waiting.

“Yeah, put everything in storage,” she agreed.

“What about your things, Sadie?”

“I, uh, haven’t thought about where—”

“Just put it with my stuff. I don’t mind. That way you’ll have access to everything, in case either of us needs something.”

“Are you sure?”

“Hey, it’s not as if I’ll be needing it any time soon.”

Philip was right about that. He’d cut a deal and rolled over on his partner Morris, who had masterminded the embezzlement scam. With Philip’s cooperation and a plea of guilty, there was no need for a trial. His sentence had been reduced from twenty to ten years.

“So you’re going to stay with Leah for a few days?” he asked.

She lied. “Maybe a week or two.”

There was a long pause and when he finally spoke, his voice drooped. “Sadie?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you come visit me tomorrow?”

For a second, she considered his request. “No. I need some time… away. From you, from this house, from everything.”

“Fine.” He sighed. “I’m sorry, Sadie. For everything.”

“Me too.”

“It’s just that I got caught up with the wrong people. I know it changed me—changed us . Maybe with time we can be friends.”

“Look, Philip. I’m exhausted. I need to go to bed.”

“Where will you go after Leah’s?”

Nowhere, Philip. I’m going nowhere.

When she didn’t answer, he sighed. “Take care, okay?”

She eyed the duffle bag. “Yeah.”

Two days later, everything was set in place. She had managed to pack up their personal items on her own. Leah had offered, but Sadie declined. She didn’t want any witnesses to her crumbling life.

That morning, a moving truck pulled into the driveway. On both sides were the words, Two Small Men with Big Hearts . She had seen the trucks around town, and the name had always made her smile.

But not this time.

She showed the movers into the house, thankful that they’d pack up everything else. Exhausted, she flopped on the sofa.

“Let me know when you want me to move,” she said, stifling a yawn. “Mind if I turn the radio on?”

The younger of the two men grinned. “Not at all.”

She reached for the remote on the coffee table, turned on the stereo and searched for her favorite station, one she never got to listen to when Philip was around.

“Ah, 91.7 The Bounce,” the older man said.

“Unless you want me to change it to country.”

“No!” both men said in horror.

A smile flashed on her lips. Until she realized what she was doing. Berating herself for taking any pleasure in life, she watched as they packed away her entire existence.

And Sam’s.

The two men wrapped, boxed and covered all the symbolic items of her life—the dishes she’d received as a wedding gift, the new microwave Philip had bought her for Christmas, the crystal rose vase her mother had given her when Sadie had completed her first year of sobriety.

“It’s all going in storage?” the older man asked curiously.

She nodded.

Within a few hours, the movers were gone, along with a truckload of furniture and boxes. On the floor near the door, the suitcases and the duffle bag with the wine and gun box claimed their last stand in a vacant house that was once filled with joy, but now echoed tragedy.

It took her two trips to drag everything out to the garage. She started automatically toward the Mazda—until a silver gleam caught her eye.

Philip’s Mercedes.

“This is my car, Sadie,” he had insisted the day he’d bought it. “I’m the only one who drives it. Understand?”