The Broken Ones: Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven: We've All Lied

(Adam)

My plan to record Mark confessing royally backfired on my ass! I sat in my home, stunned over his revelation! "I didn't kill Johno...Sarah did!" FUCK!!!

It couldn't be true! Could it? No fucking way! I couldn't move from my spot on the couch, just staring down at my phone. I thought I'd finally cracked it, closure for everyone! Evidence for Jim, justice for Sarah, vindication for me and a jail cell for Mark Caldwell!

Nah, couldn't be that fucking easy could it? What the fuck was I gonna do with this? I had to think! I needed time to get my head around this, I loved Sarah! I FUCKING LOVED HER!!! God please don't let this be true...

(Sarah)

Mark wasn't answering his phone, he and Adam disappeared and I hadn't seen either of them since! That was over four hours ago! I'd tried Adam a few times too, and he wasn't answering either! I was so worried.

Mark was hot headed, but he wasn't violent...then again there was this one time with John a few years back...

NO! No Mark wasn't like that! I paced the floor for a while as Harley looked at me, concerned over his mum's weird behaviour. Like I was reverting back to my days of the grieving crazy widow.

I headed over to Adam's, I couldn't take it anymore. I knocked. I yelled ,"ADAM!". No answer! I tried the door and it swung open, I was worried he was injured or worse, so I ran into the house calling his name.

I checked every room, but he wasn't there. I spotted his phone on the table, which deeply concerned me. I stared at it for a very long time....

...then I grabbed it and saw it had a recording on it, I don't know why I did it, but I listened to it. Mark was talking about John, the things he was saying, horrible things about him and John...was he drunk??? Then I heard Adam accusing Mark of killing John. Back and forth and back and forth until...

"Look just hand yourself in, they'll maybe reduce your sentence..."

"Adam, Adam, Adam! I didn't kill Johno..."

"...Sarah did!"

(Adam)

I walked around San Myshuno, the last place that John Wallace had drawn breath. I felt awful, over a month ago I went to Brindleton Bay to hand myself in and confess to his widow that I killed him...

...only now, the widow's brother claimed it was her all along! I didn't buy it, I just didn't fucking buy it. Was I being blind? Because I loved her? Because the Sarah I knew couldn't possibly mow down her husband in cold blood? The Sarah I knew...

...did I actually know Sarah at all? FUCK! Mark had made me doubt her. He said that he saw a stolen red Nissan come at John at speed, and that the driver looked female. He said it must have been Sarah, she must have found out about him and John. The car hit John, sped away...

...and after that, Mark did his best to cover her tracks. The rest they say, is history. Only I could not believe it, how could Sarah be so...genuinely clueless about everything? She should have been a cop, not her brother, because her poker face was impeccable!

No Adam don't think like that, it's all fucking bullshit! My Sarah was not a killer! I stood outside the nightclub and wept, angry tears! Why was I angry? Was I angry that Sarah lied? Or was I angry that I believed Mark? God so many fucking questions, my head was spinning and I needed a drink!

Sitting inside the karaoke bar, drink in hand, I thought about all the times I was afraid to tell Sarah that I might have killed her husband. And all along...

...damn it! Could I be any more fucking hypocritical? I'd come to Brindleton Bay to tell her I was the one responsible, we all kept secrets! Didn't we? And God help me I loved her, I loved her more than I'd ever loved anyone! She was it for me, I saw a future with Sarah! I wanted to marry her, FUCK!

FUCK FUCK FUCK!!! "Adam?" Oh shit!

"Adam is that you? Where's Sarah?"

"We're not joined at the hip Una!"

"Who pissed in your cornflakes?"

"Sorry I..."

"Adam I wanted to say...I'm happy for you and Sarah but..."
"But what???" I snapped, and I saw her blink in surprise.
"...but that would be a lie!" She mumbled, and sat down beside me.

"She's good at playing the meek little mouse." Una spat, what the hell? Not her as well!
"Go away Una, I'm warning you!" I growled impatiently.
"And I am warning YOU!" She replied defiantly.

"Sarah isn't what she seems, and you should get the hell away before you end up just like John!" She was the second person to say that, or had she been the one all along? The one who sent me that text? I'd always believed it was Mark but...

...she stared me down for a few minutes before the tears welled up in her eyes. "I thought we might have something, you and me, but you chose her, everybody does! The night I met John, he only turned out to be her husband!" She laughed sadly.

"I mean, how does a little sparrow like her get all the men, tell me Adam, what's she got eh?" I shook my head, she was drunk and she was full of self pity, I had no time for her whatsoever.

"She has dignity and self worth Una, two things you know nothing about!" I slugged the last dregs of my drink and left her there. 

Whatever issues she had were not my problem, I had bigger troubles of my own.

(Sarah)
I waited for Adam at his cottage. I was totally stunned over what I'd heard come out of my brother's mouth. He was in love with John, they were having a relationship? This was all a huge nightmare and I was going to wake up at any moment...

...how could he? No, it didn't happen, I would have known! There is no way that my husband was sleeping with my brother, NO WAY!!!

Adam stood staring at me, I hadn't even heard him come in. We looked at each other for a long time, neither of us speaking. It was surreal, did he believe what Mark had said? Finally I found the courage to speak, "Adam..." He shook his head and raised his hand to silence me.

"This is a complete fucking mess!" He muttered, I had to tell him I'd listened to the recording, no more lies.
"Adam I..."
"Sarah I have to tell you..."
"I know, I heard it!" His eyes grew wide with surprise, "You left your phone." I defended myself feebly.

"Was my husband...gay?"
"I don't know, I don't know anything anymore!"
"I did not kill him, I don't know why Mark told you that..."
"Probably to take the heat off of himself for a while!" Adam interrupted me, but he couldn't look at me, and that hurt more than anything I'd discovered today.

"Adam you do believe me, don't you?" Silence, "Why is Mark saying all of this? John would never..." I trailed off, it just seemed absolutely ludicrous!
"Sarah where were you that night?" He was NOT asking me this, was he?
"At home, with Harley! And no I don't have an alibi, I doubt a German Shepherd would be a reliable witness!" I could barely conceal my bitter tone.

"Fuck, I'm sorry I...this is so messed up! We've all lied and..."
"I haven't!" I butted in, and it was true!
"Did you really not know that John and Mark had a thing?" Adam was disappointing me more and more every time he opened his mouth, and it was breaking my heart.
"How can you ask me these things? I've always told you the truth! Can you say the same?" I shot him an accusing look and he hung his head. Yes, I thought not!

"Mark thinks you killed him." Adam finally said, almost a whisper.
"And you?" I studied his face, it was hard to tell what he was thinking, he just looked...tired!
"Honestly?" He smiled sadly. Then he looked at me, "When I said I loved you, I meant it! And because I love you I don't want it to be true, I want to believe you! And I do, I've doubted Mark all along. He's threatened me, he's hit me, he's tried to manipulate me..."

"...and now he's throwing his own sister under the bus to save his own fucking arse!"
"Adam..." I whimpered, "...will you...will you just...hold me?" I felt hot tears roll down my face, I had lost everything! I couldn't lose Adam as well!

He took me into his arms and I felt the warmth of his body, it soothed me. Yes he had lied to me, he'd pretended to be someone he wasn't, and he believed he was my husband's killer. But none of that mattered right now, because my own brother had been having sex with my husband behind my back, maybe not when we were married but...we had shared the same man...and it made me feel sick!

"What are we going to do?" I asked him, and I felt him sigh against me.
"Well, I tell Jim Browning everything Mark told me. Unless he has covered his tracks spectacularly, there's bound to be something we can get him on." I hated Mark at that moment, but did I want him to go to prison? Did I believe he could kill John?

Adam patted my back gently and we fell apart, he swiped his phone off of the table and headed for the door. "Stay here, lock the door and don't answer it for anyone. Especially not Mark, got it?" I nodded mechanically as he looked me deeply in the eyes and added, "I love you Sarah, please remember that!"

I stood alone in Adam's house feeling numb, waiting for him to return, wondering what was going to happen next...and if I was going to survive any of it!

To Be Continued...

Previous Chapters:
The Broken Ones