No Body, No Crime

PART EIGHT :: You Had to Kill Me but it Killed You Just the Same

 Nearly two years later, I hurried home from work, eager to see my family. Our family had grown into Robin and me, our two-year-old Inez, twins James and Dorothea, who were nearly a year old, another girl on the way, who would be called Betty, and our old calico cat, whom Inez had insisted be called Benjamin Buttons. I'd taken a different job as a secretary at a local law firm, giving me ideal hours. I'd finally settled into a healthy life in my community, and the drama with Este seemed to be fairly resolved. Things were looking up indeed.

I opened the door with a squeak. "I'm home!" I called out. Usually, my three kids and husband would come rushing to the door to greet me, but this time, the lonely yowl of Benjamin Buttons met me.

I noticed a paper on the dining room table, so I picked it up, assuming it was merely to let me know that Robin and the kids had gone to the grocery store or something like that.

Marj,

Kids are at Betty's. Date night? Meet me at the duck pond by the dairy queen.

XOX, Robin

Hindsight would've pointed out the slight discrepancies in the note versus Robin's handwriting. Robin would never close the bottom of his "g" in a loop, and the "e" was too angular. But I was excited, so I hopped back in my car and drove to the duck pond.

It was dark by the time I got there, so I just walked the familiar path that I could barely see with the moonlight to the small flat part, right by the water's edge, where we sometimes took the kids to throw bread at the ducks. I saw a dark figure and assumed it was Robin, so I called out to it.

"Robin?"

I heard a low laugh, and my blood practically froze in my veins. I'd listened to enough voicemails and seen enough video clips to recognize that voice anywhere, any time. I called out again but with a different name on my lips this time.

"Este?"

It was dark, but I could feel her smirk radiating toward me. "Took you long enough to get here. How's that new law firm working out for you?"

I paled. "Este, where's my husband and kids?"

"Oh, your kids are safe at that old lady's house- what's her name again? Beatrice? And I think you mean my husband."

A glow emitted from her hand- a flashlight- and I saw Robin tied to a tree with duct tape over his mouth.

I stared in shock. "Este, this is downright psychopathic behavior. What's going on with you?"

She tilted her head. "Well, I wasn't exactly thrilled to hear that my husband had been cheating on me with a girl like you. But what's better than killing him? Framing him and then coming back and killing him and his mistress. It's funny- I used to cry over you, but now you'll be crying over me. Funny. Look at how my tears ricochet."

"Este, you're insane. I get it if you two want to attend couples counseling or something like that. But Este, this is too extremist."

"No, this is exactly what both of you deserve for ruining my life. I'll have to thank Bethel and Nat for confusing you enough to where you didn't see the obvious signs. Although I suppose I do owe you a thank you. I've learned something from you, Este. I didn't know that I could."

"Este, I don't know what you learned from me, but it wasn't that murder is a reasonable solution for marriage troubles."

"Oh no, you taught me something far more valuable than that. Why do you think I lead you here, of all places?"

I heard a quiet, yet somehow deafening, shing of metal as she pulled the slide, prepping the gun to be fir that paralyzed me right down to my toes. The moonlight glinted off some metallic thing in her hand- metal that Este now pointed towards me. My blood seemed to freeze again. I could recognize the shape of a Glock 17 in my sleep, and Este had been renowned in her community for being the best shot in town.

"If there's no body, there's no crime."