Suspicion - a Sequel

CHAPTER 1

This is a sequel to Whiteone_Redones story Suspicion. That story needs to be read in order to understand this sequel. Whiteone_Redones invited readers to submit their own ending of his story. This is mine. I cannot hope to write as well as he, but everybody's got to try at sometime!

Kathy sat on the Patio and reflected lazily on her life. She felt the greatest sorrow about the ending of her marriage to Paul. He was a good man, and she had loved him dearly, yet she had also loved Karl since they were at High school together. She was convinced that Karl and she would have been together for all their lives had his family not moved to Germany. They had lost touch despite her constant letters to him. When Paul came into her life he earned his place in her heart with his kindness and constancy. When she was twenty-three and Paul twenty-four they married, and her happiness was complete three years later with the birth of first Jason and then two years after that, Christi, their daughter. Paul had a good job, and when the children were old enough she managed to get a top-management position. They both earned well and life was good.

Then Karl re-entered her life. Applying for a tendering position with her company, it fell to Kathy to interview him. Seeing his name, Karl Gerring, on the application shocked Kathy to the core, he did not know who he would meet until he entered her office. There was so much to catch up on, and they met for coffee, and then lunches. The sweetness of tender High school Love overcame them both, and with the need to complete the relationship that they had been unable to enjoy then, they became Lovers.

Paul found out, as spouses do, and Kathy had told Paul everything when confronted and asked if she could enjoy both their loves. With retrospect her logic screams at her, did she ever expect Paul to agree to share her? But logic was not a function she could employ at that time of romantic bliss. Paul divorced her in a 'No Fault' action. Later she married Karl, and bore him a Son, they called Andrew. That was five years ago, and those were five years of happiness, only marred by the sense of bereavement she still carried for Paul.

The Sun was warm, and she casually flicked through Cosmo. Karl was away on business for ten days, and she had taken a couple of vacations days to look after their Son. But Evelyn, her sister had called and asked if she could take Andrew, back to where she lived with Todd, her husband. Kathy's daughter Christi was staying with her, and she adored Andrew. As it would give all her children pleasure Kathy agreed. Since the divorce she had visitation rights with Christi and Jason, but they had tailed off. Christi was still pleased to see her, but she suspected that Jason used college as an excuse to keep contact at a minimum. So she had two days of relaxation, working out at the gym and no interruptions. She believed.

Her reverie was interrupted by the Door Bell. She walked through the Family room and into the reception, looking through the big glass panel as she did. At the door was a mature Lady, there was a slight smile on her face. A car was on the drive, and a younger woman was sitting in the Drivers seat. Kathy felt a distant memory of the face, but she couldn't place it. She opened the Door.

'Can I help you?' Kathy enquired politely. The woman's smile became wider. And she opened her arms to Kathy, who stepped back to avoid an embrace. 'Good Heavens,' she thought. 'the woman wants to embrace me.' The woman dropped her arms, but kept the smile.

'You don't remember me, do you?'

'Should I remember you?'

''Well it was years ago, and I have aged a lot more than you, Kathy. I am Anita Gerring, Karl's mother.' Kathy dropped to the floor in a dead faint.

She came to, on her sofa in the Family room. Both ladies were fussing over her, the younger one with a glass of water, and the older one patting her wrist. She was apologising profusely

'I knew I should have rung you, I knew, I knew. Oh dear, what must you think of me, please forgive me.' Kathy struggled to bring her thoughts into line. This woman claimed to be Karl's mother.

'You can't be Karl's mother!'

'Why not?'

'Karl's mother is dead!'

'Who told you that?'

'Karl did.'

'Well I can assure you that I am most certainly alive. Why he would say such a thing I don't know, but I suspect I can come up with a reason, but look at me closely, Kathy. I know it was over twenty years ago, but surely you can recognise me.'

Kathy did look closely, and gradually those little signs that lead to recognition combined to place the face. She nodded her head happily and sadly. She was pleased to see Anita Gerring, but disturbed that Karl would lie to her. She turned her attention to the younger lady, expecting that it would be Karl's sister, who she had never met, and about whom Karl rarely spoke. She tried to cull the name from her memory. It came to her.

'I assume that you are Jennifer.'

'No I am Samantha, Samantha Gerring, Karl's wife.' Kathy almost fainted again.

'Would you repeat that please?'

'I'm Samantha, Karl's wife.' Kathy unsteadily got up from the Sofa, and walked towards the big windows leading out onto the Patio. She turned and smiled icily at this woman.

'No, I am sorry but you are mistaken. I am Karl's wife. Kathy Gerring, Karl's wife.'

Anita looked at Kathy.

'Don't you mean partner? You can't have married Karl.'

'We married five years ago.' The look on both Anita's and Samantha's faces was troubled now. Samantha approached Kathy and took her hand.

'Kathy, I have been married to Karl for nine years. I was his second wife. He left me six years, and I haven't heard from him since. We never divorced.'

'Second wife?'

'Yes. Andrea, his first wife divorced him. I only found out recently that he beat her to a pulp, when she told him she was leaving him. He threatened me on more than one occasion, I counted it a good break when he left.'

Kathy shook her head.

'No! No you are making this up.' The look on Samantha's face told her that this wasn't a lie. She turned to Anita, who had a look of absolute sympathy for Kathy.

'Kathy, Karl is ill. Not physically, but mentally. A doctor could only give me a rough idea, as Karl would never submit to an Psychiatric examination. He has a horror of mental illness. The Doctor suspected that Karl was Paranoid, a violent paranoid. He ran away from Germany after his Father died, and I became ill. It was a simple case of Clinical Depression, but he called it insanity, and threatened to kill me if I had passed it on to him. I suspect that's why he told you I was dead. As far as he was concerned being insane is as good as dead. Kathy, we have come here to warn you.'

'Warn me?' Samantha reached into her bag, and pulled out a sheaf of papers.

'I think you should read this.' She handed the papers to Kathy, who immediately recognised Karl's handwriting.

There was a lot of rambling sentences, that didn't seem to connect with one another, but some stood out, as if he had clarified his thoughts, and could make them in to a sense. They seem to have been written over a few years. One early on stood out.

That bitch of a mother, she has the audacity to claim to be my mother, but she is sick, sick, sick. How can she be my mother when she is Mad. As far as I am concerned she cannot be my mother, I cannot possibly inherit her insanity. I deny her!

Kathy turned over the page, and then another sentence jumped to her eyes.

I know that slut of a wife, Andrea is cheating on me. But she is damned clever, I looked hard but I could never catch her. Even the P.I. I got couldn't find anything. He was useless. Bloody nerve, threatened to sue me when I wouldn't pay him. I told him, do the job and you will get paid. Still I got even with the Slut. I thoroughly enjoyed punching and kicking her. It was a lovely sound when my fist smashed her Jaw.

Kathy was getting concerned now. Then she saw her name.

I know where Kathy is. I have searched for years to find her, and now I know where she is. She's married, but that doesn't matter, I'll get her. If her husband doesn't like it I will give him a kicking, that should do the trick. Kathy will be with me. I know she loves me, she will always love me. If she can't see the sense in that, I shall have to kill her. She's mine, always has been and always will. If not with me, then there will never be anyone. I'll see to that.

Kathy read this last sentence twice and looked up at Anita and Samantha. This was Karl's handwriting without doubt, and her beloved childhood sweetheart and husband had vowed to kill her.

'If all this is true, why have you waited so long to get in touch with me?' Anita answered.

'Karl has always been secretive. When you wrote to tell him that it was all over between you, I didn't know for months.'

'Pardon!' Kathy could not believe that his mother had said that.

'I never sent such a letter. I was writing every week, despite the fact that he rarely replied. In the last letter I got he expressed his undying Love for me, and that we would be together one day. I never heard from him again. When a letter I sent was returned 'addressee unknown' I took that as a sign that we were finished. But I never wrote to tell him that it was all over, never!'

'Oh dear, Kathy. That's Karl all over. He doesn't say anything, and when he does he twists it so that it is other people doing him harm. He covers his trail, moves and doesn't let anyone know where he is.' Kathy started to understand what she was saying. When she started her affair with him, Karl had magnanimously agreed to share Kathy with Paul. 'As long as I get some time with you Kathy, my Love, that's will content me.' When Paul had understandably refused, Karl took the opportunity of subtly twisting his words. 'See he can't love you as much as I.' Anita was still speaking.

'It took us months to find you. Samantha got in touch with me, just after she found those papers, she managed to contact Jennifer, and through her got in touch with me. I had never met Samantha, although I did know of her existence. Not from Karl I might say. So together we started to track you down. We eventually got your location from the Crestview High School directory, it was simple, but we didn't think of it at first. I suspect that Karl did it the same way.' Samantha then asked a odd question.

'Tell me Kathy, you don't have a home computer do you?'

'No, why do you ask?'

'Let me guess. When the subject was raised, Karl was so against the idea, vehemently so, that you dropped it.'

'Yes. That exactly it. How do you know that?'

'Andrea had one, and Karl, threw it out. I had one and Karl hated it when I used it. I opened an email one day which looked as if it came from a friend. Instead it contained a Virus which completely destroyed the Hard Drive. I never bothered to replace the computer. I can't prove it but I suspect that Karl organised for that email to be sent.'

'Yes he was so adamant that we didn't need one of those things in the house, that I just went along with it. I could never understand why.' Samantha leaned forward.

'So you could never access any of those sites where school friends could link up. He didn't want anyone knowing where he was, and with whom.'

'That's silly. I have a computer at work, with internet access.'

'Yes, but I bet you can't use without all traffic going through the IT dept. Would you not get questions if you used it for personal stuff, you know that Corporations get antsy with that.' Kathy nodded. Everything Anita and Samantha were saying had been placing bricks in odd places, suddenly she saw that the bricks were making a wall, and a little tremor of fear ran through her. This wasn't just a misunderstanding to sort out, this was starting to look serious. Kathy didn't know what to do.

'Look I need some time to think this through. Karl's away on business, and won't be back for eight days. Are you staying in Gilmore?'

'Yes. We are at the Marriot.' Samantha replied. Kathy nodded.

'Ok, can I phone you there in a couple of days?'

That night Kathy didn't sleep at all. She was up wandering around the house at four, drinking coffee after coffee, and going over all she had learnt. It wasn't just what Anita and Samantha had said, she could now add to that information lots of other little things that Karl had said and done. Just shortly after they were married, he approached her about making KG construction the preferred sub-contractor for all of Cablenex needs. Kathy recoiled in horror.

'I can't do that, it's a conflict of interest.' That started a really big row, their first, as Karl just would not understand that it would affect Kathy's position. After Andrew was born he argued vehemently when she wanted to return to work, as his son should have a full-time mother, later despite his professed feelings about Andrew, he hardly took any notice of the child. Before Andrew was born they enjoyed a good sex life, now sex was infrequent and usually it was she who made the approach. Karl was now taking far more business trips that he ever had. In themselves, these could be classed as insignificant, but added to all the new information, they became very significant, and alarming. Her state of mind was turmoil and bleak despair. 'Oh God! What have I done? What have I done? To Paul, to Jason, Christi and Evelyn.

CHAPTER 2

Paul was just leaving to go to work, it was seven-thirty, and just as he opened the door, Evelyn turned up 'Good Morning Evelyn, I was just getting off to work.'

'Oh thank God I caught you in time.' cried Evelyn. ' I have to leave Christi and Andrew at home. Todd's away, so I wondered if you could call round from time to time, make sure they are ok. I am worried about Kathy.'

'Worried about Kathy/ Why?'

'She's not answering the phone. I know she's there, I saw her yesterday. Karl's away on business, won't be back until next week. She's supposed to come and pick up Andrew today.'

'Oh come on Evelyn. You know Kathy. If she said she was coming today she will come today at eleven o' clock, as she always does.' Evelyn shook her head.

'Yes, but we always speak to each other at this time to confirm.' Evelyn was evidently worried. 'I want to go over to see her, make sure she alright.' Paul gave this some thought.

'Yes, I can work from home today, so I'll call round a couple of times. Give me a call, when you get back though.' Evelyn hurried off. Unusual thought Paul. Evelyn was normally the most level-headed of people, the sort of woman that could cope with all of life's problems. He phoned in and told them he would be working at home today, took the luxury of another cup of coffee, and settled down with his lap-top. Right he thought, the new Rosters would be sorted today.

At eight-thirty his phone rang.

'Paul? It's Evelyn. Look Kathy has collapsed, the Paramedics have just got her into the ambulance and I am going to follow down to Mercy Hospital.' Paul heart stopped for a moment, then his brain kicked in.

'I'll go and get Christi and Andrew straight away, and meet you down there. You can tell me everything when we get there.' He rang off.

It took him forty minutes to get to Mercy Hospital, the rush hour traffic was at its worst. He fretted all the way, his churning stomach telling him that his Love for Kathy had never faltered. Christi and Andrew chatted animatedly all the time. He had seen Andrew a few times before, so wasn't a stranger. He had always acted kindly towards him, reasoning that the boy was innocent of the problems. But their chattering was getting on his nerves. For a moment he almost shouted at them to shut up, but realised that Christi was making the running to keep Andrew occupied. He smiled at her in the rear-view mirror, saying a mental 'thank you'. He parked at Mercy, and asked Christi to hang on with Andrew for a bit. He got some sweets from the vending machine just inside the entrance, and gave them to the little boy.

'I'll let you know what's happening as soon as.' He told Christi.

He went to the R.& E. reception desk.

'I believe you have an admittance, a Mrs. Kathy Ma..sorry a Mrs. Kathy Gerring.' The girl checked her screen.

'Yes Sir, she's in number six. Are you a relative?'

'Ex-husband. Our daughter is in the car. I just wanted to know what the situation is so I can let her know.'

'Ok Sir. Just go down the corridor to the right, and you will find a waiting area. The Doctor will be able to tell you more.'

'Thanks.' Paul hurried off, and found Evelyn sitting on a chair.

'Where's Christi and Andrew?'

'They are in the car. I didn't think it good to bring a five year old in here.'

'No, you are right.'

'So tell me. What has happened?'

'I don't know fully. I found her lying on the floor in the kitchen. She looked terrible, she had obviously not been to bed last night, and her face and eyes were puffy from tears. I couldn't get her to wake up so I called 911. Paul! There were three open bottles of Paracetemol on the floor next to her! For God's sake, what has she done?' Paul knew that he would have to be the unflappable one now.

'Now don't go jumping to conclusions, it could be a mistake.'

'Paul! Three bottles of pain-killers is not a mistake.'

'You don't know that, perhaps some were empty anyway.'

'I hate to remind you Paul, but you know Kathy as well as anyone. She was very particular about empty drug bottles, she always threw them away.'

'I know,' said Paul, 'but I have to believe it was a mistake or I shall fall to pieces.' Evelyn looked at him with sympathy in her eyes.

'After all this time, after all that has happened, and you still Love her.' Paul nodded.

'Kathy doesn't know a good man when she had one.' Paul wanted out of this conversation.

'Do you want a coffee? There's a machine down the hall, I expect it's disgusting stuff, but it will be the right colour, and relatively warm.' Evelyn said yes.

They sat and drank their coffee in silence. Half an hour stretched to an hour. They watched the medics go into the cubicle and come out. Almost every time they were viewed by the staff in that pitying manner that seems to go with the job. Eventually a Doctor came over and sat down.

'Mrs. Hunter?' Evelyn confirmed her name. Then the Doctor looked at Paul.

'I am Doctor Reynolds.' He looked at Paul. 'And you are?'

'Paul Matthews. I am Mrs. Gerrings ex-husband.'

'Well I am sorry, but I cannot discuss my patient whilst you are here.' Paul went to get up.

'No.' Cried Evelyn. Mr. Matthews is here at my invitation, and he has their children in his car. As he will have to tell them what is happening, at least he should hear it at first hand.' Evelyn cleverly forgot to mention that one of the children was not of his siring. The Doctor gave that some thought.

'Do you know where Mr. Gerring can be contacted?'

'He's away on business, and I do not have his cell number.' Doctor Reynolds gave that some thought and seemed to come to a decision.

'Very well. Mrs. Gerring is in a very bad way. She has ingested a large quantity of Paracetemol. We have flushed her stomach and we were happy to see that quite a number of tablets had not yet been digested. She is on a drip to get as much fluid into her as possible. It is very possible that her Kidneys have been damaged, but we won't know that for twenty four hours or so, but in the meantime we are administering Drugs that should help to keep them functioning. We are monitoring fluid intake and output, and she will shortly be moved to ICU.'

'Is it too early to give a prognosis?' Paul asked.

'Well on the Kidneys, yes. We have saved her life, if that's what you are asking, although if her kidneys fail, she will be on dialysis three times a week for the rest of her life. We are doing everything that is possible.'