Immediately my blood went cold. The high I’d been on for the last twenty four hours faded just like that as I ran into the sitting room just inside the hallway leading to the main living area. My mother was on the floor, crying, her hand to her face. John was standing on top of her, yelling about how he does so much for her, the least she could do is make sure his friends are taken care of when they arrive announced.
“What the FUCK is this?” I yelled. John turned to look at me. Then he looked at my mother, whose eyes were also on me, filled with a sadness I’d never seen. Sadness at the fact that I had to see this, or sadness at what her husband was doing to her? I wasn’t sure.
Suddenly, he came at me.
“No!” I screamed, grabbing a book, the only thing I could think of, off the table. It wouldn’t do much as an attack weapon, but maybe I could defend myself with it.
Before I had a chance, there was a blur to my side. Jack came between myself and his father, and immediately pummelled him in the face. Blood splattered all over me as his father’s nose broke, howling with a cry so anguished I’d never heard anything like it.
“Pick on someone who can fight back next time, you fucking asshole,” Jack growled at his father as he began punching him.
His father fell to the floor, and Jack kicked him in the ribs, hard. I heard another crack. There was no way Jack was going to stop, he was going to beat his father to death if I let him.
“Jack, no, stop!” I begged, “Stop, for me, please Jack.”
That seemed to calm him down somewhat.
“Why? The man was going to hit you. I’m putting him down, the way we do to animals.”
John Alcott Sr. was lying on the floor, whimpering with pain. A pool of blood was already forming near his face, the crimson stain slowly growing.
“You’ll be charged with murder, Jack. We won’t be able to be together.” I took his hands in mind, looked at his face. “This is the right thing to do. We’ll call an ambulance, and the police. He’ll be arrested. He’ll face justice.”
“You’re the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me, you know?” Jack replied, taking out his phone. He dialled 999 and asked for an ambulance and the police to arrive.
My mother, meanwhile, was still sobbing on the floor. She hadn’t moved since the whole thing started.
Suddenly, John Alcott let out a loud groan. He clutched at his chest.
“Uggghhhhh,” he cried out.
“Is he having a heart attack?” I gasped.
“No! John, no!” my mom cried out suddenly, realizing her husband was in trouble.
Jack simply stared at his father, his expression like stone, as the father looked up at his son, his mouth forming noiseless words. I looked between the two, truly understanding the hatred Jack held for his father right in that moment.
“Go to hell,” Jack said, spitting on his father, then turning around and leaving the room.
Chapter Twenty Five
By the time the ambulance arrived, John Alcott Sr. was already dead. He had closed his eyes and breathed one final, raspy breath a few seconds after Jack left the room, and my mother was left sobbing over his body while I stood at the end of the room, still holding the book I was going to use to defend myself against him.
I looked at the title.
Crime and Punishment, by Tolstoy. How fitting.
I went over to my mother and took her into my arms. She was sobbing, she was a complete mess. Her face was bloodied, I saw bruising on her arms, and in that moment my heart melted for her. She was still grieving, still distressed about the man’s death, even after he had done that to her. How she must have loved him!
The ambulance showed up five minutes later. Jack led them into the room, where the body was waiting. They quickly realized there was nothing left to do, and left. As they were leaving the police arrived.
“No one told us there was a body, we have to call the coroner.”
“There was no body when I called,” Jack explained. “He was alive then.”
The next few hours passed by in a blur. The police separated all of us, questioned us about what happened. I knew I could have asked for a lawyer, but I wanted to tell the truth. They needed to know that this wasn’t Jack’s fault.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we were all taken back to the main foyer of the house.
“I don’t see a reason as to why Mr. Alcott Jr here should be taken into custody. There is enough corroboration that he was defending the ladies from an attacker, and that he suffered a heart attack. Mrs. Reeves is quite adamant that Mr. Alcott Jr. should be arrested, but quite frankly, we don’t see it that way. While Mr. Alcott did cause his father’s death, it was obviously in the defense of a third party. I will ask that you stay in the county, however, until the investigation is closed.”
“Thank you, detective inspector,” I told the man, having been corrected when I first called him “detective”.
When everyone finally left, the body had been taken away, and only the three of us were left in the house, it felt eerily silent. A man had died in this house today. I had seen his body.