His first instinct was to lie. For her. He could still protect her then. Still be the person she turned to. He could coax her back to Toronto and take care of Luca and provide for her. The moment the truth slipped out, she would build a wall he might never be able to break. He would do it for her. Just one lie. One she might easily believe. Or he could change the story. Make it about Jem. Tony was going to kill Jem and… She would understand then. She often chided him on how he did not know what it was like to love. He could explain it to her. Easily. Instead…
“Tony had a knife to Jasper Forth’s neck, and I shot him.” He startled the tears from her and she sat stagnant, unmoving. “I killed him, Viola. It was me.” He slowly took his hand out of his pocket. It didn’t tremble anymore. It fell onto his lap limply, Tony’s blood still on it. “I pulled the trigger of his gun and fired.”
Viola fell back, horrified. “I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true, Viola.”
“Get out of my house.”
“And leave you here? With Luca? You have no one to support you, Viola. I hate that I… what happened, but you have to let me make this right for you.”
“You will never see me again. Or Luca.”
Ray reached into his pocket. “I will send you money, Vi. You’re hurt. You have every right. But you’ll see that… ”
She shoved the handful of bills away. “I would rather starve than take money from you. Be turned on the street. I will take nothing from you. You murdered my husband. You murdered your friend. You’re a murderer.”
Ray flinched. The words came slowly. “Viola, I know it’s hard for you to forgive what I… ”
“Forgive? I will never forgive you. Never. Nothing Tony ever did or could have done to me could ever hurt me as much as you have now. You will never see me or Luca again.” She slowly rose. “Please leave my home.”
“Viola… ”
“Get out!” she screamed, flinging her hand in the direction of the door.
At her raised voice, a rustle could be heard beyond the flimsy partition separating the living spaces. Viola didn’t seem to care.
“I will not just leave you, Viola.” He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to him and finally was able to look into her sorrowful eyes through the tears in his own. “I am all you have. You are my family. Be angry with me! But let me help you. I will not be able to live with myself if you are here starving. If Luca is here starving… ”
“And yet you can live with the fact that you killed a man?”
“Viola, we need each other. Please.”
“No. I don’t need you. I needed him. I needed a husband. Luca needed a father. You have taken away everything I needed. And nothing you can offer me will ever replace that.”
“We are family, Vi… ”
“I have a family. I have Luca.” She pointed toward the door again. “I have no brother. Leave my house.”
* * *
*About which much more anon, in another story.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The law is our central force. But it does not account for men acting upon their conscience. In these instances, empathy and the promise of a fair trial are as integral to your duty as the capture and imprisonment of a suspect.
Benfield Citrone and Jonathan Arnasson, Guide to the Canadian Wilderness
As they screeched into Toronto, Jasper wondered if the events of the last few days had all been something he dreamed. Things had happened so quickly. Reporters had found him out, and he answered them in perfunctory sentences and gave Merinda credit. She’d be the talk of Toronto, he was sure. Stopping an assassination attempt on the president, with a Mountie at that. That should help her detective business greatly. Ray had his own stories too. He hadn’t said two words to anyone on the journey home. Instead, he sat with knees folded to his chest scribbling in his notebook. He didn’t even look up at Jem, who spent the whole of the trip staring out the window, absentmindedly fingering the bandage at the back of her head.
Benny and Merinda spoke in whispered tones on a seat across the aisle. Sharing something Jasper would never be a part of. An experience he would never hope to understand.
Finally, after a painfully long night, the conductor called Toronto and they screeched into Union Station. Jasper watched Benny Citrone hoist his pack up on his shoulder and ask an attendant for the telephone.
“Citrone, come with me. Don’t pay those exorbitant fees. I’ll let you use the one at the station. I have paperwork to do anyway.” He smiled. “And a lot of explaining to do to Chief Tipton.”
Benny followed him with a grin.
“I am terribly sorry about Jonathan,” Jasper said as the taxi swerved in front of the station house. “This entire adventure hit too close to home for everyone.”
“I know Jonathan was sad about the death of that young Officer Jones,” Benny said in return as Jasper led him up the stairs to the station house. They stalled a moment. “You know that Jones died in the line of duty.”
“I do know that.” Jasper cleared his throat.
“And we are men of the law. An honor of and commitment to our duty is the grandest thing we have.”