The Missing Curtain

Eric was sitting in his office, looking at all the evidence. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. His mind wandered to his wedding day. To how Emily had smiled so brightly at him, like he’d offered her the sun, and how happy he’d been. Mike had been his best man and he still remembered the slightly crude jokes he’d made….

And then his mind inevitably went to that fucking cursed day two months ago. The police had called him to help investigate a murder. It had been a gruesome scene, really. Mike’s body had been mangled and covered in blood, his mouth open in a silent scream and his eyes unseeing, an expression of pure horror frozen on his face.  

And then, he’d come home to Emily who’s face had paled and the smile she’d had when he’d come home vanished. She’d then frowned and started asking questions. At first, he’d assumed that the lack of a reaction was due to shock, but then she looked more and more nervous as he discovered more leads. He knew that he wasn’t supposed to say the details of the case to her, that was the protocol, but Mike was their best friend and she deserved to know…. At least that was what he’d thought at the beginning. 

Now, when he came home she tensed and her lips formed a thin line, he knew that was probably normal due to the circumstances but the evidence….. He didn’t want to believe it. He really didn’t want to believe it, but at this point he was certain. She was too much of a nervous wreck. She was at a loss for words where she would usually be the first to respond and she would stumble and fall or drop objects by accident whenever he was around, she was jumpy, and panicked but tried to act as if nothing had happened. All the leads came back to her. She was the last person to see Mike and the finger prints found at Mark’s apartment were hers. There was no way Emily was innocent.  

They hadn’t brought her in for questioning as of yet. They wanted some more incriminatory leads before that. Usually he wouldn’t even be allowed on the case because he was the victim’s best friend and the current suspect’s husband, friends and family are always the first suspects, but seeing as his expertise is highly valued in the field, an exception had been made. He now regretted asking to be put on the case.  

He shook his head and started gathering his things into his briefcase, a dinosaur sticker in its corner due to his son, Ray. Eric didn’t have the heart to take it off, not when Ray had smiled at him with light in his eyes and proclaimed “Papa is part of the Dino League, now!”. Sure, his colleagues gave him hell with their teasing about it, but he would endure it, if only for that bright crooked smile Ray gave him whenever he saw it.  

As he left his office he frowned and bit the inside of his cheek. He had to finish this case quickly to get Emily away from his son. Don’t get him wrong, he loved Emily with all his heart, but he loved Ray just that little bit more, and he couldn’t allow him to be raised by a murderer.

 A dark look took over his face when he got home. The past few days had been… tense , to put it mildly. Emily was smart, it was one of the things he admired about her, so there was no doubt she’d already figured out that he was onto her. She was avoiding him, and when she couldn’t, she would either ignore him or start an argument over the littlest of things.  He sighed and opened the door.  Emily was sitting on the couch watching TV… or rather her eyes were on the TV but she didn’t appear to take in what was happening on the screen.

“I’m home!” At the sound of his voice she got startled and jumped away from the couch. When her eyes landed on him, she gaped a little and quickly looked at the clock.

“Oh… Welcome back?”

Eric raised an eyebrow. “…Yes? It’s 9 O’clock.” 

They both sat in silence for a few seconds. Neither knowing how or even wanting to continue the conversation

“I should go do the laundry” Said Emily as she quickly picked up a T-shirt that was laying on the couch and then quickly looked back at him.

“…You do that… Where’s Ray?”

“He’s upstairs. Probably playing with his dinosaurs.” She let out a nervous chuckle.

“..alright… I…. have to finish a report.. call me when dinner’s done?”

“Sure. Sure.”

As he walked upstairs he couldn’t help holding his breath as he felt Emily’s gaze on his back.

   ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

They’d done it. They finally had all the evidence needed. And while he had hoped that they would find anything, and he meant anything, that would’ve indicated that Emily was not the murderer, he couldn’t help but be relieved. His son was safe. 

As he watched the police walk Emily to the car, he couldn’t help but cringe at the act she put on. Big, fat tears were rolling down her cheeks and she looked absolutely distraught. And she only kept on repeating a mantra of “I didn’t do it! You’ve got the wrong person! I didn’t do it!”

He had stayed inside to make sure Ray didn’t see the scene. He was too young to understand what was happening and it was already hard for Eric to see the woman he had spent the last 10 years of his life with sobbing while handcuffed and being dragged away by policemen. He couldn’t handle seeing Ray crying after his mother.

She suddenly jerked violently trying to get free, a pitiful scream escaping her lungs. Emily’s eyes landed on his, and he straightened his back as he tried to remain calm while his son was in the same room. He flinched at the look of utter despair and betrayal his…. ex wife sent him. He just sent her a hateful one instead. His mind and heart were fighting. He loved Emily. the wedding ring that was now heavy on his finger was enough proof of that. But at the same time…

His eyes landed on Ray who was watching some children’s show on his tablet and his hand holding up the too big headphones that Emily had gotten him as a present last Christmas.

He clenched his teeth and took a steadying breath. She’s done this to herself. She is guilty. You know this. Get your shit together Eric. You’ve gotta be there for your son. You can’t lose yourself now.

Ray’s laughter at some joke the characters made brought him back to reality. He smiled as he watched his son. You have to be there for him.

………………………………………………………….......................................................

On the day of the trial he left Ray with a friend on a playdate. He had already asked about his mother and cried when she wasn’t there to tuck him in at night. In this period of time, Eric’s friends were a saving grace. They were there for him and took Ray in whenever Eric needed a moment to be alone with his thoughts or he needed to be at the police station for further questioning. Now that they were sure that Emily was the culprit, he wasn’t allowed on the case anymore. He guessed he should be thankful for the portion of time he’d been allowed though. The police kept it under wraps, as was the protocol, so if he hadn’t been on the case he wouldn’t have had the time to mentally prepare for the arrest.

Right now he was dressed in his nicest suit he had and he kept on clenching and unclenching his fists as he entered the court room he saw Emily sitting in the front, handcuffed with two policemen behind her. She kept looking around, her eyes jumping from one object to another. Then… her eyes landed on him. The change in her body language was clear as day. Her lips turned into a snarl and she looked at him with positive hatred. Dropped the act now, huh? Eric thought. This display of pure anger, probably because she knew he’d played a part in her getting caught, only cemented his belief of her being guilty further. He went to his seat and waited for the judge, trying to ignore the piercing gaze that was fixated on his profile.

Let’s see how much more you hate me when you get in jail.      

………………………………………………

Eric was in shock. Apparently, after they had taken him out of the case they’d managed to link Mike’s murder to a series of other murders. It didn’t help that the jury found her guilty. He froze as his eyes landed on the woman in pure disgust. He felt sick. How could he allow such a… a vile… creature to raise his son?!

A sick sense of satisfaction curled in his stomach as he heard she would be put on death row. See how you like a dose of your own medication.

A smirk crawled its way onto his face at the narrow eyes she gave him. And then suddenly she gave a huff of laughter. 

When she passed by him, a policeman on her left she looked unbothered as she whispered “Guess you’ve won,” followed by another chuckle. He frowned as he resisted the urge to yell at her. God knew causing a scene at… only asked for trouble.

He left the building and made his way home. Eric had a few hours until he had to pick Ray up and he used that time to think. The main question that remained unanswered in his head was a simple, yet complicated one. 

Why?

  Just one word. That was all. All he wanted to know was why would Emily do such a thing. Before, while the case had been underway, he hadn’t put much thought into it. After all, he’d had to figure out if Emily was guilty or not, but now… now that he knew that she had committed not only one but four-four!- murders he couldn’t help but ask himself what had happened to the woman that had given birth to his son.

And he intended to find out.

………………………………………………….

The day Emily was supposed to die, Eric made his way to the prison she was being held at an hour before her scheduled death. After a talk with the policemen and security he made his way to the zone where visitors could talk to the inmates.

And there she was her eyes red and her hair, usually kept in a neat bun, disheveled and sticking out in all directions.

He made his way over to her. God, just looking at her made him sick. His lip curled into an ugly snarl and he was about to open his mouth to demand answers, Eric’s mind a jumbled mess, not knowing exactly what he wanted to ask her but knowing that he wanted a reason.

“What? You came here to flaunt your victory over my head and still don’t know how to speak? Makes me wonder how you had the spine to do what you did, to put the blame on me when you can’t even do so much as talk!” She gave him the same look he came to expect from her in the last few times he’d seen her. Her fists were clenched and trembling, be it from anger of her being caught or fear of her upcoming punishment was anybody’s guess.

“What the fuck are you talking about? You’re the one that made your own bed, Emily, now lie in it.” It was barely above a whisper, his voice cold, but in the silence of the room it echoed.

They sat like that, in silence, each with their own thoughts. The silence was broken by Emily, the same huff of laughter as the one from the day of the trial escaping her lips. It sounded… broken. In a way he’d never thought he would hear Emily’s laughter sound like.

“So what do you want? You surely didn’t come all the way here just to stare at me.”

“I just want to know why you did it.”

She raised an eyebrow an amused smirk on her lips.

“My days are already coming to an end in… 15 minutes.” She said, quickly looking at the clock on the wall.

“Are you really trying to make me say I did something I didn’t on camera? Let me turn that question right around. We both know that it was you who did it. I won’t ask why you killed them. And we both know you had enough talent to blame anyone else. Why me? Did you really never loved me?”

Eric’s eyes widened. The door opened to make space for two policemen.

“Alright. Your time is done. I have to ask you to leave.”

One of them made a gesture towards the door while the other took Emily away.

“W-wait! I-”

“Sir. Please leave the room.”

His eyes went to Emily who simply smirked at him before exiting with the policeman the room.

And Eric ran. He ran to where he knew they would kill Emily. He took a left, then a right, then straight ahead, all the while ignoring the security guards and the policemen yelling at him to stop.

He got to the door and just about as he was about to enter a security guard stopped him.

“Sir! You have no right to enter that room!”

“But! Emily- She-”

“Sir, I understand that it’s a hard time for you, but you can’t interrupt the procedure!”

Just as he said that he caught a glimpse of Emily through the small window on the door. She was strapped to a chair, a machine checking her heartbeat while a doctor was looking at a syringe. He was about to protest again when the doctor pushed the needle through Emily’s arm and the machine let out one long beep.

A scream ripped its way out of Eric’s lungs as he fell to the floor sobbing.

 His fault. His fault. All his fault! Fuck!

……………………….

The therapist clicked her pen and took a look at her notes.

“Right. Mister Emerson. Where would you say your mental health problems started?”

“Oh. Please call me Ray! And as for when…. I’d say my mother’s death penalty which was shortly followed by my dad’s suicide”

“Would you mind telling me what happened?”

“Well… It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got all the time in the world, Ray.”