Returning Injury

Returning Injury Read Free

Book: Returning Injury Read Free
Author: Becky Due
Ads: Link
still giggling.
    “That deep sea fishing boat was small and the diesel smell was awful. I’m hoping to lease a ninety-two foot or bigger with three or more crew. I’ve made a few calls. It should run about forty to forty-five a week plus dockage, fuel and food.” Jack started laughing. “We were both green, remember?”
    “How could I forget! I was so glad to be back on land after that experience.”
    Jack’s phone rang again, and Rebecca’s mind drifted back to memories of Roy.

    Roy ran.
    For just over one year, she heard nothing about him or his case. She only knew that there was a warrant for his arrest and she was scared every day. She feared he was watching her.
    Then Rebecca remembered coming home from work to find a white business envelope in her mailbox. She opened it as she climbed the stairs to her apartment. When she read State versus Roy Smythson, a wave of memories flooded over her and fear returned. She walked into her apartment and remembered everything as if it had happened just a few hours before. As her mind replayed the horror of that night, she began to cry. She didn’t want to go through it all again. She had moved, and moved on with her life. Time had passed. The pain had gone and most of her hearing had returned. Rebecca had put that night behind her. She didn’t want to go to court. She didn’t want to see Roy.
    A simple piece of paper with State versus Roy Smythson was rewinding her life to a place she didn’t want to be. Though that night would never be forgotten, it had been dealt with and gently put behind her. Roy had already had two hearings. His next would be November thirteenth, Friday the thirteenth. If he pled not guilty, Rebecca would be dragged into court, not unlike being dragged into her bedroom on that horrible night so many months ago.
    But before Rebecca could decide what to do, she had to return to the scene of the crime. She had to listen to her 9-1-1 call to remindher of what Roy had done to her soul. Seated in the Fort Collins courthouse in a private room with a tape recorder, she pressed play. What she heard horrified her. She sounded weak, wounded and beaten down. She sounded like a scared child, not a strong woman.
    She vowed she would never be that person again.
    That was when Rebecca knew she had to face this and follow it through to the end. She went to court on Friday the thirteenth. His lawyer was there, but Roy was a no-show. They issued another warrant, and Rebecca plunged back into her state of fear, not knowing if Roy would stalk her again or hurt her.
    Initially, Rebecca stayed very involved with the case. She wanted to fight for her rights and, in doing so, fight for the rights of all women and victims. She wanted to do the right thing and leave her mark along the way, not the dragging marks on the floor from a victim, but strong marks in the law for other women.
    But by the time the law caught up with Roy again, Rebecca was out of the loop. Too much time had passed, and Rebecca had changed. She had a future she was excited about that didn’t include dredging up her past. She didn’t go back to court and didn’t hear another word about Roy—until she and Jack were in New York a month ago.
    Jack and Rebecca were staying in a suite at the Four Seasons in Manhattan. Jack was there on business and Rebecca went along to visit her mother and meet with some clients and potential media contacts. The day before they headed home, Rebecca was in the bathroom when her cell phone rang. She was dancing around to hip-hop on the radio and drying off when Jack told her, “Somebody called you while you were in the shower.”
    “Who was it?”
    “I don’t know. I didn’t answer it.”
    “It was probably my mom,” she said as she started putting on her makeup.
    “It’s nice of her to take us out for lunch. What time will she be here?”
    “Around noon.” Rebecca headed to the living room to check her phone and Jack jumped into the shower. There was a message

Similar Books

The Architect

Brendan Connell

What the River Knows

Katherine Pritchett

The Broken Highlander

Laura Hunsaker

The Lost

Claire McGowan