I turned and made my way back to my truck. It was a nice crisp March day and I could have ridden my bike, but I hadn't wanted to crush the flowers. As I walked back through the rows of graves, I saw a woman in front of a grave across the cemetery. It appeared that I wasn't the only one who was visiting a loved one they had lost. The woman was kneeling and running her hand back and forth on the headstone, across what I would guess was a name.
It's fucking sad when our loved ones die too early. It rips hearts wide open with a wound that never truly heals.
~*~
Ava
I glanced around the cemetery as I made my way toward Brian and Mason's graves. I haven't been back since the day they died. I had run for my life instead, just like Brian had told me to do. But now, I am back. No more running.
Across the graveyard on the far side of the cemetery, I saw a man who appeared to be totally engrossed in talking to the headstone in front of him. He was the only one other than me here. As I stared hard at him, I paused. Something about him seemed so familiar. I shook my head, clearing my thoughts, there was no way I could know who he was.
No one knew I was back in town. Hell, no one even knew what had happened to me. I didn't even know if anyone I knew still lived here. I prayed I didn't run into anyone who knew me. I needed the anonymity of hiding in plain sight. I had virtually vanished for the past seven years. During that time, I had totally changed my appearance and pretty much who I was as a person. I was no longer the sweet kindergarten teacher who was married with a young son.
Now, I was a tattooed bartender who rode a Harley and didn't take shit off anyone. I also carried two pistols. One holstered on my waist, the other holstered around my ankle where the pants leg of my jeans could hide it. I didn't go anywhere that I wasn't carrying. Anywhere. And if I was told I couldn't take a weapon into an establishment, I didn't go in. It was that simple.
As I stopped in front of my husband and son's graves, emotion threatened to overwhelm me. I knew it would be hard coming back, but oh god, I hadn't realized it would be this hard. I had finally accepted their deaths; it had been fucking hard as hell to do. But somehow, I had done it.
“Hey, Bri. I know you told me to run and never come back, but I can't keep running. Our conversation we had during our ride has played over and over in my head the last seven years.”
“Brian, I know something’s bothering you. Please tell me what's wrong,” I said to my husband as I stared at him, ignoring the scenery passing us by.
He sighed deeply, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. I could see the struggle on his face, as if he was contemplating not telling me what was wrong.
“Bri, if this is something that affects us as a family, I want to know what it is.”
He shook his head and sighed again, “Ava, I overheard something at work which I wasn't meant to hear.”
“Are they letting you go from the firm?”
“No babe, nothing like that. Last Wednesday when I worked late, I had gone to Mr. Jerik's office to put some documents on his desk that he had asked me to have ready for him the next morning. When I stepped back into the hallway, I overheard Mr. Miller on the phone. He was talking about a shipment of drugs that was supposed to be coming in. At first, I thought I had heard wrong, but then he verified the number of kilos of meth that was coming in to be distributed. I thought I had been quiet when I went back to my office, but now I'm pretty sure he heard me.”
“Oh my God, he's dealing drugs? How many kilos? Why do you think he heard you?”
“Well, I don't work with Mr. Miller at all. Yet every day since then, he has called me to his office under one pretense or another. He's asked stupid shit about Mr. Jerik's case. It's like he's trying to see how I am going to react to being around him or something.”
“How have you reacted?”
“I'm not gonna lie, Ava. I've been nervous as hell around him. I've tried not to show it, but I'm sure he can tell it.”
“How many kilos did he say, Brian?”
“He verified ten kilos with the promise of doubling that on the next order. Ten kilos are worth like ten million dollars, Ava. We're talking serious money here.”
“Oh, god. What are we going to do? You can't keep working there, Brian.”
“If I leave now, Ava, he will know for sure I overheard him talking.”
“So, what are we going to do?”
“I don't know, babe. I have been racking my brain and I honestly don't know what to do.”
“Could you go to Mr. Jerik?”
“Yeah, babe. I could. The only problem is I truthfully don't know who I can trust.”
“You don't think you can trust one of the senior attorneys and owner of the law firm?”
“Babe, if you'd have asked me before last Wednesday, I would have said all the lawyers who worked in the firm were trustworthy people. Now, I don't know who I can trust.”
“You've got to go to the police,” I told Brian. I was wringing my hands, worried deeply about the safety of my husband.
“I've got to think long and hard on this, Ava. I have to know that the person I take this to isn't someone who is dirty. I can't chance you or Mason being put into danger.”
“That conversation is the reason you and Mason are dead,
