Alex called in sick to work. She still had the lingering sense that some of the semen of the men in the theatre was covering her. Every time Mike looked at her, she winced, feeling guilty for not telling him about the blackmailer. She feared what it would do to him, and her family was the only thing that this treatment was worth. Alex would wait until Mike had headed in to the hospital before leaving bed. She added a bit of liquor to her coffee that morning. There was a nagging sense that something was going to happen today.
Alex decided not to wait for it. It was time she took the initiative. The day would be sent running from one errand to another, as she sought to eliminate the threat of the blackmailer from her life. Everything she could do to keep him from contacting her again was done that day. Alex figured that if she was simply making his job harder, than the chance he would leave her alone would get to be better. At one, the security company arrived at her house and installed the security system. At two, the electrician showed up to install flood lights at all the peaks of her house. Once the workers and technicians were gone, Alex curled into the arm of the sofa, a hot cup of tea in her hand. In the pocket of her bathrobe sat the first purchase of the day- an unregistered .22 caliber two shot pistol.
Sometime, somewhere, Alex's mind had latched on to the idea that the only way to stop the blackmail was to kill him. She tried avoiding the idea, but one second in sixty, it would creep back into her head. The stiff cold barrel pressed through the material into her thigh, reassuring her that she would never hear from the blackmailer again, and if she did, she would be ready.
The alarm would blare noisily from the hallway hours later. Alex had fallen asleep on the couch, and she jumped from her seat, her hand already diving into the pocket of the bathrobe. As she ran toward the door, she heard Mike's voice yelling. Her hand immediately released the little pistol as she pushed past him to hammer in the security code to turn off the alarm.
Mike was less than happy with her for the alarm system. He yelled for a while, until she broke down crying and lied, telling him that some guy had tried getting in through the back door of the house that morning after everyone had left. Immediately the angry man calmed, guilt filling him, for mistreating his wife after such a trying morning. Crime rates had been on the rise all over the country and he had contemplated buying a security system. Mike would hold his wife in the entryway, his arms keeping her pinned against his strong chest. Over and over he would apologize again and again, hoping that she would forgive his quick rush to judgment. His feelings of guilt only magnified as Alex profusely apologized to him for the installation and not informing him. He was the one who had overreacted and not been there when she needed him. He would retire to his study, chewing himself out for the rest of the evening.
Alex also retired. Her guilt was multiplied by the fact that Mike was feeling guilty. She had no idea how she could make this up to him and so she went to bed early, yelling into the emptiness of the house that she was still not feeling well and wanted to sleep. It would take her hours to fall asleep, memories of the past few weeks chasing through her head, and thoughts about the last days occurrences eating away at her. She did not move when she felt Mike slide into bed beside her. Her conscience was nearing breaking point as she watched the digital colon on her alarm clock flash over and over again. Eventually exhaustion would win out, and Alex would slip into the warm embrace of sleep.
As days went by, peace and quiet began to reappear in Alex's life. She and her husband were beginning to be able to approach and converse semi-normally again. Both of them harbored their feelings of guilt and it was the only barrier existing between them. Day after day would slip by, with no new contact from the blackmailer, until Alex was sure that her extra measures had proved effective. Once again, the blackmailer would prove her wrong.
Mike had been called in late on Friday night because of an allergic reaction one of his patients had to a medication. He did not expect to be home till Saturday afternoon. Even if the girl recovered, which was likely, there would need to be a lot of explaining on his part about how and why he had prescribed that particular med. If his explanation was good enough, there would be no lawsuit. If it was bad, the parents would seek to profit from the uncontrollable circumstance. It was one of the many stresses of being a physician and a pediatrician.
Alex had slept in till late in the day. When she finally did wake, she took some time to savor the warmth beneath her sheets. Stretching, she would push herself from bed and pad naked down the hall to the bathroom. She enjoyed being alone in the house on occasion and the complete freedom that it allowed her. That feeling of freedom collapsed around her as she saw the manila envelope sitting in the frame of the mirror. All of the repressed feelings of fear, guilt, nervousness, and helplessness came rushing back to her in that simple orange piece of folded paper. This note was longer than the rest and more taunting. He had wanted her to feel safe and then he had wanted to take it away from her.