Harm's Reach

41

The next morning, Ren tore herself away from the hot body of Ben Rader. She threw on a pair of shorts and a tank and went downstairs. She made a pot of coffee and sat at the dining-room table.

She dialed Terry Ragland’s number. She’d clearly been waiting by the phone.

‘Before we start, I just want to say I’m really embarrassed by all this,’ said Terry. ‘I mean... writing posts like that. Hiding behind the... anonymity.’

‘That’s OK,’ said Ren. ‘I’d just like to hear what you have to say about Jesse Coombes. Your posts about him are the only time you use “worriedmom” as your username...’

‘I don’t know how much detail you want,’ said Terry. ‘I’ll just tell you the story as I see it. The agent in Dallas said you were a nice person, easy to talk to.’

‘Well, I hope you think so too,’ said Ren.

‘To give you the short version first,’ she said. ‘Jesse Coombes beat the crap out of my son, pulled down his pants, took a photo on his cell phone and threatened to show it to everyone in school. And that’s not the weird part. That’s the most normal part of this whole story.’

Okaaay.

‘It boils down to this friendship between Jesse Coombes and a boy called Dominic Fisher,’ said Terry. ‘They both started high school the same year, they were both bullied — Dominic because he was, well... dirt poor, rough around the edges. He was one of the inner-city kids bussed in to the high school. He was into all kinds... breaking into places, stealing, and he had a thing for cars — he’d been hotwiring since he was eleven. Jesse Coombes, on the other hand — bad enough that he was a child evangelist, now his father’s just been caught in a sex scandal. So when Dominic joined the school, Jesse and him struck up this friendship, they both loved cars, they were both outcasts. Apparently, Dominic taught him all he knew. Rumor has it, there were more than a few times that Dominic took the blame when they were caught, even though Jesse was the one acting out. Jesse had made his family a lot of money and his parents felt so guilty about everything, they gave him access to it, so this kind of dazzled Dominic and probably made him easy to manipulate. He didn’t have a problem being associated with this family that was in the middle of a scandal. He didn’t seem to care what Howard Coombes was up to. But the Coombes parents very much cared what Dominic Fisher was up to and how that could affect their son. Now to where it gets weird: the Coombes organized this big huge party in their house for Jesse’s fourteenth birthday. You know — too amazing for the kids not to accept the invitation, my own son included. The Coombes invited Dominic too, because it would have been obvious otherwise, but he didn’t stay long — he got ill and had to go home—’

Was poisoned by daddy Coombes more likely...

‘I’m sure it was deliberate,’ said Terry. ‘The rest of the boys got to sleep over. My son came home on Sunday, went to bed, and woke me up in the middle of the night with stomach pains. He wouldn’t let me go near him. I’m a nurse — of course, I insisted. He was bruised all over. His body, though, not his face. He swore blind that he fell, that it was nothing. I told him I’d send the police to Jesse Coombes’ house if he wouldn’t tell me what happened. So he did. It still makes my skin crawl.’ She took in another deep breath.

‘Karl — that’s my son — said that he looked through Jesse’s things during the sleepover when everyone was still downstairs, and he found a bunch of sermons — written by Jesse and dated from around that time... even though Jesse had come to the school telling everyone he was done with all that. Some of the sermons were about love and forgiveness. Others were ordering Satan to repent and to renounce his wicked ways — Bible quotes, the works. So all along, it seems Jesse was acting publicly like the whole evangelism thing was behind him, but clearly it wasn’t. Then Karl found a journal and, inside, the title page says The Rubyman. It seems clear that The Rubyman represents the devil... until Karl realizes, because of some of the stories, that The Rubyman is actually Dominic Fisher. Jesse has written that The Rubyman is tempting him, and wants to destroy him, but it’s real clear that, at the same time, Jesse loves this Rubyman. Karl was freaked out, but he kept snooping. He was real embarrassed telling me all this. That’s not what my husband and I taught him... to snoop like that.’

‘Of course not,’ said Ren. It never is.

‘Karl found photos of Dominic Fisher. Lots of them. A bunch tied up in red ribbon. Just regular photos. But, then he finds a few more that look like maybe Dominic didn’t know they were being taken. Like Dominic asleep or a long shot of him cutting someone’s lawn with his shirt off, that kind of thing. Then Karl found a cell phone... with an inbox that had a lot more photos, even more recent, sent from Dominic Fisher’s number — photos of a more personal nature. Karl looked in the sent items and realized that Dominic Fisher thought he was sending these photos to a girl. There were even photos sent back from this imaginary girl... except she wasn’t imaginary... Karl recognized her from YouTube. It was from one of Jesse Coombes’ preaching things, whatever they call them. I don’t know if you ever saw it. Austin: Pink Dress Girl. She had kept in touch with him over the years in a fangirl kind of way.’

Oh. My. God.

‘This poor young girl was sending Jesse Coombes photos and he was using a throwaway phone to send them to Dominic Fisher and get naked ones of him back,’ said Terry.

Holy. Shit. Unholy shit.

‘That’s when Jesse walked in,’ said Terry. ‘He found Karl going through his things and he went ballistic. He beat the crap out of him, took that photo of him, tied him to the radiator. The rest of the kids were out front at this time. Jesse gathered up the journal, the sermons, the letters, the phone, everything — went down to the barbecue and threw them all on. He doused them with lighter fluid and up they went. Then he came back in to Karl, told him if he breathed a word to anyone, he’d send the photo to the whole school first, then come back and “torch” him too. Karl had already mentioned to me that there’d been two fires in the school since Jesse started there, and he was definitely seen close to one and with a burn on his hand after the other one. So, Karl believed the threats.’

‘I’m not surprised.’

‘I don’t know whether Karl said anything to anyone about what happened at the party, I know he begged me not to, but rumors started to circulate around the school. Two weeks later, Dominic Fisher’s family moved away. And by the end of the summer, the Coombes had also moved and Jesse started high school with a clean slate.’

‘And do you know where Dominic Fisher is now?’ said Ren.

‘I heard the poor kid died last year,’ said Terry, ‘leukemia.’

‘Did you ever tell the Coombes what Jesse did to Karl?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Terry. ‘I had promised Karl I wouldn’t.’

‘How’s your son doing now?’ said Ren.

‘Oh, he’s great,’ said Terry. ‘He’s doing great. Straight As. Doesn’t give his mama an ounce of trouble.’

Seems like he fared a whole lot better than Jesse Coombes.

Ren thanked her for her help and went back upstairs, sliding in beside Ben Rader, careful to wake him up and send him off on a high.

Ren lay there afterwards with a heavy feeling in her stomach.

The terrible affliction of caring about someone who has to go.

‘How am I expected to get up?’ said Ren.

‘Well, I certainly don’t expect it,’ said Ben.

Ren let out a breath.

‘This is it...’ said Ben. He kissed her shoulder.

‘The. End,’ said Ren.

‘Tune in next time!’ said Ben.

‘You’d be mad not to!’

‘I’m so proud of you,’ he said, squeezing her tight.

‘Speaking of madness...?’ said Ren.

‘I’m serious,’ said Ben.

‘There’s no need to be proud,’ said Ren. ‘But, thank you.’ She curled away from him, onto her side, tucked her back against his chest.

I want to stay here.

‘You know what,’ she said, ‘this is the first time I’ve told a boyfriend about the bipolar thing before everything went to shit.’

‘So that’s a good sign,’ said Ben. He put his arm around her, rolled her back so she was facing him. He looked her in the eye. ‘Now, relax, OK? Everything is fine.’ He held her cheeks and kissed her lips. ‘I love you.’

He pulled back and smiled. She was caught, but she stayed. She allowed herself to breathe.

‘I love you too,’ she said.

Dun. Dun. DUN.