The Drowning Child

70

Shannon Fuller was white-faced, sitting on the floor of her living room, her back against the sofa. In one shaking hand, she gripped the phone. In the other, she clutched a square of white paper.

She called John Veir. He picked up right away.

‘Hey...’

‘Please,’ said Shannon. ‘Please... please come over. To the bar. I need you.’ Her voice cracked. ‘I... it’s Seth... it’s Seth.’

Fifteen minutes later, John Veir walked into The Crow Bar. Shannon was slumped in Clyde’s chair, her head on the table, her body wracked with sobs. John rushed toward her. Shannon stood up, turned to face him. For a moment, he faltered.

‘You fucking asshole!’ she screamed. ‘You fucking asshole!’

She walked over to meet him, shoved him hard in the chest. He staggered back.

‘What the... what are you doing?’ said John, regaining his balance.

‘Don’t!’ she said. She lunged for him, lightning fast, shoved him harder and he was on the floor.

John stared up at her, wide-eyed. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Don’t you fucking dare,’ she said. ‘Don’t you dare!’ She held out the small white wrapper she had in her hand. ‘He OD’d! He OD’d on fentanyl and you gave it to him. Have you lost your mind?’

John struggled to his feet. ‘I did not—’

‘Liar!’ screamed Shannon. ‘You liar! He told me about Merrifield, he told me about you. And he said he was done with it all, done with drugs. And you fucking give him fentanyl. Are you out of your—’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking—’

‘Oh my God!’ said Shannon. ‘Don’t make this worse. But you need to tell me why. You need to tell me why, because I’ve been wracking my brains here, trying to work out why the man who’s supposed to love me, or have loved me – or may never have loved me, let’s face it – would give this fucked-up drug to the only family I’ve got left in the world. And I have no clue why you would do that, John. No fucking clue. I’m losing my mind here, trying to figure it all out.’ She paused. ‘The only conclusion I can come to is that you wanted Seth dead – but why? Why? You looked out for Seth in prison. You like Seth—’

‘I do like him!’ said John. ‘I did not want him dead! I was trying to help him with his pain. After the assault—’

‘But you know the risks,’ said Shannon. ‘I’m just not processing this. You hate drugs! You hate even having to take your prescription drugs. You watched him almost die in his cell, you saved his life. What changed? Why did you want to kill my baby? Why?’

‘I... didn’t think he would die,’ said John. ‘I didn’t want him to die—’

‘You’re lying!’ said Shannon. ‘You’re still fucking lying.’ She walked up to him and slapped him hard across the face. ‘Tell. Me. The. Truth.’

John Veir was pale. ‘I... I’m sorry.’

‘Sorry?’ screamed Shannon. ‘Sorry? What have I ever done to you? You loved me! I loved you! Why did you do this? Tell me!’

‘I... I... can’t,’ said John.

Shannon reached into the back of her waistband and pulled out Seth’s gun. ‘Yes, John. Yes, you can.’

The door opened and they both spun around.