Stay With Me

Chapter 6

Detective Grant's expression was that of a man who'd either seen too much or was simply too tired to muster up any enthusiasm over anything. His tie was stretched loose and twisted to the side as his shirt pulled at the buttons on his large stomach. His navy blue jacket was a size too big and his trousers seemed to strain against the too tightly pulled leather belt. He shifted in his chair, his hands on his thighs as he regarded Anthony silently.

"I would prefer to speak to you alone, Mr Hale."

"And I would prefer people stop mixing up American football and soccer, but we can't have it all can we, detective?"

Anthony turned just as he heard Chloe shift to stand from her seat and threw her a pleading look. Don't go, he pleaded silently.

Chloe's eyes bored into his as she slowly sat back down, crossing her legs and folding her hands on her lap. Anthony noted her cinnamon colored jacket over a starchy white blouse. His eyes trailed down to her pencil-cut skirt in the same color as the jacket and her tan-colored shoes. Her rain-drenched hair looked tousled and bouncy and his fingers itched to run through them. Detective Grant cleared his throat as Chloe and Anthony both looked at him at the same time.

"My wife stays," Anthony declared.

"Very well. I understand you don't recall anything about the accident," Grant said.

"That's right."

"You don't recall making arrangements with Mr Taylor to go flying?"

"No."

"We're you and Mr Taylor close friends?"

Anthony turned to Chloe for help. "I don't think so."

"No, they weren't friends," Chloe replied a bit tightly. "Just acquaintances."

Detective Grant turned to Chloe. "I understand you are close to the Taylor family."

"When my parents died, they became my family," she said simply.

"So you and Alex Taylor were friends?"

"Yes....."

"How is your investigation progressing?" Anthony questioned, desperate to change the topic away from his wife's relationship with Alex Taylor. There was something prickling at the back of his mind. A memory kept slipping in and out. Suddenly, it popped into his mind and he made the connection. A conversation he had with Luke. Not too long ago. In his office.

"And along with everything else, she's been stealing money for years! Giving it to that druggie friend of hers, Taylor. Thousands of dollars, Anthony. You can't just sit by and say nothing. Call her on it. Damn it all to hell! The woman is a thief!! Your wife is a thief!"

Anthony winced as he lifted a hand to rub his aching temple. The memory of his conversation with Luke faded away to the back of his mind. A movement beside him had him turning his head to see Chloe regarding him closely. His eyes saw that one of her hands was slightly raised off her lap as though considering offering him comfort. His eyes moved back up to lock in with hers as they stared at each other silently for a while.

"The fuel line was tampered with. The engine eventually starved and you dropped out of the sky."

Anthony watched as Chloe's eyes widened like saucers and her head whipped in the direction of the detective. Anthony shuddered as the reality of the cold words sank into his mind, but he still could not recall any memory of those awful moments before the plane crashed. It could have happened to someone else for all he knew, except for the injures that kept him bedridden.

"You're saying someone purposely acted out to make the accident happen," Chloe said in a low voice. Her eyes were huge and her mouth slightly agape.

"Undoubtedly," Detective Grant responded while turning to Anthony. "We are talking to people who saw you at the airport that day. And we're checking who had access to the plane. I was hoping you could help in some way. Anything at all come to mind?"

"I wish I could help detective, but my mind is blank."

Detective Grant's gaze told Anthony he did not believe that he had lost his memory. But ironically enough, when it came to the accident, that was exactly the case. He could only recall bits and pieces of his past --- they came to him in blocks of information --- and most of them revolved around his relationship with Chloe and their own marital problems.

"Any enemies?" Grant asked.

"I'm afraid you'll have better luck interrogating my family and business associates." Anthony's voice was dry. "I seem to be kind of vague about any of that."

"Mrs Hale?" He turned to Chloe.

"Yes?"

"Does your husband have any enemies?"

Chloe blinked rapidly, a sign that she was thinking fast. Anthony knew these little things about her, but he'd be damned if he could remember anything else.

I want her back, he thought suddenly, fiercely. I want my wife back.

"Maybe business rivals? I don't know. No one would really want to harm Anthony. Could...." she hesitated. The detective leaned towards her encouragingly.

"Could they have been after Alex instead? He was ---umm-- involved in drugs. A user mostly, but he might have sold some? I don't really know..."

"We know about Mr Taylor's involvement with drugs. His background is being checked out too." Detective Grant hesitated a moment, rubbed his palms together, then played them on his lap once more.

"Is there anything you remember in the days prior to the accident?" he asked Chloe. "Anything out of the ordinary?"

"I umm...I don't...live with Anthony. I didn't see him...much.."

"Did you see Mr Taylor?"

When Chloe took a pregnant pause and avoided Anthony's gaze, he panicked. She'd seen Alex? She'd met with him? What? What? He took a deep breath to stop himself from screaming the questions out loud. Chloe managed to meet the detective's gaze and say in a calm voice, "Alex came to see me the night before the accident. He seemed to want to tell me something, but I thought it had to do with my marriage. He knew that....things were not going well. I told him I didn't want to talk about it and he....hugged me." Her voice broke off. "And then he told me good-bye."

Anthony's confidence melted away at the tender longing in her voice. She loved him. She still loved him. His wife loved Alex Taylor and even the man's death hadn't altered that fact.

She probably hated your guts buddy. You killed her lover. It's your fault she has all that pain in her eyes.

" He didn't give you any indication that he was meeting your husband on Sunday at the airport? Nothing?" The detective sounded skeptical.

"No" Chloe shook her head. "He was just really anxious about me. Or at least I assumed it was about me. I don't know anymore."

Anthony listened, detached, as the detective continued his line of questioning, but Chloe just shook her head in bafflement. Anthony felt tired of it all. He wanted the detective gone and Chloe to stay. When detective Grant finally rose to his feet, Chloe stood also. Anthony shot her a look. "Are you leaving?" he asked.

Assuming Anthony was speaking to him, detective Grant nodded. "If anything comes up, I'll let you know" and he turned to walk out the door.

"Chloe?" Anthony called out to her, seeing her reach for her purse on the table beside the bed.

"Hmmm?" She wouldn't meet his eyes.

"You have to leave?"

"Yes, I've got some work to catch up on. I'm sure your parents will be stopping by soon, probably Luke too." Now she shot him a quick, faint smile. "You'll be in very capable hands."

"Don't leave. Please."

He hated begging. It didn't sit well with him and he was pretty sure it never did. He couldn't let her leave.

Chloe looked over at him. "Anthony..."

"I just want you to stay a bit longer."

He could see the internal battle she waged, and he sensed it had to do with their past. "You look exhausted," she finally said. "You should rest."

"I couldn't sleep now, even if I wanted to. Too much information."

"I guess Dr Allistair lifted the ban on your being kept in the dark. I'm surprised." Her nose wrinkled as her lips turned down in a frown. Anthony found it cute.

"Well, I just think that was an experiment that failed." Anthony wished he could reach out and bring her closer to him. "What difference does it make? If I can't remember, someone will have to tell me eventually. It's the same outcome."

Anthony saw the beginning of a small smile pulling at the corners of her lips. Their eyes met before she responded. "Your practicality hasn't changed, I see. You've still got that in spades."

"You make it sound like a bad thing."

"No. It's just.....a thing."

Anthony felt the waves of exhaustion wash over him like a led blanket. Soon his eyes would grow heavy and the thought enfuriated him. He needed this time with Chloe. Before, his parents and half brother and everyone else descended upon him, talking and demanding and secretly seeking to override him. He might remember everything, but emotions, sensations and hidden agendas were as clear to him as the sky outside his room window.

"Have you thought about what I asked?" he said while struggling to fight off the yawn that threatened to cut their time short.

"Ummm.." Her hands tightened on the strap of her purse. "And that was?"

"Moving back in with me."

"Right...no."

"No?"

"No, I haven't thought about it." She diverted her gaze, and then looked straight at him again. "Okay, that's a lie. Yes, I've thought about it, but no, I don't think it's a good idea."

Her eyes were so expressive, he felt lost in them. "Why is it not a good idea?" he watched her intently.

"Anthony, you don't know what you're asking. WE don't even....talk to each other anymore. You don't like me."

"I think I like you very much."

Chloe choked in disbelief. "Listen to me, I don't know who you are, who you think or believe you are, but you are not my husband. And I don't mean that just because of the accident. You're not you, and I never knew who you were anyway!."

"If that were the case, how can you say I'm not your husband? You claim you never knew me, yet you say I'm not him."

Emotion radiated from her eyes in waves. Anthony felt that insidious weakness wash over him again and silently pleaded with the powers that be for more time.

"Why did you marry me then?" he had to force the words out against his exhaustion.

"Excuse me?"

Anthony sighed heavily. "Why...did...you ..marry...me?" Anthony said slowly.

"Because..." Chloe swallowed hard, fighting the sensation to walk over to him and strangle him with her bare hands.

"Because?" Anthony probbed.

"Because I loved you dammit!" Chloe hissed out and then fought to control her heavy breathing.

It was all Anthony needed to hear. His lips turned up in a faint smile as his eyes finally shut closed.

"Don't leave." were the last things he said before he lost the battle with the dark abyss taking over his mind and body. Chloe gazed down at his still form and let out an exasperated breath.

"What you going to do? Stop me?"

When he didn't respond, she sighed again and walked over to drop her purse on the bedside table. Sinking into the chair by the window, she watched him as his chest rose and fell rhythmicly with his breathing.

Good god! What had she done?!

Why was she so honest with him? She should have kept that little detail to herself. But she took one look at his face and those pleading eyes pulled her in. It felt like how he was before all the secrets and lies and arguing. She wasn't able to think straight!

"He's medicated Chloe. Snap out of it!" she reminded herself. Feeling stifled, she rose from the chair and walked to her bag, finally deciding to make a run for it, while she could. She stepped to the door and glanced back at him once more before stepping out into the corridor. The sound of a television down the hall filled the air. Chloe started walking towards the sound as she looked down at her feet, stepping one in front of the other. The sound of a woman accusing a man of cheating on her reached her ears as she lifted her head to stare at the television screen. The man smugly announced that she was not enough woman for him. Chloe stopped in her tracks as she raised her hands to cup her suddenly hot cheeks.

Stop it Chloe! Enough!

Anthony Hale did not want her. He did not need her. She hated what he stood for. Hated he was a corporate monster who gobbled up family businesses and shared the spoils with his ungrateful, spoiled and avid family. And Alex was dead because of him....

Chloe pushed her hands through her hair and groaned. It was torture to think back on certain moments of her embattled marriage. She couldn't blame all the problems on Anthony, as much as she'd like to.

Don't leave....

The hairs on the back of her arms stood straight from strange emotions, and she couldn't stand it anymore. Feeling like a traitor, she made a mad dash down the hallway towards the exit doors. But as she stepped outside and gulped in a mouthful of air, she abruptly spun on her heels and headed back towards her husband's room, all the while asking herself what the hell she was doing. She came to a stop outside the door to his room and paused as she reached for the handle of the door. Pushing it open, she took a breath and stepped in quietly. A few steps in she paused, a cold wave washing over her body as she saw a silhouette standing at the foot of Anthony's bed. Chloe clenched her hands at her sides as the silhouette turned to face her, a smug smile across their face.

"Hello Chloe," came the soft drawl that made Chloe's blood boil.

"Sarah...."