The Villain You Know
“Have you seen Theo?” I asked panic crept into my voice.
“No, not since last night,” Joey said. “He headed home around ten.”
“He never made it. I’ve called everyone and looked everywhere. You’re the last person to see him yesterday.”
“What about his mom?” Joey asked. He was Theo’s best friend. If anyone knew where Theo would be, it would be Joey.
I nodded no. Fear gripped me. I tried not to cry. “If you hear from him, please let me know.”
“Will do Vivian,” he said.
I drove on, searching the back roads.
Days turned into weeks and no one had heard a peep from Theo.
I was in the living room trying to figure out how to pay the electric bill by myself when a knock sounded at the door. I could see two police officers through the window.
“You found him!” I shouted, inviting them in.
“Can we please sit?” the guy on the left asked.
I ushered them to the couch and sat across from them.
“Mrs. Silas, we found your husbands blood.”
I gasped.
“The amount of blood is too much for him to have survived. I’m so sorry.”
I wailed. No, he couldn’t be dead.
“Theo is not dead,” I said, rubbing my eyes.
“I’m so sorry ma’am. There’s no way he could have survived that much blood loss.”
“Did you find his body?” I asked, trying to compose myself.
“No,” he said, glancing at his partner.
“Then there’s still a chance he’s alive,” I said. “Where was it found? Maybe he was injured somewhere previously, and that’s what you found?”
“What do you know about your friend Michelle?” he asked.
“Basically everything. We all went to school together. Why?”
“The blood was found at her house.”
“Weird. We go over there occasionally, but he’s never hurt himself at Michelle’s. Oh my God, are you saying she’s a suspect?”
“Were you aware of the relationship your husband and Michelle had?” the other officer asked.
“Yeah, they’re friends. Like I said we go to her house sometimes to play cards or watch movies.”
“We’ve received information that they were in an intimate relationship.”
I laughed. “Michelle and Theo? No way.”
“Okay, thank you so much for your time, Mrs. Silas. We’ll be in touch.”
Within a week Michelle was arrested and charged with the murder of Theo. Three months later she was convicted of first-degree murder, pleading her innocence the whole time. The prosecutor was able to prove that she killed him when he wouldn’t leave me. Devastating.
My mother in law convinced me to have a funeral for closure. On the way home from the service, I made a pit stop at the farm we’d planned on buying.
In the basement of the cute little farmhouse, we were going to start our family in, Theo was strapped down to a table with an IV in his arm. I slapped his face until he looked at me.
I held up the paper. “Your whore is on death row.” I flipped to the obituaries. “You’ve been declared dead. Now to make that official you cheating bastard,” I said, thrilled to finally be done with him.
Photo by frontriver 
