Guilt and Innocence

Man... cannot learn to forget, but hangs on the past: however far or fast he runs, that chain runs with him.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche ~

The ride home was a series of nightmares for Jebidiah. Either he went to jail, or his family had to uproot -- again. Neither were things he wanted, but... What choices did he have? Turn himself in, hope for a pardon? Hope for real justice? He knew he didn't murder Carl Strummer... But did the cops? If he turned himself in, would he spend the time for his real crimes, or for the crimes he had been framed for?

The black folds of night had begun to rise across the horizon and overtake the sky, leaving Twinbrook overcast with the same darkness he felt in his heart. If he weren't in his right mind, he would have silenced Tatianna then and there, but... Then he'd just be committing the crime he was adamant he didn't. Besides, someone knew she was here... Someone else had known he was here. Who? Who had ratted him out, and why?



But now was not the time for questions. He slammed the car door, and walked briskly up the sidewalk... But as he did so, his wife turned to look out the window, and saw that he wasn't alone.

From the backseat of his black Evasion, a woman she'd never seen emerged -- at first, her instinct was anger, believing that Jebidiah was bringing one of his 'women' home... But when she realized that Jebidiah didn't seem to notice the woman at all, something entirely different crossed her mind: panic.



By the time Meredith rushed across the living room to tell Travis to go upstairs, Jebidiah realized that Tatianna had slipped in beside him. He was caught, frozen; now, it was not just him... His family was about to get involved.

He didn't even bother looking at Tatianna, or telling her to leave; what could he do to make her? She'd just call the cops and expose him, once and for all.



It was Meredith who first jumped at the unknown woman with accusations. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my house?!  This is trespassing! Don't make me call the p--"

"Meredith..." Jebidiah was the first to respond, setting a hand on his wife's shoulder. "She works for the bail-bond company... A bounty hunter. The cops aren't going to care one cent that she's trespassing once she tells them who I am."

"But... Jeb..." His wife turned to him, confused.



Tatianna decided it was a good time to finally step in. "Your husband is a fugitive! One way or another, he's going back to Riverview, and is going to be tried for the crimes he c--"

"But he's innocent!" Meredith pleaded, trying to cut Tatianna off.

Tatianna continued with a roll of her eyes. "And is going to be tried for the crimes he committed... Whether he actually committed them or not."



"No... No please. You can't take him. Take... Take me instead." Meredith raised up her hands in defeat. For a moment, both Tatianna and Jebidiah simply stared, completely baffled by her sudden, non-sensical plea.

"Mrs. Kane, it simply does not work that way. Your husband is the one that committed a crime here, and he's going to jai--"




"It wasn't my husband." Meredith hung her head and sighed, closing each eye to try to fight back the tears she knew were welling up inside her, screaming to get out. "I know who murdered Carl Strummer... I know who murdered him and framed Jeb, because -- I killed them."

"Meredith, sweetheart, stop trying to get involved in this, you don't know what you're talking about--" started Jebidiah, but Tatianna cut him off with a raise of her hand.

"No, wait. I want to know what she's talking about."

"Over the past few weeks, I've started to remember what happened right before we left, and... The real reason we ran from Riverview wasn't because of what Jeb did. It's because of what I did. My sister was trying to protect me... I killed Carl's murderer. And I have the proof."

"But... If your husband didn't murder Carl Strummer, than who did? And how did you find out?"

..................

And so, Meredith began her tale. The tip-off from Mimi Brown... The email she wrote to the murderer... And how, after arranging the meeting, the person that showed up was none other than Chandra Hawkins.

"But Meredith," Jeb broke in. "That doesn't make any--"
"Stop cutting her off, Kane! Please, continue. Well... What happened?"



"W-we argued, for quite some time... She told me her story, of her childhood, of her love for Jeb. How she waited patiently for the day when he'd leave me for her, but it never came -- instead, he ran off to one of his co-workers for an affair."

"I only had an affair because my boss wanted me to reign in his employees, it had nothing to do wi--"

"Kane, shut UP! Go on."

"Well... She was angry. She framed him for Carl's murder, to punish him for abandoning her. To punish me for stealing her life..."

"And then?"



"I told her I was going to turn her in, but she wouldn't have that. She said only one of us was going to leave there, that night..."



"... and before I realized what was going on, she struck me in the stomach, knocking the wind clean outta me."



"I knew if I didn't fight back, then my life was already forfeit. So I jumped her... But she put up a heck of a fight."



"And I just wasn't made to fight, not like that. She hit me on the head, hard... I fell to the ground, barely conscious..."



"I can't remember clearly, but I know, I opened my eyes just in time to see her about to land a blow on me with her foot -- I barely made it out of the way in time."



"I tried so hard to get away, scrambling across the grass, but I was hurting so badly, all over, and so weak from when she struck me in the stomach, that it took everything out of me just to shrivel away. Chandra... She... She reached into her sweater, and... and I pleaded for my life! Pleaded for her to stop! But, there is only one thing she wanted to do, and.. that was to kill me."



"'Say goodbye, Meredith', she said to me... I begged her to stop her madness, begged her to spare my life, that I'd do anything if she just walked away... But there was no way to change her mind. With a yell, she started to bring her knife down towards me..."



"I don't know what came over me. It was like an awful, horrible dream... My life passed before my eyes, but deep in my heart, I knew it couldn't be over. As she moved her hand to use her final blow to kill me, I raised my own, and... I...'

"I grabbed her hand -- she was completely surprised, she didn't expect me to try to stop her -- and I moved the knife towards her, shoved it as hard as I could away from me, and... I.... I killed her."



"She clutched her stomach, but she knew -- we both knew -- it was too late. She crumbled to the ground so slowly, I almost thought she had to be faking, but... I knew she wasn't. I knew what I'd done."



"As she died, she reached her hand towards me, and... cursed me, with her last breath."



"And then... And then, I blacked out, and fell."



"I don't know how long I laid there, how long I slept next to her body, but..."


"... when I woke up, I had no idea where I was. She'd struck me so hard, I couldn't remember anything -- all I knew was how I got there, and that now...



"Chandra was dead."

"But... No one ever found a body. The only death in Riverview ever recorded was Agent Strummer's, and--"



"My sister made sure that no one found out. She works for the CSI division, she knew how to take care of a crime scene, and hide the evidence."



"She went up to Willow Park to see if what I said was true..."



"And while I'm not sure about the details, I know she cleaned up after me."



"But, she never did tell me what she did... Only that it was 'taken care of'."



"But, whatever she did, she saved some of the evidence. She got rid of Chandra, but saved the knife, and gave it to me, in case I ever remembered what happened, and could use it to bring Jeb's innocence to light."

"But, I... I buried it, after... Well... It doesn't matter. What matters is... Chandra may have poisoned Carl Strummer and framed Jebidiah, but she's dead -- because of me."

............

"Please, please... I beg you. My husband has cleaned up his act, he's changed so much since then, given up crime and even returned almost everything he stole... If anyone should go to jail, it's me. Take me back, instead. I'm the one running... Not him."



"This is... I can't believe this." Tatianna was beyond frustrated. "This isn't my job! I came here to collect a wanted man, and... I just want the freakin' reward money! But... This... This... I'm not meant to handle this. I'm going to give you 12 hours to reconsider. I know you have no where to run, so don't even try anything... I'll be back tomorrow afternoon to bring you... one of you... in."

With a great deal of grumbling about "stupid justice" and "why in the plumbbob's name" and "why is crime so complicated", Tatianna left the Kane house with a rather loud slam of the door, and disappeared out of sight.



Meredith ran up to their bedroom to cry, but Jebidiah was only a few steps behind her. "Meredith... Meredith, are you sure you want to do this?"

"I...Yes. The past few weeks, I've slowly been remembering all of this, and... I can't live with the guilt, anymore. I know what I did was only to protect myself, but... It was wrong. And maybe... Maybe by doing this, I can get you proved innocent, a-and I can make sure our kids aren't raised by a m-m-murderer--"

"Meredith. You are many, many things, but none of them is a murderer. You are a brave woman who made a hard decision to try to protect this family, and... Now, you are again. I... I'm so sorry I ever put you in this position. And even more sorry I ever doubted you."



Meredith collapsed into Jeb's arms, and held him closer than she felt she ever had before. He supported her weight, gently carrying her frail body to the bed to rest her down.

"I would do anything for you, Jeb," she said, still holding him in her arms. "I love you..."

"And I could never stop loving you, Meredith... I could never, ever, love you less."