Free In The Cage by Sandy Kline Page A

need lots of rest.”
    “How long is lots of rest? Can he watch cartoons with me?”
    “I think he’s going to need more than that sweetie. I’m hoping he’ll sleep most of the day so you’ll have to keep the volume pretty low. Sorry honey but I couldn’t leave him alone at his place.”
    “It’s okay mom. I like him.”
    “And I like you too Diego.” Says Jake from the doorway.
    Diego’s face lights up instantly, then falls as he takes in Jake’s swollen face. It’s actually not as bad as I would have expected given the punishment he took. It’s amazing how your body just gets used to taking a beating. I remember in the old days when King lost a fight it took a week to recover; sometimes more.
    While I call room service for breakfast Diego entertains Jake by giving him a blow by blow history of every cartoon character on TV. It’s nice that they get along. It’d be nice to have a man around; a good man around. Trouble is I don’t know if Jake really is a good man. Something tells me he is…but I don’t trust my instinct much anymore. After a while Diego tires of talking to Jake and contents himself with just watching cartoons. I sit down on the couch and Jake joins me.
    “I was surprised to see you hired a sitter last night.” Jake begins. “What happened to your friend?”
    “My friend?”
    “Yeah I mean I assumed you were friends. She always was with you whenever you showed up at the bar. In fact I don’t think I ever saw you there by yourself except that last time a couple days ago. You were really out of it too.”
    “You want to know the truth about something Jake?”
    “Shoot.”
    “I don’t know what I was doing there. There’s about a week or two where I have no memory. You know where I live?”
    “Where?”
    “Ashland Oregon. You know why I live there?”
    “Why?”
    “Because I couldn’t stand to be in the same state as my ex-husband.”
    “What are you doing back then?”
    “That’s a good question and if I knew the answer I’d tell ya. All I know is that I…I feel like I’ve been asleep and I just woke up in your bar that night when I was there by myself.”
    “I see…sounds like someone may have drugged you.”
    “No shit. You know those two guys from Surge who just disappeared about ten days ago?”
    “You mean King and Boomer, those two guys?”
    “That’s them. King is my ex-husband and Boomer is his best friend. And you know what?”
    “What?”
    “After you had coffee with us Wednesday and I went out to say goodbye, well Boomer paid my kid a visit.”
    “What? Wait, what do you mean?”
    “He came up to my son and gave him a paper with a cell number on it. I called that number the next morning when I was out for a jog and it was Boomer. He claims I did something to King because King has disappeared. Then he threatened my son. That’s why we’re checking out this morning and going to a different hotel.”
    “Wow…that’s some story.”
    “And it’s the truth too. There’s no way I could have done anything to King. He’s bigger than you and he’s always on steroids. He’s an animal Jake. Here’s the other truth. I hate my ex! That’s no secret and I would rejoice if he died.”
    “Man he musta really messed you up for you to hate him that bad. Was he abusive?”
    As we’ve been talking I can feel my blood pressure rising. My heart is pounding and I’m filled with both anger and grief almost like it was yesterday that my son was murdered. My hands are clenched in fists and my finger nails are starting to draw blood.
    “Hey it’s over Christine. He’s gone. He’s out of your life and can no longer hurt you.”
    “Oh but you’re wrong. He hurts me every day of my life Jake. He killed my son. He murdered my son and left.”
    “What? How can he have gotten away with that?”
    “When I finally got around to calling 911 it had been like 18 hours since his death. When the medical examiner did his report he indicated that the cause of death