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Thorny Retribution
By Diana Leicht
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As Eddie Banning finished rubbing the poison over the rest of the rose’s thorns, he recalled the phone conversation he had overheard a week before.
“Last night was wonderful.”
“I know. Something else I would like to know is when you are free again.”
“I’m not sure yet, but I’ll give you a call as soon as I find out. However I just remembered that Eddie has wanted me to ask you to come to our barbecue this weekend. Are you interested?”
“Definitely; just one more opportunity to see you. Hey… did you hear that click?”
“I didn’t hear anything, but I’d better be going anyway. Eddie is due home anytime now to take me out.”
“Have fun. I’ll talk to you later.”
“I love you, Rob.”
“I love you, too.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
Eddie had made special plans to take Maria out to dinner that night. He had even brought her flowers, and a frozen pizza for their daughter, Alison. He had walked in and picked up the phone to confirm the reservations and discovered that his wife was having an affair with his brother. All of the sudden he was short of breath. He did not know whether he was angry, hurt, or both. He quickly decided that he was angry, replaced the receiver and quietly hurried out the front door.
He walked in through the door as if just arriving. He called out to Maria that he was home. When she had come into the foyer and greeted him in her usual loving way, he could not help but wonder how long this façade had been going on.
“Are those for me?” Maria had asked, indicating the flowers.
“Yes. I brought them as an apology.”
“For what?”
“I’m going to have to postpone our dinner tonight. An emergency meeting was called and I couldn’t get out of it. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay. How about next Friday?”
“Sounds like a plan.” Eddie looked at his watch. “I have to go now. I may be back late, so give Alison a kiss goodnight for me.”
“Okay.”
Eddie logged onto the library computer and looked up books on poison. He had found the general location of most of the books and was looking at three of them on the shelf within two minutes. This system sure beats the card catalog, he reflected. He plucked one of the books out of the bunch and sat down at an isolated table to read. Halfway through the second book (and two and a half hours later) he had found exactly what he was looking for. A poison that was relatively fast acting, not difficult to locate and untraceable. Having done this, he had set out for home making plans in his head as whistled cheerfully all the way.
Eddie finished with the poison and gathered the roses into a bunch. Each stem was coated and the slightest prick would inject the poison into the bloodstream. He signed a card with Robert’s name and a note. Might as well killed two birds with one stone, he thought. Maria would be dead and his brother would go to jail for her murder.
Eddie made sure no one was around before stepping out of the car. He put the flowers on the front porch at ten minutes until three o’ clock and drove away. He did not bother to see if his wife’s car was in the garage because she did not work outside of the home and he knew that Maria checked the mail at three o’ clock every day. He went to the nearest bar and waited.
At a quarter past three, Alison’s school bus drove away. Her usual ride had stayed home sick that day, so she had had to ride the bus, arriving earlier than usual. She walked up the front steps and saw the flowers. The envelope was addressed to her mother so she picked them up. In doing so, she pricked her finger on one of the thorns. Sucking the blood from her fingertip she tried the doorknob with her other hand. It was locked. She remembered that her mother was getting her hair and nails done to look nice for going out to dinner that night.
Since the front would be chain locked, Alison went in through the garage. As she closed the garage door behind her, she noticed a faint feeling coming over her. Thinking she had caught the flu that was going around she continued to the door that led into the laundry room. She barely managed to open the door before falling over the threshold, dead.
Maria arrived home around 3:45 that afternoon. She opened the garage door and pulled in. She stepped out of the car and hit the button that closed the door. She started walking toward the door and saw Alison on the ground. At first glance, she realized that her daughter was dead. The card next to her said that he did not want to share her anymore and she would not leave Eddie. It was signed by Rob. She carried her daughter into the living room and placed her on the sofa. Maria put the card she thought was from Rob on the coffee table near Alison. Then she wrote her own note telling Eddie what had happened and that she was taking care of the situation. Her tires squealed out of the driveway and she was out of sight before the garage door had completely closed. She virtually flew to Rob’s house and demanded to be let inside. He let her in but immediately regretted it when his eyes focused on the gun she had pulled from her purse, the one she kept for protection.
Eddie glanced up and saw that the clock read two minutes until four. Time flies when you’re having fun, he thought. He took one last shot of vodka and headed home. He tried to walk in the front door as usual but the chain lock was engaged. Maria always left the chain off when she was home, but the flowers were gone. He went in through the garage and saw her car was not there. When he went into the house, he called to Maria and got no answer. Eddie began to hurry through the house looking for her when he saw Alison lying lifelessly on the sofa. He saw the card he had written and read the note from Maria. Realizing what had happened, he went to the phone and dialed the police. Eddie told them that his daughter was dead and confessed everything he did and why. The policeman said that there was an ambulance on the way and to please stay on the line. Instead, Eddie hung up, pulled his gun out of his nightstand drawer, and shot himself.
Maria pulled into the driveway for the second time that day and found her husband’s car blocking the garage. That meant that he had probably seen Alison. She jumped out of the car and ran into the house. Knowing that he must be there, she first went to the living room. Seeing he was not there, she dashed through the house calling to Eddie. She got to the bedroom just as the squad car and ambulance arrive.
At headquarters, Maria sat in the sergeant’s office listening to the tape off her husband’s confession for the third time. She could still hardly believe it. There was a knock on the door and a police officer walked in.
“Sergeant?”
“Yes?” He replied.
“One of our cars is on the scene of a reported shooting. The victim is a Robert Banning. There was one shot through the chest. His neighbor heard the discharge and looked out of her window. She claims she saw a woman leaving the house that fits Mrs. Banning’s description.”
“Do you own a gun, Mrs. Banning?” The sergeant asked.
“Yes, I do. It’s in my purse.”
“Check her purse, officer.”
“It doesn’t matter now. I killed Rob. I killed the man I loved and he was innocent.”
The policeman took Maria by the arm and led her to the holding cells reciting, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law…”
