The Tide hath Turned, Mightily, part six

The creek was minor, as creeks go, and sprouted from a dribbling stony runoff high in the city’s outer boundary. From there it meandered down and snaked about the innards of the allocation until it exited, rushing and plummeting down a steep cliff face, into the Falls River. Named so because it was the recipient of hundreds of these little creeks and all of their scenic water falls. Falls River was also the name of a grand city allocation that many found a beautiful and relaxing vacation destination. Barbara had been there with Robert, her deceased husband. He was murdered in the line of duty. Dead to the world; but to Barbara, Robert had been gone for much longer than just the other night. The river of falls began as a drop, then a rivulet, but it grew in might and ran fast into the wide, unforgiving ocean.

 “Tell me what you’re feeling, Barbara,” said Angela. They were sitting together on the edge of the couch. Barbara was cradling a glass of bourbon at her bosom. The alcohol was no substitute for the narcotic cigs that Johnny had been supplying her with, but the glass was cool and gave her something to hold on to.

 “Nothing. I can’t say, I don’t know.” She touched her dry, cracking lips to the brim of the glass, but didn’t sip. Amber drops merely brushed the flesh. Barbara suddenly sat back into the cushions, sloshing her drink.

 Angela reached over and took the glass, sitting it on the coffee table. “What was going on between you and Robert? Did your… relationship with Johnny have anything to do with the accident last night?” The affair might have been a secret from her husband, but it was difficult to keep them from mayors.

 Barbara just glared at her sister. “You can’t think I had anything to do with that,” but she had wondered the same thing. Johnny had been in her bed just hours before he killed Robert.

 “I don’t know why you turned to Johnny, how things soured between you and your husband,” Angela said. “You know I never really thought much of Johnny, but it was always your decision to be with him. It’s not anything to do with his work. Everyone in Kenetica has a purpose, and crime was Johnny’s.”

 “You’ve never approved of him, of us!” Barbara sat up and reached for the glass, but then let her arm fall back into her lap. It wasn’t going to be enough. Nothing would be good enough anymore. Barbara shuddered and collapsed again. “You…”

 Angela covered Barbara’s hands with her own. “You three were always close, from early on. I may even have been a little jealous. I guess it’s not surprising that you would turn to your best friend when things got tough. Something happened to Robert, and I just want to understand. I want to know when his world turned upside down, and if Johnny or you were in any way involved. That’s all.”

 “I… I don’t know.”

 “Somewhere along your journey, time stopped. Somewhere it all just ground to a halt and then it lurched ahead again and bubbled up and gave rise to this big tidal wave.” Angela let go of her hands and stood up. “These things you’re hiding, they’ve come crashing to shore, and little sister… you need to help clean it up, because you can’t stay out of the way any longer.”