High Wire : Chapter Twenty-Three (by Elizabeth Pascale)

   Doctor Burke was in Constantine's room when Detective O'Connor and Officer Patterson entered. Constantine had a look of wonder and dismay as the policeman entered the room. All that Constantine knew at this moment was he was in the hospital, had numerous tubes and machines hooked to him and bandages all up and down his torso, and was suffering from a killer headache.
    "Do you know where you are Mr. Marx?" asked O'Connor.
    "The Hospital?" replied Marx in bewilderment.
    "Yes sir, but here is the important question. Can you remember anything that has happened before you came to the hospital?"
    "Not really, everything is slightly fuzzy."
Everything was a blur to Constantine at that moment. The last he remembered he was happy in love with Jordan. They had met about six months earlier and their relationship had soared. It was love at first sight for Constantine. For Jordan it was attraction at first sight. There was no woman or man for that matter that could deny Constantine of his charm and good looks. He stood six feet tall with dark chestnut hair that had a slight curl to it and his body took the shape of a Greek god. His eyes were the color of a dark cup of coffee; those brown twins always had a way of pulling you in with their mystery. The moment Constantine spoke however the situation changed; Jordan fell in love. His charm had sucked Jordan in like a black hole and there was no escaping. Constantine remembered his love for Jordan but there was something inside of him that was missing and he could not put his finger on it.
    "Mr. Marx, we are going to show you a video tape that may refresh your memory. This may be difficult for you to watch right now. If it happens to get too hard just let us know and we can take a break." spoke Officer Mullins with a tone of compassion.
    "Is Jordan dead?" Costantine questioned with great fear.
    "No Jordan is alive but you must see the tape before we can discuss anything further."
    "Okay."
    Meanwhile back at the nurse's station, the phone rang like a fire engine screaming down Broadway. Over and over again it rang without stopping. The nurse came running, talking to herself in muffled tones as she tried to hold back her agitation. “Alright, hold your horses.” Easily annoyed, she found the strength to lift the receiver to her face: “Yes?...Okay…” Time seemed to slowly pass. “Oh, right away!" The nurse paged Marx's room and informed the Detective and Officer Mullins that they must immediately attend to Jordan’s room; she was awakening from her coma.
    "Call in another officer to escort this gentleman," shouted the Detective to Mullins. "Sleeping Beauty is finally awake!" The men charged through the halls, barreling through visitors and patients and nearly knocking over half of the hospital staff. Their moves were forceful, like beasts on the chase; the prey was only a short distance away. Grappling the corners of walls to swing their bodies’ momentum in different angles as they made their way, they finally reached Jordan's room and took one last deep breath before stepping inside inside.
    Jordan's eyes were tiny slits, as if unaware of whether they should be open or closed. After her long nap, though, they had to be open. Jordan moved her head slightly to the left and then to the right, pivoting her gaze ever so slightly—her neck muscles were ever so close to atrophy. “Where in the hell am I this time? Is this
real or is this a freakin' dream. Jesus, I can't take this crap.” She thought to herself as strength was retuning to her body. “Oh, wait is that Doctor Hall. Am I having
another surgery again? I thought I was done the whole process though. What the hell is going on? I need a mirror.” Her thinking was erratic; thoughts piled high in her mind and her sub-coconscious self was already on overload. “Hold on, it's getting brighter.” There was an increasing surge of energy pulsing its way through her body. “There we go. I'm finally awake.”
    "Jordan do you know where you are?" asked the detective.
    "Is that you Doctor Hall? Is it Halloween or something, why the blue suit?" asked Jordan with a somewhat sarcastic tone.
    "My name is not Doctor Hall. I am Detective O'Connor and you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say..."
    "What the hell is going on? For one moment I am in la-la land and the next moment I'm at the office having surgery and you are busting in to arrest me? Are the size of my breasts against the law? Even Pamela Anderson's are bigger than mine." Just then Jordan felt a shooting sensation. “Oh Jesus Mary and Joseph, what the hell is that pain in my side? Why is my abdomen wrapped in bandages? Would somebody please tell me what the hell is going on."
   "Jordan you are in the hospital because you were shot in the abdomen and suffered several lacerations to the face." Officer Patterson continued with his full report, but Jordan didn't need or want to hear any more. The demon known as recollection came to her like a brick to the face. Jordan couldn't believe that after seven years of hiding her identity, the truth had finally been let out.
    Wrapped in her mind were vicious thoughts. Ideas, memories, beliefs, and more that compelled her to purse her lips and clench her fists. Words were thrust into her head, but she retained them, keeping them to her self instead: “One freakin' small mistake shattered all of my dreams. That bh of a best friend had it coming, and I should have given it to her. Amber could never be satisfied. She was always so miserable and wanted everyone around her to suffer. It wasn't my fault that the captain of the cheerleading squad was now wearing her outfit on stage for a mere 30 seconds just to take it all off for a bunch of forty-year-old dirty men that should be home tending to their wives and not
their smaller…much smaller member.
    “Amber often lied and said she was an actress but that was only on stage. I didn't make her into a whore she just always was. Amber couldn't be happy for me and the thought of marriage with Constantine. I promised Amber that she could be the maid-of-honor, but that was just a bunch of bull. There was no possible way for Amber to take that role; she wouldn't be the maid-of-honor ‘cause she was made of trash.”
    There was no use in exerting all this emotion now because there was no way out for Jordan. She began to contemplate, but was rudely, and quite abruptly, awakened out of thought by the cold slapping of handcuffs on the wrist, which were then attached to the hospital bed.
    “Do you wish to have a lawyer present?" asked Officer Mullins.
    “Yeah , why don't you go and call him. His name is ‘I don’t Giva’ Damn’” she sarcastically replied.
    “Okay. We'll do that. In the meanwhile why don't you sit and watch this videotape. Your best friend sends her love." Officer Mullins said with a smirk of satisfaction.
    The tape played. There was Jordan's so-called best friend Amber Moore. Amber answered all the general questions: her name, how she knew Jordan, their relationship, etc. Of course the first thing out of Amber's mouth would have to be that they had a sexual relationship—Jordan couldn’t restrain the thought: “What a bh”.
    The Officer cleared his throat. "Amber, this is your second interview. You have been in custody for days now. I suggest you tell the truth and start at the beginning. What kind of person was Jordan like?"
    "Jordan was a good person for the most part. Everyone has their issues but it was always good with Jordan. Our childhood was okay I guess. Jordan was blessed with better feminine features than me since childhood. Jordan's hair was always beautiful and in place, and his body was always perfect." Amber was speaking to the officer in the videotape.
     "You mean her body Ms. Moore?" asked the officer in a telling manner.
     "No. I said his. You mean to tell me you don't know. Jordan may have breasts and his manhood tucked but there is no natural estrogen flowing in those veins, only the remnants of the daily hormone pills. Aren't you guys supposed to be detectives?”
    “Well, I....uh...um....I will ask the questions here and one thing I didn't ask for was an attitude. We only want your cooperation.” Stuttered the detective.
    “Okay. I get it.” Amber said. "Geesh, cops!"
    "What??????"
    "Nothing."
    "So how did everything end up the way it is now Amber?"
    "Well I found out that Jordan was having another relationship with this guy. I was furious. I had to check him out for myself so I snooped around the apartment till I found out where he worked. I 'bumped' into him at the coffee shop around the corner from his job and introduced myself. I didn't mean to but I couldn't help myself, he was just way too cute. After the first words came out of his mouth my gay-dar was not receiving any signal whatsoever. That man was straight! He had no freakin’ clue about Jordan. And Jordan was never going to tell him. I went back to Jordan that night and gave him a great big chunk of my mind. She…I mean he…whatever you wanna say. Jordan started yelling at me and telling me I was jealous and couldn't be happy for anyone. Jordan said they had talked about getting married and promised me I would be in the wedding like it would suffice me or something. There was no way that was going to work."
    "So what did you do next?"
    "Well I started going to the coffee shop on a regular basis and getting to know Constantine pretty well. I felt bad for the guy but couldn't bring myself to say anything more than the usual hello, goodbye and how are you. Eventually I got to know him well and I started, well I started to fall in love with him. There was no way at that point that I could allow such a man to be with Jordan, especially a straight man."
    "Did you tell Mr. Marx about your occupation?"
    "No. What does that have to do with anything?"
    "So you lied? Did you tell him you were an actress? Ms. Moore, were you with Jordan and Constantine the day of the altercation?"
    "Yes, I was there and as far as my occupation goes I told Constantine only what was necessary. Anyway, are you going to let me finish?"
    "Go ahead."
    "The day that everything went down I was determined to break them up. I went to the coffee shop early that morning and asked him if he could come by my place later that night to try to fix my computer being that was his profession and all. He agreed and came by later that night."
    "What time did Mr. Marx arrive?"
    "I guess it was about 5:30 in the evening."
    "Did he fix your computer?"
    "No! I don't even own a computer. Anyway. When he came to the door I let ‘em in and then all of the sudden I couldn't control myself. It was the first time that Constantine and I had been alone together. He frantically stopped me and asked what the hell was going on. I finally let it out that there was no easy way to say it but Jordan was not the person he thought she/he was. He freaked and wanted to know how I even knew Jordan. I told him everything from the snooping in the apartment to my planned visits to the coffee shop. Constantine still didn't understand. He can be a little naive sometimes. Finally I told him Jordan's true gender."
    "How did Mr. Marx respond?"
    "How do you think he responded!? He had almost married a man. Well, really, at first he didn't believe me till I showed him our High School yearbook then it was like the Crying Game all over again. Actually it was a little like Jim Carey in the Pet Detective too. Huh! So after he calmed down a little I felt that he was vulnerable enough for me to make my move. I planted one on him again and was about to tell him I was in love with him when this bh knocks down the door swinging a gun all over, drunk as anything."
    "Wait. She, I mean Jordan already had the gun when she entered the apartment?"
    "Isn' t that what I just said? Jesus you don't listen. Anyway, Jordan had been spying on us the whole time and knew about the coffee shop. Jordan had followed Constantine from work to the apartment that night. So he walks in and starts telling me I'm trying to steal 'her' man and I'm telling 'her' that I can't steal a straight man from a drag queen. We were exchanging many 'words' and Constantine is just standing there
dumbfounded. I tried telling her to get the hell out and that me and Constatine were in love. Jordan freaked at that moment. He held the gun with all of his intoxicated might and shot. Only he didn't get what he was aiming for, he got Constantine instead. Jordan freaked and began crying hysterically. He panicked and started telling me I killed his dreams of becoming a real woman. Then he tried shooting me again but missed and killed one of my curtains. Thank God. I'm still alive cause the drag queen can't shoot. I ran straight into Jordan like a linebacker to try and tackle him and get the gun. I guess in all the confusion the trigger went off and got Jordan. It wasn't bad. It looked like it had scraped his side. I got that pretty face good with my nails though." Amber said with a smile, then her face straightened. " All in self defense however."
    "Okay. Thank You Ms. Moore. If you could please... "
    The video tape switched off. Jordan knew he was f**ked. Or was he? He thought to himself quietly and then spoke. "Can I make my one phone call?" Asked Jordan.
    "Not until you tell us what ....." Detective O'Connor was trying to speak.
    "I want to call my lawyer!" Shouted Jordan. "For real this time."
    "Give her, I mean him the phone ," the Detective said with disgust.
    "Hello? Mr. Cochran? Hi honey it's Jordan Caprice. Question for ya. If the glove doesn't fit and it was in the heat of the moment—actually it was a crime of passion. Yeah… that sounds better. We can be found innocent, right?" Jordan nodded his head steadily. "I know, guilty in the lower courts." Nodding again.
    "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I see. Temporary Insanity? Sounds great to me!"