The Enigma's Anomaly

Trust Exercises

"Of course I do Gerard. I know he's innocent," I say as sincerely as I can. I brush a hair out of his eyes and he looks ready to cry. I can't bear this look on him. I know Mikey didn't do this. He loves Gerard so much, and there's just no way that he'd ever do anything like this.

The phone rings again, and it fills the silence like a knife. I grab for it when Gerard doesn't move, and I hand it to him, but he looks petrified.

He puts the phone down on the pillow next to him and presses the answer button then puts it on speaker.

"Hello?"

"Gerard!" Mikey's voice says.

"Hey Mikes, I heard what happened," Gerard croaks.

"I know. You know I didn't do it right? Gerard, you know I wouldn't do that."

Gerard doesn't answer immediately so I interject, "We know Mikey. We know you didn't do any of this. Gerard's just really upset."

"I promise," he says softly and he's probably more scared then Gerard, "I couldn't."

"Mikey, why do they think you did do it though? What evidence do they have?" I ask him. Gerard's looking up at the ceiling blankly and I don't even know if he's listening.

"They found, like, um transcripts of letters to the assassin or something. They also found one of the guns used to shoot Gerard in my closet! I don't even have a gun. It's not mine! Someone put it there. Someone broke in and planted it there. I swear," Mikey says.

"Oh god," I say, "don't worry I believe you."

This is terrifying. I never got arrested for stuff I did do and now Mikey's been arrested for something he didn't do. This is absolutely mortifying. I don't know how to prove he's innocent. I know it, but I'm just the boyfriend of the brother of the accused. Who would listen to me?

"This is a nightmare, Frank," Mikey says and he sounds hurt.

He might realize what's going through his own brothers' head so I kick Gerard and he looks back at me looking worried.

Gerard seems to understand my message and says, "Don't worry Mikey. We know you're innocent, and we will do everything possible to make those dunderheads see that."

"What if you can't prove it though? I'm such an obvious suspect and now they've got fake proof!"

"You are not going down for this Mikey. Do you hear me? You are innocent and they are going to see that!" Gerard says.

"But what if there's no proof of that?" Mikey asks.

"There is. There has to be. There's no such thing as a perfect crime," I say, "one way or another the real killer has to have made a mistake."

"You can't know that," Mikey says hopelessly.

"I do know that, trust me Mikey," I say.

"Trust you? Frank, how do you know you can even trust me? I didn't do this, but I could've!"

"There's nothing more I can say than the fact that I'm positive you're innocent," I answer grimly.

"Me too Mikes," Gerard adds, "I'll get you a lawyer, okay? You'll get through this."

Mikey doesn't say anything for a minute or two and the quiet is painful. Gerard's trying not to cry and I'm trying not to spill the beans. There's nothing about my former employer that I can say that won't incriminate me. What I do know about him is that he isn't Mikey. Mikey is too good for that. If he had a beef with anyone, especially his own brother, he'd tell them. He wouldn't try to kill them.

We hang up with Mikey a minute later after Gerard promises to get the best attorney money can buy. Gerard's got a good income so I imagine that money is no object.

"Mikey can't have done this," Gerard says. "Think about it. Who would buy that comic book? No one! It's so bland, and obvious. There's no twist. There has to be a twist!"

"Life isn't a comic book, Gerard."

"But all the best villains are based on real people. Mine all are! I wouldn't be able to sell a story like this. The villain has to be someone like that."

I don't say anything as I consider his words. If Gerard is the victim who else would be the villain if all the signs point one way?

"How do we prove he's innocent? He has to be!" Gerard asks and his eyes are pleading for me to pull an answer out of a hat.

"We have to find the real person behind this. Or we have to find a reason that proves Mikey couldn't have done this. We have to check everything! Where would he get the money to pay for an assassin? What reason would he have to kill his own brother? How would he have known how to even hire an assassin?

"And we have to get people to check his apartment too. Wipe for prints. See who originally bought that gun they found. And why would Mikey even have that gun if he was hiring an assassin? There's so many holes in their evidence."

"What am I going to do if we can't clear him Frank?" Gerard asks.

"Don't worry. We will," I tell him and he tries to nod, but a first tear spills from his eye. I grab him and pull him into me so that hopefully he feels more assured. I feel tears drip onto my shoulder, but I don't say anything about it.

I wish I really did know who hired me though. I wish I'd asked for a name or something. I guess I can just be glad that they don't know who I am. Anonymity is always the key and it looks like it's saving my ass, but it's forfeiting Mikey's. If that person is framing Mikey then they can't know who The Enigma really is then. If my client knew who I really was then I'd be the one behind bars right now.

I just don't believe Mikey could do this. How could he? Why would he? If only I knew who was really behind this than I could let the whole thing rest. I don't know though. I don't even know if I'm wrong about Mikey. He seems so sincere, but I don't know him that well. He could just be a really good actor.

What about that note though? That wasn't Mikey's handwriting. That's all I have to hold onto right now. Whoever wrote that letter, whoever hired The Enigma, that's who we're after. Not Mikey.

Everything was so good. Everything was starting to seem right. How did it all go to shit so quickly?