See disclaimers in Part 1
****
House of Cards 4/4
By Lacy
I call her cell phone only to hear it ringing from the inside of the
purse she left behind. With the oppressive and deafening silence of
the house ringing in my ears, I hit the second speed dial button on my
cell phone. I don't even notice that it's long past an acceptable
hour for phone conversation.
"It's three o'clock in the morning. This better be a national
emergency," a groggy voice answers.
"Sam?"
"Josh? What is it?"
"She left. I said some things...and...and she left. She took my car.
She's been gone for hours."
"Stay put," he orders me, as if I can go anywhere. "I'll be right
there." His voice is suddenly alert as he speaks to me. He hangs up
the phone and I am left listening to a mournful dial tone.
****
I don't know how long I've been sitting on the couch when I glance up
to see Sam standing in the doorway. I didn't even hear him come in.
He's wearing a hastily donned pair of jeans and a sweater.
"This is my fault, isn't it?" he asks. "This is because of what I
said."
"Oh, no," I promise him. "This was all me."
"What happened? Did something happen at your dinner with Joey Lucas?"
"Joey told me that she called several times after I was released from
the hospital, but I never got the messages."
"Yeah, well I never get half of my messages from Ginger either. She's
not much of a receptionist, but she's pretty good at problem solving."
"Ginger was answering my phone," I say with finality.
"Yeah," Sam responds. "She was happy to help Donna out, and I think
Toby was trying to bribe her into loosening the visitation rules.
Most of the calls were from reporters anyway-" he stops as if a light
has just hit upon the most insignificant detail. "But you didn't know
that," he concludes.
"No."
"And you thought Donna was taking your messages."
"Yes."
"So you assumed she hid the messages from you, so that you wouldn't
know Joey had called."
Remind me to have a new respect for Sam's deductive powers. "Yes," I
verify, my head dropping into my hands. "I am Fortune's fool."
"So you fought about it? Josh, every couple has fights. I realize
that life has been incredibly kind to you in the last few weeks, but
there's not a couple on this planet that doesn't have the occasional
disagreement. Even you and Donna aren't that perfect."
"This wasn't a fight," I tell him.
"What do you mean?"
"Remember the Oval Office?"
"Yeah," he gulps.
"Tonight I was enraged, Sam. The Oval Office happened when I was just
a little moody," I offer him a frame of reference.
"Oh, God," he whispers.
"Yeah," I agree. "I said things, Sam. With the President it was all
business and politics. With Donna, I got personal."
"We can fix this," he assures me, with a too-bright optimism even he
doesn't feel.
"We can't fix this."
"We can, all we have to do is-"
"I told her that if I hadn't been shot I would be with Joey Lucas
right now instead of her. I accused her of playing with my life, Sam.
Ever since I proposed, it's been like waiting for the axe to fall,
you know? We were too happy. Everything was going to well. I had
everything I could ask for in life - a great future ahead of me. But
still, I wondered what would happen to take it all away. What tool or
device would present itself for the purpose of our obliteration?"
"Josh."
"I could never have predicted this. I could never have dreamed that
it wouldn't be outside forces conspiring to divide us. How could I
have foreseen that ultimately I would be the instrument of our
destruction?"
'You can't think like that, Josh."
"I can't feel anything, Sam. I'm numb, again, except this time it's
kind of a relief."
"Josh, you've got to hold it together."
"Why?" I hear myself ask.
"Because there is a way out of this hole," he tells me. "We just have
to find it."
"Not even Leo can help me out of this one." I laugh bitterly, for
some reason I don't even understand. "I think...if I were brave
enough...I would cut out own tongue."
"I'm calling CJ," he informs me. "Maybe she'll know what to do."
"I think I can safely say that I'll be demoted. What's beneath
apprentice?"
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Where's the phone?"
"You'll have to use the cell." I hand him mine.
"Did you try calling her?"
"CJ?"
"Donna."
"She left her purse," I say simply.
Before Sam can punch in CJ's number the doorbell begins its soft
chiming.
"Who else did you call?" Sam asks.
"No one." I stand up and cross the living room in to the foyer, with
Sam right behind me. I open the door to find two D.C. uniformed
police officers standing on the stoop.
It occurs to me that living in close quarters, the neighbors probably
called in a domestic disturbance when they heard me yelling. And D.C.
cops, being some of the most overworked and underpaid law enforcement
officers in the nation, took their sweet time getting here.
"Is there a problem, officers?"
"Is one of you Josh Lyman?" the taller of the two, asks.
"I am," I respond. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Do you own a 1970 Corvette, black, with license plate XVR-23W."
"Yes, my fianceé has it right-Oh, my God." I feel Sam's hand grip my
arm.
"Could you come with us, Mr. Lyman?"
"Is it Donna?" I ask. "Did something happen to Donna?"
"Could you come with us, sir?"
"Sam?"
"I'm right here."
"Sam, something happened to Donna."
"Let's go, Josh."
He hands me my coat, but I can't think of what I'm supposed to be
doing with it. I barely even notice the chill in the air, as Sam
leads me to the police cruiser and opens the door for me. Something's
happened to Donna. Something's happened to Donna? I thought...I
mean...I didn't think -- where was my intel? There weren't any
satellite photos...wasn't an advance team supposed to scope this
out?...the radar must be malfunctioning.
I never saw this coming.
The End