ONLY HALF THE MAN I USED TO BE
Chapter Eight
Cal stormed back to first class
with a scowl that screamed for everyone to stay away from him. Most people did.
They knew all too well of the temper of Cal and were staying well away. Cal had
not yet cut ties with Ruth, Rose’s mother, as he was still trying to win Rose
back. When he did, he would need Ruth on his side. In the small chance, or what
Cal thought was a small chance, that he failed, he would get far away from Ruth
and that family, which was saddled with debt. He knew that all the DeWitt
Bukaters had left was their name, and without him they were hopeless. So, as
Ruth would be of no use to him, he would get rid of the strain on his bank
balance.
His assistant, Lovejoy, had not
survived the sinking. Cal had been furious. He was the one who had carried out
all of Cal’s dirty deeds, and now he would have to do them alone.
"I can manage this," he
whispered to himself, a sick, twisted smile across his face. He had created a
plan, a plan that would get Rose back to him for sure.
He tried to dodge Ruth as he saw
her coming towards him, but he didn’t get away fast enough.
"Mr. Hockley," she
said.
He turned around. "Ruth, my
dear! I didn’t see you there." God, I hate this woman, he thought.
The sooner he could be rid of her, the better.
"Have you heard from
Rose?" she asked him.
"Yes. We had a good
conversation," he lied. He didn’t need to tell her the details. She would
be his again soon.
"Good," Ruth said. She
was waiting for her daughter to stop this ridiculous charade and come back to
first class and secure their future. Of course, Ruth could go and look for Rose
herself, but she wasn’t going to go anywhere near that filth-ridden third class
deck, amongst the dirty and the poor. But if Rose doesn’t get her senses
back soon, I will be joining them, Ruth thought bitterly. "I do hope
she comes back soon. This silly charade has gone on far too long."
"Yes, Ruth, it has,"
Cal agreed. He would take Rose back, of course, but discipline would certainly
be in order.
"It is so good of you to be
prepared to take her back after all that has happened," Ruth said.
"Yes," Cal said,
smiling his gentlemanly smile, putting on a false front. "Well, we have
all been through a terrible horror, haven’t we? Let’s look to the future. I
must go now, Ruth. Please excuse me."
"Of course," she said,
waving him away.
Cal couldn’t get away from her
fast enough. He headed back to the small stateroom that he had been issued. It
was a far cry from the luxury of the Titanic, but compared to what some had, it
was good. He only had one more day left of this hellish life to endure and he
would be back in America, and he could get back into a decent place to stay.
He rummaged through the small safe
in his new room to find what he needed. It was absolutely rubbish compared to
his other splendid safe. It would probably have opened with a good kick, but
there were some things a man couldn’t carry around all the time.
He removed the panel he had loosened
to hide it behind. He closed his hand around the object he needed and pulled it
out. He wrapped his fingers around it, feeling the cool feel of it on his warm
skin, the feeling of revenge. And this time, he would get it. He found what
else he needed. He had got it from an old contact. He was lucky to get it, or
the plan wouldn’t have worked. He placed them in the inside of his coat pocket
and looked into the mirror above him.
"Yes, Hockley," he
said, smirking at himself in the mirror. "You always win."
With one last smooth of his
over-pomaded hair, he stepped out of his stateroom and went to find Rose and
that gutter rat.