The Marriage Act(112)
By the time Corrine and the others reached the back of the stage, all they could hear was the sound of 100,000 people chanting, ‘Love is free.’
93
Luca
From his position in the wings of the stage, Luca stared at an ocean of people as far back as the eye could see.
His anxious stomach churned so he made his excuses and hurried to the portable toilets behind the stage for the fourth time in an hour. He yanked his jeans down but there was nothing left inside him but nerves. He washed his hands regardless and returned backstage, trying to centre himself as his therapist had advised.
Today was always going to be stressful and that was before news of Jeffrey Beech’s death had begun to filter through to the news network and then his phone in a flurry of texts, emails and news alerts. He felt relief, anger and hope that the nightmares that plagued his sleep and sometimes paralysed his days might now come to an end. But this wasn’t the day to try and process his emotions. He would have to push them to one side and deal with the matter at hand first. ‘One thing at a time,’ he whispered to himself.
‘Hi Luca.’ A young woman with sparkling blue eyes distracted him. ‘Here’s your mic and we’ve uploaded your speech onto the autocue positioned directly in front of you.’
‘Okay,’ said Luca, his throat dusty.
‘Can I get you a drink?’
‘Water would be great, thanks.’
He briefly considered how, while she was gone, this would be the perfect opportunity for him to run. He could leave the mic on a table, exit past the security guards and return home, never having to think about that awful night again. Noah’s lifeless body, Jeffrey’s desperate attempts to convince him they belonged together and then his hands around Luca’s throat . . .
He shook his head. No, he told himself. He must stay. He had a duty to all Jeffrey’s victims, living and dead, to tell his story.
‘Good luck,’ said the stagehand and passed him a water bottle. Luca took a long drink as Freedom for All’s spokesperson, Howie Cosby, took centre stage.
‘Many of you will recognize our next speaker from the court case that gripped the country,’ Cosby began. ‘He and his husband Noah were the last victims of Relationship Responder and convicted killer Jeffrey Beech. Today, I’d like to welcome to the stage, Luca Stanton-Gibbs.’
Luca’s legs were leaden as a cheer rang out and he made his way to a black X taped to the floor. The last time he’d stood before an audience was at Jeffrey’s trial. The evidence he’d given was widely reported upon and had been damning, refuting the defence’s claims that Luca had led Jeffrey on and was a co-conspirator in a plan to kill Noah. It took a jury only four hours to side with Luca and the prosecutor’s many others witnesses. Luca had since declined all media requests for interviews to concentrate on his own mental health recovery. But when event organizers had approached him, he knew that he must participate.
He grasped one side of the lectern, focused on the autocue and cleared his throat.
‘Many of you will know parts of my story, but not all of it,’ he began. ‘So I’m here today to fill in the gaps.’
After explaining how he and Noah had met and married, he recalled how a flawed Audite system had Levelled them up and brought Jeffrey into their lives.
‘Noah warned me about him several times,’ Luca continued. ‘He was convinced that there was something disingenuous about him. But, despite being let down by the technology that was supposed to help us, I still had faith in the Act. I believed a human being and not a machine would realize it had been a huge mistake and overrule the decision. I was sure Jeffrey was on our side. I was open to his suggestions, I listened to his advice. And I have never been more wrong about anything in my life.’
The audience maintained a respectful silence as Luca described Jeffrey’s divide-and-conquer techniques, of slowly but surely chipping away at their confidence in each another until their marriage was genuinely in crisis.
‘That last night, when Jeffrey strangled and kept electrocuting me . . .’ Luca’s voice cracked and he paused, taking a sip from his bottle, ‘the only reason I’m alive today is because, when Noah returned home on receiving Jeffrey’s video, the fob that Jeffrey used to control the Audite must have fallen from his pocket and landed on the stairs. Noah picked it up and switched it back on to record their forthcoming confrontation as he ran up the stairs to find me. For once, it worked in our favour as key words triggered the system to alert emergency services. The police arrived as he was trying to kill me and arrested him.’
To rapturous applause, the woman who had given Luca his mic and bottle appeared, pushing a wheelchair containing Noah. Luca leaned over to kiss his husband before holding his hand.
‘The damage Jeffrey wreaked on both of us was psychological and physical, and it continues to this day,’ Luca continued. ‘I have been diagnosed with PTSD, which makes me relive that night over and over again. But Noah has suffered much more. He was dead when the paramedics arrived and only their persistence resuscitated him. The attack and lack of oxygen has left him with a brain injury, which led to a series of strokes. He has difficulty with his short-term memory and the right side of his body is partially immobile. The stress on his windpipe makes communication difficult. He has been forced to leave the career he loved. But he is still very much alive, and that is what matters.’