"I beg your pardon?" I exclaimed in a shocking tone, I should always comport myself no matter what the client says but I lost it that moment. Five years into this job, it was my first time of hearing someone said she poisoned her own son, how am I suppose to justify this, how am I suppose to make her feel she did the right thing. "He raped my daughter" she paused for a second. "She's just twelve" she said breaking into tears. "I shouldn't have let him into our home, it's my fault"
"You shouldn't have let your son into your home?" I asked sounding so confused and trust me I was also looking it. "He's adopted" she dropped another one. I knew this was going to be a really tough one since I heard this woman's voice. This is a counseling office not a family court,how am I suppose to handle this. "Please ma'am just calm down, it's okay" That was the only statement I could think of that moment. I might as well start bidding my five years career goodbye from this moment. " My husband doesn't know about it and if he finds out I'm good as a dead meat" She said with a quavering voice. "Your husband doesn't have to know, and we are very discreet about our clients, we don't even know you so there's nothing to worry about" I assured her in my own confused state "He didn't die, he's in a coma presently and might wake up anytime soon. The first thing he's going to tell my husband is that I poisoned him" At that moment, it dawned on me that this woman wasn't looking for a justification for her conscience, she was looking for a way out. How am I supposed to help her with a crime she did but couldn't finish . I mean she had only one job, and she messed it up! Don't get me wrong, not that I support her actions I would never do that, but I mean, if she did the job right it would have been a different matter entirely. After few seconds of silence and crazy thoughts running through my mind, I finally found my voice. "I'm sorry ma'am, but I don't know how I can help in this situation, my job here is to counsel people having problems they can't handle to make them feel better not solicit a crime. I can only advise you to tell your husband the truth, tell him you weren't thinking, I mean she's his daughter too, he should understand.
"She's not his daughter, my husband and I got married five years ago. We had a child each from our previous marriages. The son is his but he's adopted, my daughter is from my ex husband. The worst part of it all now is I've never been on good terms with my stepson, we always quarreled and my husband just thinks I hate him cause he's not my biological son." She dropped another bomb. "Does your husband know his son raped your daughter?" I asked not knowing what next to say, I needed to engage this woman but words were failing me that moment. I had no idea how the session was going to end, but I wasn't ready to just back down like that. If I can't satisfy this woman and she goes out there to say a word about it, I might as well kiss my career goodbye. Rich people might seem to spend excessively but when you can't give them the worth of their money, they drop you without flinching. I fought so hard to take my position on top of the pyramid there's no way I'm letting this one ruin me. " I told him but he doesn't believe me, he thinks I cooked it up to get rid of his son, he won't even believe my daughter too. She's a mess right now and I can't even do anything to console her cause I'm worried about what would happen if that bastard wakes up". She said still sobbing. "If he doesn't believe you or your daughter why are you still with him?" I thought of saying that but then she poisoned the boy, there's no way she's getting out of this with just a divorce. I needed to think carefully before saying anything. "Would you like a cup of coffee?" That was the next thing that came out of my mouth. Really? Alex, coffee? my inner thoughts was disappointed. Blame my brain I said back to my thought.
Yes please, I think I really need it right now." She replied. See? It worked! I said back to my thoughts. The battle was between my brain and mind now, I wonder which would get me out of this mess. I pressed the alarm button on my table and requested for a cup of coffee. At least, I could buy myself sometime with this. "Your coffee will be here shortly ma'am, in the mean time please stop crying and just take a deep breath, we'll take this one at a time and everything will be okay trust me". I said with a strong conviction. Who was I kidding? Nothing was okay! "Thank you Counsellor, you are very kind" of course I was, that was the only card I had at that moment. All of a sudden, an idea struck my mind. "Do you have an incriminating evidence to prove he did rape your daughter?" I asked eagerly. "Hmm, I recorded the conversation we had before I poisoned him, I wasn't planning to do so but he provoked me, I confronted him and he said there was nothing I could do about it and kept bragging about what he did". Okay things are starting to become interesting. "Does your husband know about the record?" "I couldn't tell him after I poisoned him since that will be pointing to me directly as the one who did it, I'll be shooting myself in the foot if I did that" she said. "Good, how about waiting for him to wake up, make sure you are the first person he sees when he wakes up, threaten him with the recording that you will take it to the police if he says anything about the food poisoning to his dad, that way you would be able to take control of the situation and also have something to keep him in check if he tries to misbehave again. How about that?" I said, feeling impressed with myself. "Oh God, I thought you were smart" she replied. Cold sweats ran through my body. Is this it? Am I finally leaving this line of work? My career was of five years flashed at my eyes. What did this woman mean? What was she going to say next?