Three Rivers (41 page)

"I needed money so badly. That accident ruined my life. Even now, I still have so much pain.” He stared at her miserably as he spoke. "I was totally broke, depressed, gambling. I lost everything. I couldn't research well anymore. I, uh, borrowed some of Jack's ideas."

"Oh David."

"But then we got those military contracts. And they contacted me. They knew everything — the gambling, the drugs, the idea theft. They were going to leak it to the university. I would have nothing. Or I could take their offer and be rich. It was too easy to decide."

"Who were 'they' David?"

"Chinese black market dealers, I think. Wasn't really my place to ask.” He looked lost as he rose and started to absently pour out the contents of each of the drawers in her dining room onto the ground.

"Why would you do it? You're so respected. You would always have a job at any university."

"No I wouldn't. Not when they found out.” He started looking around again, but with more hopelessness. "The pain from my accident never went away. I still need the pills, Tea, even now. Oh God, but now...what am I going to do?"

"Jack wasn't helping you, was he?” The question tore at her heart, the thought of it killing her.

"Jack?” he laughed. "Never. But he did find that someone had taken the military information off the server. I had been so careful, had encrypted messages, blocked senders and receivers of messages, anything showing I had access and was making the deal. I'd worked so hard to cover my tracks, not even letting us work on the project. He just fell on it while repairing the glitches I put on there to hide my work. God, he was so smart.”

"Someone would've found out, anyway, right?” she asked quietly.

"Not before I was long gone. Jack had come to me with what he was finding. He didn’t know it was me, so I blew him off — told him to tell me if he found more and that I'd take it to the authorities. I had it all figured out — I'd be gone and they'd see money going to Jack and calls from China to our office line, I figured they would think it was him. I just needed more time. But he figured out someone was setting him up..."

"But he loved you, David," Althea whispered.

"I
never
wanted to hurt Jack. It all got so fucked up. I was just lucky no one looked into Jack's death. The Chinese took what little materials I'd given them and I got a small payout. Not enough for me to leave, though. I was stuck and so scared all these years.” David covered his face with his hands in frustration.

"David, what do you mean, look into Jack's death... He was..."

"In the car by himself? When I saw him in my office I drugged his coffee like I did yours.” Althea groaned painfully as her foggy brain suddenly made a lot more sense to her.

"I was waiting for Jack to pass out. I figured I could destroy whatever he'd found linking the Chinese to me after he passed out. Discredit him with evidence of payouts, blame him for it all and leave in time to collect my money. But he found me in the building. Confronted me. He knew everything. I was too late. Oh God, and then he told me he had a flash drive hidden somewhere safe. He refused to tell me where. I had no choice, I swear!"

"Please David, tell me you didn't."

"I didn't want to, Tea. I mean it. He was with it enough after the drugs took effect that I didn't have to totally drag him to his car. Then I drove him by your house and..."

"You drove him into the river?” Her words ripped through her like broken glass and he simply nodded.

"It wasn't easy. Luckily he was out by then. Took all my strength to put him in the driver's seat and push it into the river."

"But someone saw him alone. They tipped off the cops."

David looked at her with insane pride in his eyes.

"Anonymous tipper, right? Come on, Tea. That was me. I couldn't risk an investigation into a missing person. I needed him to be found. So you see now why I need that flash drive?"

He touched her cheek again and she jerked away as much as she could.

Suddenly calmly talking him into letting her go — connecting to him like a person — seemed impossible. She was so angry and confused and alone. Who knew how long she'd been out. No one was coming to get her and the man that ruined her life was touching her. It was all too much.

"I trusted you, David. I let you around my
son
. I treated you like family.”

How could I have been so wrong about everything?

"I know. And I do love you. You know, I probably saved you. They weren't going to just let Jack get away with exposing them. You wouldn't have been safe."

He touched her face again and she wanted to scream with fury.

"Now you're going to try and make this about me. Are you insane? You hurt me and tied me up. You killed my husband!"

"I don't want to hurt you again. But I will if I have to. If I can't get away I have nothing left. Nothing but you.”

Her heart started pounding when she noticed the glint of black metal on the dining room table — a gun. David picked it up awkwardly and pointed it in her direction. "I hate this thing, but I guess it's good I brought it."

"Is that what you hit me with?” He nodded and the world turned to a tiny pinprick where only fear lived. "Are you going to ki-ill me? Like you did Jack.”

"Not if you get me the flash drive and come with me."

"Give me my phone, maybe I can ask someone,” she proposed desperately.

"Oh no, I can't do that, but you've given me an idea. Maybe it's not with you because someone else has it. I was going to search that asshole Griffen's hotel room next, but if he likes you as much as I think he does, I may be able to save myself the trip.”

David's wild eyes suddenly looked full of a disturbing glee as he grabbed her phone off the dining room table.

Griffen felt his phone vibrate. He looked at it quickly in case it was any word from Jenna or the cops.

He was shocked to see Althea's name pop up in the text message:
Please come to my house so we can talk.

It was likely David had her phone and was setting him up. Didn't matter, he needed to get in there. At least now he didn't have to worry about making it a surprise. He felt his back to make sure his gun was secure in the waistband of his jeans, under his jacket, and headed to her front door.

Griffen walked into the house, hands up and the sight that greeted him made his stomach drop. Althea was tied to a chair with dried blood caked down the back of her neck. Though her lovely eyes were hazy and unfocused, they were marked with sheer terror.

"Oh good. There you are,” David declared, still managing to sound haughty, despite the fact he was clearly hanging by a thread. "I'm looking for a flash drive and I'm hoping you have it.” David's shaking hand was pointing a small revolver at Althea. He looked jittery, desperate, and capable of anything.

Althea looked in Griffen's eyes and imperceptibly shook her head and looked at the door.

Aw, hell no. No way was he leaving her here. His incessant digging got her into this mess and he needed to get her out. Even if he died doing it.

"I do, but not on me. If you let Althea go, I'll get it to you."

"No, that won't work. First, I don't believe you. Second, I'm not going to let her go. She and my freedom are all I have. So you need to give me a better offer. To start with, I need you to drop that gun you're hiding."

"Gun?"

"Don't play stupid. I know all about you asshole," he answered, his voice shaky as his hand waved the gun away from Althea toward Griffen.

"Do you think I'd just let you spend time with my Tea here — at night — without reading up on you. You fancy yourself some kind of cowboy. We both know you wouldn't come here unarmed. Now drop it.”

"No problem, man. I just want to be reasonable. The flash drive doesn't mean anything to me. I just want Althea,” Griffen said calmly, grateful for the press of his backup knife that was secured to his ankle. Now, if he could just get to it. He dropped the gun on the floor and watched as David picked it up clumsily and tossed it on the dining room table.

"Good, now get over into that chair.” Griffen sat down and saw David pulling out more rope. Dammit, if he let himself get tied up, he wouldn't be able to help Althea, but he had faith in David's inexperience in real hard criminal activity.

David leaned over him and said, "So you're going to get your contact to leave the flash drive for us. Only after I have it in my hands will I decide what to do with you two."

Griffen sat down slowly. "Sure man, doesn't mean anything to me. I couldn't read half the shit on it anyway."

As he pulled back Griffen's left hand to secure it to the chair, one hand still pointing the gun at Althea, Griffen heard the blessed sounds of sirens in the distance. David was looking toward the window when Griffen snatched his knife from his ankle with his right hand.

"What the fuck? You called the police? Stupid. Very stupid. You know I won't let her go."

David lifted the gun pointing it at Althea. His eyes were red and full of tears. "I don't know what to do Tea. I guess it's over, but I won't go without you. I waited so long for you, don't worry. I'll be close behind you."

Those insane words filled Griffen with powerful fear as he leapt as far as he could with one hand tied up, knocking David over and forcing the gun away from Althea.

He was fortunately much stronger than David, throwing him down on the ground and slamming the knife as hard as he could toward his body. He was relieved to hear David scream, but then he heard a loud blast as the sirens grew louder.

It felt like someone had taken a red hot baseball bat to his shoulder, leading to exploding fire throughout his chest. He fought to keep awake but the pain was too much.

As Griffen's eyes slowly closed, he heard a door slam open and the distant shouts of the approaching police.

As the murky darkness descended further, Griffen heard the dull roar of nearing footsteps, shouts, shuffling, and then the sweet sound of Althea's voice in his ear and the scent of cherries surrounding him.

He tried to hold on to the glorious sensations but the warmth and blackness finally took over.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

"I always knew David was a creeper, I just
knew
it,” Aubrey said, letting a drop of melted ice trickle down Althea's neck until she squealed in her seat in the hospital waiting room. "Oops, sorry, Tea."

"Can you focus on my head wound Florence Nightingale and not David? I would really rather never think of him again.” Althea squirmed from the next cold drop of water. "I don't even know why you made that damn ice pack, Aubrey. They said you could just monitor me."

"I want to help,” Aubrey muttered. As if on cue, Althea yelped when another icy drop traveled into the back of her shirt. Aubrey cringed, "Sorry."

"It's okay. I think it's helping," Althea lied. She luckily hadn't needed to be admitted. The amount of Vicodin David put in her coffee was only enough to make her loopy quickly, not hurt her, so it wore off on its own.

Unfortunately, it hadn't kept her from comprehending the sight of Griffen unconscious and covered in blood. She'd watched as the paramedics tended to Griffen — wouldn't look away from him for a moment, even while they tried to gauge how messed up she was.

She'd still been so groggy and could barely focus, but the sight of David laying there bleeding but still alive and Griffen unconscious next to him had been almost more than she could bear. David had taken so much from her and had threatened to take even more.

Carol and Jenna had done a great job hurrying the EMTs, cops, and fire department to her house. Her heart hurt just thinking of what would've happened if they hadn't come. She was just grateful that Johnny hadn’t been home. She'd had to talk to two police officers about the events, and knew that had to be just the beginning of what would be an intensive investigation into David's crimes, including what she now knew to be his murder of Jack.

Talking to the police had tormented her with the usual panic at remembering the awful night she lost Jack, but she made it through by knowing — finally — that she hadn't caused his death.