Trust (18 page)

Gramps thought about that for a moment.

"No, I don't think so. It's just that I'd seen him somewhere recently. I recognized his baseball cap, the dark green with the blue emblem. It's from that golf club you and Lauren play at, right?"

"Sure, I have the same one."

"He has a matching jacket too, one of those windbreaker things, same color green."

"Oh?" David grabbed a slice of the house special pizza, the Fenway, which had sausages, green peppers and onions. His grandfather ordered his usual, with sliced tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella.

“Yeah, and I just remembered where I'd seen him. Last time Al and I were down at the lake, he was there, fishing. Al says he's seen him there a few other times."

"No kidding, I never knew he liked to fish."

"You'd be surprised what you don't know about people you think you know well."  He grinned as he slid a fourth piece of pizza onto his plate. "I really shouldn't. Mouth says yes and stomach says no. Mouth wins, as usual."

David reached for a fourth slice himself. This was also part of their routine. His grandfather always protested that he shouldn't eat so much, but couldn't help himself. His grandfather's comment made him wonder if he had any doubts about Lauren.

"You know Lauren couldn't possibly have done this, right?"

His grandfather looked up at him, his eyes serious now. "Are you asking me if I think she did this? Or if it's possible? Two different things. It's most certainly possible. It was her club; if she was really angry she could have whacked him good and then shoved his body into the lake. But do I think she did it? No, of course not. Why, are you having doubts?"

"No!"

"Good, because you're marrying her in what—three days now? Any doubt at all would be a hellava thing to have hanging over the marriage."

"No doubt. I trust Lauren completely."

"Good. Getting married now, instead of postponing is the right thing to do, and smart. You'll be sending that message publicly, and seems to me that girl needs all the support she can get."

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Chapter Thirty-Eight

J
ack had never felt so torn up about a case before. He'd been excited when the idea of Randy as a suspect was raised, as it would have made sense for the killer to be someone like that; unlikeable and hot-tempered.  The idea of Lauren as Eric Armstrong's killer had never made sense to him, not for a moment. Yet the evidence was compelling. And there was motive and there were rumors, and usually where there was smoke there was fire. Usually.

Fortunately, the fact that there were other prints on the club in addition to hers could be enough reasonable doubt. He hoped so. Actually, what he really hoped for was a lead that would point him to the real killer and then Lauren would never have to worry about 'reasonable doubt.'

He kept going over everything, all the details in the case. There had to be something they were overlooking. He had a request in to the judge to get permission to require fingerprint testing from all country club members and staff.  Since the golf club had been taken from inside the country club, there was a strong likelihood that whoever removed it and used it as a weapon either worked there or was a member.

There wasn't a guarantee that he'd be granted permission though. It could be viewed as an invasion of privacy. Jack was hoping the judge would see the necessity. He had a reputation for being reasonable.

He spent the next hour and a half combing through the stack of paperwork pertaining to the case. Most of it he'd seen before, transcripts from all interviews with the family and Eric's friends, autopsy results that pointed to time and cause of death, and stuck inside the autopsy folder was a copy of Eric's birth and baptismal certificates.

The baptismal certificate was still in its envelope and the date was just a few days ago. It must have recently arrived and been added to the folder. Jack slipped it out of the envelope, intending to give it a cursory glance and then put it right back, but then a name on the certificate jumped out at him. Chuck was Eric Armstrong's godfather. Funny that it hadn't been mentioned before. He wondered what the relationship was to the family...if Chuck was a relative, cousin or something? Not that it was likely important, but it was a detail he could follow up on. He placed a call to the Armstrong house and Judith answered.

"Hi, Mrs. Armstrong, Jack here. Quick question for you. I'm going over some paperwork here at the office and noticed that Chuck is listed on Eric's baptismal certificate. I’m just trying to establish Chuck's relationship to the family; is he a relative? Friend?"

"Please, call me Judy. Chuck's not a relative. He was once a very good friend. He and my husband had a falling out years ago and drifted apart. He still stayed close to Eric though, always made a point to see him and remembered his birthday and on Christmas. He's a good person, just marches to a different drummer." She gave a nervous laugh.

"What do you mean by that?" He didn't know Chuck at all, even though David had worked with him for years. It was always Billy he talked about and did things with outside of the office. All Jack knew about Chuck was that he'd been married for about a year and was supposedly very good at his job. He wasn't the most personable broker, but his clients were happy with the results he achieved for them.

"Nothing, it's just a saying. He's always been a bit of a loner I guess, kind of moody. The fight that they had was so stupid that I don't even remember what it was about. But they haven't spoken since. They're both so stubborn."

"Is Ted around? I'd love to circle back with him, make sure we're not missing anything here."

"You don't think Chuck had anything to do with this, do you? He loves Eric, he'd never hurt him," Judy said.

"I'm not thinking anything like that. Just doing my job, trying to make sure we have all the information possible in case something turns up that might lead us in the right direction."

"But, I thought you already arrested someone for this? That teacher of his? The papers make it seem like it's an open and shut case with the murder weapon and finger prints. Though I find it hard to believe myself. She seemed like such a nice young woman.  None of this makes any sense." Her voice broke a little and Jack felt for her.

"I agree with you on that. I'd like to come out and visit with Ted around 6:00 tonight if you think he'll be back by then?"

"He's usually home by 5:30, so that should be fine."

Jack hung up the phone and turned back to his desk. For the rest of the afternoon he intended to learn all he could about Chuck.

As far back as middle school, he'd known Chuck, or known of him. Chuck's family had moved to the area when Jack was in the seventh grade, and Waverly being a small town, he met everyone but tended to stay on the sidelines, happy to bask in Billy's shadow. Billy was the life of the party even then and kids always gravitated to him. While Billy had many friends, Chuck had very few.

He mostly kept to himself and was quiet. Jack recalled him sitting in the corner reading rather than joking with all the other kids. Normally someone like that would have been a total outcast, picked on and left out. But, Billy wouldn't allow it. He insisted on pulling Chuck out of his shell and including him in everything. Plus, even then, Chuck was a big kid, close to six feet tall and closing in on two hundred pounds. No one was going to mess with him.

Chuck was always around, but Jack couldn't recall ever having more than a one or two sentence conversation with him. He was there the night of the incident too, when Jack, Billy and Lauren were interrogated. Chuck had left at some point before the police arrived, so like the rest of the kids, he wasn't questioned with the same intensity that the three of them had been. Some details from that night were crystal sharp still in Jack's memory but the rest were hazy. He remembered seeing Chuck that night, but wasn't sure when he saw him last and exactly how early he'd left.

He knew that Chuck was an excellent student, especially in Math and Science where he took honors courses and still got top grades. He went to MIT, and majored in math. He knew from comments that Billy and David made over the years, that when Chuck graduated, he was looking at getting his PhD, until a phone call from Billy changed his mind.

Billy's uncle had gotten him into the training program at Warren Brothers, a top investment firm in Boston. Billy floated Chuck's resume to the recruiting manager and they didn't hesitate to invite him in. They loved to hire out of the best schools, especially Harvard and MIT. Billy was persuasive and the starting salary was attractive as well, so Chuck agreed to delay graduate school for a year or two. Once he discovered the mathematical challenges of the stock market and had some success, graduate school became an afterthought.

A few years in, once they'd established themselves and had a good client base, Billy once again persuaded Chuck to join him in a new venture. He wanted to open their own investment firm in their hometown of Waverly. Billy figured that a good majority of their clients would go with them and they'd make up for the ones that didn't by getting referrals from people they knew in Waverly.

Jack also knew from David that business was very good for their new company, which was now nearly fifteen years old. Billy was a natural salesman and handled the rainmaking and client schmoozing while Chuck stayed in the background, doing what he did best—playing with numbers. The firm grew steadily over the years to its current size of twenty employees and three partners.

Jack considered what he knew about Eric’s father, Ted. He was a few years older than Chuck and he didn't recall them being friends during their school years. Ted had been born and brought up in Waverly but didn't attend the local public schools. He went to a private Catholic school in the next town and then like Chuck also attended MIT. Jack figured that was where they had likely struck up a friendship.

At a quarter to six, Jack shut down his computer and grabbed a small notebook to take with him. He arrived at the Armstrong house fifteen minutes later and Judy heard his car coming down the driveway, had the front door open and was waiting for him just inside.

"Come in. Ted will be right along.” Judy led him to the kitchen table and returned a moment later with Ted behind her. He was dressed in a suit and tie and looked uncomfortable. He shook Jack's hand, then took off his jacket and loosened his tie before sitting at the table with them.

"Had to meet with clients today. Only time I ever put on that monkey suit," he said and Jack smiled in response.

"So, I was going through the case file paperwork and noticed that Chuck is Eric's godfather and was wondering what the relationship is? Judy explained that you used to be close friends."

Ted's eyes clouded over and a deep frown line appeared between his eyebrows.

"Used to be best friends. That was a long time ago though. We haven't spoken in well over ten years."

"Chuck stayed close to Eric, though?"

"He did.  Never missed a birthday or Christmas gift. He was a lousy friend but a good godfather."

"Did he spend time with Eric too?"

"He saw Eric a few times a year. They'd mostly go fishing together and catch up on things."

"Do you know when he saw him last?"

"At least a month or so before he was killed. They went fishing on his birthday weekend.”

“Anything unusual happen? Did Eric come home upset?"

"No. I don't think Eric was ever upset with Chuck. They always got along great. Chuck's a pretty mellow guy for the most part."

"What did you and Chuck fight about that ended your friendship?" Jack felt nosy asking the question, but depending on the reason, it could be relevant.

"You know, in retrospect, it was kind of stupid. But we were both stubborn and both felt we were right. It had to do with my wife, Judy. I felt that she and Chuck were getting too close, and were ganging up on me about different issues. Judy and I were going through a rough patch then and I admit I was jealous. Chuck criticized my relationship with Judy; said I didn't listen enough and a few other things. I didn't want to hear any of it. All I heard was my friend showing a little too much interest in my wife."

"Judy, do you still talk to Chuck?" Jack was curious to hear the answer to this question.

"Me? No. Of course not." She seemed surprised and a bit nervous by the question and Jack wasn't sure he believed her.

"Okay. Anything else I should know?"

"No, that's about it I think." Ted put his arm around Judy and she snuggled close. They'd apparently resolved their differences.

"Thank you. I'll be in touch if we need anything else."

As Jack drove away, he couldn't help but wonder if there were still unresolved issues between Chuck, Ted and Judy.

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Chapter Thirty-Nine

T
he night before the wedding, after the rehearsal dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, David went over to Lauren’s condo for a short visit before heading home for the night. As strange as circumstances were, they both wanted to follow tradition and not see each other right before the wedding. David was having some serious second thoughts though. It felt like such a black cloud hung over them.

“I don’t know if we are doing the right thing, going through with this. Maybe we should postpone, hold off until the dust clears.”

Lauren looked up at him in dismay. “Are you serious? You don’t want to marry me tomorrow?” Her eyes welled up in an instant and David felt like a heel.

“Of course I want to marry you. It’s just, well, the timing really couldn’t be any worse.”

“Well, if you don’t want to marry me, I certainly don’t want to talk you into doing something you don’t want to do.”

David stood up, walked to the window and said nothing for a few minutes. Then he walked back to Lauren and pulled her into his arms.

“I love you, you know that. You have to know that. I have no doubts about marrying you. I only questioned the timing.” He smiled then and thought of his grandfather.

“What is it?” Lauren asked.

“I was just thinking about Gramps.”