Trust (21 page)

"Yeah, Lauren's been a little stressed, as you can imagine. How's Katy doing?" David thought asking after Chuck's wife might be a way to ease into the more difficult conversation.

"She's good, real good." Chuck actually smiled and David was caught off-guard a bit. "We haven't formally announced it yet, as it's not quite three months now, but she's pregnant." David knew they'd had a hard time getting pregnant and this would be their first child.

"That's great news. Congratulations."

"Thanks, so what's going on with you?"

"Well, I'm wondering if you might be able to shed some light on something. We're still trying to make sense of this whole thing and Lauren has been wracking her brain trying to remember anything that could help. Conversations she had with Eric, things that didn't seem important at the time, but that might be. We still don't have much to go on."

"Okay." Chuck waited for him to continue.

"Well, it's the strangest thing, and I don't know if it has any importance, but Lauren thought she remembered Eric saying something about finding out who his real father was, that he thought it was you." That was a lie, but Chuck wouldn’t know it, and David hoped to throw him off-balance.

"That's ridiculous," Chuck said, but David noticed his hand was clenched so tightly around his pen that his knuckles were white.

"Is it?" David asked. He stood up and walked toward the window. He was too agitated to sit still as now he understood Chuck's motive, and he was furious to think that Chuck had used Lauren to throw suspicion off himself. 

"You've always denied the affair with Judy, and now your wife is finally pregnant. Having Eric come forward would knock everything off-balance, and you like everything perfect, no messiness." 

“That’s ridiculous. You know me better than that.” Chuck’s voice was calm and measured but a flush was creeping across his face and David noticed a muscle twitch in his jaw.  The key to breaking his resolve would be to make him mad enough that he’d snap. David had seen it happen before. Chuck was very tightly wound. He didn’t like it when things didn’t go his way. Everyone in the office knew to steer a clear path when he was in one of his moods. He could switch into a bad mood in an instant.

Another thought dawned on him then as he thought back to his earlier conversations with Lauren and Jack. It was a bit of a reach, but it made sense, especially given the weapon that Chuck had used. Even if it wasn’t true, it wasn’t likely to go over well with Chuck. But would it be enough to push him over the edge? He hoped so. David leaned against Chuck’s desk and looked him straight in the eye, "You killed Nancy too, didn't you? Lauren told me all about it. She was there as you well know.” 

Chuck said nothing at first. But then he stood up and faced David. His face was totally red now from rage and his eyes seemed distant and detached. He stayed silent for a moment longer and then he let loose, "Nancy was a little bitch. We were supposed to go on our first date the next day. It took me a week to get up the courage to ask her out and then at the beach, after a few drinks she tells me that wants to go out with Billy instead, that he was the one she really liked.”

“So you killed her?” David couldn’t hide his disgust. 

Chuck barely glanced his way before continuing, “I barely remember reacting, it happened so fast. We were alone for a minute or so in one of the dunes. I had a golf club in my hand as we'd all been taking turns hitting balls. Next thing I knew, I swung at her and she went down. I panicked and hit her again, threw the club and then ran off, and left a short while later. No one ever connected me to it. Stupid cops."

"So what happened with Eric then? Do you remember that?" David asked carefully, and stepped closer to the door, prepared to make a run for it if he had to.

Chuck's eyes glazed over and then seemed to come into focus again. He spoke slowly with a sense of detachment, almost like someone relaying a bad dream. There had been no hint of regret in his voice when he talked about killing Nancy, but there was a fleeting hint of possible regret when he talked about Eric.  

“It was more an accident than anything else. We were fishing, one of our usual trips. Eric was on edge, his parents had been fighting, and then he overheard his mother on the phone talking to his aunt. She said something like, 'thank god he takes after his real father’, and then, ‘he's seeing Chuck tomorrow, that should calm him down.’ Eric put two and two together, and was upset. Said he was going to talk to his teacher Lauren about it, that she'd helped him work through stuff before. Obviously I couldn't let that happen."

"So, you killed your own son?" David couldn't hide his disgust.

"It just happened. We were arguing about it the whole way back to the car. I didn't want him to say anything to anyone, but he couldn't let it go. I saw the golf club in the back of his car and asked him about it. It was a three wood, a big club. He said it was Lauren's, that she'd left it at the club and he grabbed it to give to her at school the next day. It was an opportunity and I acted quickly. As soon as he turned away, I hit hard, so he went right down and was out immediately. I thought it was kinder that way." He paused then and David felt a chill run over him.

"I panicked then, dumped the body and took the club with me. That’s why they didn’t find it at first. But then I thought it over and brought it back a few days later and left it where I knew it would be found. It was unfortunate for Lauren, but it was perfect really as it could tie her to both murders while getting me off the hook completely." Chuck smiled then and took a step closer to David. "That was the plan anyway. Does anyone else know about this theory?" he asked calmly.

David swallowed and said, "No, just Lauren and me." It was a chilling realization, to think how little he actually knew Chuck, and they’d worked side by side for years. 

“Well, I don't really have to worry about Lauren. I'm not quite sure what to do with you though. I've always liked you." Chuck’s expression had shifted yet again from fury to confusion then to resolve, and David felt goose bumps.

He took another step toward the door as Chuck reached into a desk drawer and then pulled out a very large, sharp knife. He held it up just as David was about to make run for it.

"Stop right there." Jack walked into the room holding a gun aimed at Chuck with Scott right behind him.

––––––––

"S
o, it's really all over then?" Lauren had her arms wrapped around David's neck and leaned in again to hug him tightly. 

"It's over." David had called her on the way home, after watching Jack take Chuck away in handcuffs. He filled her in and then pulled her in for a kiss as soon as he'd walked in the door. They collapsed on the sofa and clicked on the TV and it was already all over the news. Relief swept over both of them. 

"I still can't believe it was Chuck. That's just crazy," Lauren said.

"If you'd seen him, seen his face, then you'd understand. I always thought he was a little off, but I didn’t realize to what extent. He’s just crazy enough to cross the line that most of us have all considered at one time. He actually went there, not once but twice. I called Billy on the way home too, and filled him in. He wasn't as surprised as I expected him to be. Said Chuck had been on meds for years. They had that in common too.  But Chuck struggled with mental health issues that we never fully understood. He's brilliant, a mathematical genius, but he's missing a key empathy gene. Not a true sociopath but able to distance himself enough to do something like this, yet pull back and continue on to live a relatively normal life."

"I'm just glad it's over. Now we can enjoy being newlyweds."

“Well, funny you should mention that.” David opened his briefcase and pulled out a colorful brochure with pictures of white sand and clear blue waters. “I’ve been holding on to these for a while. You know how you’ve always mentioned wanting to go to the Cayman Islands?” Lauren nodded. “Well, I paid for this trip months ago. I just need to call back and confirm the dates. How does the next school vacation sound to you? I’d say sooner, but you’ll be heading back to work now.”

“That sounds wonderful! And I can’t wait to get back to work. School vacation is perfect.” She leaned over and gave David a happy kiss. He pulled her in close. Now that Lauren had been cleared, he couldn’t wait to start the rest of their lives together. 

~The End~

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What’s up next? MOTIVE. Read on for more information and an excerpt!

I
’ve been thinking about this book for a long time. It’s a spinoff of TRUST, in that it’s set in
the same world, the seaside village of Waverly, MA. The main character in this series is Jane Cho, a former legal investigator who returned to Waverly to run a takeout food shop, Comfort & Joy, and live a quiet, safer life. Jane is a cousin to David, who was in TRUST and so their grandfather has a strong supporting role, as the retired town sheriff, and David’s best friend, Jake, is the current sheriff.

Jane is enjoying the simpler life, but she was a really good legal investigator (think Kalinda from the Good Wife), before moving to Waverly, after someone she was investigating tried to kill her. She thought everything was behind her as that person was convicted and is behind bars. Stranger still, someone is sending her cryptic messages and it’s not clear if he is trying to warn her or impress her with his efforts to make her problems disappear.

Here’s the first scene.

~~~

T
he nightmares were back. They started up again about a week and a half ago, out of the blue, for no apparent reason. Things were going well. Jane Cho was living her dream of running a tiny, mostly take-out food shop, cooking and baking all her favorite things. Comfort & Joy was a hit from the day the doors opened. There was nothing else like it in the small seaside village of Waverly.

Quitting a job she had loved hadn’t been an easy decision, but felt like the only sensible option, given everything that had happened. Coming home to Waverly, where her grandfather was a retired Sheriff, and her cousin, David lived, felt right and safe. Jane had always loved to cook, and found the repetitive, mindless motions of chopping, dicing and stirring relaxing. It soothed her soul like nothing else.

No matter how often she reminded herself that they’d caught the killer, and he would be behind bars for a very long time, it had taken a while for the nightmares to go away, but they finally did and she’d thought they were gone forever. It didn’t make any sense that they were suddenly back now. Her grandfather said it was just part of the natural transition. Now that she was settled into her new routine with the shop and things were going well, perhaps a part of her missed her former life. She had been a very good legal investigator. But, she loved running Comfort & Joy too. Jane pushed the bothersome thoughts out of her mind and got to work getting ready for the day ahead.

For the next few hours, she made chicken pot pies, and beef stew, baked cornbread and muffins and tossed an assortment of salads and then packaged them into individual serving boxes. She had her favorite jazzy music playing in the background and started the coffee brewing so it would be ready when the doors opened at 8am for her first customers. Her grandfather was usually one of the first to arrive, with several of his cronies, all retired policemen who still kept abreast of everything going on in the small town and discussed it at length over their morning muffins and coffee.

As she unlocked the front door and switched the closed sign to open, a cold draft blew through her hair and rattled the window panes. The strange sense of unease crept back again, but Jane pushed it away, determined to focus and have a good day. Melissa, her assistant had arrived a few minutes earlier and welcomed their first customer. A moment later, her grandfather and his two buddies strolled in.

“Good morning, Janie!” he greeted her.

“Hi Gramps.” Jane smiled. Even at 92, her grandfather was one of the most cheerful, positive people she knew and he always brightened her day. “The usual for you?” Gramps glanced at his friends and they all nodded.

Jane poured their coffees and set out two corn muffins and a blueberry, all grilled with plenty of butter. Once they were set, she asked Melissa to keep an eye on the front counter while she ran the trash out back to the dumpster.