The Guardian (40 page)

Except that Julie hadn't cheated on him. He knew she wasn't lying about that.

But still, she hadn't trusted him. That's what this was really all about, he knew. Trust. He had no doubt she would have told Jim, so why hadn't she told him?

Was their relationship so different from what she and Jim had shared? Didn't she trust him in the same way she'd trusted Jim?

Didn't she love him?

In the tree, Richard continued to think about his mother.He'd hoped that she would be better, stronger, after his father's funeral. But instead, she'd begun to drink heavily, and the kitchen was wreathed in a perpetual haze from the cigarettes she chain-smoked. Then she'd become violent, as if choosing to remember her husband by assuming his actions. The first time it happened, he'd been sleeping in his bed when he woke to a staggering pain, as if a match were being held against him.

His mother stood wild-eyed above the bed, his father's belt dangling from her hand. She'd used the buckle end of the belt against his skin.

"It was your fault!" she screamed at him. "You were always making him angry!"

She swung again and again. He cowered at each strike, pleading with her to stop and trying to cover himself, but she continued to wield the belt until her arms were too exhausted to move.

The following night she'd done it again, but this time he'd expected her and accepted the beatings with the same quiet rage he had in the past with his father. He knew then that he hated her, but that there was nothing he could do to stop her right away. Not with the police suspicious about the way his father had died.

Nine months later, his back and legs scarred, he ground his mother's sleeping pills and slipped the contents into her vodka. After going to sleep, she never woke up.

In the morning, as he stood over the bed staring at her, he thought about how limited her intelligence had been. Though she'd suspected that he'd had something to do with his father's death, she couldn't bring herself to believe that the same thing could happen to her. She should have known that he was strong enough to do what he had to do. Julie, too, had been strong enough to change her life. Julie was a fighter.

He admired that about her. He loved that about her.

Of course, it was time for the fighting to end. Richard was certain that Julie would realize this now. Maybe not consciously, but subconsciously. Now that the charade with Mike was over, there was no point in delaying the inevitable.

Slowly, Richard began climbing down from the tree.

Officers Jennifer Romanello and Pete Gandy drove past the Amoco station and pulled the squad car to the side of the highway. After retrieving their flashlights, they emerged from the car.A short distance away, Jennifer could see the lights from the gas station, saw cars being filled at the pumps. On the highway, cars whizzed past. The side of the road was bathed in swirling blue and red lights, alerting motorists to their presence.

"You go that way," Pete said, pointing toward the station. "I'll head this way."

Jennifer turned on her flashlight and started her search.

Julie was still crying on the couch when she heard the sound of movement outside her door. Singer's ears went up as he ran toward the window, growling. Her heart hammering, Julie looked around for a weapon.When Singer barked, she jumped up from the couch with wide eyes, before she realized his tail was wagging.

"Julie?" she heard him call through the door. "It's me, Mike."

She moved toward the door and quickly removed the chair, relief surging through her. As soon as she opened it, Mike looked at her before glancing toward the ground.

"I know you didn't sleep with him," he said.

Julie nodded. "Thank you."

"I'd like to talk to you about it, though."

"Okay."

He didn't say anything right away. Instead, he pushed his hands into his pockets and took a deep breath.

"Would you have told Jim?" he finally asked.

Julie blinked. It wasn't a question she'd ever considered.

"Yes," she said. "I would have."

Mike nodded again. "I thought so."

"We were married, Mike. You have to understand that."

"I know."

"It has nothing to do with the way I feel about you. If you'd asked whether I would have told him while we were dating, the answer would have been no."

"Really?"

"Really. I didn't want to hurt you. I love you. And had I known all this would have spiraled out of control the way it has, I would have told you then. I should have told you anyway. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too. For saying what I did."

Julie stepped forward tentatively, and when Mike didn't back away, she came closer and leaned into him. She felt his arms wrap around her.

"I'd like to stay tonight," he said, "if that's okay."

Julie closed her eyes. "I was hoping you'd say that."

Richard had reversed course as soon as he saw Mike pull up in front of the house, and he climbed back into the tree. Now he was watching them, his face growing hard.No, Richard thought. No, no, no. . . .

As if living a nightmare, he saw her go into Mike's arms; he saw her fold into him. . . . No, this was not happening, this couldn't be happening.

Mike was back, and they were holding each other. As if they loved each other.

Richard forced himself to calm down, to regain control. Closing his eyes, he visualized his photographs of Jessica, of Julie, his photographs of birds; he recited lessons on how to set the proper f-stop on a camera. On lenses and their capabilities. On the proper angle of the flash, the properties of light . . .

His breathing steadied as he opened his eyes. He was in control again, but he could still feel anger coursing through him.

Why, he wondered, did she insist on repeating her mistakes?

He'd tried to be nice. He'd tried to be fair. He'd been very patient with her and her little friend. More than patient.

His eyes narrowed. Didn't she have any idea what she was forcing him to do?

Jennifer swiveled the flashlight from side to side, looking for whatever it was the trucker had seen.The moon hung low in the sky, below the tree line. Thousands of stars dotted the sky above. The air carried the heavy scent of blown exhaust. She moved forward slowly, scanning the embankment. Nothing.

Less than thirty feet from the road, loblolly pines stood clustered together. The underbrush surrounding them was thick with bushes and tall grass, impossible for her light to penetrate.

Cars continued to pass, but she barely registered them. She was watching the ground, moving slowly. Carefully. Jennifer took another step when she heard movement off to the side.

Raising the light, she saw two eyes reflected back at her. She stiffened in surprise before the deer suddenly broke and ran.

Exhaling, she bowed her head and continued. The gas station was closer now, and she wondered again what she was supposed to be looking for.

She stepped around a discarded garbage bag, saw aluminum cans and napkins collecting in the embankment. She was beginning to wonder if she should turn around and help Pete look in the opposite direction when the flashlight illuminated something that her mind at first refused to identify.

When it finally did, she screamed.

Pete Gandy turned at the sound and started running toward Jennifer. He reached her in less than a minute, and it was then he saw Jennifer hovering over a body. He froze, suddenly unable to move."Get an ambulance here now!" Jennifer screamed, and Pete turned and raced to the squad car.

Stifling her panic, Jennifer focused on the body below her. The face of the young woman was bloodied and misshapen. There was a sickening ring of purple around her neck. One of her hands lay at an odd angle, the wrist clearly broken. Jennifer had believed her dead until she'd reached down and registered a faint pulse.

When Pete returned, he squatted beside Jennifer.

A moment later, when he recognized the victim, he vomited on the side of the road.

When Julie arrived for work on Thursday morning, she found Officers Gandy and Romanello waiting for her. By the expressions on their faces, she knew at once why they were there."It's Andrea, isn't it?"

Mabel was standing behind them, her eyes red and swollen. "Oh, honey," she said, crossing the room and going into Julie's arms. "Mike and Henry are already on their way. . . ." She began to wail, her body shaking uncontrollably.

"What happened?"

"He beat her," Mabel choked out. "He almost killed her. . . . She's in a coma. . . . They don't know if she's going to make it. . . . They had to fly her to Wilmington last night. . . ."

Julie's knees seemed to weaken before steadying. A moment later, Mike and Henry burst through the door. Mike saw Julie and Mabel before he locked eyes with the officers.

"What did he do to Andrea?" Mike demanded.

Jennifer hesitated. How do you describe a beating like that? The blood, the broken bones . . .

"It was bad," Pete finally offered. "I've never seen anything like it."

Mabel broke into sobs again as Julie struggled with her own. Henry seemed unable to move, but Mike met Jennifer's eyes.

"Have you arrested Richard yet?" Mike demanded.

"No," Jennifer answered.

"Why the hell not?"

"Because we don't know if he's the one responsible."

"Of course he did it! Who the hell else would do something like that?"

Jennifer held up her hands, trying to keep control of the situation. "Look, I know you're all upset . . ."

"Of course we're upset!" Mike shouted. "How else should we be acting? He's still out on the streets while you two are wasting your time here!"

"Now hold on," Pete said quickly, and Mike turned on him.

"Hold on? You're the one who screwed this up in the first place! If you weren't so damn stupid, none of this would have happened! I told you the guy was dangerous! We begged you to do something about it! But you were too busy playing tough cop to see what was happening."

"Take it easy. . . ."

Mike moved toward him. "Don't tell me what to do! This is your fault!"

Pete's mouth straightened into a line, and he stepped toward Mike. Jennifer jumped between them.

"This isn't helping Andrea!" she shouted. "Now both of you back off!"

Mike and Pete eyed each other, their bodies still tense. Jennifer went on quickly.

"Look-we didn't know about Richard," she said, looking at Mike and Julie. "Neither one of you mentioned anything about Andrea being seen with him, and we found Andrea after we left your place last night. She was already in a coma, and there was no way for us to know who'd done this to her. Pete and I were at the scene until almost dawn, and we came in this morning because this is where Andrea worked, not because we suspected anything. Mabel just told us about him and Andrea less than five minutes ago. Do you understand?"

Mike and Pete continued to stare at each other until Mike finally glanced away. He drew a long breath.

"Yeah, I got it," Mike said. "I'm just upset. I'm sorry."

Pete continued to glare at Mike. A moment later, Jennifer turned to Julie.

"Mabel said that Emma had seen Richard and Andrea together in Morehead City, right?"

"Yes," Julie answered. "A couple of days ago. The day I saw him in the woods."

"And none of you knew he'd been seeing her? If they were dating?"

"No," Julie said. "She didn't say anything to me about it. The first I heard about it was when Emma called."

"Mabel?"

"No. Not to me, either."

"And she didn't come in yesterday?"

"No."

"Didn't that strike you as odd? If you knew she'd been seen with Richard, I mean?"

"Of course we were worried, but you have to understand Andrea," Mabel offered. "It wasn't the first time she hadn't shown up for work. She's like that."

"Didn't she usually call, though?"

"Sometimes. Not all the time."

Jennifer turned to Julie again. "Why didn't you say anything about Andrea and Richard last night when Officer Gandy and I came over?"

"I didn't think about it. I was too upset about the locket, and then, after what Pete said . . ."

Jennifer nodded, knowing exactly what Julie was talking about. "Would it be possible for Emma to come down here? I'd like to hear what she has to say."

"No problem," Henry said. "Let me give her a call."

Wanting to be certain she had everything straight, Jennifer went through the sequence of events again, then moved on to the more general questions-where Andrea liked to socialize, who her friends were, any other possibilities as to who might be involved. It was standard procedure, because she knew the lack of investigation into other possible suspects could be used by the defense to claim police bias in court.

Julie found it hard to concentrate as Jennifer ran through the remaining questions. As upset as she was by what had happened to Andrea, she couldn't escape the thought that Richard had been following her for weeks. That he'd been in her house. And that she might be next.