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“We met Josephine. JoJo, if you like.”
Todd’s ears rang hollow. The room dimmed. He descended into its fervor. It spat him out, hurling him into the outstretched arms of his betrayal. His lie exposed. He blinked. More tears traced down his colourless face, the two spots of pink having fled.
“It’s—” Eckhart began, but was instantly shut down by a glower from Gibson. She covered her mouth and watched grief destroy the man.
Gibson’s face stiffened into a somber expression. He delayed. The pit-bull inside him fixed to bark, to bite.
“Todd,” he said sharply.
Todd rubbed at his forehead. His gaze flitted around the room. His mouth twitched. “It was just once. A mistake.” He groaned.
Gibson let the silence linger. The pit-bull put his hackles down.
“I went to Grimsby to confront Anatoe,” he finally said, raising his head, mournful eyes beseeching.
Gibson remained distant.
“I wouldn’t hurt my wife. I love Elsie,” Todd said.
“Did she find out about your adventure?”
“No.” He winced at the remark.
“What happened when you didn’t call up or come home?”
“I phoned her.” His voice lifted an octave higher. He blathered on. “I told her I’d had too much to drink and couldn’t drive. I would stay with a cousin of Anatoe.”
“How did that go over?” Gibson pushed. “Elsie detested Anatoe.”
“Not real well.” Todd collapsed into himself, hands massaging his thighs.
“So, no argument when you made it home?”
“No. I brought her chocolates. Her favourite.” He wept softly.
“You told us you weren’t at the fireworks. Where were you?” A clipped voice spat out the question.
“I was at the store. I already told you.” Todd paused. “Doing the books. I never saw Elsie. I arrived at the party, but she was gone.”
Back to Grimsby. “What did you tell Anatoe?” Gibson asked next.
“What? When?”
“When you went to Grimsby.”
“I needed Anatoe to leave Savannah alone. He wasn’t good enough for her.”
“Okay,” Gibson said.
“And to quit jeering at my wife. She’s not fat.” Todd stifled the next sob.
“Did you threaten him?”
“No.”
“Did you know Anatoe overheard the quarrel between you and Elsie that afternoon?”
Todd’s eyes sprung wide, further tears tumbled out.
“You were yelling.”
Todd shook his head in denial.
Gibson pressed his lips into a frown. Eckhart stared at the ceiling.
“Elsie was spreading hearsay again. Still. I’ve told her a thousand times to stop.” He gagged on his words.
“Who was she talking to?”
“Jackie. I wasn’t lying about that.”
“I understand. So their chatter was more than a happy-to-see-you.”
Todd nodded.
“What was it about then?” Gibson wanted clarity.
“It was about Gregory and his release from prison. That part was true, but she said he would do it again. She should have left it alone.” He drew his breath in. “Gregory was another guy Elsie didn’t care for. Guess nobody was good enough for her little sister. I didn’t know then that Savannah liked Gregory.” He shrugged. “It’s Savannah’s mistake, not my problem.”
“Is that all you heard?”
“Yeah. Elsie went on and on about it. I warned her gossiping would get her into trouble one day. She...” Todd choked.
“Who else was in the store?”
“I’m not sure. Oh, Mr. Tatlow came in at his usual time.” He stopped. “There was a crash. Okay. I told you that.” Todd was getting confused. “That’s all I know. I’m not lying.” Shame and anger burned in his heart. He filled the vacuum with heaving sobs for his new reality. He didn’t try to check the burst dam, but let his grief surge into a roaring river, sweeping everything in its path.
Gibson pointed his chin at Eckhart. Her legs buckled when she stood, besieged by Todd’s misery. He grabbed at her arm. No electricity passed this time. Relief rushed through him. An easy smile flitted across his lips. Eckhart tugged at her hair. “I’m okay.”
They slipped out of the house, anguish following them down the sidewalk into their own fears.
* * *
The walls were greyer than yesterday. Or was it his mood? Gregory turned on the flimsy mattress, crushed by his hefty frame, cold seeping into his bones. He opened and closed his eyes. No. Still in the hellhole. Breakfast was regurgitating in his throat. He swallowed to keep it down. The damn phone had sounded all night. The lights strobed in the corridor. Even the sweater stretched over his face didn’t stop the incessant flicker. Reggie had been nice, but he was nevertheless in lockup. Four days, three nights, seventy-four hours... at a guess. Keys jangled from a tight belt around a loose body. Shuffled footsteps. Other shoes, hurried ones, clicked on the linoleum. Gregory sat up, nudging aside the useless blanket. He clawed at his itchy arms. Was it lunch already? Two smiling faces peeped through the bars. A guard moved up from behind, sifting through a ring of keys. With a broad indication of his hand, he held up the one that would give Gregory his freedom.
Brandon smirked. Reggie put a finger to his lips. Silence. “Let’s get out of here.”
Gregory jogged down the long hallway and out into the sunshine, squinting his eyes against the welcome assault. He howled. “Is it over?”
“Yes.” They hopped into Reggie’s Range Rover and flew away.
Chapter 16
Savannah sat cross-legged in the midst of the marram grass that topped the dunes, listening to the lullaby of waves breaking on the shore below. The sun began the morning with flashes peeking from the east. It had risen higher now, the brilliance and warmth scattering through a navy sky. A sandspit ran out and reached for the shoreline across the modest basin. A lighthouse, solitary and abandoned, dazzled white against the placid water, paler blue than the dome above. Dogs frolicked down the beach flicking sand behind their rushing paws. Owners whistled and barked to rein them in. Not likely. Savannah laughed at their antics.
Gregory scampered up the path from his father’s property adjoining the waterfront. The bluff overlooking the lake encapsulated his fondness of nature. He inhaled the tang of faraway continents. Savannah waved him over from her partial screen behind the tallest grasses. He hurried over, his footsteps sinking in the silky sand, and hunkered down beside her. Beyond, the coast rendered a thin, dark line. In the clean light of the morning, they could see black skyscrapers battling the smog. Farther in the distance, the land swooped out of view.
Savannah loved this beach. She struggled not to think about Elsie lying lifeless at the bottom of the steps. Whatever the evil was, she was resolved it would not take away all she cherished. She glimpsed at Gregory. His strong jaw and passionate eyes carried a pledge of integrity. She knew he grappled with his loss of freedom. Savannah forced back the tears of her own grief for her sister.
* * *
The hiss of traffic obscured the strangled ringing. Jackie paused and tipped her head, trying to distinguish the noise. The landline. She tripped over the last step and bounded to the landing. After a harried rummaging in her purse, she plucked out a loop with too many keys attached. As she fumbled to get the correct one, the high-pitched sound c
eased. “Oh, shit.” She squared her shoulders and stuck the key into the lock. The phone spat out another round of annoyance. She elbowed the door wide, banging it against the wall and raced down the corridor. What could be so urgent?
“Hello,” Jackie answered somewhat stiffly, almost insolently.
“It’s your mother. Your dad is in the hospital. He’s had a heart attack.” Her mother’s strained speech snapped out the words.
“Will he be all right?” She put her palm on her chest. Fear stabbed at her ribs and made her mouth parched.
“Just get here.”
“Okay,” Jackie said.
“Good.” Her mom hung up before she could respond.
Jackie slid into the recliner, still clinging to the dead phone and wept. Frustration boiled into a quiet rage. She pounded her fists on her thighs and booted the coffee table. A thin laughter whistled through her pinched lips. She sagged further into the cushion, running her fingers along the frayed piping. The bitterness ebbed as she worked the fabric. She let the rise and fall of her chest slow her breathing. Time to make a move. She rose and marched to the home office. With a few clicks on the keyboard, she booked herself on an overnight flight. Although they had been back a number of days, Jackie hadn’t unpacked her suitcase so she threw in some clean underclothes and a toothbrush. As she snapped the lid shut, she heard a rattle. That would be David coming home from work. Jackie had one last look around, grabbed her bag and dashed to the front. David stepped back, startled as someone snatched the door from his grip. She wavered in the entryway, soft strands of hair swept past an ear. Her dark lashes brimmed with silvery tears. A case stood by her side.
“I have to go.”
“What?”
“Tonight. Now. My dad.”
Jackie pushed past him with the bag in hand. David locked the door and rushed to catch up. It was a quick trip to the airport on newly paved roads. The glass and concrete building reflected light from a sun perched at the tip of the central airstrip, just about to dip below the mountains. They sprinted from the short-term parking to the entrance. There was barely anyone in the terminal. Jackie hoped she hadn’t missed her flight. At the counter, she turned toward David and threw him a kiss.
