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Tanner spoke then. “Marie, we’re trying to find out where Carson and Arthur buried Justine. They didn’t report her death to anyone, just covered it up. It was an accident, as far as we can tell, but they obviously wanted to avoid any scrutiny.”
Marie seemed to relax then, but there was a determination in her eyes. “I want to get her back. I need to see that she has a proper Catholic burial.”
Lisa continued, “My dad is planning to meet with Carson and Arthur to try and get the information. They never told him where they buried Justine.”
Marie looked around the room at us all. “You all have saved me. Now that I understand what happened to Justine, and Lisa has found me, I can live out my life in peace. But I don’t have anything left. No money and no home. I don’t know how to take the first steps.”
“We are going to get your money back from Carson, if it’s the last thing we do.” I said this with all the intensity I’d been feeling since I found out about the injustices done to Marie at the hands of Carson and Judge Keller.
“And I’ve got money, Marie. It’s the one thing I’ve got plenty of, so don’t worry about that. I will make certain you are cared for.” Lisa smiled.
“Thank you, dear. I’m truly blessed. I suppose I’ll have to trust that things will work out for me.”
Lisa’s voice was solemn and determined. “They will work out. You’re not alone anymore.”
I wanted to tell them both that neither of them was alone nor without family. Nobody would abandon Marie now that we’d found her. And finding out that Lisa was Tanner and Jake’s sister guaranteed that she would have lifelong additional family whether she liked it or not. And if she was a part of Jake’s life, that meant she was a part of all our lives. Such as it was with our crew.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Tanner
Hayes Henry arrivedin town to meet with Judge Keller and Carson the next day. Carson really had been keeping a low profile, which was unusual for him, considering his contempt for anyone who dared question him in any way, and that included investigating his actions.
But with all the things he’d done to all the people through the years, most of which Tanner didn’t even know about, Carson must be feeling the squeeze. Carson knew for sure that Marie had told them about his part in keeping her isolated against her will, and that Dr. Miller had given Carson up to save his own skin for a lighter sentence, should he be indicted. All of this originated from the cover-up of Justine’s fateful death and disappearance.
Today, the three men involved in that disappearance were meeting at Carson’s office at Hayes’s request. Hayes hadn’t given Carson an option to refuse. Judge Keller was under surveillance now, as was Carson. Surely they understood how tenuous their position must be. It was hard to hide the fact that agents were following them around, dogging their every move. For all their idiocy, they weren’t stupid men.
Tanner, Carly, and Alan Litrell sat at the conference table ready to listen to the conversation through the devices that Imogene planted when she’d met with Carson a few days ago. The purpose of this was to get as much solid admission from the men to support what Hayes had told Lisa about Justine’s death. And it was to add to the mounting evidence against both Carson and Arthur Keller in colluding to take away Marie’s civil rights as a citizen, which was a federal crime. Hence, the LBI and FBI’s involvement. There were a host of charges that could be filed against them, but right now, they were going after the ones that were inescapable. The others could be tacked on later.
There was shuffling and what sounded like a scooting of chairs. They heard Judge Keller speak. “Hayes, it’s good to see you, though I’d prefer the circumstances be different.”
“Yes, well, this meeting is far overdue in my book. The two of you don’t have a daughter who’s dogging you constantly and asking questions about her birth mother,” Hayes said.
“Why the interest all of a sudden?” Carson’s voice cut in.
“Who knows? She got a bug one day to find her birth mother and nothing Viv or I could say would dissuade her. I wasn’t going to admit we knew her, of course.”
“Of course.” Arthur said this. “I’ve had a bad feeling about this ever since it happened. Poor Justine. If she’d only taken me up on my offer.”
“Ha!Poor Justine.Listen to yourself, Arthur. What a sop you were when it came to her. You were willing to take her and that brat—no offense, Hayes—when she wanted nothing to do with you. She was a party girl. A user. She wanted to break up my marriage and family because she got pregnant.”
“Women don’t justgetpregnant, Carson. It takes two for a baby to happen. And you were the other half of that. The father to the infant Viv and I adopted. Our daughter. I think you’ve forgotten.”
“I haven’t forgotten. What do want from us? Why are you here, Hayes?”
“I want to know where Justine is buried. I must give my daughter some closure and for her mother, Marie.”
“No way am I going to disclose that. And neither are you, Arthur.” Carson’s tone was ominous.
A chair scooted back as if shoved hard. “You will. And you’ll do it now. Today. I’ve kept quiet all this time to save us from trouble. But what we did was wrong. What the two of you did was wrong. You don’t let a young woman die and not tell anyone.”
“Thatwas an accident. She fell because she got in the way. Stupid girl. I wasn’t going to let her ruin my life. I wasn’t willing to put my fate in the hands of some asshole DA who wanted to make a name for himself and take us down for murder.”
“Yes, but if y’all were innocent, it would’ve been proven out. As it happened, a woman’s life ended, and her parents never knew what became of her or her newborn daughter. I’m not saying that what Viv and I did was right either, but I’m trying to fix that now. All I’m asking is for you to tell me where the poor girl is buried so we can give her family some peace and feel better about what happened.”
“How do I know you’re not going to turn this against us? You know we’re already in a tight spot here.” Carson’s voice rose.
“Why would I do that? Viv and I faked an adoption and helped you cover up a woman’s death after the fact. We essentially stole her baby and never told the grandmother.” When Hayes said it like that, it sounded like he and Vivian should be indicted. Maybe they would be. It all depended on how the prosecutors moved forward with the case once things were sorted out.
