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“He’s Andrea’s brother.”
Her hands instantly go to her mouth. “Charlotte!” she whisper yells with her eyes wide.
I give her a dismissive wave. “She’s fine with it. More than fine, actually. She pushed for this,” I say with feigned annoyance. I could never be truly annoyed with my best friend.
“Well, how serious is this? When can we meet him?” Her questions are rushed. She almost reminds me of when people wave some kind of food in front of their dog’s nose while it’s asleep. She went from zero to planning my wedding in no time flat.
A gasp from the living room catches both of our attention. Andrea is standing from her seat on the couch when I rush into the living room.
“What happened? What’s wrong?” I ask. Everyone in the room still intently listens to the news report.
Adalyn stands quickly and takes Sophia by the hand, leading her into the kitchen. She does her best to shield Sophia from as much of this mess as she can.
There’s a picture of a younger Christopher Gates on the screen, side by side with a flyer of a missing woman. The newscaster is talking, but the words are so shocking I struggle to take them in. The look on Andrea’s face is partly shock, but there’s something else.
“The body unearthed today is believed to be that of twenty-year-old Tessa O’Connor. Tessa was reported missing thirteen years ago after leaving a party with a young man. The young man was a fellow law student at Berkley University we now know as Senator Christopher Gates. As you know, Gates is currently being tried for a litany of charges, one of which is attempted murder of his ex-fiancé, Andrea Shaw. Gates was never questioned by police about O’Connor’s disappearance because a family representative denied his involvement and provided a solid alibi at the time.
Local authorities have contacted Tessa’s parents, and they’re at the coroner’s office. Though the clothing has been damaged after so many years in damp, shallow soil, they will be expected to look through the clothing found on the body to potentially identify anything she was last seen wearing. We will continue to bring you updates as they become available to us.”
Andrea is still standing, her hands over her mouth, her face lined with concern. Jack stands and puts his arms around her to console her. My dad lowers the volume on the TV. They don’t know the story, Andrea’s story.
“Let’s go into my room, Andrea. Take a minute, take all the time you need.”
I lead her into my bedroom, but I can hear Jack explaining Andrea’s reaction to my dad. I close the door and lead us to sit on my bed. I hug Andrea.
Instead of hugging me back, she whispers, “That’s what he meant.” Her eyes are vacant as she stares at the floor.
I release her, and she leans forward to put her head in her hands. I have no idea what she’s talking about.
“Who? Who meant what?” I ask.
She lifts her head, her eyes shimmering with tears. “Andrew.”
“Andrew, what?” My heart rate ticks up. I can’t make sense of what she’s trying to say, and my already invested interest just got a lot more interesting. I’m worried.
“Christopher killed that girl, Charlie, and Andrew knew about it. Or I think he did. I don’t know.” Her words come so quickly that I can’t process what she’s saying.
I stand and turn to face her head on. “Andrea, what are you saying?” I try to keep my voice even and calm, but I’m freaking the fuck out on the inside. Surely, Andrew wasn’t involved in a fucking murder.
She takes a deep breath and grabs my forearms with both of her hands. Tears stream down her face. “Before we did the setup to catch Christopher when he came to Fraser, Andrew sat me down and told me that something happened in college. Something he had always regretted and was trying to make right. He said he should’ve stood up to ‘them’ then, but he didn’t.”
“Who’s ‘them,’ Andrea? That’s cryptic as fuck. How very Andrew of him.” I pull away from her grasp and pace in front of her. “That doesn’t mean he’s involved. It could have been something else. Something other than fucking murder!”
“I don’t know who ‘them’ is, either, but what are the chances, Charlie? That girl was a Berkley student the same age as them. She went missing during the time they were both students there. What else, besides that, could be big enough to still haunt Andrew to this day? What else could have happened to change him the way he did while he was away at school?”
I don’t plan to stand around wondering. I grab my phone and tap Andrew’s name. He answers after a few rings.
“Charlie?” he asks.
I waste no time. “It’s me and Andrea. Have you seen the news? Did you know her? Were you involved?” I fire questions at him, one right after another, without giving him a chance to speak or even think for that matter.
He blows out a breath, and my heart sinks even lower than when we talked earlier. “Andrea,” he says.
“I told her about our conversation the day of Christopher’s setup,” she breathes.
“First, Charlie, yes; I’ve seen the news. No, I didn’t know her.” There’s a long pause. “The last question is harder to answer, but if you’re asking if I killed her or if I had any part in her death, the answer is no.” His voice is firm and fierce.
I release the heaviest sigh of relief I think I’ve ever felt. I never would have thought he was a murderer, but the cards were quickly stacking against him between the news broadcast and Andrea telling me the things he’d said to her.
