by Gen Griffin
“Because he murdered someone for you,” Cal sounded less certain than he had five minutes earlier.
“No. He didn't,” Gracie shook her head at him. “Have you gone deaf or are you just so stubborn that you refuse to hear what I'm trying to tell you?”
“I'm waiting for you to talk to me.” Cal threw his hands up into the air. “What the hell has gone wrong between us, Gracie?”
“Everything,” Gracie replied.
“We've always been able to talk.”
“You quit listening,” Gracie told him. “You stopped listening to me a long time ago. We can talk all you want to, but what good does talking do when you don't listen?”
“I'm listening.”
“No, you're arguing.” Gracie rolled her turquoise blue eyes at him. “If you were listening, you'd be silent.”
Cal opened his mouth and then closed it. He crossed his thick, muscular arms across his broad chest and waited. His annoyance was plain in the way he drummed the fingers of his right hand against the flesh of his left arm. If Gracie hadn't been so mad at him, she would have laughed.
“Are you really going to listen to me?”
Cal nodded. His lips were pressed tightly together.
Gracie took a deep breath. “You said you wanted to know everything that happened, right?”
He nodded again.
Gracie closed her eyes and tried to pull herself together. She needed to be able to think coherently if she was going to be able to explain to Cal how her entire life had gone to hell in her Granny Pearl's proverbial hand-basket. “I went on a date last Friday night. It didn't end well.”
Cal raised on eyebrow at her skeptically. “Didn't end well is kind of an understatement, don't you think?”
“I thought you were going to shut up and listen?”
“Fine. Fine. I'm listening. Tell me how your date wound up dead in the trunk of his own car.”
“Friday night, I went out on a date with this guy named Brett. He tried to force himself on me, I panicked and wound up shooting him in the face.”
Cal stared at her in total shock. “I'm sorry, you did what?”
“I shot Brett.”
“You shot him,” Cal repeated the words in disbelief. “You have a gun?”
“Addison gave me his old .22 pistol. The one he used to keep in his pocket when he'd go up to the city and go clubbing.” Gracie looked vaguely embarrassed. “I've been carrying around in my purse. When Brett said he was going to rape me, I used it on him.”
Cal sat in the driver's seat of his truck, completely stupefied. “Tell me everything. Don't leave anything out.”
Gracie sighed, took a deep breath and spilled her guts to him about every little thing that had happened in her life during the past week.
Chapter 19
“What do you mean, we have to let him go?” Kerry glared at Sheriff Frank Chasson.
“I mean that you don't have any evidence and that warrant you got won't hold water in a court of law. His public defender says you've assembled the worst case she's seen in 20 years, Kerry.” Frank crossed his arms over his chest and frowned down at Kerry. “You're back to square one on your murder investigation.”
“I still have David's truck. There will be plenty of evidence in the bed of that truck.”
“You don't have the truck,” Frank said. “Your warrant ain't no good. That attorney just made minced meat out of it.”
“Technically, my warrant is still good in until the public defender brings it in front of a judge and has it thrown out.”
“That ain't going to happen,” Frank said flatly. “Listen here, son. I know you don't like David, but you ain't got no proof that he's a murderer either. You want to keep your job, you need to forget all about David Breedlove and whatever it was that happened to poor little Casey Black. The case you're working right now has nothing to do with Casey's running away or David.”
“Casey didn't run away.”
“I'm the sheriff, son. I worked that case. The girl was poor. She had a boyfriend who was a lot older than her and a crappy family life. I know you think she was murdered but the evidence just isn't there.”
“You didn't look too hard for it either.”
“You might want to think twice about what comes out of your mouth, Kerry. If I weren't such an understanding supervisor, I might think that you had just insulted my investigative skills. I'm sure you didn't mean to sound like you don't believe I did everything I could for that girl and her family.” Frank narrowed his eyes menacingly at Kerry.
Kerry swallowed and took a step back. “I knew Casey.”
“We live in a small town, Kerry. A lot of people knew Casey. A lot of people believe she ran away from home to get away from her abusive father.”
Kerry had to bite his tongue to keep from saying something he might regret.
Frank stared him down for a moment longer and then cast his glance sideways towards David. “David's not your killer. I suggest you start a new investigation. Spend some time checking into Mr. Gomez's life. See if you can find a person of interest who might actually have some reason to want Mr. Gomez dead.”
“I know what I saw in that pasture Saturday night.”
“No, you don't.” Frank Chasson sighed. “You only saw what you wanted to see. Tell David he can go. Tell him you won't be bothering him anymore. Apologize.”
The Sheriff turned around and walked away from Kerry, heading towards the back of the building.
“Over my dead body,” Kerry muttered.
Chapter 20
“Let me see if I've got this straight.” Cal was grinding his molars together as he spoke. “You shot Brett and then David dumped his body in the swamp?”
“I didn't have a choice.” Gracie didn't want to look into his dark brown eyes but she forced herself to do it. Cal's square jaw was set in a tight line.
“Oh, I think that's debatable.” Cal crossed his arms over his broad, muscular chest. The sleeves of his navy blue polo shirt were stretched tight across his biceps. “You should have called the cops, Gracie.”
“And told them that I shot the governor's nephew?”
“You should have called the cops before you ever pulled the trigger,” he clarified. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that I could get out of the situation on my own,” Gracie said. “I didn't want to look like some stupid little freshman girl who couldn't handle being on a date. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it would have been to call the cops and tell them that Brett had locked me in his car and wouldn't let me out?”
“I think that I'd rather be humiliated in front of the entire goddamned town than be convicted of murder.” Cal's thick knuckles were nearly white as he gripped the steering wheel of his parked truck. Gracie could tell that he was having a hard time controlling his anger. He was furious with her and, to be honest, she didn't blame him.
“I screwed up,” Gracie acknowledged. “I told David that I screwed up.”
“You told David.” Cal rolled his eyes in exasperation. “David isn't exactly known for having the best judgment when the people he loves are in danger.”
“David-.”
“David thought it was a good idea to dispose of your boyfriend's body rather than call the cops,” Cal cut her off. “Yeah. Classic David. That's how he thinks. Why tell the truth and run the risk of getting into trouble when you can just get rid of all the evidence and pretend the crime never happened at all?”
“He wasn't my boyfriend,” Gracie said. “We went on one date. He tried to rape me. I shot him.”
“Right. I got that part already.” Cal sighed. “You shot him and then you called David. Why the hell did you call David?”
“I didn't call David. I called my brother. David had Addison's phone because he'd left it there.” Gracie closed her eyes and leaned back against the truck's worn bench seat. She fought the urge to cry.
“Why didn't you call me?” Cal demanded. “I would have told you to go ahead and call t
he police. We could have gotten you a damned good lawyer, Gracie. Everything would have turned out fine.”
“Why would I have called you?” Gracie countered. “Prior to last weekend, we hadn't spoken more than two sentences to one another in the last eight months.”
“Only because you refused to talk to me.”
“What is the point in talking to someone who doesn't listen to a damn word I say?” Gracie's eyes popped back open and she glared at him. “Or are you forgetting Friday night?”
“I was drunk,” Cal said. “Not that it gives me an excuse for my behavior. I'm sorry.”
“You broke your best friend's nose because he was helping me.” Gracie crossed her arms over her own breasts.
“You were wearing lingerie and nothing else.” Cal was getting good and irritated now. “I thought you were sleeping with him.”
“Why do you give a shit if I'm sleeping with him?” Gracie threw up her hands in irritation. “You dumped me nearly a year ago. You have a girlfriend.”
“You know how I feel about you.” Cal took a deep breath. “And I don't have a girlfriend.”
“Since when?” Gracie demanded.
“I've been acting like a jackass, okay?” It was Cal's turn to look away from Gracie. “I admit it. I fucked up eight months ago and I fucked up again Friday night. You want me to say I'm sorry, then here you go. I'm sorry.”
“Maybe sorry isn't good enough,” Gracie said. “I needed you Friday night. David needed you. I'm the first to admit that David and I are like fire and gasoline. You're the calm one. You're the sane one. You're the one who makes the good decisions. You're also the one who walked out when we needed you the most.”
“I didn't know!” Cal snapped. “I just thought-.”
“You just thought?”
“I thought that you'd finally given in to him. We broke up because you were bored. David's a lot of things, Gracie, but boring isn't one of them. Y'all have always been close. Its not hard for me to see that he would be my logical replacement.”
Gracie opened her mouth and then closed it abruptly. “I care about David. A lot.”
“And he'd die for you. Yeah. I got that all day long.” Cal ran one hand over his face. “And if being with David makes you happy, I reckon I'm happy for y'all.”
“I'm not with David.”
“You slept with him.”
“I slept with him because I wanted to be held and I was madder than hell at you.” Gracie took a deep breath. “Not that you have the right to care who I sleep with.”
“Do you love him?”
“Not the same way I love you,” Gracie admitted. “But if you're going to marry Jo Beth-.”
“I'm not marrying Jo Beth. I broke up with Jo Beth.”
“Why did you go and do that?”
“Because seeing you with David made me realize how badly I was fucking up my life. I don't love Jo Beth. I love you.”
Gracie sat silently for a minute. She'd wanted to hear him say those words for so long. “I love you too. I've loved you since I was in kindergarten. I'm always going to love you.”
“We can get through this, Gracie.” Cal took a deep breath. “But we need to figure out a plan. Tell me everything that's happened since David brought you back to college.”
Gracie took a deep breath and cringed. “About me and David. He thought it would be a good idea if we made sure people remembered seeing me return to campus with my boyfriend from back home.”
“What did y'all do?”
“Promise me you won't get mad?”
Cal scowled at her. “Just tell me what y'all did.”
“I mean it, Cal.” Gracie leveled her turquoise blue eyes at him. “I see no point in confiding in you, in trusting you, if it just means I'm going to have to fight with you. Promise me you'll hold your temper.”
“Whatever has happened between you and David in the past, I accept it. I'll deal with it.”
“You really mean that?” She barely dared to hope he was sincere.
“I'm here because I'm trying to put our lives back together, Gracie. I'm over you and David. Whatever y'all did is in the past. Today is a new day.”
Gracie nodded, took a deep breath and then started talking. “Sunday night when we went back to the dorm, we put on a show. Made out in front of a pretty big crowd.”
“And then what?”
“And then David went home and left me here. The cops have questioned me once about Brett but other than that, things have been quiet. Brett is officially missing but no one is ever going to find the body. David just told me to wait out the initial fuss, let the investigation die down and then move back home to Possum Creek.”
“That almost sounds like a solid plan,” Cal said.
“I thought it sounded like a pretty good plan,” Gracie said defensively.
“It would have been,” Cal said, “if Kerry hadn't already stumbled across the body.”
“What?” It was Gracie's turn to be stunned speechless. She whimpered involuntarily. “No. No way. There has to be some kind of mistake. David swore up and down that no one would ever find Brett.”
Cal cursed under his breath. “David screwed up.”
“No.” Gracie was shaking her head fiercely. “No way. He's too careful.”
“From what Addison told me, he went out Saturday night and dumped the body out of the bed of his truck in the middle of Ray Johnson's back pasture in plain view of Kerry. That's not being careful.”
“No,” Gracie shook her head. “Wait. Saturday night?”
“Saturday night.”
“We went to Italiano's on Saturday night.” Gracie's mind was running in a million different directions. “Ask Addison. He saw us in Canterville.”
“Where did y'all go after dinner?” Cal asked, pressing her for details.
“Home,” she said. “We didn't go anywhere. At least, I didn't.”
“David did,” Cal cursed again. “He took the truck and -”
“No. He didn't.” Gracie held up her hand to silence Cal. “The Toyota never moved after we got back to his house Saturday night.”
Cal hesitated, his brow furrowed. “Are you sure?”
“I was doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen. He parks that truck right outside-”
“The kitchen window,” Cal frowned, nodding. “It’s godawful loud anyway. You would have heard it crank up.”
“He went out on the creek,” Gracie filled in the part of the story she knew Cal would ask for next. “He came back soaking wet. Without the boat.”
For a moment the two of them just sat in the truck and stared at one another.
“He took your boy's body out onto the bayou itself,” Cal frowned thoughtfully. “Kerry doesn't have access to the bayou. Not as far as I know.”
“David didn't tell me what he did with Brett's body.” Gracie's voice was barely above a whisper. “I didn't ask. I just want to pretend the entire thing never happened.”
“David and I have talked about-.” Cal realized he was saying the wrong thing and changed his words abruptly. “Well, it’s not important. But if David used his boat to hide a body, then I know how he did it.”
“Why would he hide the body somewhere Kerry could find it?” Gracie didn't try to hide her confusion or her fear. “If Kerry found Brett's corpse, we're screwed. How are we going to get David back out of jail?”
“I have no idea,” Cal acknowledged. “Something just doesn't make sense. Kerry says he saw the truck but you're saying the truck never left the house. And I know David. He's not stupid enough to dump a body where someone is going to trip over it the next day.”
Gracie took a deep breath as she mulled over the possibilities. “You're sure Kerry found Brett's body?”
“Kerry found a body. As far as identity, I don't know.” Cal had put together everything everyone had told him during the last few days. A few details just weren't matching up. He picked up his phone and dialed Addison's cell. No answer. He dialed the Sheriff’s Departm
ent. The dispatcher told him Addison had already left for the day. Cal hung up irritated.
“What's was that about?” Gracie asked him.
Cal opened his mouth and then closed it again, lost in thought. “I don't want to get your hopes up, but I swear to God, Addison told me Kerry was trying to get David charged with a hate crime in addition to the murder.”
“What?” Gracie stared at him in total shock. “How would that even work?”
“Gracie, was Brett old?” Cal asked. “Because I keep thinking Addison said the body Kerry found was an old homeless man.”
“Brett was your age, rich and preppy. You saw his car.”
Cal smiled for the first time since he'd heard about Brett. “I can't be sure until I talk to Addison, but I think Kerry might have found the wrong body.”
Gracie nearly laughed. “Only in Possum Creek would you get arrested for dumping a body and have it turn out to be the wrong body.”
“It's a crazy little town,” Cal admitted.
“It is. I want to go home. I miss it.”
“I don't think its a good idea for you to come home right now,” Cal said. “Not that I'm going to argue with you if you're determined to come home. I miss seeing you every day.”
“I miss seeing you too.” Gracie smiled at him. “I do still love you.”
“I love you too.” He meant it. “We can make this work, Gracie. We can make us work.”
“You really think so?” She asked.
“I know it,” Cal said. “Besides, I'm too damn stubborn to give up on you.”
Gracie nearly laughed. “Can we go home now?”
Cal nodded. “You want to go back to your dorm room and get your stuff or do you just want to leave it?”
“I need to pick up a few things,” Gracie told him. “I don't think I'm going to be coming back anytime soon, regardless of whose body Kerry found.”
Chapter 21
“Where the fuck is my truck?” David glared at Kerry, who was hiding behind a highly irritated Frank Chasson. “Your case just got tossed out. I came up here this morning with a goddamned vehicle, and I want it back.”
Frank turned to Kerry. “Where is the truck?”