by Gen Griffin
Trish leaned her forehead against the steering wheel and let her tears come. She couldn't believe how stupid she'd been. How could she not have seen Curtis for what he was? She'd dated him for three years before getting married.
It felt good to be able to cry alone. Trish needed to get used to being alone because she was pretty sure that her engagement, or whatever it was that she'd had with David, was probably over.
Someone knocked on the window.
Trish looked up, startled to see Loretta Walker standing outside the truck in the rain. She mashed the button to roll the window down.
“Can we talk?” Loretta asked. She was holding a purple paisley umbrella up over her carefully curled and styled hair. “I didn't want you to leave before we had a chance to talk.”
Trish wiped the tears away from her eyes with the back of her good hand as she nodded. “I'm really sorry. I had no idea-.”
“Honey, stop apologizing.” Loretta held one carefully manicured hand through the air. “No one thinks your responsible for Addison getting shot.”
“His mother does.”
“His mother also blames Gracie for her own failure to finish medical school and become a doctor. Have you had the joy of listening to that argument yet?”
“No,” Trish said. “I hadn't met her until today.”
“Jane May isn't the sort of woman whose words you take personally,” Loretta said. “She goes out of her way to be offensive and she always finds someone to blame.”
“I deserve to be blamed.”
“Darling, I've known Addison since he was in diapers. The boy has a reckless streak wider than Callahan County. Your ex-husband may have shot Addison, but the real question is what Addison did to him first?”
“He told him to stay away from me.” Trish could answer this one.
“In a civilized manner?” Loretta raised one eyebrow skeptically.
Trish brushed several strands of her own hair out of her eyes as she shook her head no. “It was a bit heated. Curtis had just...Well. He yanked my car off the road while I was driving. He grabbed the wheel out of my hands. I told Addy what happened and he-.”
“He beat him up?” Loretta guessed.
“Not precisely beat him up,” Trish said. “But he knocked him around some and then fired his gun past Curtis's head. He told Curtis that he'd kill him if he ever bothered me again.”
“And Curtis came back anyway?”
“Curtis isn't going away.” It hurt Trish to say the words out loud that had been floating around in the back of her mind for days.
“Have you given him any reason to think that you might want him to stay?” Loretta asked.
Trish blinked at the older woman, surprised by the question. “I served him with divorce papers, moved over a hundred miles away, changed my phone number and didn't leave a forwarding address. He somehow got hold of my new number, but I didn't answer his calls. I hadn't spoken to him at all in two months until he showed up in my yard a little over a week ago and demanded we go to dinner so we could talk. The dinner ended with him totaling my car and Addison jamming a gun in his face. ”
“In short, no. You haven't given him any reason to feel welcome here.”
“No.” Trish rubbed her face with her hand. “I still don't even know how he found his way to Possum Creek or who told him I was here.”
“How many people knew you were here?” Loretta asked.
“Just my family,” Trish admitted reluctantly.
“Do they approve of your divorce?”
“Mom never really liked Curtis.” Trish blinked back a fresh round of tears. “Truth be told, no one did.”
“Did you like him?” Loretta's warm brown eyes shone with kindness and sympathy.
“I don't know,” Trish whispered. “I used to think I loved him. Or at least, I tried to tell myself that I loved him. Maybe some little part of my heart always knew Curtis wasn't a good man. I turned him down the first three times he asked me out, but he was persistent. He just kept asking me to go out with him even after I turned him down. He sent me the very first roses I ever received. He sent me funny cards with cute, impersonal sayings pre-printed on the insides. I finally agreed to go on the date with him, on the condition that he would leave me alone if I didn't have fun.”
“And you had fun,” Loretta surmised.
“We went to see the college's production of West Side Story and ate a late dinner at restaurant that doesn't allow men inside unless they're wearing ties. Curtis was charming and funny, in a used car salesman kind of way,” Trish swallowed a lump in her throat. “Curtis didn't know it but that date was the first date I'd ever been on. When he kissed me goodnight it was my first real kiss. When he called me the next morning and asked me out to breakfast I agreed to go. It was exciting to finally have a guy interested in me.”
“And you got caught up in the excitement?”
“I did,” Trish confirmed. “Curtis used to be a really social guy with a lot of friends. He was popular and I liked being his girlfriend. We were always getting invited to join people for dinner or a movie or a night out. It wasn't unusual to get invited to three or four parties a weekend. For the first time in my life, I had a social life that involved more than sitting around a dark bedroom watching rented movies with a bunch of other equally lonely and desperate girls.”
“You're not the first girl who has fallen for a boy out of boredom,” Loretta told her.
“Maybe not,” Trish said. “But I shouldn't have said yes when he proposed. I always knew he had a cruel streak but it was never directed at me until after we were married.”
“He was mean to you?”
Trish nodded. “Among other sins, yes. He was mean. At first it was just little things. He'd insult my new haircut or tell me that the new lipstick I was wearing made me look like an old lady. He never said a word about my weight before the wedding, but after we tied the knot it was like he turned into a different person. He started calling me fat all the time regardless of what I was wearing. I dropped nearly sixty pounds during the one year we were married. Mostly because I was too embarrassed to eat in front of my husband. He'd always made a point of counting how many calories were in each item on my plate.”
“Did he cheat on you?” Loretta asked.
“Quite a few times and without shame,” Trish confirmed. “And I kept having weird accidents. I realize now that Curtis was the one who was causing them.”
“Did the accidents start before you threatened to leave him or after?” Loretta looked thoughtful.
“After,” Trish said. “They always happened within a couple days of a big fight. I didn't put the connection together at first. Eventually I realized he was trying to punish me.”
“I don't blame you at all for leaving him,” Loretta told her. “You did the right thing.”
“Maybe so, but two people I care about got hurt because I walked away from Curtis before he was willing to let me. Assuming that he ever would have been willing to let me go. Knowing what I do now, I'm pretty sure that Curtis interpreted the 'til death do we part' in our vows a little differently than I did.” Trish leaned back against the seat of the truck. “He murdered my grandfather.”
“Do you think he would murder you if he got the chance?” Loretta asked.
Trish took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. “A year ago, I would have said no. Two months ago, I wouldn't have been as certain of my answer, but I still probably would have answered no. He'd threatened me and done petty little things to hurt me but I thought he valued his career a lot more than he valued me. Killing me would pretty much guarantee he'd get disbarred, you know?”
“And you assumed he wanted his job more than he wanted to keep you.” It wasn't a question.
“He does want his job more than he wants me,” Trish explained. “But what I didn't know was that he's been using my law license to practice under. He lied about passing the bar and he's been using my credentials ever since. He doesn't want to keep me. He just w
ants to keep me quiet and make sure that I never practice law.”
“Well, that makes a certain amount of sense.” Loretta adjusted her grip on her umbrella. “You filed a lawsuit against Kerry and the Callahan County Sheriff's Department, didn't you?”
“I have the paperwork drawn up,” Trish said softly. “Grover wound up in the hospital before I could actually get the lawsuit filed.”
“But your ex found out?” Loretta pressed the question.
“I told him.” Trish felt stupid. “He called me and I didn't check the caller ID first. I had no idea he was using my credentials. I was just trying to make him leave me alone and convince him that I wasn't going to come back to Silver City.”
“You told him that you had a life and a job here in Possum Creek,” Loretta nearly smiled.
“I did.” Trish tried to blink back another round of tears. “Big mistake, I guess. Chalk it up on my never-ending list of screw-ups. All I ever do is screw up. I screwed up by marrying Curtis and I really screwed up when I tried to divorce him. My grandfather is dead because I filed for divorce. Addison got shot because I filed for divorce.”
“Sweetheart, based on everything you just told me, you were protecting yourself by filing for divorce.” The older woman's expression was kind.
“Other people got hurt because of my mistakes.” Trish stared straight out the windshield of the truck. The rain had temporarily abated. “And now David is trying to hunt Curtis down. Nothing good is going to come from-.”
“David is more than capable of taking care of himself,” Loretta said calmly.
“Someone is going to wind up dead,” Trish said. “Either Curtis will kill me, Curtis will kill David or David will kill Curtis. No matter how many different scenarios I run through in my head, there just aren't any good outcomes.”
“You don't want your ex-husband dead?” Loretta asked.
Trish blinked at her, startled. “I don't even want him hurt. I just wish he'd go away and leave me in peace.”
Loretta smiled for the first time, though her smile was still somewhat grim. “You're a sweet girl and you have a good head on your shoulders. I can see what David sees in you.”
Trish abruptly blushed and then shook her head. “I don't think he's going to see anything in me after this disaster. I'm more trouble than I'm worth. To be honest, it would probably be best for everyone if I just let Curtis do whatever he wants to do with me and get it over with.”
Loretta raised one eyebrow at her. “You would let him hurt you to save your friends?”
“If someone is going to get hurt because I wanted a divorce, then it should be me.” Trish swallowed unhappily. “I made this mess. Everyone who has gotten hurt by Curtis in the last week is paying for my mistakes.”
“Addison is no angel and neither is David,” Loretta said flatly. “While its understandable that you feel responsible for your ex-husband's actions, I think its also quite evident that you accepted your own mistake in marrying him and had taken action to remedy that mistake when you filed for divorce.” She waited for Trish to nod before she continued. “We all make mistakes, honey. I've made plenty in my lifetime. Gracie is a hot mess. Truth be told, David is a hotter mess than Gracie is. That boy has made more than his fair share of mistakes and, despite very poor odds at times, arrived on the other end of those mistakes largely unscathed. The same can be said for Addison Malone. Do you have any idea the number of people who have either thought about shooting Addison or taken a shot in his direction?”
Trish couldn't help smiling. “I thought he usually charmed his way out of trouble?”
“He's a smooth talking devil, but all the pretty words in the world can't make up for getting caught in bed with another man's woman.”
“He's been caught?”
“More than once,” Loretta confirmed. She put her hand on the edge of the truck's window, giving Trish a view of several very large and heirloom diamond rings. “Surrendering yourself to your ex-husband as a sacrifice won't help anyone long term. A bad man is always going to be a bad man. Even if he somehow managed to get away with the crimes he's committed here, his secret is no longer a secret. Everyone in town will know he's been using your law license. Its in the police report, so it will be public record.”
“I hadn't thought of that.” Trish was startled by Loretta's calm revelation.
“His law career is over, my dear. His law career is over regardless of whether or not he ever sees you again. If you put yourself in a position where he can hurt you, all you will be doing is allowing him the pleasure of committing petty revenge.”
Trish squeezed the steering wheel tightly in her hand. “But if he has me then he won't have any reason to hurt anyone else.”
“Not until the next person stands up to him or gets in his way,” Loretta said. “You're clearly an intelligent woman. Think with your brain instead of your guilt. How long do you really think it will be until he charms another pretty, lonely girl into letting him use her?”
Trish sucked her breath in through her front teeth. “You think he'll do it again?”
“Maybe not precisely the same exact scam, but a scam artist is a scam artist. Your ex-husband is willing to kill to protect his scams. His lack of remorse doesn't bode well for his next mark.”
“He can't do this to anyone else. I can't let him.” Trish was startled by the force in her own voice.
Loretta smiled at her. “My advice to you is that you go home. Take a shower, try to get a bite to eat and then get some sleep. Wait for David to come home to you. Hopefully he won't ask you to help him hide the body.”
“What if he doesn't come home?” Trish sighed. “He left the hospital.”
“He will.”
Trish opened her mouth to argue but Loretta shushed her.
“Have a little faith in David. He doesn't cope with stress well if he can't take action against it. He went after your ex-husband because it was probably the only part of the situation he thought he could fix. If he drags your Curtis off to prison, or into the depths of the swamp, then he'll know you're safe. David shows love by protecting the people he cares about. If he didn't love you, he wouldn't have gone on the attack against the person who hurt you.”
Trish considered pointing out that Curtis had hurt Addison too, but she realized there wasn't any value in arguing. Either David would come home or he wouldn't. Maybe Loretta Walker was right about David. She had raised him. “I hope so.”
“Go home. I know that you probably can't relax, but at least try to clear your head. You'll feel better after a meal and a good night's sleep.”
“Thank you,” Trish said. “I appreciate you coming out here to talk to me.”
“Do you feel better?” Loretta asked.
Trish nodded, surprised to realize it was the truth. “I do. And a lot of what you've said makes sense. I'll go home, lock all the doors and try to get some rest. Talk to David whenever he comes back. We've both been through a lot in the last couple of weeks.”
“I'd say so,” Loretta said with a soft whistle. “Cal told me that the body Tate found under David's trailer was Maureen Breedlove.”
Trish nodded. She was unsure of what to say.
“When the immediate mess has been handled, David is going to have a hard time dealing with the reality that his mother's body has been underneath that house for all these years,” Loretta said. “I hope you can help him figure out how to cope and that you'll stay by him.”
“I'm not planning on going anywhere unless he tells me to go,” Trish said.
Loretta smiled again as her cell phone went off. “I cook a big family dinner every Sunday after church. David doesn't always come, but maybe you can help convince him that slowing down enough to eat dinner with his folks isn't a bad thing. I'd love to see the two of you at our table sometime soon.”
“I'd like that.” Trish meant it.
“I would love it.” Loretta pulled out her phone and glanced at the screen. “Oh sweet Jesus. Trish, baby, I have
to go back inside. Jane May is having a tantrum in the hospital room. She's trying to have Gracie and Cal thrown out. Or the plug pulled on her son. Not sure which from this text.”
“Oh no.” Trish didn't even want to think about how much damage Gracie's mother could do in the hospital.
“We'll talk more later. Tell David that I love him.”
“I will,” Trish promised as Loretta surprised her by giving her a quick hug around the neck through the truck window, said her final goodbye and then hurried back towards the hospital.
Chapter 6
“You're home earlier than I thought you would be. Didn't feel like sitting around at the hospital with the rest of the good little boys and girls?”
Kerry nearly jumped out of his skin. He tried to pull his gun out of his holster as he spun around. The barrel snagged on the snap and the force of the Kerry's efforts to pull the gun loose made him fumble it as it finally came free. The .45 landed on the tile floor with a shattering clang.
The fat man sitting in the breakfast nook laughed. “Nice going there, butterfingers. I can see why none of the other cops want you as backup.”
“You, you, you're the guy who shot Addison.”
“Officer Fuck Buddy?” The fat man shrugged and picked up a sandwich that had been laying on the table in front of him. Kerry was vaguely disturbed to realize the murderer had fixed himself a snack in Kerry's own kitchen. One of Kerry's plates was sitting on the table with a second sandwich and a handful of chips still waiting to be eaten. A gun was sitting next to the plate. Kerry was fairly sure the gun was too small to be Addy's service weapon, which meant that it wasn't the only gun this guy had on him.
Kerry nodded solemnly.
“He screwed my wife. He got what was coming to him.” Crumbs ran down the murderer's cheek and he had a glob of mayonnaise in the corner of his mouth. “I think half the men in this town have screwed my wife at this point. She's been spreading her legs for every hairy dick she's met since we split. You haven't screwed my wife, have you Kerry?”