Pretty Is As Pretty Does

by Gen Griffin

  Addison didn't know what to say to that, so he said nothing at all.

  “I'm so glad I have you as a friend,” Ian continued. “No matter what happens, I know that I can always count on you. I know that nothing will ever change our friendship. You'll always have my back.”

  “You're wrong,” Addison said the words without even realizing he was going to. “Last night changed things.”

  Ian paled. “What do you-?”

  “You and I have been friends for most of our lives, so I'm just going to call it like I see it. You're a selfish bastard, Ian. You went out and got drunk on the river instead of coming to the hospital and holding your wife's hand as she went in for emergency surgery. You weren't in the room when your little girl took her first breath.”

  “I just couldn't-.”

  “Shut up,” Addison snapped. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the replacement cell phone he'd picked up at the mall yesterday afternoon. He held up the screen so that Ian could see the picture of Katie and Hannah Mae that he'd made his background picture. “These two girls are more important than anything else in your miserable life, Ian. Last night, you failed them completely. You failed them because you'd rather suck a bottle of vodka and feel sorry for yourself than live the good moments in your life.”

  “Addy, I'm sorry. Okay?”

  “Sorry isn't good enough,” Addison said to him. “You've done nothing but say sorry for the last eight years. You may be sorry right this instant, but you and I both know that you're only two sips of tequila away from not giving a damn again.”

  “I'll go back to AA,” Ian offered. “Katie wants me to go back to AA.”

  “Go back to AA,” Addison told him. “Go wherever you think you need to go. I don't care anymore.”

  “You don't care?” Ian took a step back from Addy. “You've always had my back.”

  “Yeah, well, that ended last night.” Addison made a gesture like he was brushing dirt off of his hands. “I'll do anything in this world for Katie or that little girl, but you're officially on my shit list. Don't ask me for a goddamned thing ever again, Ian. No favors. No backup. No more lies. No more nothing.”

  “I can do better,” Ian said weakly.

  “I sure as hell hope so.” Addison didn't bother saying goodbye as he walked past Ian and out into the parking lot. As the bright sunlight hit his eyes, he wondered if he should have told Ian that Katie hated roses. It seemed like a stupid thing for a husband not to know.

  Chapter 43

  David was sound asleep on his brand new couch when someone started banging on the front door.

  “Go away!” He grumbled as he rolled over and pushed his face into a suede throw pillow that still had its price tag dangling from one corner.

  The banging continued. David pulled the pillow over his head.

  “What the-?” Cal rolled off the recliner and stumbled towards the front door, yanking it open to reveal Sheriff Frank Chasson standing on the front porch.

  “Heard y'all had a break in yesterday.” Frank stepped through the front door and surveyed the living room full of new furniture. “House looks better than it has in 30 years. How many guns y'all find while you were cleaning it?”

  “Half a dozen,” Cal muttered as he walked back to the recliner and sank down into the plushy fabric. “Maybe more. I don't know. Told Hadley to put any weapons she turned up in the front hallway closet.”

  Frank walked over to the closet in question and yanked open the door. He surveyed the contents with a humph. “Pretty Tommy gun Wonder where Ol' Grover stole that one from?”

  “No idea,” David said.

  “Any idea what was stolen?” Frank asked.

  David didn't bother pulling the pillow off of his face. “From here yesterday or by Grover twenty years ago and then stashed here?”

  “Either. Call me an optimist.” Frank snorted as he picked up the Tommy gun. “I'm impounding this.”

  “You can't prove its stolen property.”

  “You can't prove its not.” Wally smirked at the gun.

  Cal threw a pillow at David, knocking the original pillow off of David's face. “Get up.”

  “No.” David curled into a ball as best he could. It was a damn comfy couch. He was looking forward to spending a lot of nights cuddling with Trish on this couch.

  “Y'all figure it was Trish's ex-husband who broke in?” Frank asked.

  “Who else would be that stupid?” David asked.

  “You should have called me and filed an official police report. We need to be keeping an accurate record of every time he breaks the law to try to get to her. The more charges we can file against him, the better our odds are of making sure he stays in prison for a long time.”

  “Who says he's going to live long enough to see prison?” David sat up reluctantly.

  “I'll pretend I didn't hear that,” Frank said.

  Cal picked up a pile of paperwork that he'd left sitting on the coffee table the previous night. “Here's the police report.”

  Frank opened his mouth and then closed it as he took the papers and flipped through them. “Addy signed off on this report, but this ain't his handwriting.”

  “And?” Cal asked.

  “Addy's still supposed to be in the hospital. He ain't back on official duty.”

  “Does that matter?” David asked.

  “It might if we ever wind up in a real courthouse.” Frank set the gun back down, leaning it against the wall. “We need to have a little chat off the record, boys.”

  “Off the record?” Cal sat up slightly straighter.

  “Off the record. This is just me talking to you boys as your good ol' Uncle Frank.”

  “Our Uncle Frank?” Cal didn't bother trying to hide the skepticism in his voice.

  “You're marrying my niece. David is Ian's cousin and Ian is my common law step-son. Uncle Frank.”

  “Hello Uncle Frank.” David stretched out his back and twisted to let the bones in his spine pop.

  Frank snorted back a low laugh. “As your Uncle Frank, I'm here to tell you boys that David's cute little girlfriend is ass deep in alligators. She's almost divorced from a real creep by the name Curtis Heinstien. The word 'almost' is incredibly important in this situation.”

  “Why's that?”

  “Because Mr. Heinstein has certain rights in regards to his wife until the divorce is final. She never got a restraining order against him.”

  “She didn't think he knew where she was,” David said.

  “He probably didn't. But now he does.” Frank shrugged. “Without a restraining order or a divorce, Mr. Heinstein technically has a right to be around Trisha. He has a right to talk to her. He can probably successfully argue that he has the right to be in possession of her personal property. He may be able to explain away being in her house or in her car.”

  “I'm not letting that sick fuck get anywhere near Trish. He tried to kill her.” David stood up and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Calm down, David.” Frank cast a sideways glance over at Cal. “Tell him to sit down and listen. I ain't done talking yet.”

  “Sit down, David.” Cal was watching the Sheriff intently. “Let Uncle Frank get to his point.”

  David stood for another minute and then grudgingly sat down. “Fine. Talk.”

  “I did some checking into Mr. Heinstein. He was a person of interest in a stalking case six years ago but he was never charged with any crimes.”

  “Its not the first time he's done something like this then?”

  “Doesn't look like it. Girl reported having her car and house broken into repeatedly. She filed police report after police report for months but there was no hard evidence connecting Curtis Heinstein to the crimes.”

  “The cops couldn't find the stolen property?” Cal asked.

  “Nothing was ever stolen. He broke in but he didn't take nothing. Just like he did here.”

  Cal and David exchanged a guilty look.

  “Or at least he
didn't take nothing that anyone was willing to report as stolen.” Frank hadn't missed the look that had passed between them.

  “What happened to the girl?” David asked. “The one he stalked before he got with Trish.”

  “She dropped out of the college and moved 2,000 miles to get away from him,” Frank explained. “It worked. He moved on.”

  “To Trish.”

  “To a girl named Judith. There isn't much information in the system regarding Curtis's relationship with Judith. He was, however, listed as a potential suspect when she was brutally raped after a night out with her friends.”

  “Wait a second, I thought Trish said her ex was lawyer?” Cal asked.

  “He's never been officially convicted of any crime. He attended and graduated from law school. He did not, however, pass the state bar exam. He doesn't have a valid law license, a secret which stopped being much of a secret a month after Trish left him. As of last night, he was officially fired from the law practice he's been working. One of the junior partners discovered that the law license he's been using actually belongs to Trish.”

  “Trish passed the bar and he didn't.”

  Frank nodded. “Trish passed the bar. He didn't. He's been using her law license ever since.”

  “None of this is new news,” David said. “Trish already told me-.”

  “Did she tell you that he stole thousands of dollars from the law firm he was working at?”

  David stopped short. “What?”

  “The officer I spoke with on the phone told me that it looks like Curtis Heinstein started stealing money from his employer shortly after he was hired. He's taken a number of personal checks and bonuses directly from clients. His bosses say that none of their lawyers are supposed to take money from any client up front. They have a billing secretary for a reason.”

  “I'm sorry, but I don't understand why I care that Trish's ex-husband stole from his employer.” David was tired, grumpy and losing his patience with this little chat.

  “You care because Trish's husband stole over a hundred thousand dollars and he used her law license to commit the crime. She looks guilty, David. Real guilty.”

  “Trish didn't know,” David said. “She was stunned when she found out he was using her law license.”

  Frank raised one eyebrow at David. “No offense, but your girl is either incredibly naive or lying to you.”

  “My bet is naive,” Cal put in.

  David nodded. “She's trusting. Way too damn trusting. I was with her when she found out her engagement ring was fake. She wasn't happy.”

  “I've been on the phone with a police detective in Silver City on and off for the last two days. When we finally do manage to find Curtis Heinstien and bring him in, he'll be officially charged with theft, bribery, practicing law without a license and embezzlement. Those charges are coming in addition to the murder charge we're hitting him with.”

  “I guess that's a good thing,” David said.

  “Trish is being charged as well.”

  “What?” David stared a the Sheriff in total shock.

  “The cops in Silver City believe that she is Curtis's willing accomplice. They're charging her with damn near every crime they're charging him with.”

  “They can't do that,” David said.

  “Technically, they can.”

  “Trish is innocent.”

  “Trish's innocence is debatable.” Frank tugged on his mustache. “I'm going to be real straight with you. Trish and Curtis were married for a year. He used her law license to steal a small fortune. When the money dried up and the cops started to close in on him, she filed for a divorce and left. She never filed any charges against him or asked for a restraining order. She may not be guilty, but I don't know that a jury of her peers is going to find her innocent.”

  “You have to stop them from pressing charges against Trish. She'll be destroyed. She'll lose her law license.”

  “She'll go to jail, David.”

  “They can't-.”

  “They can and they will,” Frank spoke over David. “But remember that I'm just your Uncle Frank talking to you right now. Just Uncle Frank. Not the Sheriff of Callahan County.”

  “We're listening,” Cal said. He made a shushing gesture at David, who had opened his mouth to argue.

  “When Mr. Heinstein resurfaces here in Possum Creek, and I have no doubt that Mr. Heinstein will resurface in our happy little town, it might be better if he didn't make it into the station for booking.” Frank didn't smile, but he didn't flinch either.

  “You mean-?”

  “Shut up, son.” Frank picked the Tommy gun back up and began playing with the barrels. “Trish isn't the only person you care about who is going to lose their ass when Curtis Heinstein goes down.”

  “Who else?”

  “Addison has broken an awful lot of laws in dealing with Mr. Heinstein. Its not legal for a cop to refuse to record a reported DUI, beat up the passenger in the vehicle and threaten to murder him.”

  “Addy-.”

  “Addy will most likely be charged with police brutality after Curtis Heinstein gives his official statement. Between the way he threatened Curtis and the complaints Kerry has made about him, Addison is going to lose his badge after the state police commission finishes investigating him. He's done, y'all. Done.”

  “Shit.”

  “Shit is right.” Frank took a deep breath and looked once around the room. “I don't claim to know what happened to Casey Black when she disappeared eight years ago. Nor do I claim to know what happened to that boy Gracie was dating up at State University who disappeared the same weekend she snuck home because she randomly and abruptly fell madly in love with David.”

  David shifted unhappily on the couch. Cal never moved a muscle.

  “Y'all really think no one noticed that?” Frank asked them.

  Neither one responded.

  Frank yanked on the end of his mustache. “My point is that you two ain't no angels. And maybe that's really for the best, because you have a way of handling things that I've come to admire.”

  Cal and David stayed silent.

  “As your Uncle Frank, I just thought you boys needed to understand what exactly is at stake in this situation. Curtis Heinstein may very well be a bad guy, but he's the kind of bad guy who is going to take a lot of people down with him when he goes.”

  “I'm not going to let him hurt Trish,” David said bluntly.

  “I didn't figure you would.” Frank looked David up and down once more and then smiled. “I do believe you have a funeral to get ready for, David. You should go get dressed. Don't want to be late.”

  Frank walked back over to the closet he'd pulled the Tommy gun out of and gently set it back down. He reached all the way to the bottom of the closet and picked up an old fashioned revolver. He tossed the gun at David. “Make sure to accessorize properly for the funeral. The longer Curtis Heinstein has to hide in Possum Creek, the harder it will be for him to stay hidden. I have a bad feeling that he's going to be coming for Trish sooner rather than later.”

  Chapter 44

  “Wow. The house looks incredible,” Gracie said as she and Trish walked back into Grover's living room just after seven o'clock in the morning.

  “You look exhausted,” Trish told David.

  “Nah. I'm good. I slept for like, two hours. Our new couch is comfortable but Cal snores and he likes to cuddle. He kept me awake.” David held out his arms to Trish and she went to him, snuggling into his chest. He was wearing his suit. It looked good on him. “You heard from your mom?”

  “She texted me less than an hour ago saying they were almost to the county line. They want us to meet them at the funeral home.”

  “We can do that,” David confirmed with a nod. He cast a sideways look at Cal. “You ready to go?”

  “Ready as I'm going to be.” Cal tugged grumpily at his suit jacket. “I hate these monkey suits.”

  “You don't have to wear a suit,” Trish pointed out. �
�I never once said y'all had to wear suits to Grover's funeral.”

  “You have met my mother, right?” Cal raised on eyebrow at Trish skeptically. “Do you think I would live through the day if I showed up to a funeral in jeans?”

  “Probably not.” Trish cast one more glance around the impressively redone living room. “Y'all really outdid yourself on the house. Where on earth did you find new furniture in the middle of the night?”

  “Owner of the furniture store gave us keys and told us to help ourselves,” David explained. “He'll send the bill today. I'm sure it will be epic.”

  “Oh god. I can't afford new furniture.”

  “No one said you were paying for it.” Cal wrapped one arm around Gracie's hips. She was wearing a coral colored shift dress with a lace overlay and thick belt across her natural waistline. It was the most modest outfit Trish had ever seen her in.

  Trish's own dress was the green and white chevron dress that Gracie had picked for her. It had a boat neck and a hemline that ended below her knees. Loretta had lent her a pair of jade earrings and a matching necklace to complete the outfit. Loretta had also done Trish's hair for her after Gracie had proved to be woefully inept with hairspray and bobby pins.

  “Cal, you don't have to-.”

  “Someone has to,” Cal cut her off. “And technically, David's paying for it. He just hasn't replaced his credit cards yet so I'm going to put the charge on mine. He can pay me back.”

  David nodded at her. “We needed decent furniture. All of Grover's furniture reeked even before Curtis broke in and pissed on it.”

  “The furniture was wretched.” Trish held up her left hand to display her naked ring finger. “I wanted to wear my engagement ring, but the real diamond ring is gone, isn't it?”

  “Don't worry about it. I'll buy you a new one.” David kissed the top of her head. “If we're going to go, we need to get going.”

  “Have y'all talked to my brother yet this morning?” Gracie looked over towards Addison's apartment. Loretta's Cadillac was parked in the driveway.

  “He said he was going to sleep for an hour or so before getting ready for the funeral,” David said. “He apparently wound up at the hospital with Katie last night.”