by Wendy Wang
“I figured I’d just ask Lisa.” Charlie took the paper.
“Lisa’s a corporate lawyer. You want somebody who knows the law when it comes to child custody.”
“Kenneth Purdue?” She read aloud.
“Yep. Just tell him I sent you. He’ll do right by you.”
“Who is?”
“My cousin Kenny.”
“I don’t know if cousin Kenny can really help me. I kind of screwed myself when I signed the stupid agreement in the first place.”
“Tell me,” Jason said. His intense face softened. “Please?”
Charlie folded her legs beneath her, getting more comfortable. She took a deep breath. Jason watched her face intently as she spoke.
“So, you know how I told you that my agreement with Scott was mutual.”
“Yes. He told me the same thing. For the good of the child and blah blah blah. Something about it never set right with me though.”
“Yeah well, you’re perceptive.”
“I knew he was lying to me,” Jason muttered.
“When I told Scott that I wanted to leave him he had a total meltdown. I had tried to commit suicide only a couple months before and after I survived and started going through therapy I realized I couldn't stay with him. Being with him was eventually going to kill me one way or the other.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, either I was going to physically die by my own hand or— I'm not saying he would actually physically kill me, but being with him was killing me. Who I am. I mean.”
Jason’s gaze intensified and he nodded. “I can understand that.”
“Anyway, he tried everything to get me to stay. Offered to take me away on an expensive vacation. Jewelry. Short of a flat-out sum of money, you name it and he offered it. But then Evan started to show signs that he was more like me, if you know what I mean.”
Jason nodded.
“So, I packed our bags but Scott came home unexpectedly. We fought and that’s when he threatened to expose my abilities to the right doctors.” Charlie held up both hands and made finger quotes. “Which was really just code for his friends. Friends who would listen to him when he said my wife is crazy, help me. He said he could have me committed long-term if I tried to take Evan.”
“Son of a bitch,” Jason muttered through gritted teeth. He scrubbed the stubble on his face and leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. “He really does think he's god, doesn't he?”
“I don’t know about God, but he does like to get his way. The only way he would agree to a divorce at all was for me to leave Evan with him. Told me if I tried to fight him, he’d spend every waking hour dedicated to keeping my son away from me. I believed him. So, to keep seeing my son, I gave up full custody.” Charlie sighed and leaned forward. She stared down at her bare feet and wiggled her toes on the faded blue and tan wool rug. “God, I must sound like such a fool.”
“No.” Jason’s hand landed on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “You were just in a bad situation. You know, just because he didn’t raise his hand to you, doesn’t mean he wasn’t an abusive prick. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
Charlie sat back and considered his words. It had never occurred to her that Scott’s actions were abusive. Not really. She chewed on her bottom lip.
“You deserve way better. I’m glad you got out.”
“I left my son so I wouldn’t end up in an institution.” A wide chasm cracked open inside her chest, the guilt she’d harbored for so long threatened to yank her into that expanse and drown her in the darkness.
“If the kid’s sensitive like you, imagine what his life would be like without you in it. You think Dr. Dickhead would be supportive.”
“He’s not supportive, even with me in Evan’s life. He just had him put on meds for ADHD. Trust me, I’ve seen some of his friends. My son is not hyperactive. He’s smart and can focus when he needs too. Scott just did it because Evan is like me.”
“Please, talk to my cousin. Seriously. You make a good living. You saved enough for a down payment on your own home.”
“Which I never bought.”
“So what? It wasn’t the right time. It still doesn’t diminish the fact that you’re the boy's mother. You have no criminal record. And even your own doctor has declared that you are no longer depressed anymore.”
“How do you –” Charlie started but shut her mouth. She already knew the answer. Jason had been so wary of her when they first met, that he had investigated her.
“You know, he’s not the only one who knows people. You know people too.” Jason continued.
“I do?” Charlie quirked an eyebrow. “Who?”
“Me.” Jason sounded indignant. “I’m an officer of the court and you’re a valuable asset to the Sheriff's Department. You've helped me solve numerous missing person cases.”
“Numerous is a stretch. Three. I've helped to solve three.”
“And a kidnap/murder case. There's no way I would've solved that one without you.”
“Probably not a good idea to bring that one up since I was also one of the kidnap victims,” she quipped.
“You helped solve that case and stop a murderer. You’re good in my book. I’d stand up in court for you,” Jason reassured. “Call my cousin Kenny. He'll take care of you.”
“How expensive is he? I mean Scott can afford the most expensive lawyer there is. I can’t compete with that.”
“You don’t have to. Trust me.”
“No. You are not paying for anything. I would ask my uncle Jack for money before I would let you do that.”
“Sometimes he takes things pro bono. I can make sure that this is one of those things.”
“How are you gonna do that?
“Don't worry about it. I want to do this for you. You deserve some happiness. I know you don't always believe that but you do.”
“Thank you.” Charlie glanced at the paper still in her hand then flashed Jason a grateful smile. “This means a lot.”
“Well,” he chuckled and shifted in the chair. Awkwardness crept up between them for a moment, and it dawned on Charlie that maybe Jason’s feelings for her were more than just friendly.
“So,” she blew out a breath and smiled. “Tell me about Trini.”
Jason’s expression morphed into relief, and he opened the folder laying on the ottoman in front of him. “Her mother’s still alive. I think you should go talk to her.”
“That’s as good a place to start as any.”
Chapter 9
Charlie floated above the scene. She watched as Haley Miller crossed an expansive marble foyer to a grand double staircase with a gallery overlooking the massive space. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, and gilded Greek letters hung on the bannister. A sorority house? The regal scale of the room reminded her of something out of a movie. Charlie zoomed in closer to keep up with the young woman who had climbed the steps and turned a corner. The lush color scheme reflected throughout the house, down to the cream-colored carpeting lining the hallway and crystal light fixtures. All the doorknobs were polished antique brass. Charlie laughed as she flew through the corridor, keeping pace with Haley. She loved being weightless in dreams.
Haley stopped at the end of the long corridor at a pair of double doors. She knocked five times. Two short one long two short. It must have been a code. A moment later another young woman, dressed in a powder blue top and skinny jeans opened the door.
“You’re late,” she said.
“Sorry, I got hung up,” Haley said.
Charlie followed Haley inside, staying close so she could get a look at things. She'd been interpreting her dreams long enough to know that sometimes she just had to follow along to get the message. Haley shut the door behind them quickly and turned the lock.
“All right, let's get this meeting started,” the girl in powder blue said. She took a seat at a polished round mahogany table in the center of the room. Five other girls were seated around the
table. Lying on the table in front of powder blue was a manila folder. The young woman opened it as Haley slipped into the chair next to her. Charlie moved behind the girl in powder blue. She looked familiar. “Y’all know why we’re here, right?”
“To take a vote on pledges?” the girl sitting across from powder blue said. She wore her strawberry blonde hair in pigtails and a green tank top that showed her ample curves. Charlie bit her lip to keep from snickering at the vacuous look on the girl’s face.
“No, Ashley,” powder blue said. She pursed her lips. “We’re here to talk about Brianna, remember?”
“Emma, I thought we already decided this. We can’t reject her because she’s legacy,” the brunette sitting next to Haley said. Charlie’s ears perked up and she scrutinized powder blue. She had seen her before. Her photo had popped up on Haley’s phone. Charlie peeked over Emma’s shoulder at the papers in front of the girl.
“No. Not true exactly. I’ve been looking into precedent, and I think I may have found a loophole. We can reject her if she doesn’t meet our standards.”
“She has a 4.0 and volunteers at a soup kitchen. And, she’s gorgeous. How is she not meeting our standards?” one of the girls argued.
“She also constantly argues with leadership and has no respect for our southern values,” Emma countered. “If she was just a regular pledge she’d have been out by now.”
“It’s not that we don’t like her, Amanda.” Haley leaned forward with her arms on the table. “But she’s really not a good fit for us. That’s all we’re saying.”
“Well, maybe if we worked with her –” one of the girls said.
“Jessica, please,” Emma said. “Part of being in this sorority is knowing practically by osmosis whether you fit here or not.”
“That’s not really how osmosis works,” Jessica said. The other girls snickered, and Emma scowled and cleared her throat.
“Are y’all done? ‘Cause this is serious.”
The laughs and grins on the girls’ faces faded fast, and they all resumed their focus on their leader.
“Sorry Emma,” Jessica said.
Emma straightened her back. “Regardless, it is not our policy to advise pledges on how to fit in. We are an elite group, and we can’t accept just anybody off the street.”
“Emma’s right. Being here’s a privilege, not a right. If a girl doesn’t fit with us, she should be able to recognize that and leave on her own. If she can’t do it for herself, then it’s up to us to do it for her,” Haley said.
“Harsh,” Jessica muttered.
“Well, you know, just because she has an opinion about things –” Amanda started. Her long straight blonde hair reached well past her shoulders, and she pushed one side behind her ear revealing what could only be a one-carat diamond glittering in the yellow incandescent light of the room.
“If she wanted to have an opinion on everything, she should have joined Omega Tau,” Emma snapped. “Now let’s get down to it. This has to be unanimous because of the possible liability involved. I need a show of hands please.” The girls all stared at Emma. “All those in favor of doing the house challenge raise your hand.”
“Come on, Jess, you know this is better for everybody in the long run,” Amanda said. “This is about sisterhood. The needs of the many must outweigh the needs of the few.”
Jessica's forehead wrinkled and slowly she raised her hand.
Charlie glanced at Emma, who now wore a smug look on her face. This was the Emma who told Haley she was crazy.
“Let the record show that there is a unanimous vote for a night at the house,” Emma said.
“Noted,” Haley said scribbling onto a notepad. “Do we have a date in mind?”
“I have just one question,” Jessica said.
Emma's perfect full lips twisted into a scowl. “What?”
“What happens if she makes it through the challenge?” Jessica asked.
“Well, I guess,” Haley began, giving Jessica a pointed look. “It's up to us to make sure she doesn't, isn't it?”
Jessica rolled her eyes. “I guess we'll just have to scare her to death then, won’t we.”
Charlie's eyes flew open and she sat up. She reached for her phone and quickly jotted off the text to Jason.
Are you up? I saw Emma.
She pressed the send button and waited. After several minutes, she put the phone back down on the table next to her bed. The red numbers on her digital alarm clock read 1:30 AM. Her phone vibrated, and she rushed to grab it. It surprised her when she saw her son’s name and a text appeared.
Hi mom—are you awake?
She quickly ticked off a response.
What’s going on? Did you have a bad dream?
No. I just can't sleep.
Charlie frowned at the phone. Reading the last five words over and over. What 11-year-old couldn't sleep?
Want to talk about it?
Can I come stay with you this weekend?
I would love to have you, honey, but this is your dad's weekend.
I don't care. Please!!??
Charlie's heart wrenched. It was rare that her son uttered the words I don't care, even in jest. He was growing to be almost as sensitive as she was, and for him not to care about someone's feelings, especially his father's, gnawed at her heart.
Did you and dad have a fight?
She stared at the screen waiting for a response. After what seemed like too long, one word appeared—yes.
What did y’all fight about?
I don’t like these meds. They make me feel weird.
Weird, how?
I don’t know. Kind of like . . . nothing.
You feel nothing?
Yeah.
Charlie took a deep breath to fight the wave of nausea roiling through her belly. She hated Scott for trying to medicate Evan’s sensitivity away.
How are you sleeping? Any dreams?
None since I started taking the meds.
So many things she wanted to say swirled through her head. More than anything, she wanted to tell him it would be all right. Somehow, she would get him off the meds. But she didn’t know if she could make anything all right, didn’t know if she could really stop Scott from making him take pills. She closed her eyes and counted to ten. The last thing she wanted to do was to pull Evan into the middle of a battle between her and Scott. He’d already been through so much because of her. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Her thumbs moved quickly over the keyboard.
I'll talk to dad again about this. For now, you need to go to sleep. I love you. We'll figure this out.
I love you too mom. Good night.
Night night. Don't let the bedbugs bite.
A yellow-faced emoji appeared with Zz’s floating above its head and Charlie chuckled. God, she loved that kid. Her thoughts drifted to Scott, and she fought the hate growing there. Hating him was unproductive, but she couldn’t stop herself. But more than hating Scott, she hated herself a little bit. Why had she ever signed that stupid custody agreement? Because you thought you deserved it.
Charlie sighed and stared at the ceiling. Sleep would be a long time coming tonight.
Jason sat at his desk looking through evidence gathered from Haley Miller's house. A bottle of pills. Pictures of a couple of trashcans filled with empty Diet Coke and booze bottles, and the server had been exactly where Don Baker had said it would be. They’d pulled several days worth of security video from the hard drive, and Beck was going through the footage. Jason volunteered to check out her social media and pictures from the crime scene. He had logged into Facebook and found her easily enough. Luckily her profile was public. He started with her friends list, searching for anyone named Emma that she knew. Five different friends popped up. Great.
Charlie walked across the office and plopped down on the chair next to his desk. She opened her purse and rifled through it, pulling out a sheet of paper. “I had a dream.”
“Good morning to you too.” He picked up the pape
r and looked over the three symbols written there. “What is this?”
“I think it's a sorority.” She leaned in close and lowered her voice. “In my dream, Haley walked into this house, and those three letters were everywhere. Then she went to a meeting room and met with several other girls including our good friend Emma. It was very secret.”
“Okay. Did they conspire to kill Haley?”
Charlie half scoffed half laughed. “No, not exactly. They took a vote on getting rid of Brianna.”
“When you say getting rid of —”
“I mean voting her out of the sorority.”
“Why have a secret vote about it?”
“I don't really know the ins and outs of sororities; it wasn't my thing when I was in college. But from what I could glean the girl in question wasn’t getting along with everybody. Nobody really liked her.”
“Why not just ask her to leave then?”
“Something about her being a legacy.”
“Legacy.” Jason wrote the word down. “Did she have a name?”
Charlie shrugged. “Brianna. No last name. Sorry.”
“Hang on a minute.” Jason put in the name Brianna in the search field of Haley’s friends.
“What are you doing?” Charlie asked.
“Searching through her friends on Facebook.”
“They didn’t really like this girl,” Charlie said.
“Yeah, well I never really liked Tyler Cummings either, but I still accepted his friend request,” Jason said. “Maybe Haley did the same thing with this girl.”
“You’re friends with people you weren’t really friends with?” Charlie gave him a puzzled look.
“Yep. Aren’t you?”
“No. If I wasn’t friends with you in high school or college, I sure don’t have time to be friends with you now on Facebook.”
“You know you look all soft and angelic, but you’re really just a crabby old woman under that facade, aren’t ya?” Jason chuckled.
Charlie laughed and nodded. “Pretty much.”
“Well, thanks for the tip. I might head over to the college today, check out the sorority. Maybe something will pan out there.”