Secret Remains

by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush

  “What was this guy like?” asked Nick.

  “I dunno. Never came around the house. None of them did.”

  Nick shook his head. Emily knew he wasn’t buying this.

  “Did you ever violate your restraining order?”

  “I never went near her.”

  “You were seen at the high school.”

  “I never went near her,” he repeated, louder.

  “You sure? ’Cause I’m finding it hard to believe you were just stalking her for the sake of watching her.”

  Ghetts clenched his teeth like he was biting back some response. Emily could see Nick’s frustration growing as he tapped his heel against the chair leg. She discreetly reached her hand under the table and placed it on his leg to get him to stop.

  “Did you ever videotape the stuff you did to Sandi?” Nick went in heavy.

  “I never laid a hand on that girl,” he laughed, but Emily noticed that his eyes drifted to the wall left of them. And then to the floor. After a second, he looked through them.

  “I never taped anything. You got that?”

  “You already served your time for what you did to Sandi. I’m not here about that. I don’t care about that now,” said Nick. “But she turned up missing shortly after you were released. So, I’m just putting two and two together.”

  Ghetts’s breathing shallowed, and he turned back to Nick with a grim face.

  “How’d she die?”

  Nick turned to Emily, who inhaled and looked Ghetts in the eye.

  Ghetts pressed. “What happened to her?”

  “She was beaten and strangled.”

  Ghetts’s gaze bounced to the ceiling, and he let out a long sigh.

  “You damaged her. You sent her down this path,” said Nick.

  “I wasn’t in my right mind,” he said after a moment, his gaze drifting inside himself. “Booze. Meth. Takes a man and guts the humanity right out of him.”

  “That’s a cowardly excuse for destroying a young lady and her family.”

  “I always wanted the chance to … tell her … that I was sorry for what happened.”

  Emily froze. Was he for real? Nick kept his eyes trained on Ghetts.

  “What did happen?” said Nick in a steady, hushed tone.

  Ghetts waved his hand at the guard to signal he wanted to leave. The guard came over and led him away. Nick and Emily watched as he trudged out of the visiting area. At one point, he reached his shoulder up to his face and wiped something from his eye. Was it tears? Or just a ruse?

  * * *

  “Who’s he talking about? The carrot top?” said Emily as soon as they stepped out the prison doors.

  “Ross Geldon,” said Nick with his eyes locked ahead on the parking lot. “Rosy Ross, we used to call him.”

  “I don’t get it,” said Emily.

  “Roses are red. Ross had red hair, and his face would get all beet red when he was embarrassed or mad.”

  “Rosy Ross. That’s kinda mean.”

  “Nah. Everyone had a nickname. It was a badge of honor.”

  “Guys are weird.”

  “You had a name, too.”

  “What? No. I never had a nickname.”

  Nick laughed. “Oh yes, you did.”

  “What was it?”

  Nick nodded. “You honestly never knew?”

  “Tell me. Come on.” She punched him playfully in the arm.

  “Doctor Death.”

  “That’s so demeaning!”

  “No, it makes sense, ’cause you wanted to be a doctor. And you worked with your dad on dead bodies.” He grinned.

  “Ridiculous. People actually called me that?”

  “Yes. People liked you.”

  “No, they didn’t. Only Jo.” Emily was secretly pleased. She had a nickname! “Who started calling me that?”

  Nick grinned and opened the passenger door for her. Emily crawled into his squad car.

  “I’ll never tell.”

  “Spill it, mister.” She propped the door open with her leg so he couldn’t close it on her.

  “I did.”

  “You’re ridiculous,” she said, releasing her leg. “And kinda mean.” He smiled and closed the door. She couldn’t help but giggle. Doctor Death. She had to admit it was a good fit and had an intimidating ring to it.

  Nick joined her in the car, and they took off as the sun was setting.

  “Do you believe Ghetts?” she asked.

  “I believe he’s guilty of the sex crimes. The murder? I don’t know. You?”

  “His time card is pretty solid evidence. If you could find some coworkers who remember seeing him that day, then maybe I’d be willing to clear his slate.”

  “I’m already on it. But it hasn’t been easy to find these old-timers. A lot of them have passed away.”

  “Did you know Sandi and Ross were so close?” asked Emily.

  “I did not. And I’m rather suspicious about that claim. I don’t remember seeing any statement from him in Sandi’s original case file.”

  “I don’t remember you having a nickname in high school.”

  “I got it junior year. You were gone.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’m not telling you.”

  “I’ll just ask Jo.” She shrugged and picked up her phone to call her best friend.

  “Settle down, Doctor Death.” Nick put his hand over the face of her phone.

  “I think it’s time to retire that name.”

  “I birthed it. I’ll decide when it needs to die.”

  Emily laughed. They drove for a moment in silence.

  “It was … Nick the Prick.”

  “That was your nickname? That doesn’t sound endearing.”

  Nick shrugged. “I was always standing up for the underdog. And that pissed off the bullies. And now, this uniform now pretty much guarantees my nickname for life.”

  “Well, you’re not. Just so you know.” Emily regretted that she had pushed the issue. Confident, popular Nick. She would never have guessed this to be his sore spot.

  “I’m starving.” It was a two-hour drive back to Freeport.

  “We’ll have to settle for fast food because we have one more errand to run.” Nick turned into the drive of a burger joint.

  “We do?” said Emily, noticing a rumble in her belly. “Where?”

  “Lyndon.”

  Lyndon was a half hour east of the penitentiary. “What’s there?”

  “You’ll see.”

  22

  “I’m standing by the alibi I gave ten years ago. I was at the gym after school with James and Landry. You can ask them,” said Ross Geldon when Nick and Emily found him working sales at a used car dealership in Lyndon.

  “I did ask Landry,” said Nick. “He said you left early. How early?”

  “I don’t know. I was there till James was.”

  “Give me a guesstimate. When did you leave the school gym?”

  “Or what? You’re going to arrest me?” Ross let out a huge sneeze. “Sorry, caught a cold.” He reached for a tissue in his pocket and blew his nose. “I know you don’t have any evidence on me, Nick. You only care now about Sandi because it’s your job.”

  “That’s not true. I tried to help her.” Nick raised his voice, and Emily noticed a middle-aged salesman drinking hot cocoa from a dispenser in the waiting area turn a quick glance to them. Other than him, they were the only three people in the place. It was now eight o’clock on a Saturday night. Emily noted that this was definitely the best time to buy a used car if you wanted a salesman’s full attention.

  “When did you last see Sandi?” Nick asked.

  “Best guess, four thirty,” said Ross, tossing the dirty tissue into the trash and reaching for another one.

  “What was your relationship to Sandi?” asked Nick.

  “Friends.”

  “Did she ever talk to you about her relationship with James?”

  “James was toxic to her,” hissed Ross, wiping his sniffli
ng nose into the fresh tissue.

  “How?”

  “He just bullied her. Forced her into things she didn’t want to do.”

  “Like what?”

  Ross crossed his arms and glanced outside. “Hey, man, it’s water under the bridge, right? Nothing we can do now.”

  “Yes, there is. We can try to find out who killed her. So speak up. What do you know?” said Nick.

  “I know what you know.”

  “I don’t think so. I think you know more,” pressed Nick.

  “The video, you moron. Don’t you remember?” Ross said, throwing his hushed voice away from the prying ears in the waiting area.

  “Of course I do. But I never saw it. Did you?” Nick turned to Ross with an indignant look.

  Ross shrugged.

  “Does that mean you did?” asked Nick.

  Ross began to strum his fingers lightly on his arms. Emily knew this as a classic sign of anxiety. Ross knew something more about that video.

  “What was on that video, Ross?” Nick asked.

  “Stuff.”

  “Be a little more specific.”

  “Stuff she didn’t want anyone to know about.”

  “She told me she didn’t know about the video,” said Nick.

  Ross shook his head, “She did. She knew.”

  “If what was on that video was so bad, why didn’t you do anything about it?”

  “Because … because … I was the guy in it,” Ross blurted out.

  “You and Sandi made a sex video?” Nick’s voice cracked at the word sex and echoed through the showroom. The hot-cocoa-drinking salesman snapped his gaze to them, drawing Ross’s attention. He sent a little wave to the guy. “Hey, Darren, I can close up. You go on home to that sweet family of yours.”

  “You got it, boss. Thanks!” Darren tossed the Styrofoam cup into the trash bin and zipped out. Ross turned his attention to Nick.

  “Just friends, huh?” said Emily.

  “Hey, I didn’t know we were being filmed.” Ross was indignant.

  “How’d you find out?”

  “James came up to me at the gym that afternoon and showed me. He blackmailed me with it.”

  “What did you do?” said Emily.

  “I ripped the phone out of his hands and I threw it against the brick wall. It shattered. And I nailed him one. I mean, I sent him to the floor.”

  “That’s how he broke his nose?” said Nick.

  “Yeah. It wasn’t a stray baseball like he told everyone.”

  “Why would he make a sex tape of you and Sandi?” Emily could not wrap her head around the motive here. Sandi was dating James and sleeping with Ross? What else was going on?

  “He knew Sandi and I had been seeing each other. And she—we—were in love. It made James crazy angry.”

  “I’m missing something here. If she was in love with you, why was she still with James?” asked Nick.

  “He had this weird hold on her. He could be sweet. And he was rich. He bribed her with nice things. Purses. Jewelry. New jeans. He made her feel special in a way I couldn’t.”

  “But that’s not real love.” Emily still didn’t get this mess.

  I wanted to show her I would be there for her.

  “But she was dating someone else. Didn’t that bother you?” said Emily.

  “Dating isn’t exactly what I would call her and James. And I know she wasn’t sleeping with him.”

  Nick cleared his throat. “What did you think happened to Sandi?”

  “For a long time I believed she ran away. I kept hoping I’d get a call from her. I just wanted to know she was safe.”

  “How long did you hold on to that?” asked Emily.

  “I guess I knew after a couple weeks she was gone.”

  “Gone?” asked Nick.

  “Dead.”

  “Dead how?” said Emily.

  “Murdered.”

  “And who do you think killed Sandi?” The wash of sadness sweeping over Ross did not escape her.

  “Honestly, I had the same thoughts as everyone else. The stepdad.”

  “Never James?” asked Nick.

  Ross shrugged. “I don’t see it. He was controlling, manipulative, but not violent. He never even hit me back that day in the gym.”

  “He didn’t fight back?” asked Emily.

  “Not with punches. He got up off the floor, gave me this cocky little smile, and walked out.”

  Nick and Emily exchanged a quick glance.

  “Turning the other cheek? That’s not very manly,” said Emily.

  “James didn’t like to get his hands dirty,” Ross said.

  “Or his designer clothes,” added Nick.

  “I don’t get how you guys were friends with him,” said Emily.

  “We weren’t,” they said in unison.

  “He was one of those guys who just showed up and inserted himself into everyone’s business,” said Nick.

  “James was someone you tolerate.”

  “Maybe he didn’t fight back because he knew he could get into big trouble for what he had done?” suggested Emily.

  “He liked to let his daddy fight his battles with money and lawyers,” said Ross. “I half expected to see a lawsuit the next day on my doorstep. But he just drifted away from all of us after Sandi was gone.”

  Nick was about to say something, but one look from Emily and he pressed his lips shut. Emily put on her best empathetic face and waited. Sometimes a moment of silence was all that was needed for someone to continue the conversation on their own. People hated silence. She didn’t have to wait long before Ross filled it.

  “I got to thinking about it. I spent a lot of time with Sandi and her kid sister, Tiffani. She was always hanging around us. She was this really sweet kid sister one minute, and then after Sandi was gone, she turned into a hellion. It’s weird, right? I just think she’s hiding something.”

  He stopped, and the three of them let that thought hang over them for a moment. Emily tried to imagine Sandi’s little sister as a killer. How would she have had the strength to strangle Sandi, unless she knocked her out first? What would be the motive? Was she jealous of Sandi? Had Sandi promised her something and then backed out? Was it just a sisterly spar gone awry?

  “Can you give us a minute?” Nick asked, motioning with a flick of his hand for Emily to leave.

  Rude. “Fine.” She disliked his dismissive attitude but didn’t want to break their solidarity on the matter at hand. She smiled sweetly and strolled into the showroom to look at the selection of vehicles. As Emily passed a Lexus sedan, it triggered the image of the black Lexus in Pinetree Slopes at Sandi’s site. Unlike Nick, who’d brushed it off, Emily was convinced that the two people in the car had been at that spot because they knew something about Sandi’s murder.

  Ross had access to cars. Unregistered cars. Cars without plates. Cars that could come and go easily off a showroom floor. If Ross had been one of the people in that Lexus, what was his motive for returning to the site of Sandi’s grave? Emily started to roll a new circle of thoughts through her brain. If Ross had loved Sandi so much, why hadn’t he put James in his place before the video incident? There seemed to be a very real possibility that since Sandi wasn’t leaving James, Ross might try to take James down again. Would Sandi turn against Ross at some point if that happened? Would James fight back? Maybe not with his fists, but if he had such a hold on Sandi, wouldn’t he try do everything in his power to sully Ross’s reputation, shatter his chances of university scholarship, his varsity status, his shot at graduation? And did Ross have reason to believe there were more sex videos? Ross knew James and his father had the power to dismantle his whole life. Maybe he was lying about his love for Sandi? Maybe he’d been using her, too. Maybe Sandi wasn’t worth the risk of losing his whole future. Getting rid of Sandi would send James the message that Ross had the upper hand and that he’d better not mess with him ever again. It was extreme, but maybe that’s how far Ross would go to protect himself. It wa
s a theory they needed to consider.

  Emily glanced over at Nick. He was standing and shaking Ross’s hand, like old friends. She thought Nick was being very naive right now. Ross had told a nice story, and Nick was immediately ready to cross him off the suspect list. Same with stepdad Gordon Ghetts. Emily had been deceived by well-intentioned stories before, and it had made her wary of feel-good tales.

  Emily looked up to see Nick give her a quick nod. He was ready to go. She made her way to Ross’s desk to say goodbye.

  “Ms. Hartford, nice to meet you, again. I’m sure our paths crossed at school,” said Ross, the tail end of his sentence getting cut off by a loud sneeze. Emily cringed as he blew his snotty nose into a tissue and then reached out to shake her hand.

  “It’s Dr. Hartford.” Emily gave him a polite smile and kept her hands to herself. “And if you want some free medical advice, you should take two aspirin, plenty of water, and get a good night’s rest.”

  23

  Emily forgot to set an alarm and woke Sunday at eleven AM feeling groggy, but she didn’t have the luxury of staying in bed. She had accepted an invitation from Anna to meet her and the family in Rock River at the ice arena at one. Flora and Fiona were both competing in a local freestyle competition, and Anna thought this would be the perfect way for Emily to be introduced to her new nieces.

  Two hours later, a cleaned and caffeinated Emily joined Anna and her husband, Kyle, in the bleacher seats overlooking the ice rink, where a dozen girls were warming up.

  “Flora is the one in the royal-blue outfit. And Fiona is the yellow one,” said Anna, pointing them out in the rink. Emily glanced out across the rink to see the waify figures in yellow and blue whirling in their warm-ups.

  “They’re adorable.” Both had long, sandy-brown hair and lean extremities. They definitely took after their mom. Emily hadn’t noticed in their first meeting how beautiful and elegant Anna really was. Emily looked down at her short, dirty nails and compared them to Anna’s manicured ones. It wouldn’t hurt to step into a nail salon now and then.

  “I’m so glad you could make it.” Anna was beaming. “I’ve been telling the girls all about you. You’re joining us for lunch after the competition, right?”

  “Of course. I’m glad to be here. It’s been quite a whirlwind, and it’s so nice to spend time with … you.” Family had been the word on the tip of Emily’s tongue. But it didn’t come out.