“He had just turned fourteen,” said Kathy.
“Mother, please. This is hard enough,” he said. “Tyler Walters was my best friend.”
He stood up and walked around and rested his forearms on the back of the chair, as if he couldn’t sit down, but needed to be propped up.
“Mother told me what happened with that girl, Stacy Dance, Ryan Dance’s little sister. She told me how Marsha Carruthers has been acting-the anger and the drinking. I got afraid for Mother. She didn’t know what really happened, and it’s gotten so mixed up.”
“Why don’t you start from the beginning,” suggested Diane.
He nodded. “I’m not sure what the beginning is anymore,” he said.
His mother sobbed into her handkerchief.
“Just start from the first thing you remember,” said Kingsley.
“I was in my room listening to NSYNC, and Tyler came to my window and knocked. I let him climb in. He was really upset. He kept pacing and saying, ‘Oh, man, oh, man. I really did it this time.’ ”
Colton paused and looked away from Diane and Kingsley, his face screwed up into a grief-stricken mask.
“He was only a kid like me. He told me he had just killed El-Ellie Rose. I thought he was kidding. I mean, who comes in and says they just killed someone? He said he’d been wanting her for a long time but he couldn’t get her alone. She kept avoiding him. He had told me already that one day he was going to jump her and I told him he couldn’t do that. He didn’t listen to me.”
Colton Nicholson sat back down in the chair. His mother reached over and touched his hand.
“I’m sorry, Mother,” he whispered. “Tyler said she started screaming and he put a hand over her mouth. Tyler was really strong. His grandfather made him work out all the time.”
Diane thought that was a strange way of putting it, but she didn’t want to interrupt him.
“Everett Walters, Tyler’s grandfather, took him to some hookers as a birthday present when he turned thirteen,” continued Colton. “Tyler said his grandfather told them to make a man out of him. After that, he was kind of crazy, if you know what I mean. At the time, I was really interested in hearing about his experience with the hookers, but it kind of scared me too. His grandfather scared me. He encouraged Tyler to be a bully at school. He got into trouble more than once for it. He kept telling Tyler he had to be a man. That’s hard when you are just thirteen.”
Colton paused again and put his head in his hands. He straightened up after a moment and continued. “He said he did it to her. He said his grandfather was right-she was better than a hooker. But she bit him and started screaming, and he choked her. He said she was in the woods in back of his house, that he had covered her body with branches. I told him he had to go tell his father. He shook his head and said he was going to tell his grandfather, that he would know what to do.”
“Did he?” asked Kingsley.
Colton nodded. “Yes. When it was all done, Tyler was calm about it all. He said his grandfather fixed everything. He told me never to tell anyone. If I did, his grandfather would kill me. He wasn’t threatening me or anything. It was just a fact. He said he didn’t tell his grandfather I knew because he would have killed me. I believed him. I was scared.”
Colton waited a moment. His eyes were glossy with tears. He had been living with this for nine years, dreading every time he came home. Diane couldn’t blame him, even though he should have come forward much earlier.
“That man Dance is innocent. Tyler’s grandfather, Everett Walters, framed him. Tyler said Dance was some no-account and it didn’t matter. But Mother tells me that someone killed his sister, that she was trying to free her brother. I know it was Everett Walters who did it.”
“What about Tyler?” said Diane. “You don’t think he could have killed Stacy Dance?”
“El was an accident. He wouldn’t kill somebody on purpose.”
“He raped Ellie Rose on purpose,” said Kingsley.
“Don’t you think I know that? El was my friend too. I told Tyler he needed to talk to a counselor or something, but-he was all different after he met his grandfather. Tyler’s grandfather wasn’t always in the picture. He and Tyler’s grandmother divorced when Tyler’s father, Gordon Walters, was a kid, and she got custody and raised him in another state without Everett. Everett had businesses here in Georgia and didn’t travel, I guess. Anyway, Tyler said Everett didn’t try to see his son, Gordon, growing up and regretted it. Everett Walters sought his son out when Tyler was a kid-it was several years after Gordon Walters moved back to Georgia.”
“Why did he wait?” asked Kingsley.
Colton shrugged. “I think Everett read something about Gordon in the newspaper-when he became head of oncology or something-realized that that was his son.” He shrugged again. “Wendy hated Everett, but Gordon, Dr. Walters, was happy to have his father back in his life. Wendy said Gordon had blinders on when it came to his father. But she did too. She had no idea about the things that Everett was teaching Tyler. She sure didn’t know about the hookers. She’d have had a fit. Tyler said that his mother and father argued about Everett a lot. Everett had no respect for women and that included Wendy. Gordon was so clueless about his father. But, to be fair, he did work all the time.”
Colton talked to them for an hour. It was sometimes disjointed and Diane had to make the connections in the right sequence. She imagined he was about talked out. He and his mother had apparently talked all night. He stood and looked at his mother.
“I have to tell Dr. and Mrs. Carruthers what really happened. They deserve to know. Then I’m going to get you to move out to California with me. You don’t need to live here any longer. Not across the street from the Walters. Not after today.”
Mrs. Nicholson looked at Diane and Kingsley. “What will happen to Colton? What will the police do?”
“He will have to answer questions,” said Diane. “Get a good lawyer to go with him to the police station. He was a minor and he was scared. He didn’t have anything to do with what happened to Ellie Rose until after the fact. But he still needs to have a lawyer with him.”
“Oh God,” she wimpered.
“Mother, this has defined my life for nine years. My childhood ended that day. I can’t have a relationship with anyone until I resolve this. Tyler won’t like it, but he was a minor too. It’s his grandfather they need to put in jail.”
Light was starting to filter through the crack between the drapes. Daylight was finally here. Diane imagined that it was a long time coming for Colton and his mother.
He headed for the door.
“Colton, you need to call first,” said his mother.
“No. I need to go over and do it. I need to get this done,” he said.
“I’ll go with you,” she said. “Please let us go with you.”
Kathy Nicholson had said us. She apparently wanted Diane and Kingsley to go along too. Well, thought Diane, this ought to be fun. She looked at Kingsley, who was getting to his feet.
“Son,” said Kingsley,“you need to wait and do this another way. You don’t know what Mrs. Carruthers’ reaction will be. She probably won’t believe you at first. She may blame you. She needs people around her when you tell her.”
“I’ve thought it through. Marsha knows me. When I come home I always go see her. Samuel will be there. He doesn’t go into his office this early. I know them. They need to hear this and I need to tell them, and I’m going to.”
Ross sighed. “Very well,” he said. “Then all of us will go with you.”
The four of them walked over to the Carruthers’ house. Colton Nicholson rang the doorbell. It took a couple of minutes before anyone answered it. Diane and Kingsley stood back so that whoever answered the door, or looked out the peephole, would see the Nicholsons first. Diane didn’t think Marsha Carruthers or her husband would let them in otherwise.
It was Marsha who opened the door. She was in a robe. She didn’t have on any makeup and her hair was up in a
ponytail.
“Kathy? Colton?” she said. “I didn’t know you were home. Is anything wrong?” Then she saw Diane and Kingsley. “You! What are you doing here?”
“I asked them, Marsha,” said Kathy Nicholson. “Colton needs to tell you and Samuel something.”
“This early? Can’t it wait?” she said.
“No, Marsha, it can’t,” said Colton. “I should have come a long time ago.”
“Honey, who is it?” Samuel Carruthers came to the door in a bathrobe. “Colton. It’s been a while.” He looked at Diane and Kingsley and pointed a finger at them. “I told you never to come onto my property again.”
“Please, Samuel,” said Kathy. “Please, let us come in.”
Dr. and Mrs. Carruthers looked confused. They stood there making no decision for several moments. Then Marsha stepped back and let them come in. They all went into the living room, where Ellie Rose’s portrait hung over the mantel. The stuffed chair was sitting facing it. An empty drink glass was on the side table where Marsha had left it the evening before. Diane wanted to go home and get into bed.
Marsha and Samuel sat in the leather chairs. Kathy and Colton sat on the sofa. Diane and Kingsley stood off to the side, near the wall. Diane hoped she blended into the wallpaper.
“What’s this about?” asked Marsha.
Colton took a deep breath. For all his insistence on coming over right at this moment, he was losing his nerve. He blurted it out. No preamble or explanation, just, “Tyler Walters killed El. His grandfather framed that Dance guy. Tyler told me it was an accident.”
Marsha and Samuel sat there as if they hadn’t heard. They stared at Colton, then at Kathy, then at Diane and Kingsley.
“They told you to say this,” said Marsha. “You sons of bitches.”
“Marsha, I called them early this morning after Colton and I talked all night. I’d told Colton about the murder of Stacy Dance, and he got on a plane and flew here. These people had nothing to do with it. I called them, well, because they were nice to me and aren’t the police-though I know we’ll need to talk to the police after we talk to you.”
“I don’t understand,” said Samuel. “Are you saying that Tyler Walters killed my baby girl? That he raped her? He was just a kid then.”
Colton laid out the whole story just as he had for Diane and Kingsley.
Chapter 58
There were times when Diane didn’t know if Marsha and Samuel Carruthers were actually hearing what Colton was telling them. Their eyes seemed out of focus. They looked dazed and confused.
“Did Wendy know?” asked Marsha.
Colton nodded. “She came home as they were moving the… as they were putting El into Everett’s SUV.”
Colton had sneaked glances at the portrait as he told his story. He looked at it now as if it were Ellie Rose herself looking down on him.
“Tyler said Wendy got hysterical there in the garage. His grandfather slapped her and she hit him back with a mop handle. Tyler said he had to get between them. He said his grandfather convinced Wendy that what they were doing was for the best.”
“Best?” whispered Marsha. “Best?”
“Look, Mrs. Carruthers, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I should have told you the truth years ago. But I was afraid. And then later, well, I couldn’t bring myself to relive the whole thing. I just tried to pretend it didn’t happen, until I had to come home. I only came forward now because of Stacy Dance. I’m really afraid that Tyler or his grandfather…”
Colton stopped talking because Marsha was up and going to the phone. They all watched as she dialed and waited.
“Wendy, I need you to come over.” She replaced the receiver.
Diane didn’t imagine, given their relationship, that Wendy thought the request was strange, or, in fact, much different from other summons she probably received over the years of Marsha’s growing dependence on her.
Marsha sat down again. No one said anything. The quiet made Diane uneasy. She was sure they all felt uneasy, but emotions were too quiet, too under the surface. It reminded Diane of a volcano waiting for just the right pressure to build up before it erupted.
“Did you have anything to do with her death?” Marsha asked Colton after a moment. Her gaze bored into him with an intensity that seemed to literally nail him to his seat.
“No ma’am, as God is my witness, on my father’s grave, I swear to you that I only found out after it happened, when Tyler came to my window and told me,” Colton said.
While all their attention was on Colton and Marsha, Diane snaked her hand inside her jacket, took her gun from its shoulder holster, and put it in her jacket pocket. She wasn’t sure why she felt she needed to do this, other than she had experience with the inconvenience of having a gun zipped up inside a jacket when she needed it-or rather, Frank had.
Her movement didn’t go unnoticed. Ross looked over at her and gave her a quick smile with a twitch of his lips. He had felt it too. It was as if emotions were becoming a miasma settling in the room that could be seen and breathed in. Diane shivered. It was cold. If she believed in ghosts, she would have been convinced that Ellie Rose’s spirit was in the room. She was glad she had worn the jacket.
Diane heard the door open and close. Wendy had arrived. Diane unconsciously slid closer to the tall parlor palm.
“Marsha, are you in the living room? Is something wrong? I saw those dreadful people’s cars parked across the street… Oh, Colton, dear. I didn’t know you were home. How nice to see you.”
Wendy had started talking before she entered the room and hadn’t stopped once she was there. She looked much as she had when Diane had last seen her. Nice hairstyle, but sans makeup. She didn’t come in her robe, but had slipped on emerald green slacks and a dark pumpkin sweater.
“I thought those awful people were back-” She stopped talking when she spotted the awful, dreadful people standing next to the wall. “What are you doing here? Marsha, we can get a restraining order.”
Marsha stood facing her. “It was Tyler all along, Wendy. It was Tyler, and you knew.” Marsha’s voice was quiet and came out in a rasp.
“What? Marsha, are you all right?” said Wendy.
“Tyler killed my baby girl and you knew, damn you. Damn you to hell.” Marsha’s voice was loud now and shaking with anger.
Wendy looked as though Marsha had hit her in the stomach with a baseball bat. There it was, the knowledge she dreaded anyone ever knowing.
“I don’t know what these people have been telling you,” began Wendy.
“I told her,” said Colton. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Walters, but Tyler told me when it happened and I’ve been carrying it with me all these years. With what’s been happening, it has to come out. You know that.”
“Why? Why did you cover it up?” said Samuel. “I thought we were friends.”
“How can you ask that?” said Wendy. “It was an accident. Ellie was dead and nothing could bring her back. I didn’t want Tyler’s life to be ruined too.”
“What? You didn’t want your son’s life to be ruined? What kind of self-centered,” began Marsha. “I see it all now. You here all the time keeping me drunk so I would never suspect.”
“Now, wait a minute. I did everything in my power to help you get over it,” said Wendy. “I didn’t mean-”
“Get over it? Get over it? You thought this was something we could just get over? You insufferable bitch!” Marsha stepped toward her. “You even have the gall to call it an accident? He raped her. Your son raped my daughter and choked her to death.”
“He was just fourteen. She was fifteen,” said Wendy.
Samuel Carruthers stood up and faced Wendy, balling his fists. “Are you saying this was our daughter’s fault?”
Wendy backed up several steps. “No, really, I just, it’s just that Tyler was so young. He didn’t know what he was doing,” she said.
“Didn’t know what he was doing? God, apparently you are as clueless as I’ve been these past years,” said Mars
ha. “You didn’t know that your father-in-law took Tyler to a brothel for his thirteenth birthday? He knew what he was doing, all right. He knew plenty what he was doing.”
“What? What?” said Wendy.
“It’s true, Mrs. Walters,” said Colton. “Tyler told me about it.”
Wendy put her hands to her face and screamed. For a moment Diane thought she was going to claw her own eyes out, the way she dragged her hands down her face, but she bent over and heaved.
Diane stepped forward. “There’s something… ”
She didn’t get to finish. She looked up and saw Tyler Walters standing in the doorway.
“Colton, I protected you from Everett all these years,” said Tyler.
Tyler wasn’t tall, but he did look in shape. Diane thought of the way Colton said that Tyler’s grandfather made him work out. He had black hair like his mother and the strange dark blue-flecked eyes like his great-aunt. He could have been handsome, were it not for the curl of his full lips, and eyes that were a little too far apart. But perhaps he was considered handsome to young women nowadays. Diane didn’t know. She found him creepy.
“I know, buddy, and that’s why I texted you what I was doing. I thought you deserved a heads-up on what was coming down,” said Colton.
Colton told Tyler what he was doing. Diane wanted to smack him. Colton was still fourteen where his friend was concerned. He still thought it was some kind of mistake. Well, hell.
“I left Athens as soon as I got your text message. I guess you’ve already told them everything,” said Tyler.
“Look, Tyler, you’ll have to admit, a lot of shit’s been going down. This Stacy Dance thing, and Mrs. Carruthers has been treating my mother pretty bad. I had to do something.”
Marsha cast a glance at Kathy Nicholson. Diane thought she saw a little regret.
“Tyler, I’m calling the police,” Marsha said.
“No, Marsha, you’re not.” Tyler pulled a gun from behind him and pointed it at her. “I want everybody just to sit down and think things through.”
Dust to Dust dffi-7 Page 33