"That's the room we got too. They knew it was our anniversary."
They compared notes for the next few minutes then agreed to meet up at the end of the day for a visit to the local Target. Lauren wanted to check out their curtain selection. She had the measurements of the windows in the new house they were going to be moving into and wanted to see if anything at Target might work. She'd heard they had a decent selection of inexpensive curtains and David wasn't going to be home until later that night. He had a lot of work to catch up on after losing the afternoon golfing on Friday.
Lauren thought back to the car ride home. David had taken her news relatively well. She could understand his initial hesitation, not understanding why she hadn't told him about her past before, but she meant what she said. She didn't want to dredge up the past. She had moved on and had permanently closed that chapter of her life. Melissa Hopkins did not exist anymore.
She did feel a little guilty about not telling David everything though. It just seemed like too much information to dump on him at once, about who the other two were, especially considering how close he and Jack were. It was a little surprising that he wasn't aware of Jack's involvement, although she supposed it was something that Jack didn't enjoy revisiting either.
She played with her hair for a few minutes. It was a nervous habit she had, twisting her hair over and over while she was mulling something over. Often, she didn't even realize she was doing it. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the ends, which were looking a little split. She was overdue for a cut and color. She colored it regularly, mostly to hide the gray that was creeping in along her hairline. She also added golden highlights every few months, which brought her light brown hair to a dark shimmery blonde. It was lighter now than it had been when she was a teenager and it was amazing how different she looked with long hair.
She kept it long because she liked it that way, and also because she had wanted to make sure that Jack or Billy didn't recognize her. Not that she really cared about either of them knowing who she really was, but if they recognized her, then others were likely to as well. Then the buzz would start and the past dredged up and people might look at her differently. Especially now. If this information surfaced, there was no doubt that her job could be in jeopardy.
Lauren pushed the troubling thoughts away and forced herself to focus on the lesson plans for the day. Before she knew it, the day was done and she was in her office wrapping things up. Her phone rang and she assumed it was Amy. She picked up the phone and said, "I'll be ready in a few minutes."
"Lauren?" The somewhat familiar male voice was most definitely not Amy.
"Sorry, I thought you were someone else."
"It's Jack. We need to talk. Can I stop by the house later tonight? Maybe around seven? Oh, and Lauren, it might be best if David isn't there. If you think he'll be there I can come another time, maybe a little earlier, before he gets home?"
"Sure. I'm going out with Amy for a little bit, but I'll be home by seven. David called earlier to say he'll be working late. I don't expect him before eight or so."
She put the phone down, grabbed her stuff and started walking towards Amy's office, fighting the urge to twirl her hair, which she couldn't have done anyway as her hands were full. The only thing she could figure was that Jack must have somehow figured out who she was.
The rumor about Target turned out to be true. They did have surprisingly nice curtains and in colors that Lauren loved. She bought a mix of baby blue, a gorgeous barely-there green and buttery cream. Jack was waiting in his car outside her condo when she pulled up at ten minutes to seven.
"I know, I'm early," he said as she walked towards his car. "Want some help with those bags?" Lauren handed him the two overstuffed bags she was carrying and ran back to her car to get the other two.
"Thanks," she said as they walked to her door. Once they were in, Lauren dropped the bags in the dining room and then offered Jack a drink.
"I wouldn't say no to a beer." She got him a Sam Adams out of the fridge, poured it into a tall glass and then poured herself a glass of chardonnay. She had a feeling she was going to want a drink for this conversation.
They sat at the dining room table across from each other and Lauren tried to fight back a case of the nerves. This was just Jack, David's best friend. Yes, he was also a cop, but she hadn't done anything wrong.
"I got an interesting phone call today," Jack began. "It was an anonymous call, but I think it was someone in the media looking to see how I'd react."
Lauren took a sip of her wine and waited for him to continue.
“They told me that I should look into your past and into mine. Then they got more specific and told me exactly where to go, to the False Confession case as it's known. You may have heard of that case, about twenty years ago? It was all over the news." He held her gaze then, waiting for her reaction, but Lauren forced herself to stay calm.
"Yes, I'm familiar with it."
"I didn't understand where they were going with this. Why they wanted me to dredge up that old case, but they wouldn't say anything else. Just wished me 'happy hunting' and said they'd be in touch. At first, I just thought they were fishing, but after I spent some time on this, and connected a few dots, I realized that they knew exactly what they were doing and I suspect it's just a matter of time before this goes public. I think you know that would be a very bad thing."
"Yes. I agree," Lauren said simply. It would be horrific.
"My take on it is that it might be a warning, a push for us to move faster on this case and find whoever did this. If I do, then they won't have to dredge up the past, which Billy and I would certainly prefer. People don't connect us with that old case any longer, we've both moved on and found success here."
"I was always a little surprised that neither of you ever recognized me." Lauren admitted.
"I can see it now that I'm looking for it, and it's funny, because I did mention to David when you first started dating that you looked familiar, but I could never put my finger on where I knew you from."
"So, how did you connect the dots?"
"It was simple really. I just looked at everyone involved and tracked where they went over the years. It wasn't difficult to see that your family moved out west, your parents filed for divorce, and then both you and your mother officially changed your names. There's a paper trail for that kind of thing. Legal documents filed, etc. It took me less than an hour to find you."
That was a sobering thought. Lauren set down the glass of wine she'd been holding.
"You understand why we did it though? Why the name-change?"
"Yeah, I get it. You wanted to move forward, leave that particular piece of history buried well in your past. What I don't get, though, is why you came back here of all places?"
"I don't really understand myself. I just always loved Waverly, always felt like this was home. When I saw the posting for a new teacher, it seemed like a sign. I thought enough time had passed that it wouldn't matter. That no one would recognize me and I could do two things at once, come home and start fresh here."
"I wanted to see you without David here because I didn't know if he was aware of your past, or of my involvement? I'm guessing probably not or he would have said something. I didn't hide it from him. I always told him I got into police work because of an incident in my childhood, but I never got too specific. Like you, I didn't want to go back there."
"Oddly enough, I just told him yesterday, on the drive back from Maine."
"How did he take it?"
"He wished I'd told him sooner. But in the end, I think he understood why I never mentioned it. Like you, I don't want to dredge up the past. Of course it would be totally different if our confessions hadn't been overturned." David had been very quiet since they got home. She sensed that he needed some time to process everything that she'd told him.
"I know. It's crossed my mind more than once how different our lives might have been if it wasn't for Billy's Dad." Jack p
olished off the rest of the beer, then asked, "Did you tell him who the other two kids were? It must have floored him to find out it was me and Billy."
"He didn't ask and I didn't mention it. If he'd asked, of course I would have told him, but it seemed like enough at that point. I'm sure he'll ask, though."
"His ears must be ringing," Jack commented as the front door opened and David walked in and his eyes narrowed as he saw the two of them sitting in the dining room, drinking.
"What's going on?" He dropped his briefcase by the door and walked past them into the kitchen.
"Jack, do you need another?" He grabbed himself a beer and then another for Jack who answered the question by handing over his empty bottle. David opened them both, handed one to Jack and then sat at the table.
"So, Lauren, Jack, how are things?" His tone was pleasant, but his eyes were clearly saying, "What the hell is going on?"
Lauren answered first. "David, Jack came by to discuss something." She hesitated and looked at Jack for a moment trying to figure out where to begin. To her relief, Jack jumped in. "Lauren and I were discussing the old False Confession case, and she mentioned that she'd just told you about it yesterday."
David nodded and said, "It was quite a story."
"Well, I don't think she told you the whole story, about who the other two kids were?"
"She didn't," he confirmed.
"Well, you know how I told you that I was motivated to join the police force after an incident in my childhood? Well that was it. I was one of the other two kids, and you actually know the other one as well, it's...."
"Billy," David said matter-of-factly and both Lauren and Jack looked at him in surprise and then exchanged glances.
"You knew about Billy?" Lauren asked.
"My grandfather filled me in. I stopped by his place on the way home, wondering what he remembered about the case. He was actually on vacation that week, so wasn't involved in any of the interrogations, but was in the thick of things with the aftermath. He said it wasn't one of the department's prouder moments."
"I'm sorry I never told you about this before," Jack began.
"I get it," David assured him. "And you did sort of tell me about it. What was important was that it inspired you to become who you are. The details don't matter as much."
He smiled at Lauren and she relaxed a little. She hadn’t realized how worried she'd been all day wondering if David was really okay with this.
"The main reason for this meeting though, was about a phone call I received regarding the Eric Armstrong case." He filled David in on what he'd told Lauren earlier.
"You have no idea who the caller was?" David asked.
"None. The call was traced to one of those pre-paid cell phones that anyone can buy at a convenience store. They're anonymous, no trail to follow."
"How likely do you think it is that this will end up on the front page?" Lauren asked.
"Unfortunately, I don't think it's a matter of if so much as when. If we're far along in the case with another suspect, it will likely be a non-issue, in the news for a few days, then quickly fading away. But, if this drags on and we're still not getting anywhere and we have no potential suspects other than Lauren, who at this point is barely considered a 'person of interest', then it could be a huge issue. It would raise all kinds of questions about Lauren's credibility with the name change. They'll slant it to make it look like she's trying to hide something."
"Are there any other leads? Have you made any progress?" David asked.
"No, and not for lack of trying either. Thing is, we don't really have any kind of a motive for this. He had no enemies that anyone was aware of. For all we know, it could be some kind of sick random killing. We don't like to think of those things, but they can happen anywhere, even in small towns where you think you're perfectly safe."
"Like what happened to that woman and her daughter in New Hampshire," Lauren said with a shudder. She'd barely slept the night that story was on the news. A forty-two year-old nurse and mother was asleep in bed, her daughter was asleep in her own bedroom down the hall, and the husband was out of town on business.
At 4:00 a.m., four teenage boys broke into the house. Two of them used a machete and a carving knife to kill the mother while she slept and attacked the daughter as well, leaving her for dead. The killing was a thrill-kill, and the teens chose the house because it was in a quiet part of town and the most secluded house on the street. Ironically, the family had recently moved to the area from the city because they wanted a smaller, safer environment.
"We will catch whoever did this," Jack said with conviction. "This kind of thing just doesn't happen in Waverly. Not on my watch anyway."
Chapter Twenty-One
David went into work early the next day. Even though he'd been made partner, his workload hadn't lightened a bit—not that he was complaining. As much as he disliked spending time with the guy, it had already paid off; there was a message on his machine from Randy; he had a nice referral for him, a friend of his wife, Sharon's, parents. Most of his new business was from referrals now that he had a good base of established clients.
He still did his fair share of networking though, getting his face out there in the community, going to Chamber of Commerce events, things like that. Lauren had even encouraged him to start going to church more often, to get more involved. He'd never been a big churchgoer, but he did like the idea of doing some volunteer work. He'd been thinking about getting involved for years, and Lauren had given him the nudge he’d needed. Plus, he knew she liked having him go with her.
His first volunteer mission was for the upcoming weekend. Their church participated along with other local churches in providing shelter and food for homeless men each night for a week. These overnights of hospitality rotated amongst six churches. David, along with several other chaperones, would be sleeping in the Parish hall Saturday night at the church along with a dozen or so homeless men. Lauren and a few of the women would be there earlier in the evening to prepare and serve hot meals. David was thinking about how awful it must be to be homeless in the winter when Chuck tapped on his door. The door was half-closed but he knew it was Chuck by the impeccable shine on his shoes.
Every few days, Chuck stopped by the train station on his way into work and visited the shoeshine station. He was meticulous about his appearance, wearing only the best suits and keeping his blonde hair gelled to perfection. David suspected that he also got manicures, as his hands were in better condition than Lauren’s, and she got her nails done at least once, if not twice a month.
"Come on in. What's up?" David waved for Chuck to enter and have a seat, but he remained standing.
"I won't keep you long. I just wanted to see if you're still up for dinner tonight with the wives. We were thinking of Solstice. If that works for you, I'll have Mary make reservations."
"Um, sure. Lauren loves Solstice." David did too, but he'd completely forgotten about dinner tonight. When they gave him the promotion, Billy and Chuck also said that they wanted to go out and celebrate properly. He'd have to call Lauren and remind her in case she'd forgotten too.
"All right then. We'll catch up around seven for a drink at the bar first." Chuck was down the hall a moment later. They hadn't done dinner together as a group for several years, before he met Lauren actually, now that he thought about it. They'd met Lauren, of course, at the annual Christmas party and occasional visits to the office, but had never had a conversation of any length.
This could be interesting, especially once the cocktails started flowing. Billy and Chuck did enjoy their cocktails. Who was he kidding—he did too, though he usually didn't go too overboard. Billy, on the other hand, occasionally entered 'BillyLand', a nickname David came up with in college to refer to the point where Billy crossed over from being slightly inebriated to silly, and often manically, drunk. He didn't get that way often, and when he did, a good time was usually had by all, because Billy was generally a very happy drunk. Chuck, on the other hand, wa
sn't.
Chuck was more serious and reserved than Billy to begin with, and a few drinks usually loosened him up, making him more social and fun to be around. He never crossed the line though, the way Billy did. Chuck was always in complete control; he was very concerned about how others viewed him and prided himself on being a polished professional.
Billy was an open book, always the life of the party and wore his emotions on his sleeve. Chuck was much more private and low key. David realized that he didn't know a whole lot about Chuck except for the obvious, that he was a great investment manager and adored his wife Kate. He rubbed his temple and glanced at the stack of papers on his desk, which was quite a bit smaller than when he arrived this morning.
If he kept focused, he'd be able to get through everything and maybe even get a head start on tomorrow's work in case he needed to come in a little later. He smiled to himself, already planning ahead to have a good time tonight and perhaps would need a little extra shut-eye in the morning. He picked up the phone to call Lauren and remind her they were on for seven.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jack stared at his computer screen. He wasn't at all happy with the progress they'd made on the Eric Armstrong case. They had no suspects and even Lauren was about to be completely cleared as a person of interest. There wasn't a shred of real evidence to connect her to anything. Just a bit of hearsay and rumors of an affair with a student, which so far had not been corroborated in any way. The computer records from the school came back clean. They'd combed Lauren's email program looking for any correspondence between her and Eric. There was none. The only time his name was even there was in Outlook, on the calendar page, as a recurring appointment, "Counseling Session with Eric" every Monday afternoon. That fit with what she'd told them, and the school psychologist, Betty, vouched for her. Lauren was approaching squeaky-clean status. He was glad to see that, for her sake and for David's. But still, it really didn't help his case any. He was considering sending one of the officers back out to the parent’s to make sure they hadn't missed anything when his cell phone rang
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