by David Carner
“Sorry, John,” said the pastor.
“Think nothing of it. You know, Brother Jim, I lost my wife three years ago. She was killed when a bomb went off in my apartment that I can only assume was meant for me.”
Brother Jim sat up straight, “You’re that John Fowler!?! The one I saw them talking about on the news for, like, two weeks?” John nodded. “I should have known there weren’t that many agents with that name. It shouldn’t surprise me that you are the one here today asking me questions.” Brother Jim paused, and looked at John strangely. He went ahead with his question, timidly. “Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”
John laughed. “Well, we let the Mafia think that. My Mom told me something after the funeral it has taken me three years to even begin to get through my head. She basically said it wasn’t my fault someone did something evil, it wasn’t God’s fault that he allowed something evil to happen, it’s the person’s fault that committed the act.”
Brother Jim smiled. “You have a very wise mother John. It’s always easier to give that advice than to accept it, I have found over the years.” He paused. “I’m ready to tell you the rest, if you’re ready to listen.” John nodded.
“Veronica took to Beth and David George immediately. When I look back at it now, it was almost like she was practicing to help out those less fortunate and putting it on her resume. John, I promise you, this girl has been practicing to be the most powerful woman in the United States since birth. And have no fear; she will do whatever it takes to be that person. Do you understand what I am saying? Whatever it takes! Veronica did the right things for all the wrong reasons. She wanted the glory and notice when she did something. Do you understand what I mean?”
John nodded but didn’t quite understand what the preacher was getting at. Something still didn’t sit right with John. If this girl was out to be the most powerful woman in the US, then why hadn’t John ever heard of her? Brother Jim was smiling like he knew what John was thinking. Brother Jim stood up.
“Come with me,” Brother Jim motioned for John to follow him back into the church. They walked into Jim’s office. He pulled out a church directory and turned to the Sunday School pages. He began to point.
“Here is Tom, Amy, Leroy, Colt, David, Jason, and here, in the middle, is Veronica. Recognize her?”
John’s mouth dropped.
“Brother Jim, that’s . . .” John couldn’t finish the sentence. Brother Jim nodded with a tight smile. Gears seemed to fall into place in John’s mind. Things that made no sense, suddenly, were falling into place. The attempt to move Bruce into the lead on this case; now that move by Washington really made sense. The note that said “tell Veronica I know who she is” . . . then that meant . . . now John had a problem. He sat down in a chair in the preacher’s office and began to think.
If he rushed back to New York, that would throw up too many red flags if he was being watched. With this level of involvement, he had to think he was. If John was to solve this case, he had to believe the men paid to protect Veronica would do their job. He didn’t like it, but it was all he could do. He looked up at Brother Jim.
“John,” began Brother Jim. “You have managed to stumble upon the one man who has put this all together, simply because I have information no one else has and what happened next in the story has kept me awake at night for over two decades. John, everyone in this town owes the Staples. Archibald saved this town. They won’t look closely at what happened here. Some may know the truth, but they’ll never tell. They don’t know what happened, and if they did, I think they would be too scared something might happen to them to say anything. Honestly, I don’t know for sure what happened, but I have a very good idea.”
“You have more to tell me.” It wasn’t a question. John was sure there was more Jim knew, and even more Jim suspected.
Brother Jim nodded, “Let’s go back outside, because, my friend, you ain’t heard nothing yet.”
Chapter 45
They walked back outside, but instead of stopping at the porch, Brother Jim pointed to a path across the road. John had a feeling; if they were going to be walking down a trail that was grown over with trees, shrubs, and grass, there was a very good reason. John stopped Brother Jim for a minute and ran back to the car. He pulled a small pouch out of his luggage that the forensics team had made up for him. It was the chemicals and a light pen used to test for human blood. He also grabbed two powerful flashlights. John had a bad feeling he was about to need it. He returned to Brother Jim and they resumed their walk. Jim resumed his story.
“John, I’ve told you all of this so that you can understand what I’m about to tell you. Beth and David George were good kids, but they were raised by a mother who only cared about herself. She was an alcoholic and who knows what other types of drugs she used. I’m honestly surprised she didn’t contract some kind of STD with the amount of men she seemed to be with. Maybe that part isn’t true; I can only go off of what the children told me.”
Jim stopped. John waited; he was sure he was about to be hit with a bomb. The preacher looked so uncomfortable. When he started, he spoke very softly. There were tears in his eyes as he talked.
“John, you have to understand. Veronica saw the George’s as her pets to parade around. She was making them out to be Americans who had overcome the odds of rural Kentucky. By this time, I knew not to cross Veronica, and so did most of the people in the town. The problem was Beth never saw that side of Veronica for all Veronica did for Beth and David.” Tears began to flow freely down Jim’s face.
“Beth.” Jim’s voice broke, he swallowed and continued. “Beth came to me.” Jim looked away. When he turned to face John, John saw many, many years of regret in Jim’s eyes. “John, she told me she was gay.” John wasn’t sure what he was expecting to hear, but it wasn’t that. “I know what you’re thinking, but hear me out,” said Jim.
“The first thing I thought of was Beth’s safety. It was the late 1980’s, and kids had been killed before for their sexuality. But it wasn’t the town I worried about. It was Veronica. Do you see, John? Beth was supposed to be her project. Beth was supposed to be the girl and David the boy, which overcame the odds. At that time in America, gays were not looked upon well. Do you understand John?”
John was trying to remember that time in his life. If Veronica was what Jim had described her to be, and John, so far, had no evidence that Jim was lying, Veronica would snap. Now other things were starting to fall into place. Why had John never heard the names of Beth and David George? Were they alive? John turned toward Jim and by the look on Jim’s face he finally understood why they were walking in the woods.
“Jim?” John asked very calmly. “Where are David and Beth George?”
“John, no one knows.”
John had stumbled onto one of the most politically radioactive cases since Nixon, and now realized that there may be a body count of seven.
Chapter 46
“Jim, did Veronica kill Beth and David?” John asked the question he wasn’t for sure he could handle the answer to. If the answer was yes . . . John couldn’t even begin to fathom what kind of fallout would follow. All John knew for sure was he wanted a drink.
“John,” said Brother Jim. “I’ll tell you the rest of what I know and then we can go from there. Beth insisted to me that she had to tell Veronica the truth. I tried to talk Beth out of it, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She told me she didn’t love Veronica, and she wasn’t attracted to her. I tried to explain to her that didn’t matter to Veronica, but Beth was sure Veronica would understand. I tried and I tried to stop her, but she refused. That was the last time I saw Beth or David.”
“A few days later I went to their home. Mrs. George said that David and Beth had gone to live with their fathers, out of state. I went to the local sheriff and he went to talk to Mrs. George. Once again, she told him the same thing. Within the next two weeks, the parents of Tom, Amy, Leroy, and Colt all moved away; back to the states they came from, with promotions.
Two weeks after that, Mr. Staples moved his family back to Virginia. There was never another mention of Veronica that I could find. In fact, I couldn’t even find a birth certificate for her. Trust me I searched.”
John was sick to his stomach. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Two children disappeared, and it was, essentially, covered up. In fact, if someone hadn’t murdered Tom, Amy, Leroy, and Colt, no one might have ever uncovered this mess. One last fact was tickling John’s brain. He turned to Brother Jim, but Jim apparently was reading John’s mind again.
“In the coming months,” began Brother Jim, “any time anything was mentioned about the family of Mr. Staples, they would talk about his daughter being Lisa Staples, who of course grew up and got married . . .”
“And became the First Lady of the United States of America, Lisa Nichols,” finished John. “I need a drink.”
Lisa Nichols (Veronica Staples)
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Chapter 47
Lisa slammed her fist against the desk. She had been going over the reports from the FBI. She was furious to learn that Bruce had not taken the case like she thought he would. This could complicate things. She straightened up and ran her hand through her hair. Who was she kidding? Lisa’s life had been complicated ever since that selfish, redneck girl ruined her life.
“I rose up though, Beth, in spite of you. I was what you should have aspired to be.” Lisa was giving herself another pep talk. Secret Service agents had learned over the years, unless the first lady actually called them by name, they were to ignore her when she got like this. Lisa was fired up today.
She sat down in her chair, and thought back to that terrible day that had nearly ruined her life before it even began. Lisa was in the mine. She thought of it as her kingdom. Beth had asked Lisa to meet her there. Lisa was supposed to come alone, but Lisa did as she pleased. She had brought Jason with her. Lisa and Jason needed to have a talk. Jason was going to be the star quarterback of the football team, and, for now, Jason would do nicely on her arm as eye candy. Lisa was going to convince Jason of this, however she had to.
When Lisa heard Beth coming, she sent Jason on into the dark tunnels and told him to wait until Beth left. It was a good thing she did. There was no telling what Beth might have done if Jason hadn’t been there. Lisa remembered that was the last day anyone had ever called her Veronica. Lisa slid back into the memories.
Chapter 48
“Veronica,” Beth called. Veronica waved Beth over to her rock throne. They had discovered the rock formation one day and had made this their clubhouse. They were always very careful, because 20 feet behind them was a hole in the ground. It was surrounded by a wall of wood, but the wood was rotten, and all of them kept waiting for the day it fell.
Beth walked up to Veronica, determined to tell her best friend what she had been keeping from her for months. Veronica would understand; she understood everything.
“Veronica, I have to tell you something very important,” began Beth. She took a deep breath and told Veronica her most important, intimate secret. “Veronica, I’m gay. Now I’m not telling you this because I’m in love with you or anything like that. I’m telling you because you’re my friend and I know you’ll support me . . . Veronica? Veronica!?! What’s wrong!?!”
Veronica was furious. It was obvious to her. Beth was going to tell everyone that the two of them were gay. No, it was even worse than that! People would assume Veronica was gay because she was friends with Beth. This would absolutely ruin her!! How could she ever hope to be President of the United States if this ever came out!?!?! This redneck loser that Veronica had turned into a proper lady repaid her with this!?! No, Beth wasn’t going to destroy everything Veronica had worked so hard for. No she wasn’t! Veronica knew exactly how to fix things. Veronica began to scream.
“Help!!!” Veronica screamed. “Help me!!! She’s raping me!!! She’s trying to make me gay!!!” Beth had watched her friend turn a violet shade of red and then Veronica began this insane screaming. Didn’t Veronica understand? Beth had told Veronica because she trusted her, and now Veronica was screaming nonsense about turning her gay? Did Veronica have any clue what Beth had shared with her; her most intimate secret? Beth tried to calm Veronica. Beth shushed Veronica and tried to put her hand over Veronica’s mouth to quite her. As Beth did this, she saw an evil look come into Veronica’s eyes. Veronica smashed her mouth against Beth’s hand and started mumbling into it. If Beth didn’t know better, it would seem like Veronica was making it look like Beth was trying to silence her; permanently. Then, to Beth’s surprise, Veronica grabbed Beth’s wrist. Veronica slammed Beth’s hand up against her breast. If someone were to come into the room, it would look like Beth was sexually assaulting Veronica. What Beth didn’t know, was Jason was just entering the room.
Chapter 49
Jason had heard Veronica’s screams and came around the corner. He swore he heard Veronica scream she was being raped. He had to look twice at the scene he was witnessing. Beth had one hand over Veronica’s face trying to keep Veronica quiet, and Beth’s other hand was on Veronica’s breast. Beth was trying to assault, or even rape, Veronica!! Jason grabbed a rock and ran toward them. When he got behind Beth, he never said a word. He swung the rock, hitting Beth in the head. Beth fell like a lump of bricks. Veronica dropped to the ground, gasping.
“Jason!!” Veronica was crying. “Jason, she was going to rape me!!” Veronica ran up and hugged Jason. She smiled into his jacket. She dropped the smile and looked back up at Jason with her best terrified look. “Jason, we have to get rid of the body.” Jason looked down in horror. Veronica took control of the situation.
“Jason, it’s simple. Pick her up, and push her through the boards. She’ll land on her back down there, and any injuries will look like she picked them up in the fall.” Jason looked dumbfounded. She ran her hand up his arm. “Jason, you have to do this. Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. No one will find out.” Jason nodded, and picked up Beth’s lifeless body. He walked over to the boarded up mine shaft. He threw her off his shoulders so she would go through the boards back first.
As Beth crashed through the boards, Jason heard someone screaming, “NOOOO!!!” and felt something hit him in the back. If Jason hadn’t been so muscular from his years of playing football, he might have joined Beth going over the railing. As it was, his legs buckled and he dropped to the ground. Fists were pounding on Jason’s back.
As this was going on, around the corner of the cavern came the group of Colt, Tom, Leroy and Amy. They were shocked to see Veronica on the ground weeping. They were also surprised to see David George on Jason’s back, beating on him with all his might. Veronica ran to the group.
“She tried to . . .” Veronica sobbed, and collected herself. “Beth tried to rape me and now David has attacked Jason!” Veronica stumbled away from the fight and the fell to the ground. The group gathered around her. While that was going on, Jason finally managed to throw the assaulter off of him.
Jason looked up and for the first time noticed it was David George. David began to circle Jason, neither one really paying any attention to their surroundings. Jason had about had it. First Beth had been assaulting his girl, and then this little trailer park punk attacked him. Jason lost it. He took both of his hands and shoved David right in the middle of his chest. It was then Jason realized they were standing right in front of the broken boards. Jason watched in horror as David went over the edge, just like David’s sister did not two minutes earlier. Jason heard a sick thud from the bottom of the shaft.
Veronica whipped her head around when she heard the noise; everyone was looking at the hole and Jason. Veronica had to fight back an evil smile that flashed across her face. Jason fell to the ground and began to sob. In less than five minutes, Jason had killed two people.
The group was stunned. Veronica took control.
“Everyone, I need you to give us a few minutes. Please don’t say a word to anyone about what happened here. We cou
ld get into a lot of trouble. Do you understand?” Everyone nodded. “We’ll all get together in a little bit and figure out what to do.” The group took off. Veronica came up to Jason and held him.
“Jason,” she whispered. “Jason, you need to collect yourself.” Jason looked up into Veronica’s eyes, still sobbing. Veronica continued. “I’m sorry about Beth and David, but they attacked us. Look, I thought the world of both of them, but they were going to grow up to be junkies or deadbeats just like their mother. You saved them from that. Don’t forget who they were and what they were trying to do to me. I helped them, and they repaid me by trying to rape me.” Jason nodded. Veronica kissed him softly on the lips. “Jason, I need you to go talk to everyone. Have them meet back here in two hours. I’ll take care of everything, ok?” Jason nodded. Veronica kissed him again and Jason took off. Veronica knew what she had to do.
Chapter 50
Veronica stood outside of the George’s home. She looked through the window of the trailer. There was David’s and Beth’s mother asleep or passed out, Veronica couldn’t tell which, on the couch. Veronica tried the front door, and it opened. Veronica walked into the kitchen and started opening up cupboard doors. She found a bottle of vodka and walked outside. Veronica poured the vodka out of the bottle into some shrubbery behind the trailer. She started sobbing a little to make tears come to her eyes. She walked up to the door and started knocking. After thirty seconds or so, she started banging on the door.
Margery “Mag” George answered the door, looking like death warmed over. Veronica started to speak but began to bawl. Mag, not wanting to create a scene, quickly brought her inside.
“Mag,” Veronica sobbed. “I’m so, so sorry. They’re gone, Mag. They’re gone.”
Mag was fighting a serious hangover, but she was sober enough to get the drift. Mag sank to the couch. What would she do? Maybe she was misunderstanding. But if she wasn’t, what would she do without the money she got from the government for those two little brats?