“Of course,” Daphne said immediately (and firmly). Then, she let out a soft chuckle. “Quite honestly, it’s too nutty of a story to not believe. How would you even remember such a story if it wasn’t true?”
“That’s what I told Detective Timmons,” I said, my mouth quirking up in a half-smile. “He wasn’t amused.”
“Well, some people don’t have a sense of humor,” she said. “He’s clearly one of them.”
“So, what do I do, Daphne?” I asked. “Should I hire a lawyer? I don’t have the money to, really. Maybe I should try and figure out what’s going on myself.”
“You want to solve the case on your own?” she asked. “Do you think that’s wise?”
“What other option do I have? I don’t want to get caught up in the legal system, and it doesn’t look like Detective Timmons is interested in pursuing anyone other than me right now.”
Daphne chewed the inside of her mouth thoughtfully. “If you were going to investigate, where would you start?”
I took a moment to answer, sipping my wine and looking around the backyard. Not a soul around, other than a couple of birds fighting over birdseed.
I turned back to Daphne and took a deep breath. “I guess ... Mia.”
Daphne’s face went blank. “Mia? You’d ask Mia to investigate?”
“No, I would ... I think I would start with her.”
Daphne’s eyes widened. “You think Mia is capable of this?”
“No! No, I don’t,” I said quickly.
“Then what is there to investigate?”
“I guess ...” I rubbed my eyes. “It’s just, I don’t understand what happened to the text messages.”
“But, as you pointed out, someone could have snuck into the break room and used her phone.”
“Yes, but …”
“But what?”
“I just …” What was I trying to say? I didn’t really suspect Mia, did I?
“If you believe someone took her phone,” Daphne continued, “why would you think she had anything to do with this?”
“Okay, look,” I burst out. “She’s acting strange. Like Chrissy used to. She’s not sleeping. She looks awful. I found her in the middle of the living room one night. And she’s quoting from Mad Martha’s diary.”
Daphne shook her head. “Slow down. She’s quoting from Mad Martha’s diary?”
I leaned over the table, almost spilling my wine. “And here’s what really doesn’t make sense. What about my texts after?”
“After ...”
“When I was at the bar,” I explained. “I was texting and texting her, and I got no response. She claims she didn’t get them. But she must have. Even if someone had taken her phone, she must have had it back by the time I sent those texts. I sent them hours later.”
“Well, what if whoever took the phone did something to it, so your texts wouldn’t show up?” Daphne asked. “Maybe they blocked you or something. Did you test that theory?”
I slumped back, a little taken aback. “I ... uh, I guess I hadn’t thought about that.”
“Test it. The next time Mia is home, tell her what you told me, and see if she’s up to testing her phone. Then, send her a text while you’re both sitting together. That would clear one part of this up, at least.”
“Oh.” It was such a simple idea. I felt a little foolish for not having thought of it myself.
Daphne’s eyes narrowed as she considered me. “Do you honestly believe Mia could be behind this? She’s been one of your staunchest defenders.”
I thought about Mia and everything she had done for me since moving back. Daphne was right. How could I possibly suspect her of anything?
Unless … she was behind it, but it wasn’t her fault.
“No,” I said. “Not consciously anyway.”
“Consciously?”
I leaned forward, lowering my voice. “What if something else is going on? What if Mia doesn’t even realize her own involvement?”
“Wait. Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”
“This house ... you know it has a way of getting into people’s heads,” I said.
Daphne’s face flitted through a variety of expressions. “I don’t ... hold on. Does this have anything to do with her quoting from Mad Martha’s diary?”
“The house is whispering to me again.”
“What?”
“That was the line from Mad Martha’s diary,” I explained. “Mia said something close to that one morning, so I went looking for the diary to check. But, instead, I found the burner cell phone the stalker had been using to call Gwyn.” I made a face as I thought about the phone.
“Well, clearly she read the diary at some point,” Daphne said.
“Maybe,” I said doubtfully. “But I don’t think so. And I don’t remember showing it to her.”
“That doesn’t mean she didn’t stumble upon it on her own,” Daphne said.
“Yeah, but. It just doesn’t feel right. It feels ...” I drifted off, worried I might be approaching crazy-land territory again.
Daphne raised her glass to her lips, her eyes never leaving mine. “Feels like what?”
“Like it’s all happening again,” I said. “Mad Martha. Nellie. Chrissy. CB. What did they all have in common?”
“What?”
“The room!”
Daphne blinked. “The room? The bedroom?”
“Yes. The one at the top of the stairs. It’s the same room Mad Martha killed Nellie and herself in. It’s the same room CB slept in when we were growing up, and look what happened to him. It’s the same room Chrissy was sleeping in when she started sleepwalking.”
Daphne looked skeptical. “You think the room is behind all of this?”
Hearing Daphne say it out loud made me realize how ridiculous it sounded. I slumped over. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to think anymore. All I know is I’m being set up, and I don’t know why.”
Daphne played with her wine glass. “You know, there’s someone else you haven’t considered yet, in all of this.”
Someone else? A quick ray of hope surged through me, and I straightened up. “Who?”
“Chrissy.”
As quickly as the hope arrived, it departed, leaving me deflated. “Chrissy isn’t behind this.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I know.”
“Just like you knew before?”
I looked away. Daphne bit her lip. “Sorry. That was a cheap shot.”
“Chrissy wasn’t acting right then,” I said. “And you’re right. I should have known.”
“That’s not why I brought it up. But, to me, it makes more sense to look closely at someone who has a track record for gaslighting versus someone who has always had your back.”
“That’s exactly why I don’t think it’s Mia’s fault, if she is involved,” I said. “Something else is going on. As for Chrissy, she’s happier and more well-adjusted than I’ve ever seen her. She’s not acting like someone who has something to hide.”
Daphne looked like she was going to argue, but then thought better of it. “Keep an eye on her is all I’m saying,” she finally said. “As you pointed out, you don’t know who is behind all of this, or who you can trust. It’s best to be wary of everyone, I think.”
“Even you?”
She laughed. “Especially me.”
I smiled too, wishing I could laugh, but her words cut close to the bone. I didn’t know who I could trust. How was I ever going to get myself out of this?
“So, what do you think?” I asked, twirling my wine glass on the table.
“About what?”
“This whole situation. Now that you’ve heard it, do you have any theories?”
Daphne paused and leaned back in her chair. She sipped her
wine slowly as she gazed across the backyard. “In so many ways, Louise makes the most sense,” she finally said. “I don’t ... well, I guess I could see her coming up with this silly plan to stalk Gwyn as a way to get rid of you. She’s been consumed by hate and revenge for years now, ever since Jesse really. Being stuck in those emotions for so long would mess anyone up. But, she’s no killer. So, I think we’re back to square one.”
“Maybe you can help me understand something,” I said. “I thought you told me that Jesse and Louise had had a fight, and Jesse disappeared shortly after. How was that my aunt’s fault?”
Daphne sighed heavily. “Your aunt was having an affair with his best friend.”
I blinked. “What?” This was the first time I had ever heard any mention of my aunt having a relationship at all, much less an affair.
Daphne looked at me sympathetically. “Yeah, not the best news to hear about a loved one, I know. But Charlie was human, too.”
I pressed my fingers against my temples. “That’s not ... well, yeah, it’s a bit of a shock, because I guess I never thought of her as ... a woman. But what does that have to do with Jesse’s disappearance?”
“That’s a good question,” Daphne said. “I don’t know if I completely understand either.”
She paused, as if formulating her thoughts. “Jesse and Jonathan were best friends since they were kids. They grew up here, but they couldn’t have been more different. Jesse was open and friendly. Everyone loved him. Jonathan was quiet and shy. I’ve even heard him described as ‘brooding.’ No one knew why they were such good friends, but they were.
“I guess Jesse had always wanted to leave Redemption. He talked about it constantly. He wanted to be an actor.” Daphne shot me a meaningful look. “Sound like anyone else we knew?”
I nodded. Jessica had wanted to leave to become a model.
“Jonathan didn’t. He married a girl he met shortly after he graduated from high school, and they ended up having a couple of kids. A boy and a girl. It was clear Jonathan wasn’t going anywhere.
“Then, your aunt walked into his life. And everything changed.”
Daphne paused to take a long drink of wine. I watched her, a big part of me dreading where this story was going, but knowing I had to hear it.
“Anyway, according to local rumor, Charlie and Jonathan took one look at each other, and that was that. Their affair was the worst-kept secret around. Everyone assumed it was just a matter of time before Jonathan left his wife for Charlie. But, somewhere in the middle of all that, Jesse and Louise had their huge, blow-up fight, during which I guess Louise told Jesse if he wanted to leave so badly, maybe he should. He stormed out, and that was the last time Louise saw him.
“Everyone assumed he left after that. It wasn’t until Jonathan disappeared a couple weeks later that the rumors started.”
The sun disappeared behind a cloud, plunging the backyard into darkness. The birds paused their chirping and singing, so for a few moments, the only sound was the wind rustling through the trees. I tried to swallow, my mouth dry, despite the fact that I had finished the glass of wine in front of me. I reached for the bottle to refill both of our glasses. “Rumors?”
Daphne didn’t immediately answer as she watched me pour. I got the distinct feeling she was gathering herself for what she was about to say next. “Truly, even for Redemption standards, it just sounds crazy. There was talk that Jesse hadn’t disappeared. That he had been seen drinking with Jonathan that night at The Lone Man Standing, which was a dive bar that had a really ... sketchy reputation. It had been linked to everything from organized crime to gangs to murder. So, along with Jesse disappearing, a waitress who worked there also disappeared around the same time. Then Jonathan. But before the police could properly investigate the whole matter, the bar burned down.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“I know. It’s nuts, isn’t it? You should have heard the talk swirling around. Like Jesse hadn’t left after all—he had been murdered. And maybe Jonathan was the one who murdered him, because he was under Charlie’s “evil” influence. Or maybe it was Charlie who murdered them all herself before burning the bar down.”
“What ... but ...” I stuttered. “Why would Aunt Charlie have killed Jesse? Or Jonathan? That doesn’t even make sense.”
Daphne shrugged. “Who knows. I think it was because she was a stranger at that time, mixing up her “concoctions” … so it was easier to blame her than someone who had lived his or her entire life in Redemption.”
“But it doesn’t make sense. Aunt Charlie couldn’t have done all of that.” I was still having trouble wrapping my head around the affair, much less arson and murder.
“I agree,” Daphne said. “The whole thing was ridiculous. Clearly, nothing ever came of it, but that didn’t stopped Louise from getting dragged down by all the rumors.”
“So, what happened to Jonathan? The waitress?”
“No one knows. I suspect Jesse finally did leave that night. He went to an ATM and withdrew the maximum amount of cash that he could. His neighbors saw him packing up his car, and his landlord said there was a note pushed under the door giving his notice. Whether he stopped for a drink at The Lone Man Standing or not is neither here nor there.”
My head was whirling. “Wait, Jesse was seen leaving? And Louise still thinks it’s my aunt’s fault?”
Daphne shrugged. “It’s true he never got in touch with her again after that night. It’s also true no one else in this town ever heard from him again either. Louise even hired a private investigator who couldn’t find anything. No credit card charges, no job records, no new driver’s license. Nothing. So, it’s certainly possible something happened to him that night. But it’s also possible he just ... disappeared. Started a new life, that sort of thing.”
“You think he wanted to do that? Start a new life?”
“I have no idea. But it certainly seems more possible than him being murdered at The Lone Man Standing.”
“Wow.” I thought about that. “If that’s true, I wonder what Louise could have possibly said to him that night to cause him to take off.”
“Whatever it was, it must have been ugly. As for the waitress disappearing, apparently waitressing wasn’t her only source of income. She was also a prostitute.”
“A prostitute?”
“Yeah, there was even talk that the waitressing was just a front for the prostitution. So, it is possible that she picked up the wrong man, and the timing of it was just coincidental ...”
“Wait, are you saying the bar was a cover for the prostitution?”
“Maybe. I told you, that bar was super shady. So, again, it being burned down wasn’t a big surprise.”
I drummed my fingers on the table, watching a fat, yellow bumblebee crawl around a nearby coneflower. “It still seems a little too coincidental, all of that happening at once.”
“That’s exactly why all the conspiracy theories started. But, as far as I know, no one ever came forward to say they actually saw Jesse at the bar that night. There were lots of people who said they had heard he was there, or that they knew someone who said it, but no one actually admitted to seeing him personally. It’s also possible all the stuff with Rosie and the bar burning down was related, and this thing with Jesse wasn’t, but the timing fit so perfectly, it just became part of the urban legend.”
People disappearing. Bar burning down. And it all happened right after my aunt moved to town. No wonder Louise thought Aunt Charlie had something to do with it.
But that didn’t change the fact that Jesse’s actions that final day seemed to indicate his leaving by choice. Or that the bar was shady, and Rosie was a prostitute. Coincidences do happen. The most logical deduction, in my opinion, is that Aunt Charlie had nothing to do with any of it.
But what about Jonathan? Did I even want to ask? A part of me didn’t. I didn’t want t
o think of my aunt as a homewrecker. What was she doing having an affair with a married man, anyhow? One who had kids, at that? I definitely didn’t want to think about her sex life.
On the other hand, Louise still carried a grudge about our family based at least in part on what Aunt Charlie had done.
I had to know.
“How does Jonathan fit in?”
Daphne sighed. “God, I wish I didn’t have to tell you all of this. Apparently, Jonathan asked his wife for a divorce, and she refused. She wanted to stay married for the kids’ sake. According to rumor, Charlie found that out and ended it. Said she finally came to her senses. She wanted him to go home and be a father to his kids. He got mad, and next thing you know, he disappeared.”
“So, he just ... left?”
“So it seems.”
“What about his family?”
“A year or so later, they moved. I guess they went back to live with her family.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Are we sure they actually moved? Or did they disappear too?”
Daphne half-smiled. “No, it’s pretty clear they moved. There was a realtor involved, a moving van, the works.”
“Wow.” It was such an incredible story. I was struggling to wrap my head around it. “Is this why some people don’t like Aunt Charlie?”
Daphne nodded. “That’s it.”
“Well, at least that’s one mystery solved.” I rubbed my eyes with both hands, feeling a wave of sadness and defeat wash over me. “Daphne, what am I going to do?”
Daphne reached over to squeeze my leg. “What does Daniel say?”
“Hire a lawyer.”
“Sounds like good advice.”
“Sure. But like I said, hiring a lawyer requires money.”
“Can you borrow from someone? Maybe your parents?”
I let out a bark of laughter that was devoid of humor. “My parents are blackmailing me into leaving.”
“What?”
I hadn’t intended on telling her, or anyone, for that matter, but it was such a relief to finally share the truth with someone that I kept talking. “They gave me an ultimatum. I have until this weekend to get back to New York, or they’ll disown me.”
The Evil That Was Done (Secrets of Redemption Book 3) Page 20