Chapter Twenty-Four #2
The next morning, Marin called to check on Audrey and Michelle, then relayed that Michelle was taking it easy because of her concussion.
They weren’t up for visitors, but they were okay.
It was a relief. Sitting here in the light of day, Charlotte could hardly believe that had really happened, that it hadn’t been a bad dream.
Watching that car disappear into the lake . . .
Marin was quiet and subdued, still upset with herself for not doing more to help, but Charlotte knew they would get through it.
They’d already survived worse, and this time they had each other.
They both called out from work and spent the day snuggled on the couch, watching silly television shows in the hope that it would cheer them up, and it worked . . . mostly.
Last night’s trauma wouldn’t heal in a day, but as Marin was always reminding her, they had time.
That night, Charlotte decided to stay over again, sensing Marin still needed company.
Truthfully, Charlotte did too. Already, it felt so natural to stay at Marin’s house, probably because they’d been such close friends before making the transition to lovers.
On Friday morning, Charlotte reluctantly admitted that it was time to return to the real world. She had showings today she couldn’t miss. As she was getting her things together, her next-door neighbor texted to say that a sheriff’s deputy was at Charlotte’s house.
Charlotte sighed. Right. She was supposed to go in and sign her official statement about the accident.
She and Marin both needed to do that, although she hadn’t actually expected them to send someone to her door about it.
Sure enough, her phone began to ring, and the caller ID read “Northshire County Sheriff’s Department. ”
She answered the call. “Hello?”
“Good morning,” a male voice said. “I’m Deputy Ainsbury with the Northshire County Sheriff’s Department. Is this Charlotte Danton?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Ms. Danton, are you available to come down to the sheriff’s department this morning?”
“Could it wait until this afternoon? I was just on my way to work. You need me to sign my statement about the crash at Shady Lake, right?”
“Actually, this morning would be better. Some new information has come up that we’d like to talk to you about.”
“Um, okay.” Unease prickled between her shoulder blades, although she wasn’t quite sure why.
“Do you need the address?” he asked.
“I can google it.”
“Yes, ma’am, you can. Just ask for me—Deputy Ainsbury—at the desk when you arrive.”
She ended the call and filled Marin in, wondering belatedly why the deputy hadn’t called her, too, if this was about the accident.
Something felt vaguely off, or maybe she was still out of sorts from her dip in the lake.
They took Charlotte’s SUV. The Outback would need a thorough detailing to get all the mud out before they used it again.
At the sheriff’s department, Charlotte asked for Deputy Ainsbury. A young white man in a neatly pressed uniform came out to greet her and Marin. He invited them to follow him to a small conference room.
“What’s this about?” Charlotte asked again once they were seated, because she was definitely getting a weird vibe now.
“When we retrieved Ms. Thompson’s BMW from the lake yesterday, we found another vehicle in the water, a Saab 90 that appears to have been submerged for some time. It’s registered to Terri Danton.”
Charlotte’s vision flashed black, and she might have fallen out of her chair if not for Marin’s hand on her shoulder, steadying her. The Saab. Her mom’s Saab. It was in the lake. What . . . ?
“I’m very sorry to tell you this, ma’am, but there were human remains found inside the vehicle.”
Charlotte felt as if she’d gone underwater, as if she were submerged in that ice-cold lake. She was so cold, and she couldn’t breathe . . .
Human remains.
“We understand that your mom went missing about thirty years ago. We’ll need to run a DNA test or compare dental records to be sure, but there was a purse found in the vehicle as well.
The driver’s license and credit cards inside all belong to Terri Danton, so it does appear to be your mother’s remains.
Again, I’m very sorry to be the bearer of such bad news. ”
“Oh, Charlotte . . .” Marin murmured, sounding anguished.
“I don’t understand.” Charlotte’s face felt numb, and she was so cold.
“It appears that your mom’s car went off the road, probably the day she disappeared. The car wasn’t visible from the road, submerged as it was, and there was never a reason to search that lake since it wasn’t on the route she was supposed to have taken the night she disappeared.”
“My dad . . .” Charlotte whispered as a strange buzzing sensation built in her head. She looked down at her hands and saw them shaking violently in her lap.
“A deputy is with him now,” Deputy Ainsbury said. “I do have some photos of her effects I can show you, in case you recognize anything. We can’t release them to you until the official investigation has been completed, but there’s no sign of foul play. We believe this was just a tragic accident.”
Charlotte watched numbly as Deputy Ainsbury placed several large color photographs on the table in front of her.
She saw her mom’s purse, along with a series of photos showing its contents.
The missing overnight bag was there, too, the one her dad had mentioned.
In the photos of its contents, she saw two partially degraded bikinis and a bottle of sunblock.
Her mom had been on her way to that tropical island after all.
“It’s only a weekend bag,” Marin said. “She was coming back.”
Vaguely, Charlotte heard the deputy telling her that her dad was on his way, but she couldn’t focus on anything but the photos in front of her. Charlotte’s chest ached, and her eyes were overflowing with tears.
Her mom was dead. All this time, she’d been in a lake on the outskirts of town. What had she been doing on that road? Was she on her way to the airport?
Tragic accident, the deputy said.
She was coming back, Marin said.
Charlotte saw herself swimming through that lake yesterday, passing above the submerged car where her mom lay dead and forgotten. Her stomach clenched painfully, and she almost threw up right there in the conference room.
“Would you and your girlfriend like something to drink while you wait for your dad to arrive? Coffee? Water? Soda?” Deputy Ainsbury asked.
Girlfriend.
“I need some air.” Charlotte lurched to her feet, swaying slightly before Marin caught her.
“Of course,” Marin said. “Let’s wait outside.”
Charlotte let Marin lead her into the bright sunshine outside the sheriff’s building.
Her dad was on his way. He couldn’t meet Marin like this.
He couldn’t hear that Charlotte had a girlfriend today of all days.
How obvious had she and Marin been since they entered the station?
How obvious had they been for the past month? Did her dad already know?
Did everyone in town know?
Charlotte was spiraling, and she just . . . couldn’t do this. “You should go home,” she whispered. “Before my dad gets here.”
“What? Why?”
“That deputy called you my girlfriend.”
Marin blinked at her. “That’s why you rushed out of the station so fast?”
Even in Charlotte’s slightly hysterical state, she heard the hurt in Marin’s voice. Charlotte had just found out her mother was dead. It was a big fucking deal. Momentous. Charlotte should be leaning on Marin in her time of crisis.
Instead, Charlotte was fixating on the way the deputy had called Marin her girlfriend.
This was all wrong, and she knew it. She also knew this was her problem, not Marin’s.
Charlotte needed to get her shit together so she could be the girlfriend Marin deserved, but .
. . she needed to do this next part alone.
Tears coursed over her cheeks. “I . . .”
“Charlotte, talk to me.”
“My dad’s going to be here soon,” she sobbed, “and I can’t have him see us looking like . . . like girlfriends. I just lost my mom. What if I lose him, too, when he finds out I’m not straight? I don’t know if I can take it.”
“Okay.”
“I know I promised you that I’d eventually be ready, but I just . . . I’m so scared . . .”
“This isn’t the right time to have this conversation,” Marin said, sounding as calm as Charlotte was hysterical. “You’ve just had a shock, and I totally understand why you don’t want your dad to find out about us this way, so yes, I’ll go. Text me when you get home, and I’ll come over?”
“Yes. Please, just take my car. I’ll get a ride with my dad.” Desperation twisted in Charlotte’s stomach. She needed Marin to leave now. Before her dad got here.
Her mom was dead, and Charlotte just couldn’t . . . she just couldn’t . . .
“You’ll text me?” Marin pressed.
“Later. I can’t think right now. Please just go.”
“Charlotte . . .” The slightest pleading note entered Marin’s voice now, as if she’d realized Charlotte’s panic was about more than her dad finding out she had a girlfriend on the same day he found out his wife was dead.
As if she’d realized Charlotte was spinning out, questioning everything. The urge to run was so strong, but she couldn’t . . . not yet, not until she’d seen her dad.
“Please go.” Charlotte’s voice broke.
“I’m going.” Marin’s voice was heartbreakingly soft, gentle. “But it feels like you’re pushing me away, like you always push me away when you’re upset about something. This isn’t how two people in love handle a crisis. We should be leaning on each other right now.”
That made sense. It did. In the tiny part of Charlotte’s brain still processing rational thought, she could see Marin’s point. But Charlotte had always handled difficult things alone. It was the only way she knew how. Right now, talking was just too hard.
She turned away. “And I’m telling you I need space.”
A few seconds later, she heard the car start, and she watched through her tears as Marin drove away.