Chapter 79 #2
Rhett said, “Judith, I also came by because I had some questions to ask you.”
“What questions?”
“If you really think Walter is innocent, the best thing we can do is find him. I can get him a great lawyer.”
“But I don’t know where he is,” she said.
“But you could have some information that might help us locate him. You said he left here with a bag?”
“Yes.”
“You know him better than anyone. Do you have any idea where he might have gone? A favorite vacation spot? A place where you two were thinking of buying a second home?”
She shook her head, looking exhausted. “No, nothing like that. You know he didn’t take many vacations, and we never saw a need for a second home.”
“Okay, how about friends or other people who might have helped him?”
“He really didn’t have any friends. But his father was living with a woman named Rosie Parker. She lives in their old house where Walter grew up. He was going to meet with her in connection with his father’s will. She might know something.”
Rhett rose and went over and quietly shut the door. When Nash heard him do this, he quickly retreated down the stairs.
Rhett returned to Judith and sat next to her. “Good, good, see, you do have information that’s useful,” he praised. “What else? Anything, even if it seems unimportant.”
She took another drink of coffee and sat back. “The guard at the gate told me that a big Black man on a Harley had come to visit Walter here shortly after his father’s funeral. Walter didn’t seem pleased, the guard said. But then Walter never mentioned it to me. What happened between them, I mean.”
“What was the Black guy’s name? Do you know?”
“I’m not sure. I seem to remember… something.” She brightened. “Shock, that’s it. Shock. Walter told me about him. His stupid nickname and all. And he said some terrible things about Walter.”
“Wait, this was the same guy you told me about before? Who insulted Walter at his father’s funeral service?”
“Yes. It has to be the same person.”
“And how did Walter know this Shock person?”
“He and Walter’s father served together in Vietnam.
Walter probably doesn’t know this, but I saw a picture he had in his study.
I’m not sure where it came from, but I know he picked up some things from his father’s house after the funeral.
His father was in the photo, and a big Black man.
They were obviously in Vietnam at the time.
The man must’ve been this Shock person. I mean, it was taken a long time ago, but I’m sure it was the same man who was at the church. ”
“Do you know his real name?”
“No.”
“Do you have the picture?”
“It’s not in the study anymore. I looked but it’s gone.”
“Do you mind if I look?” asked Rhett.
“No, I suppose not.”
“You stay right here and rest.”
Rhett walked over, opened the door, and called out to Nash, “Dillon, come up and stay with her. I need to look for something in the study.”
Nash, who had heard none of the latter part of Rhett and Judith’s conversation, hustled up the steps from the kitchen. “Yes sir.”
The last thing Nash wanted to do was let Rhett search his study, but there was really nothing he could do to stop him without giving everything away.
He entered the room and sat down across from Judith. She closed her eyes and appeared to be dozing. He was so focused on what Rhett might find that he didn’t notice her staring at him until a couple minutes later when Nash looked up to find her gaze full upon him.
She said, “What do you do for Rhett?”
“Personal security.”
She nodded, running her gaze over him. “You look like you can do that well. You look very strong and… capable. My husband was very capable, just not in the same way.” She focused on his scalp. “What are those things on your head?”
“Tattoos.”
As Judith looked at them, something tangible seemed to pierce the druggy facade around her brain, but then it faded away and her expression became distant.
Nash shouldn’t have, but he had to. “I… understand that you lost a child?”
She refocused on him. “Yes. People think my husband killed her.”
“What do you think?” asked Nash.
“I…”
Before she could finish Rhett burst back into the room holding a piece of paper. “Bingo.”
“What is it?” asked Judith, as Nash looked on uneasily.
“A letter Walter’s father wrote to him, I guess right before he died. I found it in a desk drawer. His father said if Walter ever needed help that this Shock guy would be there for him. So all I need to do is find out his real name. Hey, this woman friend of his?”
“Rosie Parker?” said Judith.
“Yeah. Do you have the address?”
“Yes. We dropped Walter’s mother off there numerous times over the years.”
She gave Rhett the address, and he input it into his phone.
He sat and gave Judith a quick hug. “Okay, let me get a cleaning and landscape crew over to get this place back right. Please, Judith. I offered before but you kept saying no.”
“Let me think about it, Rhett. I’m just so tired.”
“Okay, but no more pills?” She nodded, and he looked at Nash. “Let’s roll. Maybe we can find this Parker person at home.”
Rhett hurried out the door. As Nash was leaving Judith gripped his hand. He looked down at her.
“I should have believed my husband. I… when I saw my daughter, what she was saying.”
“I can understand, ma’am. It must have been overwhelming.”
“But it shouldn’t have been hard,” she replied as tears started trickling down her cheeks. “I’d been married to him for twenty years. I knew Walter, the sort of person he was. He would never… do… that.” She looked up at him. “I wish I could tell him so.”
“He may know, ma’am.”
“How?” she said fiercely. “How?”
“You say you knew him?”
“Yes.”
“Well, it sounds to me like he also knew you.”
She held his gaze for a few seconds before saying, “Thank you for helping me… when I was… sick.”
“No problem, ma’am. All you’ve been through, well, it’s understandable.” He looked in the direction of the door, then knelt down in front of her and gripped both her hands.
“I don’t know what happened to your daughter, but I do know that she would not want you to do anything… to hurt yourself. So, please, just be okay, all right? I know things seem really dark right now. But sometimes the light is just a few feet away.”
She squeezed his hands and nodded. “What’s your name?”
Despite everything, Nash almost said Walter. “Dillon, Dillon Hope.”
“Thank you, Dillon.”
Rhett called out to him from the main floor. “Let’s go, Hope!”
Nash rose, gave Judith one more meaningful glance, and then hustled out.
As the Porsche drove away, Judith stood at the window, watching.