Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23
CARLIE
Chad has a mostly quiet couple of days, with the only call-outs coming during the day and only lasting a couple hours each. I check in with him before driving over to Jenna’s for dinner on Tuesday night, and he assures me that if he does get called in, his other neighbor, Mrs. Kay, can watch the girls for a little bit until I can get back. Even though I’m just as on-call as he is, I appreciate that he allows for some flexibility so I don’t have to stay within five minutes of his house at all times.
“My long-lost brother!” I tease when I walk in and see Caleb setting the table. He smirks at me. Until he and Ivy started seeing each other, he hung out at my house quite a bit, keeping me company when I was off and using the house for quiet when I was working. I haven’t seen him since the day I caught Ivy leaving.
“I have kind of been monopolizing his time.” Ivy steps out from the kitchen with silverware to hand to him.
I startle a little. I hadn’t expected her to be here. Jenna said “family” dinner. “Oh, hi!” I hope she can’t see that my smile’s forced. It’s only because she surprised me. I’ve barely seen her too. Considering Law brought her to Maui with him, I thought she’d be more of a presence. Or maybe she’s with Caleb so much, she and Law haven’t been spending as much time together. I’ll have to ask.
Jenna follows Ivy from the kitchen and brings a plate full of carnitas to the table. “Hey. I was crossing my fingers Chad wouldn’t get called out.”
I hold her gaze a moment, silently asking what she thinks of Caleb bringing Ivy, but then Caleb looks over, narrowing his eyes.
“You didn’t bring Law?” he asks. He must have interpreted my and Jenna’s looks. He is my twin, after all.
I look at my watch. “He’s at minicamp until later tonight.” Until nine, to be exact. If I don’t get called over to Chad’s, he’s planning on coming over to hang out. He texted me a little bit about his conversation with Chad last night while they played video games. Seemed to me like he was pretty intent on convincing me that Chad’s angry with Shelby and that’s why he’s not talking about her.
I mean, of course he’s angry. She left him without a backward glance, if he’s to be believed.
“Besides,” I say to Caleb, “I’m not quite sure I’m ready to introduce him to the family.” I keep his gaze long enough for him to easily catch my meaning. Ivy’s intent on setting out the forks, so she probably caught it too. Jenna presses her lips together to hide a laugh.
“We already know Law Card,” Grandma says, coming into the dining room from down the hall, probably playing with Jenna’s kids. Well, hanging out in the room while they’re playing and joining in the games from a perch on their beds. She comes up to me and squeezes my hand, and I lean over to kiss her cheek. “Jett’s told me all about him.” She winks at me. She and Jett are best buddies. It’s the sweetest thing.
I smirk back. Grandma’s my best buddy too. We did share a small guesthouse for almost a month. “He doesn’t know everything ,” I say in a low voice.
Grandma gives a huff of laughter and pats me on the arm, walking by me to take a seat at the dining room table. Jenna calls the kids in, and I help Ruby get buckled into her booster seat before sitting down between Grandma and Caleb.
“Am I too late?” a voice calls from the living room, and then Ava appears in the dining room with a small bowl. “I brought the guac.”
We all laugh except Ivy, who stares at the pico in the bowl with a confused expression.
“Ava’s allergic to avocados.” Caleb leans toward Ivy, who nods and smiles politely.
I catch the moment she sees the ring on Ava’s finger, and her eyes widen. And then I smile, because that means that Law didn’t even tell his best friend what I’d told him about Ava and Jett being secretly engaged. Ivy leans quickly toward Caleb, whispering something that I can easily guess, since his gaze darts to Ava and he nods, then whispers something back.
Grandma’s elbow snaps my attention back to my dinner plate, the two carnitas I put there, and the drizzle of sour cream that’s starting to get out of hand. I tip up the squeeze bottle that Jenna uses for the sour cream and grimace at my plate, then reach for the pico that Ava brought.
“Something interesting you want to share?” Grandma asks in a low voice.
“They’re moving way too fast,” I whisper, scowling down at my plate.
“I knew I wanted to marry your grandpa the night I met him.” She shrugs at me and cuts off a piece of her carnitas with her fork and a steak knife Jenna probably set out for her. I haven’t seen Grandma eat tacos with her hands for a long time. Even now her hand trembles a little as she raises the bite to her mouth, and I look away from her too. I don’t like being reminded that she’s getting older.
“That’s different,” I mutter.
Grandma swallows and dabs at her mouth with her napkin. “Oh, how is that?”
“Well, it was back when …” I actually have no way to finish that sentence.
“Back when young men didn’t pretend to be upstanding when they’re actually drug dealers?” she says, fire dancing through her expression. She might be trying to point something out to me, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to pretend like she’ll ever forgive Xavier for what he did. “Carlie, you’re smart enough to know that the evils of the world are as old as Adam and Eve; we’re just finally talking about them now. I knew your grandpa two weeks before he asked me to marry him and I said yes. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t taking a chance on him turning out to be something other than what he professed to be—I just knew in my heart.”
“And it all worked out great.” I force a smile at her. She and Grandpa were married for nearly fifty years when he died a few years ago. Her eyes glisten, like they do anytime she talks about him. I can’t imagine living without someone who’d been a part of my life that long, but I also can’t imagine trusting someone the way she did Grandpa. Not again.
After dinner, Grandma and I go out on Jenna’s deck to enjoy the sunset. Caleb follows us out, surprisingly without Ivy, who we can see through the sliding door talking to Ava and Jenna as they clear off the table.
“Do you have something to say to me, Car?” he asks, leaning up against the railing next to the outdoor couch Grandma and I are sitting on.
“You’re an adult, Caleb,” I say, staring up at him. “It doesn’t really matter what I think.”
“You’re just going to gossip with Grandma about it. And then probably Jenna later. I’m assuming you’ve discussed it with Law as well.” He tilts his head at me.
I try not to laugh, but I’m not very successful. “Yeah, probably.”
He points a finger at me. “Ivy is not?—”
“Grandma has already given me the lecture.” I hold up a hand at him. She chuckles beside me. I look over at her before looking back to Caleb. “Do you know in your heart? Because that’s what Grandma says will assure you that Ivy is exactly who she says she is and you’re not going to get bowled over by her turning out to be a jewel thief or something.”
Grandma pats my knee, but surprisingly, Caleb shifts a little. “I don’t have to know anything in my heart yet,” he says, his tone a bit defensive. “We’re just dating.”
I raise my eyebrows, but I’m not going to call out Caleb in front of Grandma. “Hmmm,” I say instead, and I lean back into the couch.
Jenna and Ava come out, and Caleb goes back inside to take Ivy home. She has an early meeting with a new client that Caleb hints is a pretty big deal. She wants more time to prep.
I don’t have long to talk with my sister. I can’t linger. Chad is flexible, but I need to be responsible. Being available is part of the deal. But Jenna and I have both been so busy that I need at least a few moments of conversation.
“How’s the house coming?” I ask, laying my head on her shoulder. Which is how I notice that her shoulders tense.
She glances over at Ava. Ava laughs. “I won’t pass on any information in this conversation to Jett. Sister-in-law confidentiality.” She mimes zipping her lips.
Jenna sighs. “It’s fine. There’s an electrical issue, so we’re going to have to redo an entire floor, and Devin can’t do it. Just another setback.”
I wrap my arm around her. “I’m sorry, Jen. That’s not what you need right now. Let me talk to Chad and see if he’s okay with the kids coming over to play a few days next week. That way you can get some more stuff done.”
“That’s really sweet of you, sis,” Jenna says, patting my leg. “I’d take you up on it, but I’m in stall mode until the guy we hired can get it done.”
“Rain check,” I say firmly.
She nods, which is how I know the stress is getting to her.
“Move into the house,” Ava says quietly. I wonder if she’s an older sister too, because there’s a tone in her voice right now that holds gentle authority.
“Ava …” Jenna’s tone is long-suffering, and she doesn’t meet Ava’s eye. “It wouldn’t solve a whole lot.” Ava scoffs, and Jenna hurries on. “I’d have to deal with a move on top of everything else.”
“He’ll hire movers. He’ll put you in a nice hotel suite until it’s done,” Ava continues in that matter-of-fact tone. Jenna opens her mouth, presumably to protest, but Ava marches on. “Do you know how much money 200 million dollars is? He gives so much away to charities and food pantries and whatever else, but it kills him not to be able to help the one family he desperately wants to.”
Talk about a guilt trip. Ava’s good at this.
Jenna chews on her lip like she’s actually thinking about it. I reach for her hand and squeeze it. “You said you wouldn’t say anything to him,” she says lamely.
Ava shakes her head. “I won’t. I’m just pointing some things out. Helping you see it logically.”
“I don’t want to be that person.” Jenna has a stubborn streak.
“We all know you won’t be.” Ava shrugs and sits back. “Just think about it, Jen. Seriously.”
Jenna nods silently. I look at my watch, wishing I had time to stay until Ava left so I could use my sisterly powers to drive home what Ava has pointed out, but I need to leave.
Jenna and I walk Grandma back to Jenna’s guesthouse, but she’s mulling quietly. Grandma and I chat about Chad’s girls and leave Jenna to her thoughts.
I text Chad that I’m on my way and my ETA when I’m driving back to Houston. It’s funny—I’ve never had to communicate with a boss this much about my whereabouts or theirs, and yet for all the texting we do back and forth, I really barely know him. Is he the kind of guy who could kill his wife in a fit of anger and then hide her body in the backyard? From all the true crime I’ve listened to, anybody could be.
I turn on an audiobook for the drive— not a mystery or true crime or anything, since I’m trying to see things with Chad more objectively, the way Law is.
I’m about ten minutes away when my phone dings. Siri reads me a text from Chad that he’s getting called in. Liz is already here and she says not to rush on her account . Siri even says he adds a smiley face. That’s encouraging.
Liz doesn’t stay long once I get there, since the girls are asleep. She’s beaming when she gives me a light hug and leaves, and I’m glad she and Chad are getting past some things to allow her to be here more for the girls.
I glance up the stairs after her car pulls away, narrowing my eyes. I can’t go dig up that mound in the trees without calling attention to myself, but I can inspect this house for any signs of foul play. And yes, if you’re wondering, I do have a black light. In my purse.
The most likely places to find blood evidence—the kitchen and family room area—come up clean. If Chad dragged her body through here to the backyard, he was smart about it. Probably put her in a tarp or something.
And also, the housekeeper has likely mopped this floor a dozen times since. Does that matter? That’s something I feel like I should know. I pause to google it and then think better of that. How’s it going to look if I figure out Chad did do something to Shelby and I’ve got “can blood be completely erased from a floor” in my search history? I’m just going to assume that any evidence here—if there was any—has been thoroughly cleaned away in the last couple months.
I do a cursory search of the entryway and the front room, but no one really uses that room in this house, so I doubt that’s where Chad and Shelby fought before she left. I head upstairs to his bedroom. I decide to do a more thorough search of the room than I did originally before I check for a bloodstain.
The first thing I notice is that the carpet in the room is a slightly different shade than the carpet in the hallway. I hurry from the room to inspect the carpet in my room. Same as the hall, different than the master bedroom. That’s definitely sketchy. Why would they have replaced just the carpet here?
Possibly because of a huge bloodstain?
Shamelessly, I go through Chad’s drawers, and that’s when I find pictures of Shelby. Dozens, actually—all of them torn up and the pieces littering the bottom of Chad’s sock drawer. I hold my breath as I shift everything back into place, letting it out as I close the drawer. That’s creepy.
I think of how Law insists that Chad’s angry. Those torn-up pictures definitely support that. Just how angry did he get?
“Carlie?”
I jump as Chad’s voice rings from somewhere near. Somewhere really near.
No, no, no, no, no. What’s he doing here?
I scuttle back away from the dresser, looking around frantically. I can’t go out into the hallway. Chad will see me coming out of his room.
“Carlie?”
He’s getting closer. Probably standing down the hall by the door to the room I normally sleep in. Thank heavens I closed it earlier. He’d be able to look in and see that I’m not there.
“She’s not asleep already, is she?” I hear him mutter.
His footsteps come even closer, and I have to make a decision. Chad has a platform-style bed, so there’s no frame to climb under. I dash for the bathroom, dropping into the huge soaker tub and lying as flat as possible just as my phone vibrates in my pocket.
I bite back the many swear words threatening to come out of my mouth and grab the phone, pressing it against my chest. I pick it up gingerly as I hear Chad walking around his bedroom.
The text is from him.
Chad
The patient died in surgery before I got there.
(Should the blasé way he can just text that make me as suspicious as it does? Probably not. He does deal with this stuff on a daily basis.)
Chad
I’m home for the night. If you’re up, you can head home.
I don’t answer. That way Chad will believe I’m in my room sleeping. At 8:30 p.m.
I don’t even have the excuse that I’m exhausted from days of disrupted sleep. This last week was mostly chill. Hopefully I’ll think of something by the time I see Chad next.
Which might be really soon, considering I can hear his footsteps echoing inside the bathroom. Please don’t want to take a bath.
The good news is that he doesn’t want to take a bath. The other good news is that the toilet is on the other side of the room.
The bad news is that I’m lying in the bathtub, ten feet from where my boss is peeing. I squeeze my eyes shut even though I can’t see anything from my position in the tub. It seems like hours before he flushes and another day or two that it takes to wash his hands.
Look at the bright side, Carlie, he washed his hands.
Of course he washed his hands. He’s a medical professional.
I only relax and open my eyes when I hear his footsteps pad out of the bathroom and into the bedroom.
If Chad leaves the room, there’s a possibility I could sneak out of here. Carefully, I lift my head to peer over the edge of the tub, and just as quickly drop back down. Chad’s sitting propped up in his bed, opening a book.
I cover my eyes with my hand. I’m never going to get out of here. I’m going to have to wait in this tub until Chad falls asleep.
I turn my head and notice the curtains on the window. Maybe this window opens out onto … something? The window is as tall as the ceiling, and the bottom is even with the edge of the tub. Maybe there’s a way I could slither out without Chad noticing.
I carefully shift the curtains, inspecting the window. When there’s no visible way to open it, I tell myself it doesn’t matter. I can’t get out of it without Chad seeing, and on top of that, I don’t know if there would even be anything to step on. We’re on the second floor, and I’ve never really paid attention to the architecture on the back of the house.
I do not want to admit to Law what I’ve been doing, but I don’t see any other way out of this without tipping off Chad that I was snooping in his bedroom. And if he discovers that I think he killed his wife?—
Maybe.
—who knows what he’ll do to me?
I text Law.
Carlie
911. I’m stuck in Chad’s bathroom, and I need you to distract him somehow so I can get out.
The answering text is quick, thankfully, and nothing short of what I expected.
Law
What?
Carlie
I’ll explain later. Please help!!!!
I hope the multiple exclamation marks move him to action.
Law
Okay …
Bless his heart. In all the good ways.
Three long minutes later, the doorbell rings. Shuffling on the bed and then footsteps confirm that Chad is going down to answer it. I peer over the edge of the tub again. Sure enough, his bed is now empty.
I hop out of the tub, run as quietly as I can through the bathroom, and peer around the door. The room is empty. I run to the door and then drop to the floor so Chad won’t see me sneaking down the hallway to my bedroom.
“Hey,” I hear Law say from the entryway. “Didn’t realize you were here. Is Carlie still here? We were going to hang out.” His voice is a thousand steps away from natural, but it’s the best we’ve got right now. I army-crawl to my room.
“I think she might be asleep,” Chad says. The door shuts, so Law must be in the house now. I put my back to my door and ease it open. I can’t see them through the iron railings on the landing, so I hope that means they can’t see me. “I texted her earlier,” he continues. “But she didn’t answer.”
Once my door is open, I stand up, swallow back the adrenaline arcing through me, and stride across to the edge of the landing. “Law?” I say. “Oh, Chad, what are you doing here?”
He looks up at me, and Law widens his eyes from behind him. “They didn’t need me,” Chad says. “I texted you.”
“I was watching a show.” I gesture back toward my room, which does have a TV. I pull my phone from my pocket and pretend to be surprised to see the text. “Oh.” I frown. “That’s so sad. If you’re here, I guess I’ll just head home.”
“Want me to walk you?” Law asks, his voice still about half an octave too high.
“Sure. I’m going to grab my bag.” I duck back into my room, listening to the murmuring of Chad and Law talking for a moment while I take a big, long, deep breath. The problem is, my heart rate doesn’t slow. I still have to explain to Law what I was doing.