Chapter 19 Time Changes Things
TIME CHANGES THINGS
“Hi, Mom,” Rory said the next morning when he saw the call come in.
“You sound like you just woke up,” his mother said. “Late night?”
The last thing he’d say was he spent most of it awake staring at the ceiling.
What he and Gale experienced had been something so far out of his realm of belief that he’d thought he’d dreamed it all.
But the smell of her body was still on his pillow where they’d landed and lay for an hour after, Clay’s gun on the bedside table when he turned his head at midnight.
None of it had been a dream and all of it was turning into a reality of twists and turns he wasn’t sure how to navigate.
“I didn’t sleep well,” he admitted.
“Your book keeping you up?”
“I haven’t started it yet. I’m not sure if I will.”
He wanted to but realized that he couldn’t. Not while he was here.
His confession to Gale made him realize the truth. His writing wasn’t a passing of time in his life. It was as great as it was because all those emotions he wrote about, he’d felt them.
At times they were cathartic. But now, he needed to stay sharp, and taking a break to write would dull the drive into Rene’s case.
“Everything okay?”
“It’s great.” He had to decide what he told his mother. The last thing she needed to worry about was that his life was in danger, but he wouldn’t completely lie either. “I feel closer. I’m not sure if it’s being here or what I’m discovering.”
“Tell me about it.”
His head went back and forth as he looked at the papers on the table. Most of them he’d jotted notes on. “Rumors are swirling around town that I’m here. They figured out who I was.”
“It’s not that hard really. Do you think it was Gale who let people know?”
“No. Not at all. I’ve had a few people warn me to not ask too many questions or ruffle feathers. You know how I get when that happens.”
“More defiant,” his mother said, laughing. “Just like your sister did.”
He smiled. A genuine one. “That’s right. There is a big developer in the area. I’m not sure if he plays a part in the murder itself or that news of what happened slowed down his plans.”
“It happens, but run through it with me.”
“You know the old rundown cabin Rene was taking pictures of was sold and there are several condo complexes on the grounds now.”
“I do. The pictures you sent look so different from when we were there.”
“Time changes things. But the company that built them has a lot of feelers out in the community. Lots of money in businesses. I want to say they are trying to take over, but it’s not that dramatic.”
“You don’t know that for sure.”
He leaned back in the uncomfortable kitchen chair and wished there was a desk in this house. “I don’t, but I know Gale and met with her family yesterday.”
“Did you talk to the sheriff?”
“I did. Mom, things weren’t just sloppy back then, they were left out. I know it. Ford is being careful because that is how he seems to operate, but he’s also not blocking me.”
“What is he doing?”
“He listened about Rene’s ankle bracelet and he had someone he trusts take swabs and it was sent outside the county to a private lab. He made it sound as if he doesn’t want any talk going around about it, but I wonder if it’s more, or it’s just my imagination.”
Could be either of those things, but more likely the fast lips in this area.
“That’s a great start,” his mother said. “More than we’ve gotten before. What about the detective on the case if Ford did that?”
“It’s a cold case now. It might work in my favor, as no one else is looking at anything.”
“Other than people in the community by the sounds of it.”
“That too. The McGregors, they own the development firm, they’re getting a little pushy and the Ridgeways are big names in their own right. Not with money, but influence. They won’t be pushed back.”
“You’d value that, but how pushy are they getting? Is there more going on that I should know about? I don’t like secrets, Rory. We have a deal. Don’t you go back on it now.”
Talk about guilt.
“Kane McGregor is the son and is taking over the business at some point. I haven’t met his father, Daniel, yet, but I’m betting I will soon.
Kane made it a point to seek Gale and me out at dinner on Friday and get an introduction.
She didn’t give my last name, but I knew damn well he was aware of who I was. ”
“Makes sense if people are talking.”
“Gale’s brother owns Ridgeway Hard Cider and Kane called him on Saturday hinting at some business deal. All it did was piss Clay off. Guess they went to school together and Clay never cared for him, but it’s more than a coincidence that it’s happening now, don’t you think?”
“He sounds like someone who likes to throw his money around. How old would Kane have been when Rene died?”
“Twenty-three, maybe, twenty-four. Out of college and working for his father. He seems a little too pretty for me to think he’d get his hands dirty.”
“Don’t let looks deceive you. When people are afraid to get their hands dirty, that means others know their secrets.”
“I thought of that. It’s also why I think there is so much talk. Someone went through my car last week.”
“Rory!”
“That’s not all. When I was at Gale’s parents’ yesterday there was a note slipped under my door to back off. There was a picture of Rene and one of Gale.”
“That’s it,” his mother said. “You got the ball rolling and you need to come home. I can’t do this again.”
“You wanted to know,” he said. “Gale got a note too telling her to stop digging or else. She’s not backing down. It’s not in her nature to nor her family. All it did was rile them up.”
“And I’m sure they are going to turn their anger toward you for getting their sister involved. You’d be that way.”
Which was another weight he carried along with what he and Gale had done last night.
But did he really feel guilty over that?
She was a big girl. They were both adults fully aware of what they were doing.
He didn’t believe it was a sympathy fuck on her end. It sure the hell wasn’t a quick emotional release on his.
There was something the two of them were trying to navigate on a personal level. Would it get messy? Seems it already was.
“I would. We have an understanding. I care about her.”
There was silence on the other end. “And it’s a burden you don’t want to have?”
“Yeah. I’m struggling there along with everything else.”
“We are going to switch topics here,” his mother said. “You deserve to have a life too. Maybe I’ve put too much on your shoulders by encouraging you to never stop trying to find answers, but I don’t want it at the expense of your happiness.”
He snorted. “Mom. There’s been no happiness in either of our lives. Who are we kidding?”
“Stop. Don’t be that way. Don’t feel that way.
Rene would be upset. I know you’re not happy, but I want you to be.
If you can find even a sliver, grab it by the horns and take that ride.
Hold on until you can’t grip it any longer.
And if you fall off, get back on it. Rory, don’t feel as if you’ve got to pick one or the other, because if you say that, I’m going to tell you to pick you over Rene right now. ”
“How can you say that?”
Who was this woman? The one who had his back while the two of them went over every detail for months, years. Who watched her marriage crumble while she tried to hold it together for him.
“Because I’m still your mother and I refuse to lose another child. Even if it’s mentally or emotionally. Rene can’t be brought back. We may never find the answers we need.”
“I’m going to find them, Mom. I feel it. I’m not leaving here until every rock is overturned. Someone wants me gone, and when that happens, there are secrets that need to be unearthed.”
“I’m not disputing any of that,” his mother said. “But I want you to come home if it gets dangerous. I mean that. You’ve got a connection there. You’ve got more information than you had before. Let Ford do his job.”
“They can do their job, but I’m not relying on anyone anymore.
We were fed false truths back then. Do I think Ford will do what is right?
Yeah, I do. But I can’t walk away without knowing or seeing what he has or even sharing what I’ve got.
The court records aren’t really giving me much insight into anything other than too much was botched.
There were a lot of things missed and it leads me to wanting to talk to that detective more than thinking the answers are in front of me. ”
“Meaning that what you’ve discovered isn’t on paper, but in minds?”
“Exactly. That’s what I’m doing right now. Gathering who I’m going to talk to next. I’m not running, I’m not even shaking trees. I’m coming out with a chainsaw ready to clear the place out and they just better be ready for me.”
His mother laughed. “Now you sound just like Rene.”
“Maybe I need to. I’m not leaving here without answers, Mom. And I’m not sure being told there isn’t anything to find is going to be the answer I’ll settle for.”
It couldn’t be. Not now.
He was getting closer and it was time to let this town know nothing was stopping him.