Chapter 6
“Stop it. Colin, please.” He could hear the emotion in her voice, knew she was close to tears. He begrudgingly released her, cool air rushing in when she took a step back.
Damn, she is beautiful.
Dusk had settled in, her patrician features lit by the light spilling from the house.
His body ached to rake her back into his arms, make her realize how good they could be together.
He'd finally had a taste of her, and the thirst that had plagued him for years was now a raging need for the river that was Gwen.
She crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from him. His muscles itched to follow her, turn her back around, rewind time and get back to the moment when they first connected, the electric energy that went straight from her mouth to his very core.
Gwen walked back to the loveseat and picked up her wine. “Tell me, Colin. Tell me why he was in WITSEC.”
She was asking too much, the only thing he couldn’t reveal. It went against everything he believed in, everything that kept people safe.
David's already dead. You can't save him now.
“David's father was placed in the program when David was six.”
“His father?”
Colin nodded. “He testified against his cronies in exchange for his freedom. The family was placed in Connecticut initially, but David's mother just couldn't keep herself from calling her mother to wish her a happy birthday.”
“Oh, my God.” Gwen covered her mouth with her hands.
“She was gunned down in a beauty shop outside of Hartford. The local cops did a phenomenal job of getting David and his father to safety quickly.”
“How did they know?”
“We notify the local authorities when a witness is placed in their jurisdiction. A lot of these people are criminals, and a lot of criminals have a penchant for illegal activity. It helps to have the cops keeping an eye on things.”
Gwen's bottom lip fell. “Is that what happened to his father, too? Was he killed?”
Colin sat down. “No. He went to prison.”
She was confused. “He died in prison?”
“He didn't die at all.”
“But, that's why David came to live with you and Rowan!”
“No. David came to live with us when his father went to jail. It was his idea to say his father was dead. He was ashamed. He wanted a fresh start with our family. He even went so far as to ask my grandmother to put a grave stone in the local cemetery.”
“That’s awful.”
“Jerry ruined David’s life once. David didn’t want him to be able to do it again. He blamed his dad for his mother’s death. She was unhappy.”
“How did you find out he was in WITSEC?”
“He broke down and told Rowan the truth the first time he got drunk in Eddie Mangione's tree house.”
She smiled. “I’ve heard a lot of stories about that tree house.”
“David couldn't handle the lies. A lot of kids can't, it's just too much for them.”
“I can only imagine.”
“When David found out he was going to have to move again, the three of us hatched a plan to get him to stay. He told my grandmother the truth, and she couldn't bear to send him off to God-knows where.”
“That was very kind of her.”
He nodded. “Grams loved David.”
“We all did.”
“He's the reason I wanted to become a U.S. Marshal, you know. I wanted to help people like him.”
“That's very noble of you.”
He looked off to the side. “The idea was noble. The reality isn't quite so honorable. I spend my days getting health club memberships for people named Benny the Bull.”
“And their families.”
He nodded. “And their families.”
Gwen sipped her wine. “All these years, I thought my father-in-law was dead. I've never even met him. Do you know where he is now?”
“No. He was released from prison six weeks before David died, and never reentered the program.”
“Six weeks!”
“Yes, why?”
Gwen put her drink down on the glass table with a clink. “I believe David may have been murdered.”
Colin shook his head. “I investigated that possibility while I was in Vermont for the funeral. That was what I was sent there to do. I talked to the coroner, the sheriff. It was an accident, Gwen. The slopes were icy.”
“That day on the mountain, just before he died, David saw someone he recognized from school.”
Colin slammed his drink down. “What? Are you sure?”
“Yes. I was standing right next to him. He was a big man in a red ski parka and goggles. David called him Michael.”
“Can you identify him?”
She shook her head. “Not with the goggles on. David saw his face, not me.”
“Why didn't you say something sooner?”
“I thought I did mention it, actually. But I didn't know David was in WITSEC, Colin. I had no reason to think anything of it at the time.”
“That's true.” Colin ran his hand through his hair. “I screwed up. I should have talked to you myself.”
“You were there?”
“I came as soon as I heard. But I let the local cops interview you. I didn't want you to know I was there.”
“Sheriff McDonald?”
“Yes, why?”
Gwen looked down into her glass of wine, her brows drawn together. “I might be wrong about this, Colin, but I think I told McDonald about Michael.”
“What?”
She nodded. “I think so.” She shook her head. “But I was a disaster. It's hard to be sure of anything.”
Colin walked toward the trees in the light of the full moon, an hour after Gwen went to bed.
He could hardly believe she was sleeping under his roof, having reappeared in his life so unexpectedly.
He ducked under the boughs of the majestic old pines that separated his home from the train station and made his way to the river.
It was deeply troubling to consider the possibility that David was murdered.
It had been Colin’s investigation, his responsibility.
He cursed himself as he made his way past the boulders at the Chapel Restoration, down the bank, and settled his body on a large rock.
If he bungled that investigation, it was because of his feelings for Gwen, not wanting to interview her personally and see her pain.
He thought he could trust the sheriff to ask a few questions, never considering the other man might be part of a larger conspiracy.
In fact, Colin had never really considered foul play.
He admitted to himself that he had asked for the assignment only to attend services for his friend who had died and maybe to get a glimpse of Gwen.
The investigation aspect was an afterthought, a procedural requirement, a bunch of paperwork he didn’t take too seriously.
What did that say about him as a Marshal? As a person? As a friend?
And David’s murderer had walked away, because of his carelessness.
Colin lifted his head to the sky, taking in the twinkling stars above him.
He didn’t know if his friend could hear him, didn’t know exactly what he believed about death.
“I’m sorry, David,” he said, his voice cracking.
“I should have done better.” A boat slipped past in the distance, its green and white lights glowing brightly.
“I promise you, I’ll find out who did this, make them pay for what they did. They won’t get away from me again.”