Chapter 4
“Charlie?! Like your Charlie? Don’t be daft. The guy’s name is Gary or something.”
“Greg.” Willow corrected her.
The thoughts were racing rampantly through her brain. Charlie or Greg or whoever. This was too much for her. All of her intrinsic thoughts told her she should run for the hills, that it was indeed her husband, the man she had loved and made a life with for many years.
“What makes you think it could be Charlie? I can’t remember what the man looks like off the top of my head, but I swear I’d be able to tell you if it were your husband. Where’d you even get an idea like this anyway?”
“You know that kid I ran into on the beach? Well, I saw him again, and he started telling me all about it. How he thinks I could be the next victim and all this time I’ve sat here going over everything in my head and it just makes sense…” Willow sighed. “Then he showed me this.”
She reached down and pulled out the crumpled-up mugshot from her bag and slid it across the table toward Brandi.
“Oh my god.”
“I know.”
“If you really think it’s him… If we’re really gonna go down this rabbit hole, my love, then I need you to know whatever we do from this point, we have to take this seriously.”
She wasn’t sure if she was ready, but what else was she supposed to do? Ignore the fact that her husband looks identical to a criminal?
Willow took in a deep breath and looked up at Brandi.
“So, are we doing this or what?” Willow asked. If ever she needed to know about someone, she knew Brandi could figure it out.
“Okay, but I have to warn you,” Brandi said. “Be absolutely sure you want to know the answer because once I start looking, there’s no guarantee what I may find. Are you sure you want to do this?”
The thought made her shiver. She knew that opening up this can of worms was going to put them in the middle of the very thing everyone in the town secretly whispered about.
“I’ll sleep on it if that will make you feel better,” Willow responded.
Really, she was unsure. One moment, all she wanted was to know the truth. The next moment, she just wanted to go back to how everything was when she first got married. Then she remembered that Charlie could potentially be someone dangerous, and she couldn’t just pretend that it hadn’t shaken her to her core.
“Hey, you okay?” Brandi asked.
“I—this is a lot.”
“I know. Which is why I asked if you were sure you wanted to open up Pandora’s box because what happens if it’s all true? I mean, I can’t even begin to imagine how you feel right now. I’m aghast myself.”
“This is his mugshot, B! A mugshot. Like in the movies! I—I don’t even know what to think right now. My whole life feels like some kind of lie. A whole entirely messed up lie. Like… what if people back home catch wind he’s been missing? What is he doing?! What could he be doing? I’m—I don’t know how to navigate this.”
“Because you’re not supposed to have to navigate this. This is hard. This is sick. This isn’t your fault either. So don’t you dare try to find a way to blame yourself for what he’s done. I wouldn’t know what to do either.”
“I’m just so confused.” Willow could feel a lump forming in her throat. She knew it wasn’t her fault. But she couldn’t help but feel horrible. All those women. Willow thought she was special, but again, it made sense. How things had been going for them. How Charlie disappeared without a trace so easily. Like he’d been doing it his whole life.
“Where even is he? He’s not answering my calls. Or Mark’s calls. No one from his office is responding either.”
Then it hit her that this whole time Charlie probably wasn’t even a contractor. She didn’t know the first thing about him. She became increasingly angry. She was betrayed; seriously betrayed by the one person she thought she could trust.
“If we found him, would you turn him in?” Brandi quizzed.
Could she really be the kind of woman that would turn her husband in? A few days ago, before all of this, she was contemplating a divorce, but now it just got so much messier. She was tied up in all this mess. Deep down some of it—part of it—was real, right? Her loyalty to him was real.
Willow didn’t know how to respond. She was exhausted just thinking about having the mental fortitude to turn in her husband. That wasn’t cut and dry. It was as complex as it could get and she really had no idea where to start. But the important part was figuring out if it was really him.
Brandi had her doubts, so she was holding out a little faith.
“I really don’t know, B. I’ve only ever known the man he presented to me. This is so much right now. So much and I’d think, or like to think, that if I had to, I’d do the right thing. But can you blame me for being a little hesitant?”
There was silence between them. She was disgusted. Disappointed. Depressed. How could this have happened to her? How did she end up where she was? She still couldn’t fathom what was happening.
“You’d really want to keep him safe? After finding out he lied to you about everything? Is that what you’re doing right now? I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Willow knew Brandi was right but she didn’t care about that at all. She couldn’t focus on anything other than Charlie. Everything was a blur. The room started to spin out from under her and suddenly out of nowhere—Boom.
Willow just about passed out right there on the spot. Brandi jumped up and fanned her quickly, trying to get her to come to before she threw a glass of cold water in her face.
That brought her back to the room.
“That’s cold.”
“Sorry. Look, I don’t want you to stress about it. If you’re not ready to deal, then don’t deal. Whatever you decide, I’ll be here.”
“Thanks for being such a good friend.” Willow sighed.
“Come on, let’s get you to bed,” Brandi said. “You had a long day. You need to relax and sitting here going over this in your head is not going to do it.”
In her mind, Willow knew Brandi was probably going to run a thorough background check on Charlie the moment she went to sleep.
He’d already caused so much damage, and with Willow seemingly overwhelmed, Brandi knew she couldn’t keep pressing the issue. Brandi was a great friend—the best friend Willow had ever had—so if anyone was going to get to the bottom of things, it was her. She was always thorough in her investigations which was why Willow brought it to her in the first place.
Brandi helped Willow into bed and went straight to work on her laptop. If anyone knew anything or could find anything, it was Brandi. And when she entered her search… boy, did she find a whopper.