Chapter 4
“Willow?” She heard Brandi’s voice the next morning, but she thought she was dreaming. “Willow, sweetie, Sheriff Tommy is here to speak with you.”
Willow rolled over to be sure she had heard her correctly, and sure enough, she did.
He was downstairs waiting in the living room.
“Did he say what he wanted to talk about?” Willow asked while she brushed her teeth. “Last night he acted like he didn’t care about that package at all, now he’s inside your house?”
“No, he didn’t say anything. He just said he needed to speak with you. Maybe he found out who sent it?” Brandi shrugged. “I don’t know. But I”ll sit in as your lawyer to make sure he’s not trying to pull a fast one on you.”
It didn”t take long getting ready, as she wasn’t going to make an effort to be presentable. A simple t-shirt, sweat pants, and her hair in a messy bun. She planned on going back to bed after he said whatever needed to be said, so she didn”t bother getting dressed up. Willow was surprised to see him outside of uniform though. He looked good.
“How can I help you this morning, sheriff?”
She didn’t sit down; she stood in the entranceway of Brandi’s living room and waited for his response.
“Uh, good morning, Willow.” He sounded nervous for the first time since she’d known him. It took him a minute to get past whatever it was he was staring at. Her bare morning face? Her figure? Or maybe the messy mane of hair sitting on top of her head.
“Sorry I just woke up.”
“No, don’t be, you look great.”
Brandi and Willow gave each other surprising looks. She almost smiled; she was so taken aback.
“I…uh, I wanted to apologize. About last night.” Sheriff Tommy finally said.
“Oh. Okay.”
“We got the lab results back this morning and I wanted to come over and personally extend an apology from not only myself, but also the sheriff’s department of Sanibel. I’ll see what I can do about getting that article pulled as well.”
“Thank you,” Willow said. “Whose DNA was found? Was it Charlie?”
“No.” He handed her an envelope with the results inside. “But close enough. Charlene Baxter. Greg’s, or Charlie’s, sister. We haven’t seen or heard from her around here in years. She was always suspected to be helping him meet the women he stole from. She worked for the news company here for a long time, but was fired after she got caught falsifying documents. We suspect she might’ve been the one who wrote that article about you.”
Willow sat down after he told her Charlie had a sister. She never knew that. Then again, she never knew a lot about him or his life. She’d never heard the name Charlene the entire time she and Charlie were together. Not even once.
“So, she sent that bloody shirt to try and throw me off?” she asked. “She had to be in touch with Charlie if she knew where I was. Right?”
“Maybe,” Sheriff Tommy said. “She mentioned something about him owing her money, though. So, she could have had contact with him in the beginning and lost it. Maybe she took a wild guess at where you were because she knew you weren’t at home. Or maybe he told her before they got into whatever scuffle they got into. I don’t know. It’s hard to say anything for certain right now.”
All sorts of new scenarios started running through Willow’s head.
“I take it you’ve never heard about his sister?” Sheriff Tommy asked.
“Never. He has a brother. Mark?”
He looked confused by the name. Willow took that as a sign that Mark wasn’t really Charlie’s brother. He was merely just a guy who helped him get away with his crimes and came back around to collect what he was owed.
“As far as I know, Greg doesn”t have any other siblings or family. It’s just him, Charlene, and Old Man Brady.”
“Brady?” Willow frowned, remembering how that old man from the antique shop looked at her when she picked up a certain record in his store. “The old man who owns the antique shop in town?”
“Yep,” Sheriff Tommy nodded. “That’s him. He’s Greg and Charlene’s grandfather. The only family they have left around here. Mother and father are both locked away in prison for robbery.”
She couldn’t believe it. The man she married was born into a family of criminals. She knew something was up with that old man. The way he looked at her, the way he rushed her out of his shop. She knew something was up.
“I knew it!” she said. “I was in his shop not too long ago and something about the way he looked at me didn’t sit right with me. It was almost as if he already knew who I was or something.”
Brandi hadn’t spoken a word until they talked about Brady. She said she always felt like something was off with him too. Like he was already aware of who she was, outside of her being the island”s best attorney.
“If you want, I can stop by and have a talk with him about this. I’m sure he’ll say he doesn”t know anything, the same thing he’s been saying for years now. We’ve never been able to stick any charges to him behind this, but I fear it’s coming real soon.”
“Anything if it will help,” Willow said. “Thanks for coming to tell me all this.”
“Not a problem. I guess I”ll be out of you ladies” hair for the day. If you find out anything else, be sure to give me a call.”
Sheriff Tommy left the house, and Brandi headed out for work. She promised they would talk about what they heard when she got home later that day. Willow was happy with that. She needed the time to digest everything she took in that morning anyway.
After a much needed nap, she woke up to the sound of Richy calling in. It was a Friday afternoon and he was out of school, so he wanted to see what she was doing. She had nothing planned. Nothing other than sleeping in and letting her mind get the best of her about Charlie.
“I’m not doing much today,” she said. “I had a talk with the sheriff this morning. Did you know Charlie has a sister and that old man who owns the antique shop is his grandfather?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I found that out earlier while I was surfing the web. I always thought there was something strange about that old man. Do you think he’s in on it?”
“He was a bit strange, but it’s hard to tell. Being accused is not fun, so I don”t want to accuse anyone.”
Something about Richy’s tone was off. She could tell there was something going on with him.
“Do you want to have lunch or something?” she asked. “I can meet you at the tiki hut and we can grab something and talk about this mystery I have going on. If you want.”
“Sure!” his voice trying to contain his excitement. “I’m already near the beach.”
“All right,” she laughed. “I’ll get dressed and head over.”
Willow got dressed and headed over to the tiki hut. The detectives saw her leave, but they didn’t bother to follow her. She figured they were tired of her going to the same three places every time she left and decided to stay back. Either that or Sheriff Tommy had informed them of the package, so they hung back to see if Charlene would return.
“Hey, you.” She met Richy at the door.
“Hey.” He looked happy, even though he tried to hide it.
Willow wondered the last time he’d gone out to eat, or the last time he did anything fun, other than going to the beach.
“Order whatever you want, okay. Don’t be shy.”
She noticed he looked hesitant while he glared at the menu. He had ordered a water and a burger the first time they went to lunch.
When she told him to get whatever he wanted, she didn”t mean for him to order half the menu. It was fine, though. It made her laugh to see all that food being placed on the table in front of them.
“Big appetite, huh?” she chuckled. “You don’t eat much at school?”
“Sometimes.” He shrugged. “I have to pay for lunch, so sometimes I don”t eat.”
Willow felt her heart shatter just a touch. No one should go without eating.
“Oh. I’m…I”m sorry to hear that. If you ever need anything you can always call me. We’re friends now. I don”t mind giving you lunch money.”
He kept his eyes plastered on the many plates in front of him and nodded his head. Willow could tell he was a little embarrassed by his situation, and she didn”t want to make him feel ashamed about it.
“Does your mom work?” she asked. “I can’t remember if you told me or not.”
“Yeah. She works at a diner. My dad doesn’t. He got laid off a while back and just never went back. He won’t even let me get a job to help out. I think he’ll feel like I”m better than him or something. I don’t know.”
“Your dad is a jerk.”
The words fell from her mouth before she could stop them. She didn’t mean to be so upfront and honest about how she felt about his dad, but she hated guys like him. Guys like Charlie. Richy was still so young. He needed guidance from his father, not for there to be competition between them.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to say that.”
“No, you”re right,” he chuckled. “He is a jerk. A real a-hole.”
“Hey! Language.” She corrected him as if she were his mother.
“Sorry.”
His apology made her smile a little. They talked for a long time about his passion for true crime and investigating. She even told him she would introduce him to Brandi to see if she’d be willing to give him a small job at her firm. Something light that he could do after school; that way, he’d be around the type of environment he wanted to work in when he got out of high school.
He seemed to be overjoyed by that and it made Willow feel good. It also made her think more about having children of her own someday.