Page 32 of A Little Bit Whiskey
“That’s not helping.”
“I’m being honest,” Noir said. “Especially when it comes to my mother. But my dad? He’s a lawyer. He will play that game and you’re a cop. You will either work great together, or you will clash. You know how that works.” He cupped her face. “Is there anything you can tell me?”
“I love you, Noir. I want us to work. But if I tell you this, can you keep it to yourself?”
He pursed his lips. “I have struggled with my relationships with my siblings and parents because of secrets. I made a promise that when you and I finally came out in the open, there wouldn’t be any more.”
“Okay, I’ll keep this to myself.”
“No,” Noir said. He swallowed the thick lump in his throat. It tasted like betrayal. But he loved both Tamsyn and his family. He was stuck in the middle. If he knew things his family didn’t, he might be able to help them from the sidelines.
And if he had to, he’d break Tamsyn’s trust, which would destroy his relationship.
He hoped it wouldn’t come down to that.
“I won’t tell my family,” he said.
“Are you sure? I get I’m asking a lot of you.”
“It’s fine. I want to know. It will help me understand your position better and that’s what’s important right now.”
“That body hadn’t been there very long. It was put there recently. But that doesn’t mean your parents are off the hook for anything. Not until forensics come back, and if that is my mother, you know what this town is going to think. And whoever takes lead on this case is going to start in your backyard. I’m going to fight tooth and nail to investigate it and you’re not going to like it.”
Noir didn’t need to be reminded of that one.
Carter
Carter pushed his plate to the center of the table.
“You have to eat something.” Weezer shoved the food back in front of him, stabbing some eggs and raising them to his face.
“I’m not hungry.” He leaned back, folding his arms defiantly across his chest. “Fred was being a dick. Not just to me, but to Tamsyn. She did nothing wrong.”
“Family dynamics, dear. And he’s her boss.”
“I don’t give a shit. I’m the one he should be mad at. Not her. She’s stuck between a rock and a hard place because I put her there, and I’m wondering why I did that.”
“Because you care about that child. Because you love our son. Same reason we do everything. Doesn’t matter if we make the right decision or not, we do it out of love.” She rested her hand on his thigh. “And the only thing we did wrong was not taking what we found to Tamsyn sooner.”
Carter ran a hand across his unshaven face. “That would have been a mistake too. The only proper choice would have been to call the cops.”
“That’s exactly what Tamsyn is. A cop.”
“She’s also the woman our son loves, complicating the shit out of this.” He snagged a piece of bacon and plopped it in his mouth. “I knew this town would gossip for ten minutes about their relationship. I figured they would have their whispers, their stares, and then it would go away. I never in a million years thought it would bring out this level of crazy.” He took his wife’s hand. “We have to tell her the rest of this story. We have to.”
“I know, but it has to come from me since I left it out the last time we chatted.”
“Actually, it should come from Fred. The fact that our phone conversation with Elizabeth five days after she disappeared never made it into any police report boggles my mind.” Carter’s stomach growled. He hated being hungry after the night’s events. He wanted to tell his body to fuck off. He snagged the fork and shoveled some eggs into his mouth. He refused to taste them.
“It wasn’t a conversation. My phone rang. I answered it. I said hello, no one responded back. The call ended. Fred took the information and he wondered if someone could have found the phone. Called a random number in it. Besides, her car and cell were found a day after that at the bus station a few towns over.”
“Like I told you then, I find that all too convenient.”
“Are you telling me that Fred’s pulling something over on us? On Tamsyn? Because you put him in the office of chief of police.” Weezer pursed her lips. “He might not have much of a backbone when it comes to Anna, but he’s a good cop. A decent man.”
“I’m not saying Fred’s up to anything. Far from it. What I am saying is that someone is fucking with us and I don’t like it.”
“Come on, old man. Twenty years later, and they’re just now playing the ace up their sleeve? Even I’m not that patient.”
