Page 47 of A Little Bit Whiskey
“Everyone was always hitting on you.” Silas set a glass on the armrest filled with the good stuff on the rocks.
“Thanks. I was contemplating going and getting a refill, but then I would have had to put this out and go inside; it would have been a whole thing.”
“My pleasure.” Silas eased into a chair and sipped his drink. “Up until that night, we called Weezer by her real name, Shirley.”
Carter burst out laughing. “That night changed my life.”
“It always amazed me how quickly that nickname stuck. I asked Cordy many times how she managed that. And why that name, of all things, to describe what a woman sounds like during—”
“If you say it, I’ll punch you.” Carter shook his head. That name was more his fault than Cordy’s. Or Weezer’s for that matter. “My wife’s noises are none of anyone’s business but mine and there’s no wheezing. Trust me. However, out of shock and utter embarrassment at our predicament, my wife might have hurled a few superlatives at Cordy. I covered her mouth, and it got muffled.”
“I still don’t understand how Cordy got it to stick overnight.”
“She didn’t. I did,” Carter said. “Cordy might have been the first one to call her Weezer. But I’m the one who adopted it. But it started out as a pet name. Cordy overhead me say it the next morning. I never heard that old bird laugh so hard. Weezer opened her mouth to do what she does best and I covered it again. Cordy called herThe Weezerin front of a dozen people. When I called her that again later, it just took on a life of its own.”
“Well, the name does fit her better than the one her parents gave her.” Silas lifted his feet, resting them on a log. “How old were you?”
“Nineteen,” Carter said. “I was home for a long weekend. I thought for sure Weezer’s old man was going to kill me when he found out what happened. But instead, he handed us the keys to the kingdom and told me if I ever hurt his little girl, he’d castrate me.” Carter shifted. He believed that man’s statement. “I’ve loved Weezer for as long as I can remember. My life would be shit without her.”
“And boring as fuck.”
“Cheers to that.” Carter raised his glass and clanked it against Silas’. “I’m sure you’ve heard by now that the remains found on my property were indeed Elizabeth’s.”
“Poor Tamsyn. But at least she knows.”
“Yeah, but we don’t know what happened, when it happened, or how in the hell her body landed in the vineyard.” Carter took another long drag of the cigar. Damn, it felt good. Like an old friend he hadn’t seen in years. He’d put up with a lot of crazy shit over the years from his wife. Meddling in their children’s lives. A secret that drove them to an unwanted divorce and separate homes. It didn’t matter that they still had three more children after that and were still very much in love and a couple. It put a strain on them and could have destroyed them.
Weezer could handle one fucking cigar.
“The way Fred and little Eddy acted today, I’m expecting a search warrant by the beginning of the week.”
“Why? You said it was obvious the body had been moved and you gave them permission already to search the vineyards.”
Carter took a long slow sip of his bourbon. It burned going down. “I suspect that the autopsy will show that Elizabeth was murdered and Fred knows that. There’s also some suspect evidence we’ve already turned over that we found in the china cabinet that belonged to Elizabeth.”
“Jesus.” Silas tossed his head back and downed half his drink. “I don’t begin to understand law or how this shit works, but why on earth would you or Weezer move her body if you killed her? I do know motive matters.”
“That’s the piece that they will have a hard time with. But there’s enough circumstantial evidence, both past and present, to get a judge to sign a warrant and haul our asses to the station as persons of interest.”
“How’s Noir and Tamsyn taking all this?”
“Noir’s as solid as a rock. He’s there for his girl, supporting her the best way he knows how.” Carter turned his head. “I’m damn proud of that boy. He’s managing to straddle being a kind, loving boyfriend and doing what he can to protect this family. Those twins of mine have been lost for as long as I can remember. They didn’t take to being bastard children like Zinny did.” Carter chuckled. “That daughter of mine wore it like fucking badge of honor.”
“She’s a chip off the old Weezer,” Silas said.
Carter watched the flames snake toward the sky. The logs snapped and crackled, popping little pieces that burned out before they got too far. “I’m worried about Tamsyn, though. It’s like she’s ten all over again. Emotionless. I can see the pain struggling to break free deep in her eyes. But she’s not letting it out. She was like that for years, wandering the town, putting on a fake smile, pretending to be okay while she searched for answers.”
“Then she blew up at Weezer,” Silas said.
“That girl needed to unleash her emotions somewhere. It hurt Weezer. No doubt about that. But that’s water under the bridge. Right now, Tamsyn needs to know she’s always got a safe space with us and when she’s ready to break down, we’ll be there to catch her. But that’s kind of an oxymoron now, isn’t it?”
“What about Anna and Fred? They raised her. No offense, but they should be that safety net.”
Carter closed his eyes. It had always caused him a great deal of pain to see the disconnect between those three. He’d hoped it would be a good fit, but he had his reservations. Mostly about Anna. She wasn’t the maternal type. There were people who thought that about Weezer, but they didn’t know her, the real woman behind the tough exterior that she’d developed in order to survive a nightmare handed down from generation to generation.
One that she ended.
“Fred’s a good man. But he has a job to do. It’s going to be tough to compartmentalize between being a parent—and I use that term loosely—and the chief of police.”
