The Bones She Buried

Thirty-Two

Noah’s dad lived about two hours away from Denton in a town near the northern border of New Jersey and the southern border of New York state. Gretchen called him before they left to make sure he would be home. They spent the drive discussing Gretchen’s adult children with whom she had just been reunited—she had spent a lot of time with them during her months off, and things seemed to be going well. It was one more thing they had in common; reconnecting with family after decades without them. As they pulled up in front of Lance Fraley’s house, Josie wondered if Noah would ever reconnect with his dad.

When she saw two boys playing basketball in the driveway, she realized why that was not likely. Both boys were tall, perhaps thirteen or fourteen years old, dressed in oversized T-shirts and loose-fitting shorts. They both had shaggy brown hair and looked like miniature Noahs, except without the resemblance he bore to Colette. As Josie and Gretchen got out of the car and started walking up the driveway, one of them hollered, “Dad! Your friends are here!”

They kept playing as though Josie and Gretchen weren’t there. Edging around the one-on-one basketball game, Josie and Gretchen made their way to the front door. The house was a large two-story with eggshell white siding and bright red trim. Carefully tended flower beds surrounded the perimeter. The porch had a bench swing and several potted flowers hanging from its small roof. A small brown carpet in front of the door announced: The Fraleys.

Josie felt her heart stop momentarily when a pretty blonde woman, who could not have been much older than Josie herself, answered the door. She smiled brightly at them, drying her hands off with a dishtowel before opening the screen door. “You’re the detectives, right? Come on in.”

She waved them past her into a bright foyer area with hardwood floors and a small cherry table that held a pile of mail and a bowl of keys. “Andi Fraley,” the woman said, extending a hand toward them. Gretchen shook it first and then Josie, who was so dumbstruck, she couldn’t speak. Luckily, Gretchen introduced them both and then gave Josie a nudge as Andi Fraley led them into a spacious living room with a large, taupe-colored sectional sofa and a matching area rug over the gleaming hardwood floors.

“Can I get you anything? It must have been a long drive. Water? Coffee?” Andi asked.

Gretchen said, “Coffee would be great.” When Josie didn’t respond, her gaze traveling the room, Gretchen added, “Detective Quinn would love some coffee as well.”

Andi shot them another megawatt smile and said, “Sure thing. I’ll get Lance. He’s in his office.”

The moment she was gone, Gretchen hissed, “Quinn, snap out of it.”

Josie motioned toward the far wall where a large bookcase stood, its shelves dotted with happy family photos. They showed Andi, the two boys from the driveway, and what was obviously Lance Fraley. Noah looked nearly identical to him. Noah’s sister had a pretty equal mix of both their parents and Theo looked almost entirely like their mother, but Noah was a near clone of his father.

And Lance Fraley had left his wife of thirty-four years and started a whole new family.

“He started over,” Josie said. “Completely.”

Gretchen whispered, “That is typically what people do when they get divorced.”

“Well,” Josie answered. “There has to be something more. Maybe he didn’t try to reach out to them as much as he said he did.”

Josie could see now why Noah and his siblings were so bitter over their father’s absence. Josie wondered if what Lance had told Gretchen about making an effort with his adult children was really true. The Noah she knew was kind, forgiving, even-tempered and fair. It was hard to imagine him turning his father away; choosing not to have any type of relationship with him at all. Given what she knew, it made more sense that Lance’s “efforts” had been so minimal as to be non-existent. Then, given the age of his children with Andi, it was quite possible he had already been seeing his new wife when he was still married to Colette. Even if he had made some efforts to stay in his children’s lives, the fact that he had left their mother for another woman and started a whole new family would have been extremely painful for all of them. Gretchen was right. It was what people did—get divorced and start over—but if Lance had been as absent as the Fraley children claimed after the divorce, she could see why they were still so angry with him. She wondered what it would be like to have a real father your whole life—someone who was caring and doting and attentive, someone who was there—and then one day have that person walk away from your family and more or less not look back.

Before she could speculate more, Lance Fraley came in with Andi trailing behind him. She carried a small tray with cups of coffee on it, two spoons, a squat little carton of milk and a bowl of sugar. Lance shook their hands while Andi set the tray onto the coffee table. Josie studied him as they sat down. He was much taller than Noah and his hair was gray, but it was thick like Noah’s, and their faces were almost identical in person as well as in the photos she had seen.

With another sunny smile, Andi left them alone in the living room. Lance sat diagonally from them on the other part of the sectional, his large hands on his knees. His smile looked more like a grimace. It was the same look Noah got when he knew he had to do something, but was dreading it. “What can I do for you ladies?” he asked.

Josie regained her voice. “We need to talk to you about your ex-wife.”

The grimace morphed into an expression of sadness. “I’ll do what I can,” he said.

Gretchen pulled out her phone and swiped to a photo of the three items they had found in Colette’s sewing machine. She showed them to Lance, but his expression remained the same. “Do you recognize any of these items?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No, I’m sorry, I don’t. What does this have to do with Colette?”

“Maybe nothing,” Josie said. “Where did you and Colette meet?”

“High school,” he answered easily. “We were high school sweethearts.”

“What was your marriage like?” Gretchen asked.

He frowned. “I’m sorry, I don’t see the relevance of—”

Josie cut him off. “We need to know if Colette ever had an affair—or multiple affairs—that you know of.”

At this, Lance laughed. “Is this a joke? This is a joke, right? Did the kids put you up to this? Yes, I was having an affair with Andi while I was still married to Colette. Yes, Andi got pregnant, and I left. I know it wasn’t an ideal situation, but it’s been years. They really need to move past this.”

Josie put sugar and cream into her coffee and took a sip, using the mug to hide the shock on her face. There was more bad blood than she had thought between Lance and his adult children.

Gretchen raised a brow. “We’re here on behalf of the Denton Police Department investigating a series of murders, Mr. Fraley, so no, no one is ‘putting us up to’ anything.”

“A series?” he said, face paling.

“Yes,” Josie said. “We have reason to believe that the person who murdered Colette also murdered another woman, and attempted to kill a third person. We’re trying to get as much background on all the victims as we possibly can. If we can find connections among them, it might help us find the killer.”

“Oh, I see. Sorry, I—I just… listen, I haven’t talked to Colette since our divorce was finalized.”

“Not even about your kids?” Josie said, setting her mug back onto the table. She recalled the photos she had seen from Noah’s college graduation. His father hadn’t been in any of them. She wondered if he even knew that Noah had been shot a few years back. She knew divorced parents of adult children wouldn’t have much reason to keep in touch, but for the big things—graduating from college or a medical crisis—it seemed like they could at least communicate then.

Lance said, “No, our kids were grown up. There was no need to discuss them anymore.”

“Oh, so once they grow up, there’s no need to concern yourself with them?” Josie blurted, for which she caught a sharp elbow in the ribs from Gretchen. She clamped her mouth shut and let Gretchen take over the questioning.

“Mr. Fraley, I think what my colleague is trying to say is that we understand you also had little contact with your children after the divorce. So it’s probably safe to say you had no contact with Colette in recent years either directly or indirectly.”

Lance shifted uncomfortably but said, “Yes.”

“So with that in mind, we’d just like to ask some background questions. You were married to Colette for over thirty years. It stands to reason that you knew her pretty well during that time, wouldn’t you say?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t like asking uncomfortable questions any more than you like answering them, but it’s necessary for our investigation. We do have to exhaust every line of inquiry. I hope you understand.”

“Of course,” Lance said.

Josie watched as Gretchen weaved her spell, all professionalism and sympathy. Gretchen continued, “So to your knowledge, did Colette ever have an affair?”

“No, not that I know of, and truly, I don’t think she ever did. She just wasn’t that type of person. She was very devoted. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t so keen on getting married. I—I kind of wanted to break up after high school, but then she got pregnant with Theo. You know, back then, not getting married wasn’t an option.”

“Was Colette happy when she found out she was pregnant?” Gretchen asked.

“Thrilled, yes. She wanted to marry right away. We planned a quick wedding. Moved in together. Had more kids. It wasn’t always easy, but we made it work. Well, until the kids got older and I met Andi…”

He trailed off, his eyes staring at a point over their heads. After a few seconds, he said, “I know I hurt her. I know I hurt the kids. I deeply regret it, but I just couldn’t keep going on like that… Noah was about to go off to college. It would have been just the two of us. You know, we really didn’t have much in common. When you meet in high school, it’s not really—”

“I married my high school sweetheart,” Josie said.

“I’m sorry,” Lance said. “I didn’t mean—I mean some people are perfectly happy—”

Josie managed a smile. “It’s okay. It didn’t work out. We… grew apart.”

This admission seemed to loosen Lance’s posture. He returned her smile. “Yes, I think that’s what happened with us. We were interested in our children, and then when they weren’t there to bond over any longer, we just got so distant. Then I met Andi and everything changed.”

“And I bet it was still hard to let go of something you’d been in for so long,” Josie went on. “Especially when you knew all of each other’s secrets.”

Lance was nodding as she spoke.

Josie said, “Although from what we’ve gathered so far, Colette wasn’t really the type to harbor secrets.”

“She wasn’t, that’s true,” Lance said. “What you saw was what you got with her. There was really only this one time that I saw her…”

He broke off.

“Saw her what, Mr. Fraley?” Josie prompted.

He waved a hand. “It was nothing. I don’t even know why I’m bringing it up.”

“It couldn’t be nothing if it stood out to you enough that you remember it all this time later,” Josie pointed out.

“One time I saw her talking to another man, which in itself wasn’t that unusual. She talked to lots of people. She was friendly with people at her church and at work. The butcher at the grocery store just loved her. But this was… I don’t know, different.”

Both Josie and Gretchen had moved to the edge of the couch. “In what way?” Gretchen asked.

“They were in the park,” he said. “You know, Denton’s city park?”

“Yes,” Josie and Gretchen said in unison.

“We used to have this little dog, when the kids were teenagers—well, Laura and Noah—Theo had already moved out by then. You know, the older they got, the less they wanted to spend time with us. We thought if we got this dog, it would bring something to the family. So anyway, Colette always took the dog for walks after dinner. Noah was, oh I don’t know, maybe thirteen at the time? He had a friend over and they were horsing around. Noah fell and smashed up his nose pretty good. I figured I’d take him to the ER, swing by the park to let Colette know I was taking him on the way there. Well, we were driving down that road alongside the park, and I saw her standing under a tree with the dog, talking to this guy. He was big, burly, and bald. But not like he lost his hair, like he shaved his head on purpose. Tough-looking. At first, I thought maybe he was threatening her because he looked like the type, but as I got closer, it looked like they were talking. They were standing close. He was leaning down into her. Then she—she put her hand on his chest.”

“Like she was pushing him away?” Josie asked. “Or more of an intimate gesture?”

“It was definitely more of an intimate thing,” Lance said. “Noah didn’t see anything cause he had his head leaned back with a big old ice pack on his face. I kept driving. The whole time at the ER, I was wondering what the hell was going on. I mean I really thought she was seeing this guy. I thought maybe all those walks with the dog were just a ruse to go meet her lover.”

“Did you confront her?” Josie asked.

“Yes, of course. That night after the kids were in bed, I told her that I’d seen her with a man in the park and she said, ‘Oh, that was Ivan.’ Like it was nothing at all. I said, ‘Who the hell is Ivan?’”

“And who was Ivan?” Gretchen asked.

“She said they went to grade school together and that back then they were very good friends. Like brother and sister, she said. I told her, ‘If you were like brother and sister, why is this the first time I’m hearing about him?’ And she said it was because he moved away from Denton a long time ago, and he only comes back to town every few years and they had grown apart during that time.”

“Did she say if she had just run into him at the park that day or if it was planned?” Josie asked.

“She said she ran into him but I’m not so sure.”

“And that was it?” Gretchen asked.

He shrugged. “I pressed her on it. Damn near came out and accused her of cheating with this guy but she scoffed, laughed it off. Said the whole idea was absurd. It was the way she dismissed the idea that made me think she was telling the truth. Colette was a terrible liar to begin with. I felt very confident that she was telling the truth about the whole thing.”

“But that’s what came to mind when we asked you about extra-marital affairs?” Gretchen said.

“Yeah. It was something between them. Like you said, an intimacy. A level of comfort I saw between them just in those few seconds from far away. I know it sounds stupid, but it really struck me at the time.”

“Did Colette have siblings?” Josie asked.

“No. It was just her and her mom. Her dad died when she was eight.”

“Did her mom remember Ivan?” Josie asked. “Did you ever bring it up with her?”

“Colette did,” he said. “The next time we went to her house for dinner. Right there at the table she said, ‘Mom, you remember that boy Ivan from school? I ran into him in the park in April.’” He laughed. “Then her mother said yes, she remembered him. He had been an altar boy before he started getting into trouble—kid stuff, she said, like vandalism and such. The family pulled up stakes and moved after he was expelled from the school.”

“Wait a minute,” Josie said. “When you and Colette met in high school, was she still going to Catholic church?”

“Well, we didn’t even notice one another until we were seniors in high school,” he said. “By that time, she was going to the Episcopal church.”

Josie said, “You know, we found rosaries buried in her backyard.”

Again, he laughed and his expression held a sort of nostalgia. “Oh yes, she kept her Catholic customs. In the house we raised our kids, there’s probably two dozen rosaries buried in that backyard as well. Colette was big on saying the rosary.”

“Did she ever tell you why she switched to Episcopalian but continued to observe her Catholic rites?” Josie asked.

Another shrug. “When we got married, her mom wanted her to get married in the Catholic church. You know, her mom worked for the priests in the rectory almost her whole life. She cooked and cleaned for them. I mean she had another job, too, but the work at the rectory kept them afloat after Colette’s dad died. Anyway, Colette absolutely refused and said she’d never set foot in that church again. Then her mom said she could pick a different Catholic church. It didn’t have to be the one she grew up attending. There was a nice one in Bellewood that would have allowed us to wed there, but Colette was adamant. She said as far as she was concerned, there was no Catholic church any longer. She and her mother fought over it. It was the only time I ever saw her scream at her mother, and one of the few times I ever saw her upset enough to cry.”

Gretchen said, “Is there a possibility she was… abused there?”

Lance thought about it for a second, his lips bunching up as he mulled it over. “No, I don’t think so. I mean I asked her about it when the whole wedding controversy was going on because I had never seen her so upset about anything before. It was creating so much tension between her and her mom, too. I asked her point blank if one of the priests had ever done anything to her, and she said no. She said that she would not talk about it but all I needed to know was that she had witnessed things that were not very Christian. So she switched to the Episcopal church, and she was happy there.”

Josie wondered if Colette’s anger toward her old church and Ivan were connected in any way. There was no way to know without tracking down this Ivan person, and she wasn’t sure Colette’s switch from Catholic to Episcopalian was really relevant to the issue at hand, which was finding Colette and Beth Pratt’s killer. On the other hand, it couldn’t hurt to talk to Ivan. Colette had been seen talking to him when Noah was around thirteen years old which would have been the same year that Samuel Pratt died. It was too coincidental.

“Did she or her mother ever tell you Ivan’s last name?” Josie asked.

“No,” Lance said. “He never even came up again after that.”

“What about anyone named Pratt?” Gretchen asked. “Did she know anyone by that last name? That you’re aware of?”

He shook his head. “No, doesn’t sound familiar.”

“How about her work schedule?” Gretchen asked. “She worked for Sutton Stone Enterprises for a long time, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, she got that job when she was about twenty-two and it was a godsend at the time because I was unemployed. They were good to her there. She seemed to love it, and it was easy work—typing letters and answering phones, making appointments. She was in their secretarial pool at first and then got promoted eventually to assistant to the big guy.”

“So she basically worked nine to five every day?” Gretchen probed.

Josie knew she was trying to establish how flexible Colette’s work schedule had been; would she have had time to slip away during the day and carry on an affair with Samuel Pratt?

“Yeah, for years and years,” Lance answered. “Decades, really. Like I said, they were good to her there. She got bonuses each year and a good pension. Back when pensions were a thing.”

They asked him a few more questions before leaving, and Josie was struck by the fact that as perfect and lovely as his new home life seemed, he hadn’t once expressed concern about his other kids now that Colette was dead. She wondered if he even knew that he was about to be a grandfather.

As they left Lance Fraley’s home in the rearview mirror, Josie couldn’t help but feel even more sad for Noah than she had before. She texted him to see how he was doing, but he didn’t respond.