The Guilty

Chapter 57

“Here he comes,” said Robie.

He and Reel were sitting in their car across the street from the jail.

The door to the jail opened and Taggert appeared there. Right behind her was Dan Robie, presumably wearing the clothes he had been arrested in: chino pants, white shirt, and loafers.

As Robie started to get out of his car, a Volvo roared down the street and screeched to a stop in front of the jail. Victoria jumped out of the car, hurried over to her husband, and wrapped her arms around him.

Observing this, Reel said, “Apparently, you’re not the only one feeling guilty.”

“Apparently,” said Robie as he climbed back into the car and closed the door.

Victoria led her husband over to the Volvo. They got in and she drove off. Taggert went back inside the jail and closed the reinforced door behind her.

Reel said, “So what now? I assume they’re heading back to the Willows.”

“Then so are we,” replied Robie.

“Well, this could get interesting,” remarked Reel.

By the time they reached the Willows the empty Volvo was parked in front.

Robie and Reel walked up the steps and through the front door.

Priscilla met them in the foyer with Tyler in tow.

“They gone upstairs,” she said.

“I guess they haven’t been able to…” asked Robie.

“Well, man’s been absent from his wife a long while,” said Priscilla primly.

Robie looked up the stairs. When he glanced back he found Reel staring at him. Priscilla had taken Tyler outside.

Robie hurried up the stairs with Reel on his heels.

“Robie, you’re not going to—”

“No, of course I’m not.”

He turned to the left and went to his room, shutting the door behind him. He heard Reel outside the door for a few moments, but then she walked to her room and closed her door.

Robie sat on his bed, his face pointed downward. Then he jumped up and started pacing the room. And then his pacing slowed and then stopped as he arrived at the window. He peered out and once more his mind went back to that night. The last night he would see Laura Barksdale. He had been looking up at this window and had seen her silhouette pass across it. After that, crushed beyond all reckoning, he had climbed back into his car and set off for his new life, alone.

In the ensuing months, he had written to her several times. He had also phoned and left messages.

He had asked why she had not shown up that night. What had kept her from her promises. Then his letters and phone messages had grown angrier. Finally, he had simply stopped writing. Or calling.

He left his room and walked outside, sat in front of a pond, and watched a couple of ducks paddling their way across its surface.

A shadow fell over him about a half hour later.

It was Victoria.

Her hair was damp and she carried the fresh scent of a recent shower. She had on shorts and a tank top. Her feet were bare, her shoulders freckled.

“How’s he doing?” he asked.

“Better now,” she said, a satisfied smile playing over her lips.

“Toni told me he was getting out on bail,” he said, ignoring her look.

“He never should have been locked up in the first place.”

“Well, the case against him was pretty compelling.”

She sat on the ground next to him. “‘Was’? So there are developments?”

“There is reason to hope he’ll get off, yes.”

She searched his face and then looked away.

“He didn’t kill anybody.”

“I know that. We just have to convince everybody of that. Beyond all doubt,” he added, recalling their earlier conversation. “So he can stay in Cantrell with his head held high.”

“You make that sentiment sound silly. It’s not. At least for him.”

“If it came out that way, I apologize.”

“I love your father.”

“I’m sure you do.”

“And I’m not a slut. I never cheated on him. I know what people said about me and Clancy, but I never slept with that man.”

“But you also never explained why you were with him that night. You said you had business with him. You never said what.”

She stared over at the water, her brow creasing.

“He was blackmailing me.”

Robie flinched. “Blackmailing you? How?”

“Before I met your father I had some issues.”

“What kind of issues?”

“Specifically, I had a drug problem. I was hooked on painkillers from an accident I was in. Then I got hooked on stronger stuff. Then I had to steal to support my habit. I sought help, went into rehab, kicked my problem, and started my life over.”

“But Clancy found out about that? How?”

“He never said. Apparently, he makes a business out of doing stuff like that.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Things he let slip.” She looked at him. “You believe me, don’t you?”

“Yes. We’ve actually uncovered other instances where Clancy was blackmailing people. So what did you do at the meeting?”

“Paid him off. He insisted I do it in person.”

“But you stayed with him a long time. If it was just a payoff, why drink with the guy for hours? Why not just drop off the payment and go?”

“Because that was another condition of his, Will. He wanted me to stay and drink with him. And he also wanted me to sleep with him. I refused and told him to go to Hell. After that he stopped asking. But I had to stay and drink with him. He wanted it that way, because I think he was planning on blabbing about it to everyone to rub Dan’s nose in it. Let them think we had slept together. But at that point I didn’t care. I didn’t want Dan to find out about what I had done. That was more critical to my thinking. The stuff with Clancy far less so. I knew Dan would never really believe I had slept with that jerk.”

“But maybe he did believe it,” said Robie. “He threatened Clancy about it in public.”

“That was just him being a man, protecting his territory. I told him I didn’t sleep with Clancy, and I really think he believed me. I didn’t tell him about the blackmail stuff. I just said we’d run into each other and had a few drinks. No harm, no foul. On the other hand, Clancy had details about my past that would prove far more compelling. And he threatened to show them to Dan. I couldn’t let that happen. Your father wouldn’t have understood.”

“How much was the payoff?”

“Fifty thousand dollars.”

“In cash?”

“That’s how he wanted it. And that’s really how I wanted it. I didn’t want any trail of money going to him from me.”

“Where’d you get fifty thousand in cash?”

“I had a life before Dan,” she said in a defensive tone. “My convention-planning business did very well. I had saved most of it, since I worked too hard to enjoy any time off. I dipped into that.”

“You could have gone to the police.”

“I could have, yes, but I didn’t.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

“This is all so screwed up,” she said in a hushed voice.

“Yeah, probably in more ways than you know.”

She looked back at the house. “This Laura Barksdale?”

“What about her?”

“You never saw her again?”

“Never.”

“But you thought about her?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“She must have been important to you.”

“She was.”

“Like your father is important to me.”

“I guess. But you have him. I don’t have Laura.”

“If he goes to prison I won’t have him.” She shot him a glance. “And neither will you.”