Secrets in the Shadows (31 page)

“Do you mean you molested those girls? Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“Yes.” His breathing under control, he spoke again. “There’s more. After we left here, after my girls were gone, I started drinking. I went to places no decent man should go, and I had relations with women who sold themselves. I gambled, I lost money, and I stole, pastor.” He drew in a rasping breath and continued. “I did a lot of things I shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t stop. Not until I got sick. I was weak,” he said, crying a little bit. “I was weak, and I did wrong.”

“Carl, I can’t promise you absolution. I can’t see what’s in your heart, so I can’t judge whether you’re truly sorry for what you’ve done, or whether you’re just scared because you’re dying. That’s God’s place, not mine.” The pastor sighed. “Does Mary Margaret know about this?”

“She never would believe it. The girls tried to tell her, but she wouldn’t hear it. She believed me over our daughters, and I reckon that’s another sin I’ll carry to my grave.”

“You need to tell her. If you’re truly sorry, you need to tell her the truth so she can make her own restitution.”

Mary Margaret ripped the privacy curtain back, making both men jump. Furious, she pointed a shaking hand at the pastor, shouting. “You’re the devil! My Carl is a good man. You’re the devil for making him say those things. He never would’ve touched our girls like that. He’s a good man.” She trembled with fury, and the pastor tried to interrupt her, but she wouldn’t have it.

“You get out of here, you damned spawn of Satan. We don’t need you and your kind around here, saying things that ain’t true, upsetting a dying man like this. You hear me? Get out!”

She rounded the bed to reach for the pastor as the door flew open and hospital personnel rushed in. Carl’s heart monitor beeped erratically, and he struggled to breathe. While several nurses attended to Carl, one got between Mary Margaret and the pastor.

“You both need to leave,” he told them, not taking ‘no’ for an answer as he ushered them out the door.

Mary Margaret stood in the hall, shaking, not caring that she had tears running down her face. As more nurses rushed into the room with a crash cart, the pastor tried again to calm her down.

“Let’s go in here and sit down,” he said, pointing at the waiting room. “Let me call your children, at least. They need to be here.” He moved to take her arm.

“Don’t touch me!” she yelled, backing away. “I know you for what you are now, and you can go to hell!”

“Okay, Mary Margaret.” He backed away from her. “I’ll leave. I understand that you’re upset right now. You call me if you need to, all right?”

A nurse’s aide came up to them. She shot Pastor Jenkins a wary look and touched Mary Margaret on the shoulder. “Why don’t we go sit down, Mrs. Vernon? The pastor is leaving right now, okay?” She glanced up to make sure he’d gotten the message.

With a nod, he walked away. Mary Margaret watched until he got on the elevator, only then allowing herself to be led into the waiting room. As she took a seat, the aide asked her if she needed anything. Mary Margaret shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself, rocking back and forth.

“How’s my husband?”

“They’re working on him right now, trying to get his breathing stabilized,” the aide replied and patted Mary Margaret’s shoulder. “Would you like me to go and check on him for you?”

“Please. I hate to be trouble.”

“It’s no trouble,” the dark-haired aide assured her kindly. “It might be a few minutes before they know anything, though, so if I’m not back soon, don’t think I’ve forgotten you.” With a sympathetic smile, she headed to the room to check on Carl.

Mary Margaret sat staring at nothing, trying to forget what she’d overheard. Carl had to be out of his mind to be saying those things. The medicines must have messed him up somehow, made him remember things that hadn’t happened. She prayed fervently that he would survive this attack, and that she would be able to ask him about what he’d said.

Lauren woke up early on Wednesday morning, surprised at how well-rested she felt. After putting Ava to bed, she had gone to bed herself, and promptly fallen asleep. It was just after dawn when she quietly got out of bed, dressing in the old jeans and t-shirt from the night before.

Slipping outside, she walked into the garden and went back to the swing. The cushions were covered with dew, but she sat down despite the wetness. As the sun rose over the river valley below, the town and surrounding countryside was bathed with golden light. The trail of fog that wound along the river began to burn off as the sun rose higher.

The next few days were going to be stressful and unpleasant in a lot of ways. As if losing the shop wasn’t bad enough, she assumed there would be a funeral to have to get through. The last death in the family had been that of her grandfather, Edward, who died ten years ago. His had been a short illness, and while there had been time to prepare, when he passed it was still a shock and an ordeal. Whoever ended up handling Charity’s arrangements would certainly have their hands full.

Heavy thoughts circling in her mind, she walked back to the house, and quietly opened the door.

“You’re up earlier than I expected,” Molly greeted her. “How’d you sleep? You look like you’re feeling better today.” She handed Lauren a cup of coffee across the kitchen island, and Lauren smiled her thanks.

“I am feeling better. I actually slept last night, which surprised me.” She curled her hands around the mug, a little chilled from being out in the early morning dew.

“Honey, you’ve had a very rough few days. You were exhausted. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that you slept well. Your body needed it.” She turned to grab the coffee pot, topping her own cup after Lauren declined a refill. “I talked to Shannon last night.”

“Do they know?” Lauren asked.

“They do. Ethan went out there last night and talked to pretty much the whole family. To say they were shocked is an understatement.”

“Who wasn’t shocked? I guess I can understand what she did, though.” She took another sip of coffee, and set her mug down with a thunk. “No, no I can’t, damn it. She must have known that we’d support her if she came back. There’s no way I would be able to turn my back on my family that way, Mom.” She frowned, angry and confused.

Molly sighed. “It doesn’t make much sense to me, either, but we have an advantage Margie didn’t.” She waited for Lauren’s gaze to meet hers before continuing. “Margie tried to tell her family what that man was doing to her. Her own mother didn’t believe her. I suspect that she probably told a few other people, as well, maybe a teacher or a friend at school, but no one did anything. If someone had believed her, things probably would have turned out differently, but no one did.”

She cleared her throat, looking down at her own coffee. “You aren’t the only one who wonders how things would have been different if she had come to us. Even if we hadn’t believed her, we would have helped her. I thought she knew that, but apparently she didn’t. I worried for a long time that I could have done something, anything, to prevent what happened, but I finally had to accept that there was nothing I could have done, because I didn’t know what was going on, and she wouldn’t talk. Remember how we tried?”

“I do.”

Lauren reached out her hand and covered her mother’s in silent support. After a minute, they both regained their composure, and Molly straightened.

“One more thing I want to say to you. Whatever Margie’s reasons for not coming to us all those years ago, or for her not coming forward when she moved back here, they were her reasons and hers alone. She made those decisions, not you, not me. Any responsibility for what happened because of those decisions falls solely on her. Do you hear what I’m saying?”

“I do, and I know you’re right. You can’t help someone if they won’t let you.”

Overhead, they heard Win’s feet hit the floor and move toward the bathroom and then the water begin to run in the shower. Lauren glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly seven-thirty.

“What did Shannon say about arrangements and all that?”

“Ethan gave them Sam Davis’ number, and they were planning to get together this morning to decide what to do.” Molly hesitated. “They arrested Troy last night for Margie’s murder. He’s in jail here in Leroy.”

“Good. That’s where he needs to be.”

“There’s more. They took Carl to the hospital yesterday, and Shannon said they didn’t expect him to make it through the night. Mary Margaret was at the hospital with him, but Troy’s wife, Iris, stayed with Jacob and Emily last night. Apparently, Jacob had just gotten back from the hospital when Ethan got there and told them what was going on.”

“I feel sorry for her. She’s just a kid. How did she take it?”

“Emily told Shannon that she took it surprisingly well,” Molly said. “I imagine she’s in shock. It probably hasn’t hit her yet. In any event, Patricia, Mary Margaret’s sister, was supposed to be heading to the hospital to be with her because none of the kids were willing to be there. I guess she said something hateful to Jacob and ran him off. He was the only one who had even been willing to go over there in the first place.”

Lauren snorted. “I can’t say that surprises me. They’ve pretty much ignored everyone except Troy for the past thirteen years, because no one else was willing to buy into their lies.”

“No, they weren’t,” Molly agreed. “Especially Jacob and Emily, after they brought the girls up here from Georgia.”

For the past thirteen years, Lauren had been uncomfortable with the Vernons. She only interacted with them on a limited basis, like at the annual reunions or with Rob, when he came over to the house when she was married to David. Even though the other children had not approved of Carl’s and Mary Margaret’s behavior, there was a strain on their relationship with the Taylors that made associating awkward. Lauren found it easier to stay away.

Winston entered the kitchen, going to Lauren for a hug. “How’s my girl this morning?” Releasing her, he headed around to Molly to give her a hug and a kiss.

“I’m okay, Daddy.”

He grabbed a coffee mug from the cabinet and filled it, inhaling the aroma appreciatively before sitting on a barstool beside Lauren. “You ladies figure out what we’re doing today?”

“Not yet,” Molly told him. “We were just getting to that part when you came in. You’ll be working, I thought.”

Winston nodded. “I’ll probably go in around eight-thirty.”

“I want to call Charity’s attorney this morning,” Lauren told them. “I need to make sure this guy is doing what he’s supposed to be.”

“No offense, honey,” Winston said, “but how are you going to know if he is or not?”

“I won’t, but it will make me feel better, talking to him.” She played with her empty mug, rotating it on the counter. “There are also a couple of personal calls I need to make. Mom, I hate to ask, but can you watch Ava for me this afternoon?” She looked up and saw them both watching her, concerned. “It’s just that there’s this guy Margie and I knew, and he needs to hear about her death from a friend.”

“What guy is this?” Molly asked. “Anyone we know?”

Lauren had turned her gaze to her jeans, picking at a hole on the knee. “Travis Tyler.”

When her parents stayed silent, she risked glancing at them and saw that they were exchanging an unreadable look. With a sigh, she looked back at her jeans and tried to explain. “He was in the shop the other day, and we had coffee. I think he still has unresolved issues with her after all these years, and it’s going to hit him hard when he finds out.”

“You have feelings for this guy, Lauren?” her father asked, his voice carefully neutral.

“Not—not really. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. He was the one who rescued us from that party, and when we talked the other day, we—I don’t know, bonded, I guess.” She sighed. “I just feel like I need to tell him in person, not let him hear it through the grapevine or on the news.” She could tell her father was not happy.

“Just be careful. He has quite a reputation as a ladies’ man. I’d hate to see you get hurt, or hurt someone else,” he said pointedly, “because you and this guy ‘bonded’ over Margie.”

Lauren was shocked. Her father had never been the type to judge people without knowing them. “Daddy, I don’t know what to say.” She looked at her mother, who shrugged.

“I don’t entirely disagree with your father,” she surprised her daughter by saying. “Travis Tyler does have a reputation for being a player. Men like that will use any advantage they have, and if you’re sympathetic to him, well, that’s quite an advantage.”

Lauren slowly stood. “Does this mean you won’t watch Ava for me?”

“No, honey,” her mother said. “You know that’s not what we meant. We just… we’re worried, that’s all.”

“Okay. I need to call him, see if he’s even available this afternoon, so it might be a moot point to begin with,” she said stiffly.

“Why don’t you just leave Ava here, then, and pick her up this evening?” Molly suggested.