The Right Kind of Wrong (16 page)

"What do you think happened to him?"
 

Daniel laughs a vicious sounding chortle. "Hell, if I know, boy. He probably followed one of the girls that hung around him like a leech."
 

"Have you seen or heard from him since?"

He spits in his can again. "Nope. Don’t think anyone has. Once a man like that gets lost—good luck to anyone trying to find him. Even his own brother couldn't."
 

The video moves to Daniel's roommate, Bobby. For an eighty-year old man, he looks great. He has a head full of hair and his face is full of life despite the fact that he only has one leg and arm. Vince asks Bobby about Charlie.

"I didn't know him very well. I couldn't tell ya’ anything helpful." He wrings his hands together.

"Do you have any idea where he might have gone?" Vince prods.

Bobby shakes his head. "Didn't seem like anyone really cared if he came back or not."

"Even Wesley? Weren't they close?"

Bobby shrugs. "I don't know. I spent a lot of time with Wesley when we were in Sicily and France. He'd talk about how his brother was a coward for not enlisting. To be honest, he wasn't sure his father and Charlie would make it without him."

"Do you know why he never told his son or granddaughter about Charlie?"

"Probably for the same reason he never brought him up to any of us after we got back from the war. It was easier to forget he was a part of his life, I guess."

"Thanks, Bobby."

Vince moves onto the most talkative of the bunch, Gary McNamara.
 

"Gary, what did you think of Charlie Pierce?

"Old Charlie boy. He was a good catch, that one. I liked Wesley, but he was always so damn serious. On the other hand, I don't remember a day Charlie didn't have a smile on his face, joking about something or other. I guess he had to smile to deal with his mean old man, James."

"Charlie and James didn't get along?"

Gary laughs like a hyena. "Hell no. If Charlie wasn't James' son, I'm pretty sure he woulda’ killed him. But Wesley— that boy was James' pride and joy."

"So, what happened to Charlie then?" Vince asks.

"I think James ran him right outta town. Probably had no choice. I don't doubt James blackmailed him somehow."
 

"Do you have any idea what it could have been for?"

Gary thinks for a minute. "If I was a betting man—I'd say it had everything to do with his propensity for liking the wrong kind of women."

"Thanks, Gary. I appreciate your honesty."

 
The picture on the screen fades to black. I sit up against the headboard.
 

"So basically we don't know who the hell Charlie Pierce really was. The only thing we know for sure is that my great-grandfather was the scum of the earth."
 

Vince agrees. "Pretty much. So what did you get?"

I hand him the pen camera. "I didn't know where to put it, so I'm pretty sure the video part is messed up."

He twists the top half of the pen off to reveal a tiny cord. He plugs it in the computer like he did with his and the video transfers. The video starts and everything is sideways. You can barely see Parker and I'm completely off camera.
 

"If we end up using this footage, I'll have to do some work to get this right side up. Good going," Vince jokes.

I shrug. The conversation between Parker and I filters from the speakers. I try to find new meaning in his words but can’t. Vince perks up when Parker talks about the fight between Charlie, Grandma and James. He looks at me and pauses the video. "James sounds like an asshole."

"I think that's the general consensus."

"This fight is the clue we need."
 

"Yeah, but Parker didn't know what it was about. Obviously, James isn't coming back from the dead to tell us."

"There
is
only one person left to talk to about it."

I run my hands through my hair. "I know, I know. I'm going to talk to her. It just has to be the right time."

"Right time, my ass. You don't want to stir up trouble. You don't want the truth badly enough."

I squint. "Of course I want to know the truth. I just... she's fragile. "
 

"She's a grown woman, Kara. And you deserve to know the truth about your family."

Of course, he's right. I
do
deserve the truth. If we hadn't come back for this project, would I have ever gotten it or even known there was a secret? Vince pushes play on the video and Parker and I are talking about Vince.
 

I reach for the stop button but Vince smacks my hand away. "No, this is something I need to hear."
 

I groan and put my face in my hands. My words come crashing out of the speakers. When it's over, the silence between us is deafening.
 

"Just forget I said anything," I huff.
 

I try to get off the bed, but Vince grabs my arm and pulls hard, bringing me right into his chest. His hand cups my chin. And forces me to look at his gorgeous blue eyes. He tucks an errant strand of hair behind my ear.
Do it. I want you to do it.
 

He smiles, then guides my mouth to his. The second before our lips collide, my heart jumps to my throat and I swear it pounds against him so furiously he has to know how much I've looked forward to this. His lips are soft and his tongue glides across my bottom lip and parts my mouth.
Spearmint and oranges.
It's the most delicious thing I've tasted in a long, long time.
 

His hands work their way down my body, his touch as soft as his lips. When he moves his mouth to my neck, I groan. He relishes in my pleasure and lays me on the bed. His lips plant kisses feverishly. He pushes up my t-shirt and kisses down my chest to the curve of my stomach until they bump up against the band of my jeans.

 
He looks up at me and his smile speaks volumes. My skin tingles against his fingertips and my body reacts to his lust in exactly the way it should. I'm consumed with how badly I want him.
 

"Kara!"
 

The way he says my name sounds off. Vince isn't calling my name. My grandmother is. He stops kissing me.
 

"Shit!" I pull my shirt down and open the door begrudgingly. "What?"

"You just got a delivery," Grandma yells up the stairs.
 

I sigh. "I'll be down in a minute." I look back to Vince.
 

"About that..." I try to slow my breathing. Pull myself together. Act like I didn't love every minute of what just happened.

Vince puts his finger to my lips. "Shh, don't ruin it. Let's go get your delivery."

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-O
NE

Vince and I bound down the stairs and find Grandma mixing some sort of concoction for dinner. When she sees us, she points to the table. "That man from the historical society left that here for you."

There's a manila envelope on the table with my name on the front. I pick it up and pull out the contents. A sticky note rests on top of a stack of papers.
 

Found these in the boxes—thought they might be helpful in your search. –Dr. Adams.

I pull off the sticky note and find a copy of a report. My eyes fall on the name at the top. Charlie Pierce. I look at Vince with excitement. My grandmother notices.
 

"What is it dear?"
 

Vince nudges me. He wants me to say something and it would be perfect timing, but when I open my mouth, that's not what comes out.
 

"It's Grandpa's service papers. I think we're going to go add it to the pile of research. We'll be back down in a bit," I lie.

"Okay, dinner will be ready soon, so don't go anywhere, ya hear?"

"Uh-huh." We make our way back upstairs. Once the door to my room is closed, I squeal and show Vince the report.

"This is huge! A missing persons report? What if he's still alive? We should find him. No, we
have
to find him. We need to know what really happened here."
 

I'm shaking I'm so excited. Dr. Adams has given us a piece of gold. But Vince doesn't seem as convinced.
 

"Cool your jets, Kara. First, while this is great, this report isn't anything we don't already know."

"No, you're wrong. It means we have some people we need to talk to," I say pointing to a signature at the bottom of the page. "Officer Corrigan took the report."

"Maybe Charlie just wanted to get lost and never be found again. Plenty of people do it."

I shake my head. "I don't think so. But we're not going to sit around and wonder what the hell happened. We're going to figure it out ourselves. I told Grandpa I'd do something great with my life when I left for California. This is the only way I can do it," I say, my voice trembling.

"I'm not sure this is what he had in mind."

"I think this is exactly the kind of thing he had in mind. Obviously, there's a reason things were kept hush hush up until now. We're going to the police station tomorrow."
 

Vince laughs. "You actually have a police department here in town?"

"I know it's hard to believe, but people still do illegal things in a small town."
 

"I'm sure you would know," he teases.

"Actually, you have no idea." I smile.

We join my grandmother at the dinner table. She sets a Tater Tot Casserole on a pair of hot pads. Leave it to Grandma to cook all my favorite meals while I’m here.
 

I lick my lips. "Yum. I haven't had Tater Tot Casserole in forever."
 

Grandma's face lights up. "That's why I made it."

Vince digs in, and from his expression, finds the meal as delicious as I do. He washes it down with sweet tea and then clears his throat. "Kara plans on taking me by the police station tomorrow, I didn't realize Everson was big enough to have a police department."

Grandma shakes her head. "We didn't always have one. I think it was when the coloreds moved in, we initiated the department."

"Grandma! We don't use the word coloreds anymore."

"Bah. It never used to mean what you guys think it means. Just a way to describe them, is all."
 

I shake my head. "I really hated when Grandpa used to say it. It's not right."
 

"Don't lecture me, girl." She looks at Vince. "Anyway, the police department wasn't always there. Turns out we never really needed it until Kara hit high school."

I roll my eyes. Vince looks intrigued. "Oh, yeah? Why's that?"
 

Grandma chuckles. "When she was in high school, she uncovered a scandal that sent the whole town aflutter. We always knew she was going to be a journalist with her thirst for truth. She made a few enemies out of that deal."

"What did you uncover?"
 

Grandma nods at me like I should tell him. "After old man Macy died, his wife couldn't keep the farm. Her daughter married some guy from New York and he bought the farm, thinking he could run it. All the other farmers hated him but it's not "Christian" to drive someone out, right? Well, a couple months in, his cattle started dying. He couldn't figure out why. It was weird that all of the sudden they were dying, so I decided to figure it out."

"So what did you find?" Vince asks.

"A couple of farmers were poisoning the cattle feed. The guy from New York had no idea the "neighborly farmers" providing the feed were out to get him."
 

Vince's mouth drops. "Holy shit. You uncovered that?"

"Yes, I did."
 

"The cops didn't believe her. They thought it was absurd. I was so sure she might be going crazy. You should've seen her stand up to them, though. She wasn't afraid. Not one bit. Kara has every bit of her grandfather in her." Grandma’s voice is full of pride.

"All I did was find out the truth."

"That takes more courage than you give yourself credit for," Vince says.

I eye him and shovel casserole in my mouth. We eat silently for a couple minutes.

"What did you two do all day?" Grandma breaks the silence.

"We went to the Historical Society and to Heritage Estates and I talked to Parker." I say brightly.

She eyes me with caution. "I suppose you went there to tell him what a lousy job I'm doing taking care of myself."

"We didn't talk about that at all."

Vince chimes in before Grandma can say anything more. "We did find some interesting information though, didn't we, Kara?"
 

Damn you Vince. You're going to force my hand.
 

"Oh, yeah? What's that?"
 

I clear my throat. "Grandma, we know Grandpa had a twin. Charlie? We know he disappeared right after Grandpa went to war. And we know Great-Grandpa James hated you. I think it's time for you to come clean."

Grandma's pained expression reveals more than whatever she might say next. She wipes her mouth and pushes her plate forward. "How did you find out?'

"Does it matter?"
 

"I suppose not. It's not as exciting as you think. You're right. James didn't like me. He hated that I married Wesley. But James was a very driven and strict man. Wesley fit into his mold of what a son should be. Charlie didn't. They fought all the time and when James started belittling him for not enlisting like Wesley, Charlie had had too much. So he left, without a word to any of us."

It was a plausible story had my grandmother not been lying. She blinked twice as fast when she wasn't telling the truth and she was blinking like crazy. Years of Saturday night poker games with Grandpa and friends had shown me her poker face and she was wearing it now.

 
"What about the fight you had on the day Charlie left?"
 

"What do you mean?"
 

"Parker said you, Great-Grandpa James and Charlie were fighting the day he left. What were you fighting about?"