Trust (3 page)

"He's a teenager though. You said things were tough at home. Maybe something happened, a fight or something that set him off."

"Maybe. I hope they find him soon though. This is miserable weather to be out there alone."

"David is having a late night with Gramps." Amy commented as the clock struck 8:00 p.m.

"Jack was meeting him at Hannigan's for a drink."

"How is Jack? Is he still single? We need to find someone for him." Amy was always playing matchmaker. Not that Lauren could complain. She was good at it and said she'd known that Lauren and David would be great together.

"I don't think Jack has any trouble in that department. David said women are always throwing themselves at him." Jack was a handsome guy, with coal-black wavy hair and lots of it, dark chocolate brown eyes and light skin, and at 6'4", he was hard to miss. "Jack likes to date. I don't think he's anywhere near ready to settle down."

"He will be, when he meets the right one." Amy said with certainty. "Not that I have any idea who that might be, but you never know. I'll keep an eye out for him."

"I'm sure he'll appreciate that," Lauren said wryly.

An hour later, full of pizza and good wine, Amy pulled on her boots, bundled up and headed out for the short walk to her condo three doors down. Lauren was just about done putting the leftover pizza in the refrigerator and the wine glasses in the dishwasher when there was a light tap on the door and then it opened and David walked in.

"Hey, honey," Lauren called out and as soon as David shed his snowy coat, hat and gloves and stepped out of his boots, she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss.

"Well, that's a nice welcome. It's miserable out there."

"How's Gramps?"

"He's good, same as always, flirting like mad with all the young waitresses. He says hello."

"I had an interesting night," Lauren began as they headed into the living room, and sank into the sofa. "Two police officers came here, asking me questions about Eric Armstrong, my missing student."

"They came here? To talk to you?" David tapped his hand against the coffee table and then said, "You know I saw Jack tonight? Well he was asking me about you and Eric Armstrong too."

"He was? What did he say?"

"He wanted to know everything and anything that you've ever said about him. I could only remember bits and pieces. It's not like you talked about the kid all that much. I know you said he was one of your students that was having some trouble in class and at home."

"That's right. That's what I told the officers too. It's disturbing. I really hope he is all right." Lauren felt her eyes water thinking of her missing student. Where was he? Was he cold and scared somewhere? Was he ok?

"Jack said they found some stuff on Eric's computer and on his online blog. They think he had a crush on an older woman, maybe even had some kind of an affair." At the look of disbelief on Lauren's face, David added, "It happens. And here's the kicker, they don't know who this woman is, but they're wondering if it might be you."

"It's not!"

"Of course not. But, it is possible that he had a crush on you. I certainly wouldn't blame him." David grinned at that, but Lauren didn't feel like smiling. The very thought of what he was suggesting made her stomach turn.

"I suppose it's possible that he may have had a crush on me, but I really don't think so. I never got that kind of vibe at all. Not that I'd be looking for it though." She bit her lip, thinking back. Could she have missed the signs?

Chapter Four

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L
auren got into school a little earlier than usual the next day. Her habit was to stop at Starbucks along the way, pick up an extra-large dark roast coffee—she just couldn't bring herself to ask for a Venti. What was up with ordering in French? She never could figure that out. She liked to be in about an hour early, which gave her time to ease into her day and to get herself organized. She also enjoyed the peace and quiet, before the students rolled in and the day got under way.

The public school in Waverly was night-and-day different from where she'd been working for several years in an inner-city high school in New York, where gangs, drugs and single teen-age mothers were the norm rather than the exception. When Lauren first started there, she thought it was sweet that most of the students addressed her as 'Miss', assuming it was a sign of respect. Until one of the other teachers set her straight by telling her, "It's because they see us as interchangeable. We're all 'Miss', no first or last names. They don't want to really know us; they just want to get out." The thought depressed Lauren, especially when she found it was fairly accurate.

One of the things that had attracted her here was remembering how much she'd once enjoyed attending school in Waverly and how it still had such a quaint, small-town feeling. Waverly was an affluent seaside suburb of Boston. The town was large enough geographically that it felt spacious, and two-acre zoning in the majority of neighborhoods was a key factor there. The downtown Main Street area was still very much the same as when Lauren lived there as a child, with pretty cobblestone side streets and lots of little independently owned shops and restaurants. The waterfront area was her true love though. Lauren had always loved living near the water, watching the boats come in and out of the harbor and spending time at the beach. The best part about the condo she was renting now was that it was set high on a hill and had a panoramic water view. Although David was spending most nights at her place, he still had a condo as well. He owned a small flat just off Main Street that was an easy walk to his office.

Lauren couldn't wait to move into their new place. It was important to David that they had a house to move into once they were married, and they were cutting it close, but were scheduled to close a week before the wedding. They'd looked at a million places it seemed and Lauren was about to persuade David to sell his place and move into hers permanently, when something new came on the market, in a neighborhood that Lauren loved, but had long given up hope on. No one moved out of Waverly Point Beach, and even if they did, it was unlikely she and David could afford anything there. But the stars had aligned and the house that came on the market was perfect for them, and in their price range.

It was a small Cape, a recently renovated cottage that wasn't waterfront, but was near enough that they had some pretty views and it was only a short walk to the beach. They offered full asking price, as they knew they weren't likely to have a chance otherwise. Lauren sighed as she sipped her rich, fragrant coffee. Not for the first time, she felt as though her life was finally going exactly the way she'd always dreamed that it could. In less than a month, she'd be married and settling into her new house. She was really looking forward to it.

Bonnie Elliot, the school principal, poked her head in Lauren's office.

"Got a minute?"

"Sure, come on in." Bonnie stepped into the office and leaned against the door. She was holding an identical paper cup of coffee and took a sip before saying, "Are you up for golf on Saturday? I know you have a lot going on with the wedding coming up, but it's supposed to be unusually warm. There’s no snow left on the ground and a few of us want to take advantage of it. What do you think?"

Lauren didn't hesitate. "I'm in. My clubs are still in my trunk. I almost took them out for the season last week, but now I'm glad I didn't." Golf was one of the things David had shared with her. She'd never played before meeting him, and now she was addicted. She and Amy played in a women’s league at the local country club.

"Great, I'll set up a tee-time." She paused for a moment. "The media has started calling, asking all kinds of questions about Eric Armstrong. They're like wolves, chomping at the bit for any juicy morsel to run with. It's disgusting. I hope he comes home, or that the police find some kind of a lead soon."

Lauren murmured in agreement and gathered her materials up to head to class. Her joy at the idea of golfing on Saturday had faded at the mention of Eric and the reminder that he was also a golf fanatic and worked part-time at the country club, doing everything from gathering stray balls, to working the front desk, scheduling tee-times and greeting members as they arrived. From what she’d heard, he had a lot of potential as a real golfer too.
Come home Eric
, she pleaded silently.
Come home and get back on the golf course
.

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Chapter Five

F
or the most part, Jack liked living and working in Waverly. Like many of the guys here, his father had once also been a policeman in town and although Jack always wanted to follow in his footsteps, he didn't necessarily plan on doing it in Waverly. After college, Jack attended the police academy, joined the Boston Police Department and was thrown right into thick of things. He landed in Homicide, and after a few years, was promoted to detective. The work was thrilling at first and he felt like he was really making a difference. But as the years went by and the murder counts stayed steady year in and year out, it grew depressing. He needed a change, and at the age of thirty-five was thinking it might be time to settle somewhere. When he heard about the assistant sheriff opening in Waverly, it was a no-brainer.

He'd loved growing up in Waverly. The schools were good, people were friendly, his best friend David was living there again and the work offered a nice variety; not the volume of murders he was accustomed to, but he could live with that. In fact, it had been years since they'd seen a murder of any kind in Waverly. It was a quiet, safe town and he liked it that way.

He wasn't thrilled about the Eric Armstrong case though. Missing kids were tough. You hoped it was just a runaway situation, but those didn't always have happy endings. Sometimes kids were better off not returning home, yet life on the street was usually a worse alternative, but at least the kids were alive. Jack knew the unfortunate statistics too—that the longer a person stayed missing, the less likely they were to return or be found alive.

He didn't really think there was much to the older woman theory that was being floated around. Especially if they were pointing fingers at Lauren Stanhope. Sure, maybe he was biased because she was engaged to his best friend, but it just didn't add up to him. Still, they had to follow all leads, no matter how far-fetched they seemed. As he well knew after all those years in Boston, truth really was often much stranger than fiction and he'd lost track of how many times they'd said to each other, "You just can't make this shit up."

"Jack, we just got a call from a guy fishing out at Pine Pond. Says there's a dead body floating face down. You want to come with me to check it out?" Chris, one of the youngest officers on the force sounded excited and Jack couldn't really blame him. Dead bodies rarely turned up in Waverly. Jack wasn't nearly as enthused.

"Sure thing. Let's go."

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Chapter Six

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D
avid was not having a good day. He should be in a fantastic mood. He'd signed a huge new client earlier in the week, with the largest portfolio in the company's history. Who knew that Randy's 'little bit of money to invest' was actually a mountain of millions? He still didn't like the guy, and managing his money would mean talking to him on a regular basis.

His first taste of that was having lunch with Randy earlier in the day to go over the details of his investments. That part of the meal was interesting, but it wasn't where Randy wanted to focus the discussion. "I trust you to handle all the details, just send me good news in my statements and we'll be fine. Let's catch up on what we've been up to over the years."

Which meant Randy talked at great length about himself, his insanely profitable career as a motivational speaker, all the celebrities he met and lastly, much to David's disgust, he also shared a few too many details about the many women who regularly threw themselves at him. "They don't even care that I'm married. It's crazy."

After agreeing to 'do this again soon,' David had raced back to the office. He couldn't get away from Randy quick enough.

"Conference room. Now!" Billy Mosely, the firm's managing partner, made the announcement on the office loudspeaker. Billy and Chuck Evans were the co-founders of Brickstone Investments, the small, ten-person financial services firm that David joined over ten years ago. He'd gone to college with Billy, and when his baseball career imploded and he was hanging around Waverly, staying with his grandfather for a few months and feeling sorry for himself, he ran into Billy one afternoon at Hannigan's pub.

He was bored and trying to figure out what to do with his life and Billy suggested he work with them for a bit. They'd had a broker leave suddenly and needed someone to manage his clients. Everything was all set up, so it was mostly answering questions and sending updates to start. But it was a perfect transition, as Billy had suspected it might be. They'd both been economics majors in college, and David had always had an aptitude for numbers.

Everyone was in the conference room when David walked in and Billy handed him a glass of champagne. The mood was festive and David wondered what was going on. He'd been in such a funk all day that he must have forgotten there was something scheduled. Maybe it was someone's birthday. They usually broke out champagne and cake on birthdays.

"I'd like to announce, now that we're all here, that we are making David a full partner, effective immediately! Congratulations."

"Cheers!" Around him, a sea of congratulations and clinking glasses swirled in his honor and David was truly dumbfounded and tickled.  He'd thought a few times over the years that it would be great to be made a partner, but it never seemed to even be raised as a possibility. Billy and Chuck were the only two partners in the firm's history. They had started the company and he couldn't really blame them for wanting to keep it to themselves. After all, it still was a pretty small company.

He'd also briefly considered going out on his own a few times. Lauren had suggested it and he did give it some thought, but ultimately didn't think he was that much of an entrepreneur. He was comfortable here. He liked the people and he liked what he was doing. And then the light bulb went on. He'd just brought in a twenty million dollar account. Making him a partner ensured that the money stayed in-house, that David wouldn't leave to open up shop and take the firm's newest and biggest client with him. A client that size could keep a single firm afloat. He never would have left, but they didn’t know that.