Retribution (19 page)

“And the abuse has been going on for a while? Do you have proof of it?”

“Yes, it has, and yes, I do.”

I heard shuffling for a few moments before Mr. Peters spoke again, “Mrs. Evans has several fading bruises along her rib cage and lower back.” He cleared his throat. “May I ask why you’re just now filing for divorce if you’ve been subjected to abuse for so long?”

I tightly clenched my fists. I’d shown Mr. Peters my proof in the exact way that Marie had. There was some sick kind of irony going on there. Robert had hurt her just as viciously as he had me.

“My son,” Marie answered immediately. “I feared that Robert would take him from me since he was a minor. I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him alone with Robert. I feared that he would turn Cooper against me, or worse, abuse our son the way he has abused me for years. Now that Cooper is legally an adult, I no longer have to worry about him. He’s safe.”

“Is your son aware of what has been happening in your home?”

“I think he has an idea, but he has no proof. When he tries to question me about anything suspicious, I brush it off. I don’t want him to worry about me. Cooper has always been protective of me, and if he knew what Robert has done, he would go after his own father. I can’t have that.”

“I understand. Let’s move on, shall we? What terms are you asking for with the divorce? Do you want to keep your home? What about assets?”

“He can have everything, except for my car and the bank account that has only my name on it. Over the years, I’ve taken measures to ensure that Cooper will be taken care of, should it come to this. He has a trust fund of his own that will provide for him for a very long time. As for me, the account I spoke of earlier has just over two hundred thousand dollars in it. That is more than enough for me to start over with. The stocks, our two joint accounts, the house, and any other assets can go to Robert. I want nothing to do with any of it. I just want my freedom.”

“If these are your terms, I don’t see Robert fighting this much, especially since he’s in the public eye. He’ll want it swept under the rug as quickly as possible. All we need to do is show proof of his infidelity and domestic abuse, and he’ll agree to almost anything. Since you’re asking for so little, this should go quickly.”

“I have proof of everything, but I think you’re underestimating my husband, Mr. Peters. He will be furious when he finds out what I’ve done. I’m going to be blunt. I’m terrified of him. I’m even more terrified of what he’ll do to me once I file for divorce. He won’t go quietly. I’ve had a lot of time to think about this, and I have a plan in mind.”

I listened intently as Marie went over her plans with Mr. Peters. It was just like he had said. Marie had planned to go to an undisclosed location once the papers were filed because she’d feared for her safety that much. When her lawyer had suggested that they contact the Morgantown Police, Marie had refused, stating that Robert had the department in his pocket.

By the time I finished the first recording, I had tears in my eyes. The pain and fear in her voice made me want to reach into my phone and pull her into my arms. She’d been terrified of her own husband and with good reason. In the end, he’d won. She had died because of him.

Hatred more fierce than anything I’d ever experienced before coursed through my body. It blinded me. I’d never hated Robert more than I did in that moment. Marie had spent her entire life with him, and in return, he’d abused her to the point where she feared for her life. I wanted it to be like a movie where justice was served, and the heroine escaped, but sadly, that wasn’t Marie’s story at all. She’d fallen, and the villain had won.

I wiped the tears from my eyes and pushed play on the next audio file. I listened as Marie and Mr. Peters worked out every little detail. Marie had brought him the proof he needed to use domestic abuse and adultery against Robert. I briefly wondered if Mr. Peters still possessed those photos. That would help Cooper and me build a strong case against Robert.

With each recording, I noticed how Marie had opened up a little bit more. My heart sank as I thought of how, in the end, Mr. Peters had betrayed her after gaining her trust. When I pushed play on the last file, I instantly compared Marie’s voice to how it had been on the first recording. She had been stiff and professional before. On this one, her voice was relaxed and even a little bit happy. She had been so close to getting what she wanted, and she’d known it.

As I listened, their conversation turned more personal and less business. I couldn’t help but wonder if Mr. Peters was sitting there, laughing and joking with her, after he’d already betrayed her. Or maybe Robert had visited him after this had been recorded. I supposed I would never know.

“Have you told Cooper about your plans yet?” Mr. Peters asked, breaking through their idle chatter.

“I haven’t,” Marie said. “I don’t want him involved in this until it’s already underway. It’s safer for him that way.”

“He needs to know, Marie. When you up and disappear, he will be frantic.”

“I’ll tell him when I leave.” She sighed. “Speaking of Cooper, I have something I want to give you. While I feel that our plan will indeed work, I want to take certain precautions.”

I listened to someone shuffling around.

“What is it?” Mr. Peters asked.

“It’s a letter to Cooper, explaining everything. If something should happen to me, I ask that you send this letter to him. It will give me peace of mind to know that, even if this doesn’t turn out the way I want, at least Cooper will know the truth.”

“Surely you don’t think there’s a need for this.” Mr. Peters sounded uneasy.

“It’s just in case. My Cooper means the world to me, and I want to make sure he is safe. I wish you could meet him. He’s so full of life, and he’s always there to make me smile. I’m so proud of who he is and what he has already achieved. Do you know that he’s premed at WVU? My son is going to go far in life, and he’ll do it without my help or Robert’s.”

I smiled as I listened to Marie brag about Cooper. The love and pride she’d felt for Cooper was clear. When I handed these over to Cooper, he would be able to hear it with his own ears. I felt that would give him some comfort.

When the final recording finished, I locked my phone and stared out of my windshield. There was so much here, more than I could have hoped for, but nothing that absolutely proved that Robert was behind the accident that had caused Marie’s death. These recordings were enough to launch an investigation, but in my heart, I knew that Robert was too well connected for this to bring him down.

I also knew that the only real way we could do that was to find out whom Robert had hired to kill Marie. That would require a lot of research in his past case files. I would have to make a list of every client it might be and search for them. But it would be pointless to do that. Even if I managed to find the real killer, I would only end up getting myself killed if I sought that person out.

The truth hit me like a brick wall then. Robert would get away with Marie’s death. Even if I couldn’t talk Cooper out of handing everything I’d discovered over to the police, I knew Robert would never be found guilty. His squeaky clean image might be tarnished a bit in the community, but that was it.

I needed to go to Cooper with these recordings and everything else I’d managed to find. I would let him listen, and then I’d talk him out of going after his father. That was the only thing I could do at this point. Diving any deeper would endanger us both. Robert had killed his own wife. I knew that he would silence Cooper, too, if it came to that. The same went for me. Compared to his first wife and son, I was nothing. I meant nothing.

I just hoped that hearing the truth from Marie would be enough for Cooper. If I could convince Cooper to let it go, then I would leave. It was time, and I knew it. No, it was past time. I was going to tell Robert that if he didn’t let me go, I would show the world my bruises. I would ask for nothing, not even enough money to pay for my bus fare out of town. Hopefully, he would let me go. If not, I had no idea what I would have to do to escape. I would find a way though. There was no other option.

Losing Cooper, Ellie, and Shelly would hurt the most, but it was necessary. Once I left Robert, I would leave Morgantown completely. I needed to put as much space between us as I could. I certainly couldn’t drag Shelly along with me. I’d barely be able to keep myself alive, let alone drag her into this mess.

Cooper would try to keep me close. I knew that. I just had to ignore the way my stomach turned queasy at the thought of leaving him behind. Keeping me close would do him no good, none at all. Deep down, he had to know that, too.

Determination filled me as I started my car and pulled out of the parking lot. I drove through the moonlit-filled town to the house while my mind plotted one escape plan after another. Each one was worse than the last, but I still filed all of them away for later. I would come up with something. It would soon be time to face the monster I’d married. Time was running out.

When I pulled up to the house, I parked my car in the garage and climbed out. I was relieved to see that Cooper’s car was in the garage and Robert’s was not. He still wasn’t home. That was good. It would give me time to convince Cooper to let his mother’s death go and then to come up with a plan to escape the man I was terrified of.

I walked through the silent house and up the stairs to the second floor. Without hesitating, I marched up to Cooper’s door and knocked. A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal a smiling Cooper. I froze for a moment, taking him in. This might very well be the last time I ever saw him smile at me. I memorized every little detail of his face and stored it away. I knew that I would need it once I left this house of horrors and started my life over again.

“Claire,” he said as he reached forward and pulled me to him. He captured my lips with his and kissed me deeply.

My body turned to jelly as I kissed him back, savoring this happy and innocent moment between us.

Finally, he broke the kiss, but he didn’t release me. “I missed you today.”

“I missed you, too.” I untangled myself from him and moved past him into his room. “We need to talk, Coop. It’s important.”

“All right,” Cooper said. He closed the door and followed me over to the bed.

We sat down next to each other, and I immediately started pulling things out of my purse. I grabbed my phone and everything I had found at the storage unit, and I placed them next to me. I handed the photo album to Cooper.

“What is this?” he asked.

“Just open it.”

I watched as he opened it to the first page. A tiny smile formed on his lips as he began flipping through the pages. He ran this thumb over a photo of him and Marie that had been taken not long after he was born.

He looked up at me. “Where did you find this?”

I looked away. “I’ve been keeping things from you, Cooper—a lot of things. I’m sorry for that, but I wanted to see what I could find before involving you.”

“Like what?” His voice sounded guarded now, and the tiny smile was just a distant memory.

“I went to the storage unit without telling you. I didn’t find much there, except for that album and a couple of other things.” I picked up the divorce papers and the will. “I found Robert’s will first. You’ll be surprised to know that he plans to leave everything to you. I also found the divorce papers Marie planned to file. He had them hidden in old luggage. I couldn’t figure out why he had hidden those, but it finally clicked. He never should have known about the divorce to begin with.”

“Why are you just now telling me this?” Cooper asked as he looked through the papers.

“I didn’t want this to be another disappointment to you. I wanted to find something solid before I involved you.”

“And did you?”

I gave him a weak smile. “Sort of. When I realized that the only way Robert could have those divorce papers was through Marie’s lawyer, I paid him a visit.”

“You went to Virginia?” He seemed surprised.

I nodded. “That’s where I went today—to the lawyer’s office.”

“And what did you find out?” Cooper’s voice was cautious. He obviously wanted me to have found something, but he didn’t want to get his hopes up.

“Rather than tell you, you should just listen for yourself.” I picked up my phone and pulled up the audio files. “I want you to listen to them all before you question me.”

I pushed play. Mr. Peters began speaking. When Marie’s voice filled the room, Cooper froze.

“Mom,” he whispered.

I handed my phone to him and moved to the computer chair to sit down. Listening to Marie had been hard enough for me. I couldn’t imagine how hard it was for Cooper.

To give him privacy, I turned away. He deserved that and so much more. I knew the things Marie had said were going to tear him apart. I waited patiently as the conversations between Mr. Peters and Marie filled the room. I blocked them out—or at least, I tried. I didn’t think I could handle listening to Marie’s voice talk about the way Robert had abused her without losing my mind from rage.

When Cooper listened to the fourth recording, where Marie had spoken so highly of him, I glanced back at him. He had tears in his eyes.