The Green Line (32 page)

She smiled and relaxed back into her pillow a bit.

Nate went for her hand but she pulled him in for a hug and wouldn’t let go. She held on to him as she spoke, “Marcus, this is my good friend, Nate Walters.”

“Yes. We’ve met. In fact, you’re going home with Nate.”

“What?”

“I don’t want you here and I don’t want you at the townhouse. Nate and I’ve talked. He lives up north. You’ll be safe there. This whole thing should be over in twenty-four hours, Abby. Callahan’s Mercedes was reported stolen at noon. It just popped up in the system an hour ago. He thinks he’s covered his tracks and there’s no one left. We’ve got the bus and train stations and airports covered just in case. We’ll keep an officer here and as far as anyone knows, you’re spending the night. But really, he probably won’t even know you’re here. As far as he’s concerned, we’re both dead.”

She looked back and forth between them. “How did you even—”

As if they both knew the question, they responded in unison: “Gottlieb.”

Nate continued. “Your lawyer called me. And then I talked to Duvane and he told me you were here. Abby, the detective here didn’t tell me everything—just that you were hurt and that he wanted you out of town. So you’re coming with me because I want to know what the heck is going on.”

“You won’t believe it.”

Marcus broke in. “I don’t know about that. Didn’t you tell me he goes after dirty cops?”

“Oh, that’s right.” Abby got excited. “Nate, we know who the mystery cop is in the Ramirez case.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

TRIP
pulled into the long gravel drive and parked off to the left by the garage. The Jaguar was nowhere in sight. He checked inside the garage. Not there either. Good. He was in no mood to deal with his dad. He grabbed the front door handle and winced. Bitch probably broke a finger.

He walked in the unlocked front door and was immediately greeted by Felix, their boxer. Just to see that slobbering face heading his way relaxed him. He leaned forward to accept the attack of love. Felix licked his face compulsively. He probably smelled the remnants of blood.

Trip’s mother came walking into the front hall from the kitchen wearing a big grin. “Trip? Well, this is a surprise. You just missed dinner.”

Trip broke away from the dog and gave his mother a hug. “Yeah, I know, Mom. I just felt like getting out of the city. Thought it would be nice to come up here for a couple of days. Do you mind?”

“Of course not, dear. Your dad’s back in Florida. Golf match. He’ll be sorry to have missed the visit, but I’d love the company.”

“You’re the one I want to see anyway, Mom.” Trip gave her that charming smile. The one she’d helped cultivate.

She smiled back. “Well, come on in. You hungry?” She led him back to the kitchen. With all the activity of the day, he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. It was now eight thirty and he was starving.

His mother opened the fridge and pulled out the leftovers. “Well, this is a first, isn’t it?” She didn’t make eye contact. They were good at avoiding any big confrontations. “I mean, I usually have to plead to get you up here for dinner once a month.”

Trip sat at the breakfast table and looked out the window into the dark night. “I know, Mom. I thought it would be a nice surprise.”

“It is, honey. I just want to be sure you’re okay.” She brought him an opened Amstel Light.

He felt some relief. She cared. She always reserved judgment.

“I’m okay.” He took a sip of the beer and thought back on the day. “Everything should be fine.”

“Should be?” A plate of salmon, spinach and cous cous landed in front of him. “Should still be hot. Cassie had just put this up.” She sat at the table with him, waiting for more.

Trip plowed through the food while his mother waited. “It was just a difficult day, Mom, but I think that I’ve dealt with everything.” He hoped. Abby had to be dead. As long as Reilly called in his Mercedes as stolen before noon, there was no chance he could be connected to anything that had gone down. He should be fine. And he’d created great insurance for dealing with Reilly. But he just wanted confirmation and Reilly wasn’t answering his phone. He tried to relax.

“Work?”

“Huh?”

“When you say you’ve dealt with everything, I assume you’re talking about work. Is it going well?”

“Oh yes. Real estate developing can be stressful, you know that. But the market is awesome. Every building is turning a huge profit. And one job just seems to lead to the next. I’ve got a plan, I’ve stuck to it. It’s coming together.”

“Trip,” she reached out toward his face but he pulled back before she could touch him. “Your nose looks swollen! Like it might be broken.”

He faked a laugh. “Oh yeah. It probably is. My assistant smashed the door in my face today. It was pretty funny. Hurt like a bitch, though.”

“So why are you really staying the night, son? I don’t see a bag.”

Trip sat back and looked at her, searching her expression for what might work. He took a sip of his beer again and began. “I just broke it off with this girl. She was a little psycho, actually. Couldn’t take no for an answer and I was thinking about how she was likely to pop over tonight or call my phone and I thought I’d get out of there.”

“I never heard about this girl.”

“Yeah, it didn’t last long. I found out she was doing drugs and I broke it off. Too bad, too. I really thought she was a keeper. A lawyer, pretty. You would have liked her. Except for the drugs.”

“Well, good for you, baby. Sounds like a bad egg.” She put the Tupperware back in the refrigerator and Trip resumed eating.

“Well, how about doing some property runs with me tomorrow? We could spend some time together?”

“Sounds good to me.” No better way to stay out of sight for a day or so.

“I have to head out to a property in the morning. Then perhaps we could go visit that property you wanted me to look at?”

He needed to talk to Reilly before he went anywhere near his properties. But he’d deal with that wrinkle when he knew more. “Sure.”

“Dear, I love having you here.” She kissed the top of his head. “Makes me feel safe.”

Trip put his hand on hers. “Me too.”

“Okay, then, I’m going up, honey. Turn off the lights, okay? I’ll set the alarm.”

“Will do. Love you, Mom.”

· · ·

ABBY
sat in the overstuffed armchair, wrapped in a giant chenille blanket, and stared at the flames of the fire. She was dazed. It was hard to reconcile the serenity, safety, and warmth of this moment with the events of the day. She still felt nauseous. A faint whistle came from the kitchen and a moment later, Nate appeared with two mugs.

The hot chocolate was almost too hot to drink, but the warmth of the cup felt good in her hands. Abby glanced over at the photos of Nate’s family on the table next to her.

“Thanks again, Nate, for bringing me here.”

He stoked the fire and went to the chair across from her and sat.

“Of course, Abby. You’re like family to me.”

She was still looking at the pictures of his wife and baby. “They’re both so beautiful. You’ve done very well here,” she added, looking around the room.

“Yeah, we love this old house.” He smiled at the room. “It’s been nothing but dust and debris since we moved in, but it’s a great old place.”

It was a huge living room. The fireplace mantel was massive and it looked like the entire piece was made of stone. “And I love those doors,” Abby said, nodding toward the back wall. Two giant french doors obviously lead to the backyard. “I just feel a little weird being here. I haven’t even met Meg yet.”

Nate smiled. “I know. I thought she might still be up, but she often falls asleep after putting Lizzy down. She’s still getting up a couple of times each night, so she’s pretty much exhausted all the time.”

“And she won’t mind finding me here tomorrow?”

“No. I’ve told her all about you. And I’ll tell her you’re here before I leave in the morning. I’m sure she’ll be glad for the company.”

Abby didn’t say any more. She drank her hot chocolate and stared at the flames.

“Abby, I can’t believe the mess you’re in. It’s unbelievable.”

She looked at him then. “I feel so stupid. I don’t know how I let myself get set up like this. This wouldn’t have happened to Denny. He was too smart.”

“Abby, you’re smart too. This could have happened to anyone. It was random.”

“Well, I don’t think it could have happened to
anyone.
It’s not exactly a normal situation.”

“It sounds like this happened because you were trying to help a friend, to do the right thing.”

“Yeah, but I got him killed.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Abby.”

She couldn’t respond. The words seemed empty. She felt empty. Silence began to fill the space between them.

“Abby, talk to me.”

She looked at him for clues of his meaning.

“You’re not the girl I knew in high school.”

Thank god. That’s what she had been running from.

“You were confident, outrageous, full of big dreams. And now…”

This didn’t feel like a compliment. She turned her gaze back toward the fire and closed her eyes to stop the tears from coming. “And now?” she nearly whispered.

“You just seem so alone…and sad.” He waited for a response.

She didn’t have one. She sipped her hot chocolate.

“What happened with your boyfriend? Your eyes actually lit up when you told me about him.”

She tried to answer, but couldn’t find the right words.

“Did you love him?”

She nodded.

“Why did you let him go?”

She thought about the quickest way to answer the question. “He didn’t really know me.”

“What do you mean?”

She looked at Nate now, ready to see the change in his expression that would surely end this line of questioning.

“He didn’t even know about Denny. I told him I was an only child.”

He almost laughed. But it wasn’t a joke. “Why?”

There was really no reason not to come clean at this point. She’d already lost it all. “I…, he…,” The words felt trapped in her throat.

“Abby.”

She knew he was going to try and make her feel better. She couldn’t take it anymore. She put the mug down on the table with force. A splash of chocolate jumped the rim. “I killed him.” As soon as the words escaped, she looked away from Nate, unable to face him.

Nate sat forward. “No you didn’t. He was killed by a drunk driver.”

She shook her head. He didn’t get it. It was too late to turn back now. She looked at him and forced the words to come. “I’m the reason Denny is dead.”

“No one blames you, Abby. I don’t understand.”

“They should blame me. If they knew, they would.”

“Knew what?”

She couldn’t look at him. She stared into the fire. “We weren’t out together that night, Nate.”

Nate didn’t respond and Abby looked at the confusion in his face. “He was at the library, studying, of course. I was drunk and didn’t want to get in trouble with Mom and Dad. I called him to come get me. He was on the road that night because of me.”

Nate sat back in silence then, taking in the information. She held her breath and awaited the anger that would follow. “But Abby, even still…,”

He still didn’t get it. She felt angry. He needed to see. “We were fighting in the car. He told me I was acting like a screw-up. I told him he was an asshole. What an asshole, right? Big brother, the one who was about to graduate at the top of his class, the one who was nice enough to come get me so I wouldn’t have to call Mom and Dad—he was the asshole.”

“Abby, you can’t blame yourself for his death. It was a tragic accident.”

“But I was fucking with the radio!”

“What?”

“Trying to tune him out. And he went to turn it down and I slapped his hand away. We would have seen that car. I distracted him. I caused the accident.”

Nate didn’t say anything. She knew. She knew that Nate finally understood. He’d probably hate her, but there was some sense of relief in saying it out loud. Finally.

“All these years…,” he put down his mug and stood.

“I killed your best friend, Nate. I killed my brother.” She couldn’t look at him. She waited for him to leave. It was what she expected. What she deserved. The blame.

But he didn’t leave. Nate came over to her chair and forced her to stand up and look at him. She couldn’t do it. She was afraid to see his eyes.

His arms locked around her and she tried to pull back. He held her tight. She went limp, but he wouldn’t let go. She froze, not sure what to make of this.

He whispered in her ear, “Abby, I don’t blame you. You were a kid.”

Abby sobbed into his shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Nate.”

He let go then and held her back so she would see his face. “Yes, you got drunk. But you were a teenager. Screwing up is expected.”