Off You Go (8 page)

“
Back to Rowe Tinsley,”
Dewey said, ignoring the woman passing him who looked entertained
by him talking to himself. “I guess we need to talk.” Dewey was not
much of a fighter, so he wasn’t looking to go another round with
the guy. He did think about calling T.A. Reddick to help out, but
he didn’t. Non-violence was his method. Dewey was about to unleash
some psychological revenge that would be much more satisfying than
a punch in the face. Dewey was a peaceful man, but Rowe Tinsley had
attacked him, and he’d cheated on his own wife. Rowe was not a good
man, and he was about to pay.

CHAPTER 9

Hammond Callahan looked in the mirror in
Gina’s bathroom. Her hairbrush and lotion and makeup were still on
the sink. He looked at the wrinkles on his forehead and the bags
under his eyes. His hairline was receding at a much quicker pace
these days. The realization that he wasn’t going to live forever
was hitting him hard. He’d lived his entire life like he would live
one thousand years, working harder than anyone else he knew,
building a business and a name for himself.

For what?
So that they would name a building after him
after he was gone? Or a golf course or a development? Those
things—the next deal, the next big payday—had mattered so much to
him, for most of his life, but not so anymore. He’d never been
there for Gina, and he’d never been there like he should have for
Faye. That’s what mattered now. Sure, they’d had a grand life and
he’d spoiled both of them to no end, but recently, that didn’t feel
like enough. What he had not given them was his time, the thing he
valued most. Both of them had tried to tell him that. Faye had
begged for it, but he hadn’t listened. Not until it was too
late.

And as it all came crashing down, he’d dug
the hole deeper, lying to Faye. He had to tell her now. He just
didn’t know how. She’d put up with him for so many years, but this
would be the last straw. She would probably leave him. But he
couldn’t live this lie forever. He couldn’t climb in bed next to
his best friend for the next twenty years keeping such a secret.
She needed to know what he knew. She needed to know why Gina killed
herself.

The sound of the door opening in the living
room brought him back. He pinched the bridge of his nose and
inhaled deeply. How had it gotten to this?

He met Faye in the hallway and she opened up
her arms. “Oh, honey, come here.” She could always read his face.
They embraced and he squeezed her tightly. How lucky he was.
Somehow, she’d put up with him for thirty-eight years. She was the
only one who had ever seen his human side. The only one who had
ever seen him cry.

“
I need to talk to you,”
he whispered, still holding her.

“
Hold on. You need to know
something.” She pulled away from him. “I did something around your
back and I’m sorry for it, but I had to. I hired a private
investigator to look into Gina’s death.” She looked up at him.
“Please don’t be mad at me. I know you wanted me to let it go, but
I couldn’t.”

Hammond’s stomach tightened. He remembered
the conversation they’d had, when he had played it down, saying she
needed to quit asking questions and let Gina go. He’d said it so
she wouldn’t end up finding out the truth and destroying
everything. So how could he be mad at her now?

He took her hand. “I’m not mad.”

“
I found out who she was
seeing, and you’re not going to believe it…but I’m nearly
positive.”

“
Who?” Hammond knew
exactly what was coming.

“
Your scum of the earth
protégé, Rowe.”

Hammond had already decided he wasn’t going
to lie about it, but this wasn’t going to be pretty.

Faye continued, “Rowe Tinsley was having sex
with our daughter and he got her pregnant.”

“
What
?” Hammond felt his heart jolt.

“
She was pregnant. My PI
found a positive pregnancy test with her prints on it. Your
good-for-nothing protégé, the one you talk so highly of, is the
devil.”

Hammond was still trying to swallow this
pregnancy news. Rowe hadn’t mentioned that. What? The little shit
thought he’d never find out?

“
I want to know what
you’re going to do about it,” Faye said. “You need to ruin his
life.”

“
I—I already knew, Faye.”
It was the hardest confession he’d ever made.

“
You
what
?”

Hammond knew the rest of his crumbling life
was about to go right now. “I knew they were together.”

Faye stiffened up and
slapped him for the first time in their marriage. “You
knew
?”

“
I couldn’t tell you. I
wanted to tell you, honey, believe me. But—”

“
But
what
? You let it go on? What are you
talking about?”

She started crying and he tried to comfort
her. “You get off me,” she snapped.

“
I didn’t let it go on. I
was on him the second I found out.”

“
And how did you find out?
When was that?”

“
I found out the day
before she…the day before. I didn’t want to tell you how. It
doesn’t matter how I found out. Please trust me—”

“
Trust
you? Hammond, you’re telling me you knew our daughter was
sleeping with Rowe and you didn’t tell me that little bit of
information?” Her tears were moving non-stop. “Oh, my
God.”

“
I didn’t know she was
pregnant. The minute I found out about them, I confronted him. That
was Friday. I told him to end it.”

“
And decided to hide it
from me.”

“
Yes. I guess I did. I
didn’t want you to feel any more pain. I was protecting
you.”

“
Oh, you son of a bitch.
You weren’t protecting me. You were protecting your
investment
. Bird’s Bay
is what you were protecting. I’ve known you most of your life,
Hammond Callahan. Don’t even try to lie about that. You knew if
word got out that Rowe was having an affair with your daughter, you
would have lost investors. It was a simple as that, wasn’t
it?”

“
That was part of it, of
course. But the Bird’s Bay deal is for both us. That’s our
retirement. It’s the last deal I’ll ever have to make. Do you
really blame me for hiding it?”

“
Yes, I blame you. I blame
you for lying to me. I blame you for being such a shitty father
that you’d drive her to pay you back by sleeping with Rowe. I blame
you for her death.”

“
You don’t mean that.”
Hammond felt broken.

Faye fell to her knees. “You killed my
baby.”

Hammond knelt and tried to put his arm
around her.

“
No! No!” She swatted at
him as he covered his head. “Don’t ever touch me again. You’re an
evil, selfish bastard!”

“
I’m so sorry, honey.
Please try to understand.”

“
I want a
divorce.”

“
Hey, you’re upset. Let’s
just calm down and talk about this.”

Faye pushed herself up. “Never contact me
again. You understand?”

“
Faye, please.”

“
A lawyer will contact
you.”

This couldn’t be happening. Hammond didn’t
know what to say. He choked up and began crying, begging for her
forgiveness. He was crying her name even after she’d closed the
door and left.

Hammond got up and stumbled into the living
room. It was too much for him. Enraged, he lifted a floor lamp,
yanked its cord from the wall, and began swinging it at anything
and everything. He knocked several holes in the wall and then went
after the television, crushing the screen. He kept going until he
had nothing left.

Faye was right. He was a selfish bastard.
But he could not agree that Gina’s death was his fault. If anyone
was to blame, it was Rowe Tinsley. He’d taken advantage of his
precious girl. He’d gotten her pregnant.

It was all Hammond could do to swallow the
news of their relationship. But he’d had to, in order to keep the
Bird’s Bay deal alive. Now, though, with Gina gone forever and Faye
not much closer, the Bird’s Bay thing didn’t make a damn
difference. The only thing that mattered was making sure Rowe
Tinsley paid for what he’d done.

Hammond had nothing left.

CHAPTER 10

Dewey found a spot on Broad Street a block
away from Brightside Development. A man sitting on a cooler was
selling boiled peanuts on the sidewalk. Dewey bought a bag and
found a bench to sit and enjoy them. He could shell a peanut faster
than anyone he knew, and as he ripped through the bag, he mulled
over what the heck he was going to do once he saw Rowe Tinsley. He
wasn’t going to beat the truth out of him, obviously. He wasn’t
going to accuse him publicly. He needed to get in, shake his hand,
make sure the man was comfortable, and then blindside him to see
how he reacted. That would be a start, and then Dewey could find
proof from there.

He polished off half the bag and made way to
his destination. As he was pushing open the door, his phone rang.
He backed up and answered. “You got Dewey.”

“
Hey, it’s Candice. Did
you get my text?”

“
Yes, thanks for letting
me know.”

“
You wouldn’t believe what
just happened. I’m shaking.”

Dewey perked up and turned around, heading
back down the block toward the bench. “What?”

“
Mrs. Callahan showed up
about twenty minutes ago, and they got into it.”

Dewey parked himself back on the bench,
holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder. “Oh, no.”

“
I could hear all of it,”
Candice said. “They probably don’t know that the wall between
Gina’s bedroom and my bathroom is paper-thin. Gina and I joked
about it a couple times. We could have a conversation with each
other without raising our voices. I feel awful, but I couldn’t help
myself. I sat in the bathroom and listened to
everything.”

“
Anything
interesting?”

“
I’d say so.” Candice told
Dewey what she’d heard.

Before she was done, Dewey was already
jogging back to Brightside Development. “Is Hammond still there?”
he asked her.

“
No, he left five minutes
ago.”

“
You’re a big help. You
have no idea.”

“
I thought you’d find it
interesting. Now, what do I get in return? Dinner at the very
least, right?”

“
I’m flattered,” he said,
“but I’m married. Can I get a rain check for the next life?” Even
as he said that, though, he knew he’d still be in love with his
wife in the next. And the next. And the next after that.

“
The next life it is. I
hope we both come back as rabbits.”

Dewey’s eyes exploded. Women in their
thirties sure were randy. “I’ll see you soon. Thanks for the
help.”

“
You know where to find
me.”

“
Yes, I do.” He hung up
and jammed the phone into his pocket. “Yes, I do,” he said to
himself. “But I don’t want you. I want my wife.”

Dewey entered Brightside Development, and a
cheery, bright-eyed brunette welcomed him. “What can I do for you?”
she asked.

“
I’m looking for Rowe
Tinsley.”

“
You missed him by about
an hour. He was going out into the field and wasn’t planning on
coming home. Can I leave a message? Are you working with
him?”

“
No, no. Just an old
friend. Do you have his cell number?”

“
Sure.” She wrote it on a
yellow sticky note and handed it to him. He thanked her and went on
his way.

Back in his truck, Dewey dialed Rowe. He got
his voice mail. Despite feeling like kicking the guy in the teeth,
he didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. He didn’t leave a message,
thinking it would be better to tell him in person. Then Dewey
dialed Faye. She didn’t pick up, either. “I guess I’ll go to Rowe’s
house,” Dewey said. “Not sure what else I can do.”

***

The Old Village of Mt. Pleasant tucked up
against the harbor, and you could find some of the prettiest homes
in Charleston there. It was an older neighborhood, with most of the
houses built in the 1950s. Many of them had the same floor plans.
As the property value rose, people began to tear down and rebuild,
creating some appealing diversity.

The Charleston Harbor came into view as
Dewey worked his way through the increasingly quieter streets. He
hung a left onto Pitt Street and after a couple more turns, reached
the Tinsley’s waterfront address. It was a home that all parents
wish they could raise their kids in. The rectangular yard was
obnoxiously big for such desired real estate. Looking at it from
the road, the house was on the right side of the property and the
green lawn stretched out on the left, along the harbor. There was a
ring of chairs circling a fire pit near the water, and Dewey was
sure there was a nice, big porch on the other side of the house.
Rowe Tinsley drank his coffee in the morning overlooking Fort
Sumter, where the Civil War began. Oh, what greed could get
you.

The house was actually one of the older
brick ones, but it looked like it had been added onto a time or two
since its groundbreaking in the fifties. The front door was
turquoise, a nice touch.

There was a Mercedes SUV and Rowe’s Jaguar
in the U-shaped driveway. Rowe was home. Dewey continued to the end
of the cul-de-sac and turned around. He stopped two houses away and
got out, looking like he was admiring the view of the water. He lit
a smoke and took it all in.