The Best of Us (5 page)

Then there was Det. Wright. You knew he was a kind man, but you also could tell he had a streak of steel running through him as well. The difference was, he wasn’t immediately intimidating…he was ‘the good cop’. Carly almost laughed at her thoughts. She didn’t realize she’d paid so much attention to those cop shows on TV. Because of those shows, she now thought she was an expert at identifying ‘cop types’. She smiled, knowing Jenna would be laughing at her right now if she’d been here. Carly could almost hear Jenna’s laugh; it was bittersweet.

Det. Stone noticed the slight smile and wondered what she was thinking, so he asked.

Startled from her thoughts by Det. Stone’s question, Carly just stared for a moment, a crimson color darkening her cheeks. “I was thinking,” Carly swallowed, how to explain her thoughts, “I was thinking about Jenna and that she would have been amused about a thought I’d had. I could just about hear her laugh…”

Det. Stone knew it wasn’t a lie and was immediately curious about the thought she’d had that would have made her friend laugh; but it seemed too personal to ask, so he didn’t.

“
Can you tell me what happened, from your view point, the days leading up to and including the day you found Jenna?”

Carly swallowed hard and jumped in with both feet. She kept her eyes closed for the most part, as if her memory was better with them closed, or as if she could close her eyes and ‘not’ see what she’d seen. She started with the call from Jenna, her driving home and staying in a hotel room and her decision why she chose to do that rather then come on to Jenna’s. She opened her eyes and looked directly at Det. Stone, “If I’d come on over, she would still be alive. If I hadn’t decided to get some sleep instead of staying up chatting, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Det. Stone could tell Daniel wanted to rebuff her statement, but he’d promised to stay quiet during the interview. Det. Stone knew what he was thinking though and said it for him. “You don’t know that. It might have just delayed it. Until we know ‘the who’ and ‘the why’, we don’t know anything could have been changed. If you had come on over, you both could have been killed; or the killer might have just waited until another time. You were not responsible for this…the killer is.” Det. Stone had used this argument many times suffering those with survivor’s guilt and knew that no matter what he said, it was the individual’s strength that would pull them through it, his words only marginally helped.

Carly seemed to draw some strength from his words. She was one of the strong ones. He smiled slightly at her in encouragement to continue. Carly finished dry eyed, barely.

That’s when the questions started. Det. Stone went back over everything she said, asking very pointed and direct questions. What was the conversation about on the phone when Jenna called her? What made it so urgent that Carly changed her plans and rushed home? When was the last time she was home? Why didn’t she come home more often?

That question was a tough one that Carly didn’t want to answer with Daniel sitting right there. She could tell that Daniel was staring at her, openly curious as to her answer. She couldn’t bring herself to tell the whole truth, “I needed to make something of myself and what I was looking for wasn’t in Landon Falls.” It was lame, they all knew it, but thankfully Det. Stone didn’t push.

“
What about other calls in the past, say, six months to a year? Anything stand out?”

“
We talked about her break up with Trevor…a lot! He really hurt her and now he’s hurting her…was hurting her, again with the whole engagement ring thing. We talked about what the family was doing. How well the shop was doing. She talked a few times about needing to hire help since she’d had to let Mrs. Fielding go. That seemed to be the only other thing she really talked about that wasn’t the usual. Treasure’s was doing so well that she really needed the help.” She looked at Daniel as if for confirmation. “That’s really it. We talked about my assignments, my travels, my social life…or lack thereof. But nothing that really jumps out at me.”

“
When and why did she fire her help, Mrs. Fielding?”

“
She was an alcoholic and was coming into work drunk. She’d lost her husband about three years ago and just climbed into a bottle and never really came out. She is a really sweet lady and kept her alcoholism under control, but that ended with her husband’s death. Jenna tried to help her, but when Bea, that’s what we called Mrs. Fielding, started stealing money from the register to help with buying alcohol, Jenna let her go. Bea refused to be helped and it was the only thing Jenna could do. She’d hoped it force Bea to get help.”

“
Did it?”

“
No.” Carly looked at her shoes as if they had the answers. “Bea finally drank herself to death about three months after Jenna let her go. She added in a handful of sleeping pills to ensure she was successful. Jenna was devastated. She went to the funeral, but Bea’s son, Lester, glared at her the whole time. He made Jenna upset enough that she left just before the ceremony was over.”

“
Why did Lester act that way toward her?” Det. Wright asked.

“
He blamed Jenna for Bea’s death. He had come in the shop before Bea killed herself, yelling at Jenna for firing her.” Daniel supplied.

“
Jenna knew she’d done what she had to do. Bea was stealing from her and she needed help. But Lester didn’t see it that way. He’s not known for common sense, rather, he is very well known for a quick temper.” Carly added. “Lester had actually been in a facility for kids with, well, I guess you could say mental instability, when he was in school. It never really helped. All it did was make him angrier. Bea would tell Jenna all sorts of stories before she took a turn for the worse. They had been really good friends before her husband died and she started drinking heavy.”

“
From what I understand, Jenna had only met him the one time he came into her store. He shouted for a bit, then knocked some items off the counter and stormed out.” Daniel said.

Det. Stone wrote for several minutes, asking a quick question every so often. Thanked Carly for her time, and as he and Det. Wright were ready to leave, he turned to Carly, “Please let me know if you remember anything else. Also, be careful. Daniel tells me you are going to be staying here.”

Carly glanced over at Daniel wondering when he’d had a chance to mention that. “Yes, I will be staying upstairs, and I will be very careful.”

The next morning Carly was locking the brand new locks on the front door to Treasures when Daniel pulled up. She had mixed feelings about seeing him again, but found herself mostly irritated that she was happy to see him. She knew she needed to guard her heart where Daniel was concerned.

“
Hi, I thought I’d see if you wanted a ride.” Daniel said as he came around the front of his car.

“
The lawyer’s office isn’t that far away. I was planning on walking.” Carly said, trying too hard to sound casual, but if Daniel noticed, he didn’t let on.

“
Then I’ll walk with you, if you don’t mind.”

Carly couldn’t think of a reason to say no, so she shrugged and turned to start walking toward the lawyer’s office. She wasn’t looking forward to the next couple of hours. She was still trying to come to terms with Jenna’s death and she wasn’t even sure why she needed to be at the reading anyway.

They walked side by side, in companionable silence. Carly had always gotten along with all of the Wayne’s and Daniel wasn’t any different in that respect. But he happened to be the one she fell hard for. She remembered all those years ago, when she first met Jenna at the softball tryouts their fifth grade year. They had been so young, just eleven, and innocent and had hit it off right away. They had been inseparable since that day, but it had been a long time before Carly had the chance to meet the Wayne brothers.

They were all into sports and were hardly at the house, so it wasn’t too hard for the three older Wayne siblings to avoid their little sister. Carly met Carter first since he was only a year older than they were. She already knew who he was from school but hadn’t really met him until she and Jenna became best friends.

Carly only saw Harm, the oldest Wayne sibling, in passing. He was seventeen and the handsomest man Carly had ever seen…that is, until she met Daniel. He was, almost, fifteen and was a girls dream! He was already tall for his age, was into football, girls and fun. He was the most romantic, sweetest, kindest boy she’d ever met…at least, Carly imagined he was. Harm was too old and Carter was just another kid…but Daniel, he was perfect.

Carly couldn’t help but smile at the memory of her first encounter with each of the Wayne siblings. She loved the Wayne family, then and now.

“
Penny for your thoughts...” Daniel said, noticing the slight smile on Carly’s face.

Carly started, almost as if she was surprised to find him beside her. She looked up and smiled at Daniel, causing his heart to give a little leap.

“
I was just thinking of when I first met each of you Wayne boys.”

Daniel had to smile at that memory too. His was a completely different take on the same memories. When he’d first met Carly, he couldn’t help but think that her big, blue eyes were way too big for her petite pixie face. Then he’d noticed the look of puppy love in her eyes and he spent the next few years avidly trying to avoid his sister’s best friend…it had been impossible, but before long he had come to think of her as another little sister.

The reading of the will was a shock to Carly. When the lawyer finished reading it, Carly stood up, mumbled something unintelligible and left the room. By the time Daniel was able to get away, Carly was gone. He had wasted several minutes looking around the lawyer’s office building, thinking Carly would be sitting around somewhere waiting on him.

Realizing she had left, Daniel headed out to find her. She had seemed shell shocked and it worried him. There were a lot of things happening to her in such a short amount of time. Daniel walked out of the buildings front door and turned left, toward Treasures. He started walking faster and faster until he was at a slow run. It had started to drizzle and the temps were lower than predicted. Since Daniel knew Carly hadn’t driven, he was worried about her being out in the cool, damp weather. She had lost a lot of weight, was over stressed and not properly dressed for the weather; she didn’t need pneumonia on top of everything else.

When Daniel reached Treasures, Carly was nowhere to be seen. The inside lights were still off and the front door was locked. Just as Daniel was about to panic, Carly came around the corner. She was lost in thought and walking on autopilot. She almost ran into him before she noticed he was standing there.

“
Daniel.” Carly sighed his name rather than spoke it.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, a combination of adrenalin from the panic of not finding her and the way she said his name. There was some elusive emotion that Daniel couldn’t quite grasp, but he knew something was shifting in him.

“
I’m sorry.” Carly shook her head, “I don’t know what she was thinking. I’ll find out what I need to do to fix this.”

“
What are you talking about?” Daniel demanded, on the verge of anger because he knew exactly what she was talking about.

“
I don’t deserve this. The shop, the apartment… they should go to family, not me.”

Daniel placed his hands on each side of her face and lifted her chin until they were looking at each other. “She did leave it to family.”

“
I know she left it to you too, but…well, it should have gone to the whole Wayne family…not me and you.”

“
You were her family too. Carly, you were her sister in every way that mattered. Anyway, you heard the lawyer, there’s nothing we can do to change her will…even if we wanted to. Mom and Dad knew Jenna’s wish to leave the store and apartment to you. We are actually surprised that she also left them to me. There were times when I wondered what that girl was thinking.”

Carly didn’t wonder…Jenna had been trying to get Daniel and her together since high school. Then after prom, she kept trying to get her and Daniel in the same town. When Carly knew Daniel was coming home, she made sure she wasn’t there. She had successfully avoided Daniel for eight years…Now Jenna had the last say; she was trying one last time to throw Carly and Daniel together.

“
We will figure it out. We can make it work somehow.” Daniel noticed Carly was shaking slightly and took a good look at her. She was wet from the drizzle, her beautiful chestnut hair was damp and her lips where trembling. Daniel pulled her into his arms for warmth; at least, that’s what he told himself. He turned, with her still in his embrace, unlocked the door with the new key Carly handed him and led her to the apartment. While she went to take a warm shower and put on dry clothes, Daniel made her a cup of hot tea and wondered what they were going to do now.

Chapter Two

It had been two weeks since the funeral and nothing had happened with Jenna’s case. There had been a few follow up calls from the police. They wanted to ask about this or that, they needed clarification on this statement or that statement, they received a new tip about an acquaintance of Jenna’s that they needed to ask about, etc… etc… etc… Carly was getting tired of the police spinning their wheels and not accomplishing anything. Yet she knew they were trying, but there was so little evidence to go on. Carly had always been respectful of law enforcement and the tough job they had to do, but she also understood the frustration that came to the families and friends of those waiting for justice.