by Gregg Stutts
Suddenly, the driver’s door opened. His heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest. A man got out and looked up and down the street. He walked around to the passenger’s door and opened it.
And Michelle got out.
Chapter 52
The man helped Michelle out and the shut her door. They stood on the sidewalk and talked for a moment and then hugged. It was a long embrace. And then he kissed her. And she didn’t resist. She kissed him back. And even from thirty yards away, Max could see it was an intense, passionate kiss as he pulled her tight and she held his face in her hands.
His first reaction was the same feeling he’d had when Michelle told him she wasn’t coming back. It was like being hit in the stomach and having the wind knocked out of him. His legs felt weak. He felt lightheaded. So these weren’t the two men looking for him afterall, but maybe turning around and running was still his best option.
He’d suspected there might be someone she was seeing, but he didn’t want to believe it. And then he considered running again, but not away. He took a step toward them and imagined himself breaking into an all out spring and launching into the guy with a forearm to the head—the kind of hit that was now illegal in football for good reason. He wanted to do the same thing to Jack Murphy. Of course, Jack was dead so it felt wrong to still want to hit him.
They hugged again. Max put his hands on his knees and watched as the man kissed her forehead, got back in the car and slowly drove away. Michelle stood on the street and watched until the car turned north onto Ocean Avenue and was out of sight. Max stayed put in the shadows as he watched Michelle sit down on the front steps of her parent’s house.
He looked behind him. He wasn’t being followed and no other cars were in sight. Michelle was sitting motionless on the steps. It was time to talk to her, but if this wasn’t the definition of awkward, he didn’t know what was. There weren’t any guidelines for situations like this. What exactly were the rules of etiquette when you’ve just witnessed your wife kissing another man after you’ve flown a thousand miles to surprise her in an attempt to win her back? And once that’s done, having to tell her you’re a murder suspect and being followed?
And so he did the only thing he could think of. He walked up the sidewalk, stopped in front of the house and sat down next to her. “Hi, Shelle,” he said.
She didn’t seem the least bit surprised he was there. And she didn’t seem to care that he’d just seen her with another man. They sat together on the front steps in silence. The only sound was the ever-increasing wind blowing in off the ocean.
After a couple minutes, she said, “We need to talk.”
Chapter 53
“Let’s walk,” Max said.
They walked east toward the boardwalk. The closer they got to the ocean, the stronger the wind became. The smell of salt water was heavy in the air. “The hurricane may be turning to the northwest toward the coast,” Michelle said.
He nodded, but didn’t respond. They walked another fifty yards and came to the boardwalk. They turned north and began walking in the direction the wind was blowing, which made it easier to not only walk, but also hear each other.
“I guess you saw,” she said.
He wanted to be angry. But he wasn’t. He was more sad than angry. More sorry than upset. “Yeah,” was all he said. He knew that whatever Michelle had done was mainly on him. He’d opened the door and pushed her into the arms of another man. It didn’t mean he still wouldn’t enjoy delivering a forearm to whoever that other man was though.
They walked for a minute or so before Michelle spoke again. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Shelle, you have no reason to apologize,” he said. “I’m the one that needs to apologize to you.”
They walked a little further then she said, “He didn’t want to hear it, but that was goodbye.” She stopped and looked at Max. “I tried to end it.”
He waited for her to continue.
“I told him it was over. That it was wrong to keep seeing him. He wouldn’t accept it though. He said we’d talk again in the morning.”
“Was that Chris?” Max said. He knew she’d been in love with Chris before she met him.
“Yeah, that was Chris.”
They walked some distance in silence. The wind was getting stronger by the minute. The waves were crashing harder and closer to the boardwalk now.
Michelle said, “Now what?”
He started to answer but couldn’t shake the feeling they were being followed. And now standing under a light, he was feeling exposed. He looked up and down the boardwalk and then behind him on the street. He didn’t see anyone, but still didn’t feel safe staying where they were.
He led Michelle further up the boardwalk in between light poles where they sat down on a bench looking out into the dark Atlantic Ocean. The wind and spray from the crashing waves was hitting them in the face.
“I’m not sure where to even start,” he began. “So much has happened. So much I don’t even understand. Shelle, I know I failed. Badly. I let you down.” He wiped his face on his sleeve. “I have no excuse.”
She was quiet while the wind and waves were getting louder.
“I was angry,” he said. “At God. At life. At myself, for not being able to do anything to help Sarah. It’s not an excuse though. I realize that now.”
She listened and stared into the darkness, then reached over and took his hand in hers.
“And I pushed you away,” he said. “I wasn’t there for you. I was consumed by me, by my anger.”
She squeezed his hand as they sat together facing directly into the storm.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too,” she said.
“Shelle, I know we have a lot to work on and I promise we’re going to do that. I’m going to do my best to be the husband you need and want and deserve. But right now, there’s a lot I have to tell you.”
“Max, there are things I need to tell you, too.”
He quickly swung his head around when he saw headlights reflect off the metal railing in front of them. A car turned onto Ocean Blvd. and was slowly coming toward them. He couldn’t tell if it was the car he’d seen earlier at the motel, but he was suspicious of every car now.
“Max, what is it?” she said as she looked too.
He watched as the car got closer. When it passed by, he saw only one person inside and breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t safe to stay where they were. The next car could very well be the two men looking for him.
“Shelle, it’s hard to know where to even start,” he said. “I think I could be in trouble though. We need to get moving.”
“Max, tell me. What’s going on?”
As he led them into the shadows, he told her the whole story, starting with driving to work and coming across Dante’s accident. And then taking the picture. And why he’d sent it to her.
He told her about Dante’s mother not showing up for their meeting, but Jack Murphy being there instead. He explained the bad feelings he’d had about Jack. And then the phone call from Bill Jackson telling him Jack was dead and how the police might suspect him.
He told her about meeting Willy and Rose. And how Willy suggested he fly to New Jersey and then booked the flight with his frequent flyer miles. Lastly, he told her about getting back to the Windjammer after his walk on the beach and seeing two men hanging around his room and his car.
Ten minutes later, he was finished. Michelle had listened to the whole story and hadn’t freaked out. She said, “So what do we do now?”
“If the police think I killed Jack, then they’ll probably arrest me or at least take me in for questioning the minute I show up in Lakeside,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if someone set it up to look like I did it.”
“Who would do that?” she said. “Why would anyone want it to look like you killed Jack?”
“I don’t know, Shelle. I know how crazy all this sounds.”
She looked into his eyes and
said, “I’m not going to tell you this doesn’t sound like something straight out of a John Grisham novel, but I believe everything you’ve said.”
He was so relieved to hear her say she believed him. He was surprised though when his eyes filled with tears.
“So what are we going to do?” she said.
“This all started with Dante’s accident,” he said. “We need to find his mother. If she’s even still alive.”
“Can you try calling her?” she said.
“I guess I can try,” he said. “I haven’t talked to her since the night I was supposed to meet her and she hasn’t been answering any of my calls.”
His phone battery was down to 4%. Unfortunately, the wall charger was in his room and the car charger was in the rental car. He suspected he’d never see those again. He scrolled through his contacts, found Ms. Jones and placed the call. It rang and rang and rang.
And then he heard, “Hello?”
Chapter 54
“Ms. Jones? This is Max Henry.”
There was no response. “Ms. Jones? Are you there? It’s Max Henry.”
Finally, he heard, “I know who it is.”
He wasn’t even sure where to start. He hadn’t even expected her to answer. “Ms. Jones, where are you? What happened? Are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” she said. “Why are you calling me, Mr. Henry? Mr. Murphy said I should just stay put and wait to hear from him.”
“Mr. Murphy told you to stay put? Where?”
“I don’t think I should tell you that. Mr. Murphy just said to wait to hear from him.”
She obviously didn’t know Jack was dead. He was afraid if he told her, it might scare her and she’d hang up. Or she might think he was lying and hang up. It felt like a risk to tell her, but she wasn’t willing to talk until she heard from Jack.
“Ms. Jones, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Jack Murphy is dead.” He heard a gasp and then nothing. “Ms. Jones? Are you okay? Ms. Jones?”
He was about to give up when he heard, “I’m here.”
“Ms. Jones, I don’t know what’s going on, but somehow you and I are in the middle of it.”
She said nothing. He was sure she was scared to death and wondering who she could trust.
“Ms. Jones, do you know why someone might have wanted Jack Murphy dead?”
A pause and then, “Yes,” she said.
“Ms. Jones, are Mr. Murphy’s death and your son’s death somehow related?” he asked, not sure he really wanted to know the answer.
Again, a pause and then, “Yes.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t believe her. He did. He just didn’t want to. He wasn’t even sure what to say next. Somehow, he’d gotten himself involved in something he wasn’t going to be able to just walk away from. He’d been pulling on a thread and it was unraveling some pretty big secrets. He couldn’t stop now.
“Ms. Jones, I’m going to ask you to trust me. I need you to tell me what you know.”
“I don’t know if that would be a good idea,” she said. “For sure it’s not a good idea over the phone.”
“Ms. Jones, at the moment, I’m in New Jersey, a thousand miles away. I can come see you, but it will take a couple days. It would help me know what I’m up against if you tell me what you know now.”
There was no reply. He really needed her to talk. And then he heard, “Coach Henry, I’m going to trust you, because I don’t know what else to do.”
“Thank you, Ms. Jones. I promise to do whatever I can to keep you safe.”
He heard her take a deep breath and then say, “This all started about eighteen months ago, when…” She stopped in mid-sentence.
“Ms. Jones? Hello? I think I lost you. Hello? Can you hear me?”
There was no response. Then he looked at his phone. It was dead.
Chapter 55
He looked at Michelle. “I don’t believe this. She was about to tell me. My phone is dead.”
“We can use mine,” she said.
“I don’t know her number. I had it in my contacts.” He thought for a minute. “We need to get my phone charged.”
“We can go to my parents’ house. I’ve got my charger there.”
They turned south and walked straight into the wind. It was blowing much harder than it had been only twenty minutes earlier. A sudden gust knocked them both off balance. They held on to each other and kept moving while Michelle pulled up the weather app.
“Two people are dead and someone is making it look like I’m involved,” Max said. “There’s no way we can go back to Lakeside until we know what we’re up against.”
“Max, the hurricane changed direction and is picking up speed,” she said. “The track now shows it making landfall early tomorrow morning.”
“Where?”
“Right here.”
Chapter 56
“We might only have a few hours to get out of here,” Michelle said.
Walking into the wind was becoming more difficult with every step as the storm was bearing down on the Jersey coast. The boardwalk they were standing on might possibly be washed away in the next twelve hours.
Ten minutes later, they turned onto Island Avenue. And immediately, Max froze. He grabbed Michelle’s arm and pulled her behind a row of bushes. Turning onto the street at the opposite end of the block was a slow-moving car. He led her into a narrow alley between two houses.
“Is it them?” she whispered.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t want to take a chance.” He peaked around the corner of the house.
“What are they doing?”
“I don’t…” Max said and then stopped in mid-sentence.
“What?”
“They must know I came here to see you. But they might not know your parents’ address. Maybe they’re looking for a car with Arkansas plates. Where did you park your car?”
“It’s in the driveway along the side of the house,” she said. “It wouldn’t be easy to see.”
The car moved slowly past them. He couldn’t even be sure it was the men he’d seen, but they couldn’t take any chances. They’d be hiding from every car for right now.
“Max, there’s something I don’t understand.”
“What?”
“Tell me again why the police suspect you in Jack’s death?”
He looked up and down the street. “They saw us talking on the security camera at the field house.” “Come on, let’s keep moving.” They moved along the sidewalk, carefully looking in every direction.
“How do you know?” she said.
“How do I know what?”
“How do you know the police suspect you?”
“Because Jack was there when I came out of the field house right before I went to the airport. I’m not denying we were there together. I just didn’t follow him and kill him.”
“No, what I mean is, how did you find out they suspected you? Did they call you?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t talk to them. They left a voice mail.”
“What was the message?”
“I haven’t listen to it.”
“But you’re sure it was the police?”
He stopped on the sidewalk, looked at Michelle and said, “I thought it was.” He pulled the phone from his pocket and then remembered his battery was dead.
A few minutes later, they slipped in the back door of her parents’ house, who were surprised, shocked was more like it, but at least they were happy to see him. He noticed Michelle’s mom give her a look. It was the raised eyebrow look that could have meant anything. Apparently, Michelle knew exactly what her mother was communicating.
“It’s over, Mom. I tried to tell Chris that, but he didn’t want to hear it. Max and I will work things out.”
Her mom and dad were in the middle of packing. Before Superstorm Sandy, they might have stayed put and tried to ride it out. Not any more though. Much of this barrier island had been devastated by Sandy. They weren’t going to stay around and risk
their lives.
It was just after midnight when the warning sirens were sounded in Seaside Park. The New Jersey Emergency Management Office was now calling for a mandatory evacuation. And her parents didn’t need to be told twice. At twenty minutes after midnight, their car was loaded and they were backing out of the driveway. They’d already made hotel reservations seventy miles to the west in Philadelphia.
