He shook his head. “No disrespect, Mrs. O’Connell, but I’d never hurt Suzanne. Please, you need to listen to Marcus and Jack and not say anything else,” he said. Then he stepped back over to the house.
She wasn’t sure what was in Marcus’s expression, maybe amusement, and Jack chuckled under his breath. She looked to both of them. “What?” She knew it came out rather sharp.
“Never heard you use the F-word before, Mom,” Marcus teased, and for a second she nearly laughed. She would have if the situation weren’t so dire.
“I may not walk around cussing the way you all do, but sometimes it’s appropriate.”
“Well, how about, for your sake, you don’t make any more threats?” Jack said. “Harold is still a cop, Iris. It could be used against you.”
Marcus was looking over to Harold and then back, shaking his head, which she found odd.
“What is it, Marcus?” she forced herself to ask.
“Don’t be so hard on Harold, Mom. Unfortunately, he has no choice. Whether I like it or not, he still has to do his job.”
Then came a crash from inside, the sound of something breaking, and she pressed her hands to her face and shut her eyes. She felt a hand on her shoulder and heard Marcus swear, feeling as though everything she was dreading had come another step closer.
Chapter Ten
What was it about getting a text from his brother that made Ryan suspect all hell had broken loose?
He’d been out of cell service for most of the day because of a problem on one of the trails, where a bunch of ATVs had been cutting through private property, tearing up the ground, and basically being a nuisance. It was a pain in the ass that he hadn’t been in the mood to deal with, considering the cold shoulder Jenny had given him all night after they got home, all because he’d kept a secret from her that hadn’t been his to tell.
Was Jenny angry at his mom? No! She was one hundred percent in Iris’s corner. It was him she was angry at.
The result was that he’d gone all hard-ass on a bunch of kids whom he’d normally have given a warning, and now he had a cell phone that was basically blowing up with messages from Karen, Marcus, Jenny… His mailbox was full. What the fuck?
“Shit!” he muttered, dialing the phone as he drove back into town, feeling grungy and tired, his nerves fried. He was ready to go off on the next person he saw.
“Where have you been?” Jenny answered, starting in on him. “We’ve been calling all day.”
“It’s called working, Jenny. I was out of cell service. I have a ton of messages from Marcus and Karen, so what’s going on? And before you say anything, I called you first so you wouldn’t take my head off for skipping the queue.”
Okay, maybe he could’ve handled that better.
“We’re over at your mom’s,” she said. “Everyone is here. You’d better come, because the police showed up with a search warrant and ripped the house apart. Marcus has been put on leave, his badge pulled. He’s no longer the sheriff. Karen said a lot of stuff, basically calling out the DA as a prick. And your mom…I’m sorry, Ryan, but I’m getting really worried, here. I’m concerned about the effect all this stress is having on her.”
He heard her sigh, and it took him a second to understand what she was saying.
“Ryan, are you there?”
“Yeah, sorry. I’m on my way. So what made them able to get a search warrant? What am I missing? Did Marcus say anything?” he asked. Maybe he should have talked to Marcus first, but he’d had to remind himself of the pecking order after the cold shoulder of the night before.
He could hear people talking in the background.
“We’re all in the dark, but Luke is home now, too. He just got here about an hour ago. Ryan, I’m not kidding when I say they tore the house apart. They went through everything, dumped everything, broke things. Even when the thing happened with Wren…” She trailed off. He knew what she was saying. “They didn’t do this.”
“Okay, I’m not far. Where’s Alison?”
He hadn’t told his teenage daughter about any of this yet, because last night, after they’d gone over to Marcus’s, Jenny had wanted to wait. Alison had stayed home. Now he knew that was likely the worst decision he’d made.
“She said she was hanging out with Brady after school,” Jenny said, “which I thought was just as well, considering what I heard when Marcus called me.”
He shut his eyes. After everything that had happened since the day before, getting a background check done on Brady and his family had fallen way down on his list of priorities. “Call her,” he said. “She needs to know about Mom now, before it blows up anymore.”
There was a hesitation on the other end.
“Jenny…” he started.
“I’ll call her,” Jenny said. “Just hurry up and get here.”
Then she hung up, and he felt that awful, sinking sick feeling as he stopped at a set of lights, taking a second as his thoughts raced to the worst case. What the hell had really happened? There had to be something.
He pulled up in front of his mom’s house ten minutes later and could see that Suzanne was already there, as well as Karen, Jack, Owen, and Jenny, their vehicles all parked out front.
As he stepped out of his pickup, he took in Fred Thompson, the neighbor he’d known all his life, watering a bush out front that didn’t need watering, staring at their house. When he lifted his hand in a wave, he thought the man was going to walk over and say something, but instead he just ducked his head, gave a passing wave, and turned off the hose and started back to his house.
Ryan found himself taking in the neighborhood he’d grown up in, remembering all too well the whispers from neighbors once they’d learned Raymond O’Connell was gone. The remarks and the looks had stayed with him, and he wondered if he’d ever forget.
He strode up to the house, seeing the curtains were drawn, before opening the front door and stepping inside. He froze as he took in Luke and Marcus righting the sofa. There were cushions on the floor, along with dirt from the plants that had been tipped over, and scattered papers and books . The sofa cushions had been cut open, and feathers were everywhere.
As he walked into the kitchen, he heard Karen and Tessa and what looked like the entire contents of the kitchen drawers and cupboards emptied on the floor, the table, and the counter. Tessa was sweeping up broken glass, and Karen’s expression was grim as she held up the handle of a Snoopy mug he’d forgotten his mom still had.
He could hear Marcus down the hall, Luke behind him, going into their mom’s room, and Suzanne had pulled out the vacuum. The pictures on the walls were all down and taken apart. This was the kind of mess he’d never expected, and as he walked down the hall, he saw destruction everywhere.
“Holy shit,” was all he said as he took in every room. Even the cover for the toilet tank was gone.
In their mom’s room, Marcus and Luke were putting the mattress back on her bed. Her drawers had been emptied and her clothes tossed everywhere.
“Want to tell me what the hell happened?” Ryan said. “Like, I don’t understand what the fuck this is…” He stepped into the room, and Marcus glanced his way, then Luke, whose new clean-cut hair he would have to get used to.
“Search warrant,” Marcus said. “Gave them blanket consent to search everything. They broke a lot and weren’t careful. They walked out with some things from downstairs. What, exactly, I don’t know. Mom’s down with Jack right now. Of all the days for us not to be able to get a hold of you…”
Luke went to pick up his mom’s underwear and bras but stopped. “I’ll send the girls in here to fix this up,” he said, then stepped out of the room. Ryan wasn’t sure he’d seen his brother so off before.
“Sorry, I was in the park with a number of dickheads,” he said. “I see you all phoned, so what is this about?” He stepped further into the room, and when Marcus just shook his head, he said, “I’m confused, because last night, if I recall, this was about a crime scene and a body
with no ID. Has something changed that I’m not aware of?”
Marcus, still shaking his head, now shrugged.
“And why aren’t you more upset?” Ryan snapped. “Because you seem unusually calm.”
“Oh, I’ve had a number of hours to come back down from my blinding rage. Now we need to clean up and put this back together for Mom. For the record, they seem to have something, but I’m out of the loop. The DA asked for my badge this morning, and my gun. I’ve been put on paid administrative leave while they investigate, which… I’m not sure how a sheriff comes back from something like that. Not sure what else to tell you. Jack is now the official lawyer of record for the family, in case you missed Karen’s messages, since the DA indicated he intends to talk with all of us.”
Ryan wasn’t sure he was understanding correctly as he looked around at the mess. “So they can just do this, just walk in and destroy someone’s house and life with no evidence?” he said. He knew he was loud, and he suddenly wondered where Jenny was.
Marcus rested his hands on his hips and sighed, but he said nothing. Maybe he was giving Ryan time to catch up with his ranting.
“Is this the kind of thing you’d do, going into someone’s house?” Ryan said.
Marcus made a face and ran his hand over his head, then pulled it back down. “Usually it’s specific, the search warrant. Not sure how they got a judge to sign off on this, but it happens.”
“And we’re supposed to say this is okay?”
“Hell, no!” Marcus shouted, then seemed to pull himself together as he blew out a breath. “It’s not okay. And yes, this is personal and intrusive. I’ve never been on this side of it, and after executing a search, I’ve never considered for a second what the family goes through, but in all my years of working with the sheriff’s office, I saw Bert do this only once, to catch a paedo who was into kiddie porn. Maybe that’s why I’m taking this so personally. So, if you don’t mind, let’s just clean this up.”
“Yeah…” was all Ryan got out before Tessa and Jenny strode into the bedroom.
Jenny hesitated only a second before going into his arms so he could hug her. When she pulled back, he took in Tessa, who was already picking up clothes. Marcus had walked out of the room.
“I called Alison,” Jenny said. “She’s coming over. She may as well pitch in, and then we’ll fill her in. Your mom is downstairs with Jack. You should go say something to her.”
He just nodded, then gestured to the clothes. Tessa was picking up a jewelry box that Ryan had given his mom for Christmas when he was just a kid. The side was broken, and he had to turn and force himself to walk away, out of the bedroom, down the hall.
When he heard the front door open and in walked Harold, he wasn’t sure what to say.
What he didn’t expect was for Suzanne to walk over and slap him.
Evidently, he’d missed a lot more than he realized.
Chapter Eleven
Beside Iris, Jack had rolled up his sleeves and was standing with her in the circle of mess. On one wall in the back, where boxes had been stacked neatly, everything had been pulled down and dumped. In Raymond’s office, which she’d long since turned into her yoga and exercise room, with a stationary bike she’d used just once, she couldn’t step anywhere without kicking something.
She bent down and picked up art supplies scattered from their brand-new box, meant to be a gift for Alison for her upcoming birthday. What hurt more than anything was the fact that someone could come in and rip apart something that was so personal and special for her with no thought or care.
She still needed that shower, and then there was her hair. She hadn’t taken the time to search for her hairbrush in the disarray, and seeing all of it had her feeling violated in a way she didn’t think she could’ve explained to anyone.
Jack was lifting the boxes back into place, but she knew the police had walked out with the plastic tote in which she’d kept some things from Raymond’s office, their wedding photos, his files, and that damn letter.
Why had she kept it? To torture herself.
“So what happens next, Jack?” she said, having to clear her throat when it caught. Her back was to him, and she was still holding the art supplies, the broken charcoal and pencils and the torn canvas. She could hear him lifting another box back onto the shelf.
“We clean up and wait for a call,” he said. He was so matter of fact, and she found herself turning to the man her daughter had married, to whom she was looking to save all of them.
“And what kind of call is that? I sort of know, but just to be clear, don’t hide anything or sugarcoat it, because it won’t help me if you do that.”
He just nodded before they heard a commotion upstairs—yelling, she thought, from Suzanne. She glanced once to Jack before jogging up the stairs, him behind her, to find Harold in the doorway and Marcus holding back a spitting-mad Suzanne. There was a red handprint across Harold’s face. She stepped into the dining room and living room, where everyone was standing, watching.
“You lied to me! How could you be here and do this to my mom?” Suzanne screamed. “And then you left with that prick of a sheriff and Lonnie. Marcus, you should have fired him when you had the chance! Now look at this.”
Iris just took in her daughter, who was so over the edge with rage, and then glanced over to Alison, who had just walked in the front door. She stood there, wide eyed, and Iris realized she was still holding the art supplies. She put them on the dining room table, which was covered with dishes from her cabinet, and gestured for Alison to come over.
When she did so, Iris slipped her arm around her shoulder, not giving a second thought to the fact that she was wearing a short skirt and white tank top, with a jean jacket overtop.
“Grandma, what’s going on here?” she said. “What happened? Was there a break-in?”
She wished it were that simple. She wondered if she’d have felt less violated in that case. “Oh, I’m afraid it’s more than that,” she said, trying to force a smile as she rested her hands on Alison’s shoulders and rubbed. “Something that happened a long time ago is coming back on me…”
Ryan was coming her way, and Jenny was standing just to her side, her expression relaying the same shock that Iris was numb with.
Harold lifted his hand to his face, to the red handprint, which had to be courtesy of Suzanne, and no one said anything, which just made everything that much worse.
“Suzanne, calm down,” Marcus finally said.
Luke had stepped further into the room, and Jack reached for Karen, who was in sweats and sneakers, and pulled her back, because it looked as if she wanted to go a round with Harold, as well. Harold still said nothing and was standing with his hands over his duty belt. Before, he’d seemed like family, but now he was so official, and it terrified the hell out of her.
“Can we talk?” Harold said, looking right at Suzanne. “I understand you’re upset…”
Suzanne lifted her hands, brushed off Marcus, and stepped back. Ryan too was staring at Harold. She glanced back over her shoulder to see Owen and Tessa, who both took her in. The only ones missing were Charlotte and Eva, and there was no way she wanted either here for this.
“Upset?” Suzanne said. “No, I’m not upset, Harold. I’m a little past that. I’m furious. This morning, when I showed up with coffee and tried to talk with you, what did you say? You asked me to go stand over by my mother and Marcus and Jack, because I couldn’t interfere. That was what you said to me, you know, your girlfriend, your partner, the woman you live with. So now I’m suddenly…” She was shaking her head.
For a second, Iris thought it might be best to shut the conversation down, but she was just as angry and wanted to hear his explanation. How could he?
“This isn’t all on Harold, Suzanne,” Marcus said, standing with his back to Harold, looking so damn tired.
“Suzanne, look, this isn’t personal,” Harold said. “Let me be clear: This was happening with or without me today, and just so
you know, I only got wind of it after the warrant was served. I never had any advance warning. This entire shitshow took place around me, leaving me completely out of the loop, likely because they believe I’ll say something and be the weak link.” He didn’t pull his gaze from Suzanne, giving everything to her, before taking in all of them, his expression grim.
“What do they know about the body?” Marcus asked. “Do they have an ID? Come on, this is unbelievable. The warrant here was an overreach, Harold. What do they have? What did you tell them?”
The way Harold stared right back at Marcus, Iris saw something that could break her family apart.
“If you’re asking whether I said anything about what you shared, I was clear that I have your back,” Harold said. “But going forward, I’ve already been summoned to the DA’s office, and just so you know, Lonnie Bush was officially appointed acting sheriff an hour ago over me because of his time here, his seniority, and, as far as they’re concerned, his impartiality and lack of favoritism toward you. They’ve determined the skeletal remains are male, in his forties, and, based on the degree of decomposition, he’s been dead for fifteen to twenty years, falling within the time frame of when Raymond O’Connell disappeared. They know the fatal injury was a knife wound. There’s enough tissue for a DNA sample, but there’re no matches in the system.”
For a moment, Iris thought he was going to tell them more about this insane case, but Suzanne stepped toward him, her hands gesturing and her expression pissed. “That’s it?” she snapped. “What they did to my mom’s house is because of some corpse that was dug up? They’re saying it’s our dad, yet they can’t determine that, and this whole thing is based on that mouthy bitch, Rita Mae, and her lawyer, who are trying to spin something here…”
“It’s not that simple, Suzanne,” Harold said. “The problem is that Rita Mae gave a sworn statement in great detail about the night Owen was seen burying something, which she dug up because she was out there. The seed was planted in the DA’s mind, and you can build a case on anyone with enough circumstantial evidence. They want your mom brought in…”
#7-9--The O’Connells Page 23
