Maddie circled the boat until she got to the far side, and her eyebrows flew up when she read the name of the boat: Look At Me.
Holy crap.
Maddie dug into her pocket to find her phone, pulling it out of her pocket and focusing on the screen. Instead of making a call, which would call attention to her presence if someone was under the deck, she decided to send a text. After typing out a few cursory words – including her location – Maddie pressed “send” and pocketed the phone. Nick was close. He would be here soon. That meant she had time to get a better look at the boat before the storm hit. She wouldn’t be out here alone for long.
After studying the boat for a few minutes, taking the time to move from one side to the other and then back again, Maddie made a decision: She had to see what – if anything – was on board. She had to know if it was the same boat she’d dreamed about. She had to know if this was where Hayley died.
Maddie waded into the water, internally thankful she was wearing her J-41 shoes so it didn’t matter if they got wet, and quietly moved toward the boat. Since the wind was busy the water was already lapping at the shore and making a decent amount of noise. If someone was on the boat they wouldn’t hear her approach.
Maddie’s hand was already on the ladder when an inner voice urged her to turn around. The voice belonged to Nick, and he was begging her to think. She yanked her hand back, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth as she considered what to do. Climbing onto this boat – a boat she was pretty sure had been used to dump a teenage girl’s dead body into the lake – was a bad idea. If she could be assured the boat was empty, that would change things.
“Hello?”
No one answered.
Maddie cleared her throat and tried again, a little louder this time. “Hello?”
When no one answered again Maddie beat her hands on the side of the boat for good measure. “Hello!”
The boat was empty. Maddie was sure of it. She made up her mind quickly. She raised her hand to the ladder and swung herself up. She had to look around before the storm washed all potential evidence from the vessel. She just had to see. She was convinced Andrew Walker had abandoned it here – knowing full well the storm was rolling in and would wash all trace evidence away – and that meant she had to look around before it was too late.
What was the harm? Nick was on his way, after all.
“MR. WALKER, were you aware that your motherin-law’s boat was removed from the marina about an hour ago?”
Andrew raised his eyebrows. “No. Why should I know that? It’s not my boat.”
“I just find it suspicious that right after we told you we were impounding the boat it went missing.”
“I obviously didn’t take it,” Andrew said. “I don’t even know how to drive a boat. Jessica tried to teach me, but she doesn’t have a lot of patience. It’s harder than it looks.”
Nick wrinkled his nose. “Jessica doesn’t have a lot of patience?”
“She always said she wanted to be a teacher, but she would’ve killed all of her students on the first day,” Andrew said. “She doesn’t like it when people talk back to her.”
“I guess that’s a family trait,” Nick said.
“What are you getting at?”
“Mr. Walker, I don’t know who you’re trying to fool, but I saw your temper on display this afternoon,” Nick said. “Do you think I’m stupid enough to believe you keep your hands to yourself? People saw the bruises on Hayley. Just … stop.”
Instead of reacting in anger, like Nick was expecting, Andrew’s eyes filled with tears. “If you think I don’t know what I did to Hayley was wrong … then you are the stupid one,” he said. “I … I know what I did. I’m not proud of it.”
Nick faltered. “What did you do?”
“I hit her,” Andrew admitted. “I hit her more than once. I hit her hard. She was always talking back. She was always … obnoxious. I hit her. I admit it. I hit her and … I … hurt her.”
“How did you hurt her?”
“I didn’t mean to do it,” Andrew said. “Something’s broken inside of me. I’m a horrible man. I’m a deviant. I’m sick. I blame it on the liquor. It turned me into a … demon.”
Nick’s heart rolled painfully. It was time to ask the one question everyone had been skirting around for days. “Did you rape your daughter?”
“It only happened once,” Andrew said. “I … I was drunk. I was confused. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I just couldn’t stop myself.”
Bile climbed up Nick’s throat. “She was your daughter.”
“I just got confused,” Andrew said. “I apologized for what I did. I was going to get … help. I was going to go into rehab. I knew that what I was doing was wrong. I just … she shouldn’t have enticed me that way. She was asking for it.”
Revulsion washed over Nick, followed quickly by rage. “Mr. Walker, please step away from the counter.”
“What? Why?”
“You’re under arrest,” Nick said.
“You should just let me kill myself,” Andrew said, his face serious. “I have nothing left to live for anyway.”
“I don’t think your future is going to be that easy,” Nick said, reaching for the cuffs on his belt. “Put your hands out in front of you and step away from the counter. You’re under arrest.”
MADDIE searched the deck of the boat before poking her head into the cabin beneath. It was a small room, and thankfully it was empty. She’d been right. Someone abandoned the boat here hoping to take advantage of the storm.
A far off rumble of thunder told Maddie the tempest was getting closer, which meant she was running out of time. She turned her attention back to the deck, screwing her eyes shut and trying to step back into the vision. After a few moments, Maddie moved to the side of the boat where she believed Hayley had been resting in the vision and knelt down, pressing her fingertips to the fiberglass floor and hoping for a flash.
Nothing.
Frustration bubbled up, and Maddie fought to tamp it down as she busily slowed her eyes so she could scan each small portion of the deck in a methodical way. Her gaze landed on something underneath the bench on the aft side, and she crawled toward, something calling to her.
She couldn’t reach it until she flattened her body on the deck and extended her arm – and then the second her fingertips made contact with the item, which she realized now was a nylon rope, darkness overtook her and she slipped into someone else’s nightmare.
Hayley.
“WHAT’S going on?” John asked, walking back into the kitchen and fixing Nick and Andrew with a surprised look. “Are we taking him into custody? I thought … .”
“I just read him his rights,” Nick said. “He admitted beating … and raping … Hayley.”
John’s face drained of color. “What?”
“It was an accident,” Andrew spat. “I didn’t mean to do it.”
“Yeah, you accidentally climbed into your daughter’s bed and raped her while she was kicking and screaming,” Nick said, disgustedly yanking the cuffs tighter. “Shut up.”
“They’re too tight,” Andrew whined.
“Shut up,” John said.
“Did you find his wife?” Nick asked, inclining his head toward the hallway John had just emerged from.
“She’s not here,” John said. “I can’t find her purse, and there’s only one vehicle in the garage. I think she might actually be out.”
Nick stilled. “Really? I thought for sure … .”
“You’re not the only one,” John said. “I had a thought about that, though. What if Andrew forced her to move the boat? If he wasn’t seen on it, that would give him an alibi for Hayley’s death. He could claim someone else stole the boat and have plausible deniability.”
That was an interesting idea. Nick turned back to Andrew. “Is that what happened? Did you make your wife steal the boat?”
“No one makes my wife do anything,” Andrew said, bitter. “Why do you think I had to look
elsewhere for some love?”
“I’m going to hit you,” Nick hissed. “I … you make me sick.”
“Let’s take him down to the station,” John said. “We need to get him processed, and we need him to give us the details on how he killed Hayley and why he dumped her in the lake. It’s going to be a long night.”
“I didn’t kill Hayley,” Andrew said, incensed. “I already told you that.”
“You also told me you didn’t beat her,” Nick replied, nonplussed. “Forgive me if I don’t take you at your word.”
“Fine. I lied about that,” Andrew said, frustrated. “I’m not lying about this, though. Why would I kill Hayley? She was all I had.”
“What about your wife?”
“My wife is a cold and bitter woman,” Andrew said.
“Is that why you beat her?”
“I don’t beat her,” Andrew said. “I’d never lay a hand on her. I’m too scared. She’s one of those women who will cut your junk off when you’re sleeping. We don’t even share the same bedroom.”
Something about Andrew’s admission niggled at the back of Nick’s mind. “What? Do you sleep on the couch?”
“No. I sleep in the master bedroom and she sleeps in the other bedroom. It down the hall from mine.”
“But … I … this is only a two-bedroom house,” Nick said, confused. “If your wife slept in the second bedroom, where did Hayley sleep?”
“There’s another bedroom in the basement,” Andrew said. “That’s where Hayley stayed. It’s a small bedroom … and it’s isolated. It made things easier.”
“You’re one sick bastard,” John said. “That’s it. I’ve had enough of you. I have a feeling you’re going to be very popular in prison when word gets out about what you’ve done.”
Andrew’s face blanched. “That’s so unfair!”
“That’s what happens when you rape and kill your daughter,” John spat.
“I did not kill Hayley! How many times do I have to tell you that?”
“Then who did?”
Twenty-Four
Maddie rested her head against her knees as she leaned her back on the bench, horror washing over her. Hayley’s death had been worse than she thought … so much worse. She was having trouble absorbing the horror of the teen’s last moments.
Maddie was so caught up in her thoughts – and Hayley’s final memories – that she didn’t recognize the unmistakable sounds of someone climbing the boat ladder and landing on the deck.
“Why am I not surprised?”
Maddie jerked her head up, the color draining from her face as she met Jessica Walker’s terrible green eyes. “You killed your daughter.”
Jessica didn’t seem surprised by the statement, haphazardly dropping a bag of food on the deck as she regarded Maddie with blasé indifference. “Someone had to do it.”
“But … why?”
“She was going to go to the police,” Jessica said. “Do you have any idea what that would have done to my family? Do you have any idea how embarrassing that would have been?”
“You let your husband beat her,” Maddie said hollowly. “You knew he was beating her. You didn’t stop him.”
“There was only so much I could do,” Jessica said. “I didn’t want him to start in on me. That’s why I moved to the second bedroom. The man has issues. What can I say?”
“That’s not even the worst thing you did,” Maddie said, her stomach roiling. “You knew he raped her and you not only didn’t say anything, but you were purposely complicit in wanting her to keep quiet about it.”
“How can you possibly know that?” Jessica asked, narrowing her eyes. “No one knows that. There’s no way Andrew would’ve told you. He climbed into a bottle weeks ago, and now he’s making noises about killing himself. Personally, I hope he does it. That’s going to make things a lot easier on me.”
Maddie knew she was in a sticky situation, but since she was in such a vulnerable position on the ground – and Jessica was in a superior position while standing – she decided to take things slowly. Nick was on his way. She just had to keep Jessica talking. She had to distract her.
“When did you find out that your husband raped your daughter?”
Jessica didn’t appear bothered by the question. “I heard him while he was doing it. The screaming was … ridiculous.”
“And you didn’t stop him? Why didn’t you save her?”
“Hey, as long as he wasn’t trying to touch me … .” Jessica made a disgusted face. “Do you have any idea how gross he looks without a shirt on? It’s really too bad. He was handsome when I married him. That’s why I agreed to go out with him in the first place.
“My mother told me he was beneath me when I first brought him home,” she continued. “I didn’t want to believe her. He was so handsome, and he had big dreams. Here’s a tip: Big dreams don’t equate to big outcomes. I should have realized he wasn’t smart enough to make those dreams come true.”
“Why didn’t you just divorce him?”
“I’m a Watkins,” Jessica said, straightening her shoulders. “We don’t get divorced. No one in my family has ever gotten divorced.”
“So, instead of putting up with the stigma of being divorced you decided to let your husband brutalize your daughter and keep quiet about it,” Maddie supplied. “You should be named Mother of the Year.”
“Oh, get over yourself,” Jessica said. “My daughter was never going to amount to anything. She had too much of her father in her. She’s no loss in the grand scheme of things.”
“She was a loss to Michael. She was a loss to Trevor. She was a loss to … me.”
“I am mildly curious how she managed to snag Trevor Gardner,” Jessica said. “She was a plain girl and he was a popular kid. He came from money. If I thought they would’ve lasted I might’ve tried to come up with a different solution but, let’s face it, teen love never survives.”
Maddie begged to differ on that opinion. “Your husband may be an animal, but you’re the real monster in this. He’s sick. You knew what you were doing was wrong. You even apologized to Hayley for what you had to do. I’m kind of curious, though, did you think you killed her at the cabin? When she regained consciousness on the boat, did you give killing her a second time another thought? Do you regret anything you’ve done?”
“How did you know that Hayley regained consciousness on the boat?” Jessica asked, suspicious. “There’s no way you could possibly know that.”
There was one way. When she’d touched the rope under the bench … the rope that Jessica was trying to use to tie Hayley to a rock before dropping her into the water … she’d seen everything. Worse, though, she’d heard everything. She’d heard every single word mother and daughter exchanged during their final confrontation.
“I know things,” Maddie said, seeing no reason to lie. “I know that Hayley and Trevor were planning to go to the police. I’m not sure how you found out, or how you found her at all, but I do know you used your mother’s boat and docked behind the Gardner cabin. Did you just decide to check up there on a whim? I’ll bet that was it. You just got lucky, didn’t you? I guess it doesn’t matter.
“You then went inside and confronted Hayley,” she continued. “At first Hayley thought you were there to offer support … she still had illusions abut you being a good mother. Then she thought you were there to talk her out of what she planned on doing. It wasn’t until you started strangling her that Hayley realized you were always going to kill her.”
“I see those rumors of you being psychic are true,” Jessica said, her tone dry. “That’s a fun parlor trick you’ve got there.”
Maddie ignored her. “Hayley fought a little, but in the end she was ready to give up. She didn’t want to be unhappy. She was tired of it. Her last thought before she passed out was that she was happy because that meant she wouldn’t get beaten or raped ever again.”
“See, I did her a favor.”
“When she woke up on the boat, her fi
rst thought was of escape,” Maddie said, her eyes glistening with tears. “Even though she gave up that first time, she decided to fight the second time. It was too late, though. She was slow … and sluggish … and her mind wasn’t firing on all cylinders.”
“Her mind was never firing on all cylinders,” Jessica said.
“She tried to fight you that second time, but you didn’t give her much of a chance,” Maddie said. “You strangled her again, and then you dumped her over the side of the boat. You wanted to weigh her down, but it was harder than you thought and the rock came loose, so you just watched until her body floated to the surface. Do you want to know what her final thought was that second time?”
“Not really.”
“She thought about Michael,” Maddie said, her heart clenching. “She wasn’t scared of dying. She was scared that he wouldn’t find the strength to go on without her.”
“That’s what you get when you’re best friends with a boy who thinks he’s a girl,” Jessica said. “He’s such a loser. I won’t miss seeing his stupid face.”
Maddie growled, the sound low and menacing. “You’re beyond all redemption.”
“I’m not beyond survival, though,” Jessica said. “That brings us to a sticky … conundrum. What am I going to do with you?”
“WHAT are you doing?” John asked, eyeing Nick as he patted down the front of his jeans.
“I can’t find my phone,” Nick said. “I thought it was in my pocket.”
“Do you need it for something?”
“I want to call Maddie,” Nick said. “She was expecting to go to the garage to see the boat. I don’t want her wandering around, especially since this storm looks like it’s going to be a doozy.”
“I’m sure she’s smart enough to stay out of the rain,” John said. “You got lucky there. She’s beautiful and intelligent.”
“I’m the luckiest man in the world,” Nick agreed, moving to the driver’s side of the Explorer and opening the door.
“How long are you going to make me sit here?” Andrew asked, scowling as he tried to get comfortable in the back seat. “My wrists hurt, and I’m starting to lose circulation.”
“Good,” Nick said, running his hand over the seat. When he saw something black sticking out of the crease he breathed a sigh of relief and yanked his phone out. “Here it is. It must have fallen out of my pocket.”
Grave Delight (A Maddie Graves Mystery Book 3) Page 18
