A Stranger on the Beach(87)

“Nothing specific. Just a feeling that something was going on with them—something bad. Like they were in trouble.”

“Can you be more specific? How did this come to your attention?”

“Dad was gone a lot. Mom was on edge, and even more of a monster to deal with than she usually is. When Dad was home, they’d lock themselves in their bedroom and whisper. And not like that. I could hear the tone. It wasn’t happy, or romantic. It was like, urgent and troubled. I would ask what was going on, and they’d act like I was crazy. But I wasn’t crazy. I knew what I was seeing. Oh. Another thing.” She paused, thinking.

“What is it, Hannah?”

“Yes, this was definitely around that time. I saw a gun in my dad’s briefcase. Now, maybe he’d had it before, but I doubt it.”

“A—a gun?”

“Yes.”

Jess knew what her next question had to be.

“What type of gun? Can you describe it?”

“I don’t know anything about guns, and I only saw it once. It was silver and kind of clunky-looking. That’s all I remember.”

“Silver and clunky-looking” was an accurate description of the gun seized from Aidan Callahan’s truck. Was Jason Stark murdered with his own gun? That wouldn’t necessarily mean that Caroline had been involved. Maybe Jason pulled the gun on Aidan, and Aidan took it away from him.

Though that wasn’t how Caroline said things went down.

Was she lying?

“Did you ask your father why he had a gun?”

“Yeah. He said it was for personal protection.”

“Did he say what he was protecting himself from?”

“No. I wish I’d asked.”

“You said they were behind closed doors, whispering, seeming unhappy. Do you think that might be because they were having trouble? Problems in their marriage?”

“No, actually. They seemed more like a team than ever. He was more adoring. She was more on top of him, always having him call to check in. They seemed so close. Like allies against the rest of the world. That’s why I can’t understand how this happened. I have so many questions. I’m lost, I’m mourning my father. She abandons me at a time like this? Why would she do that? There has to be something I don’t know. What is she hiding from me?”





53


“Callahan. Get up. You got a visitor,” the corrections officer said, rapping on the bars of Aidan’s cell.

“Is it my lawyer?”

“Civilian.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Get moving.”

A civilian? Could that mean Tommy? The whole way to the visiting room, Aidan thought about what he would say to his brother. He wanted to proclaim his innocence, to reassure Tommy that he hadn’t fallen that far, hadn’t done what they claimed he did. That all of Tommy’s efforts hadn’t been for naught. But why would Tommy believe him? This wasn’t their first rodeo. They’d been through it all before. Aidan remembered swearing to Tommy that what happened with Matthew Bostick was an accident. A fight over a girl in which Aidan hadn’t even thrown the first punch. Tommy believed him then—and stood up for him, at some risk to his own reputation. And again, on the night of Jason Stark’s murder, Tommy took a huge risk for Aidan, throwing him out of Caroline’s house without reporting the breakin. Aidan promised to go to Tommy’s house, to look out for his family, to stay out of trouble. Instead, he went back to Caroline’s house, and now he was charged with her husband’s murder. How could he ask Tommy to believe that was a mistake? The same man keeps getting wrongly accused? Lightning doesn’t strike twice. Anybody would laugh.

Besides, Aidan couldn’t even be certain that the accusation was false. Try as he might, he couldn’t remember the events of that night after he walked out into the storm. He was starting to think a piece of flying debris must’ve smacked him in the head, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. The problem was, that left him not knowing what had happened. If they asked him to swear on a Bible that he was innocent of Jason Stark’s murder, he’d have to decline.

As Aidan walked into the visiting room, he realized there was nothing he could say to excuse himself. He’d hold his brother’s hand and thank him. Then tell him to go home and hug his kids and forget about Aidan. He was a lost cause.

He had that whole emotional conversation with himself. Then he got to the table and saw that his visitor wasn’t his brother at all. It was Brittany Pulaski, Samantha’s sister, the catering manager at Harbor Gourmet. He had no idea why she was here.

Aidan sat down across from Brittany and stared at her.

“Brittany. What are you doing here?”

Brittany was two years older than Samantha, and pretty, with the same gray eyes and curly dark hair. They’d been good friends back in high school. But after Matthew died, Samantha’s whole family turned their backs on Aidan, including Brittany. In recent years, she’d thawed some. Brittany would now say hi when they crossed paths. She’d even hired him for that bartending gig at Caroline’s house. Though, look how that turned out. The Pulaskis were bad luck for him, it seemed.

“Hey, Aidan. How you doing?” Brittany said.

“Uh. Not great.”

“Yeah, well, I won’t take a lot of your time.”