Whispering Rock (Virgin River #3)(107)

“Were you proud of her? Your wife?”

“Oh, kid,” he said in a breath. “She was amazing. She was so afraid, so sick inside, so vulnerable…. But one thing you learn as you get older—it’s usually better to face the threat and the fear than try to dodge it. In the end the most important thing is that you have no regrets.”

“Because it’s never as bad as you fear?” she asked.

He laughed. “Did someone tell you that? Because sometimes it is as bad as you fear, or even worse. And sometimes you have to do it anyway, because the kind of life you’re left with if you don’t isn’t really of the same value. Brie is a perfect example of that. She went after that guy for raping women, knowing that if she couldn’t get him, he would be free to hurt more women and even free to go after her. But ignoring him would not only have the same effect, she would have to add to it that she never tried to do the right thing. Double pain. Double regret. To try your hardest and then fail—no shame in that. To do nothing? It just ends up being harder to live with.”

“The detective said he doesn’t know what will happen to those guys… Doesn’t even know if there will be a trial.”

“They don’t even know if they’ll do time. I think almost all the drug charges were pled down for information that will help the police with bigger cases. I don’t think they pled down any of the sexual assault, but if I were Whitley’s lawyer, I’d talk him into a plea agreement rather than a trial. He goes to trial, he’s so cooked.”

“No time?” she asked.

“Don’t worry, Brenda—he’s over eighteen, barely. He’s outta here—he won’t be back in school with you. Since he made bail, he’s been in another city with his father. He isn’t going to be back here. He’d get tarred and feathered.”

“What if…?” She stopped and thought a second. “What if I’d come forward sooner? Would I have saved anyone?”

“Don’t know,” he answered. “But, honey, when your number was called, you stood up, you told the truth and you helped get the job done. You should be very proud of yourself. I’m very proud of you. We all are.”

The next afternoon at about four, Mike drove out to the general’s house. He parked in front, but saw that there was someone down by the corral, forearms leaning on the top rail, one booted foot hoisted onto the bottom. That was who Mike was looking for and he walked down the small hill. “Tom,” he said to the boy’s back.

The boy turned, saw it was him and said, “How you doing?”

“Good. How about you?” Mike asked, joining him at the fence, aping his stance, one foot on the bottom rail, forearms on the top.

“Getting by,” Tom said.

“You having any trouble at school?” Mike asked.

“Nah,” he said. “There’s a lot of talk, but I’m not answering any questions.”

“What kind of talk?” Mike asked.

Tom shrugged. “Some people think they know that I got him caught, but no one’s sure. Well, no one but Brenda.”

“You did a good piece of work there, Tom. I know that was tough.”

Tom gave a huff of unamused laughter. “Yeah, but then again, no. I felt like I had two choices—turn him over or just beat the living shit out of him.”

“I would’ve felt exactly that way.”

“Is it coming together? You guys get the little prick?”

“Yeah, he is totally gotten. He started spilling his guts almost immediately. For a while there he thought he could put it on Lancaster—but it turns out that Lancaster liked getting drunk and high, while it was Whitley’s project to get the girls.”

Tom winced. “Beautiful. I should’ve just killed him.”

“It wouldn’t have worn well on you. So, you’re hanging in there?”

He shrugged. “I go to basic training with the Army right after graduation. Then the Point. I’ll manage.”

“There’s lots of stuff going on between now and then. Prom and stuff…”

“Nah. I’m just doing time. I’ll be gone before you know it.”

“What about Brenda?” Mike asked.

“There’s no girl, man. I sold her out. She’s finished with me.”

“You sure about that?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “We don’t talk. She won’t even look at me.”

“I saw her over at the sheriff’s department—she wears that bracelet you gave her. The pretty one with her name on it.”

“I know. I think she’s punishing me with it. Gives me false hope.”

“Maybe that wasn’t quite it,” Mike said. “Maybe she was just scared and mad, but not really finished.”

“I wish,” he said, leaning on the rail and looking down. “Nah, she said she hated me, and she’s pretty much acting like it.”

“You regret what you did?”

“No, can’t get there,” he said. “That guy had to be stopped. That stuff can’t happen. It’s wrong.” He coughed. “I knew there was a price.”

Mike clamped a hand on his back. “Tom, a man who will do what he has to do even though there’s a price, that’s a man I want at my back when there’s trouble. You did the right thing.”