Close to the Truth, page 15
‘It’s going to be okay.’ He didn’t see how it was ever going to be okay.
‘Theo is the River Man.’ She forced the words out through clamped teeth. She was shaking so bad.
‘I know. My father is involved too.’ He couldn’t look her in the eye as he said that. All this time his father had been trying to tell him how to live his life, warning him about stepping on to the wrong side of town and there he was, taking bribes and looking the other way. ‘You need to get to the hospital.’
She shook her head. ‘Don’t leave me.’
‘I won’t.’ He wasn’t letting her out of his sight. ‘We need to go back into town.’ He picked her up and carried her back to the boat.
Tyler’s face was hard. For a moment Gil wasn’t sure he could trust his friend. What if he’d been in on it too?
‘You got a problem?’
Tyler shook his head. ‘Getting caught up in a feud between the Royles and the Thorpes isn’t going to end well.’
‘It’s bigger than that.’ Gil helped Jasmine put on his coat properly and do up the buttons. He didn’t tell Tyler the rest. That wasn’t his to tell.
Tyler took off his cap and put it on Jasmine’s head. ‘Stay down. Your cousin is searching for you.’ He looked at Gil. ‘Where do you want to go? Your car, Dad’s place or town? I’m thinking town. She doesn’t look so good.’ He pointed at Jasmine’s leg.
Gil hadn’t noticed it before, but the leg of her jeans was torn, and she was bleeding. ‘Jasmine, how bad are you hurt?’ Her eyes were dazed, and it took her too long to respond. ‘To town. I’ll carry her if I have to.’
‘I’ll get Angie to pick us up.’
Gil was about to make a comment about Angie not lifting a finger to help Jasmine in the past, but he kept his mouth shut. He didn’t care who helped or what their motives were. Angie would love being first on the scene for this lot of gossip.
Tyler stopped the boat just past the bridge and the picnic table. There was a small jetty that he tied the boat to. Gil climbed up, and between him and Tyler they got Jasmine up.
Angie ran down the pier in her heels; she’d obviously been at work. ‘Oh my God! What happened?’
‘River Man got her.’ That was the truth.
Angie took a step back. ‘Don’t bullshit to me, Gilbert Easton. I was talking to Nancy and she said there is no River Man, it’s all a big hoax. That’s what the TV show people said.’
‘The person pretending to be the River Man got her.’ Tyler hauled himself up onto the pier. ‘Not that it matters what happened, only that she needs to get to hospital.’
She was still cold to touch. ‘Come on, Jas, hold on just a little longer. We’ll get you warmed up and you’ll feel as good as new.’
He picked her up and she curled against him. He didn’t want to let her go. ‘Where’s your car?’
Angie looked at him. ‘You really do love her.’
Did he? After all this time … when he knew that what they had was going to end … that they could never be together.
‘Yeah.’ He did love her, maybe he always had, but that didn’t mean she would ever be his.
His eyes stung and he glanced down at Jasmine. She always reached deep into his life and pulled apart who he thought he was. With her he was better. He followed Angie to her car, Tyler trailing.
Music was playing in the centre. There would be stalls of cakes and crafts. Everything that made the River Man Festival so popular. It was all a lie. A lie to cover up criminal activity and then a lie to hide a man’s desire to kill.
Angie stopped and Gil ran into the back of her. He looked up.
Theo was sitting on the picnic table, gun by his side. ‘When I saw you, I knew you’d bring her to me.’
Gil became stone.
‘I didn’t do anything. I was just meeting my fiancé.’ Angie put her hands up and started walking away.
Theo pointed at Gil. ‘You. Mr Reliable. You don’t want to risk your father’s reputation, the good Easton name?’
Behind his back, Tyler was making a phone call; he was asking for the police. No … anyone but the cops. But Tyler didn’t know it all, he still trusted the police. Gil had too, now he couldn’t even trust his own father.
‘It’s over, Theo. The truth is out. Your father is dead.’ Angie’s car was fifty yards away in the car park—which was a glorified gravel square with a few wooden bollards across the front to stop people from driving into the river. She was halfway to her car.
Theo jerked as though struck. ‘What did you do to him?’
‘He killed himself so he wouldn’t be forced to turn you in.’ Gil shifted Jasmine’s weight. The arm that had been around his neck slid free. She was unconscious, a dead weight in his arms. The only sign of life was the lifting of her chest with each breath. She was still alive.
A cop car pulled up and Chief Easton got out.
They were drawing onlookers now. Curious locals and out-of-towners were wondering why that TV show host was looking dead and the cops were on the scene.
Angie had her car door open and was waiting for him. Gil held his father’s gaze.
‘Put her in my car and I’ll get her to hospital.’ His father’s voice was level, but the challenge was there, daring him to make a scene.
Gil dared.
‘I’m taking her. You should be arresting Theo.’ Gil started forward.
‘For what? Assisting with the search?’ He was making a joke out of it, trying to bury the truth once again. His father would bury Jasmine if he could.
‘I know everything, Dad. Everything. Jasmine and her team, they know too. It’s too late.’ He marched toward Angie’s car.
‘You are wanted for questioning regarding the death of Bert Royle. You get in my car with her and wait at the station.’
‘I’m taking her to hospital. You do what you need to.’ He put Jasmine on the back seat and slid in next to her.
Angie started the engine. ‘He’s going to lock us all up.’
‘Not if he has any sense, he won’t.’ Gil watched his father as Angie reversed the car. He was striding over to Tyler and Theo. Theo looked smug and confident. Tyler was frowning.
God, he hoped Tyler would be okay.
‘What do you know, Gil? What’s going on? Whenever she’s around you act weird.’
No, whenever Jasmine was around he knew who he was, and he stopped being who the town expected him to be.
‘It’s not about her, Angie. It never was.’
His father had wanted to make sure that they hadn’t gotten close because then they would have gotten close to the truth. Gil rubbed her cold hands between his. Her wet clothing had seeped into his coat. His jeans and shoes were wet and cold and clinging to his legs. How long had she been in the river for, cut and bleeding?
What had Theo cut her with?
Gil doubted that his father would arrest Theo. Somehow it would all be swept away. A lie would be told and repeated until the whole town believed that Chief Easton was the good guy and could do no wrong.
He closed his eyes.
No. That wasn’t going to happen again.
***
There was a police car waiting at the hospital for him. Gil made sure that Jasmine was seen in emergency and he gave the staff the contact detail for Luke and Calvin. The nurse who wrote this all down on Jasmine’s clipboard was the daughter-in-law of one of Nancy sons. She’d been a few years ahead of him at school and from the look on her face was more than a little horrified that the chief’s son was being escorted by a cop. No doubt she thought he had something to do with Jasmine’s injuries.
‘Will she be okay?’ Gil pressed.
‘I can’t make any promises. Her core temperature is low. But the doctors know what to do. She isn’t the first city dweller to run into trouble up here and get hypothermia.’ The nurse smiled, but her eyes were on the cop shadowing Gil.
The young man wasn’t going to rush Gil out, but he wasn’t going to risk letting Gil slip away either.
‘And the cuts?’
‘They don’t look too bad. She’ll need some stitches once she is stabilised. There’s nothing you can do, so why don’t you deal with your other issue.’ She indicated to the cop.
She was right, Gil knew that. But he didn’t want to leave. What if someone here was in on the scam or whatever his father was running? What if she vanished again? He turned to the cop. ‘Can you call her mother and let her know that we found her?’
The cop opened his mouth, and Gil was sure he was going to say no, but there was no good reason to say no, so the cop pulled out his cell phone and called Mrs Thorpe. While Mrs Thorpe knew more about the River Man than she’d let on, Gil had been there for her frantic call to her brother. She’d been worried about Jasmine.
‘She’s on her way.’ The cop said with a nod. ‘And we should be heading down to the station. The chief will be wondering where you are.’
As far as Gil was concerned, his father could wait. He had nothing to say to the man.
However, he didn’t resist. He wasn’t under arrest, yet, he was merely answering some questions about this morning’s events.
There was a crowd outside the hospital that hadn’t been there when they’d gone in.
Local reporters had piled into the car park and were keen to ask questions. Gil ignored them. They all wanted to know what had happened to Jasmine, was it the River Man again? Was he real after the crew had called it a hoax?
How did they find out so much so fast?
One of Jasmine’s crew—he could tell from the shirt she was wearing with the show logo on—pushed her way forward. ‘I can’t get any answers and this lot are vultures. Where are Luke and Calvin?’
‘Luke was helping the police. We witnessed a suicide this morning.’ That seemed like it had happened years ago, not this morning.
‘I thought that was BS.’ She put her hands on her hips.
Gil shook his head. ‘Calvin was out at the ranger’s station—the police brought the ranger in thinking he was the River Man.’
‘Clearly that isn’t the case. Is Jasmine okay?’
The cop coughed, clearly not impressed with the delay.
Gil ignored him. ‘She will be … they might let you wait with her.’ Gil gave the woman a pointed look. ‘We wouldn’t want the River Man to strike again.’
Her lips twisted. ‘Yeah. Got ya.’ She turned and marched toward the doors.
The press moved closer, still asking questions.
This time when the cop suggested Gil get in the car, he did.
The drive to the station took longer than it should’ve because of the festival. People were having fun. Listening to the music, and buying local crafts, spending up at the local eateries. Bitterwood needed the festival, but they didn’t need the darkness that it had sprung from. He had no idea how to keep them separate.
In the next breath, he realised it wasn’t his problem.
He wasn’t the mayor and he wasn’t on the committee. He might be the chief’s son, but it was well-known there was a rift.
Gil stared out the window. The town he’d grown up in wasn’t the place he knew, and he wasn’t sure it was the place he wanted to stay. The only place he wanted to be right now was with Jasmine.
***
Gil sat in the interview room, not sure if should get a lawyer before he started answering questions. They would want to know about Bert and about finding Jasmine. How much did he tell about the rest? At the moment it was the word of Theo Royle against his father. There was nothing concrete.
The door opened and his father walked in. ‘You’ve had quite the day.’
‘Yeah.’ Not the one he’d planned, that was for sure.
His father sat. ‘I know you heard some pretty wild accusations, and I can understand that in the heat of the moment that they might have seemed plausible, but she’s safe and it’s all okay.’
‘Theo has been arrested then, for kidnapping her, hurting her?’
‘We don’t know what happened. We haven’t spoken to her. I doubt her cousin would really hurt her. He was helping to look for her.’ His father smiled.
Gil pressed his lips together. That was the line that was being fed to everyone. ‘And the ranger, who had nothing to do with the deer deaths?’
‘Um, he has been released. It was a misunderstanding.’
‘Dad.’ He looked his father in the eyes. ‘You are so full of bullshit you don’t know top from bottom. The secret is out. The reporter at the hospital had heard the gossip. Kind of strange that the woman who uncovered it was suddenly targeted? That the old man killed himself.’ He’d never forget what Bert had said.
Be a better man than your father.
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’ But his father had paled.
‘Yeah, I do. Bert didn’t tell me what your role was, but you knew who killed the deer. Who killed that man twenty years ago and who abducted Jasmine. You’ve known all along.’
‘It was the River Man.’ His father stood. ‘You can talk to one of the officers and give your statement. Cool your heels for a bit until you see sense. You’ve had a big day.’
Gil stood. ‘This isn’t the nineteen-hundreds. People aren’t stupid. You can’t shut down a whole TV show. They’re going to talk about the hoax and people will speculate who it could have been. People in town are going to wonder who the killer is among them. They’ll look at you and know you did nothing.’
His father stepped back. ‘Shut your mouth.’
‘No. I won’t sit back and let the lies of a few create fear for many.’
There was a knock on the door, two seconds later the young cop stuck his head in. He glanced at the chief. How much he heard? It didn’t matter, after today his father’s career was over. ‘Chief, what should I do with Luke Melrose? His lawyer is demanding that if he isn’t being charged with anything, he be released.’
His father drew in a couple of breaths. It was all unravelling. There was a glimmer of fear in his father’s eyes. Something he’d never seen before. ‘Let him go. The sooner they’re out of Bitterwood the better.’
Did his father really think that would be enough? That everyone would forget?
His father turned and his heel and strode out.
Eventually someone found the time to take Gil’s statement about the suicide of Bert Royle and the rescue of Jasmine Heydon. Then he was free to go.
He made his way back across town to the hospital on foot. He stopped when he saw the Cryptid or Hoax? team all set up and recording near some of the festival signs. They were talking about the power of myths, and how even now the belief in them meant that every strange occurrence was blamed on something that couldn’t be real. There was no mention that it was a hoax. Perhaps they weren’t allowed.
Looking at Calvin as he talked, he seemed to be having the time of his life.
It was only when the camera stopped that the smile faded.
He beckoned Gil. ‘Thank you.’
‘It was nothing. I did what anyone would.’
‘No you didn’t. No one here would’ve helped her. In a big city you might be invisible but at least people aren’t pretending that everything is peachy. Did the cops arrest him?’
‘I don’t think so.’ Theo was still out there; would he try again? Surely he wouldn’t keep on being the River Man?
‘I think you’ll find some cops are arriving from the city to help out. It’s not going to look good for your father.’
‘I know.’ His father had always been happy to shrug and blame the River Man, and all those times he’d been right. It had been the River Man and his father had known who that was. The good Easton name was going to lose its polish and power.
His halo had well and truly been knocked off.
***
When Jasmine woke up, there were people waiting to see her. Luke and Calvin, a cop—not Chief Easton, notably—a lawyer from the TV station and Gil. The doctor who was treating her had told her that she didn’t have to see any of them if she didn’t want to.
She didn’t know what she wanted to do, but she needed to know what was going on. And what had happened while she was unconscious. She remembered the cold chewing through like a living thing intent on getting to the juicy warmth of her innards. She remembered Gil holding her and never wanting to leave his embrace.
The rest was kind of fuzzy.
Her mother was at her bedside holding her hand. ‘I’ll step out, call your father and make sure he’s okay with the grandkids.’
Jasmine opened her mouth to argue that he’d be fine but shut it again. Her mother had left him with the grandkids. That was a big a step. So Jasmine just smiled and nodded.
The local cop and the big city lawyer came in and she gave her statement. It was clear that no one had arrested Theo. They thought he’d been trying to find her. And now she was neatly tucked into bed waiting for him to show up. She wasn’t safe here. All she wanted to do was go home, home being Tricia’s apartment.
She made it very clear that Theo had confessed to acting as the River Man, that he’d killed several times, and that he’d had special gloves and that was how he’d scratched her. ‘Have you found the rental car?’
‘It was on fire,’ the cop confessed.
They all knew that meant there would be no evidence left.
‘But I think I’ve got enough.’ The cop stood.
‘You’ll be bringing Theo Royle in for questioning?’ the lawyer asked, but it was more of an order.
The cop swallowed and nodded. ‘Yes.’
If the chief did the questioning, then Theo would walk. They were in it together—parasite and host couldn’t be separated, and they were so tightly enmeshed it was hard to tell which was which. The lawyer showed the cop out then turned back to her. ‘You want to press charges against your cousin?’
All the times she’d been told about family loyalty rang in her head. What loyalty, they’d had none for her. ‘Yes. They might be the only ones that stick.’
Her cousin had tried to kill her to protect his family’s criminal activities. Activities that had put extra cash into the pocket of Chief Easton. And it had been going on for generations. Horse rustling had given way to a chop shop and then drugs, with the River Man creating enough fear or enough of a distraction that no one wanted to look too closely at what went on upstream. And most people believed the cops when they said everything was fine and they were taking care of things. What a scam. If Theo hadn’t gotten a taste for blood, how long would it have continued?
