Cass was quiet for a moment. “I remember that. I saw the video. It was very intimate and very invasive.”
“I’m sure it must have been very traumatic for Amanda. She was totally in love with Robert, to the point of obsession, and then to have him do that to her had to be devastating. Dawn seemed to think the experience totally destroyed her.”
“Yeah, I imagine it would.”
“It occurred to me that the wound had been festering for years, and then when Robert showed up in town as Harrison, a somewhat famous actor, I can see how that might set Amanda off even after all these years. When you stopped by the Timberlake Farm, were you able to talk to Amanda?”
“No. Her father was the only one there. I asked the same questions I’d asked everyone else in the area. Had he seen anything? Heard anything? That sort of thing. Where are you now?”
“On my way to talk to Amanda.”
“Pull over and wait for me. I don’t want you to go there alone. I’ll head your way right now.”
“Okay. I’m pulling into that dirt lot just before the bridge.”
By the time Cass arrived, I’d had time to go over things in my mind several times. It all made sense. Bill was a nice guy who’d done a bad thing by helping Robert in high school, but he hadn’t been the one Amanda had loved, so maybe she didn’t feel the same sense of betrayal toward him that she felt toward Robert. As long as Robert stayed away, Amanda was able to go on with her life, probably rarely stopping to think about him, but then he comes back, and all the feelings she’d buried came rushing back. Based on the phone conversation Jeri overheard, it sounded as if Bill had been feeling guilty before his death and wanted to apologize to her for his part in the whole thing. I wondered if he ever had. If he had visited her, and if during that visit, he’d brought up the worst thing that had ever happened to her, might that have served as the catalyst that had set her off.
Cass pulled up next to me. We decided to leave my car in the dirt lot and take his truck out to the Timberlake Farm. I hadn’t called ahead, so I didn’t know if Amanda would be there, but it seemed like this particular conversation might be one we wouldn’t want to warn her about.
“I need you to wait here,” Cass said after we parked in front of the main house at the Timberlake Farm.
“But…”
“No buts. This could be dangerous. I really have no idea what I might be walking into. I don’t need to have the added worry of your safety to distract me.”
Man, I hated it when he got all macho on me, but I supposed he was the cop, and I was the sidekick, so I agreed to wait. I watched with a knot in my gut as Cass walked up to the door. He knocked and then waited. After a minute, Mr. Timberlake answered the door. He must have invited Cass in because Cass disappeared from the front step. I figured he might be a while, so I took out my phone, answered some emails, checked my social media accounts, and was on the verge of logging onto a Sudoku game when Amanda snuck out from around the back of the house and approached the truck. I rolled down my window and waved at her. I thought Cass had gone inside to talk to Amanda, but maybe he’d been talking to her dad this whole time. Cass had wanted me to wait out of harm’s way, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to do when Amanda slipped into the driver’s side seat, closing the door behind her.
“Amanda. How are you?” I asked.
“Cass is in trouble. You need to call for help.”
“Trouble?” I asked.
“My dad. He killed Robert, and now he’s threatening to kill Cass. I’m not sure what’s going to happen. You need to call for backup.”
“Okay.” I grabbed my phone and called the station. When Rafe answered, I told him what was going on, and he told me to sit tight. After I hung up, I turned and looked at Amanda. “Your dad killed Robert?”
She nodded. “Shot him clean in the back. I tried to stop him. I begged him to let him go, but when he saw him here, he just went crazy. He grabbed his rifle, and when Robert took off running, Daddy went after him, yelling the whole time about how he’d ruined his baby’s life.”
“Robert came here?”
She nodded. “To apologize for what he did back in high school. I hated him. I mean, really hated him. And he did ruin my life, but I didn’t want him to be dead. I told Daddy to let him go,” she said again. “This whole thing is my fault. I shouldn’t have let things get to me the way I did. I should have tried harder to get over it, but I was just so mad and hurt. I wanted to get past it, but at the same time, I wanted to hold onto it.” She looked me straight in the eye. “Does that make any sense?”
“Sure,” I said. “I guess. Sometimes, hanging onto anger is the easiest thing to do.” I thought about the fact that I’d held onto the anger I’d felt after my accident for a lot longer than I should have. “Do you really think your dad will shoot Cass?”
“I don’t know. I hope not. I like Cass. I’ve always liked Cass. I know Daddy likes him as well, so maybe it will be okay. When Cass showed up asking to see me about Robert’s death, instead of coming up to my room and letting me know Cass was here, Daddy went for his rifle.”
I looked at the house. “So, what’s going on now?”
“They’re just talking. Cass is sitting on the sofa, and Daddy is in his chair. His rifle is resting across his legs. He’s not pointing it at him or anything, but the threat is obvious.”
“And Cass’s gun?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see it. If he has it, hopefully, he’ll leave it where it is, so he won’t give Daddy a reason to shoot him.”
“Yeah, no reason,” I whispered. I turned to face Amanda. “I’m sorry about what happened to you in high school. It wasn’t right what Robert and his friends did.”
She nodded. “I loved him. I wanted to marry him. But then he took something from me that I was sure I could never get back. My confidence. My dignity. My ability to look my peers in the eye.”
“It must have been awful.”
“It was.” She sobbed. “I was so devastated. And embarrassed. My classmates saw that video. My teachers saw it. Even my parents saw it. I really wanted to die. I might have if not for friends who helped me through it.”
I got out of the truck as Rafe pulled into the drive. Amanda followed me as I walked to his car to talk to him. Amanda felt it would be best if she and Rafe went in together. Rafe had a gun, which he drew before he entered the house. Amanda willingly volunteered to act as a shield of sorts by going in first with Rafe following behind. Rafe wanted me to wait in Cass’s truck. I wanted to argue, but he was stressed enough, so I complied. Nothing happened for a good fifteen minutes, but eventually, Cass walked out with Mr. Timberlake in handcuffs. Poor Amanda was standing on the porch, crying inconsolably as Rafe and Cass spoke off to the side once Mr. Timberlake had been helped into Rafe’s car. I got out of Cass’s truck and headed toward her. I wrapped my arms around the poor girl, trying to share my strength, but knowing that nothing I could do would really help. In his effort to find justice for what had been done to his daughter, Mr. Timberlake ruined any sense of security the girl might have gained over the years in much the same way Robert had stolen it from her all those years ago.
Chapter 16
Friday
“I found the perfect one,” Paisley yelled as she ran across the pumpkin farm with Cass. Gracie, Tom, and I were on their heels.
“That is a pretty perfect pumpkin,” I agreed. “It will look really good on that table near the front window.”
Paisley grinned. “I want to get some for the front porch too. And one for my room.”
“We can get as many as you want, sweetpea.” I knew I was totally overcompensating for the fact that I had ended up being late to Paisley’s play last night even though I’d sworn I wouldn’t be, but Tom and Gracie had gotten there early and had sat right in the front. When I’d explained to Paisley what had happened, she said she understood.