Down By The River

9

𝕀 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕒 𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕤𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕣, 𝕀 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕒 𝕤𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕗𝕒𝕝𝕝.

Charlotte was surprised that she was allowed to go outside for a walk with Eugenia the next morning. It wasn't like she had asked about it - Charlotte had spent the entire morning so far in her room, staying in bed and catching up on sleep. Plus, her entire body was bruised and battered from the beating she had gotten last night. Charlotte had just been thinking that she might stay up in her room for the rest of her life, but then her mother was calling her down and the last thing that Charlotte wanted to do was to upset her mother. Not after what happened last night.

So she had gone downstairs and there was Eugenia and Charlotte had never been so happy to see her friend. She had a lot to tell her and she was still upset over being caught last night, so she hoped that Eugenia was going to stay over and spend some time with her - preferably outside the house, even though Charlotte didn't think that would be likely. To her surprise, Eugenia was asking if they could go for a walk together and her mother agreed to let her go out - but to be back within two hours. So Charlotte ran back upstairs and got dressed for going out and came back down, so she could go on a walk with her best friend. She had to tell her a lot.

Despite that, they started walking in silence for a good bit, until they were a safe distance away from Charlotte's family and any neighbours that might overhear them. It was only then that Eugenia got a good look at Charlotte - her father had done a good job of not making it obvious that she had gotten a beating, but there was a tiny bruise underneath her left eye and Eugenia noticed it, of course. Plus, Charlotte probably looked incredibly tired and the pain from walking was most likely plainly visible on her face. Eugenia also knew what her father could be like. It wasn't like it was a huge secret that he could get a little rough when he had been drinking.

"You look tired. Did you go out again?" Eugenia finally asked her. Charlotte sighed and nodded slowly. She had thought that she wanted to tell Eugenia everything that had happened, but... well, now she wasn't sure whether she still wanted to do that or not. She felt a little embarrassed.

"Yeah. And I was caught red-handed. So that wasn't fun." she replied. Eugenia let out a small chuckle, which turned into a sigh.

"Was it very bad?" she wanted to know. Charlotte shrugged. She wasn't even sure what she should call very bad anymore these days. Yeah, it was bad. It was always bad. But she had no idea whether it was even possible to rank it like that.

"I guess it was the same as usual. I don't know. I tried to ignore most of it. He's just angry that I don't do what he says all the time and that he doesn't know everything about my life. I don't know why he should know everything. Isn't that God's job?" Charlotte replied. Eugenia smiled and shook her head.

"I sure hope it was worth it. But seriously, Lottie, sneaking out and going for a walk when there is a killer out on the streets? I don't know, aren't you scared or anything?" Eugenia asked. Charlotte bit her lip. She wasn't sure how to even answer that. Without ever meeting Zach down by the river she would have just made a morbid joke, some offhand comment that Eugenia would have found in poor taste, but would have just brushed aside as a thing that Charlotte said without much meaning behind it.

But now? She had met Zach and he seemed... he seemed nice. He didn't seem like someone that would strangle his fiancee and then throw her body in the river. And he looked so sad, sitting down by the river. Maybe it was regret? But then why would he come back to this place? It made no sense to Charlotte. She was wondering what actually happened that night. Whether anyone had the full story. She had only been fed bits and pieces every now and then and had to put the story together herself.

"I don't know... do you think he really did it?" Charlotte asked. Eugenia looked at her with a tilted head, as if she hadn't understood.

"What do you mean? Of course he did it! Who else would have killed her?" she replied. Charlotte sighed. She didn't even know how to tell Eugenia that she had accidentally met Zach Wright and that she hadn't turned around and run away immediately. She had been a little scared, yeah, but... she also felt strangely drawn to him. She was curious. Morbidly curious.

"I don't know who else could have done it. I was just thinking, you know... he doesn't really strike me as someone that could kill a young woman like that. I don't know, call it a gut feeling, but I don't think he did it." she said. Eugenia looked at her with wide eyes. She seemed a little taken aback by Charlotte being so frank about believing in Zach's innocence which wasn't too surprising. Eugenia's family were good friends with the Fletchers. They were among the first to call for hunting down Zach after everything that happened. For Eugenia it was probably unthinkable that he would be innocent. Charlotte was wondering whether she was maybe being naive about all this. Maybe she had been lulled in by his good looks...

"You're joking, right? Please tell me you're joking. You've seen him shortly when we passed the pub yesterday and you didn't even know that it was him! And you were five when he ran off. You have no idea what kind of person he is."

"What if I told you that I met him?"

"You... met him? What are you even talking about?" Eugenia asked. She didn't seem inclined to believe any word that Charlotte was saying. Which was good, in case Eugenia got really upset and threatened to tell on her to her parents. Charlotte took a deep breath, hoping to get the story across to Eugenia in the best way possible.

"When I was going for a walk last night, I... I went down to the river. You know. Where Grace died. And when I went down there, Zach was there and I wanted to turn around, but he had already seen me. So... I stayed, I guess." Charlotte answered. She could see from the way Eugenia looked at her that she was not convinced whatsoever. At least it wasn't going to be hard for her to talk her way out of this again.

"Right. So let's just assume that this actually happened and you're not just making it up for the sake of it... did you two just sit there by the river? Have a bit of a chat? In this scenario, why wouldn't you have just turned around and run?" Eugenia wanted to know with a raised eyebrow. Charlotte shrugged.

"I mean, yeah. We just talked for a while. And he seemed nice. I don't know why I didn't run. I wanted to leave, but he had told me to stay and I just... I don't know, I just stayed. I have no idea why I stayed, but I'm glad I did. He was... he's nice. I didn't feel unsafe near him or anything."

"Okay, what is going on here? You sound like you have a crush or something. Do you have a crush from seeing him that one time yesterday after church? Is that it? Is that why you're making up this whole thing?" Eugenia wanted to know. Charlotte sighed again. Maybe it was better to let her believe that she had made everything up.

"I don't know. I mean, you saw him yourself. He's handsome."

"Yes, but he still killed his fiancee!"

"You don't know that."

"Of course I do! Everyone knows that. Ask anyone in town who killed Grace Fletcher and they'll tell you that it was him. I don't know why you're being like this. It's ridiculous that you are trying to defend him!" Eugenia said. She sounded angry. Charlotte wasn't even sure how to save the situation anymore.

"I know, I know. Look, I'm not trying to defend him, I just... I was just wondering. I mean, have you ever heard the whole story? I sure haven't. I've heard bits and pieces of it, yeah. But it's this one thing everyone knows about and no one really talks about and it's bothering me that I don't know, alright?"

Eugenia eyed her suspiciously, before shaking her head in disappointment. Charlotte should really have known that Eugenia would react like this. She had been friends with her for such a long time and Eugenia was always scared of what people might think and what people might say about her. She was tuned into the town's gossip, as if she was one of the old widows.

"Lottie... if you want to know the whole story, you might want to visit Elizabeth Jones. She'll tell you every grisly detail. Just... don't get yourself in trouble, okay?"