Buried [Completed]

Chapter thirty-one

Wade glanced at the darkening sky. It was going to rain, soon. Good thing they were almost finished with the crime scene. He nodded at one of his deputies, giving him permission to wrap things up. Then he moved away from the action toward the cottage where Dougal and Jamie were sitting on the porch. After Jamie had vomited out the contents of her stomach, Dougal had gone into the cottage to get her some water and a blanket. Now she was settled in one of the old wooden chairs on the porch. 

"I can drive you back now," Wade said. "Have you had a chance to call Stella?" 

Dougal nodded. "She and Amos are both at home. They're more than happy to have Jamie come stay with them a few days." 

In the SUV, Wade helped Jamie fasten her seat belt before he executed a three-point turn and drove off. What a hell of a day this was turning out to be. Wade hadn't been close to Daisy Hammond since high school, still her death was tough to take. It didn't help to know that she'd been murdered and buried on his home turf. True, the crime had happened before he was elected Sheriff. Still, it felt like a failure on his part. 

He checked out the pressing clouds above, then glanced at Jamie, sitting silently in the passenger seat. Her shoulders were covered in the blanket Dougal had provided. Her expression looked blank, and her fingers trembled on a Styrofoam cup filled with warm tea that one of the paramedics had given her. She was in shock and he wished it could last forever, because once the numbness wore off, he knew she was going to hurt like hell. And it wasn't right. That goddamned Kyle. 

The rain started then. A slow, gentle rain— a cleansing rain his mother used to call it. "Just wait until the morning," she would tell him when he was small, complaining about having to stay inside. "The world will be all fresh and clean and beautiful again." But the stain Kyle Quinpool had created would not be washed away so easily. The pain and hurt would linger for years. He thought about Chester and Cory. For lifetimes. 

Before dropping Jamie off at Stella's he asked if she knew when Kyle was getting back from his business trip. She glanced at the time on his dash. "Should already be there." Then she shuddered. 

* * * 

Though Wade hated leaving Jamie, he did it. Back in his SUV he headed to the Quinpool house and found Kyle's vehicle in the driveway. Wade drove up behind it, effectively blocking him in. As he headed for the front door, he thought back to all the times he'd visited here as a kid. Sad how things had changed over the years. Back then he'd figured he, Kyle, Daisy and Dougal would be pals for life. Sure hadn't worked out that way. Kyle was quick to appear at the door, his face either worried or angry, Wade couldn't tell which. 

"Where the hell is Jamie? Is she okay?" 

"Jamie is fine. But she won't be coming home tonight." 

"What are you talking about?" 

So many emotions flashed over Kyle's face, it was difficult to read them all. But Wade thought fear was one of them. And possibly guilt. 

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" 

"Tell me where Jamie is first." 

"That's not your main concern right now. We found a body buried out beyond the Hammond cottage on Forestry Road." 

Kyle grew still and alert, like a cat sniffing for danger. He stared at Wade cautiously, and when Wade offered nothing more, reluctantly stepped to the side. 

"You better come in." 

Wade nodded. "Good idea." 

Kyle led him to the large kitchen at the back of the house. A couple of empty beer cans were on the counter. Kyle pulled out two fresh Buds, passed one to Wade, then popped open the other. Wade was tempted. He'd never drunk on duty before. But it had been a hard day and it wouldn't be getting any easier in the foreseeable future. 

"So. This body...?" 

"We'll need autopsy results to be positive, but I recognized Daisy's watch. You know she wore it all the time." 

Kyle swallowed. Wouldn't look at him. "What does this have to do with Jamie?" 

"She knows you've been going to Sacramento every month and withdrawing money from Daisy's checking account so it would look like your ex-wife was still alive." 

Kyle took another drink of his beer, his hand shaking this time. During the long drive from the cabin, Wade had been thinking. He had a good head for dates and he thought he could piece together what had happened. 

"You and Daisy had just signed the final divorce papers, when she came to see you about something, probably involving custody of the twins. I'm guessing the visit was late at night. You invited her in, the two of you argued, you lost your temper and got rough. Too rough." 

He stopped. Kyle still wasn't talking. "Maybe you didn't mean to kill her, just got rougher than intended. But when you saw what you'd done, you panicked. You pulled your SUV into the garage, wrapped her body in a tarp, then loaded her into the back and drove out to her aunt's old cabin. You and Daisy used to go there to be alone. You knew where to find it. And you knew it would be deserted." 

He paused. The look on Kyle's face could best be described as horror. 

"And you buried her, didn't you? Then you drove back and started spreading the story she'd run off. You destroyed her purse, keeping the bank card so you could use it to make those withdrawals to create the illusion she was still alive... and corroborate your story." 

He stopped talking and waited for Kyle to react. Finally he did. 

"You really think I'm capable of that?" 

Wade hesitated. The fact was, he didn't. Kyle had always looked to others to clean up his dirty work for him. And then he realized what must have happened. Kyle's parents had moved back in with him after Daisy left. So they would have been in the house, too. They could not possibly have failed to hear what was going on. 

"Your parents were in on the cover-up, weren't they?" 

Kyle's dad, so proud, so protective of the son who had joined him in the family business, would have been the one to figure out what needed to be done. Kyle swore. 

"You can't prove any of this. And even if it happened, no way can you prove my folks were involved in any way." 

"I'll be able to prove you used Daisy's bank card to make those withdrawals." 

He held out his hand. "Your wallet?" 

Kyle glanced around, probably weighing his options. 

"Don't do anything stupid Kyle. I'm going to be taking you in for questioning. You can either hand over your wallet to me now, or to one of the guys at the station, later." 

The muscles in Kyle's jaw tightened. Without another word, he pulled out his wallet. Wade took a quick look. Daisy's bank card was in a paper sleeve, but it was there, all right. Kyle's eyes flashed with anger. 

"I should have known marrying Jamie was a mistake." 

Wade couldn't agree with him more on that point. 

"We're already in the process of gathering evidence. Soon I'll have a warrant to search your home, too. We're going to interview your mother and your father, and we'll find out what happened, Kyle. You could save us all a lot of trouble if you just told us the truth. The whole truth." 

Kyle's face convulsed then, from fear or anger, Wade couldn't tell. There was no point in saying anything else. It would be interesting talking to Kyle's mother. If she'd known about this, the guilt was probably driving her mad. In fact, Daisy's death and subsequent cover up was probably what had cracked Muriel and Jim's forty-year-marriage. Only something this drastic could explain why Muriel— who had loved the twins so much— had moved away. 

"You can't prove any of this," Kyle repeated. 

But he didn't sound so sure of himself anymore. As he sagged down on one of the kitchen stools, his gaze drifted to the fridge, where photos and artwork of his kids were displayed. 

"Nothing you say or do now is going to bring back Daisy. Do you really have to do this? Have you thought about the damage it'll do to my kids?" 

Yeah. He had. He only wished Kyle had done the same.