Andrew Gross - The Dark Tide

“He was there?”

“No.” Hauck took the bag of medical supplies he’d requested out of her hands-disinfectant, tape, and gauze. He stepped back over to the couch with a bit of a limp, eased himself down. “Hodges was, though.”

Her eyes screwed up. “Hodges?”

“He was the other witness at AJ Raymond’s hit-and-run. I guess they were in this together. Partners.”

“Together in what?”

That was when Karen’s gaze focused on the welts on Hauck’s neck, and she gasped. “My God, Ty, what have you done?” She drew back the collar of his terry robe, eyes wide, gently running her fingers across the bruised skin, inspecting the torn knuckles, aghast, carefully taking his hands in hers.

“This side’s worse.” Hauck shrugged, guiltily, letting his robe fall open to reveal the matted blood and tracks of torn flesh underneath his arm.

“Oh, my God!”

“It was all set up,” he said, trying to explain. “Abel Raymond. Lauer. Those accidents, they were hits. Dietz and Hodges killed them both. To cover it all up.”

“What!?” There was a pall of confusion on Karen’s face, but also something deeper-fear, knowing that somehow what he wasn’t totally divulging related back to her. That Charlie was involved.

“What happened to Hodges?” she asked, grabbing the disinfectant and ripping open the box of gauze.

His expression was stonelike. “Hodges was shot, Karen.”

“Shot?” She put the things back down, the color draining from her face. “Dead…?”

“No. At least I don’t think so.”

He told her everything. How he had gone inside the house figuring it was safe, and how Hodges came in, surprising him, in Dietz’s office. How they’d struggled, Hodges slashing him with the horn, clamping the iron poker across his neck, how Hauck thought he was dying. How he’d shot Hodges.

“Oh, my God, Ty…” Karen’s eyes were wide and empathetic. The consternation on her face had turned to real fear. “What did the police say? It has to be self-defense, right? He was trying to kill you, Ty.”

Hauck kept his gaze trained on her. “I didn’t call in the police, Karen.”

She blinked. “What…?”

“I had no right to be there, Karen. The whole thing was illegal from the start. I didn’t have a warrant. There isn’t an open case against them. I’m not even on goddamn duty, Karen.”

“Ty…” Karen’s hand shot to her mouth as she started to realize the situation. “You can’t just pretend this didn’t happen. You shot someone.”

“This man tried to kill me, Karen! You want me to call the police? Don’t you understand? Your husband was in bed with these people, Karen. Dietz, Hodges. When Charlie left Grand Central that morning, he made his way up to Greenwich. He stole the credit card off of someone who died on the tracks. There was a call to AJ Raymond, Karen, from the diner across the street. Charlie made that call, Karen. Your husband. Either he was directly involved in the murder of AJ Raymond or he damn well helped set it up.”

“Charlie…?” Karen shook her head. “You can’t think Charlie’s some kind of killer, Ty. No. Why?”

“To cover up what Raymond’s father stumbled onto in Pensacola. That they were falsifying shipments of oil in one of the companies Charlie controlled.”

Karen shook her head again defiantly.

“It’s true. Have you ever heard of Dolphin Oil, Karen? Or something called Falcon Partners?”

“No.”

“They’re subsidiaries, owned by his company. Harbor. Offshore. You want me to call in the police, Karen? If I do, they’re going to issue an immediate warrant for his arrest. There are ample grounds-fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to commit murder. Is that what you want me to do, Karen? To you and your family? Call in the police? Because that’s what’s going to happen.”

Karen put a hand to her forehead and shook her head reflexively. “I don’t know.”

“Charlie was tied to them. Through the investment companies he controlled. Through Dietz. He’s tied in to both murders, Karen-”

“I don’t believe it! You can’t expect me to believe my husband’s a murderer, Ty!”

“Look!” Hauck reached over and grabbed the papers he had taken from Dietz’s office and put them in front of her face. “His name is all over the place. Two people are dead, Karen. And now you have to listen to me and make a decision, because there may be more. This guy Dietz, he’s looking for Charlie, too. I don’t know who the hell he is or who he’s working for, but he’s out there, Karen, and somehow he knows Charlie’s alive, just like we do, and he’s searching for him, too-I found the trail! Maybe they’re trying to shut him up, I don’t know. But I guarantee you if he finds him, Karen, before we do, it won’t be to tearfully look him in the eyes and ask how he could’ve possibly done this to you.”

Karen nodded haltingly, a tremor of confusion rattling her. Hauck reached over and took her hand. He wrapped his fingers around her tightened fist.

“So you tell me, Karen, is that what you really want me to do? Call in the police? Because the police are involved. I’m involved. And after today, with what’s happened, I can’t just reverse the clock and go back empty-handed anymore.”

Her eyes were filled, tears reflecting in them. “He’s the father of my kids. You don’t know how many times I’ve wanted to kill him myself, but what you’re telling me…a murderer? No, I won’t believe it till I hear it from him.”

“I’ll find him for you, Karen. I promise I will. But just be sure that with what’s happened now, these people know I’m onto them. We’re in it now. If that’s something you don’t think you can face-and I’d understand it if it was-now’s the time to say so.”

Karen looked down. Hauck felt a finger wrap around his hand, her pinkie, cautious and tremulous. It squeezed. There was a frightened look in her eyes, but behind it something deeper, a twinkling of resolve. She looked at him and shook her head again.

“I want you to find him, Ty.”

Her face dipped, ever so slightly, close to his, her hair tumbling against his cheek. Her breath was close and halting. Their knees touched. Hauck felt his blood spark alive as the side of her breast brushed his arm. Their lips could have touched right there. It would have taken only a nudge, and she would have folded into him-and a part of him wanted her to, a strong part, but another part said no. The hair on his arms tingled as he listened to her breathe.

“You knew this all along,” she said to him. “About Charlie. That this led back to him. You held it back from me.”

“I didn’t want you to be any more hurt until I was sure.”

She nodded. She locked her fingers inside his hand. “He wouldn’t kill anyone, Ty. I don’t care how foolish it makes me look. I know him. I lived with him for close to twenty years. He’s the father of my kids. I know.”

“So what do you want to do?”

Karen gently eased open Hauck’s robe. He tensed. She ran her fingers along his chest. She reached for the bag of liniment she had brought. “I want to take a look at that wound.”

“No,” he said, catching her hand. “You know what I meant.”

She held a moment, their hands still touching.

“I want to hear from his lips what he’s done, why he walked away from us, from almost twenty years of marriage, his family. I want to find him, Ty. Find Charles. Something came up while you were down there. I think I may know how.”

It was the car.

She had already been through everything two times over, just as Ty had asked. Still, while he was down in Jersey, she felt she had to do something. To keep from worrying.