Karin Slaughter - Faithless

Jeffrey didn’t let her continue along that track. “How long have y’all been married?”

“Eight years,” she answered. Eight years of having the shit beaten out of her. Eight years of making excuses, covering his tracks, convincing herself that this time was different, this time he would change. Eight years of knowing deep in her gut that she was lying to herself but not being able to do anything about it.

Lena would be dead in eight years if she had to endure that.

Terri said, “When Dale met me, I was clean, but I was still messed up. Didn’t think much of myself.” Lena could hear the regret in her voice. She wasn’t wallowing in self-pity. She was looking back on her life and seeing how the hole she had dug for herself wasn’t much different from the one Cole Connolly had put her in.

Terri told them, “Before that, I was into speed, shooting up. I did some really bad things. I think Tim’s the one who’s paid for it most.” She added, “His asthma is really bad. Who knows how long those drugs stay in your system? Who knows what it does to your insides?”

He asked, “When did you clean up?”

“When I was twenty-one,” she answered. “I just stopped. I knew I wouldn’t see twenty-five if I didn’t.”

“Have you had any contact with your family since then?”

She started picking at her cuticle again. “I asked my uncle for some money a while back,” she admitted. “I needed it for…” Her throat moved again as she swallowed. Lena knew what she needed the money for. Terri didn’t have a job. Dale probably kept every dime that came into the house. She had to pay the clinic somehow, and borrowing money from her uncle had been the only way.

Terri told Jeffrey, “Dr. Linton’s been real nice, but we had to pay her something for all she’s been doing. Tim’s medication isn’t covered by his insurance.” Suddenly, she looked up, fear lighting her eyes. “Don’t tell Dale,” she pleaded, talking to Lena. “Please don’t tell him I asked for money. He’s proud. He doesn’t like me begging.”

Lena knew he would want to know where the money went. She asked, “Did you ever see Abby?”

Her lips quivered as she tried not to cry. “Yes,” she answered. “Sometimes, she used to come by during the day to check on me and the kids. She’d bring us food, candy for the kids.”

“You knew she was pregnant?”

Terri nodded, and Lena wondered if Jeffrey felt the sadness coming off her. She was probably thinking about the child she had lost, the one in Atlanta. Lena felt herself thinking the same thing. For some reason, the image of the baby upstairs came to her mind, his little feet curling in the air, the way Terri tucked the blanket under his soft chin. Lena had to look down so that Jeffrey wouldn’t see the tears stinging her eyes.

She could feel Terri looking at her. The mother had an abused woman’s sense of other people, an instinctive recognition of changing emotions that came from years of trying not to say or do the wrong thing.

Jeffrey was oblivious to all of this as he asked, “What did you say to Abby when she told you about the baby?”

“I should have known what was going to happen,” she said. “I should have warned her.”

“Warned her about what?”

“About Cole, about what he did to me.”

“Why didn’t you tell her?”

“My own mother wouldn’t believe me,” she said bluntly. “I don’t know… Over the years, I thought maybe I was making it up. I did so many drugs then, lots of bad stuff. I wasn’t thinking straight. It was easier to just think that I made it up.”

Lena knew what she was talking about. You lied to yourself in degrees just so you could get through the day.

Jeffrey asked, “Did Abby tell you she was seeing somebody?”

Terri nodded, saying, “Chip,” with some regret. “I told her not to get mixed up with him. You’ve got to understand, girls don’t know much growing up on the Holy Grown farm. They keep us secluded, like they’re protecting us, but what it really does is make it easier for all the men.” She gave another humorless laugh. “I never even knew what sex was until I was having it.”

“When did Abby tell you she was leaving?”

“She came by on her way to Savannah about a week before she died,” Terri said. “She told me she was going to leave with Chip when Aunt Esther and Uncle Eph went into Atlanta in a couple of days.”

“Did she seem upset?”

She considered the question. “She seemed preoccupied. That’s not like Abby. There was a lot on her mind, though. She was… she was distracted.”

“Distracted how?”

Terri looked down, obviously trying to conceal her reaction. “Just with stuff.”

Jeffrey said, “Terri, we need to know what stuff.”

She spoke. “We were here in the kitchen,” she began. She indicated Lena ’s chair. “She was sitting right there. She had Paul’s briefcase in her lap, holding it like she couldn’t let go. I remember thinking I could sell that thing and feed my kids for a month.”

“It’s a nice briefcase?” Jeffrey asked, and Lena knew he was thinking exactly the same thing she was. Abby had looked in the briefcase and found something Paul didn’t want her to see.

She said, “He probably paid a thousand dollars for it. He spends money like it’s water. I just don’t understand.”

Jeffrey asked, “What did Abby say?”

“That she had to go see Paul, then when she came back, she was leaving with Chip.” She sniffed. “She wanted me to tell her mama and daddy that she loved them with all her heart.” She started to cry again. “I need to tell them that. I owe Esther that at least.”

“Do you think she told Paul she was pregnant?”

Terri shook her head. “I don’t know. She could’ve gone to Savannah to get some help.”

Lena asked, “Help getting rid of the baby?”

“God, no,” she said, shocked. “Abby would never kill her baby.”

Lena felt her mouth working, but her voice was caught somewhere in her throat.

Jeffrey asked, “What do you think she wanted from Paul?”

“Maybe she asked him for some money?” Terri guessed. “I told her she’d need some money if she was going off with Chip. She doesn’t understand how the real world works. She gets hungry and there’s food on the table. She’s cold and there’s the thermostat. She’s never had to fend for herself. I warned her she’d need money of her own, and to hide it from Chip, to keep something back for herself, in case he left her somewhere. I didn’t want her to make the same mistakes I had.” She wiped her nose. “She was such a sweet, sweet girl.”

A sweet girl who was trying to bribe her uncle into paying her off with blood money, Lena thought. She asked, “You think Paul gave her the money?”

“I don’t know,” Terri admitted. “That was the last time I saw her. She was supposed to leave with Chip after that. I really thought she had until I heard… until you found her on Sunday.”

“Where were you last Saturday night?”

Terri used the back of her hand to wipe her nose. “Here,” she told them. “With Dale and the kids.”

“Can anyone else verify that?”

She bit her bottom lip, thinking. “Well, Paul dropped by,” she told them. “Just for a minute.”

“Saturday night?” Jeffrey verified, glancing at Lena. Paul had insisted several times that he was in Savannah the night his niece died. His chatty secretary had even backed him up. He said he had driven to the farm on Sunday evening to help look for Abby.

Jeffrey asked, “Why was Paul here?”

“He brought Dale that thing for one of his cars.”

Jeffrey asked, “What thing?”

“That Porsche thing,” she answered. “Paul loves flashy cars- hell, he loves flashy anything. He tries to hide it from Papa and them, but he likes to have his toys.”