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10
Avery
As evening falls over the house, an uncomfortable silence fills its sumptuous halls. Kellan, Luke, and Fallon went to dinner somewhere in town, advising Helen to look after me and the girls before they left. We order pizza for comfort’s sake, finishing off the rest of the lemon cheesecake for dessert. Once my babies are bathed and tucked in to their beds, Helen and I go back downstairs to have a cup of tea.
“Would you like to talk about it?” Helen asks me as we settle in the dayroom, both of us sinking into one of the large, brown leather sofas while a DIY show runs in the background on the wall-mounted TV.
“Talk about what?” I reply, staring at the screen. I think I’ve seen the episode before, but it doesn’t really matter. I just need something to keep my eyes busy.
“Whatever argument you and the boys had earlier,” Helen says. “They didn’t mention anything, but it’s written all over your faces. It doesn’t take a mentalist to read the four of you, you know.”
“Oh, Helen,” I sigh deeply, setting the tea aside. I turn to face her on the sofa. “What can you tell me about Charlene Maddox?”
Her expression droops. She thinks about it for a moment, running a hand through her curly, grey hair. “So that’s what this is about,” she says, her tone dropping a few degrees. “No wonder the three of them have been so strung out lately.”
“You know Charlene, then.”
“Everybody in Lincoln County knows Charlene,” Helen replies. “But not for the reasons you might think Avery. It’s a complicated history. If the boys didn’t want to tell you about her, please, believe me when I tell you you’re better off not knowing.”
“They said the same thing. I don’t get it. Helen, this is why I almost moved out the other week. I deserve the truth.”
“The truth is ugly.”
“Yeah, I heard that, too.”
Helen gives it another moment’s thought then downs half of her tea in one gulp, gathering the nerve to finally give me more than what I’ve received so far. “Okay. There are aspects that I cannot share with you. Things that Kellan, Fallon, and Luke need to tell you themselves when they’re ready. But I can tell you that Charlene was notorious in Lincoln County. She still is, but I’m surprised I didn’t hear about her return sooner. I thought she’d gone away for twenty years.”
“Gone away where?” I ask.
“Prison.”
My blood runs cold. “Whoa. Twenty years? What for? She never mentioned that.”
“Financial crimes, crimes that hurt a lot of people,” Helen says. “She betrayed the boys. She lied to them. She was in cahoots with my sister and my brother-in-law. Avery, Charlene Maddox is an awful woman, and I agree with my nephews—you need to stay as far away from her as possible.”
“But why wouldn’t they tell me about her?”
“They care about you, honey. They care about you enough to protect you from whatever, and whomever, might try to come and disturb this little corner of heaven that you’ve managed to build here together. Charlene is a nasty chapter they thought was closed. Certainly not one they imagined would reopen so soon.”
The more I hear, the more confused I become. I’m having a hard time reconciling the Charlene I know with the Charlene that Helen and the guys have told me about. It just doesn’t make any sense, and I’m starting to think the issue runs much deeper than just financial crimes. “Why was she released from prison so early, then?” I ask Helen.
She rolls her eyes. “Heaven knows who bribed who for that to happen, because there’s no way a decent and functioning parole board would’ve ever allowed her to get out of prison so soon.”
“And Kellan and Fallon’s parents are involved with her?”
“They were and probably still are. We’re not sure, but knowing them, I’m certain they’re rekindling that old friendship as we speak. Charlene could never be tied back to the Cassidy’s, not in the eyes of the law, anyway, but hopefully someday the whole truth will come out, and they’ll all end up behind bars and stay there, where they belong.” Helen pauses for a moment, closing her eyes for one deep breath before she looks at me again. “Butthere is something you need to know and I’m going to tell you, even though it should be on Kellan, Fallon, and Luke to disclose. I just hate this tension between the four of you, so I’m hoping if I tell you, you’ll understand why they’re so adamant for you to keep your distance from her.”
“Tell me.”
“Avery, it was Kellan, Fallon, and Luke who put Charlene Maddox in prison. They’re the reason she got arrested in the first place.”
The words hit me like bricks, each one harder than the last as the greater picture comes into focus. It’s got me wondering if Charlene knew who I was when she hired me. She couldn’t have. She doesn’t know where I live. And my name means nothing around Lincoln County with the exception of my interior decorating work. But if shedoesknow, then I am now a target if her endgame is revenge.
11
Avery
Afew days later, I get a call from Toby.
