Her Last Letter Part 32

He threw up his arms. "Why do I even talk?"

She flew forward and grasped him in her arms, then laid her head to his chest. "I know you're still mad at me. I'm sick about it. Please, don't be. I can't stand it when you're cold to me like this. It scares me."

He carefully removed her and pushed her back. "Sylvia, go home."

"No. And don't talk to me like that. I can't take this, Trevor, waiting for you all the time, wondering when you'll be able to see me. It's driving me nuts. I need you. You have to leave her."

"Sylvia, you are so used to getting your own way you don't know when to quit. Now, I've got someone waiting for me to call back. Do you understand?"

"I don't-"

"I know. You don't care. But that's because you have me and a truckload of others making sure you don't have to care."

"Are you coming by tonight or not?"

He gazed up toward the ceiling. "I'll do what I can. Now let me work."

She lifted her face to his.

Trevor, appearing as if he might actually kiss her, instead brought his lips to her forehead.

"Nice," she spat out, then spun away. "Don't stand me up. I won't forget it this time."

The tape dissolved to white s.p.a.ce. Sue reached over and stopped it. She looked at me. "On the positive side, we tracked him and he never showed up at her apartment. She has a place in Glenwood she's renting, though she's not there most of the time. Appears to travel a lot on business. We don't have one shot of your husband showing up there. He didn't call her back that night either. But they have been meeting for lunch, like I said, at least until recently, sometimes alone, sometimes with another man, Robert Morris. We got that information from restaurant employees who know your husband, and notes on his daily calendar. We have snapshots of the most recent lunch with Sylvia, but none of it proves anything."

"He didn't kiss her, not a real kiss."

"No, he didn't. But could be he's in the middle of breaking it off with her. Maybe she's gotten too weird. Doing a Fatal Attraction. He can't out and out dump her because he does business with her, plus she might go off the deep end and decide to take revenge, tip you off. Lots of women aren't above doing that-the anonymous caller, note in the mailbox routine."

I closed my eyes. You have to leave her. You have to leave her.

"Gwyn?"

"What?"

She shook her head. "Where did you go? Are you okay?"

"I'm ... no, I guess I'm not."

"This stuff is never easy. Do you want to continue?"

"Yes."

She pulled a large manila envelope from the shopping bag. "I have copies of recent emails between the two of them. Most of that is business related. You can look at them privately if you'd prefer. Also, I have his end of phone calls, the office, the cell, audiotapes and transcripts of everything, but I've only included the calls to and from Sylvia. Unfortunately, there's nothing conclusive there either. You'll see what I mean."

"What about Kelly? Is there any chance Trevor was involved with her, that he killed her?"

"I did another background check on your husband, like you asked. It checks out, same as the other one, clean record, no priors. But we also checked the telephone records from his office on the night your sister died, and no calls went out. If he was there, there's no evidence of it. In a few days, we'll have the numbers he called from his cell, but I don't expect to find anything. The cops would have checked that out too. We're also checking to see if anyone spotted him with her, either that night, or on other occasions, maybe at her place, or the local motels. Some motels run a hidden camera of who goes in and out, in case they get robbed. Of course, your husband may have rented a place, wouldn't be too difficult. We're still looking into that."

I looked down, my heart pounding so hard I was sure she'd hear it.

"To tell you the truth," she said, "I'm more worried about your sister."

"Linda? Why?"

"Her husband beats her up."

"Oh G.o.d. I knew it."

"We found out he's put her in the hospital at least two other times, other than the time you told me about. Could be he's the one that was involved with your sister Kelly. Appears he doesn't mind sleeping around. That doesn't mean he killed her, of course, but it doesn't mean he didn't. I plan to go deeper into his background-with your permission. Try to tie some things together."

"Yes. Of course."

"Listen, if it looks like he's about to hurt her, we could bring in the cops. Stop it. Right there. Haul his a.s.s to jail. It's up to you. I've got someone listening in every minute."

"Yes, please make sure she's protected. If he knows about the surveillance, then he knows. I don't care if Linda hates me either. That sc.u.m."

"Sure is." She eyed me. I'd started to s.h.i.+ver. I crossed my arms and held them tight to my body in an effort to stop it.

"Maybe we should take a breather," she said. "Finish this later."

"No. Please. Go ahead."

"Okay, about your friend Josh. Though the police never seriously saw him as a suspect, I do find it odd that he left so soon after your sister's death. That always raises a red flag in my book. He left the States for two months. We traced him to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he rented office s.p.a.ce with attached living quarters. Did he ever mention to you why he was there?"

"No, I never got a chance to talk to him after we broke up. He wouldn't see me. I've only talked to him recently."

"Well, we're doing some checking in that direction." She stopped, reached for her coffee. "Is there anything you'd like to ask me? Maybe something you'd like to tell me? I know all of this has come at you pretty fast."

"I don't know. No. Not right now."

"Well, probably you'll have questions later."

"Yes."

"There's more to look at on the tapes, but no more declarations from Sylvia toward your husband, just more business talk, and some other stuff that's open to misinterpretation. Don't take much stock in it. I also have the tape from inside Linda's home, of Wolfgang threatening her, and one fight that came close to escalating. I have tapes of the more mundane stuff too, if you're interested. Each is labeled. Also lots of photos, transcripts of emails, audiotapes. You'll be busy for a while. I wouldn't keep any of this at home for obvious reasons, unless you have an incredibly good hiding place. Maybe a safe."

"Trevor has the combination."

"Then I'd rent something, a small storage locker, something like that. I have the names of a few places." She reached into the shopping bag and drew out a notebook. "The information is written down here. Or, if you want, I could locate something for you."

"I'll let you know."

She nodded. "I'll have another report for you fairly soon."

"Good." I rose from the couch. "I think I'll stay here for a while longer, review some of this. Caroline won't mind."

"Sure."

I walked her to the door.

It was two hours before I called Caroline. I'd gone through the videotapes, fast-forwarding through sections of them, then skimming the emails and listening to bits of conversation on the audiotapes. Sue was right. I'd be busy for a while.

"Hey, Care."

"G.o.d, I thought you'd never call. My stomach's been doing flip-flops for hours. So?"

"Come pick me up. We'll go for a drive in the mountains, to our usual spot. I'll tell you on the way."

"Be there in five minutes. Oh, wait ... I have to stop for gas."

"Don't bother. We'll take the Jeep."

When she pulled in, I ran downstairs with the shopping bag.

"What's that?" she asked as I approached.

"Everything. You drive."

I handed her the keys and we hopped in.

"So how bad is it?" she asked.

"Pretty bad."

"Is he ... cheating?"

"Looks like it."

"Oh, man." Caroline shook her head sadly, then reached over and touched my hand. "I'm so sorry, Gwyn. I swear. I never would have believed it."

"Sue didn't catch him in the actual act. From the looks of it, he stopped seeing Sylvia recently, maybe for his own reasons, or maybe because he thinks I might check up on him. That's what Sue thinks. It all looks pretty suspicious."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I want you to look at the tape. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong."

"As soon as we get back."

"Can I leave this stuff with you?" I pointed to the shopping bag. "I can't take it home, and I want to study it some more."

"Of course. And I promise I won't look at it unless you're there."

"Doesn't matter. You might as well. You might see something I missed."

"What about Craig?" she asked. "Did Sue find out anything about him?"

"Yes. He's been spotted here in Glenwood. She thinks they'll grab him if he sticks around."

Caroline's eyes opened wide. "G.o.d, what if Craig was the one in your old house? I'll bet it was him. I mean, it makes sense. It would be easy enough for him to figure out the place is empty. All he'd have to do is drive by a few times. Probably thought it'd be a good place to hide out."

"Yes."

"But why is he back? He must want something." She turned quickly to me. "And that's another good reason for you to stay far away from there."

We wound our way up the mountain and parked in the woods alongside the road, our spot, a stretch of dirt road we hiked often. I quickly filled Caroline in on Wolfgang.

"What?" she said. "This gets worse and worse. How could Linda stay with that b.a.s.t.a.r.d?" She shook her head, then stared out the winds.h.i.+eld. "G.o.d, Wolfgang could be the one Kelly was talking about in her letter. Craig might be innocent. Maybe he only ran because he knew no one would believe him. Maybe he came back to look for proof to clear himself."

"It's possible. Hey, Care, do you ever remember Kelly talking about someone with the initials, T.D.?"

"T.D.? No, why?"

"Oh, I read something in one of her journals. It just got me thinking. Maybe there's a connection somehow."

"Did she write anything about Wolfgang?"

"Not that I saw, but some of her journals, the most recent ones, are missing."

"Who took them?"

"I don't know."

Caroline drew a sharp intake of air. "Wolfgang. Or Craig. Yeah. Maybe he knew about Kelly's journals. The guy practically lived with her. Maybe he thought he'd find some answers in them. Maybe he did." She looked over at me. "Maybe he's filling in the puzzle pieces before he goes to the police."

We drove back to Caroline's apartment and she viewed the video scene between Trevor and Sylvia.

"G.o.d, she's such a b.i.t.c.h," was the first thing out of Care's mouth. "How could Trevor even like her?"

"Maybe he likes the s.e.x."

"This tape doesn't really prove anything. It looks bad, but it doesn't prove that Trevor's nailing her."

"It's okay, Care. Don't try to defend him. I know how it looks."

I handed over a few of the emails.

She read one aloud, mimicking Sylvia's syrupy sing-song voice. "I can't wait to see you today, baby. Let's go to our favorite restaurant. I want to be alone with you. I miss you. I can't keep my mind on my work. Meet me at twelve-thirty. Don't be late."

"And this is Trevor's reply," she said. "Don't wait for me. My meeting with Larry could run long. I'll try to make it, but I'll let you know."

Care looked over to me. "This does not sound like a man in the throes of a love like none he's ever known. He's barely civil to her." She read a few more emails, then gazed up. "And it looks like all these are like this. Trevor is short with her, doesn't say anything even remotely romantic. He's almost rude."

"Yes, it could be over. I agree. But the point is ...was he having an affair with her? Even if Trevor only used Sylvia to cement this condo project, or slept with her out of s.e.xual curiosity, or just wanted to feel up her great t.i.ts, it doesn't matter. If he f.u.c.ked her, we're through."

"Yeah."

We flipped through some of the photographs, Trevor and Sylvia at lunch, she leaning in, whispering something into his ear. Trevor and Sylvia outside the restaurant, Trevor's hand behind her back, helping her across the street. It was an intimate gesture, but one that could also be viewed as polite, depending on what you wanted to see. I'd seen Trevor do the same type of thing with his mother. One of the many photograhs that could easily be misinterpreted. Like Sue said.