“Well, she did. She wanted Mindy to have a happy life, a carefree life, and she knew you’d be all thumbs at fatherhood.”
The words strike deep in his soul. Vivian said that to him once, when they were arguing, but it was in exasperation, not anger. “You’re going to be all thumbs at this, so why even bother to learn how to change a diaper? You’ll get shipped off somewhere and I’ll end up doing it all anyway.”
“What do you want, Lauren? I listened to your story. What’s your quid pro quo?”
“She left you a letter. It’s in a safety deposit box. The key is in my closet, taped to the top of the door frame. Everything is ready for you. Her letter, and the letters we shared between us. I want Mindy to know that I only did this for her. That I would never have killed my best friend unless she begged me to do it, and even then, I had many reservations. But I wanted Mindy to be safe. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. Yes, maybe I shouldn’t have taken her, should have known Vivian wasn’t entirely in her right mind. But I fell in love with that child, Zack. Surely you understand that. And I’ve given her a good life. A happy life. A solid family. Encouraged all her talents. Sacrificed everything for her. She adores Jasper, and he adores her. Please don’t take that away from them.”
“She could have had that with me,” he snaps, standing. “Does Jasper know?”
“No. I’ve never told him. And that’s your part of the bargain. You need to get him to go with you to open the safety deposit box. You have to tell him about Vivian, you have to explain for me. He won’t come see me.”
She is pouting. She is actually pouting.
“Tell him yourself.”
He ignores the cries he hears through the phone, the fact that Lauren has gone white, that she’s banging on the glass. He ignores it all, slams down the receiver, and signals for the guard waiting outside to let him out of this hellhole.
93
THE WRIGHTS’ HOUSE
Zack rings the Wrights’ bell. After a few moments’ wait, Jasper opens the door, lets Kat out, and shoves it closed behind him with a bang.
Zack knocks. “Jasper, let me in. I saw Lauren. I need to talk to you.”
Crickets.
It takes ten minutes of alternately banging and shouting, but Jasper finally reopens the door.
“What do you want? Haven’t you ruined enough?”
“I need to tell you something.”
Jasper listens, incredulous at the story Zack is telling him, and finally lets Zack into the house.
It is clear Jasper is still furious, and for good reason. In his mind, Lauren wouldn’t be in jail if Zack hadn’t pressed them so hard. But he’s taken care of Kat since Zack took off down the mountain to see Lauren, and Zack knows he’s going to cool off eventually.
Honestly, Zack doesn’t care if Jasper likes him. All he’s worried about is Mindy’s safety and security. He has already filed for full custody. His lawyer thinks he might get it, considering. He hasn’t gone so far as to ban Jasper from seeing her, if only because he knows she won’t want that, but it’s been tempting. He and Jasper are never going to see eye-to-eye on the situation.
But now that Zack knows why Lauren killed Vivian, he is more relaxed. Still livid, still torn to shreds at her stupidity and callousness, but something is settled in his mind. He knows what happened to his wife now, and the idea that she was so sick, and tried to save them financially, that she was trying to be noble and make her suicide as painless as possible, well, it doesn’t make him feel better, but it gives him some closure.
The key is where Lauren promised it would be.
“What the hell?” Jasper says, seeing it.
“Believe me now?”
He nods, still clearly in shock. “She really did it?”
“It looks like she did. I need to get the rest of the letters to verify her story. Do you know where this bank is?”
He flashes the small white-and-green envelope that contains the key.
“Yeah. First Bank on Vail Road. I’ll take you.”
The drive is short. Kat sticks her head out the window joyfully, the innocent who saved a child. Zack tries desperately not to think, not to cloud his mind with suppositions. Read the letter. Then you’ll know.
Ten minutes later, Jasper parks in the bank’s lot. They leave the windows cracked despite Kat’s reproachful whine.
“Relax, sweetie. I’ll be right back.”
Inside the bank, he and Jasper approach the first open teller. Zack slides the little white envelope that holds the key to box 615 in it. Strange, he thinks, that’s the area code for Nashville. Another dig? Or a way to remember easily?
“I need to get into my safety deposit box.”
“I’ll need some ID, sir.”
He hands over his driver’s license. A few moments later, the teller hands back his ID and steps from the counter to the cage. He and Jasper follow mutely.
Inside, the teller says, “Mr. Armstrong, I’ll need you to sign the signature card.”
He notices the deposit box is in his name. Clever Lauren. So very clever.
“How long has this box been open?”
She pulls it from the small index file. “Looks like...2005.”
“That’s when we bought the house,” Jasper says.
The teller uses her key, inserts Zack’s into the second slot, then turns them both and opens the small door. She steps away, pulls the door, saying, “Just let me know when you’re done.”
When they are alone, Zack lifts the lid.
The box is empty except for three things. A sheaf of papers, folded into thirds, a passport, and underneath them both, a sealed envelope, addressed to Zack, in his dead wife’s familiar script.
Zack opens the passport first, sees Jasper’s photo.
“Wait, is that my passport?”
Zack hands it to him. He opens it incredulously. Flips through a few pages. A tiny piece of paper flutters to the ground. He picks it up, reads it, then shuts his eyes and swallows, hard, like he’s trying not to be sick.
“What?” Zack asks.
Jasper hands over the piece of paper. It is handwritten in a script Zack isn’t familiar with.
It says: I know your secret.
94
Jasper is white, and Zack almost feels sorry for him. The passport is obviously a shock and the meaning of the message clear to him.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Lauren specifically asked you to make sure I was here when you opened the box?”
“She did. I assume she wants me to know everything, too?”
Jasper glances up at the corner of the room, where the camera hangs, a single eye watching them.
“Can we go somewhere else? Please?”
“Of course.” Zack is dying to read the letter from Vivian, but also afraid to open it, afraid of what he might find, what truths might be revealed. What if Lauren is lying again? What if, what if, what if?
Zack sees Jasper’s hands are shaking, offers to drive. Jasper gets into the car without a word. Zack climbs behind the wheel. Kat is happy to see them; she hates being left alone in the back of the car. Both men get licks on the ear.
“Where to?”
“Let’s... I don’t care. Just drive.”
Zack only knows a few places in Vail—the restaurant, the hospital, the Wrights’ house on the hill. But he remembers there was a scenic overlook on the way down the mountain. He heads there. The day is fine, the snow holding off, the sun shining, the skies blue again. He pulls into the overlook, and they climb out. Kat is thrilled for the excursion, and Zack sets her lead to the longest setting.
They lean against the stone wall. Finally, Zack takes off his sunglasses.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?”
*
“There were five of us. All lawyers. All experienced divers. We were off the coast of Baja, on a day trip. There’s a reef out there.”
He goes silent until Zack prompts him. “And?”
“We went out with five and came back in with four.”