The Guardian(40)
Author: Nicholas Sparks

Julie closed her eyes. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

The Guardian

Richard had reversed course as soon as he saw Mike pull up in front of the house, and he climbed back into the tree. Now he was watching them, his face growing hard.

No, Richard thought. No, no, no. . . .

As if living a nightmare, he saw her go into Mike’s arms; he saw her fold into him. . . . No, this was not happening, this couldn’t be happening.

Mike was back, and they were holding each other. As if they loved each other.

Richard forced himself to calm down, to regain control. Closing his eyes, he visualized his photographs of Jessica, of Julie, his photographs of birds; he recited lessons on how to set the proper f-stop on a camera. On lenses and their capabilities. On the proper angle of the flash, the properties of light . . .

His breathing steadied as he opened his eyes. He was in control again, but he could still feel anger coursing through him.

Why, he wondered, did she insist on repeating her mistakes?

He’d tried to be nice. He’d tried to be fair. He’d been very patient with her and her little friend. More than patient.

His eyes narrowed. Didn’t she have any idea what she was forcing him to do?

The Guardian

Jennifer swiveled the flashlight from side to side, looking for whatever it was the trucker had seen.

The moon hung low in the sky, below the tree line. Thousands of stars dotted the sky above. The air carried the heavy scent of blown exhaust. She moved forward slowly, scanning the embankment. Nothing.

Less than thirty feet from the road, loblolly pines stood clustered together. The underbrush surrounding them was thick with bushes and tall grass, impossible for her light to penetrate.

Cars continued to pass, but she barely registered them. She was watching the ground, moving slowly. Carefully. Jennifer took another step when she heard movement off to the side.

Raising the light, she saw two eyes reflected back at her. She stiffened in surprise before the deer suddenly broke and ran.

Exhaling, she bowed her head and continued. The gas station was closer now, and she wondered again what she was supposed to be looking for.

She stepped around a discarded garbage bag, saw aluminum cans and napkins collecting in the embankment. She was beginning to wonder if she should turn around and help Pete look in the opposite direction when the flashlight illuminated something that her mind at first refused to identify.

When it finally did, she screamed.

The Guardian

Pete Gandy turned at the sound and started running toward Jennifer. He reached her in less than a minute, and it was then he saw Jennifer hovering over a body. He froze, suddenly unable to move.

“Get an ambulance here now!” Jennifer screamed, and Pete turned and raced to the squad car.

Stifling her panic, Jennifer focused on the body below her. The face of the young woman was bloodied and misshapen. There was a sickening ring of purple around her neck. One of her hands lay at an odd angle, the wrist clearly broken. Jennifer had believed her dead until she’d reached down and registered a faint pulse.

When Pete returned, he squatted beside Jennifer.

A moment later, when he recognized the victim, he vomited on the side of the road.

Thirty-four

The Guardian

When Julie arrived for work on Thursday morning, she found Officers Gandy and Romanello waiting for her. By the expressions on their faces, she knew at once why they were there.

“It’s Andrea, isn’t it?”

Mabel was standing behind them, her eyes red and swollen. “Oh, honey,” she said, crossing the room and going into Julie’s arms. “Mike and Henry are already on their way. . . .” She began to wail, her body shaking uncontrollably.

“What happened?”

“He beat her,” Mabel choked out. “He almost killed her. . . . She’s in a coma. . . . They don’t know if she’s going to make it. . . . They had to fly her to Wilmington last night. . . .”

Julie’s knees seemed to weaken before steadying. A moment later, Mike and Henry burst through the door. Mike saw Julie and Mabel before he locked eyes with the officers.

“What did he do to Andrea?” Mike demanded.

Jennifer hesitated. How do you describe a beating like that? The blood, the broken bones . . .

“It was bad,” Pete finally offered. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Mabel broke into sobs again as Julie struggled with her own. Henry seemed unable to move, but Mike met Jennifer’s eyes.

“Have you arrested Richard yet?” Mike demanded.

“No,” Jennifer answered.

“Why the hell not?”

“Because we don’t know if he’s the one responsible.”

“Of course he did it! Who the hell else would do something like that?”

Jennifer held up her hands, trying to keep control of the situation. “Look, I know you’re all upset . . .”

“Of course we’re upset!” Mike shouted. “How else should we be acting? He’s still out on the streets while you two are wasting your time here!”

“Now hold on,” Pete said quickly, and Mike turned on him.

“Hold on? You’re the one who screwed this up in the first place! If you weren’t so damn stupid, none of this would have happened! I told you the guy was dangerous! We begged you to do something about it! But you were too busy playing tough cop to see what was happening.”

“Take it easy. . . .”

Mike moved toward him. “Don’t tell me what to do! This is your fault!”

Pete’s mouth straightened into a line, and he stepped toward Mike. Jennifer jumped between them.

“This isn’t helping Andrea!” she shouted. “Now both of you back off!”

Mike and Pete eyed each other, their bodies still tense. Jennifer went on quickly.

“Look-we didn’t know about Richard,” she said, looking at Mike and Julie. “Neither one of you mentioned anything about Andrea being seen with him, and we found Andrea after we left your place last night. She was already in a coma, and there was no way for us to know who’d done this to her. Pete and I were at the scene until almost dawn, and we came in this morning because this is where Andrea worked, not because we suspected anything. Mabel just told us about him and Andrea less than five minutes ago. Do you understand?”

Mike and Pete continued to stare at each other until Mike finally glanced away. He drew a long breath.

“Yeah, I got it,” Mike said. “I’m just upset. I’m sorry.”

Pete continued to glare at Mike. A moment later, Jennifer turned to Julie.

“Mabel said that Emma had seen Richard and Andrea together in Morehead City, right?”

“Yes,” Julie answered. “A couple of days ago. The day I saw him in the woods.”

“And none of you knew he’d been seeing her? If they were dating?”

“No,” Julie said. “She didn’t say anything to me about it. The first I heard about it was when Emma called.”

“Mabel?”

“No. Not to me, either.”

“And she didn’t come in yesterday?”

“No.”

“Didn’t that strike you as odd? If you knew she’d been seen with Richard, I mean?”

“Of course we were worried, but you have to understand Andrea,” Mabel offered. “It wasn’t the first time she hadn’t shown up for work. She’s like that.”

“Didn’t she usually call, though?”

“Sometimes. Not all the time.”

Jennifer turned to Julie again. “Why didn’t you say anything about Andrea and Richard last night when Officer Gandy and I came over?”

“I didn’t think about it. I was too upset about the locket, and then, after what Pete said . . .”

Jennifer nodded, knowing exactly what Julie was talking about. “Would it be possible for Emma to come down here? I’d like to hear what she has to say.”

“No problem,” Henry said. “Let me give her a call.”

Wanting to be certain she had everything straight, Jennifer went through the sequence of events again, then moved on to the more general questions-where Andrea liked to socialize, who her friends were, any other possibilities as to who might be involved. It was standard procedure, because she knew the lack of investigation into other possible suspects could be used by the defense to claim police bias in court.

Julie found it hard to concentrate as Jennifer ran through the remaining questions. As upset as she was by what had happened to Andrea, she couldn’t escape the thought that Richard had been following her for weeks. That he’d been in her house. And that she might be next.

Emma finally arrived, her eyes red from crying. Jennifer went through the same questions with her.

Emma didn’t know anything other than what Julie and Mabel had already told them, though she did mention where she’d seen them-outside a bar called Mosquito Grove, just off the waterfront.

After questioning Emma, Jennifer glanced off to the side. “Do you mind if I check Andrea’s station?” she asked. “She might have left something that’ll give us an idea of when she started seeing Richard or if this was the first time.”

“No, go ahead,” Mabel offered.

Jennifer spent a minute opening drawers and sorting through them. She closed the drawers and spotted a picture of Andrea tucked into the mirror.

“Can I borrow this? In case we need it?”

“Sure.” Mabel nodded.

Jennifer studied the photograph of Andrea before looking up. “Okay,” she said, “that’s it for now.”

Everyone seemed to nod in unison. Jennifer knew she should probably leave, but instead she moved toward Mike and Julie. After the hours she’d spent in their kitchen, she’d come to regard them almost as friends.

“I want you both to know,” she said, “that if it is Richard who did this, then he’s capable of anything. It’s the worst beating I’ve ever seen. It’s almost beyond words. He’s psychotic. I just wanted to make sure you understand that.”

Mike swallowed through the thickness in his throat.

“Do what you have to do to stay safe,” Jennifer said. “Both of you.”

The Guardian

On the way out, Jennifer walked alongside Pete, neither of them saying anything. She had to give him credit, not only for letting her handle the questioning inside, but because of the new resolve she noted in his grim expression.

After getting into the car, he slipped the keys into the ignition but leaned back in his seat without starting the engine. He stared through the windshield.

“She cuts my hair,” Pete finally offered.

“Andrea?”

“Yeah. That’s how I knew who it was last night.”

Jennifer stayed silent, watching as Pete closed his eyes.

“She didn’t deserve what happened to her,” he said. “No one deserves that.”

Jennifer put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she said.

He nodded, as if trying to forget what he’d seen the night before. He started the engine.

“I think it’s time that we pay Richard Franklin a little visit at work,” he said quietly. “I’d rather catch him off guard if I can. I don’t want to give him time to make up a story. If he’s the one, then I want him to pay. Bad.”

Jennifer brought her hands together in her lap. Outside the window, trees and buildings were blurry as the car headed toward the bridge.

“He’s not going to be there,” she said. “He quit a month back.”

Pete looked at her. There were dark circles under his eyes; in the shadowed interior of the car, he looked as worn as she felt.

“How do you know that?”

“I called the personnel department at J. D. Blanchard.”

Pete continued to look at her. “You’ve been investigating him?”

“Not officially.”

Pete turned his eyes to the road again and pulled over, bringing the car to a halt in the shade of a towering magnolia. “Why don’t you start from the beginning and let me know what you’ve been doing.” He reached for the cup of coffee he’d brought earlier that morning. “And don’t worry about getting in trouble-this will be just between you and me.”

Jennifer took a deep breath and began.

The Guardian

In the salon, Henry was staring vacantly, Mike was pale, and Mabel was dabbing at her tears. Emma looked faint as she sat curled beneath Henry’s arm. Julie crossed her arms and rocked slowly back and forth on the couch.

“I can’t believe it,” Emma whispered. “I just can’t believe it. How could he have done this to her?”

None of them said anything; Mabel looked down. “I think I’m going to head down and see her today. I don’t know what else to do.”

“It’s my fault,” Julie said. “I should have warned her to stay away from him after she cut his hair. I could see she was attracted to him.”

“It’s not your fault,” Mike protested. “You couldn’t have done anything to stop this. If it wasn’t her, it would have been someone else.”

Like me.

Mike moved closer to her. “She’s going to be okay.”

Julie shook her head. “You don’t know that, Mike. You can’t promise something like that.”

She sounded more impatient than she intended, and Mike turned away. No, he thought, I can’t.

“I just don’t understand it,” Julie said. “Why here? Why did he have to come here, of all places? And why her? She didn’t do anything to him.”

“He’s crazy,” Mabel said. “When they catch him, I hope they lock him up for a long, long time.”

If they catch him, Julie thought.

In the silence, Henry glanced out the window, then back to Julie.

“The police are right about doing what you have to do,” he said. “But you can’t stay here.”