Louise: A New Beginning (16 page)

“You shouldn’t have come here,” he said, looking at me. “What do you know about Isabel’s death?”

“First of all, we want you to tell us more about Debora Griffin or Christine Montgomery, whichever you prefer,” Louise said. “You know who she is, don’t you?”

He cursed aloud before saying, “I do. Though I wish I did not.”

“Do you know where she is now?” I asked.

“Yes. But you might not like the answer.”

“Tell us. We need to see her,” Louise said.

“I don’t think that is going to be a possibility. . . She’s been sent to an asylum across town, I don’t think they allow visitors.”

“What?” I stared at him, shocked. “Are you saying that she’s. . .insane?”

Drew nodded, walking over to a small bar in the corner of the room. “Yes, literally.” He poured himself a glass of scotch and drained it dry in one gulp.

“Is that why you left today?” Kate asked.

“Yes.” He looked at Louise. “The day you asked me to find Debora’s address, I didn’t know I would find out so much shit that my brother had been hiding for years. I didn’t know Debora and Christine were the same person. I haven’t seen Christine since we were kids. I had no idea my brother was keeping in touch with her after we left for LA, and I didn't know he asked her to work for him either.”

“How did she get sick?” Louise asked. “According to what we have managed to find out about her, she’s been the head of one of Montgomery’s companies for many years.”

“I don’t think she had much of a choice in that. . . I’m pretty sure the bastard made her lose her damn mind.”

Louise stared at him in shock. “How is that possible?”

Personally, I wasn’t surprised to hear Drew’s words. I always figured Fletcher was capable of anything, including making people go insane, or at least make it look like they were sick. Hell, I bet he could make them disappear without anyone even thinking to question his involvement. He was fucking slimy.

“I have a theory about Christine’s current state,” Drew said. “I’m pretty sure the poor woman is paying for what my dearest brother did to you, Louise. It all started with you. First, you met William Blair, the son of his worst enemy. Then William started investigating your past, trying to find out the names of your biological parents. He met Rea, the nurse from the hospital where you were born. She told him you were Fletcher’s daughter. Then Will told you the truth about your father. And I’m sure Fletcher never expected that to happen. But when he realized that you and William were together, he thought it was like a ticking bomb that he didn’t know how to control. So he thought he would neutralize the only possible witness of all his crimes. And that just had to be Debora. Because she has been with him from the very beginning, she knows everything about him. Or at least she used to know everything, until
‘she lost her mind’
.”

“Did you know that your brother hated my family and me?” I asked.

“Honestly, I found out about that just a few days ago, when I put together the things Louise told me about you and Debora. Though yes, there’s one thing that I suppose is the real reason for everything my brother has ever done against you and your father.”

“And what is that?” I asked, crossing my arms. I still couldn’t believe my dad never told me he knew Fletcher Montgomery, and ever worse – that they had been enemies.

“When Fletcher was eighteen, he met a girl named Angela. He fell in love with her, so hard he wanted to marry her. But the problem was, she was in love with someone else. . .”

“My father,” I said, ending the sentence for Drew.

“Exactly.” He nodded, taking a seat in his massive, leather chair. “Fletcher couldn’t forgive your father for stealing Angela from him. I guess deep down inside, he still hates Randal, even though the man is long dead.”

“That is ridiculous,” Louise said. “Do you really believe he would kill Will’s father out of jealousy?”

“Jealously is a very dangerous thing, Louise. It makes people do terrible things.”

She shook her head, probably still unable to accept the fact her father could be that much of a monster.

“What about Isabel?” Kate asked. “What does Montgomery have to do with her death?”

Drew spoke again, “As I have already said, jealousy makes people do terrible things. . .”

Louise

My blood froze in my veins. I felt like I was about to faint, I couldn’t even think straight.

“You can’t be serious,” I said, practically falling into a nearby chair from the shock of his words.

Drew didn’t look like he was just joking around, but I was hoping he would say he was kidding. Regardless of how sick the joke would have been, it would have been better than what he was saying happened.

“Sorry, Love, but I am being serious,” he said. “Of course, I can’t be 100% sure whether my brother killed Isabel or not, but I do believe it was him because of the feelings he had for her.”

Will laughed sarcastically, followed by, “Don’t tell me he was in love with her too. . .”

“I don’t think it could really be considered love per se, it was more like an obsession he had with Isabel.”

“But Tess told me Isabel was in a relationship with the man who got arrested for murdering her, was Tess right about that?”

Drew sighed. “I knew there was something between them. I didn’t think their relationship was very serious though. Before Isabel was murdered, I didn’t forbid our girls from going out with the clients. The girls are not my prisoners and I never meant for it to seem that way, I used to let them have whatever freedom they needed and deserved. . . In other words, they had the right to have a life outside
Le Papillon
, with whomever they wished.”

“Until it got one of them killed. . .” I said.

“Exactly,” Drew replied, looking at the floor shamefully, like he was personally responsible for Isabel’s decisions and death.

“Well, I guess that means we will need to reopen the investigation,” Will said. “Both investigations, actually.”

“No!” I rose to my feet and walked over to him. “Don’t you see how dangerous my father is? He’s crazy, that much is clear. And I don’t want you to get hurt because of him.” I didn’t tell him I was also scared he would end up like his father did – dead from
‘an accident’
– but apparently Will knew me well enough to know exactly why I would be worried about him poking around for information about my father.

He wrapped his arms around me, saying, “I know you are scared. But we can’t let him hurt anyone else, Louise. First he murdered my father, making it look like an accident; then he murdered Isabel and managed to get someone else locked up for it;  and now Christine is in a sanitarium somewhere, possibly crazy, and if she isn’t everyone thinks she is. . . Don’t you think all of that is more than enough to make him pay for what he has done to all of them? And to us?”

I looked up at him, trying to find the right words to stop him from digging any deeper into the situation, but I failed. It was because in my gut, I knew he was right, and my father had to pay for his actions.

“I think we need to find more information about both cases,” Drew said. “Kate, you need to talk to the girls about Isabel. They need to tell us everything they know, especially Valery.”

“I’ll talk to them,” Kate said.

“Good. Louise and William, you need to find out more about Debora’s work at Randal’s company. Also, see if you can find more information on the deal they were in the process of making when Randal just happened to get in a boating
‘accident’
, ending his life, and making said deal null and void. And I. . .” Drew paused for a moment, sighing. “I’ll make sure my awesome asshole of a brother doesn’t find out what we are doing behind his back.”

“Be carefu–” Drew raised his hand to stop me, but I cut him off and continued before he could protest, “No, I am serious, be
very
careful. We don’t want to get in an
‘accident’
too, do we?”

Will let go of me, reached into the pocket of his pants, and pulled out his phone saying, “We might need some help from the police. I’ll call a friend of mine with the
NYPD,
and ask him to help us or at least cover for us if we need him to.

“As psychotic as Fletcher is, I think he is smart enough to clean up his crime scenes before he leaves; so I highly doubt he left much proof behind, if any at all. It is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack to find enough to give to the police so they will put him away. Also, when we do find evidence, we will have to get my friend to help us collect it so it won’t be considered altered, falsified, or tampered with. If the police have any reason to believe the evidence is any of those things, they won’t use it.

“We will have to work really hard to make sure we have enough concrete evidence to prove what he has done without it backfiring on us, by way of Fletcher or the police,” Drew said. “I wouldn’t put it past him to figure out what we are doing and set us up for his crimes since we will be near all the evidence of what he has done. If Fletcher is, in fact, responsible for the murders and Christine’s insanity, it could be considered a massive government scandal. Fletcher is a politician, and if the general public finds out that he did these things, or that he is even being investigated for doing these things, anyone in the government who voted for him might see a decline in their polls.”

“I don’t fucking give a shit,” Will said. “If he killed my dad, and I find enough evidence to prove it, I swear, I will make sure the bastard spends the rest of his pathetic and worthless life in prison or whatever it is that he has to face for committing his crimes. I refuse to let him get away. I don’t care if it takes the rest of my life to prove the man is guilty, somehow I will find a way to make sure justice is served. . .”

I was staring down at the floor, thinking about how pissed off Montgomery was going to be if or when he ever did get arrested and had to be held accountable for the awful things he had done, when suddenly I heard Drew say my name. “Louise,” that brought my attention back to their conversation, I had heard every word, I was just thinking too. “Are you still with us?” He asked.

“Of course, I am. Montgomery has never been a real father to me. So, I don’t think he will be overly offended when he learns my role in destroying his career. Besides, he has more than earned the betrayal from me too; it is the least I can do to repay him for ruining my childhood.”

Drew nodded. “It’s a deal, then. Time to get this
Sherlock Holmes-
style-investigation started.”

***

Later that night, when we got home, Will decided he should call his mother to see if she would give us some more information. After all, there was no way she could have forgotten the man who used to be madly in love with her.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me you knew Fletcher Montgomery?” Will asked as soon as she answered, without even greeting her. He had her on speaker, so I could hear everything she said. I told Will it wasn’t necessary, and that he could fill me in once they were finished, but he said he didn’t want to keep secrets from me any longer. Regardless of what she said, he wanted to make sure I heard it myself.

“Fletcher and I. . . That is a complicated subject, William. . .it was always complicated, from the moment we first met. . . We were in high school when we met. We were young and reckless. And even though he was just a careless child, I could tell he wasn’t like all the other guys our age. He used to get angry when he found something he liked and he couldn’t have it. I met your dad while we were together and after seeing Fletcher’s hot temper, he was a breath of fresh air. I broke it off with him. I just couldn’t be with someone like that; and that was when I became one of those things he couldn’t have. . . The day your father and I got married, he came to my parents’ house raving about how your father was not good enough for me, telling them I deserved way more than Randal could ever provide for me, and how they shouldn’t be allowing me to marry him at all. Of course, they thought he was just showing normally jealousy and made him leave. And of course they didn’t listen, allowing me to marry your dad. . . As I said before, it was a complex situation.”

“Mom. . .did you love him?” Will asked, watching me carefully. We were probably on the same track, thinking how different our lives would have been if our parents had made different choices. . .well, and if my father weren’t the heartless monster he has apparently always been.

If things had gone differently between our parents, or rather if Montgomery had left Will’s mom alone, we may have never met. Will may have not been on that train, heading to his dad’s office. He probably would have been off doing all the fun things guys his age were supposed to do. . .

I couldn’t even begin to imagine my life without Will. It was such a mess, and he was the only thing to hold me up when I was down, and he was definitely the one part of my life that even when I tried, I couldn’t seem to let go of. Nothing else really mattered at the end of the day as long as Will and I were together. . . I was overthinking it. Things didn’t go differently, we met, and that is why we were here today.

Angela spoke, “I never loved anyone as much as I loved your father, William. He is the love of my life, and that will never change. . . Is there anything you’d like to tell me? You sound a little worried. I know you, son. So tell me, what is going on?”

Will couldn’t decide if it would be best to inform his mother about Montgomery’s possible involvement in his father’s death. He didn’t think she was ready to hear about it. That, and we both decided it would be smarter to confirm our suspicions first; at this point, we didn’t have enough concrete evidence to prove or disprove his guilt, and figured it would be safer to keep our thoughts to ourselves, so as to not place blame where it was not due just in case Montgomery was innocent. As the saying goes,
“Innocent until proven guilty.” 

“Everything is all right, Mom. Really. I was simply surprised when I found out that you and Fletcher Montgomery knew each other and I didn’t know about it. I just didn’t realize you two had a history together.”

“Is this because of that girl. . .Louise?” She asked superciliously. She clearly believed she and her son were above people like me.

I looked at Will questioningly. Angela knew about me? But, how?

Will smiled at me, pulling me into his embrace. “You know I care about her. Actually, I have always cared about her.”

“Oh. . . I see. . . Are you two dating?”

I smiled, looking up at him.
Are we dating?

“Kind of. . .” Will responded, then kissed my forehead, running his palm up and down my back.

It was really hard to give our relationship a title. To me, it was more than just dating, it was deeper than words could even begin to explain. And I think Will felt the same. That’s why we never specifically said we were dating. But then there is also the fact we spent several months apart, when we didn’t see each other at all; during those months, our relationship would have been better defined as a pause, than dating. Now that we were back together, dating couldn’t really describe the bond we share with one another.

“Of all the girls in the world, you just had to fall in love with Fletcher’s daughter. . . Well, that’s ironic, isn’t it?” Angela didn’t sound like she was angry with her son’s choice, but amused. And I didn’t blame her. After all, it was really hard to keep on track of the series of events that brought Will and me together. I was so glad to realize the thoughts I had a few moments ago, about her thinking she and Will were better than me, were completely unfounded. I was relieved.

“She’s a wonderful person, mom. I know you will like her too when you finally get to meet her.”

“If she has managed to win your heart, I have no doubt that she is special. Not just any woman has the capability of doing that. I am sure I will like her too.”

Will smiled, nodding in approval of her compliment, said good-bye to her, hung up the phone, and then kissed my hair, embracing me.

After a moment of pure bliss, it was time to get back to business. We shifted gears back to our investigation.

“So it’s true. . .” He said, laying his phone on the coffee table. “My dad did steal my mom from Montgomery. That is definitely a good enough reason for Fletcher to hate my dad for the rest of his life, isn’t it? I know if anyone took you from me, I would despise them,” he said, tightening his embrace around me. “I think I would even kill that person. . .” He added quietly.

Oh, I knew exactly what he was talking about. I felt the same about him, I know I had been a real pain in the ass the last couple of months, but I hated the idea of seeing Will with another woman. I would probably die knowing that his heart didn’t belong to me anymore. No strength or willpower would be enough to suppress the pain I would feel from losing him to another woman. It would be even worse than pushing him away and then trying to erase him from my life. It may have been selfish, but it was true. I couldn’t imagine him being with anyone other than me. My feelings for him were stronger than I was. I probably shouldn’t have been thinking about it so much; loving him and being with him was so much easier than worrying about him ever leaving me. . .

“How about we get something to eat?” Will asked. “I’m starving.”

I smirked. “Not surprising at all, considering the only thing to pass your lips since last night was alcohol.”

“Not true, I had you for dessert.”

“Right… How could I forget about dessert?”

“Mind being my sweet dessert again? I mean in a little while?” He leaned closer, touching my lips with his. “My starvation for you can’t be compared to anything else.”