Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Ms. Merrick stilled, confusion flashing across her face. “What? Oh…yes. But many, many years ago. It…didn’t work out.”
“What was his name?”
She blinked. “Ah, Charlie. Charles Hartsman.” Zach glanced at the glass, giving a subtle nod. Jimmy got up and quietly left the room. Josie’s heart clenched, and her hands fisted in her lap. Charles Hartsman.
“And his middle name?”
“His middle name? I don’t remember. Detective, what’s this about?”
“I need you to tell me about Charlie, Ms. Merrick.”
She looked as if she might be about to argue, but then sat back, her shoulders lowering. “I haven’t thought about Charlie in a long time.” Her brow lowered. “Our marriage was on the rocks. It frequently was. My husband, as it’s been pointed out, had a hard time keeping it in his pants.” She looked briefly bitter but then sighed, defeat replacing the resentment. “I suppose I was looking for something to fill the void, something that might compel Vaughn to be a better husband, a better father. He’d always wanted a son, but I couldn’t have more children. My neighbor and friend had fostered and then adopted, and their family seemed so happy, so…content. Everyone praised them for their generosity, their goodness for taking children who otherwise had no one. There’s a website where you can look at the children in need of homes; did you know that, Detective? It’s like the pictures of animals the Humane Society posts. Names, ages…”
Zach sat back in his chair, his posture rigid. Josie’s heart thumped heavily.
“Anyway, we saw his picture,” Ms. Merrick went on. “He was such a beautiful boy. He was older than we’d planned on, but we thought: Why not? Most people don’t adopt older kids.”
Had they chosen an older child to one-up the neighbor? Josie wondered but then cast the thought aside. She wasn’t going to judge this woman. Not when she herself lived in a large glass house rife with cracks.
“Charlie came to live with us. He was such a sweet kid, very eager to please, or so we thought.” Her brow furrowed. “But then…he started acting out. In small ways at first, but manipulative too. He’d lie, say he hadn’t done the things we knew he did. We figured he’d had a rough start. It was expected that he’d need us to help him through the adjustment. We put him in therapy, enrolled him in acting classes.” She looked up at Zach, and her eyes lit up. “He was such a great little actor. We thought with his looks and his talent, he could actually be great someday. Plus, it would help him act out his feelings, you know? He did these great impersonations. His imitations were uncanny and even after only studying someone for a short time. He had my husband down pat. He’d come up behind me and say something, and I would have sworn it was Vaughn. He’d even put on his cologne, so he smelled like him. It was like he understood that you experienced people as a whole, and if every aspect wasn’t just right, the deception wouldn’t work. So talented, even at eleven years old.” Josie’s heart had dropped to her feet, and her hand came to her mouth to hold in the sob that was moving up her throat, threatening to break free.
Ms. Merrick looked right at Zach, her smile wistful. “We called him our little copycat.”
Zach had sat stock-still as Ms. Merrick spoke, and now he glanced at the window, his eyes spearing Josie, though she knew he could not see her. The small nod had soothed her, though, even if minimally, and she pulled in a breath, willing herself to relax.
“Why did you send him back?” Zach asked.
Ms. Merrick stared at him for a moment, her gaze going stony. “I found out about another affair. We tried counseling. But despite our best efforts, Charlie’s behavior got worse. Then one day he almost drowned our older daughter in the pool. That was the final straw. I couldn’t deal with everything crumbling down around me and fearing for my daughters’ safety at the same time. We had to end the fostering.”
“Did Charlie know your husband had had an affair, Ms. Merrick? Did he know that was at the heart of the reason he was being sent away?”
That seemed to make her pause. “I…maybe. He might have heard me on the phone. I was very distraught. I needed to vent.”
“About the woman your husband slept with?”
As she stared at Zach, something fiery came into her eyes. Ms. Merrick leaned forward, placing her fists on the table and banging lightly. “The women, Detective. Plural. Every last one of them that willingly spit on my marriage. Vaughn carries the bulk of the blame; don’t think I don’t realize that. But they’re not innocent. In the end, they’re all to blame for the ruin of our family. They’re all to blame for us not being able to give Charlie a home.”