“Because I turned it off.”
“Chief Stacy said you’ve been at Adelaide’s all day. He saw your truck.”
“That wasn’t meant to be a secret.”
“I don’t want you seeing her anymore, Noah. If she’ll say what she’s saying about Cody, there’s no telling what she might accuse you of doing.”
Noah found that preposterous, a desperate attempt to influence him. Addy was trying to push him away, to protect him—not hurt him. She was the only one who wasn’t pleading her case and demanding his support. “Mom said you got an anonymous note after Cody died. It’s time you told me about it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you do.”
His father made an imperious gesture, one that revealed his irritation with being questioned. “It said nothing—nothing of the truth, anyway.”
“Was it about the party? Was it a message from someone who knew what happened and was trying to alert you?” What else would have “tormented” his parents, except the fear that their dearly departed son might not have been as admirable as they’d always believed?
“What if it was?” his father responded. “There was no signature, so it doesn’t matter one way or the other. For all we know, that letter came from Adelaide.”
Noah gaped at his father. “Have you thought this through, Dad?”
“I’ve thought of little else since she returned to town, I’ll tell you that.”
“Then maybe you can answer this: Why would Adelaide falsely accuse Cody or anyone else? Especially now, after all this time? What does she have to gain? Do you honestly believe she wasn’t raped?”
He turned to stare out the window. “Whatever happened, it was fifteen years ago.”
Noah stepped toward him. “So?”
His father glowered at him over one shoulder. “Cody’s dead, Noah! Destroying everything he was won’t serve any purpose. It certainly won’t help Addy.”
“And the others who participated? They’re not dead.”
“No, but they’ve become decent men, upstanding members of the community. Throwing them in prison for something they did—might have done—a decade and a half ago won’t do anybody any good. Two have wives. Three have kids. The people who love them have no culpability in whatever took place. Do you want to see innocents suffer for an act that even she claims was perpetrated when Cody and his friends were barely eighteen and too drunk to know what they were doing?”
“So you believe her?”
“I’m saying if.”
His father’s logic made Noah afraid to ask his next question, the one he’d come here to ask. “Did you really hit a tree in the Range Rover, Dad?”
He whirled around. “Now you’re doubting me?”
“The man who kidnapped Addy was driving a white truck.”
“You think I don’t know that? You think Chief Stacy hasn’t been staying in close touch with me? I’m the mayor of this town!”
“So if you didn’t kidnap her, who did?”
He scowled. “It doesn’t matter.”
“You’re saying you didn’t do it, but you know who did?”
“Like I said, it doesn’t matter!”
His father was getting impatient, but Noah pressed on. He wasn’t going to settle for It doesn’t matter. “Chief Stacy just called Milly. He said none of the men Addy’s accused of raping her owns a white truck or SUV, except Stephen, and his hasn’t been in an accident.”
“Chief Stacy’s going to investigate, come up with nothing and let it all go. We’ve already talked about it. That’s what’s best for everyone.”
“What?” Noah shoved a chair out of his way as he closed the gap between them. “You and Chief Stacy—you’re going to protect those who were responsible? You do believe her! You’ve just decided what justice should look like!”
“You’d rather see Coach Colbert and Tom Gibby torn from their families?”
“That isn’t what I want at all! But the truth isn’t for you to decide. Neither is the punishment. The one person you keep forgetting in all of this is Addy. She’s the victim here. She deserves our sympathy and our support.”
“She’s fine. You’ve been in bed with her yourself. You know she’s recovered well enough.”
The casual way he addressed their relationship infuriated Noah. His father wanted to think it was all about sex, but it wasn’t. “I have been in bed with her, Dad. I’ve made love to her. That’s why I know how deeply what they did affected her. They don’t have the right to sweep this under the rug—and neither do you. I won’t let you.”
“What are you going to do to stop me?” his father demanded.
“Anything I have to,” he said.
* * *
Noah didn’t leave Addy’s side for the better part of a week. Either he was at Milly’s, or he took her to his house. She knew he was afraid she might suffer some sort of backlash if he wasn’t there to protect her. That was why she hadn’t gone in to work. Too many Whiskey Creek citizens were upset with her for “trying to ruin the reputations of four good men” in addition to the memory of the golden boy they’d lost. They didn’t understand how she could accuse Cody of such a terrible crime—which meant, of course, that she had to be lying about Coach Colbert, Tom and the others, too.
Addy thought Tom might speak up and tell the truth. He’d been so contrite when he came over to apologize that night after the football game, so filled with regret. But, according to Chief Stacy, he was keeping his story consistent with that of the others.
Noah didn’t work much that week, either. He let his employees handle the bike store while he searched for a connection between Kevin, Stephen, Derek or Tom and a white vehicle that’d been damaged. He was afraid his father had been more involved than he was willing to admit and desperately wanted to prove otherwise. Addy wanted that, too. Although Noah didn’t talk about it, she understood how hard it was for him to lose his good opinion of his brother. It felt almost as if he was suffering through Cody’s death again, this time the death of his image. He didn’t want to think his father would go to such lengths to cover it up. Addy wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to forgive his father if that was the case. But they weren’t having much luck. He could find no connection between Kevin, Tom or Derek and a white truck. And Stephen was keeping his Chevy locked in his garage.