The Stranger(100)
“I told you already.” Tripp stepped back. “Come in and sit down. Is that blood on your shirt?”
Adam entered the office. He hadn’t gotten inside before. Tripp had tried his best to keep him out. Little wonder. The office was a dump. One room. The carpet was worn. The wallpaper was peeling. The computer was dated.
Living in a town like Cedarfield cost big bucks. How had Adam not seen the truth before?
“I know, Tripp.”
“Know what?” He studied Adam’s face. “You need to see a doctor.”
“You stole the lacrosse money, not Corinne.”
“Jesus, you got blood all over you.”
“Everything was the opposite of what you told me. You asked Corinne for time, not the other way around. And you used that time to set her up. I don’t know how exactly. You altered the books, I guess. Hid the stolen money, whatever. You turned everyone else on the board against her. You even told Bob that she was going to pin it on him.”
“Listen to me, Adam. Sit down, okay? Let’s just talk this out.”
“I keep thinking about Corinne’s reaction when I confronted her about faking the pregnancy. She didn’t bother denying it. What she really wanted to know is how I found out. She figured that you were behind it somehow. Sending her a warning. That’s why she called you. To let you know she’d had enough. What did you say back to her, Tripp?”
He didn’t bother replying.
“Did you beg her for one more chance? Did you ask her to meet you so you could explain?”
“You got some imagination, Adam.”
Adam shook his head and tried to hold it together. “All that philosophizing to me about how the sweet old lady or sports board member rationalizes embezzling funds. How it begins small. Gas money, you said. A coffee at the diner.” Adam moved a step closer. “Is that how it went for you?”
“I really have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Adam swallowed and felt the tears start to come. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”
Silence.
“You killed my wife.”
“You can’t really believe that.”
But Adam could feel his body start to quake from the truth. “We’re living the dream, right? Isn’t that what you always say, Tripp? How lucky we all are, how thankful we should be. You married Becky, your high school sweetheart. You have five wonderful kids. You’d do anything to protect them, wouldn’t you? What would happen to your precious dream if it got out that you’re nothing but a thief?”
Tripp Evans straightened up and pointed at the door. “Get out of my office.”
“It came down to you or Corinne. That’s how you saw it. Your family gets destroyed. Or mine. For a guy like you, the choice was easy.”
Tripp’s tone was colder now. “Get out.”
“That text you sent pretending to be her. I should have seen it right away.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You killed her. And then, to buy time, you sent that text. I was supposed to read it and figure she was blowing off steam—and if I didn’t believe that, if I thought something happened to her, the police wouldn’t pay attention. They’d see the text. They’d learn we just had a giant fight. They wouldn’t even bother filling out a report. You knew all that.”
Tripp shook his head. “You got it wrong.”
“I wish I did.”
“You can’t prove this. You can’t prove any of this.”
“Prove? Maybe not. But I know.” Adam held up his cell phone. “‘You take care of the kids.’”
“What?”
“That’s what the text says. ‘You take care of the kids.’”
“So?”
“So Corinne never called Thomas and Ryan the kids.” He smiled even as his heart sank. “It was always the boys. That’s what they were. Not her kids. Her boys. Corinne never wrote that text. You did. You killed her and then you sent that text so no one would start looking for her right away.”
“That’s your proof?” Tripp almost laughed. “You really think anyone is going to believe that crazy story?”
“Doubt it.”
Adam lifted the gun out of his pocket and took aim.
Tripp’s eyes went wide. “Whoa, just calm down and listen a second.”
“I don’t really need to hear more of your lies, Tripp.”
“Just . . . Becky is meeting me here in a few minutes.”
“Oh, good.” Adam moved the gun closer to the man’s face. “What would your little philosophizing say about that? Eye for an eye maybe?”
For the first time, Tripp Evans’s mask slipped off and Adam could see the darkness beneath. “You wouldn’t hurt her.”