Page 71 of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

His lips pulled back, baring his teeth. “Ho, boy.” He wagged his head. “He and our father were like oil and water, fightin’ over the slightest thing.”

“What about your mother?”

He pushed out a sigh. “That there was a different story. He and our momma were close when we were little. Not so muchwhen he got bigger, but he still loved her. She was the only one he would listen to when he had a spell.”

“A spell?” Dixie said, tilting her head. “What kind of spells?”

“Fits. Rages. He’d lose his temper, which was an embarrassment to our father.” He lowered his chin slightly. “Dad was the mayor at the time. Had been for most of my life growin’ up. He was defeated soon after.”

“After Chuck ran off?”

He nodded.

“Did Chuck have a girlfriend?”

“Not that I know of. He dated some, but nothin’ serious. I think that was his decision, not the girls’, as weird as that seems given how much people feared him.”

“Do you remember if Chuck was upset with anyone at the time he left? Your father? You? Someone at school?”

“It seemed like he was upset with just about everyone. It’s hard to say, but I don’t remember anything out of the ordinary.”

“Had he planned to go to college?” Dixie asked.

“No. He was joinin’ the army. He said he didn’t want to go to college or learn a trade, so Dad made him sign up. He enlisted when he turned eighteen, right after Christmas. Though he wasn’t too happy about it. He was set to go to basic trainin’ a few days after graduation.”

I sat up straighter. Nowtherewas a motive to run away.

“Could he have run off to get out of goin’ in the army?” Dixie asked.

“Honestly, our mother considered that and brought it up to Dad at dinner about a week after he disappeared, but he told her to never bring it up in our house again. He said it was a ridiculous idea, even for Chuck. As far as I know, they never discussed it again.”

“Do you think maybe your dad felt guilty for forcing him to enlist?”

“Shoot no,” Peter scoffed. “If anything, he was mad at Chuck for his cowardice. But he insisted that wasn’t why he left, and Chuck never mentioned it in his postcards.”

I thought Dixie might touch on the postcards, but she kept going with the current thread. “Do you think that’s why he ran off?”

“Makes more sense than any other rumors that floated around,” Peter said.

“And what were those?”

“That he was scared of a guy at school. That he had somethin’ to do with that Brewer girl’s murder.”

“You don’t think it’s possible he had something to do with Bethany’s murder?” Dixie asked.

“Nah, I don’t see why he would have done it. No motive. He barely spoke to the girl, and the couple of times I saw him say something to her, he wasn’t mean. Not like he was with her sister.”

“We’ve heard he didn’t get along with Lila Brewer.”

“Talk about an understatement,” he said, making a face. “For some reason, he really hated her.”

“Is there any way he could have mistaken Bethany for Lila?” Dixie asked.

“Nah, I don’t think so, and even if he had, Chuck wasn’t a killer. Sure, he beat people up, but he never would have killed someone.”

Dixie took a sip of water. “Do you remember Chuck leavin’ the house the night he left home? Did he pack a bag to bring with him?”

“No, that was the weird thing. He didn’t take anything with him. He just left.”

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