Free A Promise to Remember by Kathryn Cushman Page B

the cushions. Maybe she should just order him out of her house.
Lock him and the bad news he brought out of her life.
    It wouldn't help. The truth would find them.
    Blair sat beside her. He rubbed his hands together and leaned
his elbows on his knees. It was his "let's get down to business"
position that Andie recognized so well. "What news do you
have for us?"
    "The toxicology reports have come back." He pulled a white
sheet of paper out of his jacket pocket but didn't look at it. "Your
son had a 0.03 alcohol level in his blood. Not enough to be legally
drunk, but of course, any amount at his age is illegal."
    Andie gasped. "There must be some mistake. Chad never
touched alcohol. He spoke out against it."

    She remembered his birthday party last year. Dozens of teenagers splashing about in the softly lit pool, the smell of hot
dogs carrying over from the grill, the girls' giggles at the boys'
belly-busting competition.
    Chad had walked over, dripping wet and smiling. "I think
this is the best party yet. Don't you?" He put his arms around
Andie's shoulders.
    She laughed. "How come the only time you hug me in front
of your friends is when you're soaking wet?"
    "Oops. Sorry about that." He lifted his arm, then put it back
on her shoulders. "Ah, you're already wet now. May as well
enjoy it, huh?" He looked around. "I wonder where Dan and
Kurt went."
    "They've been in and out several times tonight. They must
be up to something." Andie smiled. "They better not be TPing
all the trees out front again. It took a week to clean that mess
up last time they did it."
    Chad sniggered. "Yeah, Dad was pretty mad about that, too.
I better go see if they're out there."
    Three minutes later, he returned, his face solemn. He went
over to a group of boys and pointed toward the door. The boys
looked at him, grinning, waiting for the joke that didn't seem
to come. After a minute of heated conversation, three of them
left. Only later did Andie ask him what had happened.
    "They were going out to their cars and mixing rum in with
their Coke. I told them they were disrespecting my family. I
told them to get out and not come back."
    Chad could not have died with alcohol in his system. It had
to be a mistake.
    "He was underage. Surely we can track down the person who
sold something to him. They should be called to answer for it."
Blair's voice came out gravelly, and his lips had gone so tight
they hardly moved as he spoke.

    Sam shifted in his seat and adjusted his tie, as if he needed
to breathe. "Yes, that is true. First of all, I need to ask you, is
there any way he could have gotten into the alcohol cabinet at
home?"
    Andie lifted her chin and looked at Sam. "Neither of us drink,
and we do not keep alcohol in our home." Had someone sold
that poison to her son? Whoever it was, he was responsible for
the accident and needed to face up to it. She wanted to punish
him, make him pay. Let him feel some of her pain. They would
drag him into court so fast ...
    An uncomfortable sensation formed deep in her gut. No.
This was different. This was ... different.
    Sam nodded. "That's good to hear. I asked because, upon
searching through the wreckage, the police found a bottle beneath his backseat. They kept it quiet for as long as possible.
    He tugged at his tie again. "The reason I thought it might
have come from home is because of the bottle they found. I'm
told, with kids, they usually find beer, or some form of cheap
liquor. Chad had a bottle of Scotch."
    Blair's face went white. "Laphroaig? Thirty-year-old
Laphroaig?"
    Sam pressed his lips into a thin line. "Yes, as a matter of
fact."
    "Oh, dear God, help me." Blair buried his face in his hands.
He didn't cry, nor did he speak, but he rocked back and forth
over and over again.
    Andie watched her husband, and an entirely new dread crept
through her. "Blair, what is going on?"
    He looked up, his eyes haunted and hollow. "The day of the
wreck, I got a package. It