Covering Up

Chapter One

Natalie Buchanan sighed in frustration as she glanced down at the spreadsheet in front of her. No matter how many times she looked at the numbers, she just couldn't find the discrepancy. It was the rare days like this that made her wonder, what exactly she had been thinking taking a high level corporate job, without the necessary business school background. Taking a deep a deep breath to quell her growing anger, Natalie began to go over it again, but was interrupted by the ring of her cell phone.

Natalie looked at the caller id, and smiled when she realized it was her sister. Flipping it open she laughed and said, "You'd better not be canceling on me for tonight. You may not be able to drink, but after the day I've had, I need a beer."

"I killed him Natalie… I don't know what to do, I actually killed him."

Natalie bolted upright in her chair as her eyes widened in shock at Jessica's hysterical words, the papers she had been holding dropped from nerveless fingers, "Jess, calm down." Jessica continued to sob hysterically, "I need you to calm down, what are you talking about?"

"I killed him," her twin wailed into the phone.

"Killed who?" Natalie forced herself to whisper softly, being extra careful that no one outside the office heard her.

"Jarred, I killed Jarred."

Although a million questions were running through her mind, Natalie pushed them aside and forced herself to try and remain calm. "Okay, where are you now?" Natalie asked as she stood, reaching for her jacket.

"At the cabin."

"Okay, Stay there. Don't go anywhere. I'm gonna to call Uncle Beau and head up…"

Jessica interrupted her with a hysterical "NO! You can't call the police!"

"Jessica, what do you mean? You have to call them…."

"No. You can't! You don't understand… You don't understand Natalie… It'll all come out, what I did, what happened between us, Nash'll never forgive me, I'll lose Bree, and I'll go to jail… you don't understand Natalie, you don't know the whole story. Yeah Tess slept with him, and she sent him to jail and he blackmailed me, but there's more, and its worse, and I can't leave Bree and no one will understand, not even Mom or Uncle Beau, or Nash… you're the only person I have Natalie…"

"Jess, you need to calm down… Who else knows where you are?"

"No one, Nash thinks I went over to BE to meet up with you for tonight."

"Alright, Ok, I won't call Beau. I'm on my way. Just don't go anywhere or touch anything else"

Flipping her phone closed, Natalie gathered her things together and threw them in her purse. Trying to act as natural as she could under the circumstances, she walked into the lobby and faced the receptionist with a smile, "Tina, I am going to duck out a little early, okay? My sister and I had this girl's night planned, plus it's pretty slow for a Friday. Why don't you just take the rest of the afternoon off?"

"Sure, Ms. Buchanan, that sounds great. I'll lock up as soon as I finish typing up this report."

Flashing one last smile at the receptionist, Natalie stepped into the elevator and let out a deep breath once the doors shut behind her. Her shoulders sagged, and she leaned against the wall to prevent her legs for giving out from under her. Shaking her head, she couldn't help but wonder – and dread – what awaited her at the cabin.

It was nearly a half hour later before Natalie got on the road, and headed up to the cabin. After coming out of BE, she realized that someone needed to be level headed and actually think this through. Two hysterical women wouldn't help, no matter what the situation was.

Natalie acted as natural as she could by driving calmly driving home. Luckily she found Llanfair empty, as it was Lois's weekend off. Rushing up to her room, Natalie quickly changed into jeans, a tee-shirt and sweater, and grabbed a change of clothes for herself and the same for Jessica, unsure of what condition her sister was in. She then made a few calls, leaving messages for both Miles and her father, that she had Jessica had changed their plans for girls night, and were heading out, rather then staying at Llanfair, just in case either man happened to come by the house and find it empty. Lastly, she decided to switch cars before heading up to the mountain.

Though Llantano Mountain was a large community, the majority of it was vacation homes, and rentals leaving only a small group of locals that actually lived in the area. As a result this group was close knit, and kept an eye out for each other, and while Asa's cabin was isolated from the rest, a lot of the residents where familiar with the Buchanan family. Though it had been quite some time since Natalie had been there, she didn't want to risk someone recognizing her car and coming over to the cabin to offer their condolences for Asa's death. So, Natalie opted for Vicki's black sedan. It was only a few months old, with tinted windows, and would allow her to get up to the property without being seen.

The entire ride up, Natalie resisted the urge to speed the whole way, not wanting to draw any attention to herself, or any tickets to act as evidence. Natalie knew enough from her days at the police station, that just the mere fact that she was driving up here knowing a crime had been committed and not calling the police, could make her an accessory after the fact.

It took nearly 45 minutes, but Natalie finally made it to the cabin and quickly pulled her car into the garage. As she walked the path toward the main house, she tried to mentally prepare herself for what she may see and hear, but stopped when she noticed only Jared's car in the driveway.

She knew this could pose a problem depending on what exactly Jessica planned to do.

Taking a deep breath, Natalie walked up the steps to the entrance, and entered the cabin. "Jess?" she called softly, as she made her way into the living room, but was stopped by her twin jumping from where she had been sitting on the couch, and running over and throwing her arms around her.

"Oh Natalie, thank God you're here," Jessica cried, her body shaking with sobs as she clung to her sister. Natalie patted, Jessica's back, and snuck a look around the living room, stopping when her eyes landed on the lifeless body lying face up on the floor. From what she could see, there was a pool of blood forming under his head.

Tearing her eyes away, she faced Jessica, "Okay, and Jess you NEED to tell me what happened."