On Her Father's Grave (Rogue River #1)(22)

“How was Hunter’s attitude recently? Was he looking forward to graduating?” Zane changed the subject.

“Yes, he hated school. He was ready to find a job and earn some real money,” Grace answered eagerly.

Grace’s mother gave a small snort.

Zane understood. Jobs that paid “real money” were slim in Solitude and the surrounding counties. “Where did Hunter want to work? Wasn’t he going to college next year?”

Grace smiled. “He was going to try to get on with his friend’s dad’s construction business. They’ve stayed busy and the O’Rourkes’ hotel is giving them a big contract. He was going to go to Oregon State as planned at the end of the summer.”

Zane had worked construction his college summers. It could be backbreaking work and eye-opening for a teenager. If anything would have convinced Hunter that college was the right path, it would have been being the young new guy on a construction site. “Have you seen anything that indicated he might have tried suicide?” Zane asked delicately.

Grace’s eyes opened wide. “You think he killed himself?”

“No, I’m asking you if you think he’d try. There’s a difference. Right now there’s something odd showing up in his blood tests. We need to figure out if it got there accidentally or on purpose and why. Did he take it to get high or end his life? Make sense? We have to consider all the possibilities.”

“Oh. I don’t think he’d kill himself.” Her brows knitted, and she studied the table. “I don’t think that at all. Don’t they give all their stuff away and act odd if they’re thinking about it? Hunter didn’t do any of that.”

“That’s the answer I needed.” Zane smiled at her. “Can you think of anything else that’s happened in the last few days? No mention of getting high with something new? Or perhaps you heard your friends mention something new they wanted to try?”

Grace had slowly shaken her head during his questions. “I heard another high school kid died in Coos Bay. Did he die the same way?”

“Yes, early tests indicate that student may have taken the same substance as Hunter.” Zane bit his lip. By evening the entire town would know the cases were related. But damn it, he needed some answers. Maybe some gossip would knock loose an explanation.

“That’s so sad.” Grace looked ready to cry again.

“I’m very sorry for your loss.” Zane reached across the table and touched the girl’s hand, lowering his voice. “I know you’ll always wonder what your future could have been with him. But promise me that you won’t feel you’re required to be unhappy for the next few years.” He paused, waiting for her to return eye contact. “Mourn him and remember him, but trust me . . . one day you’ll be very happy if you open your heart again. And never shut people out, okay? Never.”

Grace nodded, her eyes damp. Her mother grabbed a tissue and mouthed a silent “Thank you” to Zane. The three of them stood, and the father shook Zane’s hand as they headed out of the room.

“Who did you lose?” Mr. Ellis asked in a quiet voice.

“The girl I’d hoped to marry one day. We were both eight at the time and I thought my life was over,” Zane said with a rueful smile. “I know I was just a child, but I was devastated and learned a lesson for a lifetime. I still wonder what might have been, so I can imagine what she will face for the next few decades.”

He followed the family out to the main entrance. Stevie had returned and was holding a handful of funnels, talking quietly with Kenny and Sheila. He could smell that she’d been standing in the sun. The scent of the outdoors flowed from her hair.

He nodded at the funnels. “You bought some more? I take it that worked pretty good?”

“I bought enough to put one in each vehicle and keep a few in the station.” Her smile was shaky.

Sheila took one and tucked it under her desk. “I need it for when Mr. Berg comes in. I’m tired of yelling at him.”

Zane’s gaze narrowed on Stevie. Her eyes were red, and she seemed a bit pale for someone who’d been out in the sun. It was nearly noon, and he could feel the heat trying to sneak in through the single-paned windows of the station. They only used the air conditioning a few times a year, but he was glad they had it. “What’s going on?” he asked her.

“I was just asking Kenny and Sheila what they knew about Ted Warner. He nearly ran into me as I was backing out of Mrs. Simmons’s driveway, and he was driving an awfully expensive new truck. Yesterday morning I had the impression he hadn’t worked in a while?”

Zane raised a brow at Kenny, who shrugged. “Last I saw he was still driving an old Ford sedan, and no, I don’t think he’s had a job for a while. Loretta works at the hair place and is always complaining about his lazy ass.”

Sheila shook her head. “Beats me.”

“Are you implying Ted is doing something he shouldn’t be doing?” Zane asked Stevie. A new truck was pretty rare in town, especially for a lazy ass like Ted, but it didn’t mean he was doing something wrong.

Stevie swallowed hard. “I know it sounds stupid. It caught my eye is all. Usually something like that will have the neighbors talking, you know? I was just wondering if there’d been any scuttlebutt about it going around. You know . . . gossip is always biggest in the smallest of towns.”