Scratchgravel Road (Josie Gray Mysteries #2)(98)

As Josie approached the bushes she stopped and shone her flashlight around the area, then walked back around to where the body was found.

“Teresa?” Josie called.

After several seconds she heard, “Chief Gray?”

Josie directed her light over the large boulder and saw Teresa crouching beside it.

“What’s going on?” Josie asked.

Teresa was wearing dark jeans, a T-shirt, and her hair was pulled behind her head. She squinted into the beam of the flashlight and looked younger than her sixteen years, like a kid caught misbehaving.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” Josie asked.

“I don’t know.” Her voice was timid, not a typical response.

“You know it’s not safe out here by yourself,” Josie said. “What are you doing out here?”

She began to cry and slumped back onto the rock behind her. “I don’t know. I don’t even know who I am anymore.”

Josie paused for a moment. She was mentally and physically exhausted and her patience with people was at a low. She refused to play word games with the girl.

“You know what? I always thought that was a bullshit statement. I think that’s a way for cowards to get out of moving forward in their life. I think you know exactly who you are.”

Teresa sniffed and wiped her eyes with her T-shirt.

Josie pointed to the ground where the body had lain when Cassidy found it. “As far as you know, do we have the right person in jail for killing the man we found out here?”

Teresa looked up suddenly. “I don’t know who killed him.” It was too dark for Josie to read her expression, but her words sounded sincere.

Josie nodded, relieved. “Is there anyone else we need to question? Someone who was involved in killing that man that we don’t know about?”

“I don’t know.” She hesitated again, obviously still confused by the questions. “I don’t think so.”

“Do you have any additional information that would change the guilt or innocence of anyone related to this case?”

Teresa shook her head, as if finally understanding the line of questioning. “No.” Her response was resolute this time.

Josie nodded then and looked out toward the Chinati Peak, in the direction of her home. She took a long while to gather her thoughts. “I don’t know any human being who doesn’t grow up making mistakes. Sometimes big mistakes. Someday, when you’re looking back on your life, you’ll probably decide those mistakes are what changed you. Made you a better person.” She glanced at Teresa. “Now’s your chance.”

She nodded and stared at Josie as if preparing to tell her something.

“The people who fail in life are the ones who keep making the same mistakes. They never learn anything. Don’t be that person.”

The anxiety came back into Teresa’s expression and she started to speak, but Josie cut her off.

“Look. Take your confession to your priest. Beyond that, it’s time to move on. I don’t want to see you out here again. You leave Enrico and this mess behind you.” Josie pointed in the direction of the Hollow and saw the surprise in Teresa’s expression. “Is that who you are? Are those the people you want to hang out with?”

She shook her head no.

Josie pointed to the place on the ground where the body was found. “Is that who you are?”

“I know who I am. I know right from wrong,” Teresa said. Her tone was humble and sincere. “But when you start making bad decisions you start wondering when it’ll stop. Who says I won’t do it again?”

“An old friend told me that scars are nature’s way of making sure we remember all the stupid stuff we do.”

Teresa nodded and rubbed her thumb along her jawline. “When I was eleven, Mom told me I wasn’t allowed to play in the drainage ditch across the road from the house because it was dirty. It had rained though, and the ditch was full of water. Me and a bunch of kids went swimming in the ditch. I fell on a metal pipe and cut my jaw open. I ran home with blood dripping down my face. She had to drive me to the doctor. I had to get stitches.”

“Did you play in the ditch after that happened?”

“Never went back.”

Teresa turned her head to the side and Josie could see the small line of raised white flesh along her jawbone. Josie watched the girl run her finger along the hard edge and they sat quiet for a time. Josie thought about her own scars, and whether she ever learned from them. Maybe Dell was right. Maybe it was fear that kept her from moving forward in life, and fear that made her keep repeating the same mistakes. Maybe it was time to have a little faith.