Shattered Secrets (Cold Creek #1)(66)

“I get what you’re saying, but I’d stake everything that she was telling us the truth. She was furious with me, she runs over to see if Dane’s house and graveyard come back to her and is just there at the wrong time.”

“No coincidences in police work, remember? You’re getting emotionally involved with her, Gabe, and—”

“And that’s another reason I’m going to solve this. Hell, Vic, I’m emotionally tied to each of the kidnapped girls, even the ones I never met! You know, when I was assigned to defusing bombs, I had to have someone dress me in state-of-the-art armor every time. Eighty-pound Kevlar bomb suit, helmet with a shield over my face. But I’m feeling vulnerable on this case, terrified the bomb’s going to blow in my face—that another girl will go missing or we’ll find a body.... And Tess. I care deeply for the woman, and that traumatized, scared little girl still inside her—I’ve got to get back in her good graces so she can remember more, help herself and help me.”

“Look,” Vic said, gripping his shoulder hard, “it’s gonna be dark soon. Drive me to the station. I’ll get my car, go back to Dane’s house, work with Mike on the forensics and look for more possible evidence inside. You eat something solid, get a couple of hours’ rack time. I know you’re gonna see if Tess is all right. Swear to me you’ll take care of yourself, or you’re gonna lose it—lose objectivity and control.”

“Yeah, I hear you, about keeping my head on straight about Tess too. I promise,” Gabe said, grateful for the support. So why didn’t he believe he’d keep that promise to Vic?





22

After Jace Miller dropped her off at home, Tess refused to just collapse. In a way that was what she’d been doing for years, either falling apart or hiding. So what if she was upset by Gabe and Vic’s interrogation and by Marva’s accusation? It was nothing next to what Sandy Kenton, Jill Stillwell, even Amanda Bell, might be going through.

If the kidnapper had been Dane, maybe Marva had helped him. Dane could have given the Greens money to keep them going over the years before Marva’s husband died. Maybe money to keep their mouths shut or to house a kidnapped girl. Had Marva been faking her friendliness from the first just to keep an eye on Tess and what she remembered? Tess had been shocked at how quickly the woman had turned on her. But that seemed somehow familiar in the dark depths of her mind—someone who coddled her, then struck out at her.

Tess certainly wasn’t leaving the area, as she’d promised Gabe and Vic, but she was going to pursue any memories that could help find the lost girls. One of the library books talked about cascading flashbacks. Once they start to emerge from the buried past, they supposedly couldn’t be stopped, like a waterfall.

Since everyone was investigating at Dane’s place she decided she was going to look at Marva’s old place. If she saw the house, maybe she’d remember it. In case Gabe stopped by, she’d leave him a note explaining where she’d gone. She had agreed to give him an extra key when her locks were all changed, so she put the note on the kitchen counter, where he’d see it right away.

*

As she drove past the Hear Ye property heading for Marva’s place, Tess tried to ignore the fact that it was starting to rain and getting dark. This would not take long.

She was amazed she could hear the muted roar of the Falls waterfall when she rolled down her car window near Marva’s. She hadn’t realized the sound would carry this far.

Tess pulled off Blackberry Road. The old Green farmhouse sat on a fairly sharp curve in the road. She drove past once. There was a light on in the place! Or was that the reflection of her own headlights on the turn?

The house was supposed to be deserted. She turned around and drove back but saw no lights this time. Surely that hadn’t been her imagination. She’d have to go closer to be sure. There was no point getting Gabe or Vic out here on a wild-goose chase. They’d have her head for sure. What if it was kids or someone homeless passing through? She’d just peek in a window, then decide.

So she couldn’t be spotted from the road, she parked in a narrow, grassy lane that had been a farmer’s tractor entry to a field that was unplanted now. She knew Miss Etta and her handicapped mother lived a mile or so farther down the road in their historic home, but she couldn’t recall ever being out there. Behind the small woodlot between where she stood and the Green acreage stretched a barren, single field where Marva’s husband had grown vegetables. He’d done odd jobs in the winter, hunted with Sam Jeffers sometimes, but that was about all she knew. That and the fact that the Greens had never quite made ends meet, so their house and outbuildings were in bad shape. They’d gone derelict after Marva left.

Tess muted her cell phone and got out of the car, carefully locking it, then securing her keys in her backpack. Again, she heard the roar of the falls, but, in a way, it was comforting, like white noise blocking out other sounds. She would take a closer peek at the house, then phone Gabe if anything looked suspicious.

She hiked off the road, going through the woodlot. The tree cover stopped the rain but made it darker. Such a place would have terrified her just days ago, but that had all changed now. She was willing to take risks for the stolen girls. And, despite her own denials, Gabe.

Just as she came to the fringe of woods, she saw a distant light move through the trees along the lot line. The light seemed to be dancing since branches were blowing in the wind. She sucked in a breath and pressed her back to a tree trunk. The light she’d seen when she drove by was not her imagination.