Fear Thy Neighbor (55)

“Like I said, Val told me his parents paid his way out of any trouble he got himself into. I assume he had to be doing something if he’s being accused of molesting a child. That jerk makes me sick,” she said, anger giving her a second burst of energy. She got up and stood at the window. Shouldn’t the police be here by now? And Valentina, too?

“I’ve been away a long time. But I don’t recall any rumors about that when I lived here. Gossip spreads like melted butter on the island and in Fort Charlotte. That’s a fact that hasn’t changed.”

“It was like that when you lived here, too?”

“Yes, people running their mouths with nothing better to do. Off-season was quiet, so people needed entertainment. Not my kind of fun, but the fishermen and the shrimpers ate it up. Many of them weren’t from around here, so listening to the locals tell tall tales about whomever, whatever, seemed to be the gig then.”

Ali considered what he said. “Were these tall tales hints of what might’ve been happening on the island then?”

“Maybe. No way to know. I was a teenager, so I didn’t pay too much attention then. Though Rhett might’ve heard. He was hitting the bars up starting on his eighteenth birthday. That was the legal age at the time.”

“Too young,” she said, thinking back to when she was eighteen. Nightclubs hadn’t been her thing and still weren’t. “Your parents were readers?” she said out of the blue.

“Yes, my father is. Mom, not so much. She spent what little time I knew her in bed. Sick. She passed when I was ten, during Rhett’s first year of high school. Bad times.”

“I’m sorry,” was all she could come up with. She was, though. Losing a real parent had to be as tough as it got, especially when there was love in the family.

Kit nodded, then raked his hand through his hair. “Thanks. Time heals old wounds, I guess. Dad remarried when I was fifteen. We moved off the island after Rhett graduated high school. Couple years later, I had a baby sister.”

She smiled. “How cool, especially for your parents, with two built-in babysitters.”

“Both of us doted on Jane,” he said, a sad look on his face.

“Another literary name?”

“My stepmom loves books as much as dad does. They met through a book club,” he said. “They’re a good match, but they’ve never been the same since they lost Jane.”

“Your sister? I’m so very sorry. How horrible for you and your family.” She wasn’t expecting to hear such sad news. Especially now that Renée was missing, she wasn’t sure she could deal with more bad news.

Kit had a faraway look in his eyes, as though he’d traveled back in time to his family’s tragedy. “She was only six,” he told her.

“Would it be rude of me to ask what happened to her?”

He raked his hand through his hair again. She supposed it was a habit of his, as she’d seen him do it before. “We don’t know.”

“Was she sick?” she couldn’t help but ask. She wanted to know as much as she could about Kit’s family.

“You’ll keep this to yourself?” he asked.

“Of course,” she told him, but wondered why it mattered, since Jane’s death had happened so long ago.

“She’s been missing for more than twenty years. I’d been out of college for a year or so. My stepmom, who raised us, was younger than Dad, but it didn’t matter, because they’re like two peas in a pod. I was seventeen when Jane came along. Cutest little girl. Rhett and I adored her. Spoiled her constantly. This is the part I can’t tell you, but suffice it to say, Jane’s disappearance is relevant to what I’m working on.”

In a soft voice, she asked, “The cult story?”

“Let’s leave it at that for now.”

“Okay.” Unsure what else to say, she tried wrapping her mind around the strange events that took place here and in town.

Through the window, Ali saw red and blue lights flashing but didn’t hear a siren. “Looks like the police are here,” she said. “I dread this. I can’t begin to imagine what Val’s going through.”

“I have no doubt this is the start of her worst nightmare,” Kit said, then stood up, walking to the door. Ali joined him, waiting to let the authorities in to do their job. Sending up a silent prayer this nightmare would have a magical ending, she prepared for a long night ahead.





Chapter Twelve


When Alison saw Ricky Sanders from the sheriff’s department, along with three others she hadn’t met, her stomach sank. She knew he wasn’t the most experienced or the brightest star, even though he wore two actual gold stars plastered on his shirt. Was his presence a sign of a bad outcome?

Kit took charge as soon as the cops entered.

“Well, well, now look at this,” Sanders said when he saw her standing beside Kit. “Trouble follows you everywhere, don’t it?” he said between snaps of bubble gum. “You do something to the kid? You wantin’ some ransom money?” He laughed, while the other three deputies reminded her of Larry, Moe, and Curly as they waited silently for direction. The three deputies looked to be in their early twenties. Most likely, this was their first real investigation.

“Don’t speak to Alison like that,” Kit warned. “Do you what you were sent here to do.”