What Lies in the Woods(75)

“About what?” he asked, plainly irritated.

“Jessi Walker.”

The name transformed his whole face, surprise opening it up, making him look strangely vulnerable for an instant—and then he locked down again, scowling. “I haven’t seen Jessi in … what has it been, twenty-five years? Twenty-four? The fuck you want to know about her?”

“My dad said you spent a lot of time together.”

“Sure. Jessi was cool. Good-looking. Could hold her liquor.” High praise from Oscar. “She was like one of the boys, you know what I mean?”

“She wouldn’t sleep with you?” I interpreted. “That’s not exactly what I heard.”

“We messed around a few times. Nothing serious.” He gave a shrug, but there was something angry and wounded in his expression. Cody and Jim had it right, I thought—whatever had actually happened between the two of them, Oscar had feelings for Jessi. Or his version of feelings, anyway. “Anyway, I wasn’t her type, turned out.”

I raised my eyebrows at that. “Who was?”

“Oh, you know girls with daddy issues.” He looked me straight in the eye, dark amusement curling his lips. “Looking for a savior, every one. Somebody to step in and protect them.”

“Not Cody,” I said.

He barked a laugh. “I was sure it was heading that way, but no. She wouldn’t tell me who it was, but trust me, Cody wouldn’t have been moping around all the time if he’d been getting laid on the regular. Whoever it was, though, she was head over heels. Two weeks in and talking about how he was promising to marry her. She was smart but she was an idiot, you know what I’m saying?”

“Yes, as subtle as you’ve been, I get the picture,” I said, restraining myself from rolling my eyes. Oscar was trying to play it off like he hadn’t cared, but there was real anger in his voice when he talked about her. He hadn’t liked being thrown aside, that was for sure. “She wasn’t reported missing or anything. Do you know why?”

Oscar frowned, shook his head. “Nah, she wasn’t missing. She just took off. Wandered into town and wandered out.”

“You’re sure about that?” I asked. Not one person had wondered where she’d gone to, why she never got back in touch. She’d been destined to leave since she arrived.

He shrugged. “She told me she was going. Said she was off to a new life or some bullshit like that. A better one than she could get in Chester, but not like that’s hard. She said things were going to be different.” His eyes darted away. All these years later, he was still upset she’d left. That she’d left him. That scorn in his voice when he talked about her lover was covering up a wound that had never healed over, I thought. And the only thing a guy like Oscar knew to do with pain was to inflict it on someone else.

“So she left on purpose? You’re sure?”

“What else?” he asked. “Why are you asking about Jessi, anyway?”

Ethan had warned me to be careful about who I talked to about Jessi. Here I was running to the least safe person I could think of. But I needed to see his reaction. “I think something happened to her,” I said. “Her family’s been looking for her for decades.”

“Fuck. Seriously?” he asked. He rubbed his palm over his scalp. “I just figured she went to LA or something. You know, some place with sun. And you’re asking me about it why? You think I had something to do with it?” he continued, affronted.

“Why wouldn’t I? Because you’re such a stand-up guy?”

“First I stabbed you, now I killed Jessi. I must’ve been real busy back then,” he said in mock wonder, shaking his head. “What did I do to make you hate me so much?”

I gave him a skeptical look. “You have to ask?”

“Can’t have been that bad, if you kept coming back,” he said, a lazy grin spreading over his face. “You know, I was just thinking about how funny it would be if Cody knew you’d begged me to fuck you.”

The thought sent a jolt of alarm down my spine. “He doesn’t know, does he?” I asked.

“Hell, no. After he overreacted that one time, he’d have fucking shot me. I mean, Jesus, look what he did because of a little joke.”

“You mean shoving a child against a wall and molesting her?” I asked.

“I didn’t molest you. It was a prank,” he insisted. “You’re just as dramatic as he is.”

“You deserved everything you got.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, probably.” I looked at him in surprise, but he left it at that. He scratched his chin idly. “If that’s all, I’ve got some actual work to do. Unless you want to reconsider that cot.”

“No thanks,” I said with all the venom I could muster. I turned on my heel and marched back to my car with his eyes drilling divots in my back. The fear I’d held in check broke loose as soon as the car door was shut behind me, and my hands were shaking when I went to turn the key in the ignition.

He’d never moved closer to me. Hadn’t threatened me. But that old fear remained, etched in my bones. It was the reason I avoided him and the reason I’d kept going back. Because sometimes that fear and that disgust were all I knew how to feel. Oscar Green was always a mistake, but at least I knew why. He didn’t hold any surprises.