Missing Pieces(76)

“I can, too,” Jack said earnestly. “Sometimes I can’t remember his face, but I remember his hands.” He looked at her with fear and something else. Was it hope? “Maybe my dad put it there?”

“You need to give this to the sheriff,” Sarah told him. “What if he’s the one who hurt Julia?”

“I don’t believe it.” Jack shook his head.

“What’ve you got there, Jack?” Sheriff Gilmore asked. He seemed to have sneaked up on them from out of nowhere.

Jack’s fingers closed tightly around the watch. “Jack,” Sarah prodded. “Show him.” Jack slowly unfurled his fingers to reveal the object. “I found it on my windshield last night. I put it in my purse, then got in the accident and forgot about it. Jack just found it.”

Gilmore held out his hand and after a long pause Jack laid the watch in his outstretched palm. “Who do you think it belongs to?” Gilmore asked, turning it around in his fingers.

“I think it belonged to my dad,” Jack replied, his voice shaking with emotion.

“You both need to come to the sheriff’s office.” Gilmore’s lips flattened into a grim line beneath his mustache.

“Now? Why?” Jack asked in surprise. “We can’t leave in the middle of my aunt’s funeral dinner.”

“Yes, Jack, now. Your mother was murdered, your aunt was murdered, a body was found on your uncle’s property and someone placed this watch on your wife’s windshield. A watch that you seem pretty certain belonged to your dad.”

Jack rubbed a hand over his face and nodded.

Jack and Sarah said a quick goodbye to Hal, Dean and Celia, and told them they would see them back at the house in a little while. Gilmore allowed Jack and Sarah to drive separately to the sheriff’s department. Wordlessly, Jack passed the car keys to Sarah with shaking fingers.

“Jack,” Sarah said as soon as they were in the car, “what’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” he said, and Sarah almost believed him. They drove in silence to the sheriff’s office, both lost in their own thoughts.

When they arrived at the station, the sheriff escorted them into the waiting area.

“Sarah, come on back with me,” he said, and Sarah looked pleadingly at Jack.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll be right here waiting.”

Sarah followed the sheriff down the hallway to his office. “Now, tell me how you got this watch.” He pulled the watch, now safely ensconced within a plastic bag, from his pocket.

“There isn’t much more to it than what I told you over at the church. After the wake last night, Margaret Dooley and I dropped off a bunch of desserts in the church basement. When I came back out to my car, Margaret noticed the watch on my windshield.”

“You didn’t think that was strange?”

Sarah raised her eyebrows. “Honestly, nothing much surprises me about this place anymore. But yes, I did think it was a little bit odd. I put the watch in my purse and forgot about it.”

Gilmore rubbed his chin. “You didn’t notice anyone hanging around the church or the parking lot? Anything suspicious at all?”

“No, nothing.” Sarah shrugged. “I know I’m not much help, but I can count on one hand the people I know in Penny Gate. I didn’t notice anything unusual.”

“Well, someone certainly knows who you are,” Gilmore said, setting the watch on a stack of file folders atop his desk. “You were run off the road last night. My deputy made it sound like you thought you were purposely targeted. Is that what you think?”

Sarah thought about the blinding headlights and how the truck came out of nowhere. “Last night it sure seemed that way. In the light of day it doesn’t seem quite as ominous,” Sarah said. “But now I don’t know. It could have been a drunk driver.”

“We’ll keep looking into it,” the sheriff promised. “Officially, the Lydia Tierney murder investigation is closed. But now we have a watch, purportedly belonging to John Tierney, and you were run off the road after someone placed it on your windshield. Raises some questions, am I right?” Gilmore asked.

“But that makes sense if John Tierney was the murderer. He comes back, kills his own sister—you have to admit the two cases bear some striking similarity. Maybe he leaves the watch on my car, sends...” Sarah stopped abruptly.

Gilmore looked at her curiously. “Sends what?” he asked.

Sarah wasn’t quite ready to share the emails with Gilmore. Not just yet. “Sends Jack back into this nightmare.”

“I have to agree with you on a few points, Sarah. There are similarities between Lydia’s and Julia’s deaths, but I don’t believe that John Tierney committed either of them.” He pointed to the Baggie on his desk. “And I think that watch, where it’s been for the past thirty years and your husband just might hold all the answers.”

“Now you think Jack killed both his mom and dad?” Sarah asked.

“Come on now, Sarah.” Gilmore stood and walked to the closet. “Don’t tell me it hasn’t crossed your mind. Just the other day you were standing here asking me if you could take a look at Lydia’s case file.” He placed his hand on the doorknob and Sarah held her breath. Had Margaret had time to return the box to its original spot?