Right Where We Belong (Silver Springs #4)(15)
The investigation had been exhaustive, but the police kept coming up empty-handed—until DNA testing confirmed that the crimes were linked to a third incident in Springville, near Provo. Then the detectives knew the rapist was working in a much bigger area and cast a wider net.
Gavin searched for other articles on the same crimes and found one that indicated a woman in Provo had reported some guy lurking about her Mormon church one night after choir practice. He left without approaching her, but he spooked her enough that she jotted down his license plate number. That was what had focused the investigation on one particular suspect.
Yet another article indicated that someone had finally been arrested for those assaults: Gordon Gray, a thirty-year-old white male who was a husband and father.
There it was. The perpetrator had a wife and children. That fit. The suspect had operated in and around Nephi. That fit, too. And Savanna had mentioned that her ex-husband’s name was Gordon, which wasn’t all that common. Everything fit. She’d been married to a man who’d assaulted three women. The victims were complete strangers to Gordon Gray and to each other, which was what had made it so difficult to catch him, but police had plenty of evidence and were now working to see if they could link Gray to more unsolved cases.
Gavin rocked back. Holy shit. No wonder Savanna wanted to become a lesbian. She’d been living with—and had children with—a man who was a violent criminal. Had Gordon mistreated her, too?
Gavin wanted to read more about the situation from which his new neighbor had apparently fled, but if he didn’t get showered, he’d be late for No Good Pete’s. Then he might not be able to get any gigs.
“A rapist,” he murmured, still shocked as he pulled off his shirt. How had the beautiful woman moving in next door gotten involved with a guy like that? And had she realized, at some point, that there was something wrong with him—or had it all come as a surprise?
*
Reese called after the kids were in bed. “Hey, you never let me know when you got in last night.”
Savanna had forgotten to notify him. She’d had so much on her mind. That she’d have to keep the moving van another day before she could get to LA to return it and buy a car, which would stretch her budget when she was trying to cut every corner. That, after what Gavin had said about the condition of the house, it might be worse than she was expecting, which had turned out to be the case. That her neighbor might not return to help her cross the creek after what she’d said about students of a boys ranch. That her mother-in-law’s threats might turn into more than a turn of phrase if Gordon didn’t get convicted. And then, of course, underneath it all, the big question—the question of whether she was doing the right thing in the first place.
“Sorry,” she said. “It’s been crazy.”
“In what way? You’re there, aren’t you? And the kids are okay?”
She was working from the floor again. She’d cleaned out the cupboards and unpacked her silverware and dishes. Now she was organizing and putting away her pots and pans. “Yeah, we’re here and everyone’s fine.”
“Well? Was it what you were expecting?”
“Not entirely.” She was so tired she could hardly move, but she intended to finish the kitchen so she could go to bed feeling she’d made a strong start. “Silver Springs is amazing, though. I can’t believe it hasn’t been voted one of America’s top places to live. Or...maybe it has. I never check those things.”
“What makes it so great?”
“It’s nestled in this pretty valley only an hour or so from the sea. It’s clean and stylish and feels far more friendly than Nephi—although I’ve only met two people, so as far as friendly goes I don’t really know,” she added with a laugh.
“You used to like Nephi.”
She hadn’t hated it in the beginning. That was where Gordon’s grandmother had lived and, disappointed in her only daughter, she’d left Gordon the equity in her house when she passed. Given that his job required him to be in central Utah, and living in Nephi saved him significant time on the road, they’d stayed instead of trying to sell so they could remain in Midvale, a suburb of Salt Lake, where they’d lived for the first part of their marriage. “Not at the end.”
“I hope this place will treat you better.”
“I have an exceptionally nice neighbor, so that’s a start.” She remembered Gavin saying he found her attractive and couldn’t help smiling. Hearing those words come from such a handsome and charismatic man felt good. But that was only because it’d been so long since she’d been seen as anything other than a tired wife and mother, she told herself. She was flattered, not truly excited, even though she had to admit that she found him attractive, too.
“I was under the impression from the way Dad talked and the pictures he sent that the ranch house was out in the country,” Reese said.
It required some effort to draw her mind back to the conversation. For a change, she was preoccupied by something other than Gordon’s crimes. That was a relief in and of itself. “It is. I’m pretty sure Gavin’s place used to be part of the original ranch and was recently split off and converted from something else—a barn or tackle house. It’s not big, but it’s cool. Fits him in that way.”
“Meaning Gavin’s cool?”