Right Where We Belong (Silver Springs #4)(43)

“I live in California now.”

Silence. Although he didn’t say a word, she could feel his disapproval.

“Hello?”

“I wish you would’ve stayed,” he said. “We might need you to testify at the trial, remember?”

“I’m hoping you won’t need me. What’s happened hasn’t been easy on me or my kids.”

“It hasn’t been easy on Theresa Spinnaker, Meredith Caine or Jeannie West, either,” he said. “That’s why we have to make sure we get a conviction, no matter how hard it is on everyone.”

He’d had so little empathy for her. And yet she understood that he had to separate himself from his compassion in order to do his job. She also understood how he felt about the possibility of Gordon getting off. She was beginning to worry more and more about that herself. If her soon-to-be ex didn’t go to prison, what would he do? Come out to California? Try to reconcile? “If it becomes important that I testify, I will. The DA can let me know.”

“I’m glad you’re willing to help.”

“Is that why you called? Because you were concerned that I might’ve escaped the whole mess?”

When he hesitated, she knew he’d heard the bitterness in her voice. It was tough not to blame him, at least partially, for what she’d been through. He’d been so belligerent in the beginning. But he wouldn’t even be involved in her life if not for Gordon. Gordon was clearly the one to blame. “I called because we need a favor.”

“You mean beyond my testimony?”

“To be honest, I consider that your duty, not a favor to me. But we’re still gathering evidence, building the case, so we’re not quite to that part yet. What we need right now is for you to see what you can get out of Gordon about someone named Emma Ventnor.”

Savanna gripped her phone tighter. “He won’t tell me if he raped her. He’s still claiming he hasn’t raped anyone.”

“It’ll involve more than simply asking him about Emma. We’d like you to get him to say whatever he will about her. The calls from the county jail are recorded. We’re hoping to get something on tape.”

Squeezing her eyes closed, she pressed a fist to her forehead. “When was this woman raped?”

“She’s been missing for over a year, Savanna. We think he might’ve killed her.”

“No way. Gordon might be a rapist, but surely he isn’t a murderer!”

“We don’t know. That’s why we need your help.”

“I told you. He won’t even admit what he did to the three victims you already know about. What makes you think he’ll tell me anything about a fourth?”

“You’ll have to rile him up. Get him angry. Push him to the point where he’s not monitoring himself.”

Great. Then maybe he’d complain to his mother, and Dorothy would harass and threaten her that much more. “This other woman can’t be from Nephi. I would’ve heard about it if someone had gone missing.”

“Emma wasn’t a woman, Savanna. She was only sixteen. And you’re right—she didn’t live in Nephi. She lived in Bingham.”

A chill ran down Savanna’s spine. Almost everyone in Utah knew that the world’s largest copper mine was located in Bingham. “By Kennecott.”

“Yes. And Gordon was there, fixing a pump, the day she went missing.”





12

“Heather came by.”

Gavin had just accepted three small cookies and a carton of milk from Aiyana, who’d brought those items from the cafeteria. She stopped by his tiny office, which basically consisted of a desk he’d wedged into the maintenance building along with all of his tools and other supplies, quite often. Bringing him something to eat or drink was her way of continuing to care for him, and he knew it. She was the reason he’d been so hesitant to pack up and leave to pursue his music. He knew she depended on him; his loyalty wouldn’t let him go. “When?” he asked.

“While you were gone, picking up that part for the lawn mower.”

“You bumped into her on campus?”

She pulled the long black braid that ran down her back around to the front so she could fix the tie. “No, she came to the administration building.”

“Why would she go there? She knows my office is on the other side of the ranch.”

“I’m guessing that when she didn’t find you here, she decided to stop in and say hello to me.”

Gavin could no longer taste the cookie in his mouth. Heather was hoping that Aiyana would become her mother-in-law—and she was getting impatient because he hadn’t contacted her since she’d given him the news. “Has she ever come to see you before?”

“No, but she’s never been pregnant before. Maybe she was hoping to determine whether you’d told me.”

After washing down that bite of cookie with a drink of milk, he set what was left of both on his desk. “Did you let on?”

She folded back the linen sleeves of her blouse. She almost always dressed colorfully, but today she wore tan pants with a white shirt and left all the color to her sandals, which had red, white and turquoise beads, and the large chunks of turquoise in her jewelry. “No, I played dumb. Asked how she was. Said you’d be back this afternoon.”