River Bodies (Northampton County #1)(84)

“He wasn’t your responsibility,” she said. “He was mine.”

“No.” Jackie shook her head. “Don’t do that,” she said. “Don’t carry that guilt. We both know he was as much to blame as anyone for the troubles between you two.” She shoved the suitcase to make room on the bed next to her. “Come here. Sit.”

Becca sat.

“I’m not as innocent in all of this as you might think. And I’m certainly not a martyr. You see, I owed your dad in a way.”

“What do you mean?” Becca asked.

“Do you know how your dad and I first met?”

Becca shook her head.

“I was a stripper in one of the clubs farther up Route 611.” She lifted her breasts. “It was how I ended up with these.”

Becca looked at the floor. She wasn’t surprised to hear her father had hung out in strip clubs, but it wasn’t something she wanted details about either.

“It was how I paid for nursing school,” Jackie said. “I’m not ashamed of it.” She paused. “Well, maybe I am a little. But anyway, your dad came into the club one night asking some questions. The owner of the place knew your dad. He said he was one of the better cops in the area and said it was okay if I wanted to talk with him. So I did, because, you see, I had danced for the guy your dad was asking about. And your dad, he talked to me like I was a person and not just some stupid girl who took her clothes off for money. Oh, I don’t know. He showed me respect, if that makes sense. It’s the best way I can explain it. So I told him what I knew, which wasn’t much. I found out later that same guy your dad was asking about turned up dead. And it was possible I was the last person to see him alive.”

Becca thought about the sheet of paper she’d found in her father’s lockbox, the one in his handwriting, the notes he’d taken and buried from an unknown witness. The same sheet of paper she’d given Parker, thinking it was evidence. She looked at Jackie. “You’re the one my dad interviewed in the first river body case. You’re the one who didn’t want to be identified.”

She smiled. “I didn’t want anyone in the nursing program where I was enrolled at the time to know I was stripping to pay my tuition. And as luck would have it, your dad didn’t want me talking to the detectives anyway. So we struck a deal.”

“And he buried your statement.” And mine, Becca thought. “But that doesn’t explain how you two ended up together.”

“I don’t want you to think I was involved with him when he was married to your mom. It was nothing like that,” she said, shaking her head. “We kept in touch, a phone call here and there, but no funny business. Like I said, your dad was a respectful man. Or maybe it was because I was still so young. But then one day, we bumped into each other and started talking. By then I was a registered nurse and working in a hospital. He told me he’d been divorced for a few years and that he’d retired. And he was sick.”

“So you came to live with him as his nurse?”

“We’re talking about your dad here.” She laughed. “I did a lot more than play nurse. Your dad was a lively man up until the last year or so.”

“Did he ever tell you why he didn’t want you to talk with the detectives?” Becca asked.

“No,” Jackie said. “And I never asked him either. I figured if he wanted me to know, he would’ve told me.”

“But don’t you feel guilty about not telling the detectives what you knew? What if your statement would’ve helped them in their case?”

“Listen.” Jackie held both of Becca’s hands. “That guy that turned up dead, the one your dad was asking about, he came into the club that night. I remembered him because the place was empty except for a couple of those motorcycle guys you see around town. They happened to shove a wad of bills into my hand, paying me to give that guy a lap dance. I’m not sure why they did it, but I got the feeling they were messing with him in some way.” She shrugged. “So I gave him a lap dance. It was my job. But let me tell you something about that kind of work: you get to know people real quick. And you learn to listen to your instincts. I could sense there was something rotten inside of that one. And that he was a very bad man. The way I figured it, he probably got what he had coming to him.”

Becca nodded; if she didn’t completely agree with Jackie’s decision, at least she understood it.

Jackie released Becca’s hands. She stood and smoothed her frizzy hair again before turning back toward her suitcase.

“You don’t have to go,” Becca said. “You can stay here as long as you like.”

“Thank you,” Jackie said. “I really appreciate the offer. But I already stayed much longer than I ever intended.”



Becca sat at the kitchen table, Romy’s head in her lap. She’d just hung up the phone with Matt after telling him she wouldn’t be returning to the condo and that she’d be picking up her things. She would be taking Lucky with her, after learning the only reason he’d brought the cat home with him in the first place had been to get to know Becca better. But Matt had promised he’d been taking good care of Lucky in Becca’s absence.

“Why are you doing this?” he’d asked. “Why are you leaving me?” He’d begged her to reconsider. She’d said there were things about him she loved, but she wasn’t in love with him, not the way she should be. The truth was no matter how many good qualities he had, she couldn’t overlook his one big flaw. She couldn’t trust him.