by Lisa Regan
Tom said nothing. His face showed no emotion. On the couch, Adam’s shoulders shook. Celeste was still on her feet, staring at them, her eyes filling up even as Josie could clearly see her trying to hold back the emotion. “How old was she?”
“Twelve,” said Noah.
“Oh God,” Celeste said, covering her mouth with one hand.
Adam looked up. “You said there was another one? A girl?”
“Yes,” said Josie. “Emily. She’s eight.”
“Wait. She was the Amber Alert we got last night,” he said. “You found her?”
“Yes,” Noah answered. “She was hiding. She was safe.”
“But we didn’t know that,” Josie said. “So the Amber Alert had to go out.”
“Of course,” said Adam.
“What about their father?” Celeste asked.
“Evidently, he wasn’t in the picture,” said Noah. “There was no father listed on their birth certificates. Emily said she didn’t have a father. We found no evidence in the house to indicate that a male was living there.”
“The poor girl,” Adam said. “She must be traumatized.”
“Yes,” said Noah. “She lost her mother and sister all in one day and now she has to leave her home. She hid in a closet during the murder. She was in there for several hours and ate some spoiled food. She’s been at the hospital with food poisoning, but she’ll need a place to go soon. Child Services is already involved. They prefer that a family member take her until more permanent arrangements can be made.”
“We can’t take her,” Celeste said. “She doesn’t even know us!”
“Celeste,” said Adam.
She looked down at him. “No. I don’t mean that we can’t take her because she’s Lorelei’s child. I only mean that she’ll need some support, someone with her, and we’re working almost around the clock. We can’t leave her here in this house alone, Adam.”
He stood up and looked into his wife’s eyes. “You heard them, it’s only temporary. We can figure something out for a few days. There are plenty of staff to fill in for us. We can even take shifts if you’d like.”
Tom stepped forward, moving closer to Celeste. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
Adam whirled on him. “You stay out of this.”
Celeste touched Adam’s arm. “Stop.”
“No,” said Adam. “I’ve had enough of him. What we’re talking about right now is between the two of us. It has nothing to do with him. This is our decision to make.”
Tom said, “You have to think of the public relations implications.”
Adam stabbed a finger in the air in front of Tom’s face. “Shut up. Not another word. I’m talking to my wife.”
As he turned back to her, Celeste shook her head. “We can’t—”
“She has nowhere else to go, Celeste,” Adam implored. “Don’t you want to at least meet her?”
They gazed at one another for a long moment. Josie could tell there was a silent flood of communication happening between them. It was couples’ shorthand. She and Noah had it as well. Finally, Celeste took his hand, lacing her fingers between his. Turning back to Josie and Noah, she said, “Fine. A few days. That’s it. We’re not prepared to have a child full-time. But only if all of this stays out of the press.” She spared Tom a glance. He didn’t look happy, but kept silent. Celeste continued, “Not to sound callous, but I don’t want any bad press to fall on Harper’s Peak. It’s one thing for us personally, but we employ hundreds of people here, and it’s my job to protect them and make sure they continue to have income.”
“We’ll do our best,” Noah assured her. “Right now, we’ll need to speak with the social worker. It will ultimately be up to her to approve Emily coming here temporarily. She may want to meet with you.”
“You can give her our cell phone numbers,” Adam said. “We’re always here.”
Noah’s cell phone chirped. Josie recognized it as his text notification. He took it out and glanced at the screen. “Hospital,” he said. “They’ve got those records we requested.”
“Let’s go,” Josie said. To Adam and Celeste, she added, “Marcie Riebe from Child Services will be in touch.”
Seventeen
They left Celeste and Adam’s residence and walked back to the parking lot adjacent to the main resort building. As they were about to get into the car, a white van flashed past, headed around the rear of the building. “Noah, look,” said Josie.
“That’s one of the vans from the market,” he said, and read the words off the side of it. “Bryan’s Farm Fresh Produce. Did you see who was driving?”
“No,” Josie said. “It went by too fast. You?”
Noah shook his head but started walking toward the rear of the building, following the asphalt drive. “There’s one way to find out.”
Josie followed. They rounded the back of the resort building to see a loading dock. The van was backed up to it, doors open. Reed stood on the dock with a resort staffer. As the two of them studied a clipboard, the staffer checking off items with a pen, Paxton unloaded boxes of produce from the van, setting them at his father’s feet. He lined them up in rows of four, taking time to make sure each box was lined up precisely beside the next with exactly one index finger’s width between them. Josie watched him put his finger in the gaps between the boxes once, twice, then a third time. One of the boxes was too close to the other. He adjusted it and started all over again, counting and measuring with his finger again.
“Dammit, Pax,” Reed yelled. “I told you to knock that shit off. Come on now, we don’t have all day.”
Pax jumped and quickly turned back to the van, grabbing more boxes. A resort staff member then helped Reed carry each one inside. Josie could see him surreptitiously adjusting the boxes when his father was inside the building. As she and Noah drew closer, Paxton looked up and spotted them. His brown eyes went wide with panic. He looked over at the dock, but his father was still inside. He put a finger to his lips. Shhh. Then he shook his head.
Josie kept walking. She would not be intimidated by Reed Bryan. She was only a few feet from the front of the van when she felt Noah’s hand on her forearm. “Look,” he said.
Pax had stopped unloading the van. His hands were jammed into his apron pockets, rooting for something. One hand emerged with a crumpled piece of paper. With a jerky motion, he tossed it to the side. It fell next to the van between the back and the driver’s side door but out of the line of view of where Reed had been standing on the loading dock. Pax met Josie’s eyes, making the hush motion again with his index finger. She nodded. As Reed came back out of the building, she and Noah crowded against the front of the van. From where Reed stood, he wouldn’t be able to see them.
“What the hell, Pax? Come on. We don’t got all day. We got more deliveries after this,” they heard Reed complain.
“Sorry, Dad.”
Noah peeked around the side of the van. “It’s right there,” he said. “I can get it.”
“This is ridiculous,” Josie said.
“Maybe, but when are we going to get to talk to this kid without his dad around? He’s obviously trying to tell us something. Hang on.”
Lightning fast, he crouched low and sprinted around the side of the van, scooping the crumpled paper and bringing it back. From behind them, they could hear Pax dropping boxes onto the surface of the loading dock, followed by grunts as Reed and the resort staff member hefted them into the building. Noah used the snub-nosed hood of the van to smooth out the paper. Most of the document was gone, burned away or blackened from fire. In many places, where Pax had crumpled it, pieces of it had flaked away. Only a few bits of text survived.
“This came from Lorelei’s house. The greenhouse, maybe,” Josie said softly.
Noah nodded. “This is handwritten. Hard to make out. Maybe a letter of some kind? ‘… don’t want to involve you. I never did. I thought I could do this on my own, but I was wrong. I won’t be able to…’ I can’t make out the rest
of that sentence. Then: ‘… we made a deal but if you’d just give it a chance, you might feel…’ More of this is unreadable. Looks like, ‘… know the truth about you, and I don’t care…’ Can’t read the rest of this paragraph, but then down here it says, ‘… can’t just do the right thing? Why are you forcing me to make this choice? This is an impossible choice. I don’t want to tell, but…’ The rest is just gone, burned away. The page is dark. I can’t make it out.”
“Do you see any names?”
“Nothing, you?”
Josie leaned closer. “I don’t see anything.”
Reed’s booming voice startled them. “Boy, get this van started while I square up the paperwork.”
“Yes, Dad,” replied Pax.
Quickly, Noah placed the page into his pocket. Paxton came around toward the front of the vehicle. His eyes widened when he saw them. “You have to go. My dad is going to flip his lid if he sees you here.”
Josie said, “Pax, you know you can legally talk to us without your dad’s permission.”
“I have to live with him. He’ll kick my ass if he sees me talking to you,” Pax pointed out. “Look, please just go. Don’t make this worse for me.”
Josie held up her hands. “We’re going, Pax. Thank you for this. Where did you find it?”
“The woods. It was near Miss Lorelei’s house. I found it. I knew something bad happened because she didn’t come for her fruit like she always does on Fridays.”
“You were at her house yesterday?” Josie asked.
Pax looked back toward the dock. His fingers rested nervously on the van’s door handle. “My dad was busy with a big order. He was on the phone. I took my bike through the woods like I always do. I smelled fire. Miss Lorelei doesn’t like fire near her house. Someone had been burning something in the greenhouse.”
“Did you go inside?”
He shook his head violently. A tear streaked down his face and he wiped it away quickly. “There was blood on the back porch. I got scared. I got away from there, rode my bike back into the woods.”
“Did you see anyone, Pax?” Josie asked.
“Please,” he said. “You have to go.”
“Just tell us one last thing,” Noah said. “Did you see anyone?”
“Nobody. Just this paper in the woods. I was upset and I got lost. I had to turn around to go back to the market. But I found this. I thought it was important, and I’d give it to Miss Lorelei when I saw her next, but then today when you came to the market, you said she was dead. Holly, too.”
Another tear rolled down his face.
“I’m sorry, Pax,” Josie said.
“Is Emily okay?”
“Yes,” Josie said. “She’s fine. Thank you for this. You did the right thing. Pax, was there ever anyone else at the house with Lorelei, Emily, and Holly when you were there?”
His chin dipped to his chest. “I’m not supposed to say. My dad doesn’t even know.”
They heard Reed hollering goodbye to someone on the loading dock. “Just take the paper and go, okay?”
Noah said, “This paper, do you know who wrote it?”
Reed’s voice boomed from the loading dock. “Boy! Why isn’t this van started! Pax?”
“Miss Lorelei, probably. Looks like her handwriting. She had secrets. All adults have secrets. They’re liars, every one of them, even my dad. You can ask Emily. Ask her what grown-ups do.”
“Pax! Where the hell are you?”
“Now, please, go!”
Josie pressed a business card into his hand. “You call us if you need us or if you think you can talk, okay?”
While Pax walked to the rear of the van to distract Reed, Josie and Noah sprinted around to the front of the building. Once in their car, Noah threw it into gear and took off down the long drive.
Eighteen
Emily had been moved to another area of the Emergency Department. Now she lay on a gurney behind a curtain. Her duffel bag sat at the foot of her bed, and her stuffed dog was clutched tightly to her chest. Someone had turned on the television on the wall and she was transfixed. In the chair beside the bed sat Marcie, tapping away on her phone. When she spotted Josie and Noah, she jumped from her chair. “Oh good,” she said. “I was just texting you. We’re getting close to overstaying our welcome here. I’ve got to get Emily settled in somewhere. I’ve found a spot for her at a nearby group home. Did you get anywhere with next of kin?”
“Yes,” said Josie. “Could we talk privately?”
Noah said, “I’m going to run up to Health and Information Services and get those records. I’ll be right back.”
Josie and Marcie stepped out of earshot of Emily so that Josie could give her a recap of the meeting with Celeste and Adam. “It’s not ideal,” Marcie agreed. “But it sounds like they might be more sensitive to her recent trauma than a stranger. Well, I suppose they are strangers as well, but if they’ve shown interest in taking her for now, I should at least meet with them. The group home I have in mind is run by a lovely woman, but she’s got a lot of kids on her hands.”
“Did Dr. Rosetti come by this morning?” Josie asked.
“For the psych consult? Yes. Other than OCD and some obvious emotional trauma from losing her mother and sister, Emily has no issues.”
“Did Dr. Rosetti happen to ask her about what she saw yesterday?”
“Yes. I was in the room with them. Emily wouldn’t say. Dr. Rosetti said she is obviously still processing everything that happened, and it’s best not to push.”
“Right,” said Josie. “But someone has been making Emily keep secrets. Those secrets may have gotten her family killed.”
“Look, I realize you’re trying to solve a case, but my job is to find a place for this little girl to stay until we can make permanent arrangements. You’re welcome to speak with her again if you think it will help, but I am asking that you do not put any additional stress on her.”
“I won’t,” Josie promised. “Will you meet with Celeste Harper and Adam Long today? They said they’d be available.”
“Do you have their numbers?” Marcie asked.
Josie gave her both Adam and Celeste’s cell phone numbers. Marcie disappeared down the hall. Josie slipped inside the curtained-off area and perched on Emily’s bedside. “I met your friend Pax today,” she said.
Emily’s eyes looked from the television to Josie. “Is he sad?”
Josie nodded. “I’m afraid so, yes.”
“Me too,” said Emily, clutching her dog tighter.
“Emily,” Josie asked, thinking of what Pax had said. “Pax told me to ask you a question. He said to ask you what all grown-ups do?”
“They lie.”
“What makes you say that?”
She looked back at the TV. Someone had put Nickelodeon on. With a shrug, she said, “Because it’s true.”
“Did your mom lie?”
“Only because she had to.”
“Why did she have to lie?”
“It’s a secret.”
“Who told you it was a secret?”
“Mama.”
Josie tried to catch the girl’s gaze once more. “Emily, it’s really important now that you don’t keep secrets from the police. We’re trying to catch the person who did bad things to your mom, and that’s why we need to know any secrets your mom told you.”
“I can’t tell secrets.”
Josie tried a different tactic. “Emily, did anyone else ever live with you, Holly, and your mom?”
Emily’s eyes snapped toward Josie. “I can’t tell secrets. If I tell secrets, more bad things will happen.”
“I promise you that nothing bad will happen if you tell me these secrets,” Josie said.
“I can’t tell secrets,” Emily repeated, curling in on herself.
“Okay,” Josie said. Shifting away from the subject, she asked, “Did you ever meet Pax’s dad?”
“He came to get Pax and make him go away. He didn’t want us to be friends.”
“Did he ever hurt any of you?”
“Maybe he hurt Pax. He was mean.”
Marcie appeared in the opening of the curtain. “I’m going to go to Harper’s Peak now for that meeting. The nurse is aware that Emily will be here for a while longer.”
Emily’s voice was small. “Can Josie stay until you come back?”
“I don’t think she can, Emily. I’m sorry, but she’s got police work to do.”
“I can stay,” Josie said. “My colleague is upstairs getting some information. I’ve got to wait for him anyway.”
Marcie smiled. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Josie sat in the chair next to the bed. Emily went back to watching TV. Within minutes, she was asleep. Noah appeared at the entrance to the curtained area, a flash drive in one hand and a small stack of pages in the other.
“What took so long?” Josie asked.
He lifted his chin to motion toward Emily. “I had a feeling we weren’t getting out of here anytime soon. I asked the clerk in Health Information Services to print out the registration form from the last time Lorelei was seen in the ER.”
He pulled the curtain closed behind him and walked over, handing Josie the stack of pages. “It was a year ago. She was here for a spider bite. Evidently, she had a severe reaction. Anyway, her emergency contact is there.”
Josie turned the pages until she found it. “Vincent Buckley.”
“The psychiatrist who lives two hours away from here and is prescribing her anti-psychotics and anti-anxiety drugs is her emergency contact. That strike you as odd?”
Josie handed the pages back to him and took out her phone. “You know it does. I’m calling this guy back. Stay here.”
Phone pressed to her ear, Josie paced the hallway, avoiding nurses and doctors as they walked to and fro. This time, Vincent Buckley answered. “Dr. Buckley here. Can I help you?”
Josie identified herself. “I need to talk to you about Lorelei Mitchell.”
There was a hesitation, but Josie could hear him breathing on the other end. Then he said, “What is this about, then?”
