by Eryn Scott
Scared? Said the teenage drug dealer, Hadley thought incredulously, losing some of her sympathy for the guy.
“You’ll tell me, though …” Cassie reached out and grabbed on to Jaxon’s arm. “Right?”
Instead of answering, he glanced over at Hadley. “Without her.”
“No can do,” Hadley responded, surprising herself after being quiet for so long. “I’m not letting Cassie out of my sight tonight, sorry.”
“Seriously, Jax,” Cassie scoffed. “She’s fine. She makes jam all day and is a self-proclaimed cat lady. You don’t have to worry about her saying anything to anyone but her seven cats.”
If Hadley wasn’t sure Cassie was purposefully laying it on thick for Jaxon’s benefit, she would’ve been mildly offended by the statements. But as it was, she nodded in support. Seven cats didn’t sound too terrible.
“Guilty,” she added, holding up a hand as if she were confirming the statement.
Jaxon was silent for a moment, but he finally motioned over to a beautifully cut cedar picnic table to their right. Once all three of them were seated, he cleared his throat.
He placed his hands on the table as if to steady himself before saying, “You should’ve never introduced her to me.” He shook his head, dark hair swinging in front of his equally dark eyes.
Cassie pulled in a deep breath. “She would’ve found a way to get them with or without you.”
Jaxon shot a look toward Hadley, but continued. “She told you about our fight, then?”
“A little. Said you wanted to park and she didn’t, and when you got mad she made you let her out.” Cassie blinked, the nearby streetlights reflecting off the whites of her eyes.
Jaxon let out a groan. “That’s not what happened, Cass. You’ve gotta believe me. We were parked on The Ridge just talking. I hated her buying from me in the first place, but when Casey showed up dead I decided I wasn’t going to sell anymore. She brought out this big wad of cash, begging me not to stop. When I asked her where she’d gotten the money, she wouldn’t tell me. Then she wanted to fool around. I got mad and told her she was just using me for the drugs.”
He stopped, pinching the bridge of his nose. “She flat-out freaked, started yelling at me, saying she wasn’t like her mom. I didn’t know what to do, so I started to drive, but I didn’t get far before she told me to let her out.”
Silent tears streamed down Cassie’s face in the moonlight as she listened.
“I shouldn’t have left.” He smacked the heel of his hand into his temple. “I should’ve gone back to get her.”
The fact that Jaxon’s story was different from what Miranda had told Cassie on the phone that night gave Hadley a bad feeling, but she decided to let Cassie keep up what she was doing.
“So you dropped her off between The Ridge and the hospital.” Cassie chewed on her bottom lip. When Jaxon cocked an eyebrow in question, she added, “She told me she didn’t know where she was, but she thought it was close to the hospital and would meet me at the normal spot.” Cassie’s voice trembled. “She just never made it.”
Jaxon nodded. “It’s another reason I didn’t say anything to the police—I heard they were doing search parties in the same area, so I figured they knew as much as I did.”
Cassie let out a long exhale. “Dang it, Jax. Where is she?”
They sat in silence for a few moments, listening to the flitting of bat wings and the hooting of owls in the night. A text came through on Hadley’s phone and she pulled it out to read, the bright light shocking to her now acclimated eyes.
It was from Paul, and it made her blood run cold.
Dennis cleared out his savings earlier today.
Her heart sank. Jaxon was telling the truth. He didn’t have anything to do with Miranda’s disappearance other than leaving her alone in a moment of anger. Clearing her throat, Hadley decided it was time for her to ask a few questions.
“Did Miranda mention anything that night about fighting with her boss?” she asked, putting her phone away, hoping to gently slip into the conversation without them thinking it was text related.
“No.” Jaxon took a deep breath.
“She was upset, though,” Cassie said quickly. “I could tell she’d been crying when she got to my house. We were supposed to stay in. She’d told me earlier she didn’t want to go out, but when she got there she called Jax right away.”
“Yeah, we weren’t supposed to hang. That’s right,” Jaxon said.
Hadley ticked through what she knew about Miranda’s night. She’d fought with Dennis, gone straight to Cassie’s, left with Jaxon, fought with him, got out on the side of the road, and went missing. Her mind worked through what, if anything, this told her.
She was thinking so hard, trying to see what piece she could possibly be missing that she didn’t realize Cassie was staring at her for a good few moments.
“What?” Hadley said, surprised at the intensity of the stare the teen was leveling at her.
“That’s the second time you’ve asked me about her fighting with Dennis.” Even in the darkness, Hadley could feel Cassie’s gaze narrow. “What do you know that we don’t?”
Hadley’s mouth opened, but nothing came out. She wasn’t sure Paul wanted anyone to know about Dennis’s disappearance yet. The thought almost made her laugh after a moment. It was Stoneybrook, most of the town probably already knew. She sighed.
Before she could say anything, Jaxon stepped forward. “How does your tutor know so much about all of this?” he asked, staring at Hadley as if he was seeing her for the first time.
Cassie ran her hands up and down her arms and cleared her throat. “Uh …”
“Because my brother is one of the deputies looking for her,” Hadley said, not feeling the need to hide it any longer.
Even in the dark, the way Jaxon’s eyebrows shot up wasn’t hard to catch. But before he had a chance to say anything else, Cassie swatted at him. “Stop distracting her, Jax. She was about to tell us something important.”
Hadley stood there for a second, refocusing on the news she’d gotten from Paul. “Dennis is missing, and he took all of his money out of the bank. It’s possible he’s the one who took Miranda, and now he’s gone.”
The gasp that spilled out of Cassie at the news wrenched Hadley’s heart, knowing the amount of helplessness she felt in that moment.
18
The next morning, Hadley could barely get out of bed. She and Cassie hadn’t gotten back too late last night, but it didn’t matter; she wouldn’t have slept more than an hour regardless of when she’d gone to bed.
She’d given Jaxon her number and had asked him to call her if he thought of anything else helpful, but she worried nothing would help at that point. Reality settled over her like a monstrous bag of canning sugar. Miranda was most likely not okay. Dennis had done something to her and then he’d fled with her or … possibly without. Hadley wasn’t sure which option scared her the most.
Paul and Sheriff McKay had sent Dennis Larson’s description to the state and border authorities, but Paul even admitted it would be like finding a single stone in the entire Cascade River.
Unless Dennis was sloppy enough to stop somewhere with security cameras or use any of his credit cards, he might slip right by them. His car was still parked at the candy shop, so there was no telling if he’d stolen something or hitched a ride out of town. Paul said he would put out the word for everyone to check their barns and garages for cars and trucks, even tractors. In a small farming town, people had all manner of motor vehicles sitting around which were only used at certain times of the year.
If Hadley hadn’t sorely needed to go into the kitchen and fill the online orders that had piled up over the weekend, she probably would’ve stayed in bed and wallowed in her sadness. As it was, she arrived at the jam kitchen an hour later than she normally would’ve on a Monday morning. Her regular energy and excitement trampled down by the depression she experienced at the realization they’d all been terribly wr
ong about Dennis Larson, Miranda Walters most of all.
Miranda must’ve figured Dennis wouldn’t find out if she took a little money here and there. Or maybe she thought he was too nice of a guy to do anything even if he eventually did.
Hadley’s stomach churned as she pulled into the alley behind the jam kitchen and turned off the van. Setting her forehead on the steering wheel, she sat there for a quiet moment, listening to the engine tick as it cooled.
A knock on her window made her jump in surprise. Looking to her left, Hadley’s heart calmed as she looked into the worried eyes of her grandmother. She let herself out of the van as the older woman stepped back to give her space.
“Gran, what are you doing here?”
“I came to help,” Gran said, as matter-of-factly as one might say the sky is blue.
“Help?” Hadley pursed her lips together.
“Of course, dear.” Gran took her arm and led her over to the front door, motioning for her to unlock the kitchen. “I was sure you’d want to help your brother find the missing girl, and I’m happy to help out with your jam while you do so.”
Unlocking the door—because it seemed easier than telling Gran the horrible truth about Miranda, how it was becoming less and less likely they would find her—Hadley led the way inside. Finally, setting her purse down on her office desk, she found her words.
“You haven’t heard, Gran, but the guy we think was responsible went missing himself, taking all of his money with him.” She glanced down at her naked fingernails, all signs of polish completely gone from the stress of the past few days.
Gran tsked. “Of course I’ve heard. The whole town knew first thing this morning. But that’s why she needs you and Paul more than ever now. You simply can’t give up.”
Looking up, Hadley met her gran’s intense gaze once more. The fire, the hope she saw, gave her a renewed strength. Just because Dennis may have gotten away didn’t mean they had to give up on Miranda. Now that Hadley had a better idea of where she’d gone missing, thanks to her talk with Jaxon last night, she could go look around for clues. She knew there had been search parties going through the area for days, but also knew one person seeing something no one else noticed could make all the difference.
Hadley pulled in a deep breath. “Of course you’re right, Gran.” Her fingers fumbled with her purse as she fought to place it on her shoulder. She turned toward the door, but then looked back. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with?”
Not only had her grandmother’s instincts been spot on, but she was enjoying the woman’s company.
Gran waved a hand. “I’ll leave the sleuthing to the two of you. I’m having fun with the jam and this colder weather is making my new hip act up a bit.” She shook her head, frustration written on her face.
“Did you take some of the pain medication the doctor prescribed?” Hadley raised an eyebrow.
Wrinkling her nose, Gran said, “No. With all of the talk about that poor woman in the hospital, I’ve got myself a bit scared of it, I’m afraid.”
Hadley couldn’t blame her grandmother for being cautious. Knowing Gran was a smart woman, Hadley trusted she would take care of herself and take the meds if things got bad enough.
“Okay. Love you. I’ll check back in a little bit.” Hadley waved.
“What flavors would you like me to make?” Gran asked, holding up a finger to stop Hadley.
Pulling in a thoughtful breath, Hadley squinted up at the ceiling. “There’s a recipe for my spiced pear chutney in the box on my desk.” Hadley pointed. “And those pears are just about at the perfect ripeness. That would be a fun one for you to try. Other than that, whatever you feel like making works for me.”
Gran nodded, smiled, and shooed Hadley out the door as she grabbed a clean apron out of a drawer.
As Hadley walked into the back alley behind the kitchen, she stopped a few steps from the van. It just seemed wrong to think about going anywhere to investigate without her best friend. Odd behavior or not, she and Suze didn’t do anything worth doing without the other right there. Swallowing her doubts, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, clicked on Suze’s number, and listened to it ring.
“Hey,” Suze said when she answered. Something rustled in the background.
“Whatcha doing?” Hadley kicked the toe of her shoe onto the concrete.
“Uh … just—you know—working,” Suze said, then quickly added, “From home. I’m working from home today. I’ve got a … big design job to finish and need my computer here to do it.”
Hadley’s eyes had been progressively narrowing in suspicion at the choppy nature of Suze’s sentences, but at the last sentence, they flew open in surprise.
“A big design job? That’s awesome, Suze! Who’s it for?”
There was a pause on the other end.
“Um … Oh, it’s for the distillery.” She cleared her throat.
“The distillery?” Hadley asked. She chewed on her bottom lip for a second as she thought. “Didn’t you just rebrand for Christine last year?”
“Yeah … but, you know Christine. Fickle as all get out. Already wants something new.” Suze laughed way too loud.
Hadley’s forehead wrinkled in question. Christine was just about the least fickle person Hadley knew. The woman had worked with Suze for six months before finally deciding on a design.
There was more rustling in the background. “Had, I better get back at it. Sorry I can’t talk more.”
Just then, the sound of a car horn made to sound like a cartoon awooga sounded from Suze’s end of the line. Hadley only knew one car that made that sound: Mr. Hite’s old Ford.
“Are you outside?” Hadley asked, unable to keep accusation from creeping into her tone.
“Yeah, just getting the mail. Hey, Mr. Hite,” Suze called. “Okay, gotta go. Bye.”
The line went quiet, and Hadley stared down at her phone for a few seconds. That was weird. But Suze was known to get manic when she had a big project due, so it made sense. And Mr. Hite did live down the road from her …
Shrugging, Hadley was about to turn toward the van when movement at the end of the alley caught her eye. It was Mr. Hite’s Ford driving down Main Street.
Hadley’s heart stopped for a split second.
She had just heard him honk on Suze’s end of the line. Which meant he couldn’t have been farther away than a few blocks down Main Street when it happened. A few blocks down … like just outside Suze’s studio space. Jogging to the end of the alley, Hadley peeked to her left around the brick building.
She flattened herself closer to the brick as she saw Suze carrying a long garment bag over one shoulder and heading to her car. The bag was white and had the words The Tulle Box scripted across the width in a bright, robin’s-egg blue.
Suze glanced in her direction, and Hadley slunk back into the alley, hoping she hadn’t been seen. Looking out once more, Hadley just caught Suze carefully placing the bag in the back seat of her Mini Cooper. She folded back the front seat and climbed into the car, but not before Hadley noticed a piece of white paper whoosh out from her car and land on the street, close to the curb.
Backing up as if she were on the run from the law, Suze quickly pulled a U-turn and drove down the other direction of the relatively quiet Main Street.
Hadley watched as the little car disappeared around the corner of Main and Spruce.
What was that all about? She almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all, but instead she was hit, full force, by the reality. The reality being her best friend had just lied to her, again. Looking around to make sure Suze was gone, Hadley left the alley and jogged down to her friend’s storefront. Stopping near the curb, she bent to pick up the piece of paper that had flown out of the car in the whirlwind of motion.
It was a credit card receipt from The Tulle Box, and the amount made Hadley gasp. The Tulle Box was a dress shop on the other side of the mountains from Stoneybrook. Other than its cute, punny name, Hadley always remembered
it being where she and Suze had gone to buy their senior prom dresses.
She glanced down at the receipt. No way this was the cost for one dress. Unless …
The other thing she remembered about The Tulle Box were the gorgeous wedding dresses. And while they were a little more fluffy and elaborate than Hadley had wanted at her wedding, she remembered Suze saying when she got married, it was where she was going to buy her dress. Which would explain the high price on the receipt.
Sinking to sit on the curb, Hadley shook her head.
What had started as Hadley finding proof of Suze and Paul being together, alone, in his truck, suddenly morphed into something so much more. First, there’d been Suze and Christine meeting, then acting super awkward when Hadley had shown up. Then, there was the cake order at Mickie’s bakery. A three-tiered German chocolate cake, Paul’s favorite. No one ordered a three-tiered cake for anything other than—
A wedding.
She crumpled the dress receipt in her hand and stuffed it into her pocket, unable to look at it any longer. Were Suze and Paul getting married? Without inviting her?
Maybe Suze is pregnant, and they’re having a secret wedding, Hadley thought with a start. The rational part of her brain took over, reminding her it was the twenty-first century and shotgun weddings weren’t common anymore. She also reminded herself there was no feasible reason why Suze and Paul wouldn’t tell her if they were getting married.
There’s also no reason why they would keep their relationship from you but they did, didn’t they? The unhelpful, emotional part of her brain chimed back in.
Tires crunched to a stop on Main Street, and Hadley recognized Luke Fenton’s truck. The passenger-side window rolled down and Luke lifted his sunglasses.
“Had, what are you doing down there on the curb? You look like you’ve just lost your best friend.” He smiled at his joke.
