Something didn’t sit right with Joshua about what she was saying. “Tell me more about him.”
She slanted her gaze toward him. “You don’t think he’s guilty, do you? He was a great teacher.”
“I’m just asking questions.” After all, the man’s name hadn’t been in any of the files that Joshua had looked through.
Charity let out a long breath, as if the memories exhausted her. “Andrea and I were at drama club rehearsing for My Fair Lady. Neither of our parents could pick us up until later, so we decided to walk home. Anyway, Mr. Johansson was probably the last person, other than me, to see Andrea. He always liked both of us.”
“Was this Mr. Johansson married?”
Charity shrugged. “You know, I’m not sure. He was younger than most of my teachers, I suppose. He didn’t have kids, at least not back when I was in school. If he did, he didn’t mention them or a wife.”
“I don’t suppose he’s still in Hertford?”
“You know, I’m not sure. I haven’t heard from him in probably four years.”
“Any idea what changed?”
Charity shook her head. “I have no idea. Life, I assumed.”
Joshua chewed on those thoughts. It seemed strange for a male teacher to keep in close contact with a student. To Joshua it did, at least. Maybe other people wouldn’t think it was inappropriate. Charity certainly didn’t seem to think so.
But Joshua kept that name in the back of his mind, curious to see if it would come up again.
CHAPTER 14
Charity pushed down her anxiety as they pulled to a stop in front of a stately home near downtown Edenton, one of the neighboring communities. This was where Chief Owens lived now? The house looked nice—almost a little too nice for a former small town police chief. An American flag flapped in the wind on the front porch, and a pickup truck waited in the driveway.
Joshua must have noticed her curiosity as he followed her gaze. “Apparently, his wife came into some money when her parents died a few years back. He decided to move here. He spends most of his time fishing and serves on the board for one of the local banks. That’s the rumor, at least.”
She nodded, still feeling uncertain. “I see.”
“You ready for this?” Joshua asked.
She heard the compassion in his voice and immediately felt grateful to him. Most people wouldn’t go out of their way as Joshua had done. She appreciated both his efforts and his kindness. “I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Sometimes you just have to make yourself move forward, right?”
Just as he put his hand on the doorknob, she called to him. “Joshua, I apologize in advance.”
He paused. “Why?”
“This might be ugly. You’ve been kind to me, and I really don’t want to drag your name through the mud. I know you have a professional reputation to uphold. A personal one, too. You hanging out with me around town might not be the best thing for you.”
“I’m just doing my job. No one can argue with that.”
Something about his words felt like cold water had been thrown in her face. His job. Of course. What had she thought? That he was doing this for some other reason? Of course not. Not that she had any interest in that.
She nodded, grateful to know where they stood. “Okay, then. Let’s do this.”
They ascended the steps to the massive front porch. Before they even rang the bell, the door opened and Chief Owens stood there. The man was short and pudgy and had hair that looked like Caesar’s. His skin was wrinkled with sunspots, he had bushy eyebrows, and the scent of something frying lingered behind him.
His eyes weren’t on Joshua, but Charity.
“I didn’t think you’d ever show your face around here again,” he muttered.
She raised her chin. “I need some answers.”
“You’re the only one who has the answers.”
“If I had the answers you claim, I would have run far and never returned.” The man had always been on Ron Whitaker’s side. Always.
He stared at her another moment before turning his gaze on Joshua. “You must be the new officer.”
“Joshua Haven,” he said, extending his hand. His voice had lost its friendly tone.
The chief quickly shook hands before returning to business. “What brings you two out this way? Not a social visit, I presume.”
“Someone seems determined to bring the disappearance of Andrea back into focus. I was hoping to ask you some questions,” Joshua started.
“Did all of this start when Charity returned back to town?” He asked the question as if Charity wasn’t standing right there.
“That’s correct.” Joshua didn’t flinch; he just remained focused.
“That should be your first clue.” The chief raised his chin, the same arrogance he was known for shining in his eyes.
Charity pressed her lips together. It had been a bad idea to ever come here. Why had she thought otherwise?
“Could we ask you some questions?” Joshua continued, undeterred by the man’s rudeness.
“Only if you come down to the pier with me,” he finally said. “The fish are biting today. I can feel it.”
Charity and Joshua exchanged a quick nod.
“Great. Let me get my things. I’ll meet you around back.”
When he closed the door, Joshua turned to Charity. “Should be interesting.”
“You can say that again.”
They stepped around the house and into the backyard, where the river reached the grass, separated by a bulkhead. A nice deck sat at the end of the pier. Chief Owens was already walking down the wood planks there, fishing rod in hand. The water beyond him looked rough with whitecaps crashing every few feet.
Once they settled on the wooden bench there, the chief pulled out his fishing gear and hoisted the line into the water.
“What do you need to know?” he asked, staring into the distance.
“I’ve read the reports, but I want to hear your thoughts. Who were the suspects?” Joshua started. “Chief Rollins wasn’t here when the investigation was going on.”
“Chief Rollins wouldn’t recognize her own hand if it slapped her in the face.” He let out a deep, quick laugh.
“Who were the suspects, in your opinion? I’m not looking for an official word on the case. I want to know your thoughts, what your gut told you,” Joshua continued, undeterred.
He sighed, like he didn’t want to talk about it. “Buddy Griffin. But we couldn’t find anything specific enough to tie him to the crime. We kept him under surveillance for months, and there was no proof that he’d done anything.”
Good old Buddy. His name just kept coming up, didn’t it?
“Anyone else?”
“Most people thought it could be a random stranger. That was almost the worst-case scenario, because there’s so little chance of finding someone who’s random. It’s what everyone fears. Those cases are the hardest to solve.”
“If it was a random stranger, he had impeccable timing,” Charity said. “Andrea and I had never cut through those woods before. We got out of practice early, so the timing was even off. It just seems like too much coincidence.”
Chief Owens looked back and nodded, as if surprised by her insight. “That’s correct. Of course, he could have been keeping an eye on Andrea, waiting for just the right moment when she was vulnerable enough to grab.”
“The FBI got involved, correct?” Joshua asked.
“They did. They started a task force. But they didn’t get any further than we did. Those bigwigs. They think they can come in here and save the day. They were wrong. They ain’t nothing but a bunch of hotshots who think they’re the cream of the crop.”
“You really don’t think Charity is guilty, do you?” Joshua asked after a moment of thought.
His question surprised Charity. She watched Chief Owens, waiting for his response.
He let out a sigh and his shoulders slumped. “No, but I think she could have done m
ore to help.”
“She was only sixteen.”
The chief nodded. “We probably weren’t fair to her. Ron just never got past Charity being okay and Andrea being gone. Grief can do strange things to people. And Ron can be very persuasive.”
“Were there any other suspects, Chief? Anything would help right now,” Joshua said.
“There was one other person we investigated.” The chief raised his shaggy eyebrows. “Austin Johansson.”
“My old teacher?” Charity asked, surprise lacing her voice.
The chief looked at her, a slight smile on his face as if he were amused by her shock. “That’s right, Ms. White. Your old teacher. You were pretty close to him, weren’t you? Was he close to Andrea, as well?”
Her eyes widened as implications tried to sink in. She didn’t want them to. “What do you mean?”
“We found some emails you two exchanged.”
She pushed her shoulders up. “There was nothing inappropriate about those emails. My old teacher was just checking on me.”
The chief let out a grunt that clearly indicated he didn’t believe her. “Teachers need professional boundaries. He crossed them.”
“Mr. Johansson knew I didn’t have anyone else in my life. My mom was . . . was absent most of the time. Maybe not physically, but definitely emotionally. He was trying to be a father figure. He went the extra mile. He’d always been kind, even when no one else was.”
“Did you know he was found with Andrea’s wallet?”
Charity’s mouth dropped open slightly. “What?”
He nodded, way too satisfied. “It’s true. He claimed that she left it at drama club.”
“He would have been the last one to see us . . .” Her voice trailed as facts collided inside her head. “He would have never done anything like that.”
“Then maybe you didn’t realize that he also sent Andrea emails.”
“What?” Her voice rose in pitch.
He nodded. “Before she disappeared. The correspondence went beyond professional, but not quite into the inappropriate.”
“Why did he say he did it?” Charity’s voice came out just above a whisper now. How could she not have known this? There’d been so much she hadn’t known about her friend. She’d thought they’d shared everything.
“He said he wanted to go above and beyond as a teacher. He was single back then, and he was bent on making a difference. I reckon that’s what every idealistic teacher wants, although most of them just want the long summer break or have no idea what else they want to do with their lives.”
“Where is Mr. Johansson now?” Joshua asked.
“He’s over in Nags Head. He couldn’t take the heat anymore. Again, we couldn’t prove anything. That’s the problem with cases like this. There’s no body, no proof. Makes it hard to nail down a suspect.”
“Anyone else you thought could be guilty?” Joshua asked.
“Not really.” He shrugged nonchalantly.
“What about Ron Whitaker? Was it a possibility that someone abducted Andrea as revenge on her dad? He was the police chief, after all. Certainly there were a lot of bad people who disliked him,” Charity said.
“You’ll have to research that yourself. There was no one who stood out to us, though.”
Joshua put his hand on Charity’s arm. “Come on. We should go. Thank you for your help, Chief.”
“Good luck. And be careful.”
His ominous warning rang through the air as they walked away.
CHAPTER 15
As they walked back to his truck, Joshua gripped Charity’s elbow. His heart had sped just a bit, certainly from the feeling of being watched and not from the feel of Charity’s supple skin.
“What are you thinking?” he asked her.
She frowned. “I expected him to be harsh on me. But I had no idea about my old drama teacher. I can’t believe he would be behind something like this.”
Yes, the man’s name had come up again.
“I want to talk to your old teacher,” Joshua said. “I want to hear what he has to say.”
“I want to go with you.”
“The other officer, Isaac, is back in town now, so I have tomorrow and Sunday off also. Why don’t we go together?” Though it was his day off, he didn’t plan on easing up on his investigation.
“That would be great. You’ve gone out of your way. I appreciate it.”
“I’d want someone to do it for me.”
“Thank you.”
“Now, let me get some gas—and a soda—and then we’ll head back.”
***
Charity headed toward the bottled drinks while Joshua paid for his gas and then went to the fountain. The plaza was large with a restaurant on the side and a convenience store in the middle. She lost sight of him for a moment.
She could mark another fear off her list: facing Chief Owens. The man had always intimidated her. He and Ron Whitaker had been close, members of the same little society of people who thought they were important.
It had felt good to have Joshua there with her, watching her back and even defending her a couple of times. If God was as loving as people claimed, then Charity would have to thank Him for sending Joshua to her. He’d been a real lifesaver ever since she arrived.
As Charity turned back around to find Joshua, someone in the distance caught her eye.
Not Joshua.
Andrea.
Her friend stood at the door, wearing a sleeveless shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and her face had thinned out over the years. But it was Andrea.
She stared right at Charity, her eyes wide and lips parted.
Charity froze. She wanted to move but couldn’t. What in the world was going on? Was she losing her mind?
Charity, almost on autopilot, started toward her and refused to break her gaze. Just as she reached the end of the aisle, a flock of baseball players flooded inside and blocked her path. The crowd jostled her as they hurried inside, talking to each other and not paying attention to anything else.
Her throat tightened as she realized she was losing time. She tried to step around them, to dodge her way between them. It was no use.
When she looked up again, Andrea was gone.
Like a ghost. Like she’d never been there.
***
Joshua reflected on this trip as he grabbed some coffee. He hadn’t learned as much as he would have liked, but he counted the drive out to Edenton as productive. He only hated to see the burden this trip had placed on Charity.
He glanced back at Charity and saw that she’d gone pale. She stared at the door, clutching her drink like it might save her.
Moving swiftly, Joshua maneuvered through the store until he reached her. It wasn’t until he squeezed her shoulder that she seemed to return to reality. She looked up at him with those big doe eyes. Her mouth opened but no words came out.
“What’s wrong?” He ducked low so he could make and maintain eye contact with her.
“Andrea,” she whispered.
“I know. We’re trying to find answers.”
She shook her head. “No. I saw Andrea.”
He straightened. Had she hit her head? What was she talking about? “What do you mean?”
Charity point to the door where she’d been staring. “Andrea was just over there.”
His eyebrows flew up. “You mean Andrea was here? In this store?”
Charity nodded as if in shock.
He thrust his coffee into her hands. “Stay here.”
He rushed outside and surveyed the area, looking for anyone who might look like Andrea. He saw an older couple in their fifties pull away, a blonde young mom with two toddlers, a teenager on a bicycle.
But no Andrea.
Maybe there was something wrong with Charity. Could she be suffering from delusions? He hated to think that it was a possibility, but how could he not? What she was saying didn’t sound rational.
How was he going to break the news to her
?
When he walked back in, Charity stood there stoically, resignation on her face. “You didn’t see her, did you?”
He shook his head. “I wish I had other news. For your sake. But I didn’t see anyone matching her description.”
“She was here, Joshua. As strange as that might sound, it’s true. She looked right at me.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
She rubbed her bottom lip a moment before something flashed in her gaze. “Can we look at surveillance video?”
It was a possibility. But, at the worst, maybe Charity could see for herself that Andrea hadn’t been here. “I don’t know if we have much basis to stand on. But if the owner is willing then yes.”
“You have my word. I’m not lying, Joshua. My mom was a liar, and I swore I’d never follow in her footsteps. If you don’t believe me when I say I just saw Andrea, then no one will.”
Something about what she said got to him. Finally, he nodded. “Let me see what I can do.”
CHAPTER 16
Thirty minutes later, Joshua and Charity were situated in a small office at the back of the gas station. The manager had been nonchalant and hadn’t seemed to care if they looked at the video, as long as he didn’t have to be bothered. Joshua hadn’t told him any of the details, only mentioning that it was for an old missing persons case.
At least they only had a very narrow time period in which to search. It shouldn’t take too long to show Charity that she’d been imagining things. Her proclamation that if he didn’t believe her, no one would had done him in. He didn’t want to let her down.
And if she had seen something, he wanted to know. At least he could put her fears at ease.
He scrolled back on the video camera. The place had a fairly nice setup, and the cameras were decent. That was a good thing. They’d be able to get a clear picture this way.
He slowed down as the time got closer, found the right camera for that door Charity had pointed to, and let the recording play.
He felt Charity tense beside him and had the strange urge to squeeze her forearm, maybe even to rub it a minute—do something to let her know that he was here and everything would be okay.
Gone by Dark (Carolina Moon Book 2) Page 10
