No one acknowledged Kate as she walked through the room. Almost mistaken as another volunteer and not a mother of one of the missing boys. Not only was Kate one of the only single mothers in Timber Falls; she was also one of the few mothers in town who worked. As a nurse at the hospital, she often worked the night shift, which left Caleb unattended most of the time. It wasn’t ideal, but she wasn’t left with many options. It also kept her isolated from the other women, a pariah of sorts, and friendless. She was never invited to social events or PTA meetings, even though her son was best friends with J.R. and Ethan. She never let it show that it bothered her, but deep down it gutted her.
“Oh, Rex,” she whispered when she approached. Her voice sounded pitiful and his first reaction was to pull her to him, but he took another drink instead. Her light brown hair was pulled haphazardly into a low ponytail, strands of soft curls falling around her face. Her brown eyes looked hollow with grey shadows under her lashes. He couldn’t help but think she was still beautiful.
“Tell me there is some news. Anything. I’m going crazy all alone in that house with worry.” She was shaking. He noticed her long nails bloodied at the cuticle.
He looked away, swallowing the pit in his stomach. “I’m sorry, Kate. When I have any news, I will report it immediately.”
She looked up at him as though he had slapped her. “What’s going on, Rex?” She eyed him closely. “Have you been drinking?”
“Of course not,” he shot back in a whispered tone. “Kate, you can’t talk to me like that, not here.”
“My son is missing! And you’re speaking to me like I’m some…” Her voice trembled. She shook her head. “I’m not the mayor. Drop the formality, Rex, and tell me what the hell is going on. Where are all of these people going?”
He sighed. He didn’t have time for this, for him and Kate. He needed to keep his head on straight, on the task ahead of him. “We have search volunteers heading out towards—”
“Excuse me, Chief,” a soft voice interrupted him. Grace and Avery stood behind him, stacks of papers in their hands. “Here are the missing persons posters you wanted.”
“Thank you, girls,” he said, taking them from her. Avery rushed to Kate and wrapped her arms around her, instantly dissolving into sobs. Kate held her tight and whispered in her ear.
“Grace, I was hoping I could talk to you privately for a moment,” Rex said.
“Sure,” she said, though her wide eyes said otherwise. He sensed her discomfort, and it intrigued him. He turned and walked toward a quiet corner, Grace following his trail. When they were near the window and out of earshot, he turned to face her. She was looking away from him, back at the crowd. He studied her a moment, wondering what secrets she held. If anyone knew what was going on with J.R., it would be her.
“I know you and J.R. have been together a long time. You just may know him better than anyone.”
“Possibly,” she said with a shrug, finally meeting his gaze.
He thought that was a strange response, so he pressed on. “What can you tell me about J.R. before he went missing Saturday night? Do you have any insight as to why he would leave?”
“Well, I didn’t see him on Saturday.” She nibbled on her bottom pink lip. “I hadn’t talked to him since Friday, and he didn’t say anything about leaving.”
“Would you call that unusual, you two not speaking?” he probed. He wanted to get inside her head. Spill the thoughts out. Was she hiding something from him? “Do you normally spend the weekends together?”
She didn’t tell the chief that the last time she’d seen J.R., they’d gotten into a horrible fight, worst they’d ever been in. She’d thought for sure he would have called her on Saturday asking for her forgiveness. And when he hadn’t, she’d told Avery it was over between them. She knew she was just being dramatic and didn’t mean it. She never did when she said that.
She nodded. “I guess so.”
He sensed her hesitation, but now was no time to tread lightly. Her eyes darted to the side, looking for Avery. She did not want to be here, answering questions that would potentially humiliate her.
“And Avery and Caleb and even Ethan? Aren’t you usually all together?”
“Yes.” She thought about it a moment and then said, “Usually. But not always. Sometimes I hang out with just Avery when the boys do something that we don’t want to do.”
“Like what?” he asked, taking a sip from his mug. He forced himself to act casual, to make her feel comfortable enough to share what he needed to know. “What are some things the boys do that you don’t want to do?”
She opened her mouth to speak but then quickly shut it. She didn’t know what she should tell a cop or not. Sure, he’d grown up in this town and knew what the teens did, but it wasn’t the same as saying it out loud to the chief.
He leveled his eyes to meet hers. He could see the fear steaming off of her. “You won’t get in trouble, Grace. It may help.”
She sighed. “Well, sometimes they would go racing.” She bit down on her lip to stop talking.
“Where did they go racing?” he asked as though he didn’t know.
“Mostly down the old Oak Hill highway. It’s pretty dead there late at night.” She thought about the time when she sat shotgun in J.R.’s car with Ethan in the back. Avery with Caleb in his Jeep.
They started down the pitch black road, J.R. in the lead. They were picking up speed on the narrow highway, J.R.’s BMW bouncing with every pothole. The lights behind them went dark as Caleb slid his Jeep up beside J.R. driving on the wrong side of the road. At first, J.R. laughed, rolling down his window to call Caleb a jackass. But when it was clear that Caleb wasn’t playing, J.R.’s expression darkened and his eyes narrowed to the road, his foot pressing down on the pedal.
“What the hell are you doing?” Grace said to him, grasping the door handle for support as the car bounced.
“Racing him.” He was a foot ahead, but Caleb jumped down on the gas and sprung forward. J.R. swore under his breath.
“Don’t let him beat you!” Ethan called out from the back seat.
“Ethan!” Grace cried. “No, J.R., slow down. One pothole and you guys could crash into each other.”
“I know what I’m doing, Grace,” J.R. hissed as he took the lead once more. Caleb screamed out from the thrill of it, but when Grace met Avery’s eyes in the other car, she knew she was just as scared.
“Stop right now!” Grace yelled. But he ignored her. And that’s when she saw the headlights coming toward them.
She spun in her seat to face J.R. “This is crazy. Please, J.R.” She was begging now. His face was blank with concentration. She knew J.R. saw the car, and that what they were doing was insane and could potentially kill them all. But to pull back now would let Caleb win. And then he would never hear the end of what a wuss he was. J.R. kept his eyes on the road, but Caleb stayed next to him. Grace froze as the glare of the headlights kept coming at them, flashing at Caleb to get out of their lane. She dared one look at Caleb to see him laughing, and it was then that they all realized at once that he would risk killing himself and Avery rather than surrender.
J.R. slammed on his brakes, and Caleb took that moment to slide in front of him just as the car passed them by. She could see the sweat coming off of J.R. and that the race meant something different to him than it did to Caleb.
Still, she told him he better not ever do that again with her in the car. And that he was an asshole.
Grace decided to keep that story to herself.
“Did they do that often?” the chief asked.
She shrugged. The truth was she didn’t know. She didn’t want to know. She always feared the worst when the boys were off on their own. She had heard the stories from the past of the boys throwing eggs at oncoming traffic, as they hid in bushes. And even worse, when they ran out of eggs, how Caleb turned to rocks. J.R. said Caleb threw a rock so hard he cracked a windshield and then bolted, laughing the whole way home. Grace never unde
rstood why J.R. fell for Caleb’s foolish pranks. She’d often dreaded the day when the call would come that J.R. was in the hospital or worse due to some stupid stunt they had pulled. But she never suspected they would go missing.
“Okay.” Rex sighed. “Let me get personal for a moment if that’s okay, Grace.”
She nodded her head slowly.
“Would you say that you and J.R. were happy together?”
Grace thought about their fight, how bad things had gotten between them. She was afraid to answer that question honestly because the truth was she didn’t know. So instead she simply said, “I love J.R., I always have.”
He studied her a moment, waiting to see if she would share any more details. When it was clear she was done talking, he said, “Thank you, Grace. And you’ll keep me informed if you hear anything at all?”
She nodded as she wiped her tears on her sweater sleeve.
“Chief,” she said as he started to walk away. “Your daughter, Lila?”
He stopped in his tracks at the mention of her name. “Yes? You know Lila?”
“Well, no, not really. She’s a sophomore,” she answered as though knowing an underclassman was against the rules. “But, she’s been around a bit, at parties and stuff. You know what I mean? I saw her hanging out with Ethan some. I was just wondering if you’ve talked to her?”
His back stiffened. “She’s been at home sick,” he answered. But then he pressed on. “You saw her with Ethan Young?”
“A little. It’s not like they’re dating or anything,” she clarified.
His face went red. “No, they certainly are not.”
“I didn’t mean…” She could see the anger rolling off of him and wondered what she’d said to upset him. “I’m just saying she may know something.”
He pressed his lips together to keep his cool. He didn’t need her or anyone gossiping about his daughter. “Thank you, Grace. I’ll look into that.”
She nodded and walked to Avery, leaning in to whisper something in her ear. He lifted his almost empty coffee mug to his lips and downed every last drop. He’d need more whiskey if he was going to get through this day unscathed.
Seven weeks earlier
It was Lila’s first high school party, or at least the first one that included upperclassman. She had been invited by Olivia, who had been invited by a junior she had a history class with. She was giddy with excitement, swallowing the nerves she felt and the fear of her dad finding out. She and Olivia had told their parents they were staying at Hannah’s house, and Hannah, who was the first of them to get her driver’s license, told her parents they were going to the movies and arcade. The only thing that could mess up this night was if her dad was on duty and the party got busted. But she had a feeling he wasn’t. She knew his secret, though he would never admit it. She’d heard him on the phone and at times had accidentally picked up the line when it was in use. She’d heard the woman’s voice on the other end. She didn’t know who it was that he spoke to, but she knew he was with her. It was obvious the nights he would drop her off at Olivia’s, only to pick her up the next morning in the same clothes he had been wearing the day before. She never questioned him. It both grossed her out and pleased her to know that he had someone. Maybe then he would stay occupied and out of her business.
He’d never brought a woman home for her to meet. She didn’t know what it was like to see another woman’s clothing in his closet, or smell a sweet fragrance she didn’t recognize. Never saw an extra toothbrush or hair tie. It had always just been the two of them.
She had photographs of her mother. As she got older, she began to see her resemblance in her reflection. She had her mother’s long, fine golden hair and moss green eyes. But her own brow furrowed a bit too hard like her father’s did. And her lips were not as full as her mother’s had been, but instead more of a thin straight line like her dad’s.
She used to stare at her mother’s photograph often as a child, speak to her and pretend she was talking back with her in conversation. Her dad had caught her on occasion but pretended not to notice, and they both preferred it that way. Now that she was a teen, she spoke less to her photo, but in a way, she craved her mother even more than when she was a child. Going through puberty with only her father was at times mortifying, probably for both of them.
And she was scared. She was slowly moving into adulthood and she had so many questions that she knew she could never ask him. She watched as her body changed, as feelings came to her in waves of such intensity that she didn’t know whether to laugh hysterically or scream in a fit of tears.
It wasn’t that she and her dad weren’t close. They were just tight in a different way than she imagined she and her mom would have been. Her dad took her camping and taught her the constellations in the sky, how to build a fire without a match and how to listen for the fish when they cast their reel. He taught her how to change a flat tire and how to throw a good punch if she should ever need to.
But he didn’t teach her about her ever-changing body, the way to talk to a boy, or, how not to die when giving birth to a child, like her mother did.
Music blasted from the house as they entered. They pushed through the crowd feeling more like outsiders among their classmates who seemed lifetimes older than them. Someone offered Lila a beer and she took it, though she had never tasted one before. The girls giggled as they cheersed to one another and took a sip. Lila did her best to hide her disgust.
“You get used to it.” She heard a voice and turned to see Ethan Young standing behind her.
Her face burned. “Oh, yeah, I know,” she said, trying to cover her embarrassment. “This isn’t my first time.”
He gave her a crooked smile, pushing his worn-in Falcons baseball hat down over his forehead. His blue eyes glistened in amusement. “Sure, if you say so.”
She stood there knowing this was a defining moment for her. Here, standing beside her was the Ethan Young. The most gorgeous boy in school, at least in her eyes. And he was talking to her, though she was almost positive he didn’t know her name. She could show him her vulnerability, prove that she was a young amateur who didn’t belong. But one thing growing up with the Chief of Police had taught her was never to show your weakness.
“Lila,” Olivia warned, resting a hand on her arm. But Lila ignored her.
She shot back the can, taking the beer down in only three gulps. When she came up for air, she could see the surprise in Ethan Young’s eyes. It was worth the queasy sickness in her belly.
“Damn.” His grin widened. “Impressive.” It looked as though he was going to say something else, but before he could get out the words, J.R. Hudson was slamming into his side.
“There you are!” He never looked at Lila, but Grace Morgan, who was beside J.R., did. She gave Lila a look between confusion and disgust like she didn’t understand why Ethan was standing next to her.
“Come on,” Olivia said as she took Lila’s hand and pulled her away. Lila let her friend drag her to the bathroom before she puked in front of the most popular boys in school.
“Jesus, J.R.,” Ethan quipped. “You almost spilled my beer.”
“Where’s Caleb?” J.R. asked. He was uncharacteristically giddy. “I have some exciting news.”
“I haven’t seen him since we got here.”
“There’s Avery,” Grace said, pointing in the direction of the kitchen.
“Come on.” J.R. grabbed Ethan by the shoulder.
When they found Caleb and Avery, J.R. led them outside into the tepid September night, away from the prying eyes and ears.
“Okay, J.R., spill. What’s the big secret?” Caleb draped an arm around Avery’s shoulders, drinking his beer with his free hand.
“It won’t be a secret for long, but I want you guys to be the first to know,” J.R. said with a gleam in his smile. “My dad spoke with the Huskies head coach tonight.”
Caleb’s eyes grew wide in excitement as Ethan swallowed hard, afraid of where this conversation
was going.
“He saw the tape my dad sent him of our first game against the Panthers and he’s coming here to watch us play!”
“You’re shitting me!” Caleb howled, pushing J.R. in the shoulder, practically toppling over Avery who was squealing with Grace.
“Swear!” J.R. stumbled back from the force of Caleb’s hand. He laughed at his friend’s excitement. “He’ll be here in November when we play Westview.”
“Westview?” Caleb roared. “We kill Westview every year!”
“Exactly.” J.R. smiled smugly.
“You guys are in,” Grace said, hugging J.R..
“You know what this means, don’t you?” J.R. continued. “Full rides, you guys.” He lifted a brow at Caleb. “Once he sees you killing it on the field, he will be begging for you.” He grabbed Ethan by the neck and pulled him in. “We are getting the hell out of here.”
Ethan did his best to smile. “That’s awesome.”
“Awesome?” J.R. questioned. “Dude, this is what we have wanted our whole lives! The three of us at UDub together.” He tightened his hold on Grace. “With our girls cheering us on.”
Caleb lifted his beer in the air. “To getting out of this small-ass town!”
“Imagine it,” J.R. said breathlessly. “The three of us owning the Huskies field like we do the Falcons. We’ll be unstoppable. Man, Caleb, you could go all the way. Straight to the NFL.”
Caleb beamed with pride; it was his dream to play ball for life. First for the Huskies, then on to the Seahawks. It was an unspoken understanding that that life would never be for J.R. After the Huskies, his football career would end as he entered public service like his father, with the plan of becoming Mayor of Timber Falls.
But Ethan was the one with the unclear future. And no one knew that more than him. It was his destined path to follow in his friends’ footsteps to play football in college, and up until this summer, he had seen no reason to question that life. It was Brianna who disputed it for him.
Someone Knows Something Page 4