“All right. I’m really sorry to drop a bomb like this, but I didn’t want you to hear it from a student or someone on staff.”
Liam took a slow, deep breath, and then another, and another, shaken to his core by the cruel irony of this unwelcome development. The one kink in his plan, the one detail that he could not have anticipated, was an eyewitness. And of all the kids in Foggy Ridge, it just happened to be one of Colleen’s students!
Chapter 13
Jesse stared at his computer screen. He was supposed to be researching the Battle of Vicksburg for his American history class, but all he could think about was how much trouble he was in.
He glanced over at the Bible on his bookshelf. It was wrong to hide the truth from his mother. How could facing her disappointment—and the sheriff’s—be any more difficult than carrying around all this fear and guilt? It would be humiliating, though. And he would still be trapped. If he walked away from Dawson’s big-shot friends, they would make it impossible for him to make any friends. Some choice.
He heard footsteps on the staircase and then a loud knock at his door. “I’m doing homework.”
“It’s me,” his mother said. “I need to talk to you—now.”
Jesse winced. The tone of her voice told him that this could not be good. “Come in.”
Kate walked in and closed the door. “Jesse, I need you to turn around so I can see your face.”
Jesse’s heart beat so fast he was almost paralyzed for a moment. Finally, he spun around in his computer chair and looked at his mother.
“Is something wrong?” Jesse said.
“Oh, I think you know exactly what’s wrong. I just got off the phone with Virgil. There’s a rumor floating around school that you are the sole eyewitness to Dixie Berne’s drowning. That you saw a man in the water with her—and can identify him.” Kate sighed. “That information could only have come from you. Jesse, it’s bad enough that you broke your promise, but saying you can identify the man is over the top. This entire family is trying to protect you by keeping this information under our roof—and you go right out there and put yourself in danger!”
“I didn’t mean to, Mama. It was kind of an accident.”
His mother arched her eyebrows, her face pinker than her apron. “How could you accidentally reveal an enhanced version of the very thing—the only thing—you were asked not to talk about?”
Jesse wanted to be anywhere but here, talking to anyone besides his mother. “We had this writing assignment,” Jesse said. “Dawson was my partner and we had to come up with a story, then each of us would write half.”
Jesse told his mother everything that had happened from the time they started the process of deciding on the story line until Jesse came back to school and discovered that not only had Dawson shared his secret with Bull Hanson but that Bull had then told everyone in the popular kids group.
“I know Dawson was just trying to help me fit in,” Jesse said, “but I never wanted to be friends with his friends. They think they’re hot stuff and that being in their group is what everyone dreams of. Not me. I hate the way they put people down and act all high and mighty. But I can’t tell them or they’ll feel disrespected and get even with me by intimidating anyone I try to be friends with. I messed up. I’m really sorry.”
“If only you’d kept it to yourself, like Virgil asked you to,” his mother said. “And by exaggerating what you told Dawson, you might have made yourself a target! Your life could be in danger! Do you realize how serious this is?”
Jesse nodded. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Why didn’t you come to me right away, before it got this far?”
“I was ashamed that I broke my promise. I was hoping it would all go away and you and the sheriff and Miss Berne would never find out.”
Kate’s eyes welled with tears. “Let’s hope the killer doesn’t find out. Jesse, you’ve made it difficult, maybe impossible, for Virgil to protect you. This is what I desperately wanted to avoid.”
“Maybe the rumor will stay at school, and I won’t need protecting. Foggy Ridge is pretty big. There’s a good chance the man I saw is never going to hear about it. He might not even live around here.”
“We can hope and pray that’s the case. But we’re talking about your life, Son. This is no small matter.”
“So what do I do?” Jesse said.
“The first thing we do is get the family together, tell them what’s going on, and pray. Riley’s asleep, so Elliot is getting the others right now.”
“Is he mad at me too?”
“Both of us are extremely disappointed,” Kate said. “But we’re far more concerned for your safety. God is in control, but you have choices. This investigation could go on for some time. I wish you hadn’t witnessed the drowning, but you did. So you have to get serious about doing what Virgil tells you. And maybe, just maybe, we can contain the damage you’ve done.”
t
Liam paced in front of the window in his room, both angry and nervous that Sheriff Granger had been so vague during the earlier phone conversation when Liam and Colleen had called him back. He said they were going forward as a murder investigation, but that’s all he could tell them right now. He wouldn’t confirm or deny whether the sheriff’s department had a suspect or a witness. All he would say about the rumor at the middle school was that he was looking into it.
Liam raked his hands through his hair. How much did the kid see? Was he just boasting when he told his buddies he was the sole witness and could identify the man he saw wading in the river with the victim? Could Liam afford to just sit back now and hope that the kid didn’t see him as clearly as he saw the kid?
A knock at his door caused him to jump.
“Liam,” Colleen said softly, “are you awake?”
“Yeah, come in.”
Colleen opened the door and flopped down on the side of the bed. “I’m getting madder by the minute. I feel like an outsider in our own mother’s murder investigation.”
“I don’t like it either, but that’s the way law enforcement works. We can’t take it personal.”
“But it is personal! She was our mother. We deserve to know what Jesse told the sheriff and not just the version he told his friends. What if they have a suspect?”
“I didn’t mean the situation wasn’t personal.” Liam sat next to Colleen on the bed. “I just meant that the sheriff follows the same protocol in all cases. While they’re piecing the facts together, no one but members of law enforcement are privy to the information.”
“I’d say that’s pretty much blown in this case, wouldn’t you?”
“Maybe not,” Liam said. “It’s possible this kid made up the whole thing to impress his buddies, and once that’s confirmed, it’ll be the end of it.”
Colleen’s eyes narrowed. “Then why didn’t the sheriff just say that?”
“Because law enforcement never divulges information or opinions about an active investigation.”
“Fine,” Colleen said, “then I’ll just ask Jesse myself if it’s true.”
“How well do you know this kid? Would he talk to you?”
Colleen shrugged. “I really think he would if I appeal to his sensitive side. His dad and sister were missing for five years, and he knows how uncertainty can haunt a family.”
“Wait a minute …” Liam’s pulse quickened. “Jesse Cummings. The kid from Angel View Lodge, whose father was killed and sister kidnapped by that crazy mountain loon?”
“Yes. And I think because of that, he might talk to me, especially if I approach him as a daughter who desperately wants to know what happened to her mother.”
“The sheriff isn’t going to like that.”
“The sheriff isn’t the one whose poor, defenseless mother was drowned by some lowlife who could just as easily have robbed her and let her go. I have a right to know
what Jesse saw. And I don’t plan to ask the sheriff’s permission.”
Liam mused. This could be the perfect way for him to find out how much the kid knew. “Good for you. There’s no law against a teacher asking a student if a school rumor is true or not.”
t
Kate said, “Amen,” then opened her eyes, warmed to see the show of support on the faces of each family member in the circle, but chagrined that the tightness in her chest was still there.
Jesse looked relieved after having confessed to breaking his promise and exaggerating the truth.
“What were you thinking?” Hawk finally said. “Sheriff Granger couldn’t have been clearer in what he told us.”
Jesse shrugged and said nothing.
“I think Jesse’s suffered enough,” Kate said. “I’m sure he’s learned his lesson. Virgil will tell us if we need to do anything, other than not discuss it with Riley or anyone outside the family. Of course, we don’t consider Elliot and Jay outside the family.”
Abby looked over at Jay and smiled, then turned to Kate. “Not even Dawson’s mother?”
“That’s right,” Kate said. “Virgil doesn’t want me calling Olivia Foster or any of the other boys’ mothers. He wants us to let him do the damage control. He will talk to the principal and make sure that Jesse’s teacher doesn’t approach him about it. But if any of us are approached, we’re to say we’ve been asked by the sheriff not to comment on an active investigation.”
“Isn’t that like admitting it?” Hawk said.
Kate sighed. “It’s really all we can say, despite what anyone’s heard.”
“How am I supposed to go to school and not answer questions?” Jesse said. “And even if Miss Berne isn’t allowed to talk to me, I’ll know what she’s thinking.”
“I can’t keep you home, Son,” Kate said, “or everyone will assume the gossip is true. You’re going to have to walk through this one for a while. But if you’re too uncomfortable with Miss Berne being your teacher, the principal can transfer you to another English class.”
Jesse’s eyes welled. “I’m sorry. Y’all did what you were supposed to do, and I didn’t. The last thing I wanted to do was worry Mama or any of you.” A tear escaped down his cheek.
Grandpa Buck put his arm around Jesse and pulled him close. “We’re in this together, boy. What does the Word say? If God is for us—”
“Who can be against us?” Jesse answered. “I guess that’s a good one to think about right now. Just because I made a mistake doesn’t mean God won’t protect me.”
“Of course it doesn’t,” Kate said, less sure than she sounded.
Jay Rogers cleared his throat. “I’d like to say something. Y’all know I was Jesse’s age when I thought I’d accidentally shot a man dead and didn’t have the courage to tell my mom. I know what it feels like to be twelve and trapped in a huge mistake with huge consequences. Jesse, be glad you got caught. At least now you can stop lying before things get even worse. Like your grandpa pointed out with that verse from Romans, if God is for us, nobody can be against us. Nobody. God protected Abby and me when we nearly got ourselves killed trying to find your dad and Riley. He’s big enough to take care of you too. You’ve gotta trust Him.”
Here we go again, Kate thought. Just when her life was finally happy and her worries few, she had to put another of her children totally in God’s hands. Maybe she was overreacting. What were the odds that whoever killed Dixie Berne would find out Jesse was the eyewitness?
t
Liam sat alone in the dark, his thoughts racing faster than his heart, the reality finally hitting him that one of his sister’s students might actually be able to identify him. Surely any description this kid gave the sheriff would be general at best, fitting thousands of men. How good a look at him could the boy have gotten in just a couple seconds? How seriously would the authorities take that kind of testimony? Still … the implications were unsettling.
It had been gut wrenching taking his mother’s life. He would never be able to shake the memory of it. And he hadn’t come this far only to lose his inheritance because Jesse Cummings sneezed and Liam glanced over his shoulder for two seconds. By this time tomorrow, he should know whether the kid posed a threat.
And if he did? Liam looked up at the night sky, suddenly feeling one with the darkness and dreading the options. Nothing was going to stop him from getting his inheritance. He’d already paid too high a price.
Chapter 14
Virgil glanced up at the wispy swirls of golden pink and purple on Tuesday morning’s sky, as he and Kevin walked in the teacher’s entrance of Foggy Ridge Middle School. They were met by the maintenance supervisor, who led them to the principal’s office.
Virgil removed his Stetson as he entered a pleasant pale-yellow room with walls of framed certificates and motivational posters.
The principal, an attractive fiftysomething brunette, rose from her desk to greet them and extended her hand. “Sheriff Granger. Good to meet you. Ruth Arnold.”
Virgil shook her hand, the smell of freshly brewed coffee permeating the room. “This is Chief Deputy Kevin Mann.”
“Pleased to meet you both,” she said. “I’ve certainly seen you on the news a time or two. I appreciate your willingness to meet with me so early. I need some direction before classes begin. Please, sit down and make yourselves comfortable. I have a fresh pot of coffee. Any takers?”
“I’d love some,” Virgil said. “Black is fine.”
Kevin nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Same here.”
Virgil and Kevin sat at a small table on one side of the room while Ruth walked over to a coffeemaker that was set on a counter in the corner. She brought two mugs of coffee and set one in front of each of them, then got one for herself and sat at the table.
“Sheriff,” Ruth said, “I told you over the phone every detail I know of the rumor circulating that Jesse Cummings witnessed Dixie Berne’s drowning and saw the man who was with her in the water.”
“Who allegedly was with her,” Kevin said. “That hasn’t been established.”
Virgil nodded, regretting that, for Jesse’s sake, it would be imprudent to say more. “You know we can’t comment on an ongoing investigation, but you can understand how that kind of information out there in the public arena, true or false, could make Jesse a walking target. So we need your help to contain the rumor.”
“Sheriff, that’s a tall order,” Ruth said. “Once a rumor is out, there’s no putting it back in the bag.”
Virgil took a sip of coffee. “I know. What I want to do is protect Jesse as much as possible from having to comment on it, so that the rumor will die off by itself.”
“How?”
“In my experience, kids this age get bored and stop asking questions if they don’t get an answer.”
“They’re liable to turn on him,” Ruth said. “Bull Hanson can be downright cruel, and he manipulates his teammates. I’ve already had to address their verbal bullying a few times, and the school year’s barely started.”
“That’s a real possibility,” Kevin said, “but one that can’t be avoided. Jesse started the ball rolling on this. He’s been told how making this kind of claim might have put him in danger.”
“How can I help?” Ruth folded her hands on her desk.
“I’ve spoken to Colleen Berne,” Virgil said, “who, I understand, is Jesse’s English teacher. She knows that Jesse could be in danger because of the rumor, and that my department is currently investigating the story Jesse told his friends. It would be very helpful if you’d reinforce that she is not to have any—and I mean any—personal conversations with Jesse.”
“I can do that,” Ruth said. “I already planned to get with Colleen before classes start.”
“Our recommendation is that you transfer Jesse to another English class. It will be almost intolerable for Colleen and Jesse otherwise.�
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Ruth had a faraway look and seemed to be thinking. “That can certainly be arranged easily enough. But I don’t think Colleen’s going to be a problem. She’s a reasonable woman.”
“With all due respect,” Virgil said, glancing briefly at Kevin, “no one in a victim’s family can be considered reasonable when their loved one has died, leaving unanswered questions, and a potential eyewitness so accessible. Though Colleen may be a wonderful teacher and a great human being, she is the grieving daughter of a woman who may have been murdered. The temptation for her to talk to Jesse could be overwhelming.”
Ruth bit her lip. “Do you think it might be better if Jesse were transferred to another middle school?”
“Truthfully, no,” Virgil said. “A transfer would likely raise more questions and perpetuate the rumor on two fronts, actually increasing the risk to Jesse’s safety.” Virgil scratched his newly shaven chin. “I’m sure you’re aware of his family’s tragic history. And I know you would want to spare them more heartache. I really think we can contain the damage already done if you will talk to Miss Berne and put Jesse in another English class. No one would question the wisdom of you doing that during an open investigation.”
“All right,” Ruth said. “I’ll take care of it before second period. Jesse and Colleen won’t have to cross paths. That should help. But what about Jesse’s peers? They are going to barrage him with questions.”
“Which he won’t answer,” Kevin said. “He’s been coached on how to respond. We believe his peers will tire of the whole thing in short order. Unfortunately, they’ll probably give him a hard time in the process.”
“Sheriff,” Ruth said while drawing a circle on the desk with her finger, “do you think Jesse saw a man with Colleen’s mother when she drowned?”
“As Chief Deputy Mann already pointed out, that hasn’t been established,” Virgil replied. “The point is, Jesse has led his peers to think so. Right now, we have no reason to believe the media or anyone outside this school has picked up on it. We don’t plan to talk with any of your students or their parents. We don’t want to fan the flames even slightly. We caught this early and are in a good position, with your help, to contain the rumor and let it fizzle out on its own.”
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