He turned around and started walking back to the road when he heard another twig snap. Then something powerful bulldozed him from behind and slammed him into a tree trunk. He felt crushed by the weight of it. He couldn’t move. Could hardly breathe.
“Make a sound and I’ll gut you like one of your crappie,” whispered a gruff male voice. “I’m only going to say this once, so listen up. You didn’t see a drowning. You didn’t see a man in the water. You made it up. Got that?”
Jesse tried to nod, but his head was pinned. “I … got … it.”
“I know where you live, kid. I know you have a mother and two pretty sisters. You can’t imagine what I’ll do to them unless you tell the sheriff, your mother, and your classmates that you lied. That you made up everything you told them about the drowning. Is that clear?”
“Yes.” Jesse’s heart was pounding so hard he thought it might explode.
“I promise you,” the man whispered, his breath warm in Jesse’s ear, “if you tell anyone about this conversation, I’ll carve up each person in your family, one by one, and leave you for last. Convince the sheriff you didn’t see anything. And you’ll never hear from me again. And believe me, you do not want to hear from me again.”
“I … under … stand,” Jesse said, a cold chill crawling up his spine.
“I’m going to turn loose of you now. Keep your eyes shut. Don’t make a sound or move a muscle. Count slowly to two hundred. Then go home and tell your mother you lied, and get her to call the sheriff. Either convince the sheriff you made it up or be responsible for your family dying. Badly. I’ve got eyes and ears in the sheriff’s department. I’ll know if you double-cross me. It’s up to you. I’m watching.”
The pressure was suddenly released and Jesse gasped for air, hugging the tree trunk and slowly counting to two hundred. Even after he finished counting, he was paralyzed with fear. What if he couldn’t convince his mother he’d lied? What if Sheriff Granger didn’t buy it either?
Jesse felt sick to his stomach. He had already lost his dad. He couldn’t lose his mother. Or be responsible for the deaths of anyone else in his family.
Chapter 16
Kate heard the front door open and close, listening for Jesse’s robust declaration that he had arrived home from school. Instead, she heard footsteps charging up the staircase.
“Riley, why don’t you go give Halo her treat, and we’ll finish your spelling right after dinner.”
“Okay, Mama.” Riley picked up her American Girl doll and kissed Kate’s cheek. “If I get one more Superb on my work, I’ll be first in my class.”
“You don’t have to be first in the class for me to be proud of you.”
“I want to be first so I’ll be proud of me.”
Kate smiled. Riley was self-motivated like the father she would never know.
Kate left the kitchen and went upstairs. She knocked on Jesse’s door. “It’s your mother. Since when do you ignore me when you get home? Don’t you want a snack?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Are you sick?”
“Just tired.”
“I’m coming in,” Kate said.
She opened the door and went inside. Jesse lay in his bed, facing the wall. “How was your new English class?” she said.
“Fine.”
“Virgil said that Miss Berne has been instructed not to talk to you.”
“She didn’t talk to me. I never even saw her.”
“How were the kids? Did they ask you lots of questions?”
“Nobody said anything about it.”
“Well, that’s good. Right?”
Jesse didn’t answer.
“I would sure appreciate it,” Kate said, “if you’d look at me when I’m talking to you.”
“But I just got comfortable.”
Kate sat on the side of the bed, her arms folded across her chest. “I’m going to sit right here until you tell me what’s bothering you.”
“Nothing.”
“Jesse Cummings, I can’t remember the last time you came home from school and weren’t starved.” Kate put her hand on his back and rubbed. “I know middle school was challenging, even before Dawson exposed your secret. But if you’d done what Sheriff Granger asked, you wouldn’t be in this pickle. I can’t erase the consequences, but I’ll help you deal with them. Come downstairs and have something to eat. The sketch artist will be here in twenty minutes.”
“I already told him what I know.”
“Deputy Mann is coming with him this time. He’s good at helping people remember things they aren’t even aware they saw.”
“I didn’t see anything.”
“I’d say you saw quite a lot.”
There was a long moment of silence.
Jesse sat up and turned around, his cheeks, nose, and forehead badly scraped and scratched.
“Good heavens! What happened to your face?” Kate tilted his chin and took a closer look at his wounds. “Please tell me you weren’t fighting.”
“I tripped and fell on the way home. It’s nothing.”
“I would hardly call that nothing.”
“Mama, I need to tell you something, and you’re not going to like it.” Jesse’s eyes welled with tears. “Everything I told the sheriff was a lie. I never saw Dixie Berne or a man in the water with her. I made it up. All of it.”
Kate stared at her son, dumbfounded, trying to process what he had said.
“You made it up—just like that?” Kate said, trying to keep a level tone. “Jesse, you told me, right after you got home from fishing, that you saw a man and woman on the other side of the river, wading in the water.”
“I did.” Jesse glanced up at her. “But they were about Hawk’s age. When I saw on the news that a woman’s body had been found, I made up the whole story about seeing a white-haired lady with a man in the water.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I wanted to feel important, like Abby, Jay, and Hawk were when they rescued Riley.” Jesse hung his head. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” Kate sighed, her mind racing with the repercussions. “Son, this might have been an accidental drowning, and you let the sheriff believe it was something more. You, of all people, should know how a family suffers when a loved one is murdered and the case is unsolved. Can you imagine how this has hurt Miss Berne and her brother?”
“I didn’t think they would find out. Sheriff Granger said he wasn’t going to tell the victim’s family that he had a witness.”
“He didn’t,” Kate said. “The rumor at school is responsible for that. But Virgil took your statement seriously. He had all his people and officers from the Foggy Ridge PD combing the riverbank, gathering evidence. And now you’re saying it was all a lie?”
Jesse wiped his tears with his sleeve. “I never meant to hurt anyone.”
“I know you didn’t, but do you understand how serious this is? Virgil is pursuing this case as a murder, mostly because of what you claimed to have seen.”
“That’s why I have to tell the truth now—before it goes any further.”
Kate felt at the same time relieved, and as if she’d been kicked in the gut. She was glad Jesse hadn’t witnessed anything. But how upset would Virgil be that another of her kids had sent his deputies on a wild goose chase? “Jesse, I’m hurt and disappointed that you let this lie go on, even though you knew how worried I would be for your safety. After all this family has been through, after all I’ve been through, how could you be so insensitive?”
“It was wrong. I’m sorry. I just wanted to feel important.”
“You are important.” Kate held his gaze. “How could you not know that? We’ve got to call Virgil before Deputy Mann and the sketch artist get here.”
t
Liam lay on the couch watching TV. He heard a door open and
close, and then footsteps walking through the kitchen. He pushed the off button on the remote and messed up his hair. A few seconds later, Colleen came into the living room.
“I was surprised to see your car in the garage,” she said. “Why are you home already?”
“I left work early.” Liam made sure his voice sounded weak. “Don’t get too close. I’ve been throwing up.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Colleen said. “Middle school is a petri dish. I’m exposed to something all the time. You want me to make you some chicken soup?”
“Thanks, but I’m not sure I could keep it down. Anything else happen with the Cummings boy?”
“I didn’t see him today. Our principal made sure of that.”
“Doesn’t it frost you?” Liam said.
“You bet it does. But I can’t afford to jeopardize my teaching career over it. Maybe it’s all overblown. Twelve-year-old boys have been known to brag and make up a story as they go along.”
“Is that what you think happened?”
“I don’t know, Liam. Maybe. There must be a way to find out. My hands are tied. But nobody said you couldn’t talk to Jesse.”
“No way am I getting in the middle of this.”
“The worst the sheriff could do is slap your wrist. And maybe Jesse would tell you what he saw. He didn’t have any problem talking to his friends about it.”
Liam shook his head. “No. We need to cooperate with the sheriff and with the principal. Antagonizing either is a dumb idea. Besides, there’s no guarantee the boy would tell me the truth. And if he denied it, would you be satisfied?”
Colleen sighed. “Probably not.”
Liam slapped his hand over his mouth and jumped to his feet. “Sorry, I’m going to be sick again.” He hurried down the hall and into the bathroom and shut the door.
He would have to redirect Colleen’s thinking. He could not allow himself to be pressured into a face-to-face encounter with Jesse—the one person who saw his face and could place him with his mother in the river at the time of her drowning.
His plan had worked so far. Jesse should be afraid enough to tell everyone he lied.
Hope you’re proud of yourself.
Liam was plenty ashamed of having to put terror in the heart of a kid who already knew what it was to lose a parent. But it was either that or risk losing everything himself.
t
Kate opened the front door and instantly saw the concern on Virgil’s face.
“Come in,” she said. “I’m truly sorry. I would never have dreamed in a million years that Jesse would do something like this.”
“Let me talk to him.” Virgil took off his hat and brushed past her into the living room, where Jesse sat in a chair facing the couch.
Virgil walked over and sat on one end of the couch, and Kate sat on the other.
“Would you like something to drink?” Kate said.
“I’m fine, thanks.” Virgil looked over at Jesse. “Your mother tells me you made up the story about having seen the white-haired woman wading in the river with a man.”
“Yes, sir.” Jesse stared down at his hands, folded in his lap. “I saw a young couple playing in the water. That’s all.”
“You went to an awful lot of trouble to give me your statement, Jesse. What made you decide to tell the truth now?”
“It’s been bothering me that I lied.”
“I see,” Virgil said. “If it was bothering you that much, why did you tell your friend Dawson the same story? Especially when you’d promised your mother and me that you wouldn’t let it go outside this family?”
Jesse shrugged. “I just did. I’m sorry.”
“That’s not good enough, son. I need a reason.”
Jesse glanced over at his mother. “I was afraid of losing Dawson as my friend. He’s a big hero, and I’m not. I wanted him to think I’m cool, even if I don’t play sports.”
Kate listened as Jesse told the sheriff the story of how and why he had shared his secret with Dawson.
“Dawson’s betrayal has made a lot of trouble for you,” Virgil said. “Just as your betrayal has now made some problems for me.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“Nonetheless, I’m still going to be faced with questions about the rumor that you witnessed the drowning.”
“You can say it’s not true, right?”
“Jesse, I never acknowledged that you were a witness in the first place—or that I even had a witness. I never talk to the media about that kind of detail until we’ve made an arrest. The best way to reverse the rumor is for you to tell your friends the truth and hope it spreads as fast as the lie did.”
Jesse’s eyes welled with tears. “No one will ever speak to me again. I’ll be a big joke.”
“For a while,” Virgil said. “But when the dust settles, your true friends will be there.”
“I don’t think so. Bull will scare off anyone who tries to be friends with me.”
“You can’t worry about that now,” his mother said. “You just need to tell the truth.”
“I am. I didn’t see anything. I’m not a witness.”
“Can you describe the young couple?” Virgil said. “Maybe they saw something.”
“I wasn’t paying attention to them.”
“Can you tell me anything about them?”
“I think the lady was blonde,” Jesse said, “but I’m not sure. I never saw their faces.”
Virgil was quiet for longer than Kate was comfortable. What was going through his mind?
“Can I go now?” Jesse said.
“Not just yet. I still have a few questions. How did you skin up your face?”
“I slipped on some gravel and fell on the way home. It’s no big deal.”
Virgil was quiet for several seconds, then cleared his throat. “Jesse, has anyone come to you, wanting to discuss the case—other kids? Their parents? Teachers? Anyone?”
“I haven’t said anything to anyone else.”
“That’s not what I asked you,” Virgil said. “Have you been approached by anyone, perhaps someone who told you to back off?”
“No, sir. I just don’t want to lie about it anymore. I’m really sorry I caused everyone so much trouble. I guess now that you don’t have a witness, it’s not a murder case.”
Virgil tented his fingers. “I never said that. My decision to move this forward as a murder investigation went beyond just your statement.”
“But I thought—”
“We’re building a case, son. Whether you saw anything or not, we have good reason to believe Dixie Berne had been on that riverbank.”
“What reason?”
“I can’t discuss that with you either,” Virgil said.
“How can it be a murder investigation if you don’t have a witness?”
“You let me worry about that. You’re absolutely sure you never saw anything?”
“I made it up, Sheriff.”
“I suppose if I asked you under oath, you’d say the same thing?”
Jesse nodded. “I’m really sorry I lied. I didn’t see anything.”
Virgil scratched the stubble on his chin. “All right, then. You’re officially excused as a witness.”
Jesse blew the hair off his forehead. “Good. Now can I leave? I’ve got to go get up the nerve to tell Dawson I lied. There’s going to be a lot of pressure on him to dump me as a friend.”
Kate felt as if her stomach had done a flip-flop. She dreaded that Jesse would be ridiculed and rejected for lying. And that it might end his friendship with Dawson. Hopefully, there would be a deeper lesson in it that would strengthen his character.
“I don’t have any more questions right now,” Virgil said. “But let me caution you not to talk to Miss Berne about the case. I do not want her to know that yo
u gave me a statement or that you were ever considered a witness in the case. Let her hear the rumor that you made it all up. Understood?”
“Yes, sir. I really am sorry.”
“I know you are, Jesse. I’m sorry you’re going to feel the thunder from the other kids. I can’t protect you from that.”
Jesse stood. “I need to go think.”
Kate reached over, took his hand, and squeezed it but couldn’t think of anything worthwhile to add.
Jesse left the kitchen, and she could hear him running up the staircase.
Virgil exhaled. “You believe him, Kate?”
“You don’t?”
“I’m the sheriff. It’s my job to weigh all sides. But he’s your son and you know him better than anyone. Do you think he was telling the truth?”
“I think so, Virgil. But then, I never doubted him before. I’m as floored as you are that he recanted.”
Virgil seemed to stare at nothing. “Keep a close eye on him. I want to know if you see any red flag that suggests he might not be telling us everything.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s possible someone is leaning on Jesse to back off.”
“You mean threatening him?”
“I admit it’s unlikely that a middle school rumor has spread to the person who drowned Dixie Berne, if indeed she even died at the hand of someone else. But we can’t rule it out. That could explain Jesse’s recanting his story.”
“Or he simply had a guilty conscience,” Kate said, “and had to get it off his chest.”
Virgil stood. “That too. It’s going to be a tough go for him now. Kids that age show no mercy.”
“Maybe I should put him in private school.”
“You could, but I don’t think it will solve anything. The rumor will follow him, and the fact that he changed schools will add fuel to the fire and make it look like he’s hiding something. Perhaps you should let it run its course rather than try to rescue him from the consequences.”
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