Jesse sighed. “I wish I could remember him better. I have a few memories that are clear in my mind. But I don’t remember his voice. Or what he was really like. Most of what I know about him, I learned from Mama and Grandpa, you and Abby.”
Hawk turned on his side and draped his arm over Jesse. “I’m sorry he’s not here while you’re growing up. Just remember that I’m here for you. I can’t take the place of a father. But if anybody bullies you, he’ll answer to me.”
Jesse looked up at the round, full moon that seemed to have chased the stars away.
“I do remember something Daddy whispered in my ear when he kissed me good night.”
“Cool. What was it?”
“He said, ‘I love you to the moon and back.’ It’s from a storybook he used to read to me. I was too young then to totally get it. But now that I do, it’s even harder to think I might never see him again.”
Neither of them said anything for half a minute. And then Hawk said, “Maybe now it’s up to us to love each other like that. I don’t know whether we’ll see Daddy or Riley Jo again. But if I can love you and Abby, Mama and Grandpa with all my heart, I know it would make him happy—and proud.”
The deep reverberation of a helicopter brought Jesse back to the present. He wondered if Search and Rescue was looking for him. He bent down, picked up the key ring, and held up the beam of light, waving it back and forth until his arm got tired. It was no use. The canopy was so thick he couldn’t even see the stars.
He set the key ring on his knee, then blew on his hands and rubbed them together. He thought of his family and how worried each of them must be.
Tears stung his eyes. “I love you to the moon and back,” he whispered, regretting that he’d never told them so.
As desperate as he was to get home, the pull to go back and help his enemy was stronger. Surely the God who talked to Moses from a burning bush could help him get a fire going and keep Mr. Berne alive until they were found.
Jesse started walking, mumbling under his breath. “Lord, I hope this is the right decision. Because unless You help us, we’re both going to die.”
Chapter 29
Virgil sat in a folding chair at Kevin’s station in the command post, and finished giving Reggie and Kevin the details of his conversation with Billy Gene.
Virgil turned his gaze to Kevin. “We’re not exactly set up for an interview like this. Where do you want me to meet with Colleen Berne?”
“Why don’t you take the back room,” Kevin said. “We can clear everyone out of there until you’re done. How long do you think you’ll need?”
“Thirty minutes, maybe less,” Virgil said. “Whatever it is she has to show me, we need to cut to the chase. If she knows where Liam is, or has any information that can help us find Jesse, that’s our first priority.”
Kevin nodded. “Agreed. I’m eager to get your assessment. Maybe we were too quick to eliminate Liam Berne as a suspect in their mother’s drowning.”
“Guess we’re about to find out.” Virgil looked at Reggie. “Let’s do this.”
“Won’t have to ask me twice,” Reggie said. “I’ve been itchin’ to question her all day.”
“Okay, then.” Virgil rose to his feet. “Reggie and I will go clear the room and get it ready. Billy Gene and Jason should be here with Colleen by the time we’re finished.”
Virgil walked down the hall and knocked on the door to the back room and asked the deputies working there if they would move their work to his and Reggie’s stations until they finished conducting their private interview.
Virgil and Reggie moved the table to the center of the room and set folding chairs on both sides.
“Well, it’s not exactly state of the art,” Virgil said. “But it’ll do.”
A loud knock at the door caused both men to turn, just as Billy Gene came through the doorway with Colleen Berne.
“Sheriff, me and Jason will be waitin’ outside to take Miss Berne back, whenever you’re done.”
“Thanks,” Virgil said. “Why don’t you two take a break, have some coffee and doughnuts?”
A wide grin spread across Billy Gene’s face. “Don’t mind if I do. The wife’s been pressurin’ me to go easy on the sugar. Tried to make her understand that, when it comes to working cases, doughnuts are brain food and practically a food group all by themselves.”
Billy Gene turned and went back down the hallway.
Virgil extended his hand to Colleen. “Thanks for coming here. I’m not comfortable leaving the command post while information is pouring in. You remember Police Chief Mitchell. He’s assisting in our search for Jesse.”
“Yes, hello again.” Colleen shook hands with Reggie.
“Can I get you a bottle of water?” Virgil said. “Or coffee, juice, or a soft drink?”
“Thanks, but I’m good,” Colleen said. “Where would you like me to sit?”
“Right here at the table.” Virgil pulled out a folding chair and seated Colleen, then took the seat across from her and next to Reggie.
“We don’t have much daylight left,” Virgil said, “so let’s cut to the chase. Colleen, as you know, Jesse Cummings went into Evans’s Sporting Goods this morning at nine and hasn’t been seen since. Our two departments have joined resources and are currently immersed in a massive search for this boy. Your brother was at that store this morning at the same time as Jesse. He hasn’t been seen since either. Our persistent efforts to contact Liam have failed. And no one at any of the establishments you listed remembers seeing him today. It’s rather perplexing.”
“Why is it so important for you to question Liam?” Colleen said. “He already told me he didn’t see Jesse in the store and never knew he was there.”
“I know that’s what he told you. My question is”—Virgil held her gaze—“do you believe him?”
Colleen’s pale face was suddenly bright pink, and she looked down at her hands. “What are you implying, Sheriff?”
“Is it possible your brother deliberately misled you?”
Colleen paused for several seconds and coughed to clear her throat. “Of course, it’s possible. If you’ll hear me out, what I have to say might help you fill in a few blanks.”
“Please go on. We’re listening.”
Colleen bit her lip. “You have to understand how hard this is for me. I love Liam. He’s the only family I have now. I’ve always trusted him. Leaned on him. But some things have happened that didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. But now, in combination, are impossible to ignore.”
Virgil grabbed the pencil and ruled pad. “Tell us in order, if you can remember the sequence.”
“The first thing was that the dark green shirt Liam wore the day Mother drowned—when he went out to run errands—is not the green shirt he put in the laundry. It was the same color, brand, and size as the one I got him for Christmas, but this one had a button-down collar and no pocket. The one I got him had a pointed collar and a pocket.”
“Are you sayin’ he came home wearin’ a different shirt than the one he left in?” Reggie said.
“Honestly, I didn’t pay attention to the shirt he came home in.” Colleen looked from Reggie to Virgil. “But he was wearing the shirt I got him when he left the house. I’m sure of it. And I searched his closet and dresser drawers. The shirt I gave him isn’t there, and I haven’t seen it since he left that morning.”
“Did you ask Liam about it?” Virgil said.
“Yes, but he blew it off and insisted it was the same shirt. So I let it go until some other things started to bother me.”
Virgil arched his eyebrows. “What other things?”
“Liam has come home late from work a few times, which is something new. I left messages on his cell phone, but he never returned them. Each time I asked where he was, he said he was driving around and had his cell phone turned off. He
always gave a reason: grief over Mother’s death. Trying to get up the courage to quit his job. Just trying to clear his head. It’s obvious to me that he’s established a pattern of turning off his cell phone when he doesn’t want to account for his whereabouts.”
“Like he did the day your mother drowned,” Virgil said.
Colleen hung her head. “Yes. And again today. He should’ve been home before now, or at least called. There’s something else—and this was the last straw for me.” Colleen reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a piece of crumpled white paper and handed it to Virgil. “This is what I wanted you to see. Just before your deputies arrived to question me, I found this wadded up in the trash can in Liam’s room.”
Virgil put on his reading glasses, then opened the paper and smoothed it out so he and Reggie could read it. The letters had been torn from a magazine and pasted on:
“I SAW HOW YOUR MOTHER DIED. PAY ME $50,000 OR I’LL TELL THE SHERIFF. YOU’LL HEAR FROM ME AGAIN SOON.”
Virgil laid his glasses next to the note on the table. “What do you think this means?”
Colleen’s eyes brimmed with tears. “The same thing Liam thought it meant: that someone saw him drown Mother and wants hush money.”
“The note’s not specific.” Virgil rubbed the stubble on his chin. “It could mean a number of things.”
“It doesn’t.”
“What makes you so sure?”
Colleen’s face suddenly looked like cold gray stone. “Because … I made the note and put it on Liam’s car windshield in order to test him. I knew if he had nothing to hide, he would come to me with it. I wanted him to be innocent. I gave him plenty of chances to talk about the note. But he chose to hide it from me.”
“When did you leave the note?”
“Yesterday afternoon,” Colleen said, “right before I walked into the Gordon Building to meet Liam at the attorney’s office to receive our inheritance checks. I wanted to be sure Liam had the means to pay an extortionist before I put him to the test.”
Virgil sat back in his chair and exhaled, his mind spinning. “So did you assume by his silence that he was planning to pay it?”
“I don’t know what he was planning. But if he believes Jesse was involved in an extortion attempt, he might have gone after him.”
“Why would you think Jesse might be involved?” Virgil said.
“Oh please.” Colleen rolled her eyes. “Just because Jesse publicly recanted his story doesn’t mean I believed he lied about what he saw. There was a reason you didn’t want me talking to Jesse and had him moved out of my English class. Liam and I both believed Jesse witnessed something. I just never dreamed that something was Liam.”
Reggie leaned forward on his elbows. “Did your brother tell you why he was going to Evans’s Sporting Goods?”
“No. But he liked the store. He went in there all the time.”
“According to Mr. Evans, he bought ammunition for a handgun.”
Colleen’s eyes grew wide. “Liam has a permit to carry one, but he never does. He keeps it in the bottom drawer of his dresser in case we have an intruder.”
“Do you know if it was there this morning?” Reggie said.
“No, but I’ll check when I get home.”
“Do you think he’s capable of hurtin’ the boy?” Reggie said.
“I would never have thought so. But I do believe he drowned our mother. So why not?” Colleen wiped a tear off her cheek. “I’ve said everything I came to say, Sheriff. I don’t know what more I could tell you. Do you have more questions for me?”
Virgil glanced at his watch. “Not right now. We need to get back to the search. We appreciate your candor. I know it wasn’t easy.” Virgil stood. “I’ll have the deputies take you home and wait with you in case Liam calls. You can check to see if the gun is missing. We’ll probably have more questions later as we investigate your mother’s death. But knowing these facts might help us to find Jesse.”
“I hope so, Sheriff. He’s such a sweet boy. If anything happens to him …” Colleen’s voice trailed off, her lower lip quivering.
“Come on, I’ll walk you out.” Virgil led her into the hallway and to the side exit. “Thanks again for your willingness to come forward. I know what it cost you.”
“I keep hoping I’m wrong. But what are the odds?”
Not in Liam’s favor, Virgil thought, as he pushed open the metal door and followed Colleen down the steps.
When they reached the bottom, she looked at him, her eyes filled with angst. “Sheriff, please promise me you won’t hurt my brother.”
“We’ll do everything in our power not to,” Virgil said. “But I’m sure you understand that if he’s holding Jesse against his will, we have to consider Jesse’s safety first.”
“I understand. Just know that Liam’s not a bad person. He really isn’t. He loved our mother. If he drowned her, he saw it as a mercy killing. That’s the only way he could’ve justified such a horrific act.”
Virgil motioned for Billy Gene to come. “You did the right thing, Colleen. Let us find Liam and sort out the facts. If you’ll excuse me a moment, I need to speak with Deputy Duncan before he takes you home.”
Virgil took Billy Gene aside and gave him a quick rundown of his interview with Colleen.
“I want you and Jason to stay with her at the house,” Virgil said. “Check to see if the gun’s there. And see if we can get the GPS coordinates on his cell phone; though if he doesn’t want to be found, he’s probably removed the battery. Get set up, so if he calls her, you can trace it. I’ve got enough now to issue an Amber Alert. Let’s hope it’s not too late.”
Chapter 30
Jesse shivered in the frigid night air, tediously trying to retrace every step back to Liam, and feeling as if he’d been trudging through the forest all night. He held the flashlight to his watch. It was only eight forty. After he left Liam, he had gone an hour and a half before changing his mind and turning around. He had to be getting close. Unless he was lost.
Jesse heard gurgling sounds coming from his hollow stomach, and images of starving children popped into his mind. He wondered if his family had enjoyed his mother’s Saturday-night spaghetti—or if they had been too upset, worrying about him.
He still wasn’t sure how he was going to start a campfire when he caught up with Liam. But the feeling of being half frozen was a powerful incentive to figure it out.
Jesse came to a pine tree and spotted the initials LRV carved into the trunk. He had come this way! He was right on track. It wouldn’t be long now.
Thank You, Lord. Now if You’ll just help me know what to say when I find him.
Him. It occurred to Jesse that he had never called the man by name. Should he address him as Liam or Mr. Berne? Jesse had been taught that, as a sign of respect, he should not call adults by their first name. Calling the man Liam would feel weird and awkward. Addressing him as Mr. Berne would seem more natural, even if he didn’t deserve the respect.
Jesse walked around the pine tree and spotted a fallen log that he remembered seeing earlier. This was definitely the way he had come. He thought of something else that hadn’t occurred to him until now: What would he do if Mr. Berne was dead? He’d never even seen a dead person for real. The thought of being out there with a corpse through a cold, dark night was creepier than he wanted to think about.
The deep reverberation of a helicopter shook the ground again.
Jesse held up the tiny flashlight and waved it wildly, back and forth under the canopy, even though he held little hope that Search and Rescue would see it. Maybe if he could find a small clearing and build a big enough fire, the rescuers would be able to spot the flames, or at least the smoke.
He picked up his pace. As soon as he found Mr. Berne, that’s exactly what he planned to do. Maybe they would be found yet tonight!
t
Kate sat on the floor in the living room of her big log house, hugging her knees in front of a crackling fire. Thoughts of Jesse consumed her. After Roberta told them that Virgil had issued an Amber Alert and that Jesse was believed to be with Liam Berne, she had more questions than answers. Had Liam refused to believe Jesse’s retraction that he was an eyewitness to Dixie Berne’s drowning? Was he going to try to make Jesse talk?
“Honey, can I get something for you?” Elliot’s voice startled her.
“No. I’m fine. Well, not fine. But I don’t need anything—other than Jesse home safe and sound.”
Elliot sat beside her, pulled her into his arms, and held her. How she needed his strong presence and seemingly unshakable faith.
Minutes passed in silence, Kate feeling no need to spoil it with words that would expose her fear and doubt. Why couldn’t she have the faith that Elliot did? Or like that of her dad and her children? Every time she thought she had grown past her anger at God for the five agonizing years she had spent grieving her missing husband and daughter, her old demons slithered out of a dark place buried deep in her subconscious. They tormented her, relentlessly at times, with flashbacks so real that she feared all over again that God could not be trusted.
Kate sighed. Anytime she started to question God, it served only to provoke her anger and perpetuate her agony for however long it took for her to come to her senses. Why was her faith so fragile?
Kate sensed someone else had come into the living room.
“How’s she doin’?” Buck said to Elliot, barely above a whisper.
“She’s hardly said a word since the Amber Alert was issued.”
“You don’t have to talk as though I’m not here,” Kate said, looking up at her dad, his shiny head and round glasses reflecting the glow of the fire. She reached up and took his hand. “I’m as all right as any of us can be, under the circumstances. Why don’t you sit in your easy chair and get warm by the fire?”
“Aw, I don’t wanna disturb you two.”
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