“Does that include a gun?”
“Multiple guns.”
“So we have to assume he’s armed and dangerous.” Jared exhaled heavily. “What about credit cards? Does the kid have his own or would he be using his father’s plastic?”
“Try looking under KnitStitch Crafts. That’s all one word with an uppercase S in the center.”
“Why would I be looking for that?”
“Because Corey’s mother owns a craft store and she’s just as culpable for enabling him as his father. She spoils the kid rotten, when she’s around. She’s known for taking long trips to spas, ones that last months at a time, and she’s barely around. She protects the kid, though, and that includes giving him whatever money he could possibly want.”
“Thanks for the tip. Is there anything else you can think of?”
“No, but I’m going to start driving over myself. If you catch that little heathen, I want to be there when you question him. Without his father present, he won’t be able to wiggle out of trouble. Also, he’s an adult now. You don’t have to give his father a heads-up.”
“No, but the kid will probably try to use his father as a lawyer.”
“Which won’t be easy since the father has no legal standing in your county. It doesn’t matter, though. I want to see what you guys have. It will take me about four hours to get there, though.”
“Hopefully we’ll have something to tell you when you get here. We’re focusing on finding Rain right now. We’re not sure where to look but ... we refuse to give up. One way or another, we’ll find her.”
“Then the trick will be to get her to go on the record with what happened. That’s not going to be easy.”
“No, but we can only do one thing at a time. We’ll find her first. Then we’ll worry about her telling the truth on the record.”
“Fair enough. I’ll see you soon.”
17
Seventeen
Zander kept one eye on Harper’s house and the other on his moisturizing routine. He was a big fan of visiting Sephora and buying their latest offering, which is exactly what he did the day before. He liked nothing better than relaxing on the couch, his feet on a pillow, and watching cooking shows while polishing away fine lines. He was so caught up in what he was doing — seriously, he had no idea pork loin could be cooked so many ways — he almost missed the movement through the window.
Almost.
He jerked forward when he realized what he was looking at. Sure enough, there was Harper. She was on her way out of the house. Instead of heading toward her car, however, she was moving toward the river on foot.
“What is she doing?” Zander muttered, his frustration obvious. “Where does she think she’s going?”
He knew nobody would answer, but he was agitated. He was having a good time and here she was ruining it.
“I’m going to hunt her down and drag her back,” he decided, looking around for his shoes. “We’re going to get into a big fight when I do, too. I’m totally telling Jared ... not that I’m a tattletale or anything, but I’m totally telling him.”
Zander continued talking to himself as he retrieved his shoes. He left the mask in place. He wasn’t done moisturizing yet, and if things went well, he’d be back in his favorite spot within five minutes.
His expression was wistful as he stopped at the door and watched the chef on the screen start flipping a pork loin.
Yup. They were definitely going to fight.
THE TIP ON THE MOTHER’S BUSINESS CREDIT card was golden and Jared managed to track Corey Gamble to one of the local hotels, which was located directly downtown. After informing the owner why they were there — and dealing with a bit of hand-wringing — they were allowed inside his room.
They went in hot, guns drawn, but he wasn’t there. He obviously planned on returning, though, because all of his belongings were scattered around the room.
“He’s not exactly clean, is he?” Mel noted.
Cassandra Worthington, the owner, watched them prowl around the room. The expression on her face when she saw the mess wasn’t pleasant. “I had no idea it looked this way. What is he thinking?”
Jared slid his eyes to her. “What about the housekeeping staff? They must’ve seen it.”
“No. He refused housekeeping, said he was writing a book and couldn’t be bothered. I thought it was cool, that if the book hit well, we would be able to say we had a famous author here at one time. I didn’t realize ... .”
Jared gave her shoulder a squeeze and turned back to the mess. “This looks like a typical teenager’s room.”
“Especially one who is used to his parents doing everything for him,” Mel noted. “I ... ,” he trailed off as he leaned forward and picked up an empty bottle of wine from the floor. “Isn’t this the same bottle Jason reported going missing?”
Jared shifted so he could stare at the item in question. His eyebrows drew together as he slowly nodded. “It is. He said it was a rare wine, which means that it couldn’t have been picked up at one of the area stores, fake identification or not.”
“What does that mean?” Cassandra asked, gripping her hands together. “Am I in trouble because he’s underaged and was drinking up here? I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“You’re not in trouble,” Mel reassured her quickly. “You have nothing to worry about. It’s just ... how long has he been here?”
Cassandra blinked several times in rapid succession. “What do you mean?”
“When did he check in?” Jared queried.
“Oh, um ... it’s been about two weeks. He hasn’t been any trouble. He gets fresh towels every single day and turns down maid service. He’s been quiet and hasn’t given the other guests grief. I really did think he was here working on a book.”
“Two weeks?” Jared rolled his neck and stared at the overhead ceiling fan. “Well ... that’s right about the time the break-ins started happening.”
“And I doubt that’s a coincidence,” Mel said, grabbing a magazine from the nightstand. “This is one of the items reported missing from the cafe. There are items from the craft store over there. I definitely think we have our culprit.”
“Which means that Andy wasn’t guilty and we gave his father grief for nothing.” Jared was rueful. “I kind of feel bad about that.”
“Andy Cornell?” Cassandra made a face. “If you assumed he was involved, that was probably a good guess. That kid is trouble. It’s only a matter of time before he ends up in prison. What does he have to do with this, though?”
“Apparently nothing,” Jared replied. “He was on our short list of suspects before we realized an outsider was involved.”
“Well, I don’t want to speak out of turn, but Andy might still be involved,” Cassandra hedged. “I saw Corey talking to him outside the hotel the other day. They looked to be having a casual conversation over coffee out at one of those metal tables. I didn’t think much of it, but I did warn Corey about Andy’s reputation. He didn’t seem bothered, said it was good research for his book.”
“Huh.” Jared tapped his foot, his mind busy. “On the video, it looked as if more than one person broke into the barbershop. We couldn’t be sure because the footage was so grainy but what if Corey recruited local talent once he got into town?”
“It would make sense.” Mel ran his fingers over the dresser and frowned when he made contact with something sticky. “He would’ve sought out the bad kids and Andy would’ve been the first one mentioned if he asked around.”
“He’s young enough to fit in with the other kids, too,” Jared added. “That might explain why Andy was so keen to spend time with Rain the other day. Maybe Corey instructed him to do it.”
“Right.” Mel straightened. “We’ll get the intricacies of the story when we find him. Right now, we have to assume he has Rain. That’s the only thing that makes sense. The car registered to his mother is still in the parking lot, though, which means he hasn’t left town. We just need to figure out where.�
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“I think we should head to the school,” Jared offered. “If Andy is there, he might have the answers we’re looking for.”
“I think that makes sense. We’ll head over there. Cassandra, if he comes back, act normal and don’t say a word to him. Let him go up to his room and then call us. We’ll be here as fast as possible.”
Cassandra mutely nodded.
“It’s going to be okay,” Jared promised. “We’re going to find him and end this today. It’s almost over.”
HARPER WASN’T SURE WHY SHE decided to head to the river clearing. As far as she knew, Rain had never been there. Still, she was familiar with the area and it made a great place to hide. In high school, when she and Zander needed time away from the other kids to decompress, they would head to that location because it wasn’t easy to get to … which meant no one ever stumbled across them. For some reason, Harper’s intuition told her to go there now.
She took off her shoes and rolled up her pant legs before hitting the water. It was quicker to go that route, although something of a workout because she would be going against the current, and she wanted to approach in the open rather than frighten Rain if she actually managed to find her.
It was a ten-minute trip from the house to the clearing. She figured she could get there and back without Jared knowing she’d even left. She was still bitter about his bossy nature, but she knew his orders came from the heart.
That didn’t mean he was the master of her universe. If he gave her grief, she would give it right back. She was an adult, which meant she was allowed to do whatever she wanted. That was the mantra she repeated over and over in her head even as guilt crashed over her.
Jared was going to be mad. She would have to apologize. She had to check, though. She couldn’t just let it go.
The water was cold and she was shivering by the time she reached her destination. She climbed out of the water even though she was convinced she would have to immediately turn around and head back. Her feet were almost numb, though, so she wanted to give them a break before plunging into the icy depths a second time. Heck, even though it was a long walk, she was considering hiking through the woods for her return trip.
She was gearing herself up to do just that when she heard a rustling in the bushes to her left. She had to force herself to act nonchalant and not pounce. Instead, she blew out a sigh and slowly lowered herself to the ground. She kept her profile to the area in question and stared at the water.
“Nice day, huh?” She didn’t really expect an answer. Rain was in hiding, and probably wondering how Harper managed to find her. For her part, Harper was wondering that, too. It was intuition that had led her to this spot, and she would have to puzzle it out later as to how it happened in the first place. “You don’t have to be afraid, Rain.”
There was something akin to a tiny gasp and Harper had to bite back a sigh. “I want to help you,” she insisted. “I know that you’ve gone through some terrible things. I know that you think people aren’t on your side, that we want to hurt you, but that’s simply not true.”
More rustling, and then Rain popped her head out so Harper could see her. The girl looked to have struggled through a rough night. Her hair was a mess, her eyes red-rimmed and puffy, and there was a scratch on her cheek. It didn’t look serious, so Harper assumed it was from the foliage. Rain likely didn’t know about the river cheat to get to the clearing, although how she found the area at all was a question that would eventually need answering.
“How did you even find me? I saw this place on a map and it looked isolated … and yet here you are.” Rain’s tone was accusatory. “Also, I know you want to hurt me. You’re upset because of what I said about Jared. You’re jealous and you want to make sure that I can’t take him from you. I know how this works.”
“Do you?” Harper forced herself to remain calm. It would do no good to jump all over the girl. She was well and truly messed up. She would need intensive therapy to get over this when everything was settled. That was also a worry for another time, though.
“I do.” Rain bobbed her head and edged out from behind the bushes. She had a hoodie wrapped around her and was unusually pale. “You’re afraid of me so you want to keep me down. That’s how it always is when dealing with jealous girls.”
“I’m not a girl, though,” Harper reminded her. “I’m a woman. I know about jealous girls, mean girls if you will. I was in high school at one point, too, although it was a long time ago.”
“A really long time,” Rain muttered.
“It was hard for me,” Harper admitted. “I wasn’t the most popular kid. The other students thought that I was weird because I’d managed to do a few things that garnered attention, like finding a little girl in a car that had rolled off the highway and landed in some trees. Her mother was dead, but she was alive and people questioned how I managed to do it.”
Rain pursed her lips, thoughtful. “The mother’s ghost came to you and led you to the little girl, right?”
Harper smiled. “Yup. I wasn’t lying about being able to talk to ghosts.”
“Even Lucas’s ghost?” Rain’s voice was barely a whisper. “Have you really been talking to him?”
“I have.”
“W-what did he say?”
And here was the tricky part. Harper had to convey her knowledge without frightening the girl, or causing her to want to fight. If she felt cornered, Rain was likely to come out swinging. It really was her only option.
“He couldn’t quite remember what happened at first,” Harper admitted. “He invaded my dreams and showed me what happened to him the night he died. The individual who killed him didn’t have a face, though, and when I pressed him on it, he got upset because he couldn’t remember.”
“Why couldn’t he remember?” Rain looked genuinely curious. “If someone killed me, I think that’s the one thing I would remember forever.”
“That’s true,” Harper agreed. “Sometimes trauma is a funny thing, though. If someone is hurt badly enough, there are times they can convince themselves of anything.” Her eyes were full of sympathy when they snagged with Rain’s frightened gaze. “Like what happened to you.”
The teenager visibly swallowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You do. It’s okay, though. I’m not angry for what you said about Jared. I was at first, don’t get me wrong, but Jared is the one who recognized what was going on. We want to help you, Rain. You need to let us. If you don’t, you’ll keep going through the same cycle for the rest of your life and it won’t be a pretty scenario.”
“And what is it you think you know?” Rain’s tone turned belligerent. “What is it you think happened to me?”
“I think you were at a party in the woods, drinking with some friends, and one of the popular guys showed you attention,” Harper volunteered, opting to lay all of her cards on the table. It could be the only way to get through to the girl, so she figured it was now or never. “I think you’d been partying a little bit since the death of your parents, feeling your way around and trying to decide how you were going to live your life.
“It must’ve been difficult,” she continued, choosing her words carefully. “Before they died, I bet you knew exactly who you were, and what you planned to do with your future. Them dying threw everything into turmoil and I’m betting you felt lost in the shuffle.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Rain shot back. “Life happens and you can’t change it. There’s nothing I can do about what happened.”
“To your parents or you?” Harper rubbed her hands over the knees of her jeans to warm them. It really was cold in the clearing. She had no idea how Rain had survived overnight without catching a chill.
“I ... nothing happened to me.” Rain’s reaction was automatic and she averted her eyes. “Why do you think that? I’m fine. I’m better than fine. I’m going to end up with your boyfriend before this is all said and done.”
Harper bit back a hot retort. The girl was g
ood at pushing buttons. Unlike before, though, the intrepid ghost hunter knew why she was doing it and she had no intention of being dragged into an unnecessary sniping match. “Corey was fighting with his girlfriend that night in the woods. She wouldn’t give him what he wanted and he decided he was going to get it from someone else. He focused on you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rain hissed.
Harper barreled forward, barely taking a breath. “You probably always had a crush on him, or maybe were only aware of him, but you were looking for attention and he appeared willing to give it. Unfortunately for you, it was too late by the time you realized what sort of attention he planned on heaping upon you.
“You walked with him into the woods, away from your friends, and found yourself in a world of trouble,” she continued, her heart squeezing as the expression on Rain’s face changed. “He attacked and — despite your best efforts — you couldn’t fight him off. You tried, and failed, and you blame yourself for that even though you shouldn’t.
“What happened that night wasn’t your fault. He was bigger than you, stronger than you, and you couldn’t have realized what sort of person he was. If no one had ever mentioned his issues to you before, how would you know? Even if you’d heard whispers, some people gossip just to gossip, right? It could’ve been a case of other people talking just to talk.
“What happened to you was bad enough, and I’m sure you were in shock in the minutes after,” Harper supplied. “Then things got worse because Lucas showed up. He took you by surprise, didn’t he?”
Rain dumbly nodded, giving up any pretense of denying the story. “He came out of nowhere. I’m not sure from where. He attacked Corey, told him to get off me, but it was already too late. Corey laughed at him, called him names — like bad names — and when Lucas grabbed my hand to help me up, he said something that doomed him.”
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