He’s been hearing her lately. She whispers to him in the dark after lights-out. He enjoys hearing her voice again, but only until he remembers she’s not real. Prison can send a person crazy in ways not possible on the outside.
He takes a deep breath. He’s spent three long weeks in this small, windowless courtroom and he’s ready to get out of here for good, but he’d take it over a prison cell any day. He looks around him. Everyone is leaning forward, waiting with bated breath to find out whether this trainee priest is a killer in the eyes of his peers.
He looks directly at Judge Kemper, who spends an infuriating amount of time shuffling papers, as if she’s stopped proceedings merely in order to tidy her bench. Then she stands up, stretches her back and sits down again, adjusting the cushion behind her. Nate can’t help wondering if she’s enjoying all the media attention this case has brought her. One of his cellmates told him that judges in Texas are all corrupt, and that they get paid a bonus for every murder conviction they secure, and more for capital murders. Nate doesn’t believe that, but the look of contempt Kemper wears whenever she glances in his direction makes him glad the final verdict isn’t up to her.
The judge takes a sip of her hot drink and looks around the courtroom, nodding at several court officials as if checking it’s okay to proceed. Then she looks directly at Nate.
“I will have no emotional outbursts in my courtroom.” She stares hard for a few seconds before turning to the foreman. “Please read the jury’s verdict loud and clear.”
The older white male—Juror 11—stands. He looks nervous. His hairline is wet, as if sweat is threatening to roll down his forehead, and his glasses are gradually sliding off his nose. He doesn’t make eye contact with Nate, instead preferring to stare hard at the sheet of paper he’s holding. It’s then that Nate knows for sure.
“We the jury find the defendant Nathaniel Monroe…” He pauses. All the other jurors are looking at Nate with unrepentant stares. “… guilty of capital murder.”
There are some gasps behind him but definitely more cheers. Nate exhales everything he’s holding onto as he realizes those four words have ended his life.
“Thank you to the jurors for taking your job seriously and acting professionally throughout the trial,” says Judge Kemper. “We will begin the sentencing phase after an hour’s recess.”
The courtroom buzzes into action, with jurors being led out of one door and the spectators out of another. Nate doesn’t even look around at his father. He doesn’t want to see the disappointment on his face. He wants to collapse into his seat, but he’s being handcuffed again.
His lawyer pats him on the back. “Don’t worry, we’ll start the appeal immediately. The judge was hostile from the beginning and that would’ve swayed the jurors. Leave it to me.”
But Nate doesn’t hold out much hope.
Twenty-Five
Suddenly Brody bursts out from the woods, heading straight for Detective Morgan. Nate watches from the picnic bench with a widening smile on his face as the detective spots the dog and starts running toward his car, clearly scared for his life. He drives off faster than necessary, leaving a cloud of dust behind.
Nate notices Madison watching his reaction.
“I know you have an ax to grind, but you can’t blame all cops for what happened to you, Nate.”
He turns to her, surprised. “Why not?”
“Because Detective Morgan hasn’t done anything to you. He’ll be working under a lot of pressure to find Jennifer Lucas, so he probably doesn’t need you acting like a petulant teenager. We’re lucky he even offered to work with us. He could order us out of here if he wanted to.”
Nate’s annoyed. He’s wondering if Madison is always going to be loyal to anyone with a badge, and if so, where does that leave him when he finally catches up with Stacey’s uncle? Will she arrest him herself? He realizes he needs to be a little more cautious around her.
“Fair enough. I’ll give the guy a break. Once he’s proved himself.”
She rolls her eyes at him and looks at her cell phone.
Brody is barking after Morgan’s car.
“Brody,” shouts Nate. “Come here.”
The dog stops in his tracks and turns around to face him. Nate follows his command with a whistle, and Brody bounds over to him alarmingly fast. He skids to a halt next to Nate and gives him his paw.
“What do you want, boy? You hungry?” Nate would swear the dog can understand him, as two lines of drool start leaking out of the sides of his mouth.
“He doesn’t eat normal dog food, by the way.”
Nate looks up at Josh, who is carrying a stack of child-size orange life jackets. “No? What does he eat then?”
“Whatever we eat. The cafeteria women leave two bowls out all day for food and water and just keep topping them up with the kids’ leftovers. He seems happy enough with that.”
Nate is surprised. He looks behind him and spots two empty silver bowls. “Does no one actually look after him?”
Josh shakes his head. “Not really. He can look after himself. I’m not sure anyone here likes him, to be honest with you. He isn’t like a pet or anything. He just does his own thing. Kids want to play with animals, but Brody doesn’t like that. He’s a lone wolf.”
Nate looks down at Brody and rubs his back. “We’ll get you something to eat, don’t you worry.” The dog has intelligent eyes and probably can look after himself, but the fact that he’s letting Nate touch him suggests he does want company sometimes. Doesn’t everyone?
Madison stands up. “Can we ask you some questions about the night Jennifer Lucas disappeared?”
“Not right now,” says Josh. “Sorry, I’m busy. I’ve got a small sailboat class planned. The kids are about to earn their merit badges. Maybe I’ll catch you tonight in the staff bar.”
“There’s a bar here?” she asks.
“Of course. How else would we get through the long days?” He smiles and walks away just as a group of kids catch up to him.
Nate notices that one boy stays close to Josh, holding onto his arm. He’d be surprised if the kids didn’t get attached to the staff here. But that could lead to trouble.
He goes inside to find some food for Brody. A teenage girl points him in the direction of the slop bowl, where everyone scrapes their leftovers.
“Seriously? You don’t have anything better for him?”
“Sometimes I give him sausages, but the kitchen is closing. Sorry.”
Nate picks up the whole bowl and takes it outside to where Brody’s sitting next to Madison.
“Here you go, boy. Eat as much as you want.”
Without hesitation, Brody buries his face in the bowl, tail wagging the whole time.
“I don’t like him,” says Madison, nodding in the direction Josh went.
“Why not?”
“He has an annoying swagger that suggests he thinks he’s clever. He works at a summer camp, for God’s sake. What’s he got to be so cocky about?”
Nate thinks about it. “You think he’s a potential suspect?”
She pats Brody’s hind. “I think he’s the most likely suspect so far. He’s the only member of staff who keeps talking to us unprompted, he clearly knew the missing girl, and he always has an annoying smirk on his face. I’d like to look into his alibi.”
Nate isn’t so sure. “We haven’t been here long enough to come to that kind of conclusion. You need to keep an open mind.”
She looks unimpressed. “In my experience the most obvious suspects are obvious for a reason: because they’re hiding something.”
Nate shakes his head and holds back his annoyance. “That’s exactly the kind of thinking that got me convicted of Stacey’s murder.” He’d like to walk away from her right now. He knew he’d find it tough working with an ex-cop, and if this is how she really thinks, he might have to drop her sooner rather than later.
“One of the kids told me earlier that Josh’s girlfriend works in the front office,”
she says. “Let’s at least pay her a visit and see what she has to say about the night Jenny went missing.”
Nate knows it’s the next logical step seeing as they can’t talk to Josh himself right now. “Okay, fine.” He leaves Brody eating. As they head to the office, he thinks of Kat. “I bet I know exactly who Josh is screwing.”
Twenty-Six
Madison follows Nate into the main office, but there’s no one there. She looks around the wooden cabin, which is large but messy. There are children’s paintings pinned on the walls and sports equipment heaped in piles in every corner. It smells of sweat and it’s hot in here. They clearly don’t have any A/C, and for some unimaginable reason the windows are closed. It makes her wonder what it’s going to be like trying to sleep in one of these cabins tonight. She hears a woman talking in the room off to the left.
“Sounds like she’s on the phone,” says Nate.
“Hello?” yells Madison.
A young brunette in a pair of short denim cut-offs and a plaid shirt barely buttoned up over a low-cut T-shirt walks out of a room behind the front desk. Her nails are painted black and she’s wearing about fifteen necklaces. She wipes her nose and looks a little alarmed. She can’t be older than eighteen, despite the make-up desperately trying to suggest otherwise. She’s been using. Madison would recognize that nose wipe anywhere.
“Hey, Nate,” says the girl, looking past her. “What can I do for you?”
Madison glances over her shoulder at Nate, who just smiles. She turns back to the girl. “What’s your name?”
“Kat. I work here.”
“Hey, Kat. Nate and I wanted to ask a few questions about the night Jennifer Lucas disappeared. Were you working that night?”
The girl looks down and starts busying herself with some loose papers on the front desk. “It was my night off. I was in the counselors’ cabin with my boyfriend.”
“Who’s your boyfriend?” asks Nate.
She still doesn’t look up. “Josh. We watched YouTube for a few hours before falling asleep.”
Madison gives Nate a look to suggest that if Josh’s alibi hangs on this girl covering for him, he’s still a potential suspect. Nate appears to know what she’s thinking.
“Were there any other staff in the cabin with you?” he asks.
The girl thinks about it but keeps tidying the desk. “Shelley was there for a while. But then she snuck into town with the others. We’re not supposed to leave the camp at night but sometimes we need a break, you know? Me and Josh were alone when we went to sleep.”
“What did you watch on YouTube?” Madison asks.
Kat finally looks up at them. Is that panic behind her eyes?
“Just some horror movies. You can check my phone if you don’t believe me. The detective already did. I’ve only just got it back from him.”
Madison’s hopes lower. Detective Morgan did say he’d done a background check on all the staff.
“Did you fall asleep together?” she asks her.
“Yeah, but don’t tell Donna. We’re not meant to get into relationships here. There are a lot of rules when working at a summer camp. She thinks relationships between the staff will distract us from looking after the kids, but I love these guys! I would never let anything bad happen to them.”
“Well someone has let something bad happen to Jenny.” Madison feels guilty as soon as she says it, because Kat tears up, clearly concerned for the girl.
“Do you think she’s going to be okay? None of us know what’s happened to her, honestly. We talk about it all the time.”
“And what’s the most likely theory amongst the staff?” asks Nate, handing Kat a tissue.
“She’s got to be in that creepy lake. There’s no way someone came here and took her without any of us seeing it happen. Even if we hadn’t noticed a stranger creeping around, Brody would’ve! That dog doesn’t miss much, even when you think he’s not around.” She wipes her eyes. “I think Jenny’s in the lake and the divers missed her. I saw a documentary about something similar once. There was this cute little eight-year-old girl in Canada who went kayaking on her own in the lake behind her house. Everyone assumed she was abducted or something, but it turned out her missing body was trapped underwater, under some real thick branches, so the divers never knew she was there until there was such a bad drought one summer that the water receded, exposing her remains.”
Madison doesn’t think that’s likely in this situation, as she knows how thorough police divers are when looking for missing children. “I understand someone does a head count every evening to check everyone is accounted for. Is that right?”
“Yeah, we take it in turns.”
“So who did it that night?” Grant had told them that the head count had been forgotten the night Jenny disappeared. She’d like to know who’s responsible.
Kat goes back to shuffling papers. “I, er… I don’t know. You’d have to ask Donna. I just know it wasn’t my turn.”
Madison wonders who she’s covering for, but she could probably guess. “Well, if you think of anything that might be relevant to that night, please tell us.”
Kat looks at Nate again. “Can I get your number? In case I remember anything?”
Madison tries not to laugh. She’s clearly after a piece of Nate. She just hopes he’s not dumb enough to give this girl his number.
“Sure. Here.” He writes it down on a scrap of paper. “Whatever you tell us will be confidential.”
Kat smiles up at him and fiddles with her necklaces. Madison’s seen enough. She walks out of the cabin, shaking her head.
“What’s the matter?” Nate asks, following her outside.
“She’s too young for you. Didn’t you learn that in priest school?”
He looks annoyed. “Don’t you think it’s a good idea to give the staff some way of contacting us in case they want to turn on one another? What if it is her boyfriend who took Jenny? She’s unlikely to tell Detective Morgan, because she’s already had plenty of opportunity to do that and hasn’t, so it’s better that she can contact one of us if she feels like confessing something.”
His seriousness makes Madison feel like she’s misjudged him. “Sorry. I just saw how she was looking at you and, well, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were tempted.”
She notices the dog is waiting for them. He’s staring at Nate expectedly.
Nate strokes his head. “I’m more tempted to take Brody back to our cabin, to be honest.”
She laughs, and his face softens. She’s relieved he’s not an asshole. It makes her wonder if she should actually confide in him instead of stringing him along under false pretenses.
Not yet. They still don’t know each other well enough, and she can’t risk losing her new job.
Twenty-Seven
Esme is wringing her freezing hands with worry. She’s been unable to warm them despite the hot air drifting in through the modern tri-fold doors. This house is unbearably quiet without Jenny stomping around and accidentally breaking things. She misses the noise.
Jenny would take any opportunity to spend time with her. Esme assumed it was because she was arguing with her mom a lot and needed to get away sometimes. She misses taking her shopping and trying on silly outfits together, and having afternoon tea at their favorite hotel. Jenny was like her little friend, always eager for attention, and so bright and funny. Grandchildren bring so much joy to a person’s life that when they’re no longer around, the world becomes a quiet, lonely place. To her, it feels as though life has muted its normal sounds and turned everything a pale shade of grey during this terrible time.
She looks around the white living room. All Jenny’s belongings, normally spread around the house, are gone: her hair bands, nail polish, school books. Presumably they’re all hidden away in her bedroom closet. It’s almost as if she never existed. Grant likes the house tidy and would insist Jenny put her things away before bed each night, but it’s never been this tidy. It looks like it’s ready to be listed fo
r sale.
She pulls the secondary cell phone out from her pocket. This one was bought just to liaise with the investigator. She doesn’t know what made her do it, but something told her she shouldn’t use her own. Maybe she was being paranoid.
She texted Nate Monroe for an update this morning but hasn’t heard back from him, even though she knows he would have arrived in Shadow Falls a few hours ago. She expected to hear something to confirm he’d arrived and doesn’t think she can last much longer in this perpetual state of worrying about where her beautiful granddaughter is.
Anna appears. She silently walks over to the couch and places a cup of coffee in front of Esme. “I’ve added a splash of brandy.”
She’s used the good china, which she rarely gets out, what with Jenny being so prone to breaking anything delicate. Esme would guess that’s not the only reason why she’s using it. It means nothing to keep your most precious things hidden away when you’ve lost a child. Everything is disposable now. Esme would give it all up to have her granddaughter back. What’s the point of having money and nice things when a piece of your heart has been cut out? When a feeling of dread fills your entire body every time you think of what could have happened to her.
She looks up at her daughter-in-law and smiles weakly, trying to stay strong on the surface. “You know me so well.”
Anna sits opposite her. “I know this is affecting your health, Esme. It’s affecting all of us, but I can tell your anxiety is through the roof. I just wish there was something I could do for you. So does Grant.” She pauses. “Don’t you think you’d be better off back at home, so you have your own comforts around you? I know Beatrice is worried about you and wants to be there to help.”
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