“I’m not very proud of some of the things I’ve done.” He rubbed his hands together. He stayed quiet, swallowed, and then swallowed again. Finally, he looked at me. “You know I grew up in a Christian home.”
“Right. We’ve talked about that before.” I’d heard all about how his family had celebrated other people at Christmas by serving at homeless shelters. They’d done without so others could simply live. Apparently, every time the doors of the church were opened, Riley was there. His parents were still married and still happy, and his mom called him every week to make sure he was doing okay. They were basically a Leave It to Beaver family.
“Well, my junior year of college, I was roommates with this guy named Scoggins. He was a people magnet, if you know what I mean. Everyone just loved him. He had charisma. He was always riding me about my beliefs.”
“That’s hard.”
“I found myself slowly being worn down. I saw how happy Scoggins was, and he wasn’t a prude. I convinced myself that I could have it both ways. I could be a Christian and a partier. I could be a witness by infiltrating crowds of people who weren’t like me. They were going to see something different in me.”
“But . . . ”
“Instead of me influencing them, they influenced me. I joined a fraternity and gave in to the party scene. I’d thought I was stronger than that, but when it came down to it my faith was actually pretty brittle. I found myself feeding on the popularity and the fast times and the rush I got when I did crazy things.”
“That does not sound like the Riley I know, at all.”
He nodded. “Tell me about it. The person I was disappeared before my eyes, yet, in truth, it was a slow process. One choice at a time. One decision at a time. One party. One beer. Before I knew it, I was this person I never thought I’d be. I thought I was happy, but I always had to feed myself more, you know?
“I think you’re the one who told me that worldly pleasures won’t fulfill you. I just had no idea you knew that firsthand.”
“There’s more.” He looked up, and the pain in his eyes nearly sent me toppling out of my chair. I wanted to reach for him, but I sensed that he needed some space to get through this.
“Scoggins and I went to a party one night. It was close to graduation, and we were just ready to be done. I’d told myself that this was it for me. After I graduated and had my degree, I was turning my life around. No more partying or drinking. That night, Scoggins and I had probably both been drinking too much, truth be told. Actually, we were drinking too much; we just didn’t think we were. He drove.” Riley paused, swallowing again and closing his eyes. “Scoggins hit a car. Killed the driver. Scoggins died, too.”
I sucked in a soft gasp. “And you?”
“I was unscathed.” He shook his head. “That really woke me up, and I realized what an idiot I’d been.”
“I had no idea.” I half expected to blink and discovered I’d daydreamed this conversation. I’d never imagined Riley to be that kind of guy. In my mind, he was the opposite of me and, since I was a screw up, that meant that he was near perfect.
Riley continued. “I went through some really dark days, Gabby.”
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”
He let out a long breath and stared out into the distance. “Honestly, I just try to put that part of my life behind me. I know God has forgiven me. Sometimes, I haven’t forgiven myself. I should have known Scoggins was too drunk to drive. I should have stopped him. But I didn’t. Two lives were taken from this earth as a result.”
I put my hand on his arm. “Oh, Riley . . . ”
“I’d hoped it would be a wake-up call and set me back on the right path. I got in deeper, though, trying to numb my pain. At the end of my internship, Ed Laskin invited me to his home. That’s where I met Veronica. We started dating. Then I went out to California to work as a prosecutor. Veronica came with me. I won a huge case and really let everything go to my head. I started drinking more, partying more.”
Ah, he must be speaking of his days out in L.A. That was right before he moved to Norfolk.
“But, the good news,” he looked up at me and a soft smile tugged at his features, “is that all of it eventually led me back to my faith. I realized how empty living for myself was.”
“If not the death of Scoggins, what caused the change?”
“One of my friends at the district attorney’s office actually. He was a Christian. He saw what a mess I’d become and really helped to point me in the right direction. He was patient and always there when I needed him. He gave me chances when I didn’t deserve them. I vowed that was the kind of person I wanted to be, someone who simply showed people love and who reflected Christ.”
I squeezed his arm again. “You have been.”
He just stared ahead. “So, when I made all of these life changes, Veronica was kind of caught in the crossfire, so to speak. She’d gotten engaged to one man, but I’d turned my life around and become someone else.”
I tried to picture all of that playing out. It couldn’t have been pretty. “What happened?”
Riley shrugged. “We broke up. That’s when I decided I had to get away from everything. I moved to Norfolk. I met you.”
I shook my head. “But then Veronica showed up again. I clearly remember, because I was there that night.”
He nodded. “Right. Veronica said she wanted to give my new lifestyle a shot. She insisted that we could still be a couple, that we both just had to compromise some. It just wasn’t going to work, Gabby. We were two totally different people. I wanted to run away from that materialistic lifestyle. She wanted to run toward it.”
“So she broke up with you,” I muttered. My heart thudded. What Veronica had told me was true.
Riley’s eyebrows squeezed together. “No, I broke up with her. I’d known from the beginning that things weren’t going to work out the second time around. I should have told her that from the start. She’s very good at getting her way. She was not happy with me, though, and I can’t blame her.”
Relief filled me, feeling like a balm to my heart. I hadn’t been his second choice. “You broke up with her? Really?”
He grabbed my hand and stroked his thumb over my knuckles. “Yeah, really. Why do you ask it like that? You don’t believe me?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s not that at all. It’s just because Veronica told me . . . ” I stopped myself and shook my head. I didn’t really want to go there. “Never mind. It’s not important.”
“Do you want me to talk to Veronica? I know it’s gotta be awkward rooming together. She has a way of getting in people’s heads and messing with them.”
Did she ever. But, for some reason, moving rooms would seem too much like letting Veronica win. I wasn’t about to let that happen. “No, I’m going to tough it out. It’s only for a few more days, right?”
“I’m sorry I never told you any of that before, Gabby. I just . . . I don’t like to think about it, really. I became everything that I didn’t want to be. I was so self-focused that I couldn’t see anyone’s needs but mine.”
I squeezed his arm. “That could be a great part of your testimony, you know.”
“I know. And I know that I’ll get there eventually. But really, Gabby, it’s only been a couple of years since it all happened. My friends here this week haven’t seen me since then. They know the old me.”
“Who was one heck of a partier, apparently.”
He turned toward me and caressed his fingers against my cheek. “Forgive me for not telling you sooner?”
I nodded. “Of course.” That brick appeared on my chest again. He’d been so open. Now it was my turn. I had to share my secrets. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about also.”
“Of course. You can tell me anything.”
Just as I opened my mouth, I heard someone running down the hallway. As I looked back, I saw Derek and Lane. They stood at the French doors staring out at us. I jumped to my feet. “Wha
t in the world?”
“Sorry.” Riley stood. “One minute.”
He strode across the patio and opened the door. “What are you doing?”
“Get this,” Derek said. His voice was alive and animated. “Jackie’s missing. She’s not where Clint said he left her.”
I closed my eyes. I wouldn’t be sharing my story tonight.
No, tonight, Jackie was taking center stage again.
CHAPTER 23
After Derek and Lane had left to join the rest of the crowd, I turned to Riley. I really wished I could explain this a little more. “I need to go talk to Carol.”
Riley squinted. “Carol? Who’s Carol?”
“Jackie’s mom.”
He squinted more. “You’re on a first name basis with her?”
I tossed my head back and forth on my shoulders, trying to find something safe to say. “We’ve talked a few times. She confided a few things to me. I need to check on her.”
He grabbed my hand. “Let’s go.”
I put a hand on his chest, hating the guilt that pressed in on me. I’d brought it on myself, though. I’d explain everything to Riley soon. I just prayed I wasn’t too late. “I should go alone. She’s very private.”
He stared at me a split second before shrugging. “Sure. If you think that’s best.”
“I’ll be right back. I promise.” I squeezed his hand before taking off down the hallway. I jogged up the stairs until I reached the next floor. There, I started to pound on Carol’s door when it opened. It hadn’t been latched all the way.
Inside, I saw Carol in tears, and her male friend squeezing her shoulder, trying to offer some sympathy, while two police officers stood in front of her. She looked up as the door swung open and spotted me.
“Gabby, did you hear?”
I stepped inside, nodding to the rest of the crowd in the room. “I did. What’s going on?”
She held a tissue under her nose and breathed fast—too fast. That woman was going to pass out if she wasn’t careful. “You were right. Clint was behind this whole thing. Can you believe it? All along, he just wanted our money.”
“So he kidnapped your daughter and demanded a ransom.” I sat beside her and squeezed her hand. “What happened?”
“Clint said they—his friends are actually his cousins, apparently—were keeping Jackie at a cabin. After Clint admitted to faking the ransom, the police went to get Jackie, and she was gone.” She shook her head. “I just don’t know what to believe now.”
“What else did Clint say?”
“He claims Jacqueline was in on the whole plan. Can you believe the nerve of the man, saying my daughter plotted her own kidnapping?”
I blinked at the new twist. “Clint is claiming this was an elaborate scheme on both of their parts?” I clarified.
She nodded and dabbed under her nose again. “Something about trying to get some money.”
I sucked in a breath. “Carol, is Jackie your daughter’s real name?”
“No, it’s Mona. She’s always hated that name, so she used her middle name instead. Why?”
Dread filled me. Maybe Clint was telling the truth. I needed to talk to him, look him in the eye, so I could find out.
***
I held on to the seat in front of me as the van rumbled down the road the next morning. Thankfully, the laundry service here was amazing. They’d cleaned my jeans, T-shirt and underclothes last night while I slept, so I actually had some clean clothes to wear this morning.
If only laundry was that easy to do at my apartment.
I’d discovered that the hotel offered a shuttle to various places. Most people used the service to go to one of the resort’s many golf courses or to off-site locations for whitewater rafting in the summer or skiing in the winter.
Me? I was using it to go to the county jail. I had no other choice with Riley’s car being in the shop.
Thankfully, I’d found out the jail was located in Healthy Springs.
Last night, after I’d talked to Carol, I’d found Riley and told him the gist of what had happened. It was late at that point, so Riley had walked me to my suite, kissed me goodnight, and I’d escaped to my room before seeing Veronica.
I’d slept hard, probably because I hadn’t had a good night’s rest since I got here. I had to admit that I missed my nightly chat with Deanna. Maybe I’d run into her today, though.
After breakfast this morning, Riley and I had gone our separate ways, promising to meet a little later so we could go four-wheeling with his friends. I guess his friends wanted to enjoy part of their stay here at Allendale, and a part of me couldn’t blame them. The other part of me thought it seemed slightly disrespectful, but I was trying not to judge.
As if Riley had ESP, he’d reminded me about my promise not to snoop . . . again. That’s how I ended up here in the shuttle with a bunch of people wearing their golf clothes and carrying tennis rackets.
I didn’t miss the looks of curiosity that people gave me when I reminded the driver to stop at the police station.
“I’ll be back on the hour, if you want a ride to Allendale,” the driver mumbled as I climbed out.
I stepped onto the sunny sidewalk. I looked around the town surrounding me. It was quite quaint with cozy looking buildings, neat trees, and inviting benches. Too bad I wouldn’t be enjoying any of that.
I walked one block, found the police station, stepped inside, and asked the lady at the front desk if I could speak with Clint. An officer was called to help me with the request, and it took several minutes for them to verify and approve me talking to him, but somehow it all worked out.
I was the kid who somehow always missed my bus in elementary school, didn’t get into the classes I wanted at college, and who’d just lost her dream job, so any time that things worked out in my favor, I felt grateful.
I was escorted to a room with wood paneling on all sides, a clean vinyl floor, and a metal folding chair. Clint sat on one side of a glass partition, and I sat on the other. I looked at him for a minute, at how quickly he’d aged. I never noticed his wrinkles before or the lines under his eyes or how brittle his hair looked.
I picked up a telephone to speak with him.
“What are you doing here?” Clint stared at me as if waiting for accusations to pour from my lips. “Did you come to crucify me also?”
“I just want to know where Jackie is.”
“I wish I knew. She was supposed to be in the cabin. That was the plan. It was always the plan.”
I pulled in a long breath. I was going to have to cut to the chase if I was going to get anywhere with him. “Look, Clint, I’m an investigator. It’s what I do. I’ve cracked some pretty big cases before, and yours has me curious. I know you were planning to take off to the Bahamas at the end of this week.”
His eyes widened. “How did you know that?”
“I have my ways. But let me tell you this also.” I leaned closer to the glass, close enough that Clint could see the truth in my eyes. “I believe you when you say that Jackie was in on this with you.”
“You’re the only one.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
He shook his head. His eyes were bloodshot and red, his skin pale, his hair rumpled. “Jackie’s mom wouldn’t give her her inheritance if she married me. She had to marry someone in her own class.” He said “class” as if it was a dirty word.
“Really? That’s harsh.” And it was. Discriminating against someone because of how much money they made was not cool. I could kind of understand the place he was in.
“Yeah, Carol wanted her daughter to marry someone with his own money. Definitely not a construction worker. So Jackie and I concocted this plan. Two hundred thousand wasn’t a ton of money, but it would help us get on our feet. I was supposed to leave the money, my cousin was going to pick it up, and Jackie was going to be returned. We set it up so the police would never figure out who’d actually kidnapped her. In the meantime, I would look like a hero and ho
pefully Carol would soften toward me. We’d have the money. Take our little trip. Disappear if we had to.”
“What went wrong?”
He buried his face in one of his hands. “I wish I knew. My cousin went to go get Jackie, and she was gone. No one knew we were there. No one. I just don’t understand . . . ”
I leaned back, processing what he told me. I had to find out more information in order to verify what he was saying. “Where was Jackie staying?”
“We kept her at this cabin in the mountains under a fake name. She was just hanging out, biding her time until the drop happened. Of course, she was already supposed to be free, but that woman at our first drop off attempt screwed everything up.”
“Is there anyone who would want her dead?”
“Doug Matthews.” He didn’t hesitate. Apparently, he’d had a lot of time to think while he was behind bars.
“Who is Doug Matthews?” This visit just got interesting.
“He’s a colleague of hers. They work together at the local D.A.’s office. Every time Jackie turned around, she was telling me how she couldn’t stand him.”
“Any reason in particular?” Wasn’t he the same person Clint had mentioned earlier who Jackie never talked about? Apparently, jail time had brought Clint some clarity.
One of his shoulders pulled up in a half-shrug. “He was always trying to tell her how to do her job.”
“I’ll check him out. Anyone else?”
He nodded. “Derek Waters.”
“Why Derek?” There was a name I wasn’t expecting to hear.
“I don’t know. He just seems to have his sights set on Jackie. Always has, if you ask me. He even stopped by Atlanta a month or so ago for a surprise visit. I told him to get lost.”
“What did Jackie think about that?”
“Nothing. I mean, she thought his visit was weird, but I don’t think she lost any sleep over it.”
“You have no idea where Jackie is now?” I needed the truth. I didn’t let my eyes off of Clint, watching for a sign that he was lying. A gesture. A blink. A twitch.
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