What Echoes Render

by Schultz, Tamsen

  Jesse scanned the list of about forty names. Not one looked familiar. She’d started to let out a little of the tension she hadn’t realized she was holding when a name caught her eye. About two-thirds of the way down the list.

  “Ian?” she said, frowning.

  “Do you see a name you recognize?” he asked, sitting straighter in his seat.

  Jesse shook her head. “Not from talking with Mark, but this woman, Stacey Carson,” she said, pointing to the name.

  “What about her?” Vivi urged softly.

  Jesse looked up and met Ian’s intense gaze. “The little girl who was abandoned a few weeks ago in Riverside, her grandmother’s last name was Carson.”

  CHAPTER 24

  JESSE SAW IAN LOOK AT NAOMI, who immediately began keying something into her computer.

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Colin stopped by yesterday to fill me in. The grandmother died a few weeks ago,” she said and then recounted the details Colin had given her. “I know he was supposed to go see the grandmother’s lawyer today. And I know they were looking for the mom. He didn’t give me her name, but he did say they were looking for her.”

  “And no one knew about the granddaughter?” Ian asked.

  “Colin will have to fill you in, but it sounded like she and her grandmother stayed pretty secluded.”

  “And do you know if they found the mom?” Vivi asked with her hand resting on her own big belly.

  Jesse shrugged. “I don’t know. Again, you’ll have to ask Colin, but is it possible Stacey Carson is Virginia Carson’s daughter and Emma Carson’s mother?”

  “Not only possible, but probable,” Naomi interjected. “Stacey has a criminal record and her mother, Virginia Carson is listed as next of kin.”

  “What is she in for?” Caleb asked.

  “What was she in for is more the question. She was in for involuntary manslaughter. She was released earlier this year after serving two years of her four-year sentence,” Naomi supplied.

  “Involuntary manslaughter?” David repeated.

  “And get this,” Naomi continued. “The driving accident in which she killed an old man happened the day after Mark was killed.”

  “Oh god.” Jesse felt her stomach roil as it all sank in at once. “Emma is Mark’s daughter, isn’t she?”

  “Jesse,” David warned.

  “No, it all makes sense now.” She held up a hand to stop David’s protest. “Or at least some of it. She didn’t want Mark dead, she wanted me dead because she was pregnant and she wanted Mark. And that is why Mark was looking into creating a trust. It wasn’t for me or the boys, it was for his daughter.”

  “Jesse, you don’t know that,” he tried to appease. But when Naomi cleared her throat, she knew the other shoe was going to drop.

  “I have Emma’s birth certificate here.” Her eyes skittered between Ian and Vivi before settling on Jesse. “It does list Mark as the father. Emma was born in the jail where Stacey was incarcerated and then promptly turned over to Virginia Carson.”

  Jesse felt David’s hand engulf hers. His felt hot and dry against hers. She felt so cold.

  “What else do we know about Stacey Carson?” Vivi asked.

  “I have her mug shot and driver’s license picture.” Naomi’s offer was clearly halfhearted.

  “Let me see,” Jesse said. Her voice sounded a million miles away.

  Naomi looked to David before she slid her computer across the table. Jesse studied the images. The woman was young, just like she had been when she and Mark had first met. Stacey Carson had blonde hair and looked petite. No doubt, Mark had a type.

  She leaned closer to the screen and frowned.

  “Jesse?” Ian said.

  She cocked her head, trying to recall a memory. “I think I’ve seen her before.”

  No one spoke as she studied the picture.

  “I know,” she remembered suddenly. “I saw her in the hospital lobby yesterday. Colin and I were walking through on our way to the café. Normally, I wouldn’t remember since there were so many people, but I’ve become more vigilant lately. Here,” she said, handing the computer to Caleb. “You probably have a better memory than I do. What do you think?”

  He picked up the computer, glanced at the image, and nodded without hesitation.

  “Shit,” Ian said.

  “She’s probably been at the hospital a lot. I bet if we go back before each of the incidents that Jesse was involved in, we’ll probably see her face on the security videos,” Caleb offered.

  Ian took a deep breath. “Okay, we may want to go back and do that to build a case against her. But for now, we need to know where she is so we can bring her in. I’m calling Colin now, but Naomi, see what you can do, too, okay?”

  Jesse only half listened to what was being said. The truth of everything was sinking in even as she was sure it would take weeks or even months to fully process. Mark had another child. A little girl. With a student. Stacey’s name wasn’t one she’d known before seeing the list, so if they added up the two women she knew about, the four Naomi thought were likely that Vivi had told her about last Sunday, and this one more, Mark was up to seven women in their sixteen-year marriage. The thought made her stomach roil, and though she knew anger would come at a full boil later—she could feel it simmering—all she wanted to do right at this moment was curl into a little ball and be alone.

  “Jesse?” David spoke beside her. “Jesse?”

  She stirred.

  “Your phone is ringing,” he said gently, with a gesture to her purse.

  She stared at him for a long moment, before the words filtered through and she reached for her phone. Glancing at the number, she almost didn’t answer. It was James and she wasn’t sure she could face him right now. But the mother in her wouldn’t let go and she hit the answer button.

  “James?”

  “Mrs. Baker?”

  Jesse frowned and looked at the number again. It was James’s number but a woman’s voice. Or a girl’s.

  “Yes, who is this?”

  “Um, sorry to bother you but it’s, um, it’s Chelsea.”

  “Chelsea? Is everything okay?” Jesse could feel herself start to hyperventilate. There was only one reason James’s would have someone else call her and that was if he couldn’t do it himself. As if sensing the change in her attention, the room had gone silent around her. She looked at David and he mirrored the concerned expressions of everyone else in the room.

  “I, uh, I don’t know,” Chelsea started. “I’m here at the school and we were supposed to take a run together. I had to go home and get my stuff, but he said he’d meet me here. But I’m here and he’s not. But, I, uh, I found his phone.”

  Vaguely, Jesse noted the concern in Chelsea’s voice, but it was drowned out by the roaring in her own head.

  “Jesse?” Vivi was speaking to her. “Tell me what’s going on. Now,” she added when Jesse didn’t immediately answer.

  The directive was what she needed and she quickly repeated what Chelsea had told her, her voice and her body shaky. When she was done, Vivi took the phone and hit speaker.

  Ian was picking up his own phone as Vivi spoke to the young woman. Jesse listened, feeling more and more numb as the seconds ticked by. She heard Vivi tell Chelsea to stay put, in her car, with the doors locked and that Officer Marcus Brown or Carly Drummond would be there shortly. Being Windsor police, they were much closer to the school than Ian or the rest of them sitting there in Riverside. Still, Jesse rose, needing to be where James was supposed to be.

  Vivi’s hand wrapped around her arm, stopping her. She tried to shake it loose as Vivi finished her call, but her friend held fast.

  “Vivi,” she warned. David was at her side, solid and sure.

  “I know you want to run off, but we need you here for just a minute.”

  “My son, Vivi!”

  “I know.”

  The calm of Vivi’s voice annoyed her even more and she made to m
ove away.

  “We need to know who else to check with,” Vivi said, almost pleading. “We need to be certain he isn’t just at home or with one of his friends. If we know where he isn’t, it will help us find where he is.”

  The words sounded reasonable, but Jesse was feeling anything but at the moment. Then David slid his arm around her.

  “It will just take a few minutes, honey. I’ll call home while you make out a list of his friends. I’m sure Naomi can track them down and place the calls while we’re on the road.” She looked at him and tears welled in her eyes. He brushed a hand across her face. “Just a few minutes, honey. Then we can be on our way.”

  Finally, she nodded and sat back down. David pulled out his phone and, in a shaky hand, she took the pen and paper Ian handed her. She had three names on the list when her phone rang again. Not bothering to look at the number and hoping it was James, she answered before the first ring stopped.

  “James?”

  “Mom!” he answered.

  “Hello, Mrs. Baker.”

  Jesse froze. She had never met Stacey Carson but she was dead certain she just had. “Stacey.” Her voice was oddly calm, she knew. But she also knew, for the first time in her life, what it felt like to well and truly want to hunt someone down. She felt the phone being taken from her hand and Stacey’s voice filled Ian’s office as someone hit speaker, again.

  “So, you figured it out? I knew you would when I saw you talking to that cop yesterday about Emma. It was only a matter of time.”

  “Where is my son?” Jesse said.

  “With me, of course. You know, all this should have been mine. Mark loved me. More than he loved you. You should have died that day, then Emma and I would have everything we deserve.”

  “But I didn’t, and now you have my son.”

  Stacey laughed. “I do. He looks like Mark. A pity he has your eyes, though. Anyway, all good things must come to an end and I’m going to enjoy watching you watch it all slip away.”

  “In order to watch me, you’d have to be close by. Are you close by?” She saw Ian make some gesture, urging her to keep the conversation going. But right now, she didn’t need any help from anyone. Stacey Carson had her son and she was going to get him back.

  “Close enough for you to come to me. I can almost feel Mark here, where I am. Although it’s different than it was when he brought me here. But like I said, everything changes, doesn’t it?”

  And just like that, the line went dead. Jesse shot out of her seat needing to get out, her entire body was shaking, and she was more scared than she had ever been in her life.

  “Whoa, down.” Caleb shoved her back into a chair and pushed her head between her legs.

  She slapped him away and sat up. The world was spinning but that hardly mattered. “Don’t tell me what to do, Caleb. She has my son! My son, damn it.”

  “I know. And as soon as you look like you’re going to stick around and not pass out like a little girl, you can start ordering us around.”

  “Little girl, my ass, Caleb. I’m fine,” she shot back.

  He shrugged. “I know. Now what?”

  She drew back, then glared. The bastard had tricked her. But then again, she didn’t feel lightheaded anymore. And as he met her glare, she acknowledged it was a good question. She didn’t know the first thing about what she should be doing next, only that she needed to be doing something. David took her hand as she looked to Ian.

  “We need to figure out where she is. It sounds like a place she and Mark went to when he was seeing her.” Ian cast an apologetic look at her.

  “Please, Ian,” she rolled her eyes. “The bastard can rot in hell for all I care at this point. It was his dick that got us here. What little affection I had left for him is gone.” She saw Caleb’s lips twitch and she shot him a glare.

  “I’m pulling up his credit cards now,” Naomi said.

  Jesse shook her head. “I paid the bills, I would have noticed if there were charges on the card that didn’t make sense.”

  “Not these bills, I’d bet.” Naomi slid her computer over again and Jesse took a look.

  “He had a secret credit card. Of course he did.” Later, she knew she would need to sort all this out to process just how much, and how often, she’d been betrayed. But right now, that was a luxury she wasn’t going to allow herself.

  “Jesse, are there any other properties you know about where he might have taken someone? A cabin somewhere or a favorite hotel?” Vivi asked.

  “Matt,” Jesse said.

  Ian looked confused. “Matt would know?” he asked.

  “No,” she shook her head and frantically grabbed for her phone. She should have been listening to Ian, but when the thought hit her, it hit like a ton of bricks.

  “I need to make sure Matt is okay.”

  Ian snatched her phone away and handed her his. “We need to keep your line open. Use mine.”

  “Or better yet, let me call him,” David said, already dialing the number on speaker.

  “David?” Matt answered, after David had identified himself. “Is everything okay?”

  Jesse let out a long breath.

  “Where are you?” David asked.

  “At the Martinez’s, like I said I would be. Where is my mom?” Jesse could hear the tension rising in her son’s voice.

  “I’m right here, Matt. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  He paused. “I’m fine. What’s going on?”

  She looked at David. She couldn’t say it, couldn’t bring herself to vocalize what was going on.

  “We’re at Sheriff MacAllister’s office and we just received a call from your brother,” David started.

  “James? And?”

  “And, there’s no easy way to say this, but we know who the person responsible for all the attacks on your mother is,” he continued.

  “That’s a good thing, right?” Matt interrupted.

  David took a deep breath and answered. “Yes, but she has James.”

  “What? No!” her older son exploded. “Mom, what the hell is going on? Where’s James? Why aren’t you out looking for him?” The pain and fear in his voice was almost too much to bear.

  “Matt,” Ian stepped in. “I need you to listen to what I’m saying.” When it was clear Matt was going to stay quiet, if not necessarily attentive, Ian relayed the gist of the phone call from Stacey.

  “Mom, I need to go look for him,” Matt pleaded.

  “No!” she shouted.

  “Matt,” David intercepted. “We need you to stay where you are. Your mother needs to know you are somewhere safe. If you go out looking for your brother it’s going to be that much harder on her and everyone here. Do you understand?”

  “But, David . . .”

  “There’s no buts, Matt,” Ian spoke. “David is right. We need to focus on finding James, and if we have to worry about you being out there too, possibly being another target, it’s going to make it harder for everyone involved to do what we need to do.” Matt made a small sound, but Ian continued. “Is Joe Martinez there?”

  “I’m here,” came Joe’s voice. It was obvious from the concern in his voice that they’d been put on speaker phone and Joe had heard everything.

  “I’ll send someone out to sit with you, but keep the kids in the house with the doors locked,” Ian ordered.

  “Please, Joe.” Jesse choked back a sob.

  “Mom,” Matt’s voice broke through. She gripped David’s thigh, willing strength back into her body and mind.

  “I’m here, Jesse.” Joe’s voice was calm and certain. “No one is going to hurt these kids. I promise you that.”

  “Thank you, Joe.”

  “Promise me you’ll call as soon as you know something, or anything,” Matt demanded.

  “We will, I promise,” she answered. “I love you, Matt.”

  “Love you, too, Mom.”

  And then he was gone. She closed her eyes, wanting so badly to hold her children. To feel them in her arms.r />
  “Jesse?” Caleb said, bringing her back to the task at hand.

  If she didn’t pull it together, she might not ever have the chance to hold them again. “I’m ready.” She took a deep breath and looked at Naomi.

  Naomi didn’t miss a beat. “I pulled the records for the semester after Stacey was Mark’s student. There are six hotels or B&Bs that might be options. All the other charges are restaurants or other places it would be unlikely she would be able to hold someone captive. Ready?”

  It was a loaded question, but she nodded.

  “The M Hotel in Boston,” Naomi read out the first location on her list.

  The name didn’t ring a bell with her and she glanced around the room.

  “I don’t know anything about it, but school gets out at what, two forty-five? No way would she have had time to make it to Boston,” Caleb offered. Naomi nodded and moved on.

  “The Cottage in Red Hook?”

  “It’s possible to have made it down to Red Hook, but it sounds small,” Vivi said.

  “A four-bed guest house,” Naomi said, reading something from the screen. “Not exactly the kind of place you can take a hostage. How about the Craymore in Lenox?”

  “We were just there for brunch last month,” Jesse roused. “But that place hasn’t changed in fifty years. She said that where they are is different than it was.”

  Naomi inclined her head. “Good point. What about the Silver Spring B&B down in Houstonic?”

  “We looked at that place to get married,” Ian said. “It underwent a major renovation about a year and a half ago.”

  “And it has small guest houses scattered around the property,” Vivi added.

  “Then let’s go,” David said. But Ian held up a hand.

  “We need to go through all of them before we make a plan. I don’t want to miss something because we jumped the gun.”

  “What about the last two, Naomi?” Jesse prompted urgently.

  “The Westerbrook in Albany and the Saranac in New York. The Saranac has the same issue as The M, she couldn’t have made it down to the city by now. The Westerbrook anyone?”