Page 64 of Sadie's Guarded Harbor

“I dated Shawn years ago, and only for a few months. What could I possibly have to tell you?”

“Shawn Downs was murdered.” Sadie kept her tone soft and friendly. Something Tommy hadn’t thought possible before he’d been forced to work with her. “My partner and I are trying to put together some missing pieces from his past. We think you could have some of the answers we need.”

A beat of silence pulsed through the speaker. “I... wow…that’s awful about Shawn. He was such a nice, fun guy when I methim. I haven’t talked to him since he dropped out of school and returned home. That seems like a lifetime ago.”

Sadie shifted, a small wince taking over her expression.

Tommy switched the phone to his other hand, using the one closest to her to brush a stray piece of hair from her face. “Are you okay?” he whispered.

She nodded as she continued her conversation with Jess. “I know a lot of time has passed, but it’s clear something happened to Shawn to make him quit school. I spoke with his roommate, who told me Shawn spent all his free time with you so you might have better insight. Do you know what happened?”

A long sigh came from the other end of the line. “I wish I did. He was upset that his mom was sick and pissed at his dad. That’s why he went home so often. He didn’t want his mom to be alone and didn’t trust his dad to take care of her. It killed him being away.”

“Do you think that’s why he dropped out and moved home?” Sadie asked.

“I wouldn’t know. He went home one weekend, came back for a week, then left. I never talked to him after that.”

“Does anything stand out as odd—beyond his decision to leave school?” Her green eyes gleamed with hope.

Jess huffed out a humorless laugh. “The whole thing was bizarre, but his dad brought him back to school. He didn’t have his car. Said something happened to it while he was home.”

Sadie straightened. “Do you remember when that was? The month or a time frame to work with?”

“Actually, I do. I was pissed because I wanted him to stay at school for one weekend. It was homecoming. I was young and selfish and didn’t understand why the guy I was dating couldn’t do the normal college festivities with me. We got into a big fight. He left, I participated in the homecoming events with myfriends, then he came back to campus an emotional mess and that was the end.”

Anticipation brought Tommy to his feet.

Sadie grabbed the phone with a trembling hand. “Thank you so much for your time. You’ve been a huge help.”

Tommy blocked out the rest of her words and pulled out his phone. He searched his browser for the date of the homecoming football game the weekend Shawn was a freshman in college. “Call back the hospitals. We know what dates to look for now. We’re finally going to figure out what the hell happened to Shawn Downs.”

24

Tommy’s exhilaration at narrowing down the dates that Shawn might have wrecked his car morphed into dread. He sank back onto the couch, his eyes fixed on his phone’s screen. The longer he stared, unblinking, the more the words and letters blurred. Memories of his mother’s accident flew in to take their place.

A phone call, his panicked father rushing him, Owen and Katherine to the hospital, a funeral days later. His grandfather spiraling into depression. The hit and run had never been solved, leaving him and his family devastated and the rest of the town on edge for years. If Tina Wells could be killed just taking a walk through town, anyone could. Especially with the driver still at large.

He rubbed his aching chest with his free hand.

“Tommy? Are you okay?” Sadie rested a palm on his knee, her tired eyes narrowed as she studied him.

He blinked a few times, chasing away the ugly memories. Raw emotion burned his throat. “I need water.”

Jumping to his feet, he hurried into the kitchen. He grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it halfway with water from thesink. He gulped the cool liquid, letting the drink wash down the suffocating sadness.

His mind raced as he ran through the details of the case. Was it more than a coincidence that Shawn crashed his car the same weekend his mom was killed in a hit and run?

No. It wasn’t possible. He was tired and his body was pumped full of every feeling under the sun after what he’d been through the last few days. He finished his water and set the empty glass on the counter, leaning his back against the smooth granite.

Sadie shuffled into the kitchen, a grimace on her face as she took a seat at the four-person farmhouse table. “Is everything all right?”

Guilt took up residence in his chest. She didn’t need to follow him around the house, worrying. He pulled up a chair in front of her and sat. Her knees bumped against his. Leaning forward, he grazed the sides of her legs with his knuckles. “The dates of the homecoming from the year Shawn was a freshman were the same weekend as my mom’s accident. So he hit something and smashed up his car the same weekend someone hit my mom and left her for dead.”

“Wow.” She slipped her hands over his. “That’s a hell of a coincidence.”

“Right. A coincidence.” He nodded along with the words. “That’s all it can be. I mean, it’s crazy to think Shawn Downs had anything to do with my mom’s death.”

But what if they were missing something? What if after all these years, he could finally get some closure over what happened to his mom?

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