Page 33 of Twin Jeopardy

Tammy took the longest route back to the newspaper office, trying to walk off her mixed emotions about her brother’s newest girlfriend. Was it the swiftness with which the relationship had progressed that unsettled her? She clearly wasn’t the woman who had impersonated a reporter from Junction last night, or the person who had run past Tammy and maybe vandalized Vince’s car. Tammy hadn’t dared press for more details, but her brother’s smug expression seemed to imply that he and Elisabeth had spent the entire night together.

Back at the office, she got to work on an article summarizing the most recent town council meeting and rewriting a press release from a local charitable organization.

Hours later, she was gathering her things to leave when the receptionist, Micki, a high school student who worked from one to six most afternoons, came over to her desk. “Someone just put this through the mail slot,” she said. “It’s addressed to you.”

Tammy accepted the envelope and stared at her name in crooked block print across the front. The printing looked familiar. She worked her thumb beneath the flap and teased it open. The message inside was typed.

Dear Tammy

As a reporter, I’m sure you’re interested in the truth. I read the article you wrote about the disappearance of Valerie Shepherd and feel the need to set a few things straight.

Despite what the Shepherds have told everyone for years, Valerie did not simply wander off. Her parents—and her brother, Vince—deliberately left her in those mountains to die. That was the whole reason they even went into the mountains that weekend. The family had other things to do that weekend, but Mr. Shepherd insisted they had to go. He couldn’t wait to get rid of the difficult child in the family. I guess he thought life would be easier with only Vince, his perfect son, to contend with. If not for the kindness of a stranger who found her, Valerie would have perished. The truth is, her family didn’t want her anymore. Fortunately, she ended up with someone who did want her.

This is the truth you need to let the public know about.

V.

Chapter Eleven

Vince read the letter through twice, heart hammering wildly. “It’s not true,” he said. “My parents and I didn’t abandon Valerie. My parents were crushed by her disappearance. We’ve never stopped hoping she would be found.”

“Why would anyone write these accusations?” Sheriff Walker tapped the corner of the letter, which was laid out on the table in the interview room at the sheriff’s department. After Tammy had telephoned to tell him about the note, Vince had agreed to meet her at the sheriff’s office, a place that was becoming all-too familiar to him after his recent visits. Travis sat on one side of the table, his brother, Sergeant Gage Walker, standing behind him. Vince and Tammy sat side by side across from him, not touching, but close enough that he could sense the rise and fall of her breath. This note had clearly unnerved her, and seeing her so upset had shaken him.

He forced his attention back to the sheriff’s question. “I don’t know.” He stared at the singleVtyped at the bottom of the letter.

“It sounds to me like someone’s pretending to be Valerie,” Tammy said.

“It’s signed the same way as the message left on my truck’s windshield,” Vince said.

“Did your sister sign her name that way?” Travis asked. “A singleV?”

“No. But we were only ten when she disappeared.” He tried to think but drew a blank. “I can’t say I’d ever seen her sign anything.”

“The letter writer refers to Valerie in the third person,” Tammy said. “She doesn’t say ‘I did not simply wander off,’ but ‘Valeriedid not simply wander off.’” She shrugged. “I don’t know if that’s significant. It’s just an observation.”

“Maybe she likes to refer to herself in the third person,” Travis said.

“Or maybe this isn’t Valerie.” Vince shook his head. “Of course it isn’t Valerie.”

Gage spoke for the first time. “Why do you say that?”

“Because even if Valerie is alive, she has no reason to want to hurt me. We were twins.” He looked down at the table and swallowed past a lump in his throat. “Losing her was like losing part of myself.”

“She’s been gone a long time,” Gage said. “Maybe she thinks you didn’t do enough to find her. Or she blames you for whatever happened to her.”

“But what could have happened to her?” Vince asked.

Gage and Travis exchanged a glance, though he couldn’t read the meaning behind that look. It was the kind of coded expression couples or siblings shared—the kind of communication he and Valerie had once enjoyed. “At the time your sister disappeared, both you and your parents mentioned another camper in the area,” Travis said.

“Valerie said there was a man camped near us,” Vince said. “I never saw him, and when we searched the area for him, we never saw any sign of him.”

“Was it like her to make things up?” Travis asked.

“No. I believed there was a camper and he left early.”

“Maybe he took Valerie with him when he left,” Gage said.

“I know my parents thought so,” Vince said. “They urged law enforcement to look for the man, and I believe they tried to find him. But no one else reported seeing him, and we didn’t have much to go on—just a man with a blue tent.”

---