Page 28 of Twin Jeopardy

“No, I didn’t,” she admitted.

“The message is signedV,” Vince said.

“Do you think it’s Valerie?” Tammy asked.

“I don’t know what to think,” he admitted.

“Both of you need to come down to the department and give a statement,” Shane said. “Meanwhile, we’ll go over the truck for evidence.”

“I can give you a ride to town,” Tammy said.

Vince looked glum. “Why would anyone go after my truck? And why the cryptic message?”

“I don’t know,” Tammy said. “Maybe the sheriff can figure something out.” She didn’t believe that. Whoever was pretending to be Valerie, she hadn’t provided them with evidence of her motive, other than to harass Vince. “Do you have an ex who is angry with you? If she knows about Valerie, she might be hiding behind the name as a way of unsettling you.”

“It’s unsettling, all right. But no, I don’t have any exes, angry or otherwise. I told you, I’m not the best at relationships.”

She wanted to reassure him that he was just fine, that no one was an expert at these things, but what did she know? Better to focus on being his friend. If something more developed, that would be good, but better not to force it.

VINCESLIDINTOthe passenger seat of Tammy’s Subaru, the image of his vandalized truck still fixed in his mind.You thought I was dead, didn’t you?Of course he thought Valerie was dead. Hundreds of people had searched for her immediately after she went missing, and they hadn’t found one clue as to what happened to her. No one had heard from her in fifteen years. She had disappeared in the high mountains, where people died in accidents every year. One wrong step or a slip could send a person plummeting off a cliff or into a deep fissure in the rocks, and no one would ever see them again.

Whoever was doing this couldn’t be Valerie. She would have no reason to taunt him this way. The real Valerie would be happy to see him again.

But a scammer would demand money, and that hadn’t happened yet.

Which left someone who was doing this in order to torture Vince and his family. A person who enjoyed making other people suffer. Was it someone he knew or a stranger who had read the article in theExaminerand decided to focus on him? “Has anyone contacted the paper about the article you wrote?” he asked Tammy.

“What do you mean bycontact?” she asked. “A few people complimented me on the article. And some people asked what else I had planned for the series.”

“I’m thinking maybe someone saw the article and fixated on it as a way to harass me,” he said. “I’ve heard of people who enjoy psychologically torturing others. Some of the calls my parents received soon after Valerie disappeared were made by people like that. They would say things like ‘Your daughter is being tortured, and you’ll never see her again.’”

“That’s so cruel,” she said.

“It is. I’m trying to figure out if the person who sent that postcard and vandalized my car is like that. They’ve decided for whatever reason to target me, and Valerie’s story is a convenient one to hide behind.” The idea made sense—more sense than the possibility that Valerie had suddenly shown up again after all these years.

“You should tell the sheriff that,” she said. “There might even be someone who contacted your parents before who has resurfaced.”

At the sheriff’s department, Tammy left with Shane to give her statement while Jake Gwynn escorted Vince to an interview room. They had scarcely settled into chairs across from each other when Travis entered. “I might have a few questions after you’ve given your statement to Jake about what happened tonight.”

Vince took him through the events of the evening, from when he had first parked his truck on the side of the closed highway to his arrival back there two hours later, and the vandalism he had seen. “You’re sure the note was signedV?” Jake asked. “It couldn’t have been some random paint drip?”

Vince thought back to the message on the windshield. “I’m pretty sure it wasV,” he said.

“Do you know whoVmight be?” Jake asked.

“I think it’s someone who is trying to make me think the message was written by my sister, Valerie.” Vince looked to Travis. “Maybe the same person who sent that postcard.”

“You don’t believe this really is Valerie?” Travis asked.

“How could it be? If she’s still alive, why haven’t we heard anything for fifteen years? And if she was kidnapped and suddenly escaped, you’d think she’d be thrilled to see us again. She wouldn’t hide and try to frighten us.”

Travis scooted his chair closer and looked Vince in the eye. “Did you have anything to do with your sister’s disappearance?”

“What? No!”

“Is it possible Valerie might have thought you had something to do with the accident or whatever happened that day?” Travis continued. “Maybe you were playing and she slipped and fell, and you were too afraid to tell anyone. Or you dared her to do something and she took the dare and was hurt.”

“No! I was in the tent, asleep, when she disappeared. I saw her leave the tent, then fell back asleep. By the time I woke up, my parents were already searching.”

---