Page 102 of Husband Missing

Tilly extended her hand. With a frown, Josie shook it. As she withdrew, she felt hard little calluses on the pads of her index and middle fingers. Just like the ones Gina had. Tilly paused, staring at Josie with a knowing look.

Blood roared in her ears as the final piece of the twisted Phelan family puzzle fell into place. She recalled the article she’d read after Gina’s death.

As a young girl, she took up archery under her father’s tutelage. “First thing I did when I saw she was serious was get her a good glove.”

All archers used gloves or finger tabs when they shot their bows. Without them, the repetitive pressure of the string each time it was drawn back caused blisters and calluses, and sometimes, nerve damage.

Gina had been shooting behind her father’s back long enough to get calluses. Because she was a girl? It was perfectly acceptable today for women to take up archery. Sixty years ago, when Tilly was a young woman, things were likely different.

Where their fingers touched, Josie felt an uncomfortable tingle, but she couldn’t tear her hand away. Couldn’t look away from Tilly.

“No one noticed you,” she said.

Tilly laughed. “Of course they didn’t. I was just a girl. Well, old enough to get married and bear children, but still considered a girl. I was a better shot than any man though, I’ll tell you that. Stealthy, too. She never even saw me hiding in the trees. Never knew it was me. All I had to do was wait for her to come outside, holding a baby. After… I collected the arrows when I knew she wouldn’t see. I was exceptional. I only missed that one time.”

The scar along the side of her face blazed with heat. “Why?” she choked out.

Tilly released Josie’s fingers and shrugged. “Everyone misses eventually.”

“No.” Josie shook her head. “Why did you do it?”

“I wish I could give you some profound reason, but it all comes down to one thing. A tale as old as time. Jealousy.”

Recoiling, Josie took a step back. Unconsciously, her fingers stroked her scar. “Jealousy? Then why not kill her? Or him? They were babies.”

“And the one I didn’t get turned out just fine, did she?” Tilly laughed and the sound was colder than the most frigid Pennsylvania winter.

“Lila never stood a chance. You and your husband doomed her before she was even born! No matter what she did, none of those babies deserved what you did to them.”

Tilly pursed her lips and nodded. “No, they didn’t. It took me this long to see that. It took losing Gina. I think I always knew there would be a reckoning. I just didn’t think it would come at such a cost.”

Josie shook her head. “Roe Hoyt has paid a higher cost than you could if you lived to be two hundred years old.”

Tilly nodded solemnly before turning away. She was almost out of sight when she looked over her shoulder. “I knew her when we were girls. Roe. She was about four years younger than me. Her father was transient. Moved around from place to place, making a living by doing work for anyone who would give it to him. Lived in the woods if he couldn’t talk someone into sheltering them for a night or two. He dragged her along everywhere. Wouldn’t let her speak to anyone. Told her what to do and she’d scurry off to do it because she was afraid of him. He was cruel. Sick. Roe was beautiful. Truly ethereal. Her father took a job at the farm next door to Clint’s family and oh, did my Clint take a liking to her even though we were already going to be married. She didn’t want attention from any man, but Clint couldn’t see that. Through our entire courtship, on our wedding night, and our first anniversary I lived under the shadow of his fixation with her. Imagine finding out that he’d been visiting her at some hovel in the woods for years. Putting babies into her.”

“What’s her name?” Josie asked through gritted teeth.

“Now I’ll set her free.”

“Her name,” said Josie. “What’s her name?”

SEVENTY-THREE

ONE MONTH LATER

Josie reached under the metal table and set her hand on Erica’s knee. It had been bobbing furiously for the last five minutes. “You don’t need to be nervous. We’re here to deliver good news.”

From Erica’s other side, Eva Owens laughed. “Oh, I think if you’re not nervous visiting a prison then you need a reality check.”

Erica snorted. “She’s not wrong.”

“You know what I meant,” said Josie.

It had taken a lot for them to convince the superintendent to let the three of them visit Roe together with no glass partition between them, but ever since Josie had met with her privately to tell her about Tilly Phelan’s confession, Roe had been, in the super’s words, “remarkably docile.”

They were sending her in with two guards just in case.

Erica drew in a shaky breath as the door to the private room swung open. Roe loped inside, her bright blue eyes catching on each one of them, lingering on her granddaughter.

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