Page 83 of The Challenger

A ghost. Just like Ava.

When the second text lands, air flutters deep in my lungs. I try to slow down the cascade of my thoughts.

[email protected]

Holy Toledo.

Holy shit!

I kick the covers off and rush out of bed, almost tripping my way down the stairs. After rounding the corner into the kitchen, I smack hard into Cori, alerted by my thundering steps and on her way to find me.

“What is it?” she asks, steadying us from the crash. She looks like an Easter grandma in her pink bathrobe and matching fluffy slippers. “It looks like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I’m breathless, my heart jack-rabbitting all over the place. “Does the name Jerry Linkley ring a bell?”

She shakes her head, confused. “Is that him?” I flash her my phone screen, and her eyes balloon. “Oh my lord."

ChapterThirty-Two

For better or for worse,humans are creatures of habit. I suppose I should count my lucky stars for this. Without thousands of souls stuck trying to break their bad routines, my career as a motivational agent of change would have fallen flat pretty damn quickly. Predictable patterns make us feel safe, but they can also bite us in the ass in more ways than one. Two weeks after my return from Santa Cruz, the police apprehend Jerry Linkley in Shaniko on his daily noon walk. For a man who has been a toxic apparition in my life for the past year, that they find him living in a ghost town doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

The call comes while Chavez, June, and I are feasting on homemade tacos in the cabana. I recognize the Oregon number and immediately feel my throat constrict. After I greet Constable Watson, Chavez sits up, his radar pinging on high alert.

“Yes, I can talk,” I say, and leave the table for some privacy. My heart beats so fast that I worry it might blow up. Constable Watson is the lead officer assigned to this case in Madras. When we first spoke, I said if his team had any success finding Jerry, I wanted them to ask if he was my father.

After bringing me up to speed on the details surrounding the arrest, Watson says, “He claims to not be your father. Apparently, he found your mother pregnant and homeless, sleeping under a motel heating vent when she was eighteen. Did you know she was involved with the Rajneesh cult up in Antelope?”

“My adoptive parents mentioned something about that.”

What Cori had told me sounded like a groaner plot for a movie of the week—Ava Reid, a teen runaway, joins a cult that eventually infiltrates the small Oregon town of Antelope and creates havoc. She lived on the compound until the cult disbanded, at which point she and several other members scattered to Madras. The forty-odd group lived commune-style on an old farm off the city grid. Ava, pregnant with no idea who my father was, fled the commune after the mood turned militant.

Watson confirms that the outrageous story proves true after all.

“Jerry says that to protect her from the ‘kooks and browns,’ as he calls them, he took her to Shaniko and told no one. Out of sight, out of mind.”

I’ve been pacing in circles on the lawn and come to a full stop. “So, they lived together?”

“Until she died, is what he says.”

Died.

I know it’s true, but to hear it…

The next question squeaks out. “How did he find me?”

“By fluke,” Watson says, and his tone suggests he didn’t believe it at first. “Says he saw you being interviewed on TV at a bar in Portland. Claims you have the identical curly hair and green eyes that Ava did. When he figured out your age, he knew it had to be you.”

My mind cycles through the details of last year’s tour. I did make an appearance on a local Portland network to promote my event. Did Jerry show up at that talk? I shudder thinking about it.

Watson continues in a grave tone. “Full disclosure, Miss Dryden, Jerry is an unmedicated schizophrenic known for delusional behavior. For now, take what he says with a grain of salt.”

I let out a deep breath. Chavez watches my every move from the cabana, and I can feel anxiousness radiating off of him. “What happens next?”

“Depositions,” he says. “You can read the transcripts and decide how you’d like to proceed.”

“With a restraining order?” I clarify.

“You can file for a temporary one immediately. Down the road, a judge will weigh in on whether the situation warrants a permanent one. In the interim, you can decide if you want to press charges.”

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