Page 74 of Among the Innocent

“Still, the time frame fits. He could have been committed after the murders here. This is huge.”

“Exactly.” His excited tone confirmed there was more. “I spoke to Stephens’s father, who told me he lives in Montana.”

Her eyes widened. “He’s here in Montana?”

“Near Helena with his wife and daughter. But get this—Jonathan Stephens’s wife is named Marissa.”

Leah stared at him and tried not to get her hopes up. “Wait, wasn’t the registration on the truck a Marissa something?”

“Pennington. As soon as I got off the phone, I did a search. Marissa Pennington married Jonathan Stephens. I guess she never updated the registration on the truck.”

“This is huge. This ties Jonathan Stephens to the truck.”

“There’s something else,” he said. “Marissa reported her husband missing a couple of hours ago.”

Leah’s head swam with the new information. “Could this be our guy?”

“It’s possible, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves. His wife said Stephens received a call from a friend here in St. Ignatius and told her he had to go and help him out. He said he’d be back in a few days. When those days passed, she became worried andtried to call him without any answer. That’s why she reported him missing.”

“I can’t believe it,” Leah said. “It finally feels like we may be getting somewhere.”

“I sure hope so. I notified the chief of police in Helena, and he’s getting a warrant to dump Stephens’s phone records. Let’s see if he actually received a call or if he made the whole thing up to give him an excuse to return to St. Ignatius. We’re getting closer, Leah. I can feel it.”

Leah pulled in a breath and prayed this might really be the beginning of the end. “I should get back to Marge. She loves her checkers and especially loves beating me.”

He laughed. “From what Ethan said, I don’t want to take her on.”

Dalton’s phone beeped, and he glanced down at it. His smile disappeared. “I requested Stephens’s DMV photo.” As he continued to stare at the image, Leah’s heart sank. “This doesn’t look like our guy.” Leah leaned in close to examine it.

The man in the photo resembled the John she knew but ... Her heart sank. “This isn’t John.”

Dalton’s mouth thinned. “So much for a breakthrough.” He sighed. “Still, I’m wondering if Stephens may be somehow connected to our killer. I mean, the name is too close to be a coincidence in my book. If they were at the same state hospital, it’s possible they became friends. Maybe our killer has been using Stephens’s ID and Stephens found out about it.” His gaze locked onto Leah’s. “Stephens may have been trying to help our killer.”

“And he could be in danger.”

Dalton agreed. “I’m going to see if I can get some more information on him.”

While he did that, Leah returned to Marge.

“Everything okay?” her mother asked.

“Yes, it is.” And it was. Though Jonathan Stephens might not be their killer, he could help them identify him. She was finally starting to feel hopeful again, her heart softening over the possibilities of a future without the shadow of the past dragging her down.

She and Marge were on their second game when Dalton came into the room.

“There’s my boy.” Marge exclaimed with an odd smile on her face that worried Leah.

Dalton froze and shot Leah a startled look.

“Marge, this is Dalton.”

Her mom’s mouth opened and closed. Tears hovered in her eyes. “My boy isn’t here.”

Leah watched Marge with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. “You don’t have a boy, remember?”

“Yes, I do.” Marge flashed anger her way. “But he had to go away.”

Shock waves rippled through Leah. “When did he go away?”

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