Page 68 of The Last Love Song
Several of Heartache’s residents thought this was a scenic spot to have a picnic or to go parking. But for Zach, it would always be the site of Ellie’s attack. He knew Sam thought the same thing every time they came here. Hell, remembering the attack was half the reason they had chosen this route for their weekly run.
“Have you talked to your sister lately?” Sam asked, hitting the ground for a round of push-ups at a fast clip.
If not for Sam’s promise to help catch Ellie’s attacker, he would have gone into the military. He’d never said as much, but he’d talked about it when they were teens and then—after that night—never again. Zach hated that he couldn’t have devoted more time or resources to searching for her attacker when it had first happened. But he’d been a kid himself. And he’d needed to devote all his time and energy to getting his sister out ofHeartache, away from a mother who paid no attention to her, and to the West Coast where she could start over.
He’d uprooted her, himself and Sam, too, relocating them all. At the time, it had been all he could manage, especially since his sister needed to finish school and Zach wanted to start college. But he’d always regretted not following up on his sister’s attacker. And now? Knowing the guy might still be tormenting other girls absolutely gutted him.
“No. I need to get in touch with her.” He’d been avoiding his phone the last few days, sick of it showing no messages or missed calls from Heather.
“She’s worried that Megan Bryer’s stalker could have something to do with the guy who jumped her.” Getting to his feet, Sam brushed the stones and dirt off his hands.
“But you told her it was a totally different MO, right? And highly unlikely, given how long it’s been.” Zach swung on him. “I’m surprised you even talked to her about that.”
It didn’t matter that Zach shared his sister’s fears. He didn’t want her worrying about the past anymore.
“She texts me a lot.” Sam shrugged, never fully appreciating the fact that Ellie had been half in love with him for her entire adult life. “I figured you’d already told her since the cases could connect.”
“Whoever went after my sister is our age or older. Megan’s most likely getting hassled by an idiot teenager.” Zach had turned things over to the sheriff’s department, but he’d figured Sam would damn well keep him apprised if new information surfaced. “Why are you suddenly worrying Ellie because of this?”
“First of all, your sister is a grown woman. Second, she’s at least as stubborn as you, so she’s not the type of person to let something go when it’s on her mind.” Sam bent his knees and launched himself up a few feet into the air to grab hold of a tree branch where he proceeded to do pull-ups with mechanicalefficiency. “Third, J.D. says he didn’t know that website went up, and I believe him. I think someone else got on his computer and posted the thing.”
“Like one of his friends?” Zach knew J.D. had been questioned at the station with his father present, but the meeting had revealed little.
The kid had denied sending Megan text messages or posting the website, although he did admit to creating the site with a bunch of his friends. But he said they designed it for laughs and then deleted it. He’d seemed genuinely baffled about how it got online, and according to Sam, the kid was not a good liar.
“Or anyone else with access to the PC in his house.” Sam blew out a hard breath and swung down to the ground.
“His mom’s a schoolteacher and his dad is a local businessman who’s been on the town board for a long time. Not exactly stalker types.”
“Maybe, maybe not. If we’re looking for someone who targets teenage girls, that demographic skews toward middle-aged men, and more than half are educated, with above-average intelligence. But the Covingtons also happen to live right next to the quarry. There are trucks and workers in and out of there all the time. J.D. said the home and business computers are linked.”
“So someone who works at the quarry might have seen the page J.D. designed and decided to post it.” Zach didn’t like the way the hairs on the back of his neck rose, hating to think about a grown man going after an innocent girl. “And the quarry backs up to Lookout Point where Ellie got attacked. Are you questioning the guys who’ve worked there for the last decade?”
Sam nodded. “The women, too. But I spoke to Jeremy Covington about it, figuring he’d agree to give me the computers if it would help clear his kid. But he refused. And you know what alternate theory he suggested?”
“I’m listening.” Zach ground his teeth together, wondering if they might really be getting close to Ellie’s attacker after all this time.
“Turns out he’s having an affair with Tiffany McCord.” Sam pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked his messages.
Zach swore. “That complicates things.”
“No kidding. According to Jeremy, Tiffany and her daughter hate Megan Bryer because she used to date J.D.”
“And that kid is such a prize,” he scoffed.
“Be that as it may, it introduces a lot of other people to the Covington house and a whole nest of other potential enemies—to the Covingtons, as well as to Megan.”
“Does Cole McCord know?” Zach had always liked the decorated war veteran and wondered how he’d ended up with Tiffany.
“Not that he’s admitted publicly, but I’m not getting involved with that mess until I check out all the employees from the quarry and see who might have had computer access on the day the webpage went live.” Sam continued to scroll through messages on his phone, bracing a foot on a boulder and leaning in to stretch.
A startled bird took flight from the rock. The sun was blazing full force now, the birds amping up their morning songs and flitting overhead.
“That town board is a nest of vipers.” Zach shook his head. “I always thought this was a nice town except for the person who went after Ellie. And I always thought the culprit must be somebody from out of town. Not someone who lived here. Someone she knew.”
“Statistically, that’s rarely the case.” Sam’s finger paused over his phone. “Ah, crap.”
“What?” Zach didn’t need more problems. He wanted to go home and call Heather to see what she thought about Sam’s theory. Not that he should discuss police business with her.
