Page 39 of The Girl in the River

“Dammit,” Derrick muttered. “The battery just ran out. We need to charge the laptop.”

“Then let’s get going.” Ellie started the engine and pulled away from the restaurant, grateful the rain was starting to slacken. The sky was still dark though, casting a gloom over the beautiful scenery, and Ellie’s mood as she considered what they knew so far.

Ellie pictured Mia’s smiling face as she and Pixie planted sunflowers outside her house, and her head was reeling. Had Mia planned her own escape or was she creating a pattern of being a runaway bride?

The Mia she knew didn’t seem to be capable of that, but apparently she didn’t know Mia at all.

But she would find the truth. Her gut told her that Mia – Jesse – had left because she was afraid of something.

The downpour dwindled to a drizzle, but cars were still driving at a snail’s pace, and with the wet streets she turned her focus to the road. The weather would curtail water sports for a while, ruin holiday celebrations, and if rain rolled in again, make the creeks and river rise and possibly flood, creating treacherous conditions on the AT.

The next twenty minutes, she and Derrick lapsed into silence as she navigated the road’s curves. A red mist had formed above the cliffs, forming a hazy fog and blurring the view of the ridges and peaks. Locals dubbed it Foggy Mountain and there were legends about people disappearing into the haze and never being seen again.

A giant boulder at the edge of town sported a sign readingWelcome to Red River Rock inred letters.

“Hmm, it’s obvious who owns this town,” Derrick commented, as they noticed all the storefronts boasting the Moon family name. Moonbeams, the clothing boutique Jesse had owned, a restaurant/brewery on the river named Moondoggy’s, another bar Moon Stillery, an antique store called Moon Gems and a diner called Moon’s Roadkill Café.

“Yeah, interesting.”

Now the rain had eased off, a ray of sunshine shot through the fog, nearly blinding Ellie as she parked at the sheriff’s office. She had a feeling the truth was somewhere in this town. Small towns had secrets. Time to start uncovering the ones on Foggy Mountain.

FORTY-NINE

RED RIVER ROCK POLICE DEPARTMENT

Questions fired through Ellie’s head as she and Derrick entered the police station. Like most rural areas, the facility was unimpressive. A desk with a sergeant manning it, an open bullpen area with a couple of metal desks, double doors leading to what she assumed was the holding cells and another door that probably led to the sheriff’s office.

She introduced themselves to the desk sergeant and asked to speak to the sheriff, Larry Kincaid. Five minutes later, they were escorted to his office. He was a balding chuffy man, with a dark mole on his chin and looked to be mid-fifties. The buttons on his wrinkled beige shirt looked like they were about to pop and his uniform pants hung low beneath his belly.

“Sheriff Kincaid,” Ellie began. “I’m Detective Ellie Reeves and this is Special Agent Fox.”

He chomped on a peppermint as he lumbered up from his swivel chair. “What can I do for you, folks?”

They seated themselves. “We’d like to ask you some questions about a case you worked five years ago. The disappearance of Jesse Habersham.”

A flicker of surprise caught in his eyes. “What about it?”

Ellie decided to share, hoping he’d return the favor. “We believe she survived the fire on the boat on her wedding day and has been leading another life.”

“You know where she is?” A muscle ticked in his jaw.

“Not at the moment,” Ellie said. “But that’s the reason we’re here. Can you tell us about the case?”

He picked up a paper clip and rubbed it between his stubby fingers. “She married Kevin Moon, Armond Moon’s son. The Moons built this town up. Moon has a big houseboat where they held the wedding. But a fire broke out after the ceremony and Jesse was thought to have fallen overboard and drowned.”

“You never found her body?”

He shook his head, then finished crunching the mint in his mouth. “Kevin was devastated. He loved that girl more than anything.”

“What caused the fire?” Derrick asked.

“Something in the kitchen,” Kincaid responded. “Spread like a wildfire. Everyone ran to escape, but Kevin went to look for his wife and couldn’t find her. We searched the river and surrounding property for days, then had to assume the current carried her downstream.”

Ellie crossed her arms. That story sounded eerily familiar. “Did you suspect foul play? That someone set the fire and abducted Jesse?”

He shrugged. “I investigated, questioned everyone at the wedding and her coworkers.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “But this is a close-knit community. Folks around here take care of each other. No one saw anything and no one had a reason to hurt Jesse.”

“What about her and Kevin? Did they have problems?” Ellie asked.

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