Page 47 of The Girl in the River

“True,” he admitted quietly.

“I understand another woman’s body was found a few weeks after Jesse went missing, one thought to be Jesse, and that she was wearing Jesse’s wedding ring. What do you think happened?”

“How should I know?” He drummed his fingers on his leg. “Kevin insisted someone must have abducted her. He waited and waited for a ransom call. But… one never came. Now you’re telling us she was alive and living in your town with a new name,” he said in disbelief.

“It appears that way, although I don’t know yet what happened between the time of her wedding to Kevin and when she arrived in Crooked Creek.”

“She must have planned the entire thing herself. Pretty devious,” Mr. Moon said.

“Did you like Jesse?” she asked Kevin’s father.

Mr. Moon raised an eyebrow. “Do you have children, Detective?”

Ellie bit her lip. “No.”

“Then you can’t understand. She broke my son’s heart. That was difficult to watch.”

“I’m sure it was. Tell us what you thought of her before she disappeared. Did you notice anything off with her? Did she seem nervous or scared or like she was having cold feet?”

He picked up a pen and began to click it. “At first I was impressed with her ambition. She was talented and had no family so we embraced her.” He crossed his legs. “And no, I didn’t notice anything strange going on. She and Kev were happy and excited to start their lives together. They discussed expanding the boutique and traveling.” He ran his hand over his tie again. “But apparently she changed her mind or was lying to all of us.” Mr. Moon heaved a sigh. “Now tell me about this woman, Mia.”

Derrick pulled up a photo of Mia on his phone. Age lines crinkled around Mr. Moon’s eyes as he studied it.

“That can’t be Jesse,” Mr. Moon said. “Her hair’s all wrong, so is her eye color. Plus, Jesse was slender and well dressed. That woman looks like some kind of country farmer.”

Ellie would hardly say that. “DNA confirms they are one and the same,” she said matter-of-factly.

Mr. Moon twisted sideways as if struggling to absorb the news. “What was she doing in Crooked Creek?”

“She worked at a gardening center,” Ellie explained. “She had a knack for floral arrangements and landscaping.”

He made a derisive sound. “You said she went missing from her wedding there. How could she marry someone else when she was married to my son?”

“All questions we need to answer,” Ellie replied.

“Who is this guy she was engaged to?” Mr. Moon asked. “Maybe they planned this together and Jesse deserted Kevin to be with him.”

“If that was the case, why go ahead with the wedding to Kevin?” Ellie said, thinking out loud.

His frown deepened. “I’m at a loss. My son gave her everything. They were happy together. I can’t imagine why she’d possibly leave him, not unless she was cheating.”

“I knew Mia personally and she didn’t seem the type. She told me about meeting her fiancé at the gardening center. He said it took him months to convince her to go out with him. She spent most of her time with her daughter.”

Mr. Moon stiffened, the pen clicking again. “Her daughter?”

“Yes.”

“Was this man the father of the child?” Mr. Moon asked, his tone cold.

Ellie’s heart thundered. She should have withheld that information but Mark had been holding Pixie when he’d spoken to the press the first night Mia disappeared. If they’d seen the news, she assumed Mr. Moon or Kevin would have noticed that.

“Was he?” Mr. Moon asked again.

Ellie shook her head. “According to Mia, the little girl’s father was dead.”

She saw the wheels turning in Kevin’s father’s head, and Ellie’s mind connected dots that might or might not be linked.

Jesse disappeared from her wedding to Kevin five years ago. Pixie was four years old.

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