Page 92 of The Girl in the River

Pixie nodded and brushed at her eyes as Ms. Emily made the call.

“Do you want to meet up at the park and have a visit with Pixie?”

Pixie held her breath. Mommy was gone. Did Mr. Mark not want to see her? Didn’t he want to be her daddy anymore?

“Okay, see you in half an hour,” Ms. Emily said. She hung up and stroked Pixie’s hair. “Mr. Mark is meeting us at the park, Pixie. He loves you and misses you and your mommy.”

Pixie bobbed her head up and down but she couldn’t talk for the tears in her throat and the snot running down her nose. Maybe Mr. Mark would tell her when Mommy would be back and why she’d left them at the wedding.

Or maybe he’d know where to find her and they could go look for her together.

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE

RED RIVER ROCK

Ellie had no intention of leaving the investigation in the hands of Sheriff Kincaid.

Bryce called as Ellie and Derrick got in the car, and she put him on speaker. “I checked with the prison where Chuck Lasso was incarcerated. Confirmed that his sister never visited him. Warden said the guy insisted he’d been railroaded into jail on trumped up charges. Was assigned a court-appointed attorney who encouraged him to accept a plea. Judge’s name was Kotter.”

“Where was he tried?” Ellie asked.

“Red River Rock,” Bryce said. “And get this. He was arrested a week before his sister was murdered.”

“So he didn’t kill her, but his arrest could have been connected.”

“If the judge knows Kincaid, he could be in the sheriff’s pocket,” Ellie suggested.

“It’s possible, I guess. One more thing,” Bryce said. “I looked into Jesse’s finances and Mia’s accounts. She earned a modest salary with no heavy debt. Lived within her means and had a little savings but not enough to indicate she’d stolen money from Kevin Moon.” He paused for a beat. “Melvin Kramer at the bank told me she has a safety deposit box there. He has no idea what’s inside, but under the circumstances thought we should know.”

Ellie’s pulse jumped. “It may contain something important like her will or… something about her past that can help us.” She rubbed at her shoulder which was throbbing. “Go by her house and see if you can find the key. And bring a warrant for us to open it.”

“Copy that. I’ll call a judge on the way.”

She thanked him and hung up and spoke to Derrick. “Let’s talk to Kevin Moon again. Push him and see what he knows about Patty and her brother.”

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR

SOMEWHERE ON THE RIVER

Mia looked out the cabin window again and saw the monsters chasing her. They bobbed up and down in the water, eyes peering back at her, tongues slithering in and out. Gray storm clouds gathered above, a rumble of thunder making her flinch. Lightning highlighted the sky in the distance.

It was storming the night her parents died.

“What happened to them, Grammy?” she’d asked dozens of times. “Why were they running?”

“Don’t go asking questions,” Grammy said. “They’re gone and nothing good can come of you poking around.”

But Mia couldn’t let it go. By the time she’d reached her twenties and once her grandmother was gone, she’d had to know. Even Jo-Jo pleaded with her. “Please, Mia. I can’t lose you, too.”

Mia had grown angry at her sister then. “Do you know what happened?”

Jo-Jo looked down at her knotted hands. “Don’t you remember what Grammy said when we first came to live with her? It’s dangerous to ask questions.”

They were keeping secrets from her and the questions constantly nagged at her. But she wasn’t a child anymore. So she’d driven to Red River Rock, looking for answers.

Then Patty… The week before the wedding. Patty had been nervous. Had suggested they go to the police with her suspicions… Two nights before the wedding came Patty’s frantic call. “I’m scared, Jess. Meet me at the docks….”

And she had.

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