Page 96 of The Girl in the River

And she hadn’t even known it. Hadn’t been able to say goodbye.

Tears clogged her throat. The night she’d called Jo-Jo for help flashed back.

Patty had come to her. “You have to see what the Moons are doing,” she’d said urgently. “Someone has to stop them.”

She and Patty snuck up to their warehouse, hid in the shadows, and snapped pictures. Those mean boys of Ronnie’s were guarding the place with shotguns. She and Patty waited in the woods until the men dipped into the moonshine and passed out.

Or at least they thought they had. They started toward the warehouse but suddenly one of the brothers stirred and attacked. Patty screamed and Jesse searched for something to use as a weapon. But the other one grabbed her and put her in a chokehold. Sweat from his shirt soaked her back. His heavy breathing bathed her neck. He smelled like corn liquor and cigarettes, nauseating her.

She cried and screamed in horror as the other one beat Patty until she went limp.

“No, stop…” Terror filled her as they stuffed Patty into a barrel…

Mia rubbed her eyelids to blot out the memory. Watching Patty being murdered had been terrifying. She’d thought about the baby she was carrying, the one she hadn’t told Kevin about.

Paralyzed with fear, she’d known she had to run when she got the chance.

The loss of her parents when she was young had sent her to Red River Rock. She’d lost her grandmother. Lost Jo-Jo. Tori.

And now, Pixie… she couldn’t lose her precious child. Not to the Moons. Pixie could not grow up with those monsters.

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-NINE

CROOKED CREEK

Kevin left Jesse on the boat alone to stew over the fact that he’d found his daughter. After deserting him, it was fitting that she should suffer and face her worst fears in the place that terrified her most.

He cleaned up, then drove to Crooked Creek and parked near the drive by Emily Nettles’ house, his nerves on edge as impatience set in. Emily and the kids were home. She’d sent them to the backyard to play while she whipped up an early dinner. Her husband came in and kissed her, and she looked at him in adoration.

The Nettles were the perfect American family.

But his daughter was not one of them and never would be. She washis.

And he would love her to the moon and back. Laughter bubbled in his chest at his own witticism.

The family finished burgers which the saintly husband had grilled and then cleaned up, and the man, the boys and the little redhead went for a bike ride. Emily took Pixie’s hand and they walked out to the van and got in.

Kevin’s heart stuttered. Maybe he should take his daughter now. Emily… She would be collateral damage.

But then he thought of her other kids and the little redhead with the freckles. He couldn’t do that to them. She looked like a good mother, the kind he wished he’d had as a kid. One that took him places and laughed with him and made apple pie and didn’t mind if you played in the mud.

Besides, it wasn’t like he was a monster.

Making sure she didn’t see him following her, he stayed two cars back as they drove for a couple of miles until they reached the park. He pulled into a space a few rows behind her beneath a shade tree her, then trailed her, maintaining a safe distance and glancing at his phone pretending to be in conversation.

The park was fairly empty this evening. He paused at a bench, watching as a man approached Emily and the little girl.

The child – his daughter – lit up with a smile, then squealed and ran to the man. Hot rage heated his blood as the man scooped her up, hugged her and swung her around.

A litany of ugly words raced through his head. It was Mark Wade.

And the bastard was holdinghisdaughter.

ONE HUNDRED THIRTY

RED RIVER ROCK

Ellie and Derrick asked the waitress and a few patrons at Moondoggy’s about the warehouse but if they knew its location, they weren’t saying. She spotted one of Ronnie’s sons, the one they called Chester, speak to the bartender, then he disappeared out back.

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