True Deceit (Blindsided Book 1) (28 page)

It felt strange walking down Main Street after all this time. Everything was familiar, and yet changed at the same time. The hairdresser was still where it had always been next to the grocery store, but the record shop where they’d all bought the latest music craze was gone, replaced with a garage workshop.

Finding the coffee shop exactly where it had always been, she went inside and took a booth at the back, ordering a coffee from the waitress who immediately appeared.

When he walked through the door exactly fifteen minutes later, she’d managed to re-group and was much more in control. She watched as he saw her, ordered a coffee at the counter then made his way over, sliding into the booth opposite her before speaking.

“So, you said you needed my help. What can I do for you?”

Kat searched his face for any sign that he was finding this as awkward as she, was but there was nothing. It was completely expressionless. He could have been sitting across the table from anybody. Well, that suited her; she was here for his help, not a trip down memory lane.

“Yes, I did.” She had intended to apologize, to try and explain, but it appeared there was no need. “I’ve got to find Jamie, one way or another, and I need your help to do it.”

The waitress picked that moment to come over with his coffee, cutting off his reply, and she was surprised at the stab of jealousy she felt when he winked at her as he said, “Thanks.”

“Friend of yours?” she asked after she’d left, before she could stop the sarcastic remark slipping off her tongue.

He raised his eyebrows, looking amused. “You do know that the entire police department has been looking for her since she disappeared, don’t you? We haven’t given up.”

“I know, and I’m truly grateful for all the efforts that have been put in. It’s just that it’s become a bit more imperative that we find out once and for all what happened to her.” She went on to explain about the will. “So, you see why I need to find her.”

“I’m still confused. What do you think you can do that we haven’t?”

She sighed and, wrapping her hands around her cup, decided to just be honest. “I don’t know, I really don’t. But I do know I have to try. I was a lousy sister, and I’ve been a lousy aunt. I owe them this.”

“Okay. I get that.” He nodded “But I still don’t know where I fit in.”

“You have the contacts. I’ve been gone for twenty years and I don’t know people around here anymore. And you were here when she disappeared, and afterwards. You’ll be able to give me a lot more than I’ll get just looking at the paperwork, presuming the chief will even let me see it.”

He was quiet for a long time, just sipping his coffee, before he finally looked up and met her eyes. “Okay, I’ll help. But just to be clear, I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do and I’ve always thought there was something odd about the way she vanished.” He drained his cup. “I’ll go and clear it with the chief. I’ve been pushing to look at the case again so, I’m sure he’ll agree if only to shut me up. I’ll meet you back here tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. sharp. Don’t be late.” And without another word, he stood up and left, without looking back.

She spent what was left of the afternoon at the lawyer’s office signing all the papers, effectively giving her control of the business and the family assets with immediate effect. She hadn’t anticipated this when she’d come back, and the responsibility weighed heavily on her as she got in her car to drive home.

It was dusk when she finally turned the rental car onto the drive leading up to the house. It still felt strange, despite having been back a couple of days now, driving up to the house again. She been born here, had grown up here with her sister, and this was the last place that she’d ever seen her parents. And would now be the last place she’d ever seen her sister.

After she’d left, her sister had told her that her parents had completely cut her out of their will so, when they’d died, the house and the business had passed to her, though the running of it was left to her husband. Kat had had no issue with that. This house, this town, held only bad memories for her and she’d wanted no part of it.

As a trustee of the estate now though, she had a legal responsibility to look after it and the business until Jamie was found.
The sooner you find her, the sooner you can pack up and get out of here,
she thought to herself as she pulled her car to a stop outside the front door.

Letting herself in, she could hear Jake and Carrie arguing in the living room through the closed door. Since she’d arrived, that’s all they’d done.
They certainly didn’t seem to like each other very much for a couple that were only recently married,
she thought to herself.

Not sure she was feeling up to getting caught in the middle of an argument, she debated going straight upstairs to her room and leaving them to it, but she couldn’t. She had a feeling that Jake could probably use her support. As she went to open the living room door, it was flung open and Carrie stormed out, nearly knocking her over.

Concerned, Kat poked her head around the door. “Everything okay?” Jake stood by the fire with his hands in his pockets, looking thoroughly miserable.

“Yeah. She’s just a bit highly-strung.” He shrugged and looked at her apologetically.

That’s not quite how I would describe her,
she thought, but kept it to herself, instead saying, “How are you coping?”

He sighed. “I’m okay, I guess. What hurts the most is that we didn’t find Jamie before they died.” He looked over at her, and Kat could see he was tormented. “You know that Dad and I never really got along, but even so I wouldn’t have wished this on anyone.”

Going to him, she placed her hand on his arm. “I know that. And I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner. I should have. I’ll never forgive myself for that.” She felt tears fill her eyes and then spill down her cheeks.

Jake took a step towards her and pulled her to him in a bear hug and she allowed herself to cry. “You’re here now, that’s all that matters.”

Reluctantly pulling away, she wiped her eyes. She reminded herself that she had a job to do. “Well, we can’t give up. We can still bring her home.” Turning, she walked to the couch and sat down, indicating that he should do the same. “I spoke to a friend of mine in town today, and he’s going to help me look.” She saw the doubtful expression on his face, but before he could say anything she held up her hand. “I know, I know, the police have already looked. But they might have missed something.”

He still didn’t look convinced. “Aunt Kat, they spent months looking for her, I doubt you’ll be able to find her, much as I’d like to think you could.”

Kat refused to consider failure as an option, so she wasn’t about to let Jake see that she had exactly the same doubts. Smiling brightly, she told him, “The difference between us and the police is that we’re much more motivated.” Reaching for a glass decanter and matching glasses that sat on the coffee table, she poured them both a drink. “So, tell me everything you can remember about that day, however unimportant you think it is.”

He hated lying to Kat, but he couldn’t tell her everything. The police had never found out about Jamie’s visit to Carrie and that they’d had a fight and she’d left there very upset. They’d decided there was no need to tell them, it wasn’t relevant to her disappearance. He’d wanted to initially, but Carrie had convinced him that opening that particular door would have led to increased scrutiny and he couldn’t risk them finding out about Ted. It was yet another thing that just the two of them were aware of, and it had to stay that way.

Recounting the events of the day now, though, brought it all back. When Jamie had first vanished, he’d thought that she’d simply run off for a few days, upset by what she’d found out. But when she’d failed to return, he hadn’t known what to think.

As the days turned to weeks, and then months, and he saw what it was doing to his parents, he was ashamed. Ashamed of how badly he’d treated them. Watching their pain, and feeling his own, they’d developed a new closeness, one that had never been there before.

Rather than fade with time, what he had done to Ted increasingly preyed on his mind and the knowledge that it was all due to his greed made him sick.

Twenty

Slamming the bedroom door behind her after storming out of the living room and going upstairs, Carrie threw herself on their bed. She was furious. She had worked so damned hard to get here and now it could all be snatched away from her! And Jake couldn’t understand what she was so upset about. He didn’t seem remotely bothered that he couldn’t claim his inheritance until his damned sister showed up. She tried to make herself breathe slowly while she stared at the ceiling, hoping it would help her calm down.

His parents had taken a lot of convincing when he’d told them that they wanted to get married. They didn’t like her, but it was the fact that they wanted to go ahead even though Jamie was missing that they’d seemed to find so offensive.

She’d wanted to get that ring on her finger as soon as she could, though, so she’d pushed Jake continuously, until he’d agreed that they would go ahead with or without his parents’ permission. What choice did he have? He knew that she could, and would, have told the police about his involvement in Ted’s death if he didn’t. Luckily, the mere threat that they would go ahead anyway had been enough to get them to agree. So, six months after Jamie’s disappearance, they’d finally tied the knot.

She had to admit, she’d expected to be in for a much longer wait before she saw the benefit of marrying him but his parents getting killed like that had been a stroke of luck. Jake was devastated, of course, and she was playing the part of the bereaved daughter-in-law, but secretly she was elated. At last, she was lady of the manor. People would have to look up to her now, show her the proper respect.

But now everything was spoiled. It could be years before she got her hands on any money.

They’d just had another argument about it. He’d changed since Jamie had gone. She’d thought he had more backbone, wanted the same things she did, but he was soft, kept whining about how much he missed his sister. It was all she could do to stop herself blurting out the truth, that his precious sister was gone for good. But she knew that even Jake wouldn’t let that slide, even though he’d end up in prison himself for what he had done to Ted.

She’d known what she needed to do as soon as the will had been read. Jamie needed to be found. D
ead
or alive.

Twenty-One

Letting himself into his house on the outskirts of town, he slammed the front door harder than he should have, making a picture fall off the wall and smash on the floor. Cursing, he picked it up and carried it to the kitchen, dumping it in the kitchen sink. He was angry at himself. And her. How dare she just waltz back into town and then act as if nothing had happened? And more to the point, how the hell had he just let her?

He’d known it was her standing outside the station the moment he’d spotted her. He hadn’t known whether she would come back for her sister’s funeral as she’d missed her own parents, but it had always been a possibility.

She was still stunning, even after all these years. She’d always been slim and he could see that she’d kept her figure and she still kept her gorgeous, dark hair long, hanging half way down her back.

The anger he still felt towards her had surprised him. It had been years since she’d so unceremoniously walked out of his life and he’d thought that he’d forgiven her, if not forgotten. It had taken a bit of time, but he’d moved on and met someone else. They were long divorced now but he’d believed that that episode of his life had been firmly left in the past.

Sitting across from her in the coffee shop, he’d wanted to demand answers, but he had his pride so he’d kept quiet. Being close to her again was going to be hard but he’d committed to helping her now and he would be true to his word. Besides, what he’d told her had been true. He had always thought there was something odd about Jamie’s disappearance, coming so soon as it did after the murder of her fiancé.

The whole department had been involved in the search, but no trace of her had ever been found. Her abandoned car had been forensically examined, but it had revealed nothing.

Deciding that he needed to work off some of this frustration, he went upstairs and changed into a pair of dark blue overalls before heading out to the garage. As always, he got a thrill when he switched on the bright overhead lights that revealed his pride and joy: a sea green, 1967 Pontiac GTO.

He’d discovered it abandoned in a barn during a case a few years before. When he’d contacted the owner of the barn, he’d been happy to sell it to him for a few hundred dollars. When he’d bought it, it had been hardly more than a shell, but over the past few years he had been painstakingly restoring it to its former glory. He’d found that when he was working on it he was able to focus entirely and put all other thoughts from his mind. He needed that oblivion now so, after switching the radio on to the local country and western channel, he closed the door and got to work.

Twenty-Two

She’d pretended to be asleep that morning when Jake left, not at all in the mood to deal with him. Once she was sure he was gone, she’d jumped out of bed wanting to get an early start. She needed to dress appropriately for what she had planned so she threw on an old pair of blue jeans, a plain navy blue t-shirt, and some hiking boots.

Avoiding Kat, she headed downstairs and straight out the front door without even stopping for breakfast. There was a gas station on the way out of town, she would stop there and grab a coffee. Apart from anything else, the task ahead was likely to be quite gruesome and she thought it would probably be best tackled on an empty stomach.

She’d left her deep in the woods, in the middle of nowhere, so no one was likely to just stumble upon her bones. Even she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to remember exactly where. She’d better remember though, and quick; she had no intention of waiting any longer than she had to for what was rightfully hers.

After grabbing a coffee, it took her nearly an hour of driving around until she spotted a familiar dirt track. She followed it as far as she could in her car and then stopped when she could go no further.