She stopped and squeezed her eyes shut.
The silence stretched out.
“I’m very sorry,” Stride said. “That must have been a terrifying experience.”
Chelsey didn’t answer. She didn’t even nod.
“This may seem like an odd question,” he went on, “but your husband says that one of his hobbies is geocaching.”
Chelsey opened her eyes again with surprise. “Yes, that’s right.”
“He told me he often does this on Sunday mornings.”
“Yes.”
“Last Sunday, Gavin was seen in the woods near Fredenberg Lake. He told me he was geocaching.”
Chelsey looked puzzled. “So?”
“So that location was not far from where you were found,” Stride said. “Within a few hundred yards, in fact.”
Stride could see a shadow of horror form in Chelsey’s eyes. Her mind worked furiously, searching for explanations. And she couldn’t find any. Just like them.
“What are you saying...?” she began, but her words trailed off.
“Well, it’s a strange coincidence that we’re trying to explain,” Stride said. “Gavin mentioned a puzzle that an anonymous geocacher from one of his clubs had sent him. Did he talk to you about that? He claims this person directed him to Fredenberg Lake.”
“No. He never mentioned it.”
“He said the person’s email handle was Razrsharp. Does that mean anything to you?”
She shook her head. “No.”
In the quiet of the late-night hospital, Stride heard the ding of the elevator at the far end of the dark hallway. He suspected it meant Gavin was coming back from the cafeteria. Maggie heard it, too.
“Just one more question, Mrs. Webster,” she said, with a hint of urgency in her voice.
“What?”
“Does your husband own a gun?”
“Yes. Given the people he represents? I made sure he bought one.”
“Where does he keep it?”
“On the back of a shelf in our bedroom closet. Why?”
“When did you last see it?”
“I’m not sure. I think a couple of weeks ago when I was putting laundry away.” The shadow on her face now crept like a stain into Chelsey’s voice, and she repeated her previous demand. “Why is that important?”
“It may not be important at all,” Maggie said.
“Don’t lie to me,” Chelsey snapped. “Tell me the truth.”
They heard footsteps in the hallway, getting closer. Gavin was almost there.
“The man named Hink Miller,” Maggie went on quickly. “The client of your husband’s who may have been involved in the kidnapping. He was shot. And Gavin’s gun is missing.”
34
“Delaney, I will protect you in any way I can,” Serena told her, hoping it was a promise she could actually keep. “Tell me about the accident. Tell me what happened. You’ve been holding onto this secret for too long, and you need to let go of it.”
The teenager pulled her knees onto the sofa. She looked away from Serena and stared at the fireplace, twisting strands of her long dark hair around her fingers. Her eyes were far away, and her bright smile had gone missing again. She was young, but she looked even younger now.
“That Sunday, Mr. Larsen drove me home,” Delaney said, her voice low.
“This was after the camping trip?”
“Yes. I was feeling so good. Zach and I were in a really great place. I love — loved him. It was May, and school was going to be over soon, and I was thinking about me and him spending the summer together. Mr. Larsen was flirting with me like he usually did, but I tuned it out. He dropped me off at home, and then he left, and I went inside.”
Serena waited. Delaney bit her lip, not wanting to go on.
“You know how my mom could be, right?” the girl continued finally.
“She was drunk?” Serena murmured.
Delaney nodded. “Yeah, but this was worse than that. She was unconscious. It was late Sunday afternoon, and she was still in bed. I struggled to get her up at all. She was really, really out of it this time. When I finally got her up, I made her take a cold shower and have some coffee. That helped.”
Serena thought about this fifteen-year-old coming home from a camping trip and suddenly becoming the mother of the house again.
“Go on,” she said, as she watched Delaney hesitate.
“I asked her what had been going on while I was gone, and she didn’t know. She didn’t remember any of it. That happened a lot. She couldn’t tell me if she’d gone out drinking or stayed home or whether she was alone or with someone. She felt bad about it. She always felt bad. I could tell when she looked at me that she was ashamed that it had happened again.”
“And you told her it was fine,” Serena guessed.
“Sure, I did. It was fine. As long as one of us could take care of things, it was okay.”
Serena shook her head and spoke quietly. “No, it really wasn’t.”
Delaney looked ready to object, but she didn’t. “Anyway, I let Mom sober up for a while. When it was evening, we were starting to get hungry. She suggested we go to Big Daddy’s for a burger. I thought that sounded great, but I made her promise no bars, no drinking. She was good about not drinking when I was with her. She would never drive drunk if I was in the car.”
She said it as if this was a great accomplishment. A huge sacrifice.
“Your grandfather told me there were times when you had to pick your mom up yourself. You didn’t even have a driver’s license.”
Delaney shrugged. “Gramps taught me how to drive when I was thirteen. I knew what I was doing. And it was only a couple of times. Usually, if Mom had a problem, she could get somebody else to take her home.”
“Men?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t care about that.”
Serena held back because she didn’t want the teenager retreating into her shell again. “Tell me what happened next.”
Delaney was silent for a while. The girl’s face was pale, and she tugged at her long hair in quick, nervous gestures. They’d reached the crisis point. Serena reached out and took hold of her hand. “Tell me,” she repeated gently. “It’s okay.”
“We went out to the garage,” Delaney said, her voice stumbling on the words. “That’s when I saw it.”
“Saw what?”
“The damage.”
Serena felt her stomach lurch. She opened her mouth to say something, but she shut it again, letting Delaney find her own words. The girl looked as if she might cry, but then she closed her eyes and steadied herself.
“Mom owned a Highlander,” she finally went on. “It was red. She loved that truck.”
A red Toyota Highlander.
Just like that, a warning bell went off in Serena’s memory, but she didn’t remember the significance of the vehicle right away.
“When I opened the garage door, I saw that something had happened,” Delaney continued. “The front end was all damaged and dented. Broken headlight. The bumper practically falling off. Mom had been in an accident. I asked her what had happened, but she didn’t know. She didn’t remember anything. She couldn’t remember where she’d been or what she’d done. I knew this was trouble, so I closed the door right away to make sure no one would see anything if they drove by. And then I started running some searches on my phone.”