He leaned forward, elbows on knees, his gaze locked to hers. She wanted to look away, but she couldn’t. He spoke softly, but his words held an intensity that had her leaning toward him. “The police chief was under a lot of pressure to solve the case. All of us were. I’m not saying that to excuse what was done, only to try to help you see what was going on behind the scenes. We didn’t have anything to go on. No suspects. Then we had Gary. He fit the profile. He had been seen with Rachel. The sheriff thought if we questioned him long enough, he would crack.”
“You mean, he would confess.”
“Yes. But he never did.”
“Because he wasn’t guilty!” She clenched her fists.
He reached out and put a hand over hers. “I see that now,” he said. “I didn’t see it then. I’m sorry.”
She stared at his hand, the feeling of its weight and warmth so familiar. She told herself she should pull away, but she couldn’t.
“I’m sorry this has hurt you so much,” he said.
Was thatpityin his voice? The idea repelled her. She pushed away. “We didn’t leave Vermont because we were running away,” she said. “We left because we didn’t have a choice. Not if we wanted to have any kind of life. I tried so hard to find anyone else who might have killed Rachel. There were rumors of some guy living in the woods near the camp, but by the time the police looked for him, he was gone. I tried to find him. I even hired a private detective, but he couldn’t find anything.”
“We weren’t even sure there was a guy in the woods,” Aaron said. “It sounded like the kind of story that kids make up to scare themselves around the campfire.”
“Did you even look for him?” She couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice.
“We did,” he said. “I personally spent half a day out there, searching for some sign of a camp. But there wasn’t anything.”
“Until they find who really killed Rachel, Gary will always have that hanging over his head,” she said. “Every true crime podcast that rehashes the case mentions him.”
“Unfortunately, some cases are never solved,” he said. “Especially when there’s so little evidence, as in Rachel’s case. I’m sorry.”
Did she believe him? What difference did it make if she did?
“I’m afraid it will be the same thing all over again if Olivia isn’t found safe,” she said. “Did they really find her blood?”
He straightened, and pulled his hand away. “I can’t say.”
“I think that probably means yes.”
“We’re doing everything we can to find her,” he said. “That’s the most important thing right now. If she’s alive, she can tell us herself what happened.”
“And if she’s not alive?”
“Then maybe she’ll still tell us what happened, through the evidence at the scene.”
She nodded, and bowed her head, suddenly so exhausted.
“Why Willa Reynolds?” he asked. “Your new name, I mean? Why did you choose that one?”
“Oh.” She took a deep breath, trying to pull herself together. “Willa was my mom’s name. Reynolds was my dad’s middle name. It seemed a good way to still remember them, but it’s the kind of thing it would be harder for a random person on the internet to figure out. At least, I hoped so.” She sighed. “Gary didn’t want to change his name at all, but I persuaded him to go by Gary instead of Gareth, and he agreed to Reynolds because at least it was still connected to our dad.”
“And Eagle Mountain? How did you end up here?”
“I could get a job here,” she said. “I answered an ad I found in a nursing publication. And it was a long way from Vermont, but it had mountains.”
“Still, it seems like a big coincidence, both of us ending up here.”
“The name of the town in the ad caught my attention,” she said. “I didn’t remember until later that Bethany had moved here and you raved about how beautiful it was. I guess the name stuck in my head. But I didn’t knowyouwere going to move here.” She stood. “I should go.”
He rose also, and moved toward her. She thought at first he was going to pull her to him, and she flinched. She didn’t trust herself in his arms. She was too aware of him—the scent of him, the memory of his touch. He wasn’t good for her, but her body wasn’t paying any attention to that knowledge. Every part of her ached for him and she didn’t know, right now, if she was strong enough to resist him. “I can help you look for Gary,” he said.
She shook her head and pulled out her phone, and saw to her surprise that she had a new text message. She opened it.I’m home,Gary had texted.
“Gary’s home,” she said, shaky with relief.
