“Jules Faber, I’m Sheriff Hayes, and this is Deputy Russell. We need to ask you a few questions.”
She rounded her car. “What’s this in regards to?”
“Addison March.”
Jules’s eyes widened, panic suddenly taking the place of every other emotion. “Is she okay?”
“Before we disclose anything, we need to ask you some questions. We can do that inside your house or down at the station.”
The station? Fuck that. They didn’t have time. Every minute—hell, everysecond—mattered.
“Where is she?” Noah growled.
Jesse turned. “Noah—”
“I know you’re her birth mother. And I know you’re somehow involved in everything that’s happened to her.”
Tears formed in the older woman’s eyes, her mouth opening and closing. “You know?”
“Jules—”
“Wait.” She stepped forward, cutting him off. “What do you mean, where is she? Is Addie missing?”
“Miss Faber,please,” Jesse pushed.
She swallowed before nodding quickly. “Okay. I’ll tell you everything, but I have to say, I don’t know where she is right now or what’s going on.” Jules crossed to her front door and stepped into her house.
Noah was the last in. He’d barely stepped foot inside the living room before he demanded, “What’s going on, Jules?”
The older woman lowered her grocery bags to the counter and visibly took a breath before turning. “I can tell you what I’m doing here, but I’m not sure where Addie is. I would never hurt her. Because, yes…she’s my daughter. Or at least, my biological daughter.” She shook her head and frowned. “I’ve, um, struggled with my mental health for most of my life. When Addie was born, it was the worst it had ever been. Pregnancy hormones and everything. So much so that I…I had to make the difficult decision to give her up for adoption.”
Tears welled in Jules’s eyes, but she blinked them back before continuing.
“Two years ago, I was diagnosed with brain cancer. That’s when I started searching for her. I knew I had to find her before I died. I needed to at least meet her and confirm that I made the right decision in giving her up. I found someone who was good at locating people and they did exactly that. I didn’t know how to approach her…but then, I saw the ad for a food vendor at the park. It had her name on it. So I applied.”
She lifted a shoulder, like that was it. That was the end of the story.
No. That told themnothingabout what was going on. There was more. There had to be more.
“Does anyone know you’re here?” Jesse asked. “Would anyone have an issue with you being here?”
“I don’t have many people in my life. Well, except my therapist. But in the eighteen months I’ve been seeing him, he’s become more like family.”
Noah’s brows flickered. “Who’s your therapist?”
Jules’s smile softened. “You’ve met him. I encouraged him to come down from Billings and check out the park. He liked it so much, he decided to stay and set up an office here. Tobias Thacker.”
Something hard formed in Noah’s gut. “Toby?He’syour therapist?”
“Yes. He’s wonderful. We’ve grown close over the past year or so, and honestly, I have nothing but wonderful things to say about him.”
“I was seeing him for a while too,” Noah said to Jesse. “I felt like he was pushing for me to break up with Addie.” Did that have something to do with all of this?
Jesse looked back at Jules. “You said you’ve become close with him. So he knows you have no friends or family. He also knows you have brain cancer. And when you told him that youhad a daughter you wanted to reconnect with, he came down here too.”
Jules frowned. “Yes. I told you, we’ve basically become family. What are you getting at?”
The deputy’s phone rang, and she stepped outside to answer it.
