She lost her marriage. Much deserved.
She should have lost her license.
Maybe it wasn’t too late. Everything I’d read suggested I could file an ethics complaint. But that wasn’t enough. She needed to be exposed and forced to confess. Let her flame out on a public stage where everyone could see and hear and judge her, for a change.
Buckle in, dear cousin. It’s your turn to have every secret unveiled. Every lie uncovered. Every horror you missed spelled out for all to see while the town debates your competency.
I’d been waiting for this takedown. This was a two-for-one deal.
Stella, Lukas? Welcome to the nightmare.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Hanna
I’d slept on the couch since Jeremy disappeared. I’d get up thinking about him. Spend all day searching, mentally going over every minute of the night I lost Jeremy and worrying about him. The sun would go down and intense panic about him not being safe and warm kept me walking the floor like I used to do when he was a colicky baby.
His face swam in front of me. An echoing phantom scream rang in my ears every time I remembered his voice. I even thought about him, about how I’d rather be anywhere else, during the frustrating back-and-forth, no-progress-made discussion with the insurance adjuster.
The man droned on about arson concerns and how desperate businesspeople sometimes intentionally set fires. To his credit, he didn’t overtly blame me. He danced around thewe think you torched your businessallegations with the skill of someone accustomed to universally denying claims based on nothing more than gut instinct and office procedure.
I watched television, too. Some people made bad decisions when bills came due and the bank balance hit a negative number. I grew up that way. I got it, but the adjuster skipped over the reality about my business being on solid financial ground. I couldn’t make those claims during most of my life but, thanks to a spike in tourist traffic and a local interest in Daniela’s cooking, I could pay my debts on time right now. Xavier’s asset distribution and the fee I’d collect for administering the trust assured my financial future. Even the police conceded that.
My desperation came from needing to hear Jeremy’s voice and see his face. My lawyer insisted I shouldn’t panic about the delay in finding him.Jeremy’s a strong boy. As if that insulated him from violence.
The attorney also thought that members of law enforcement crawling all over my life and Xavier’s property were good things. Forget how the entire town had stopped thinking about Halloween parties to focus on dissecting my life choices and betting on how long until Jeremy forgave me enough to call home.
When it started raining earlier, pounding down in waves from a milky-gray sky, I welcomed the rush of air and water. If my life needed some sort of cleanse to get it back on track, let it pour.
After my daily check-in with Daniela’s niece and a hospital visit to sit by Daniela’s side, I landed at police headquarters for another bleak round offind my son. I sat in a chair, waiting. Waiting and worrying had become my daily activities. I tried to push the panic away and concentrate on how smart Jeremy was. How I’d know if he wasn’t okay.
“Hanna?”
I started to stand up until I realized Cam was the one whostood over me. Not the police officer I wanted to see. A thought hit me out of nowhere. “They didn’t bring Marni in again, did they?”
“No.” He sighed as he sat down next to me. “She answered their questions. For now.”
Clipped with a touch of anger. That summarized his tone on a good day. It fit here, too. The man didn’t know another speed. He’d been locked onorneryfor as long as I’d known him. The idea of him caring about Marni, protecting her... Yeah, that didn’t fit with my view of him at all.
“The police and FBI are at Xavier’s house, setting up ground-penetrating radar,” I said.
I thought about the equipment they unloaded in the mist and fog this morning. Black with handles. The bulky thing looked like an odd lawn mower. The wheels stuck in the mud surrounding the former wildflower garden.
Patrick’s impromptu resting place had been roped off and the stone path had been removed. The plants had been leveled. That patch of garden amounted to a mound of tilled and piled earth, but they planned to check it all. Every inch of every acre.
I’d watched them out of the guest bedroom window. A room two doors down from the massive primary bedroom with its attached sitting room and fireplace. I refused to sleep in Xavier’s room. Those days were long over.
When I wasn’t pacing, I spent the nights calling Jeremy’s phone and searching online, for what, I didn’t know. Hours would tick by, then the sun would clear the horizon and bathe the acres of hills and dips in deep orange. The shock of color that brought a hint of hope.
Xavier must have been the one to bury Patrick in the yard.From here, Xavier could watch over his son and miss what could have been. That daily reminder of pain and loss explained so much about who Xavier was and how he treated other people.
“They’re hoping to finally find the rest of the family, or at least evidence of where the bodies could be. It makes sense since Patrick was buried there,” Cam said.
Nothing relating to the Tanners made sense, but sure. Cam knew all about law enforcement’s comings and goings. The lack of a badge didn’t limit his inside knowledge.
“Why are you here?” I asked even though I barely cared.
“I’ve been helping out.” He frowned as he watched two teen boys walk by.
