Jo sat forward, and Cole dropped his arm. He wasn’t entirely sure this was the best way for Jo to learn everything, but it wasn’t his place to stand in the way. And they needed answers.
“I was project manager, and I repeatedly tried to tell Troy we had issues. Big issues. But he refused to listen. Myrna ... she should never have told Helen, but she thought maybe Helen could talk sense into her husband. But NASA was already threatening to use other contractors, and Troy didn’t want to lose his company. Not tomention destroy an entire town, should Resonant lose the NASA contract.”
“That’s a lot of pressure,” Cole said. “On all of you.”
“Myrna knew that Helen was going to confront him. Then ... she went missing.”
“And you suspected that he killed her over the information?”
“I didn’t suspect it. I knew. I confronted him.” Ransom got up and paced, the anger and incredulity pouring from him.
Next to Cole, Jo shivered. “Maybe this isn’t the best time to talk,” Cole said.
“I want to hear everything,” Jo said. “I need to know why my mother is dead.”
“I confronted him about Helen, and he said it was an accident. He wouldn’t want Myrna to have an accident either, which was his way of threatening her. And just like that, I knew that I couldn’t win. Troy Martin had friends. His brother was police chief.”
“But you could have gone over his head. Directly to NASA.”
“I had already tried. You have no idea the bureaucracy and red tape involved when you’re talking so many contractors, so many people under pressure to perform or else the government will snatch away the funds—billions of dollars. What was my life worth? Or Myrna’s, if even his own wife’s life held no value to him? So we made a decision. Myrna and I. Mason had been the one to document everything, and he simply handed it over to me and kept his head down. Myrna and I had to disappear. Just fall off the face of the earth. We knew that Troy would find a way to make each of us accidentally disappear if we remained.”
Ransom looked at Jo with tears in his eyes. “So we did. Weeach left in a manner that wouldn’t leave friends questioning our disappearance, like Helen’s. But Mason remained working for Resonant, even after it became Gemini, for a few more years, believing himself safe. Considering he was targeted and murdered, I believe he must have started to doubt his safety, even years later. Maybe he was pressured into tracking Myrna down. Why else would he end up in Michigan? I’m theorizing, of course.
“Regardless, I never saw her again. Still, I secretly kept up with her. I knew that she’d gone to Michigan and that she met and married Dale Cattrel, and I guess pretty quickly, to cover up that she was already pregnant. I didn’t know she was pregnant, and maybe she didn’t either when we parted ways. Marrying Dale also meant she would have a new name and a new life. She was scared and wanted to protect you. I didn’t know about you, Jo. Until that day at the funeral, and then I was afraid that even being there, I had caused trouble. I know now that her death wasn’t an accident. She was killed to draw me out. But at first, after I found you, I thought I could keep you safe here in Hidden Bay.”
“And the bomb?” Cole asked.
“I got a call from Troy’s hitman, warning me just how close he could get to you. Troy wanted me, and he was using you to get to me. I’m so sorry, Jo. I had hoped that I had left the area before anything could happen to you. Two weeks ago, I thought I’d seen Troy driving through town. I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it, but I figured that eventually he would find me. That’s when I had lunch with Jim Jordan at AT and learned that he had sold me out. Six months ago, he’d brought his grandkids out to Cedar Trails to see the rocky beaches, and his car had trouble. He brought it to the shop and recognized me. I asked him not to share my location with anyone.But who was I kidding? There was no going back from that. He didn’t last six months before giving me up. Jim claimed Troy said he just wanted to reconnect with his ‘old friend,’ but Jim knew I’d left under the worst kind of circumstances. Troy needed to make sure everyone he considered a loose thread was dead. I was the last one he needed to silence.”
“Why didn’t you tell me everything? You could have told me.”
“No, I couldn’t. If I could have somehow persisted and found the right person to listen, though, thoseLibertyastronauts might still be alive today.” Ransom paced again. “The truth will come out now. Finally.”
“But wait,” Jo said. “Didn’t you give Troy the space shuttle with a flash drive in it?”
“I gave him a space shuttle with an empty drive. Are you kidding? The power has always been in the solid rocket boosters.” Ransom held up the model rocket booster he pulled from his pocket. “I’ve already uploaded everything, and even now, Senator Goodman, a ranking member of the United States House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, is reviewing the data. The senator’s niece died on theLiberty.”
“But what about you, Pop?” Jo stood and moved to him. Wrapped her arms around him. “I don’t want to lose you. What if you get in trouble for withholding this information?”
“We’ll see where the dominoes fall. As far as I’m concerned, I did the right thing at the time—I saved your mother’s life. Your life. I don’t know how he finally found her, and then Mason. But he’s going away for a long time. That’s all I care about. That, and for you to live a full life. Get married. Have a family of your own, free of this hidden burden.”
A knock came at the door and Remi opened it. Detective Sanders entered, along with Hawk, followed by WSP Detective Hargrove.
“It’s time for me to go,” Ransom said. “I love you, Jo. I’ll be in touch soon.”
43
A month later, Jo stood on the beach during low tide and looked up at a calm night sky. Next time she might drag Pop’s telescope out here, and she hoped he could join her when he returned from the congressional hearings. In this low-light place on the wilderness coast, she could see the stars so clearly. Even the Milky Way.
A rarity, really, but they were fast approaching the end of the rainy season, and tonight she wanted to walk the beach and look up at the stars.
Space.
Pop had been involved in space travel in the early years. She blinked back the sudden tears. He was busy answering questions back in DC, and this whole situation reminded her of Cole, when he left to answer questions. But the difference was her father was emailing and texting and talking to her daily to let her know how it was going. He was staying in touch. She’d forgiven him for his disappearing act. She thought she might also have forgiven Cole for his disappearing act because he’d come back and given her an explanation.
He’d come back so he could end her reason for hiding.
So, now that she’d hired a company to clean up what remained of Spruce Hollow, Jo had a decision to make. Was she staying here, in the place she’d chosen to hide? Or, with her newfound freedom, did she want to travel or move somewhere else? She didn’t have to look over her shoulder anymore.
