“So are you real Jared or fake Jared?” I ask as I slide into a chair after Gabriel finishes up the preliminaries for the interview with Nadine’s fake brother.
“My name really is Jared. I know Nadine’s real brother’s name is Jared too,” he responds. “She always said I was the better Jared.”
“You introduced yourself as Nadine’s brother,” Gabriel points out.
“Nadine and I grew up together,” he says, and I know from looking into him that this is indeed true. They lived on the same street as each other growing up. “She…” He rubs his face. “She’s like a sister to me. She really is. I can’t believe… fuck.” He’s having a hard time looking up, and I can tell he’s close to tears. His reactions seem genuine. “She didn’t get along with her mother, so she moved in with my family and started calling me her brother back in high school. There’s nothing more to it. I should never have said I was her brother but… I never imagined something like this would happen.”
“I understand,” Gabriel says softly. “Can you tell us if you saw anyone hanging around her room that you didn’t know? Did anyone try to visit her?”
“No. It was just me the whole time. No one else ever came in besides nurses and doctors.”
Gabriel slides a picture of Richard across to him. “Do you recognize this man?”
“I don’t… I don’t think so. I’m so sorry I can’t help.”
“It’s not your fault,” Gabriel says. He asks him some more questions, but I’m already bored of the man. I don’t think he has anything more to add to it.
Jared sighs. “If you need me, I won’t be far. I haven’t decided if I’m staying until they release her body for the funeral or what. No one else is going to plan one for her. I was all she had. Her family can burn in hell for all I care. Nadine wasn’t the best teenager. She got in a lot of trouble, but instead of helping her, Nadine’s mother just wanted to write her out of the family and start over with a new kid. Easier to replace her than fix her, kind of thing,” he says as his eyes lock onto Gabriel’s. “Please… find who did this. She didn’t deserve this.”
After we finish up and Jared leaves, I lean back in my chair and close my eyes.
“I’m afraid he was telling the truth,” Gabriel says. “What do you think?”
“I agree. Why would he fly here after she was hurt to join in on some massacre of a woman he kept in constant contact with? They messaged each other nearly every day.”
Gabriel grows quiet, so I open my eyes and look over at him as he stares at the chair where Jared had sat.
“You’re really upset over this one,” I observe.
“It’s kind of foolish, isn’t it? I need to separate my emotions from the job… but I just… when I realized she was still alive, I was so happy we’d saved someone. And now… it’s led to this.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, not quite understanding but also aware that when someone hurts, comforting words should be spoken. I don’t want my Gabriel to ever hurt.
TWENTY
Liam
Jesse stares at the trunk where I already have a spade shovel and a flat shovel waiting along with some other tools. It’s set to snow at least three inches tonight and even more tomorrow, Christmas Eve, which means two things: the ground is going to be a fucking nightmare to dig into, and we’ll at least have snow to cover what we’ve done.
“What happens when we somehow connect this to Whitaker and we need to dig up his grave but someone else has already dug it up?” Jesse asks.
“Simple. We blame it on Donna,” I say before I get into the car.
Jesse sighs as he adds his shovel and gets into the back seat. “Mr. Smartass, I’m being serious.”
“We have frigid weather for the next two weeks. The snow won’t have melted. If we can figure it out within the next two weeks, they’ll dig up the grave with the snow on top. They’ll never see what we’ve done.”
“What about the casket we’ll have busted into?” he asks as I start driving.
“We’ll just pretend like we have no idea who did that. The serial killer must have… unless he’s in it. Then maybe he was trying to get out.”
Gabriel is giving me a look, so I simply smile away his worries. Obviously, I need to work on my expression because his eyes narrow more. Is he really not immediately swayed by my smile?
Ah well.
I wonder if I should mention the car trailing after us. I decide it’s best to ignore it for now. We have a good drive ahead of us, so I’ll be curious how far the car will follow us.
“Looks like it’s a little over three hours,” Gabriel comments as he sets the GPS to start.
