“I think you’ve reached that place.”
“No.” Claire shook her head. “David found more. If he can do it, so can I.”
Roni’s purse slid down to her hand. “What are you talking about?”
“David picked up where the police left off. He was doing his own investigation when he was killed. I’m wondering if there’s a connection between that and his death.”
Tug blinked at her in surprise. “You can’t mean—”
“Yes, I can. I’m saying maybe his death wasn’t an accident.”
“But…but that’s crazy!” Roni sputtered. “It was an accident. Everyone knows that.”
“I don’t,” she said. “Not anymore.”
“Then you’re kidding yourself. You’re looking for someone to blame and sometimes there is no one. Think about Leanne’s accident. You’d both been down that mountain before. But on this occasion, she was going too fast when she hit the bottom. No one was responsible. It just…happened.”
Why was Roni bringing up the sledding accident? Just to make the sharp edge of guilt cut a little deeper? Claire had been there that day. Why wasn’t she the one thrown from a sled? “Someone doesn’t simply disappear.”
“No, but they can walk off without an explanation. And hunting accidents aren’t completely unheard of.”
Her mother hadn’t walked off. And David hadn’t been killed by a hunter who mistook him for a bear. The more she thought about the possibilities, the more Claire believed the two incidents were related. It made a dark sort of sense. Especially because she wasn’t the only one to see a connection. Isaac had raised the possibility first. Not that she planned to mention that.
“Who’d want to harm David?” her father asked, his voice hoarse with shock and concern.
Claire never took her eyes off Roni. “The same person who killed my mother, chopped her up and put her in her own suitcase.”
“That’s sick.” Tug looked green, but Roni didn’t. Face red, eyes shiny, she stuck a finger in Claire’s chest.
“You’re just trying to upset us. You’re trying to upset everyone. Why would you paint such a morbid picture for your father? You’re talking about a woman who was once his wife.”
“You’re worried about me upsetting him? My mother’s been missing for fifteen years. I’m sure he’s imagined just about every scenario by now, including that one.”
“Maybe she’s not what’s in that case!”
“Then what is?”
Roni was blinking and breathing faster than normal. “Listen, Claire. You need to stop. We’re happy the way we are. We don’t want you messing that up.”
Claire’s blood seemed to roar through her ears. “I’m ruining your happiness because I want to find my mother? Because I won’t forget about her like you want me to? Because I won’t pretend you were with us all along instead of her?”
“Claire, please, this isn’t helping.” Tug tried to put a hand on her shoulder but she moved out of reach.
“It’s too late,” Roni went on. “What don’t you understand? She’s gone, and there’s nothing you can do about that. God, you’re as bad as my other stepkids!”
A warning flashed in Claire’s mind, but she was too frazzled and angry to heed it. Over the years, she’d had very few serious arguments with her stepmother. It was easier to tolerate the minor irritations that cropped up than to deal with the aftermath of an argument. Roni was basically a good woman. And Claire cared enough about her father to bite her tongue before offending his wife. But she couldn’t seem to manage that today. “Because I’m not giving in to what you want? Because I’m insisting on the truth even though you wish I wouldn’t?”
“Because you don’t know when you’re crossing the line!”
“Were you seeing my father before my mother disappeared?” Claire screamed.
Roni’s jaw dropped. “What?”
Claire covered her mouth. She was screwing up all over the place, accusing everyone. She’d be friendless before this was over, but she couldn’t seem to hold in her doubts and questions anymore. “You two were together within six months of my mother’s disappearance.”
“So? What does that tell you? Now you think I killed her? Do you trust anyone?”
“No,” Claire said softly, “I don’t.” And there it was. What she’d hidden for as many years as her mother had been missing. She harbored some suspicion toward her stepfather and his wife. And since she’d learned about Leanne’s being out of school on the day Alana went missing, she even wondered about her sister.
12
The call came in just after dark.
Jeremy stood at the bottom of the stairs, listening to his father talk. He eavesdropped a lot; sometimes it was his only way of knowing what was going to happen before it did.
He didn’t care much about this conversation, though. It was just about someone showing up unexpectedly, some private investigator. But no private investigator had shown up here, and that was what mattered.
Yawning, he nearly walked back into his room to listen to his music. When the iPod he’d saved up for was playing in his ears, his father ceased to exist. But before he could turn away, he heard anger in his father’s voice—and the name Les. Then he froze. He knew who Les was. His father had found Les through a cousin who lived in Wyoming. Cousin Blake got himself in trouble a lot. He’d even been in prison—twice. He’d said Les was a person who could “take care of anything.” Jeremy had heard his father use those exact words when he arranged for Les to “take care” of David. And then David died and everyone started calling it an accident. That was how good Les was. His father even said he was good, said it out loud as if he’d included Jeremy in his plans from the beginning. His father was like that sometimes.
Claire’s name came up next. He’d been right to be so worried these past few days. She was getting herself in trouble, just like he’d feared when he followed her to the cabin. If Les was coming back to Pineview, that was bad. His father had once said to Les, “How many people have you…helped the way you’re helping me?” And the answer must’ve been big because his father had whistled.
Jeremy wanted to warn her, but he couldn’t. She’d ask how he knew, and that was something he couldn’t ever reveal.