A long moment passed before Jessie found the energy to look away from her sister and focus her attention on him. “What made you come here tonight?”
“I couldn’t sleep, so I did what I’ve done nearly every night since the accident. I went over the files and reports. But this time it was different. This time I knew that there was a possibility that Vernon wasn’t driving. If he wasn’t driving, then who was?” He shook his head. “Investigators at the time had no reason to think anyone else had been in the car, let alone search the ravine.”
“What now?” she asked.
His brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
She said nothing.
“When I reached for you, did you let go on purpose?”
She wasn’t ready to answer him because she didn’t know the answer.
“You’re afraid of me—aren’t you?”
“I don’t know you,” she said in her defense, still unsure. Still cautious. His expression was unreadable, and she wondered if he was angry. Frustrated? Confused? She had no idea.
Sirens sounded.
“Did you call the police?” she asked.
“Why wouldn’t I? I didn’t know if you’d broken your neck on the way down. I was thinking the worst and hoping for the best.”
Maybe he truly was a blank slate. Maybe she could trust him, after all. He’d saved her life. Without his help, she never would have found Sophie. She smiled at him, a subtle twist of the corner of her mouth.
He released a ponderous sigh, obviously not happy to know she’d chosen to risk her life rather than trust him enough to take hold of his hand.
“What?” he asked when he saw the smile playing on her lips.
“Looks like we’ve solved another case. Twice in a matter of weeks,” she added. “They’re going to think we’re some sort of bizarre investigative team.”
“Bizarre?” he questioned. “The Cautious and the Circumspect.”
“Or maybe the Young and the Restless,” she murmured sadly, her gaze back on her sister.
“I guess that would make you the ‘Restless,’” he said, but their few seconds of camaraderie were over and done with.
She looked toward the flashing lights above and stiffened. She didn’t want people to think the worst of Sophie. What good would it do for the public and, more important, for Olivia to know the truth about her mother? “I’m hoping nobody ever finds out about Leanne Baxter’s account of what happened on Sophie’s last day. People would talk, and we both know it would all be meaningless. Unless you regain your memory, we’ll never really know what happened outside the Wild West. It would all be speculation, and I wouldn’t want Olivia to think less of Sophie . . . her mother.”
“Leanne who?” he asked.
Again Jessie met his gaze, and for whatever reason she knew then that he’d come there to get answers for himself, but also for her and Olivia.
He took a step back and then turned to her and said, “Are you coming, or are you going to stay here with Sophie while I show them the way so we can get her up the hill?”
“I’ll stay.”
He nodded.
“She had a lot of good qualities, too,” she told him.
“I’m sure she did,” Ben said, waiting.
“Sophie had the most amazing singing voice. The sort of voice that brought tears to anyone who was lucky enough to hear her sing. And she could do wonderful impressions of famous people. She wasn’t always easy to live with, but she sure could make me laugh.”
“I wish I could have met her.”
“Apparently you did.”
It was his turn to smile. “I’ll be right back,” she heard him say as she turned back toward her sister, ignoring the sting of prickly thorns as she walked closer, removing the thickest brambles until she was at Sophie’s side. She kneeled down and took Sophie’s brittle fingers in hers as she remembered all the things they used to do together. Making clothes from scraps of fabric for their dolls, running around the backyard hunting for Easter eggs, putting on lipstick and their mother’s heels and playing dress-up. They rode bikes and pushed each other on the swing set. They loved playing Monopoly. They laughed often, and mostly they loved each other.
None of it had been a figment of her imagination.
Her mother, father, Jessie, and Sophie.
The memories were real, and for a moment in time, they had all been happy.