Not by Sight A Novel

CHAPTER 14

Abby slipped into her room, the Raleigh County phone book tucked under her arm, and shut the door behind her. She flipped through the white pages and found the residential listings for the last name Oldham. There must have been over a hundred. She didn’t know anyone with that last name except Mr. Oldham the pharmacist, and he was older than Grandpa Buck. Not that she knew what the caller meant by the Oldham kid. Was he talking about a child or a teen or a young adult?

Abby slammed the phone book shut. What good were all these phone numbers without a first name? Why would the anonymous caller make his threat seem less credible by accusing her of confiding in someone she’d never even met? If he was messing with her mind, it was working.

Abby flopped on the bed. She was getting close to something big. She could feel it.

Don’t do this, Abby. Do you want your mother to lose another daughter?

Abby lay on her side and hugged her pillow. She would never want to put Mama through the agony of losing another child.

Lord, I don’t know what to do if Jay won’t help me. My family thinks I’m delusional. I can’t go to the sheriff. But if Ella’s in trouble—whether she’s Riley Jo or not—how can I just walk away?

Abby watched the clock until 9:59, then called Jay’s cell phone and got his voice mail. She hung up and called his work number.

“Tutty’s Barbecue. Randy speakin’.”

“Randy, it’s Abby Cummings. May I speak with Jay before he leaves?”

“Could if he was here,” Randy said. “He called around three and said he was sicker ’n a dog and could Philip take his place tonight. Said he was fixin’ to stay close to the bathroom.”

“Okay, thanks.” Abby pulled up the keyboard on her phone and began typing a text message to Jay. Called Tutty’s. Home sick? Call or text me.

Abby set her phone on the bed. She was with Jay until almost three. He must have called in sick right after he walked her to her car and they parted ways. Was he even more shaken by the caller’s threat than she was?

She heard a knock on her door and put her pillow over the phone book. “Come in.”

“It’s me,” Mama said. “I saw your light on. Just checking to see if you’re all right. You seemed distracted at dinner, and I haven’t seen you all evening.”

Abby sat up on the side of the bed. “I’m fine. Just a little tired. You’re not bringing bad news from the sheriff, are you?”

“No. I was just wondering how your afternoon with Jay went.”

“Fine.”

“Did you mention to him I would like to see his work?” Mama smiled. “I really would.”

“It didn’t come up. But I’ll remember to ask him.”

“Dixie just called back. She shuffled her schedule so she could see you Friday at one. I wrote it on the calendar so we won’t forget.”

Zero chance of that, Abby thought as her phone beeped. “That’s probably Jay.”

“I’ll let you answer him.” Her mother came over and hugged her. “Good night, Abby.”

“Good night.”

Mama glanced at Riley Jo’s doll as she closed the door.

Abby pulled up one new text message from Jay.

Not sick. Need space.

Why space? Abby replied.

A minute later her phone beeped with his answer.

What you’re doing is dangerous.

“So … you’re … shutting … me … out?” she said aloud as she keyed in her reply.

Jay’s response came quickly. Weak signal. We’ll talk soon.

How soon? Abby shot back.

She waited ten minutes for a response and then put her phone on the nightstand. She wasn’t going to play games with Jay because he couldn’t handle the situation she found herself in. If he was going to abandon her when she needed him most, then he wasn’t much of a friend.



Sheriff Virgil Granger collapsed on the glider on his front porch, every bone in his body aching. He unbuttoned his navy uniform shirt and let the evening breeze cool his bare chest.

He closed his eyes and listened to a cricket choir fill the night with the sweet serenade he had loved since he was a boy.

The front door opened and closed, the fragrance of gardenia wafting under his nose and bringing a smile to his face. “Hey, sugar,” he said.

Jill Beth came up behind him and gently massaged his shoulders.“You ought to sleep like a log tonight. It’s been a long time since you were up thirty-six hours straight.”

“At least we should know soon if Micah’s dental records match the skull we found.” Virgil shook his head. “Shoot, even after five years, it’s hard to think that way. I can still see Micah as a scrawny little squirt wearing a Superman cape, wanting to hang out with the big boys. I’ll always regret we didn’t let him.”

“You were kids, Virgil. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“I’m just glad we taught our sons better.”

Jill Beth kissed his cheek and came around and sat next to him on the glider.

Virgil slipped his arm around her. “I talked to Kate just before I came home. Abby’s at it again. She photographed a little girl she thinks looks like Riley Jo and has been making inquiries around Foggy Ridge.”

“Poor kid.”

Virgil cleared his throat. “It’s hard to say this, but it’d probably be the best thing for everybody if the remains turn out to be Micah’s. And Riley Jo’s. At least the family could go to sleep at night knowing they’re not coming home.”

Jill Beth put her head on his shoulder. “They deserve to find closure.”

“Thing is, even if we determine that Micah and Riley Jo are both dead, that might not be enough closure unless we determine how they died. This could open up a whole new nightmare for the Cummings.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing that hasn’t crossed their minds a thousand times.”

Virgil nodded. “But it’s different when the truth of it looks you right in the eye. It really hit me today.”

“I just hope Kate can move out of the past. I think Elliot Stafford is sweet on her. Of course, he’s too much of a gentleman to admit it while Kate’s situation is hanging in midair.”

“Elliott, huh? I haven’t paid much attention.”

Jill Beth sat up straight and captured a yawn with her hand. “I’m not sure Kate will ever let herself fall in love with another man. She seems to have Micah on a pedestal.”

“Some of it could be guilt,” Virgil said. “Don’t forget they’d been having a tiff for a couple weeks about some business thing they disagreed on.”

“Yes, but all couples go through trials. That didn’t have anything to do with what happened.”

“Unless Micah was fed up and wanted out of the marriage.”

Jill Beth looked up at him. “You don’t really think that?”

“I don’t want to,” Virgil said. “But given the right circumstances, good people are capable of shocking choices.”

“Kate needs the truth—whatever it is—so she can live in the present.”

“I agree, sugar.” Virgil ran his fingers through Jill Beth’s thick dark hair, which was noticeably void of gray since her last beauty appointment. “The truth is in the remains. We just have to wait and see what pathology tells us.”



Abby lay wide awake in the dark, staring at the ceiling fan. The more she thought about it, the more scared she was about the caller’s threat. The only way to find Ella was to ask around and show her picture. That had become dangerous.

Now what? Jay had left her hanging just when she needed him most. Not what she expected from a best friend.

Abby wiped away the tears that ran down the sides of her face. What if the remains turned out to be her father’s? Could she let go of years of hope and accept the grim finality of it? At least if her father had died in the woods, he hadn’t run off with another woman. Which meant he hadn’t chosen to take Riley Jo because he loved her more.

Shame scalded Abby’s face, and she wondered how her mother would react if she knew that, all these years, the biggest fear Abby had about Daddy and Riley Jo’s disappearance was something so completely self-centered.

Abby sat up and blew her nose. She checked her phone to see if Jay had left a text message. Nothing. The last thing she wanted to do was go to the sheriff, but now that she suspected that Ella was a missing child, how could she keep the information to herself?