“So what made you go on?” Jared asked.
“I had a dream about my mom,” she said. “I saw her face. She told me to keep fighting. So I did. I decided I needed to get back here to see you. My dad was so tired from the driving and the sneaking around, he started falling asleep all the time. And when he slept he slept really deep. A couple of nights ago we were in a shitty motel, and he zonked out. It was about a four-hour drive from here. I just walked out. I didn’t look back. And he didn’t come after me. Some part of me kind of thinks he wanted me to get away. He could have killed me at any time. He could have tied me up. But he didn’t. So I just got away.”
“And how did you get from there to here?” Jared asked.
“I walked. I got a ride once from a trucker. He was nice, but he wanted me to pray with him. He brought me most of the way. I snuck into town here once it was dark. I didn’t want anyone from school seeing me. Not the police or anybody else. I came here, and I saw that guy creeping around out front.”
“He’s harmless. I think,” his mom said.
“Once you left with the guy, I saw my chance. I hoped Jared was home, so I went to the back door and knocked.”
“And there you were,” Jared said.
CHAPTER SEVENTY
Jenna sat back.
She felt a terrible and profound sadness. This girl—and at age fifteen she was still very much a girl—had been through so much and lost so much. And somehow she’d survived it all.
And the girl loved her son. Jenna could see that. As much as two fifteen-year-olds could be in love, they were. And maybe someone like Natalie, someone who had seen so much of life so fast, understood the value and the meaning of love better than anybody.
Jenna wanted to protect them both, to wrap them both up and hide them away.
But Jenna couldn’t hide from what Natalie had just revealed: William Rose and Henry Allen argued before Henry Allen’s death. And the men mentioned Ursula and Bobby.
“You know, they think your dad might have killed my friend Celia.”
“Mom—”
Jenna held up her hand, asking for silence from Jared. Jenna wondered if the girl knew anything about it. “I’m not sure they have any hard evidence, but they want to talk to him because he’s been involved with some other things.”
“I know,” Natalie said. “Like that woman they found. The body in the woods.”
“Holly Crenshaw.”
“Dad always had girlfriends. Younger girls usually. I don’t know if he was involved with this Holly Crenshaw lady. He didn’t tell me much of what he did. But my mom always told me he had a perverted streak, that he liked to hurt women. I guess both my parents sound like real winners, don’t they? But I don’t know anything about your friend, Mrs. Barton.”
“Jenna.”
“Jenna. I don’t know your friend. I never saw her, and I never heard my dad mention her. But I didn’t know everything he did or everyone he talked to. I knew very little about him. He wasn’t always a big part of my life. My parents were off and on. And Dad just kind of came around when it suited him. When he wanted or needed something. Mom had a hard time saying no to him when he did show up. She couldn’t turn him away. I guess I couldn’t either.”
Jenna tried to focus. She had so many things she wanted to ask the girl, so much she wanted to know but couldn’t push. She remembered that kiss Jared had witnessed, the one that prompted him to throw a rock through their window. Jenna wanted to know exactly how much the girl had suffered at the hands of her father, but that was all too much and too soon. She might never know what went on between the two of them. And maybe that wasn’t what Natalie needed from her.
She looked at the clock. It was nearing midnight. She felt newly tired from the long day, wrung out and empty.
But the day wasn’t finished. Not close.
“It’s time we called the police and let them know you’re here,” she said.
“Mom, no.” Jared was up out of his seat so fast he sent it tumbling backward to clatter against the floor. He moved next to Natalie, placing his hand on her shoulder as though protecting her from attack. “You can’t do that. Not now. It’s so late.”
“Jared, the police need to know.”
“And they can’t wait until morning?” he asked, his face indignant.
“No, they can’t. They’re the police. And Natalie is involved in a crime. She’s a witness. She knows where her dad was last. The man’s dangerous, Jared. What if what she tells the police prevents him from hurting someone else?”
Her words brought him up short. He stood frozen in place, his hand still resting on Natalie’s shoulder.
Natalie looked up. “She’s right, Jared. The whole time I was coming here, I knew I was going to have to face this. I’ve been preparing for it.” She made a sound like a short, bitter laugh. “I guess I’ve known my whole life I might have to testify against my dad. It was always going to come to this.”