“I need to ask Ursula something.”
Ian closed the door and stood in front of Jenna, blocking her access to the rest of the house. He was a good eight inches taller than she was. His body was still trim, his shoulders still broad and thick. “What do you need to ask Ursula?” Then a knowing look crossed his face. “Are you still on this kick about why she wanted Jared to go on TV? Look, Jenna, I’m going to have to ask you to lay off of her. I saw the news today. They arrested that man.” He lifted his hand and rubbed his eyes. He kept his hand there, obscuring Jenna’s view of most of his face. “I’ve wanted this to end for so long, to just know something. And now that we might learn something, the real truth about it all, I’m terrified. I just don’t want to find out. I don’t want to get some final answer. What would I do then? Do you know?”
“Ursula didn’t just push Jared to do it,” Jenna said. “She went online, to message boards where they talk about missing persons cases. She went on there and she led another man on, making him think these photos he was taking in another state were photos of Celia. She encouraged this guy to think Celia was alive and living in his town.”
Ian looked like a man who understood only half the story. He tilted his head to one side, as though her words might register in his brain and make more sense if he pointed his ears a different direction. “I don’t follow any of this. Can we go out to the kitchen? Ursula’s bedroom is right up there, and I’d like to know what you’re saying about my daughter before she hears it.”
Jenna looked up the staircase. She wanted to break past him, shove Ian aside, and go right to the source. But she held herself in check. No need to make a scene. No need to run wild.
Yet.
She followed Ian out to the kitchen, where he offered her coffee, which she accepted as she sat at the table. Her body felt energized, but she knew it wouldn’t last. The mixture of adrenaline, fear, and lack of sleep would bring her back to earth soon. She’d crash like a meteor.
As clearly and patiently as possible, she explained about Rick Stearns, their conversations online and his firm belief that he had found Celia living in Indiana.
“Someone using the handle ‘Little Bear’ went online and told him that the pictures he took of this other woman were of Celia, even though they clearly weren’t. ‘Little Bear,’ Ian. Ursula.”
“Do you know how many girls in this country are named Ursula? And do you know how many people might call themselves ‘Little Bear’? It hardly seems like proof that my Ursula was involved.”
“But she told him Celia used to go to Indiana when she was a kid, that her grandparents lived there when she was little. How many people know that? I barely remembered.”
Ian tapped his fingers on the tabletop. His nails were neatly manicured and even. “Any of her good friends would remember that. Maybe it was on the news. Knowing that one fact about Celia doesn’t make someone special.”
“Why did she push us to go on TV? Why did she tell Reena about Jared and the alcohol?”
“You don’t know that.”
“Ursula seems to be in the middle of a lot of things. Hell, Ian, she’s friends with the kid whose father was murdered by William Rose. She’s connected in a number of ways. Why?”
“Because her mother disappeared.” Ian’s voice rose, and he thumped the table with his right hand.
Jenna sat back. The volume of his outburst and the display of emotion caught her short.
Ian looked angry. A flush rose in his cheeks.
But he regained control of his voice. “Goddammit, Jenna. Her mother disappeared. Of course she’s involved.”
Jenna didn’t know what to say.
Had she pushed too hard again?
But Jenna was in the middle of it too. And Jared.
She needed to know.
“Let’s ask her, then,” she said. “Natalie, the missing girl, she came back. To my house.”
“She did?”
“She was there when Henry Allen was killed. And Henry Allen and William Rose mentioned Bobby’s name and Ursula’s name. Why, Ian?”
“What are you implying?”
“Let’s go ask her. We’ll just ask her why those men, the men you had following Celia, were saying her name right before one of them killed the other.”
“You want me to wake her up on a Saturday for this nonsense?” His eyes looked cold, skeptical. His voice still maintained an edge of anger. “You say you don’t want Jared dragged into this. Don’t you think I feel the same way about my daughter?” His voice sounded choked. “Our baby. She had a shitty night last night, in case you don’t remember.”
“I had a shitty one too. And you know Ursula has always had a temper. She’s even been violent a few times.”
Ian’s eyes looked like glass. “Really, Jenna? You’d say that?”