“Let’s go look for her together,” Ian said. “You and me. We can drive around. The police can call me if they need me. Poole or whoever. We have our phones.”
He sounded so reasonable, so believable, that Jenna found herself nodding before he was even finished.
“Okay,” she said. “Okay. Let’s go look for her.”
? ? ?
Jared recognized the alley they drove down. Bobby moved the car slowly, his forehead creased with concentration. It had only been the previous night Jared was there, moving through the party in search of Ursula.
Kirk Embry’s house.
Jared saw the gate he’d come through at the back of the property, the tall privacy fence that protected the pool. Bobby opened his door and climbed out without saying anything, so Jared followed him.
The back gate hung open. Bobby strolled through and when Jared entered the pool area, he saw a few scattered Solo cups and empty beer bottles. A discarded UK sweatshirt lay next to the thick tarp covering the pool, and Jared wondered how Mike had fared at the party.
Bobby walked over to the side of the pool and crouched down next to one of the thick cords that held the tarp in place. He started unwinding the knot, looking like a deckhand preparing a ship to sail. He sprang a few of the cords loose near the deep end, never once looking up at Jared.
“What are you doing?” Jared asked.
But Bobby kept working, as patient as a carpenter. Jared thought back about twelve hours, to Bobby sitting on the diving board and waxing philosophic about the coming of spring and his desire to get away from Hawks Mill. Jared’s throat felt dry.
When Bobby was half done with the cords, he strolled back to the deep end of the pool and pulled on the tarp, rolling it back.
It looked heavy. Jared saw the strain on his face as he tugged, the tendons in his neck flexing.
When Bobby had it rolled back, he sat down on the side of the pool, his feet dangling above the water, which only reached half as high as it did during summer. Bobby stared into the depths as something grotesque settled over his face. A deep pain and sadness that seemed to age him twenty years as he sat and looked.
“Isn’t this what you wanted to see?” he asked without looking up.
Jared took a couple of steps closer.
No, he didn’t want to see. But he couldn’t stop himself.
He edged toward the lip of the pool.
He saw a human shape, facedown, floating in the scummy water.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
Jared stared into the partially frozen, dirty water.
He saw the back of a head, hair fanning out.
“Ursula?” Jared asked.
Bobby shook his head.
Then it made sense.
“It’s her,” Jared said. “Celia.”
Bobby remained in place, his feet hanging over the water, his eyes vacant.
A cold knot of revulsion and fear grew inside Jared.
“That’s what I meant about things changing in the spring,” Bobby said. His voice echoed off the concrete surface of the pool. “Pretty soon, Kirk’s family would open this up, and they’d see what was in there.”
“But Kirk didn’t kill her,” Jared said. Not asking. Stating a fact.
“He doesn’t know anything about it. Unless he’s looking out a window right now.”
Jared looked up at the house. The morning sun was hitting the windows, reflecting and obscuring anyone who might be looking outside.
“He’s probably hungover.”
Jared watched as Bobby started to cry, his face dissolving into tears, his body shuddering. “My dad. Her. All of it.”
Jared couldn’t move. The body in the water kept him transfixed.
The only sound in the quiet morning was Bobby’s sobs, which grew quieter and less frequent.
“Who did it?” Jared asked.
Bobby looked up, wiping his face. He stared at Jared, not saying anything.
And then Jared saw that Bobby was looking past him. His eyes were fixed on a spot behind Jared.
Something. Or someone.
Before Jared could turn he was hit in the back and knocked forward.
Jared was propelled into the air, out over the lip of the pool, and he landed in the screaming-cold water, his body bumping up against the frozen block of a human being.
? ? ?
Ursula didn’t answer calls or texts.
Jenna and Ian checked the park, the school—anywhere she might be spending time. Thirty minutes passed, then forty-five.
Detective Poole called. Ian answered and explained the situation. Naomi promised to spread the word about Ursula.
“But don’t make a big deal out of it,” Ian said. “Don’t embarrass her. This may be nothing.”
Ian hung up. Jenna was driving so that Ian could keep trying Ursula.
“We know she came home last night for some amount of time, right?” Jenna asked. “And you didn’t see her this morning?”
“No. I didn’t hear her either. And I was up early.”
“Could she have gone back to the party last night? Maybe to meet people or drink more?”
“Worth a try.”
“Do you know where she was?” Jenna asked.
“The Embrys’ house. Kirk Embry is the kid’s name.”