He said the name as though it would mean something to them. Jared looked at his mom. Was he some kind of relative he’d never met and his mom had forgotten about? Jared hated when he met those people, the ones who knew who he was and he couldn’t remember them to save his life.
“Who?” his mom asked. “I’m going to call the police if you don’t explain yourself. Now.”
“Okay, okay.” The man laughed again. “Of course. Silly me. You don’t know me as Rick Stearns. You know me by my other name.”
“What other name?” she asked.
Then the guy said something weird.
“Domino fifty-five.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
Jenna told Jared to get out of the car and go to the house.
“Mom—”
“Just go,” she said. “Walk to the door.”
She kept her eyes on the goofy, smiling face of Domino55. Rick Stearns. He looked as though he should be coming to the door to sell insurance. Or else teaching math at the local community college.
Jared’s door opened and closed, and only then did she turn away and watch her son climb the front steps and use his key to enter the house. Like a good boy, he flipped the porch light on, and then she saw the curtains move as he stuck his head out to check on her.
“Move back,” Jenna said. “I’m getting out. And I have my pepper spray ready.”
“Oh,” he said, backing away from the car as she pushed the door open.
She stepped out onto the driveway, her shoes scraping against the pavement. She kept the pepper spray clutched in her right hand and her keys, their tips sticking out through her fingers like jagged claws, in her left.
Rick Stearns took all this in and moved back farther. “I can go if this is a bad time.”
“What are you doing here?” Jenna asked. “Why do you keep writing me and saying those things about Celia?”
He blinked a couple of times. “Because I’m like anyone else on those boards. I want to help.”
“If you want to help, go to the police. If you know something, call the tip line.”
Rick looked wounded, as if she’d reached out with the keys and poked him in his soft belly. “Do you think they listen to a guy like me? Hundreds of people, maybe thousands, call those tip lines. Some of them are nuts. They don’t get taken seriously. And I live in northern Indiana, a few hundred miles away from here. I can’t just talk in person to the detective investigating the case. Naomi Poole, right?”
“She’s here in town. And now so are you. Go talk to her. Go right to the station. They’re open twenty-four hours, I hear.”
He lifted his hands, as though he were surrendering. “I wanted to talk to you first. You know Celia better than anyone. I want your opinion before I go to the police.” He lowered his hands and sounded resigned. “I wanted to show you something. It’s something you’re going to want to see.”
Jenna wavered. She looked to the house where Jared was still peeking out through the front window. It would be so easy just to dash inside and call the police, have Rick taken away, off her lawn and out of her life.
But what if he really did know something? What if he was one of those amateur online sleuths who managed to piece something together? Could she stand to turn him away?
“Where’s your car?” she asked.
He nodded toward the street. A dark-colored Prius sat at the curb. In the glow of the streetlight, she saw the Indiana plate.
“Did you come here through downtown?” she asked.
“Yes. On Highway Fifty-nine.”
“Go back the way you came.”
“Wait a minute—”
“Downtown there’s a place called Webb’s Diner. It’s also open twenty-four hours. Go there. Get a table. It’s usually fairly crowded . . . and it’s a block from the police station. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
He smiled, his teeth straight and white. “Okay. Do you want me to order you something?”
“No. Just go.”
He nodded and started off across the lawn. Before he crossed the street to his car, he turned back. “You really are going to want to see this. It’s a picture. I think I found her.”
Jenna watched him go and then she entered the house.
Jared waited for her in the living room, his phone in his hand. “Should I call the police?” he asked.
“Not yet.”
“Where’s he going? Are you just letting him get away?”
“Relax,” Jenna said. She kept her coat on. “I’m going to meet him at Webb’s.”
“What for?” Jared asked.
“He claims he has information about Celia. And before you tell me the cops should be involved, I know. I’ve already covered this with him, okay?” She came forward and placed her hands on his upper arms. “You need to trust me on this one. I’m not going to endanger myself. We’re going to be right by the police station, in a public place.”
“Let me go with you.”
“No. Stay here.”
“Mom—”
“No. Stay here. I’m going to text you every fifteen minutes. If I miss one, call the cops. Okay? I need to know what he knows. He says he knows where Celia is.”
Jared’s mouth opened a little. “Do you believe him?”
Jenna hugged him, pulling him close. When she let him go, she looked him right in the eye. “I desperately want to. Don’t you?”
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE