“I am. My name’s Jessica. I truly didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“We’re the Martins. I’m Geraldine, and that’s my husband, Eustice. Folks around here call me Gerri.”
Jessica attempted to pull free of Eustice’s hold. “We only just arrived today. I would never have come up here had it not been for the child I saw.”
Gerri glanced around the room. “There’s a child up here?”
“Of course there’s not,” Eustice shot back, tightening his hold on Jessica’s arm. “She was up here nosing around after I told her earlier that she was trespassing.”
“Jessica?” Owen yelled from downstairs, sending relief pouring through her.
Eustice held onto her a moment longer, before releasing her now bruised arm.
Jess rubbed at her tender skin. “I’m up here, Owen!”
Giving Eustice a wide berth, Jess inched around him, stopping next to Gerri to offer her an apologetic smile. “Again, I’m sorry.”
Gerri nodded nervously, her gaze flicking to Eustice.
Owen’s footsteps could be heard jogging up the stairs. He came to a sudden stop at the door to the room. “What’s going on up here?”
Jess hurried to her husband’s side. “Just a misunderstanding. Come on, let’s go.”
“There was no misunderstanding,” Eustice spat. “Your wife was nosing around on private property. I’ve already warned her about trespassing. She’s lucky I don’t call the police. Next time, I won’t be so nice.”
Owen took her by the hand and tugged her behind him. “It won’t happen again. You have my word.”
Jess peered around Owen in time to see Gerri lower her head as Eustice ambled over to her side. It became more than obvious that his wife feared him.
Eustice spat on the floor before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “See that it don’t.”
His speech pattern told Jess that he lacked education as much as he lacked people skills.
Owen turned without another word and guided Jess down the stairs. He waited until they reached the safety of their own bedroom before speaking. “What in God’s name were you thinking?”
Jess moved to the other side of the bed and removed her robe. “I told you, there was a boy in that house.”
“And you just took it upon yourself to run over there in the middle of the night without letting me know? What if something had happened to you?”
“What if something had happened to him?” she shot back. “Does no one care that there was a young child in that abandoned house at this time of night? And how did you know I was over there?”
Owen sighed and ran a hand down his face. “The front door to that house was standing open. Where was the child? I didn’t see anyone when I got there.”
Jessica had no answer for him. “I don’t know. He was gone by the time I arrived.”
“Gone,” Owen repeated in a wooden voice.
Pulling back the covers, Jess took off her slippers and climbed in bed. “Yes, gone. Can we please talk about this another time? I just want to go to sleep.”
Owen stared at her for a moment longer, before giving her a curt nod. “Fine. But don’t ever do that to me again. You scared the shit out of me.”
“I won’t.”
“Promise me, Jess. My heart can’t take more of what you put me through tonight. When I woke and found you gone…”
Jessica looked away, unable to take the concern swimming in his eyes. “I promise.”
Owen removed his own robe and got into bed next to her. His arm came around her, his lips brushing the side of her face. “I love you.”
“Love you, too,” she whispered, sliding deeper under the covers and rolling to her side away from him.
Though her eyes slid closed on command, her mind refused to shut down. It became filled with images of a dark-haired boy wearing a striped T-shirt and too small jeans.
Chapter Eight
Jessica pushed her cart through the local grocery store, ignoring the curious looks being tossed her way.
Owen had started his new job earlier that week, leaving Jess alone during the day to finish unpacking and decorate their humble abode.
The first thing on her agenda had been to put some food in the house. She’d already grown tired of carry out.
“Jessica!”
Jess looked up from her perusal of the cold food section to find Mrs. Hawthorn standing next to her. “Hi, Marge.”
The short, plump blonde studied the items in Jessica’s cart. “That’s a lot of carbs. I’d be careful if I were you. You’ll end up a diabetic like me.”
Unsure of how to respond, Jess turned and plucked up a very expensive gallon of milk. “Is this the only grocery store in town?”
Marge nodded. “There’s one in Morhaven, but that’s about twenty miles from here.”
“That explains why the prices are so high.” Jess placed the milk in her cart. “They have no competition.”
Marge picked up a pack of cheese. “You got that right.”
A thought occurred to Jess. She snagged a bag of shredded cheese, pretending to read the label. “What do you know about the people in the red brick house across the street from yours?”
“The Martins?” Marge’s voice took on a gossiping tone. “I know more than I want to. Of course, the entire neighborhood knows their business. Especially when Eustice is drinking. Which is pretty much every day.”
“Does he mistreat his wife?”
Marge’s voice lowered to a whisper as if she feared being overheard. “He beats on her. Why do you ask? Did you see something?”
Careful not to divulge too much, Jess whispered back, “No, but I could hear him yelling at her.”
Marge stepped in closer. “Not that I know this for a fact, mind you, but rumor has it that Gerri couldn’t have children due to some female issues, and Eustice blamed her for it. Which, in my opinion, is the reason he puts his hands on her.”
Now that she had Marge talking, Jess decided to steer the conversation in a different direction. “So, the Martin’s own that old abandoned house next door?”
“They do. Although, I can’t imagine why. They bought it about thirteen years ago after that little Dayton boy came up missing.”
A strange sensation poured through Jess. “I hadn’t heard about that.”
“He lived in that house next door to you.”
Placing the shredded cheese back onto the shelf, Jess pretended to search for a different kind. “What happened to his parents?”
“The place ended up in foreclosure with the Dayton’s spending all their time and resources searching for the child. The Martins bought it after the bank forced the Daytons out.”
Jessica’s heart went out to the Daytons. She knew exactly how hard it must have been for them to leave the home their son had lived in. She met Marge’s gaze. “I wonder why the Martins don’t rent it out or sell it?”
Marge shrugged. “Eustice claims that it would take too much money to fix it up enough to sell or rent. Says that once he retires, he’ll sink some cash into it and unload it then.”
Dropping the cheese into her cart, Jessica forced a smile. “Well, I’d better be going. I have a few more errands to run on my way home. It was nice chatting with you, Marge.”
“You too, my dear.”
Jess paid for her groceries, loaded them into her small SUV, and drove straight home. She hated lying to Marge about having errands to run, but she’d done what she needed to do to prevent an hour-long gossip-fest from taking place.
Once the groceries were put away, Jess trailed off into the spare room they’d turned into an office and booted up her laptop. It came alive with a hum, going through the designated prompts until the sign on screen appeared.
She entered the passcode, tapping her foot beneath the desk while she waited patiently for the search engine to load. She then typed in: Missing Florida boy/Dayton.
Several results popped up onto the screen. Everything from Missing-Seven-year-old Sparkleberry Hills child, to Suspicion surrounding Terry Dayton’s disappearance.