Bex inched back. “What are you talking about?”
Her father looked down at his hands, then up at Bex. There was moisture in his eyes. “You know I’m innocent. I was framed, Beth Anne.”
Bex felt like someone had sucked all the air out of the truck’s cab. “What?”
“I was on that website because I was looking for the real killer.”
“They’re masters of manipulation…”
“I know who it is. I was sure that he would show up on one of the sites, but of course, I got distracted.”
“Dad, if you know who framed you… I mean, this is huge. This could change everything.” Bex got up onto her knees on the bench seat, feeling herself bounce as excitement mounted. “We can go to the police and—”
“Bethy, Bethy, hey. Settle down. Look, I’d love nothing more than to do that, but I can’t just go to the police. I’ve been on the run for ten years, and in their book, that makes me guilty.”
“I can go. I can tell them that I talked to you… Maybe, like, say you emailed me and then you can come out of hiding when they catch the guy and, and—” The tears rolled steadily now and Bex could taste them on her lips. “Dad, this is great.”
“We can’t go to the police. The man who did this—the man who killed all those women and framed me for it, Bethy—he’s a police officer.”
Bex was struck dumb. Though her tears were hot and she was covered in the sheen of a nervous sweat, she shivered. “What?”
“The detective—shit, you probably don’t even remember. You were just a little kid. You talked to him, told him some story…”
Bex felt herself coming apart, piece by piece. She was the reason he had to run. Her father wasn’t guilty; she was.
“He was some young buck cop trying to make a name for hisself.”
“Detective Schuster.”
“That’s the guy! Schuster.”
Bex closed her eyes. “He framed you.”
“He killed those women, Bethy. I didn’t know it at the time, not really. But when my DNA started turning up—I knew it wasn’t right. I wasn’t there, Bethy. I wouldn’t have hurt those women. I wouldn’t do that. This Schuster guy, he’s sick. I had to find you before you disappeared into the system because I was afraid he would be able to track you down and, and maybe”—he looked away, squinting his eyes at the dark ocean in front of them—“he might try to do to you what he did to those poor girls. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t.”
“He did find me.” Bex’s voice was a barely audible whisper. “He wanted me to find you, to draw you out.”
Her father’s profile was sharp in the low light.
Bex went on. “So you risked coming out… You did all this…for me?”
He pumped his head. “I’d do it again for you, Bethy girl. I’d do anything to keep you safe.”
Bex felt herself teetering. Could Detective Schuster really be responsible for the murders, framing her father all those years? When her father reached out and squeezed her hand, Bex felt herself falling over the edge. It made sense. Detective Schuster had handled all the evidence in her father’s case. The eyewitness reports were all people that Schuster had tracked down. The murders all happened within the Research Triangle, which was her father’s trucking territory—and wouldn’t be that far for a rookie cop to travel. She thought of the detective in his leather jacket, the way his lip curled downward and his nostrils flared each time he talked about Bex’s father.
Then she thought of Dr. Gold.
“Dad, did you know Dr. Gold?”
He frowned, his fingers going up to pinch his chin. “Dr. Gold?”
“She was a psychiatrist.”
He wagged his head slowly. “No, Bethy, I can’t say that I do.”
Bex remembered the first time her child advocate had steered her toward Dr. Gold’s office. Detective Schuster had been there, his eyes grazing over her as she was ushered through the door.
Is that how Schuster found her?
“Bethy, I don’t know—”
“The necklaces and the jewelry,” Bex said quickly, shaking her dad’s hand from hers. “How did you get the necklaces?”
He shrugged. “Different ways. The ring that I gave you? I found it in my truck. I’d give ladies a ride from time to time, hitchhikers, you know? I thought one of them must’a dropped it, and I thought it’d be something that you like. A couple of the necklaces and stuff I just picked up here and there, found ’em when I was on my route, but now I know that Schuster must have planted them there for me to find.”