“Jake, I…” I stop the words trying to come out of my mouth. I don't want to keep spiraling. I don't want to keep building lie upon lie, so I'm never able to pull myself out of it. This is all going to explode soon enough. At least maybe this way I won't have to try to survive it alone. “I'm sorry I worried you. That's exactly what I didn't want to do. But there are some things you don't understand.”
“Then tell me. Help me understand,” he begs. “Because right now I can't figure out why you would want to have anything to do with things the rest of the town is trying as hard as we can to escape.”
“Chief LaRoche was in the cemetery with me today because I found something out about him, and he wanted to confront me about it,” I tell him.
“What did you find out?” Jake asks.
“I was telling the truth when I told you I went to that hotel to find out more about the man who was shot and died on my cabin porch. I needed to know more about him and didn't think the police were giving me enough information. They were brushing me off and acting like it wasn't a big deal, so I decided to go find out for myself. All I wanted to do was find out his real name and where he came from.”
“His real name?” Jake asks.
I nod. “The name they found out for him just didn't sound right. I did some research on it but couldn't find him. So, I went to the hotel and asked the owner about him.”
“Did you find out anything else?”
“Not really. His registration card had the name Ron Murdock on it, and the address wasn't a real house. That's all the information it had. But while I was there, I saw Chief LaRoche with a woman. They were very friendly with each other. When I asked the owner about who else was staying at the hotel, she said no one from Feathered Nest had checked in there in weeks. He was hiding that he was there. He left before I did. When I walked out into the parking lot, there were two shots. I didn't see any car or anything. Then just a minute later, LaRoche showed back up and acted like he just happened to be in the area and heard over the police scanner that there was a shooting. He even spoke with the owner of the hotel and acted like he hadn't been there at all.”
“Are you saying you think LaRoche shot at you?” he asks. “Why would he do that?”
“Because he thinks I know something he doesn't want me to know, possibly. I ended up tracing the girl he was with, Andrea and found out she works in a bar in another town. I went to see her, but she acted like she didn't know anyone from Feathered Nest, even though the other bartender told me a man comes and watches her work all the time, and she's seen Andrea get in a car with him. Jake, she looks so much like Cristela Jordan,” I say.
Chapter Twenty-Six
As soon as I say it, it's obvious the name strikes a nerve. Jake pulls back slightly, his eyebrows lowering.
“Cristela, who used to come into my bar?” he asks.
I nod. “The one murdered and found by the train tracks.”
I'm starting to say more, but Jake shakes his head and reaches to take my hand.
“Emma, you have to calm down. I think you've gotten in over your head with this. Just like he said, you are giving significance to things that don't have any,” he says.
“He's having an affair with Andrea. He admitted it. And the first time she stayed in the hotel was after Cristela died.”
“That could just be a coincidence.”
“Cristela was staying at that hotel, too. She stayed there several times. You knew her, Jake. You knew she lived just on the other side of Feathered Nest. Why would she go stay in a hotel three towns over clear in the opposite direction of where she lived?”
“I don't know,” he admits.
“Unless she was meeting someone, and she didn't want anyone to know. And, Jake, think about it. You know, as well as I do, Barnes couldn't have dug up that grave and moved your father's bones himself. He just doesn't have the strength. You told me yourself LaRoche's father got involved when things happened between your father and Barnes years ago. People thought finding your father's bones could have something to do with the murders and disappearances because Barnes did it. But what if it's because LaRoche wanted a distraction? He wanted to confuse people and get them thinking about all that again rather than what's going on now.”
“Why would he do that?” Jake asks.
“I'm not sure, other than to screw with people. But I do know when I went out in the woods the other night; I felt someone watching me.”
“This isn't safe for you, Emma. You need to tell someone what you know,” he insists.
“Who should I tell? The police? I can't tell anyone anything until I have something more concrete to go on. And you have to promise me you aren't going to say anything, either. I'm trusting you with this.”
“Emma… “
“Jake, I'm trusting you. I only told you because I don't want you worrying about something you don't know. And I want you to be on your guard. I know you're still going to be interacting with him as he pretends to investigate Barnes. You have to be aware.”
“How am I supposed to just sit by and not say anything when I know what this man has done? To me, to you, to all of us? He's supposed to be the most trusted member of our community, and he's picking us off one right after the other. Now he's coming for you.”
“I will be fine, Jake. You have to trust me,” I say.
“I don't want you out at that cabin by yourself at night. It's too dangerous. Come stay here with me.”
“No, Jake. I'm not going to let him chase me out of my cabin. I'm not going to give him that kind of power,” I argue.
“It's not giving him power,” he says. “It's being smart and safe. He was sending you a message with that glass, and you know just as well as I do, he's not going to back down now. If he has even the slightest clue of how much you know about him and what he's been up to, he's going to do anything he can to make sure you don't tell anybody. Keep in mind, you're tall and blonde, too.”
I hesitate, hating the idea of giving LaRoche the satisfaction of forcing me out of my cabin. But at the same time, Jake's words ring and swell in my ears. I know I'm looking at this too closely. I'm too deep, too sharply focused to make the right decisions. I need to pull back and look at the situation like I would with the witnesses I've worked with on other cases. If a woman involved in an abduction and murder case experienced as many threats as I have, there's no way I would let her be alone for a single second, much less staying alone in an isolated location where I knew the suspects could easily find her and already had.
“Let me go get a few things, and I'll come back,” I tell him.
He nods. “The guys at the bar are expecting me to show up for a while tonight, but I'll make it fast and then come right back here. You stay put.”
I shake my head. “No, Jake. That's what I'm talking about. I'm already having to uproot my existence because of this. I'm not going to let you do it, too. You go to the bar just like you would have anyway. Do what you need to do. You need the routine and the consistency to help you through all of this. Besides, we don't want to look suspicious or like we're trying to hide from anything. I'll be fine.”
“Do you want to come up there with me? We didn't get to have our lunch today. It's not the best replacement in the world, but we can have some beer and fries up at the Den, and when I'm done for the night, take a drive up to that hamburger stand for a late-night snack,” he suggests.
“Please don't take this the wrong way, but I think I need a little break from the bar. I just don't want to deal with a lot of people right now. I'd rather spend some time in the quiet just relaxing, if that's alright with you,” I say.