Delores Fossen - New Year Heroes - The Sheriff's Secretary / Veiled Intentions / Juror No. 7

Mariah had gone back to her bedroom a little while ago, and Lucas had almost been grateful that she had. Their conversation had been empty and strained today, as if the emotional outbursts from the day before had drained all the energy, all the will from them both.

Enough time had passed, now, that most of the concerned citizens who had come out on that first day to help search would have returned to their jobs, their lives.

Even when a young woman and a little boy were missing, life went on. What if they never found Jenny and Billy? People disappeared every day, and when foul play was involved bodies were often never found.

How would Mariah cope if Billy never came home? She’d survive, because she was a survivor, but her life would never be the same. He felt confident that she wouldn’t remain in Conja Creek, that the town itself and this house in particular would hold too many bad memories for her to stay.

He would miss her. The thought shocked him. In the course of these past days, he’d grown closer to her than he could ever have imagined, closer than he’d been to anyone for a very long time. He felt he knew her better than anyone, but more than that, he felt she knew him.

Lucas recognized he could fall for her if he allowed himself. But he wouldn’t allow it, because even though she’d made love with him, he guessed that the emotions they felt were driven by circumstance.

Sooner or later this case would be resolved one way or another, and with that resolution would come an end to the unusual and intense relationship they’d forged.

As he moved away from the window, he realized it was time for him to build a wall around his emotions where she was concerned. He’d allowed himself to get too close, both in his position as sheriff and as a man.

He returned to the kitchen, where his legal pad awaited him at the table. One thing he and Mariah hadn’t discussed the day before when they’d been going over things was the fact that the kidnapper could be almost anyone.

Just because they had Phillip Ribideaux and Remy Troulous in their sights didn’t mean either man was responsible. Just because she thought this was something her ex-husband might be capable of didn’t mean Frank Landers was responsible.

Who knew what acquaintances Jenny had who might want to do this? Who knew what neighbor or friend might harbor some sick twist in their mind that might have led to this?

The phone rang and Lucas snatched up the receiver, his heart pounding as it had every time the phone rang. “Hello?”

“Hi, this is Miranda Thomas with Channel Four news. I was wondering if I could speak with Mariah?”

His heart slowed once again. “She isn’t taking calls.”

“Who am I speaking to?” she asked.

“A ‘no comment’ kind of guy,” he replied, and hung up the receiver.

The calls from the press had been constant, as had the calls from Richard Welch wanting updates. There had still been a few other phone messages, also—well-meaning people who wanted to know what they could do, how they could help. But so far the call Lucas most wanted hadn’t come.

This time there would be no taped monologue. This time there was going to be a dialogue and maybe, just maybe, in having that dialogue Lucas could figure out what about that voice sounded so familiar.

The doorbell rang and he hurried out of the kitchen to the front door. He met Mariah coming down the hallway. She cast him a tired smile as he peeked out the door and took a step back in surprise.

“It’s Remy Troulous,” he said to her as he opened the door. What was he doing here?

Mariah stepped in front of Lucas. “Mr. Troulous, please come in,” she said as if he were an expected, welcome friend.

Remy looked distinctly uncomfortable as he stepped through the door and into the small entry. “Please, come in and sit,” Mariah said, and gestured him into the living room. “Would you like something to drink?”

“No, I’m good,” he replied.

Lucas frowned at the young man. “What are you doing here, Remy?”

“I didn’t want to talk to you at the office. My business is nobody’s business, and I didn’t want anyone to hear what I’m going to tell you.” Remy’s eyes gleamed with a hard edge, and he lifted his chin defensively.

“Do you know where my son is? Where Jenny is?” Mariah asked, her voice filled with urgency as she stepped closer to him.

“No.” His gaze softened slightly as he looked at Mariah. “I’m sorry, but I really don’t know anything about what happened to them.” He looked back at Lucas. “You and I have butted heads a lot of times in the past, but even you should know this isn’t my style. I don’t mess with kids.”

“So, what do you have to tell us?” Lucas asked.

“It’s about me and Jenny.”

“What about you and Jenny?” Lucas tried to hang on to his emotions.

“We were sort of seeing each other, but it’s not what you think.” Again Remy’s chin lifted. “It wasn’t anything romantic or nothing like that.”

“Then what was it?” Lucas couldn’t imagine what this man and his sister would have in common, why they would be seeing each other at all.

Remy shoved his hands into his pockets and gazed first at Lucas, then at Mariah, then back to Lucas. “Look, this is something I don’t want anyone else to know. That’s why I came here instead of telling you yesterday. You had that other dude in the room and I wasn’t going to talk about it.”

“Talk about what?” Lucas asked with more than a touch of impatience.

“Jenny was teaching me to read, okay? I know I can’t be a gangbanger forever. I want something better, okay? But I can’t do nothing about my life unless I learn how to read.”

He eyed them belligerently, as if expecting them to mock or belittle his efforts. “Anyway, that’s why I was meeting with her. I just thought you should know so you’ll get off my back ‘cause I had nothing to do with her being missing.” He backed toward the door. “Sorry I can’t help. I liked Jenny a lot and she was nice to me even though she didn’t have to be.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. “This is my cell phone number. If I can do anything to help find her, give me a call.”

Lucas could feel Mariah’s disappointment, as rich and deep as his own. He took the piece of paper from Remy but wasn’t finished with his questions. “How did you arrange this with my sister?”

Remy shrugged his narrow shoulders. “I was in the library and looking at books on reading. Jenny was in there, too, and she saw the books I was looking at. We started talking and she offered to help me. I trusted her. I knew she wouldn’t tell nobody, so we met a couple of times here during the day.”

“And you haven’t heard anything on the streets about her disappearance?” Lucas asked.

Remy shook his head. “Nothing. Whoever took them, he ain’t talking to nobody. Look, Jenny was helping me. I wouldn’t have repaid her by doing something like this. I just wanted you to know.” Without another word, Remy shot out of the front door.

Mariah closed the door after him and turned to face Lucas. “Do you believe him?”

“I have absolutely no reason to believe anything that falls out of that man’s mouth, but yeah, I believe him.”

She nodded. “So do I. It’s just the kind of thing Jenny would do. I told you she would have made a great teacher.”

A stab of guilt gored him. He’d been so busy worrying about the kind of woman Jenny might be that he hadn’t taken the time to see what kind of woman she had become.

He sighed. “So, if we believe Remy, then he comes off our list of suspects.”

“And since Phillip Ribideaux has done nothing suspicious in the past couple of days and we don’t know where Frank is, that leaves us with nothing.”