How did he do that? How did he always read her mind that way?
“Okay,” she said. “Okay.”
They drew closer to her grandfather’s house. Her mom was on the porch, and Kevin said, “Who’s that dude?”
“Where?”
“The one going to his car.”
Ashleigh saw who Kevin was talking about. “It’s Detective Stynes,” she said. “You know?”
“The one who investigated your uncle’s murder?”
“What’s he doing here?” Ashleigh asked. “Do you think he knows about the guy? Do you think they found him?”
“Maybe he came back here,” Kevin said. “Your uncle or whoever he is. Maybe they all know everything.”
But Ashleigh got the feeling that wasn’t the case. Her mom saw her and came down off the porch, a worried look on her face. She looked back and forth between Kevin and Ashleigh, waiting for an explanation.
“What happened?” she said. “I can tell something’s wrong.”
Ashleigh opened her mouth to speak, but then-
Everything caught up to her. The fight with Kevin, the groping by the manager.
The letter with her uncle’s name on it.
And everything else-the weeks of looking for the man. The years of her mom’s unhappiness over her brother’s death.
It was all there-inside Ashleigh’s throat. A giant ball of emotion.
She started to cry.
But Ashleigh didn’t just cry. She heaved, a great outpouring of tears and giant breaths that seemed to come from the deepest center of her being and jolted her entire body with convulsions. Through the scrim of tears, she saw her mother’s face, even more concerned. Scared, even. Her mother looked at Kevin, seeking an explanation.
“What’s wrong?” she kept saying. “What happened?”
Kevin wouldn’t say anything. She knew he wouldn’t. This was her news to share, her prize to bring home. He put his hand on her back and rubbed it gently.
“Ash, it’s okay,” he said. “Tell her. Just tell her.”
“Tell me what?”
And then Ashleigh saw the cop coming over from his car. He must have seen the show she was putting on and decided he couldn’t just walk away from a citizen in distress. But the sobs kept coming, so she tried to talk through them.
“I’m…okay…”
Her mom placed her hands on Ashleigh’s upper arms. “Tell me, honey.”
“I’m okay…It’s…I found…”
“You found?”
She lost control for a minute, then managed some deep breaths, which slowed the pace of her crying. She looked around, saw everyone’s eyes on her, even the cop’s.
“Justin,” Ashleigh said.
“What?” her mom said.
“Justin,” Kevin said. “That’s what she’s talking about.”
“Justin?” her mom said. “What about Justin? Honey, what about Justin?”
Ashleigh swallowed again, another deep breath.
“I found him, Mom. I found Uncle Justin.”
Chapter Twenty-six
Janet guided Ashleigh into the house, followed by Kevin and Detective Stynes. The girl still huffed and hiccupped, but seemed to be on her way to calming down. Ashleigh had cried a lot as a baby, but not much since then. While Janet went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, she tried to remember if she’d ever seen Ashleigh cry so hard.
But she understood. Something big had happened.
Something about Justin.
When Janet returned to the room, her father was there. He must have been down the hall or in the bathroom when they’d first come into the house. He looked like all men look in the presence of a crying female-perplexed, a little lost. Janet handed the glass of water to Ashleigh, who was sitting on the couch alone. The other two men- Kevin and Stynes-weren’t much more help, although Janet could see the concern on both of their faces.
“What’s going on now?” her dad said.
“She found something, Dad. Something about Justin.”
He didn’t say anything. He just looked even more confused.
Ashleigh drank the entire glass of water and took two deep breaths. “I’m okay,” she said. “Really. I’m sorry.” She looked around the room at everybody. “I just kind of lost it for a minute. It’s been a crazy day.”
“It’s okay,” Kevin said. “We don’t care.”
“Why don’t you just tell us what happened, honey?” Janet said. “Start from the beginning. You said you found something out about Justin…”
“I didn’t find something out,” Ashleigh said, her voice, even in this time of great stress, still laced with the contempt only a teenage daughter can have for her mother. “I found
A stillness fell over the room. Janet moved over to the couch and sat down next to Ashleigh. She took the girl’s hand in her own. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”
Ashleigh looked around the room at the other expectant and curious faces. Janet could read her mind-cop, emotionally distant grandfather, friend, and mother. Did she really want to tell the story to this eclectic cast? But Ashleigh had always been a brave girl. Not particularly effusive or outgoing, not always even warm. But she was brave. So Janet watched as her daughter took another deep breath and said, “Remember that guy who came to the door in the middle of the night?”
Janet felt her mouth fall open. “How do you know about that?”
“I saw it. I heard you talking to him, so I came downstairs and saw the whole thing. I looked at him carefully and remembered him.”
“And you found that man?” Janet asked.
“
“Hold on a minute,” Stynes said. “I’m a step behind here.”
“Me, too,” her dad said.
And Janet saw the trap she herself had stepped into. In order for Ashleigh to tell her story, Janet was going to have to admit the secret she’d been holding back from the police, in particular Detective Stynes. Rather than let Ashleigh stroll through that minefield alone, Janet stepped forward.
“Okay,” she said. “I think I need to provide a little background about this, before Ashleigh goes on.”
So she did. She told Stynes and her father about the visit in the middle of the night by the man claiming that Justin’s death hadn’t happened the way everyone thought it did. She told them that she’d wanted to call the police, but the man told her not to, so she didn’t.
“Did he threaten you?” Stynes asked.
“No, he didn’t,” Janet said. “I mean, not directly. He may have been coming around the house other times. During the night.”
“During the night?” her dad said.
“Just let me explain,” Janet said.
Janet went on to tell them about the months she’d waited for the man to come back-and that he finally did come back, just a few days ago on campus. But the man refused to say who he was or what he really wanted.
