Chapter Twenty-Three
Twenty-Three
I stood in the middle of the living room, watching the officers go through Johnny’s desk.
It had taken two days for Autumn Fischer to be officially declared a missing person, and her face was already hanging in the windows of the shops that lined Main Street.
Interviews with town residents had determined that the last time she was seen was at an end-of-summer party with friends on August 18, the night before she was scheduled to take the bus to San Francisco.
It didn’t take long for Amelia to obtain a warrant for the search of Johnny’s home after the state police arrived in Six Rivers. Now, they moved through the small cabin wordlessly, stepping over the mess I’d left behind when I tore the place apart. The idea of people poking into Johnny’s life made me nervous. It went against every instinct I’d ever had when it came to my brother.
The news about Autumn had engulfed the entire town, and I could only imagine the rumors that had started, especially if there’d been talk about Johnny and Autumn before. I imagined people recounting their suspicions, dredging up what they’d been happy to overlook before all this started.
Amelia’s number one priority was to establish a timeline for everyone the night Autumn was last seen. Including Johnny. But it became clear very quickly that he had no alibi. Not one he could give, anyway, because he wasn’t here to offer any kind of explanation for how all this looked. And there was no denying that it looked bad.
Micah stood at my side as we watched the officers move through the cabin. We had barely spoken since leaving Amelia’s office, the accusations we’d both made like a ricocheting bullet. I’d blamed him. For all of this. And Micah had finally put words to what I’d never been able to admit—that when I left, I’d been running. And I hadn’t just left Johnny, I’d abandoned him, too.
Standing in the middle of the house I grew up in, it all felt irrevocably true. I could sense Johnny everywhere, as if he was being stirred up like dust as the officers rooted around the place, and it put me on edge. It was as if I was just waiting to see him appear in that hallway or beyond the kitchen window. Like he was seconds from coming back to life.
There wasn’t a single corner of Johnny’s life that wasn’t being overturned. The cabin, the school, there was even a team going through the 4Runner with a fine-tooth comb. And what would they find? Would there be strands of Autumn’s hair in Johnny’s bedroom? Her fingerprints in his car? Traces of DNA on his boots?
A man in a uniform took the gun from the closet, slipping it into a plastic bag before he carefully labeled it. The laptop was next, followed by the contents of the filing cabinet. A woman went through the papers on the desk, and I watched as she studied the items on the corkboard.
The words scratched on the missing note were still burned into my mind. Autumn’s words.
You changed my life.
And what did they mean, exactly? Were they the sentiments of a grateful student who’d found her inspiration, or the romantic adoration of a girl who’d been taken advantage of? I couldn’t help but wonder if they were some of her last written words. But it was one piece of evidence the police wouldn’t have. I’d scoured the place and still hadn’t found it.
The woman bagged a few items before she moved on, and I took a step forward, staring at the bare place it had hung on the bottom right corner of the board. My eyes narrowed on that small, exposed space of cork, a thought surfacing in my mind. I’d wondered if I’d imagined it, and my blood had run cold at the thought that maybe it was Johnny who’d somehow taken it. But what I hadn’t considered was that there was one other person who’d been in the cabin—Ben.
It hit me suddenly, and I tried to re-create that moment in my mind. He’d stopped by, letting himself in when I didn’t answer the door. But I’d had the innate feeling that something was off when I came inside and saw him coming from the hallway. Had he…taken it? If he had, then why?
“James.” Amelia was suddenly beside me. “We need you to come down to the office so we can go over a few things.” She was speaking gently, the way I imagined a doctor would when it was time to give you terrible news.
Behind her, another officer was taking Johnny’s camera from his bag. “Tell them to be careful with that,” I said, stepping forward, but Micah stopped me.
“Why don’t you go with Amelia and I’ll stay here while they finish.”
He and Amelia shared a look, like they both thought it was a good idea.
“It won’t take long.” Amelia reached up to touch my elbow.
I reluctantly started for the door and Amelia followed on my heels. The men outside had the contents of the 4Runner laid out in the driveway, one of them making notes on a clipboard while the other took photos of each item.
“Will everything be returned?” I asked, climbing into her truck.
She clipped her seatbelt. “Everything that isn’t retained as evidence.”
Amelia pulled out of the drive, and I looked back over my shoulder before the cabin was swallowed by the trees. It didn’t look the same to me anymore. Nothing did. I was questioning every memory now, every truth. Taking apart and reshaping all the details of the lives we’d lived here and what they meant. But maybe that was just it. Maybe there was no meaning anymore.
Town came into view ahead, and Main Street was packed with cars again. With people, too, but this time there were no banners or streamers or blue and white paint. This time, there was only shouting.
“What on earth?” Amelia murmured, leaning over her steering wheel.
Several people were clustered in the middle of the street, surrounding a state police cruiser. Beyond it, the door to the diner was propped open and a sea of faces inside peered out through the windows, watching the commotion.
Amelia pulled the truck over, shifting the gear into park. Then she was getting out, and the shouting only grew louder before the door closed behind her.
I opened my own door, stepping onto the street and trying to see over the heads in front of me. A woman’s voice cut through the clamor, and a tall police officer had a hand up, as if trying to calm someone down.
“…you even think about it!”
I thought I could place the voice even before I saw her. Sadie Cross was red-faced, one hand hooked anxiously on the arm of her son, who stood at least six inches taller than her. The police officer had his other arm, trying to guide him toward the car.
“This is ridiculous!” Sadie sounded almost hysterical. “You can’t question him without me there.”
“Ma’am, he’s eighteen years old,” the officer replied.
Amelia made it through the packed bodies, getting Sadie’s attention.
“Oh, thank god.” She was almost in tears now.
Amelia set a hand on Sadie’s shoulder, eyes scanning the scene around her. “What’s going on?”
“They’re trying to arrest my son! That’s what’s going on!” Sadie cried.
The crowd watched with varying degrees of concern, a few voices murmuring too low to hear. One woman shook her head disapprovingly, and I could tell that at any moment, the lot of them would be ready to tear Ben from the officer’s grasp. If the wind blew just right, this whole thing could catch fire.
“Sadie, they’re just having him make a statement, just like all the other kids who were at the party that night. They’ll ask him some questions and release him. That’s it.” Amelia’s smooth voice turned coaxing and her eyes locked with Sadie’s in what appeared to be an attempt to de-escalate the situation.
Ben said something to Sadie, his back to the officer, and she finally let her son go. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides as Ben was put into the car. Once it was moving, the group of onlookers began to disperse, getting out of the road. That’s when Sadie’s gaze found me.
“ You. ” Her voice cracked as it deepened and her crazed blue eyes flashed before she started in my direction. “This was you, wasn’t it?”
I looked around me, confused. Amelia tried to catch hold of Sadie, but she was already out of reach, closing the distance between us fast.
“Are you happy?” she shrieked, making me flinch.
When she finally made it across the street, everyone was watching again.
“Are you happy now?” The words repeated, and before I realized what was happening, her hand lifted into the air and came back down with a snap, striking me across the face.
“Sadie!” Amelia shouted behind her.
A collective gasp loosed from the crowd and I sucked in a breath, stumbling to the side and catching myself on the bumper of a car. When I righted, Sadie was already coming at me again.
Amelia caught up with her and wrenched her backward. She put herself between the two of us and shoved Sadie toward the opposite sidewalk.
My mouth hung open, the pain in my face radiating. I didn’t even recognize Sadie. She looked like a wild, crazed animal, her eyes wide and teeth bared as she screamed.
“Get back! Now!” Amelia looked disturbed, taking hold of Sadie’s jacket and shoving her backward again.
Furious tears glinted in Sadie’s eyes. “What are you thinking, letting these people come in here and haul my son out like a criminal? Hasn’t he been through enough because of that girl?”
“This is all procedure, Sadie. This is exactly what we would be doing if it were your child missing.”
Sadie was still heaving. “He’s a good kid, Amelia. We’re a good family.”
“I know.” Amelia was trying to soothe her, a genuine worry in her voice.
“She’s the one you should be talking to,” Sadie spat, pointing a finger in my direction.
The circle of people was widening around us now and more were spilling from the diner. They were all looking at me.
“Why aren’t you asking her about Johnny? About him and Autumn?”
Amelia put a hand on Sadie’s back, strategically leading her in the opposite direction. Her voice was too low to hear, but Sadie shot a glance backward, that same piercing gaze fixed on me.
I was still frozen, hand pressed to my cheek, when they disappeared into the diner. The faces around me reflected the same expression I was sure was on mine. The whole thing was so bizarre, so unexpected, that I wasn’t completely convinced that it had just happened.
Someone handed me a handkerchief just as the spectators began to thin, and I took it, staring at the soft checkered fabric folded into a square. When my eyes lifted to the figure beside me, they went wide.
It was Rhett Walker.
His stoic face peered out from beneath his hat, his wild dark beard hiding the set of his mouth. He stared at me, his squinted eyes painted that same muted gray as his son, Griffin. He was the last person I expected to be standing there. The last person I expected to show me any amount of kindness.
I swallowed. “Thanks.”
I dabbed at my face, where a stinging stripe was now throbbing on my cheek. The handkerchief came away with a few blots of blood.
He gave me a nod. “I’m sure you’ve figured out by now people aren’t at their best when they’re afraid for their kids.” His gravelly voice was like faraway thunder. “I’ve been there myself.”
When I looked at him, I wondered if the strangeness of his expression was guilt. An acknowledgment of what he’d done that day when he came to our house and tried to…what? I don’t know what he’d intended. But I’d seen that same wild look in his eyes. I’d heard the anguish in his voice. He’d been desperate for the truth. One I had never given him.
“She was at Johnny’s the night they’re saying she disappeared, you know,” Rhett said, gaze fixed on the missing person poster that hung in the window behind us. “That girl.”
“What?” I lowered my voice.
He pushed his hands into his pockets. “Heard arguin’ and that goddamn wolf making a racket, so I went outside and she was there.”
“Doing what?”
“She was leavin’ with her boyfriend.”
Through the window across the street, I could see Sadie with her face in her hands. Amelia was still beside her, the walkie-talkie raised to her mouth.
“Who was arguing?”
Rhett shrugged. “Don’t know. By the time I got there she was climbin’ in Ben’s truck.”
My eyes drifted back to the street.
So, Johnny had been with Autumn that night, but if she’d left with Ben, then Johnny wasn’t the last one to see her.
“Did you tell Amelia this?” I asked.
“I learned a long time ago that the last people you can trust to find the truth are the people who get paid to do it.” He glanced at the diner window. “Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands.”
Is that what I’d been doing? Taking matters into my own hands? Is that what Rhett Walker had been doing the day that he knocked on the door and took a handful of my hair, screaming?
I held out the handkerchief. “Thanks.”
“Keep it.” Rhett looked at me for another moment before he started up the sidewalk, adjusting the hat on his head. He didn’t look back before he ducked into the market.
I waited in Amelia’s truck, watching in the side mirror as the red mark on my face grew darker. When she finally got back, she sat in the driver’s seat, staring at her steering wheel.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said, voice tight. “It was completely uncalled for.”
“He was at home that night,” I said.
Amelia turned to me. “What?”
“Johnny. He has an alibi.” I wiped at my cheek again, folding the handkerchief. “Rhett just told me that he saw Autumn leaving Johnny’s late that night with Ben Cross. He picked her up outside.”
I watched as Amelia stacked the new information against what she already knew.
“They were arguing.”
“About what?”
“He doesn’t know. But my brother wasn’t the last one to see Autumn Fischer alive.”
Beside me, Amelia paled. I could see her thinking the same thing I was. No one had been looking for Autumn because no one knew she was missing. But if Johnny found that backpack out in the gorge, he would have known who she was with that night.
If there was anyone who’d want to be sure that Johnny didn’t make it back to tell anyone, it was Ben.