Chapter 19 #2
I smiled. "I didn't mean it. I can't live for my dad. Mostly, because it still wouldn't make him happy. And it certainly wouldn't make me happy. Maybe you should talk to your dad about what he wants. It's possible he doesn't want to take the bar away from you, that he sees it as yours now."
"He has made comments like that, but I don't know.
Anyway, that's not something I'm going to figure out today.
I'm here in my hometown, and the people who live here are my people, and if there is someone amongst us who is hurting innocent women, I want to stop them.
You and Tessa have raised enough doubts in my mind to question the narrative I've been hearing the past year, and I don't completely trust the sheriff.
Tom acts like he's a king and thinks he runs the town.
Ellen also seems to feel that her inn is driving half the tourism in Stonecross, so it has to be protected no matter the cost."
"Does the inn bring in half the tourism?"
"Probably. But that doesn't matter if innocent women are getting hurt. We need to find out what's going on."
"We?" I echoed.
"If you're open to me helping you."
"Absolutely. But if we're going to be partners, I need to know if you're really willing to put yourself or someone you care about in the line of fire."
He stared back at me. "You're talking about Nathan."
"Yes. I know you went to the sheriff, who dismissed everything you said. Maybe you need to go back to Nathan and get him to admit what he did to Tessa."
Finn turned his gaze out to the sea, then after a moment, he returned it to me.
"Nathan and I grew up together. He was a scrawny kid who had to wear a back brace for a long time.
He was picked on, bullied, and I looked out for him.
I guess I haven't let go of that habit. But he's not a kid anymore.
He's a grown man, and I don't know him the way I used to.
You're right. I need to talk to him again, and I'll do that today. "
"You could do it now. You could call him."
He pulled out his phone. "Good idea. I'll put it on speaker."
"Thank you."
He punched a button and turned on the speaker. But the call went to voicemail. "I'll try his office," he said. "They might know where he is and when he'll be back." He put in another number. The phone rang once. Twice. Three times.
Then a woman's voice answered, high-pitched and panicked. "Hello? Who is this?"
Finn frowned. "This is Finn Kelly. I'm looking for Nathan. Who's this?"
"Melissa. I work with Nathan at the charter office. He isn't here. Something terrible happened." She was crying now, deep, racking sobs of shock and pain.
"What? What happened?" Finn asked.
"He overdosed. He might be dead."
My blood turned to ice. I grabbed Finn's arm, staring at the phone.
"Might be dead?" Finn repeated. "Tell me what happened.”
"He went home for lunch around noon and when he didn't come back by three, Mike went over to check on him.
" Her voice broke. "He said Nathan was lying on the floor and there were pills everywhere.
They think he might have tried to kill himself, but the paramedics got a pulse, so they took him to the hospital. "
"When did this happen?" Finn asked, his voice tight.
"Sometime between noon and three, they think. The police are here now. They're questioning everyone. I have to go."
The line went dead.
Finn and I stared at each other in the sudden silence.
"Oh my God," I whispered. "He tried to kill himself?"
Finn's lips tightened. "And maybe succeeded, but I can't believe he would do that."
"Maybe it was an accident." I could see Finn processing that thought, but he clearly wasn't convinced. "What else could have happened?"
"I don't know, but I need to talk to the sheriff."
"I'm going with you," I said as we both jumped up.
We walked quickly back to our cars. I stayed close to Finn's tail, thinking about what had happened.
Maybe Nathan had tried to kill himself. He'd drugged Tessa.
He'd stolen Jessica's ring. Maybe there was even more to that story.
What if he had killed Jessica, stolen her ring, and pretended to find her boat?
My phone suddenly buzzed, and Tyler's name flashed across the screen. "Tyler," I said. "I'm glad you called. I have news. Nathan tried to kill himself today."
"What? How did you hear that?"
"Finn called him, and they told him he was at the hospital. I guess he's still alive, but maybe barely."
"Damn. That's not good. He could still have information we need."
It was a bit callous to only think about the information and not the man, but Tyler wasn't wrong. "I'm hopeful he'll recover, and we'll be able to talk to him again."
"If he overdosed, maybe he was trying to kill himself."
"I had that same thought. I even wondered if he might have…"
"Killed Jessica?" Tyler asked grimly.
"He probably didn't, but—"
"We don't know."
"No. But Finn and I are on our way to talk to Sheriff Holloway."
"You're trusting Finn now?" he challenged. "Is that wise?"
"He's been getting me information about my father, and he seems like he genuinely wants to help me find out what happened to Natalie."
"Even though he's friends with Nathan, the man who drugged your friend? That's who you're going to trust?"
When he put it like that, it did seem like a risky move. Was I letting Finn's likeable charm blind me to who he might really be? I honestly didn't know.
"I'm not trusting him," I said. "I'm just going to see what he can find out from the sheriff, because I guarantee Tom Holloway will tell Finn more than he'll tell me."
"Will you keep me posted?"
"Sure. Did you find any security footage of Jessica?"
"No," he said wearily. "Not yet. But I'm waiting for a shop owner to come in. There's one place that looks promising, but the person in charge said he can't release the footage without the owner's permission."
"Good luck."
"Be careful, Cassidy."
"I'm going to try, but I'm not sure careful is even a possibility anymore."
"You can still get out. You can go home. Leave now. It's not too late."
"I think it might be," I murmured, knowing I was in too deep. That I couldn't walk away without knowing the truth. For better or worse, I was going to follow this to the end.