Chapter 24 #2
"Different?" I questioned. "How?" At my grandmother's hesitation, I added, "Seriously? You cannot hold out on me now. I have to know everything. I almost died today because people refused to talk about what was going on. And maybe you don't give a damn about me, but—"
"Of course I give a damn about you," Ellen interrupted.
"Jessica is different because she's the daughter of one of the first women I helped thirty-six years ago.
When I helped that woman get away from a terrible situation, she was pregnant with Jessica.
And she told Jessica if she was ever in trouble, she should come to me, that I was the only one she could trust."
Despite her explanation, there was something she wasn't telling me. I thought about what she had told me. "Thirty-six years ago," I said slowly. "That's about the time my dad left, isn't it? Are you talking about Lily?"
My grandmother nodded. "Yes."
"You helped Lily escape? She didn't kill herself?"
"We made it look like she did so no one would look for her."
As that sank in, I said, "Is Jessica Tom's daughter? Does he know?"
"Tom doesn’t know anything about Jessica's past."
"You didn't answer my question."
Ellen twisted her hands, shifting from one foot to the other, as if she were battling some inner conflict. Then she lifted her head and met my gaze. "Tom isn't Jessica's father; David is."
"What?" I gasped. "Jessica is my…half sister? Does my dad know he has another daughter?"
"He doesn't. He thought Lily killed herself because of me, because I didn't want them to be together. He misunderstood an argument Lily and I had at the inn a few weeks before the night she allegedly killed herself."
"Why not tell him the truth? Set him straight? How could you let him believe that the girl he loved was dead? That is so cruel.”
"It had to be done. Lily needed to be safe, and I didn't want him to look for her. She couldn't just disappear. It had to look like she was dead."
"I don't understand."
"I know you don't, but here's what happened.
Tom abused Lily. Her father had done the same thing.
But David was kind to her, and she said he found her one night crying, and he comforted her, and they ended up being together.
He wanted them to be together forever. But her life was a mess.
Tom was always drunk and always volatile.
I was afraid he'd hurt David if he knew that David had slept with his girlfriend.
And it wasn't just Tom; it was her father.
She had to get away from him, but she was sixteen.
She couldn't leave. She was a minor. If David tried to take her out of town, her dad would have come after him.
And David could have been tried for kidnapping or statutory rape or any number of things. I had to protect him."
"So you helped Lily fake her death?" I asked.
"Yes. I told her that was the only way to be free, and that I would do it if she promised to never contact David again. I didn't want her to be an anchor around his neck. I didn't want being with her to make him her father's target. It had to be a clean and final break."
I shook my head. Her story made sense but still… "It was such a drastic thing to do. Couldn't you have gone to the police and had Lily removed from her father's home?"
"Other people had reported him, but neither Lily nor her mother would ever admit he was hurting her. And Lily didn't want her father to go to jail. She also didn't want Tom to go to jail. She just wanted to be free. And I helped her do that."
"What did my father think had happened?"
"He thought that I'd told Lily to stay away from him, that I'd fired Lily, and that she'd killed herself because she couldn't have him, and she'd lost her job, and she was afraid to go home and face her parents."
"You should have told him the truth."
Ellen gave me a direct look that held not even the tiniest bit of regret. "I couldn't do that. It was for her protection and for his. I may have lost my relationship with my son, but he went on to live the life he was supposed to live. And Lily did, too."
"Let's get back to Jessica," Finn interrupted.
"She came to me, terrified for her life. She said someone was trying to stop her from testifying in an upcoming trial. She needed help. Lily had died a few years earlier, and she'd told her if she ever needed someone, I was the one she should go to."
"Well, Tyler wants her to testify," I said. "He needs her to be alive. He's not trying to kill her."
"Let's hope you're right," Finn said shortly. "But just in case…you need to tell us where Jessica is."
"She's in Pinehaven, but that's three hours away from here, and Tyler has a big head start," Ellen said, pulling out her phone. She punched in a number, then gave me a fearful look. "Jessica isn't answering."
"We have to go find her," I said, jumping to my feet so quickly my head spun again, and put a hand on Finn's arm.
"You're in no condition to go anywhere except bed," he said.
"No. I'm going to find Jessica." I stopped abruptly, turning to Ellen again. "Does Jessica know you're her grandmother?"
"No. I didn't tell her. And, apparently, Lily didn't, either."
"I'll call the Pinehaven Police Department," Finn said. "They can send someone out to check her house and be on the lookout for Tyler."
"And then we'll drive there," I said.
"No."
"Finn. I'm not staying here, counting on some nameless, faceless police officer to save my sister."
"I agree. You're not staying here, and neither am I. My friend flies helicopter tours. I'm going to see if he can get us to Pinehaven in the next twenty minutes. If we're lucky, we might just beat Tyler there."
As Finn moved into the kitchen to make his call, my grandmother and I exchanged a long look.
"You wanted to know me," she said finally. "The truth isn't always what you want to hear, is it?"
"No. It isn't. I'm going to need some time to sort all this out. But right now, all I want to do is find Jessica." I shook my head in amazement. "I can't believe I have a sibling."
"She's strong, too, just like you, Cassidy.
She's the one who blew the whistle at the company she worked for.
She risked her life to stop a wrong." Ellen paused.
"That's why I don't understand what you said about Tyler wanting her to help his brother.
I think the man awaiting jail is the one she's supposed to testify against."
My heart sank, because that made more sense than the story Tyler had told me. And hadn't I wondered at one point if Tyler was hiding something else? Hadn't I wondered if I was making a mistake helping him find Jessica? But I had been so desperate to have an ally, I'd pushed those misgivings aside.
On the other hand… "Tyler is an architect," I said. "I saw the blueprints he was working on at the house up the road. He's not a killer. Maybe he doesn't know that his brother is lying. Maybe his brother is using him to find Jessica."
"Maybe," Ellen said. "But we still don't know what his intentions are when he does find her."
"We've got a ride," Finn interrupted. "Are you sure you want to go, Cassidy? You're hurt. You might have a concussion."
"I can do this, and I want to do this," I said firmly. I might be running on nothing but adrenaline but I had to save my sister.
"Good luck," Ellen said as we left her apartment and headed to Finn's car.
I needed more than luck. I needed a fast helicopter and for Tyler to be stuck in traffic so he didn't get to Jessica before we did.