Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
Jackie’s house was a single-story building in need of a fresh coat of paint. The lawn was patchy and unkempt with weeds creeping up the edges of the driveway. Lisa broke open the door after nobody answered.
The first thing Zoe registered was the dust dancing in the stale air.
She waded through the personal space of a woman she’d never met—an occupational hazard.
A half-empty coffee mug, a stack of unopened mail and bills, a crumpled blanket on the couch, and overflowing garbage infusing the air with a sour smell.
A bouquet of stream violets in a vase—limp and dead.
“She forgot to put the milk back.” Lisa pulled a face. “She definitely hasn’t been home these last couple of days.”
“No one at work reported her missing?” Aiden asked.
“I talked to the manager. It sounds like she’s checked out of the job.”
Zoe twirled the cord of a charger. “How does Jackie know Annabelle?”
“Maybe they just became friends at the coffee house. She could have been a regular there and they bonded,” Lisa suggested.
“Possibly.” Zoe looked at Aiden. “What do you think?”
He slipped inside the only bedroom without answering.
Zoe followed him, noting the bed hadn’t been slept in.
It was highly likely that Jackie lived alone, from the single toothbrush in the bathroom, and yet she’d made no attempt to engrave the house with an ounce of her personality.
No books, no artwork, no mementos, no pictures that told Zoe anything about who Jackie was.
Except for a bunch of flowers—now wilting—sitting in a vase.
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Zoe asked, wandering back out into the kitchen.
“It’s a functional house, nothing more,” Aiden remarked, opening the closet and flicking through Jackie’s clothes. “Is she new to town, Sheriff?”
Lisa leaned against the doorway. “No. Born and bred here, according to Ethan. No priors. I’ll ask deputies to canvass the neighborhood. Maybe someone saw something.”
Zoe’s eyes landed on the magnetic calendar on the fridge. September 5 was circled with the words “MF birthday” next to it. The only intimate detail in this barren house. “Who is MF?”
Lisa made a note of it. “I’ll ask Ethan to look into it. Her last name is Fink so probably some family member.”
“Storm! Sheriff!” Aiden’s voice came from the bedroom. They rushed back to the bedroom to find Aiden in the walk-in closet. He had swiped the clothes to one side to expose the back wall.
Zoe drew a sharp breath.
A single bulb dangled from the ceiling, oscillating and casting shadows.
The entire wall was filled with newspaper clippings, photos, and handwritten notes arranged in a haphazard order.
Frantic handwriting in margins, scrawled in different inks.
Almost like the words were gushing out to be on the wall.
Red thread connecting the notes, and maps dotted with pins.
Zoe could feel the obsession spilling from the meticulousness and sheer volume of information.
She ran her fingers over the words that popped up the most, words that were scribbled hard enough to leave an indentation in the paper.
Pineview Falls Big Fire.