Chapter 10
Jesse slept in late, still feeling sluggish when she finally forced herself out of bed and into the shower.
It wasn’t until she’d consumed the muffins that Bea had delivered the day before and caffeinated herself with several cups of coffee that she could clear the fuzz from her brain and consider the implications of Noah’s confession.
Sitting at the kitchen table, Jesse massaged her temples, trying to hold back a looming headache.
It shouldn’t matter that her father had left the bar the night Victoria disappeared.
What did it change? Okay, he’d lied to her.
Probably because he hoped to avoid a lecture on drinking and driving.
But it wasn’t like she would ever believe that her father would hurt Victoria.
As Noah had pointed out, Mac Hudson didn’t have a violent bone in his body.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t dismiss the niggling itch in the back of her mind.
What if everything had been a terrible accident? Maybe he’d chased after Victoria and she’d run off the road. And if the worst had happened, her dad might have panicked. He’d been drinking. Drinking heavily. He wouldn’t have been thinking clearly.
Was it possible?
Jesse dug her fingers into her temples, as if she could crush the awful thought.
Nothing that happened that night could ever destroy her love for her dad.
Mac Hudson was the anchor in her life no matter what was happening.
Nothing could change that. But if he had accidentally hurt Victoria and Tegan, and then committed suicide out of guilt, she couldn’t blame anyone but herself.
Her father had devoted his life to raising her, ignoring his own needs to make sure she never felt as if she was being pushed into second place. He hadn’t even dated, instead working day and night to keep a roof over their head.
And, in return, she’d been a selfish brat.
Had she been happy for him when he’d considered her mature enough for him to seek out a partner and fall in love?
No. She’d been a jealous cat who refused to listen to his pleas for understanding.
Even if she told herself that she’d suspected that Victoria was a bitch and destined to betray her father, the truth was that she would have resented anyone who wanted to share his attention.
Maybe if she’d tried to accept the marriage and been supportive instead of doing everything in her power to cause trouble, the two of them might have worked through their problems. Jesse clicked her tongue.
That seemed a stretch. Her dad and Victoria were tragically incompatible.
Still, there might have been a less explosive end to their marriage.
One that didn’t include Victoria stealing her college fund and her father pouring a bottle of whiskey down his throat.
With an abrupt shake of her head, Jesse pushed herself to her feet. She was punishing herself for something that probably never happened. At this point, it was nothing more than a wild conjecture.
What she needed to do was find out if it was even possible before she indulged in an epic pity party.
Grabbing her purse, Jesse jogged downstairs and out of the bar.
She hissed as the heat hit her like the blast from an oven.
It felt like the scalding air and thick humidity were tag teaming to melt her into a puddle of sweat.
She hurried around the corner to climb into her truck, blasting on the air-conditioner in an effort to unglue the crop top and cutoff jeans from her damp skin.
She pulled her phone out of her purse, glancing at the exact time before she put the truck in gear and pulled away from the curb, driving down Main Street until she was out of town.
Once away from the city limits, she punched on the gas, rattling down the road at top speed.
Victoria had been in a huff when she’d left the bar, and if she’d feared that she was being followed, she would have done whatever was necessary to disappear through the maze of backroads.
Obviously Jesse’s old clunker couldn’t reach the speed of a sports car, but once she turned onto the deeply rutted side road, she knew that Victoria would have had to slow down to keep from bottoming out. Her sports car sat too low to travel easily over the gravel lanes.
Keeping to a reasonable speed, Jesse rounded the sharp curve in the road where Victoria had lost control of her car and rammed into a tree.
Only then did she pull to the side and put the truck in Park.
Grabbing her phone, she looked at the time.
It’d taken her twenty-two minutes to get to this spot.
And even if she was off by a minute or two, it would have been next to impossible for her dad to have anything to do with Victoria’s disappearance.
Not unless he managed to follow them, watch them crash into the tree, determine they were dead, load the bodies in his truck, figure out some place to dump them where they wouldn’t be found in less than ten minutes so he could make the twenty-two-minute drive back to town and be inside the bar before she came downstairs to find him.
Was it doable? Maybe for a man half his age and stone-cold sober. But not her dad, who suffered from back problems and was so drunk he could barely stand.
Undeniable relief raced through her.
For now, she was convinced that her father didn’t have anything to do with what happened.
Shutting off the engine, Jesse jumped out of the truck and waded through the thick grass that surrounded the tree. She didn’t know what was compelling her forward, but now that she was out there, she wasn’t leaving until she had a look around.
She’d reached the tree and was bent down to examine the scars that were still visible on the thick trunk when she heard an approaching vehicle.
Turning toward the road, she furrowed her brow when she couldn’t see anyone.
Where was the sound coming from? It wasn’t until a tractor appeared from the far side of the open field that she noticed the cattle gathered around a fresh bale of hay.
She stepped away from the tree as the tractor rolled to a halt a few feet away and a thin, wiry man jumped down.
He was wearing jeans that were coated in dirt and a work shirt that was unbuttoned to reveal the lean muscles of someone who spends their days hauling, lifting, and tossing around heavy objects.
As he neared, Jesse could make out the narrow face, which was deeply tanned by hours in the sun despite the seed cap he had pulled low on his head.
There were a few new wrinkles around the brown eyes and an attempt at a patchy mustache, but Jesse easily recognized Clint Frazer, the witness who’d supposedly seen her dad in this precise spot.
“This is private property,” he was calling out as he stomped his way toward the tree.
“Sorry. I was just leaving.”
Jesse grimaced, wondering if there were people who came to gawk at the spot where Victoria Hudson had disappeared, along with her daughter.
Probably. There were all sorts of podcasts that concentrated on unsolved mysteries these days.
It wouldn’t be surprising if one or more had mentioned this strange case.
“Jesse?” The man moved to stand directly in front of her, planting his hands on his hips. A genuine smile curved his lips. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you at first.”
Jesse forced herself to return the smile.
She wasn’t really in the mood to chat. She was still processing her earlier unease that her dad might somehow have been involved in Victoria’s disappearance.
Then again, she had a dozen questions that only this man could answer, she sternly reminded herself.
She would be an idiot to waste this golden opportunity.
“Hi, Clint. How are you?”
“Good.” He pushed back his cap an inch, allowing her to see a glimpse of his ginger hair, which was cut short. “I heard you were back.”
“I’m pretty sure everyone in the tristate area knows,” she said wryly.
“Yeah, not much happens around here. Any news is big news.”
“I remember,” she assured him. “Like when Jessica Sutton got stuck on her roof trying to rescue her cat, and half the town showed up to watch the firemen try to get her down.”
“Yup. And when someone claimed that they’d seen Bigfoot in the woods near Deer Ridge. The whole place was flooded with campers trying to get a picture.” They chuckled at the shared memory, his expression curious as he studied her. “Is it true that you’re selling the bar?”
“I am. Or at least I intend to put it on the market as soon as I get it patched up. Right now it’s a mess.”
“It’s been sitting empty for a while. How long has it been?”
“Nine years. Too long.” Jesse admitted. While she’d been bopping from one place to another, time had lost all meaning.
One month blended into the next as she tried to outrun her memories.
It wasn’t until she stopped long enough to look around that she realized how much time had passed.
“The town needs the Tap Room back in business.”
“Won’t be the same without Mac.”
“I know.” The familiar sense of loss gripped her heart. “But life moves on. Or at least it’s supposed to move on.”
He tilted his head to the side, his expression suddenly wary. “Is that why you’re out here?”
“I’m not sure what I’m doing.” She glanced toward the tree.
It’d haunted her dreams for years, the barren branches stark against a stormy night sky.
What she’d never been able to figure out was if it symbolized the beginning or the ending of her nightmares.
“I suppose I’m hoping for some sort of closure. ”
“Closure would be nice, but it’s not easy to forget what happened.” His face flushed with a distressed combination of guilt and shame. “I still feel terrible about what I said. I’m never going to forgive myself.”
“Don’t,” Jesse commanded. “That’s in the past.”
“Mac might have gone to jail.”