12. Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Things had gotten bizarre. And that was saying something considering Ben couldn’t remember who he was. Plus, he was lying to an amazing woman who had mistaken him for a private investigator. Now they were heading to church. Would the preacher be able to tell that he was a big, fat liar? Probably not, but he wouldn’t be surprised if he did.
He backed out of the parking space and headed down Main Street to the simple, red brick church. Next to the church was a small house that had a wooden sign that said, Office. Ben parked in front of the house, and they knocked on the door. And knocked again.
Finally a middle-aged man came to the door. “Can I help you?”
Tessa smiled at him. “Are you the pastor?”
“Yes, ma’am, Pastor Richards.”
“We were wondering if you could help us. We’re trying to find someone who used to live here. Her name is Evelyn Turner.”
The pastor nodded. “I knew Evelyn. She was a dear woman.”
He was speaking about her in past tense. “Has she passed?” Ben asked.
“Not that I’m aware of, but she’s been gone for a while. Left town.”
“Do you know where she went to?” Tessa said.
“Can’t say that I do. She might have gone to live with one of her children. She was getting up there in years.”
“Do you know of anyone in town who you could ask where she went to?”
He hesitated for a moment as if he was considering the question, then shook his head. “No. If someone in town knew where she went, I would know. It’s a pretty tight-knit community.”
Tessa glanced over at him before turning to the pastor. “We can see that.”
A thumping noise came from inside the house.
“Is someone else here?” Ben asked.
The pastor’s mouth pulled into a fine line before answering. “Yes. Susan is working on dinner.”
“Your wife?” Tessa asked.
“No. My wife passed away. Susan is a godsend. She cooks, cleans, and she also serves as the church secretary.”
Tessa tried to peek over his shoulder. “Could you ask Susan if she knows anything about Evelyn?”
The pastor hesitated for a moment before turning slightly. “Susan, can you come here for a moment?”
An older woman walked to the door and stood to the side of the pastor.
“Susan, these folks are looking for Evelyn Turner. I told them that I wasn’t sure where she went. Do you know where she moved to?”
“No. I’m not sure. She left rather quickly. Can I ask why you’re looking for her?”
“We were hoping that she could help us find someone,” Ben said. “But maybe you can help instead. We’re trying to find Mia White. She was one of the foster children that Evelyn took care of.”
Was it Ben’s imagination, or did Susan’s eyes tighten slightly before the poker face came back. “Mia? That name seems vaguely familiar, but Evelyn had a lot of children stay with her over the years. Why are you looking for her?”
“Her friends in Nashville are worried about her. She disappeared after her husband died, and no one has heard from her,” Tessa answered.
Susan glanced past them outside to the driveway, and her eyes widened before giving each of them a once-over as if she recognized something. She turned to the pastor. “It’s okay.”
“Are you sure?” Pastor Richards rested his hand on her shoulder.
“Yes. Can you give us a few minutes?”
“I’ll be in the church. If you need me, I’ll come running.” He directed the last words at Ben.
What was going on? It was like they were speaking another language. Was she going to tell them where Evelyn went to? Tessa appeared as confused as he felt.
Susan motioned for them to come into the house. They walked into the small living room and sat on the couch while Susan took the chair across from them.
“Can you tell me who is looking for Mia and how you two are involved?”
Tessa glanced at him and he nodded. He’d let her give a reason. He was starting to hate the lies he was telling.
“I’m Tessa and this is Ben. My friend, Megan, was a teaching assistant for Mia. She adored her. All her TAs and students did. After Mia disappeared, people worried about what happened to her, and the longer she’s been missing, the more concerned they’ve become. We want to make sure she’s okay. Ben was hired to find her, and I've been tagging along, helping in the search.” Tessa leaned forward. “If you have any idea of where we can find Evelyn to speak to her, maybe she can tell us where Mia is.”
Susan sat back in her chair and seemed to be having an internal debate on what she should tell them. She squared her shoulders as if she’d made a decision. “I’m Evelyn.”
“What?” Ben blurted.
“Why is the whole town lying about you?” Tessa blurted at the same time.
Evelyn sighed. “I have spent decades caring for foster children. Their circumstances varied. Some were orphans or they had been given up by parents who weren’t able to take care of them, or taken away from abusive parents or parents who couldn’t take care of themselves, let alone a child. Some of my foster children were reunited with their families once they were able to support them. But there were other cases where some of the kids had abusive family members who came looking for them.
“This little town might gossip and sometimes have their batch of squabbles, but when it comes to protecting children, they are all on the same page.”
“They closed ranks around you and the kids,” Ben said.
Evelyn smiled. “Yes, they did.”
“Who are they protecting you from now?” Tessa asked.
“Not me. I’ll be right back.” Evelyn walked out of the room.
His heart sped up. Was Mia hiding here too?
A few moments later Evelyn came back into the room holding a little girl’s hand.
“This is Lily.”
“Lily, this is Tessa and Ben.” The girl had brown hair in two braids and bright blue eyes. Eyes that widened as she took in Tessa and then Ben. She smiled and waved at them both as if she knew them.
“Lily, sweetheart. Can you go sit in the dining room and color for a little bit?”
Lily frowned slightly but didn’t say anything.
Evelyn rested her hand on top of her head. “Don’t worry, they’ll be here when you get back.”
Lily waved at them again before skipping back through the door.
“Lily doesn’t speak.”
“Is she deaf?” Ben asked.
“No. She can hear, but she hasn’t said anything since Mia brought her here.”
Ben’s head was spinning. None of this made sense. “Is Mia here too?”
Evelyn shook her head. “No. Mia did come to see me shortly after Paul’s death. She was devastated. Kept telling me it was all her fault that he died. It was an accident, but she wouldn’t listen to reason. She told me that she was going to fix things. Before I could get her to tell me what she meant, she left. I hadn’t seen nor heard from her until she showed up here with Lily in the middle of the night.”
“Is Lily her daughter?” Tessa asked.
“No. When I asked about Lily, she told me she was four at that time. And when I asked about her parents, Mia told me they were dead and that Lily needed to be kept somewhere safe. She asked me to take care of her for a few weeks, and she would be back for her. But that was over a year ago.” Evelyn swallowed. “I’m afraid something bad has happened to her.”
Tessa leaned forward. “Has anyone else come looking for Lily?”
“Yes. A couple months after Mia left, men came to town and started asking questions about Mia and a little girl. Everyone in town told them I had moved away and they hadn’t seen either Mia or the girl. After that we moved into this house, and I’ve been helping take care of the church.”
“Why are you telling us all this? If you’re worried about Lily’s safety, why tell two strangers what happened? We could be here to hurt you,” Ben said.
Tessa held up her hands in front of her. “We’re not here to hurt you, but he’s right. Why tell us anything?”
“When Mia brought Lily to me, she explained that Lily was special. At first I didn’t understand what she meant since I think every child is special. But Mia said to trust what Lily told me and that our lives might depend on it.”
Ben frowned. “But Lily doesn’t speak.”
“No. I’ve been teaching her letters and also prepping her to read, but she hasn’t started writing yet except for her name. I have also been teaching her some basic ASL words but not enough yet for her to carry on a lengthy conversation. But she can draw.” Evelyn picked up a sketch pad from the coffee table and flipped the pages until she found whatever she was looking for. She turned the pad so that they could see the crayon drawing.
The drawing was a woman with long blond hair and a man with brown hair on the top of his head and the bottom of the head for a beard? Between the two figures was a small girl with two ponytails who was holding their hands. And next to the three of them was a blue pickup truck.
Tessa gasped beside him.
Ben shook his head. “That has to be some sort of coincidence.”
Evelyn set the pad on her lap. “That’s what I thought the first time she drew a picture that came true days later. The first time was when she drew a black dog and three puppies. A week later Mac Robinson found an abandoned pregnant black dog who gave birth to three puppies.”
“Kids love to draw animals, right?” Ben still didn’t see how this meant anything.
Evelyn smiled. “She drew a yellow puppy, a black puppy, and a spotted puppy.”
Tessa’s eyes widened. “And that’s what the dog had?”
“Yes. And there have been other events as well. She drew a little boy by the creek next to the abandoned mill outside of town. Lily has never been to the mill to know about it. A month later, little Billy McKinnon went missing. We all went searching for him and I couldn’t get that drawing out of my mind, so I went to the mill and found him sobbing next to the creek. He’d gotten lost and sprained his ankle.”
Ben couldn’t wrap his brain around what she was saying. It was far-fetched. A freakish coincidence, right? He glanced at Tessa. He’d expected her to be as skeptical as he was, but she didn’t seem to be having trouble believing Evelyn. At all.
“Does she—” Tessa stopped.
Evelyn narrowed her eyes at Tessa. “Does she what?”
“Nothing.” Tessa hesitated. “I believe you’re right. She’s special.”
What the hell was going on? This little girl supposedly could see into the future, and no one was batting an eye about it? And what did Tessa know about Lily that she wasn’t saying?
It must be something important, because for once the spitfire wouldn’t meet his eyes.