Chapter Twelve
Roxanne was working on Friday, midmorning, when the doorbell rang.
The Ameses were both at work, so she moved downstairs to answer the summons.
But instead of a package delivery, which was what she assumed the ringing was about, Debra stood at the door.
“Thank goodness, you really are here,” she said, bouncing on her toes.
“I had to bug people all over town before someone told me they thought you were staying here.”
Roxanne was so startled to see her she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Why are you stalking me?”
“I’m not stalking you. And this is important. I’ve found out some stuff about Billy Ledger.”
Roxanne knew she was no match for Debra’s energy. Better to let her spill whatever she had to say and move on. “Come in.” She held the door open wider. “But you can’t stay long. I’m working.”
“You’re going to want to hear this, I promise. The more we know about Billy, the more we can help the authorities capture him.”
Roxanne followed Debra into the living room. “There is no ‘we.’ The sheriff is searching for Ledger. I can’t do more than they can.”
“Are you sure about that?” Debra sank onto the sofa.
“No one even considered that Bettina might have been one of Ledger’s victims until I brought it up.
My investigations gave us all the information we know about her disappearance.
I’ll go anywhere and talk to anyone if I think it will lead to Bettina. ”
“I already told you—I don’t know anything about your sister,” Roxanne said. “I’m very sorry, but it’s the truth.”
“I believe you.” Debra hugged a throw pillow across her stomach. “I think my best hope now is for law enforcement to capture Ledger. Then they can question him about Bettina. He’s never mentioned her before because no one thought to ask.”
Roxanne lowered herself onto the other end of the sofa. “Why are you so sure your sister was one of Ledger’s victims?” she asked.
“He was living in the area when she went missing,” Debra said.
“This was two years before he took Alice. Bettina could have been his first victim. She walked to a store two blocks from our house to buy a loaf of bread and never came back. She just vanished into thin air. Police searched, but Ledger wasn’t even on their radar back then. ”
“What do you think happened to her?” Roxanne asked.
“I think he took her but something went wrong. He killed her. Then he got rid of the body. He lay low for a while until he tried again with Alice and then you. It makes sense.”
Roxanne nodded. The neat narrative had appeal. “But you don’t have any proof.”
“No.” She leaned toward Roxanne. “But if the police question him, maybe he’ll let something slip. Enough to make them search the house he lived in at the time.”
“What will you do if that doesn’t happen?” Roxanne asked.
“I’m not going to stop looking for Bettina.
I’ve even thought about trying to buy the house where Ledger held you and Alice from the current owners.
Or at least renting it for a while so I could get people in there with ground-penetrating radar or something.
” She shoved her hands between her knees and looked away.
“I know you think I’m extreme, but it’s the worst thing in the world not knowing what happened to her. ”
Roxanne nodded. She could imagine how that would feel. But the chance of Debra getting the answers she was looking for seemed so small. “What did you find out about Ledger that you wanted to tell me?” she asked.
“I started corresponding with a guy who worked at the prison he was at, down in Texas,” Debra said. “I got him to tell me all about Ledger’s time there.”
“How did you do that?”
“Believe it or not, I told him the truth—I think Ledger killed my sister and I’m trying to find proof of that.
Anyway, Doug couldn’t tell me a whole lot, but he did say that the only visitor Ledger ever had was a woman.
She showed up every other week like clockwork.
The guards thought at first she might be his daughter.
Then they decided she was his girlfriend. ”
“Wait—Ledger had a girlfriend?”
“I don’t think she was a real girlfriend,” Debra said.
“I think he probably met her after he was locked up. Apparently, there are a lot of lonely women who end up corresponding with prisoners. They send them money and promise to look after them when they get out and visit them. Sometimes they even marry the guys.”
“Who was she?” Roxanne asked.
“Doug said her name was Betty Josephs. She was twenty-eight, so too young to be my Betty. When I heard her name, it sent chills up my spine, though.”
“Where is Betty Josephs now?” Roxanne asked.
“That’s what I need help finding out. I think she met up with Ledger after he got out of prison—gave him a place to live, maybe a car and money. She could even be here with him, helping him.”
“Do you know anything more about her—what she looks like?” Roxanne asked.
“Doug said when she visited Ledger she was a bleached blonde. Kind of plain-looking, he said. But she could have changed her appearance—dyed her hair, changed the style. I tried to track her down in Texas, but it’s a big state and I didn’t have any luck.
She might have even changed her name, like you did.
But now I’m thinking you could help me find her. Maybe she knows what Ledger is up to.”
“Me? How am I going to locate her if you couldn’t?”
“You’re good at computers, right? Probably a lot better than I am. Can’t you—I don’t know—hack into the driver’s license database or her tax records or something?”
“No! I don’t do things like that.”
“What about genealogy? Do you know anything about that? Maybe we could find her relatives and talk to them.”
“No. I don’t know anything about genealogy. You need to tell the sheriff about this woman, not me.”
Debra frowned. “The sheriff’s department isn’t interested in anything I have to say.
I talked to them when I first got to town and they were pretty dismissive.
Every time I’ve gone into the office to try to speak to the sheriff, that woman behind the front desk tells me he isn’t available.
I always leave a message, but I don’t hear back.
She’s probably filing my message slips right into the trash. ”
Roxanne winced. Unfortunately, Debra could come across as not exactly rational at times.
“Dalton’s brother is a sheriff’s deputy,” she said.
“I’ll try to talk to him about this woman—Betty Josephs.
But try not to get your hopes up. This is a small department, and they have a lot to deal with right now, with Sarah still missing. ”
“All the more reason to find Ledger,” Debra said. “I think Sarah is with him.” She stood. “I’ll get out of your hair now, but let me know what your boyfriend says.”
“Dalton is not—”
Debra laughed. “Gotcha! You may not think he’s your boyfriend, but I’ve seen the way he looks at you. He wants to be more than a friend, trust me.”
Roxanne shut and locked the door behind Debra, then returned to the sofa.
Yes, Dalton had made his feelings for her pretty clear.
And she couldn’t deny her growing affection for him.
She had dated other men. She had slept with some of them.
The first time she had been so relieved to learn that Ledger hadn’t ruined sex for her.
But just as she never found a home where she fit, she had never found the man with whom she could completely relax and be herself.
Dalton was different. He was the most patient, accepting, strong man she had ever met. When she was with him she only wanted more—more conversation, more touching, more basking in the look in his eyes and reveling in the feel of his body. She had no doubt making love with him would be amazing.
But not yet. Right now, there were too many distractions to spoil the moment.
Her phone pinged and she pulled it out to read the text. I’ll be over as soon as my last tour is done, Dalton had written.
Can’t wait to see you, she texted back. I have some interesting things to tell you.
She was curious to know what he would think of Debra’s latest revelations about Ledger.
Dalton pulled into the driveway just after three o’clock, before his parents got off work, when Roxanne was alone in the big house. “Did you race down the mountain?” she asked as she opened the door for him.
“The tour was three young couples,” he said. “They didn’t mind going a little fast.” He studied her face, with an intensity that sent a shiver through her, as if he was physically touching her. “What’s up?”
“Debra came to see me this afternoon.”
“Here? At the house?”
“Yes. Apparently, she’s determined to keep track of me. I asked her why she was stalking me, but she took it as a joke. She said she had information about Ledger I needed to know and I guess she was right, though I don’t know what to do with what she told me.”
“Does she know where he is?” Dalton asked. “Is he here in Eagle Mountain?”
“Nothing like that. Come sit down.”
He followed her to the sofa and they sat side by side. He took her hand. “Whatever she said, it’s upset you. I can tell.”
She drew in a deep breath. “Yes, well, this whole situation is upsetting, isn’t it?
But I’m okay. Apparently, Ledger has a girlfriend.
Or at least, a woman who visited him regularly while he was in prison.
Debra thinks this woman is probably still helping him now that he’s free.
She could know where he’s hiding and what his plans are. ”
“I didn’t see any mention of a girlfriend when I was digging online for information about Ledger,” Dalton said.
She explained about Debra befriending the prison guard. “You’ve got to admire her single-mindedness,” she said.
“The guard could have made up the story to keep her interested,” Dalton said. “Or Debra could have made it up to reel you in.”