Chapter 19 West
Ileave Jade’s on a high. I had a great fucking time tonight. Spending time together and getting to know her has been such a gift. I understand now why she’s always been so shy and quiet. Losing her mom and brother must have really impacted her. I can’t even imagine.
Fuck, I wanted to kiss her tonight. Fucking Wren and my goddamn phone. Groaning, I pull my phone from my pocket at the reminder I have a missed call. Ian’s name flashes just as I pull it out, and I hit answer, connecting it to the Bluetooth in my truck.
“What’s up?”
“Sheriff. You need to come to the station.”
Sensing the distress in Ian’s voice, I swing my truck around and start heading back towards town. “On my way.”
I park outside the station and make my way inside, not ready for whatever had Ian sounding the way he did.
“Oh, Sheriff, thank goodness you’re here.” Beatrice sighs as I pass by her desk.
“What’s going on?” I ask, looking around and spotting Ian and Cade talking to a couple who look upset.
“Missing girl,” Beatrice whispers.
Fuck. I let out a sigh and walk towards the group.
“Hi. I’m Sheriff Donovan. What can I do for you?” I hold out my hand to the couple.
“Please,” the man chokes out. “Our daughter.”
“She’s been taken,” the woman wails.
“Okay. Can you tell me why you believe she’s been taken?” I ask.
“She was supposed to meet us at Cedar and Sage tonight for dinner and never showed. We called and called and can’t get a hold of her. It’s not like her to not show or to not communicate with us.”
“And we’ve heard about the other women,” the man adds, making his wife weep harder.
“How old is your daughter?”
“She’s twenty-eight.”
“Hair colour?” I ask, although I suspect I already know the answer by looking at her parents.
“Blonde,” the woman chokes out.
“Okay, I’ll have everyone out searching. What’s her name and do you have a recent picture we could use?”
“Yes. Yes. Here. Her name is Vivienne.” The woman pulls out her phone, going through it until she holds up a photo. The woman is a dead ringer for the others. Definitely our guy’s type.
I swallow the lump in my throat.
“Can we take a copy of that?”
“Yes, absolutely. Please, whatever it takes to bring our girl home.”
“When was the last time you spoke to her? Does she live with you or anyone else? Is there anyone we can check with that might know anything?” I ask while Ian jots everything down behind me.
“No. She lives alone. She’s recently divorced and has only just moved back to town. I’m not sure if there is anyone she talks to. But she works at Fields of Daisies. She had the night off tonight and the plan was to meet at Cedar and Sage for dinner. That was it.”
“We spoke to her last night to confirm. That’s the last time we’ve heard from her,” the dad adds.
“Okay. What’s her address?” I ask.
“She’s the fourth house in on Maple Lane. We drove by and knocked, but she’s not there and neither is her car.”
“What kind of car does she drive?”
“A grey Ford Edge.”
“We’ll have every deputy out looking, along with myself. If you could go see Beatrice at the front desk, she will get your info and do anything you need in the meantime.”
“Thank you,” the couple says together before walking over to Beatrice.
“Where’s Garrett?” I ask Ian.
“He was taking one last walk around the fair to make sure it was cleared out when I left. I’ll let him know to look for the Ford and send him a photo of Vivienne as well.”
I glance at the clock on the wall and note the time. “Let’s get everyone out in groups searching the banks of the river. We know that’s where our guy likes to dump.”
“I’m already on it,” Cade says. “Four groups total. It’s a big area so they’ll be out all night.”
I let out a sigh of relief, thankful for my brother. “Okay. Cade, you head to her house. See what you can find. Ian, we’ll patrol town. See if we can find the car. In the morning, I’d like you to speak with Miss Elle at Fields of Daisies.”
“You got it.”
The sun is just starting to rise when the call comes in.
“Sheriff,” I clip into the speaker.
“We’ve found her.”
“Fuck.” I hit my fists against the steering wheel, feeling defeated. “Where?”
“North of the river. Banking on the split.”
I sigh, shaking my head. We were so close. We found her car and her phone inside it with messages from a man she was meeting up with.
“It looks like she’s been here for a while, Sheriff. Cade is estimating about a few hours after she last spoke with her parents.”
“We need to find this man she was messaging.”
“We’ll find who did this.”
“I fucking hope so.”
Ending the call, I hang my head and prepare myself for having to break the news to the couple that their daughter is dead.
I’m exhausted. I haven’t slept in twenty-four hours and delivering the news to the couple, who I now know as Mrs. and Mr. Lee, wasn’t easy.
They lost their son two years ago, and Vivienne was their only child left.
Shit like this never gets easy. I finish all the paperwork I needed to get done and close my books, ready to go home and crash.
We can’t figure out who this Andrew guy is that Vivienne was supposed to meet up with. He did send a text asking where she was with no response from her, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t just covering his tracks. Cade is working hard trying to find this guy.
Throwing on my jacket, I close the door to my office and stop to speak with everyone at the station before heading out. Once home, I take a quick shower and plop down onto my bed, letting the exhaustion pull me under.
Five hours later, my eyes snap open when I register the blaring of my phone. Rolling over with a groan, I hit answer.
“Hey, son.”
“Hey, Dad. What’s up?”
“Would you mind coming over and helping with your mother’s green house? I pulled a muscle and Colter was called out for a barn fire.”
“Sure. I’ll be there shortly.”
“Thanks, son.”
Rolling out of bed, I throw on a pair of jeans and a tee and head down the road to my parents’ house, where I spend the rest of the day building a goddamn greenhouse.
“Oh, West, it looks so lovely, thank you so much!” my mother gushes, admiring her brand new greenhouse.
“Dad’s blueprints were shit by the way,” I tell her, scowling towards the cattle field where my dad is.
“You did it, though, and that’s all that matters. I’m so excited to fill it. That old greenhouse was falling apart, I didn’t like when the kids would go inside.”
“Well, here she is. Enjoy,” I say, kissing the side of my mom’s head.
“So, are you going to tell me about your date last night? Wren may have mentioned it this morning that you took Jade to the fair.”
“Mom,” I groan.
“What? My boy is finally putting himself out there. A mother is allowed to be excited and a little nosy. So, tell me, how did it go?”
I shake my head and smile. “I really like her, Ma.”
“Oh, Weston, you have had it deep with that girl since you met her. I want to know the details. Let’s go to the house and I’ll throw in my shepherd’s pie and we can talk about it over a nice cold glass of sweet tea.”
“That’s not necessary, Ma. I’m just getting to know her, and it’s been great.”
“She is such a sweet girl. Very friendly every time I go into the bakery. Wren has said nothing but great things since working there.”
“Wren needs to keep her mouth shut,” I mumble.
“Weston Riggs Donovan,” my mother scolds, making me flinch.
“Sorry, Ma,” I apologize. “I promise I’ll let you know how things go.”
“How about you bring her out for dinner next weekend?”
I huff out a breath at my nosy mother. “I’ll see what I can do,” I say to appease her.
“Thank you. Now, let’s go get dinner in the oven. I’m sure you’ve worked up quite the appetite building that greenhouse.”
“Sure have,” I say, rubbing my stomach and following her inside.
“Uncle West!” Maysie shouts, jumping into my arms. “Guess what!” she yells excitedly.
“What?” I ask her, matching her enthusiasm.
“Daddy took us to the fair last night! We got to go on rides and eat cotton candy and giant hot dogs, and I saw my friend Chloe from dance, and I got to go in the fun house, and Hudson won a giant stuffed shark, and–”
“Whoa there, Maysie daisy. Take a breath.” I chuckle, setting her back down onto the ground.
“It was so much fun!” she squeals, making me laugh.
“What do you think, Hudson?” I ask my nephew, who’s busy reading a book. “Was it so much fun?”
“It was pretty sweet,” he confirms, never taking his eyes off the story in front of him.
I ruffle his hair, chuckling.
“Glad you tornadoes had fun.”
Maysie goes back to playing Barbies on the floor, so I leave the kids be and go to the washroom to wash up before joining my mom in the kitchen.
“Smells amazing,” I tell my mom, the scent of shepard’s pie in the oven wafting around the kitchen.
“Hey, big brother. Sorry about last night,” Wren says, grabbing a handful of shredded cheese and shoving it into her mouth.
“No worries,” I grumble, still kind of pissed.
“What happened last night?” Ma asks, jumping into the conversation.
Wren laughs and kisses Ma on the cheek. “I interrupted our Westy boy making fishy lips with Jade.”
Ma’s face lights up, and she stops what she’s doing to look over at me.
“You kissed her?” Her hand splays to her chest, and she looks up at me adoringly.
“No. He wishes. I got there just as they started to lean in,” Wren says with a wicked smile.
“Who leaned in where?” Hayes asks, coming into the kitchen with Pa.
“None of your business,” I clip, annoyed with everyone and their inability to mind their own business.
“West almost kissed Jade,” Wren says anyways, making me groan.
Hayes chuckles, swinging open the fridge and cracking open a beer. “Lover boy didn’t get any lovin’?”
“Cut it out, you two.” Pa cuts in, flicking the back of Hayes’ head.
Wren laughs, shoveling in another handful of cheese. “Lover boy. I like it.” She high-fives him with a giggle.
“Oh, you two, leave your brother alone,” Mom scolds.
An hour later, we’re all sitting down when Colter walks in.
“Get that fire out, son?” Dad asks as Colter takes a seat.
“I swear to God it was fucking Jep Shepard,” he says, looking my way. “Guy just so happens to be casually out for a stroll on the outskirts of town the same time an arson fire happens.”
“We’ll get him one day.”
“What’s an arson fire?” Maysie asks.
“It’s when someone lights something on fire on purpose,” Colter tells her.
“But you guys light fires all the time so we can make hot dogs and marshmallows,” she says, with the innocence of a child.
“It’s much different than that, princess. It’s when the fire is started to cause trouble,” Cade tells her.
“Oh. Why would someone do that?” she asks curiously, her little nose scrunched.
“Wish we knew, sweetie,” Colter replies, dishing up his plate.
We eat our meal and talk about the farm when Cade opens his fat mouth about Sarah.
“So, who is this guy I saw Sarah making out with last night? Never seen him around town before.”
Hayes’s arm freezes, and his jaw clenches. “Who cares,” he says.
“Was it an older guy?” I ask.
“Yup.”
“Not sure who he is, but she went home with him the other night at the rodeo.”
Cade nods, chewing his food. “He did have a cowboy hat.”
Hayes’s head snaps to Cade, and his eyes narrow. “What did he look like?”
“Who cares?” Cade taunts him.
“Why must you boneheads always rile each other up?” Dad grunts, shaking his head.
“He was older. Grey beard. I think I saw him over near the bullpens swinging a rope,” I tell Hayes.
“What the fuck is she doing with an older man like that?” Hayes snarls.
Cade and I share a look. Hayes may act like he doesn’t still care for her, but every now and then he lets that facade slip.
“What’s it matter to you?” Colter asks. “Told you, any guy around would want to get with that.”
“Colter John. That is enough,” Mom scolds. “Sarah is such a lovely girl. She can be with whoever treats her right and makes her happy.” Swinging her head, she narrows her eyes at Hayes, who grabs his plate and pushes away from the table.
“Thanks for dinner.”
When the door closes, we all look around the table.
“Why is Uncle Hayes angry?” Maisey asks her dad.
“Because he’s an idiot who won’t admit he’s in love,” Dad tells her.