Chapter Twenty-Six
Josie heard Zach on the porch talking on his phone, the persistent creak of the old wood telling her he was pacing back and forth. Who was he talking to? Jimmy, most likely. Talking through this case that now personally involved her.
Could Professor Vaughn Merrick be the copycat?
The question Zach had asked Josie the night before repeated in her head, and she still didn’t have an answer.
Anything was possible, but the question had honestly shocked her.
She’d been intimate with the man, but she had such hazy memories of who he’d really been as a person.
She supposed it was because she hadn’t ever really known.
Perhaps she hadn’t even really cared, though at the time she’d thought she did.
She’d put her own ideals on him, never looking deep enough to consider that he wasn’t able or interested to meet them.
Yes, she’d made so many mistakes, all in a desperate attempt to finally win the love she’d been denied by her parents.
And yet always choosing men who were incapable of loving her.
What a warped merry-go-round she’d climbed upon.
All that aside, was Vaughn committing the heinous copycat killings? And if so, why?
She wished she had someone she could clarify some of her recollections with, but she didn’t talk to her friends from college anymore.
They’d shown up in the hospital after she’d escaped, but she barely remembered their visits.
And they’d called often when she’d finally been released.
But she’d been in no place emotionally to talk to them.
She’d let their calls go unanswered, never returned any of them, and eventually, they’d stopped trying completely.
She wandered into the kitchen. Zach had already put on a pot of coffee and the scent lured her.
She poured herself a cup, added some milk, and went to stand in front of the kitchen window, sipping from her mug as she looked out at the side yard and beyond.
The morning appeared peaceful, fluffy white clouds dotting the soft blue sky.
Zach’s voice drifted to her. She couldn’t hear what he was saying, just the deep cadence of his voice.
She thought back to everything they’d spoken about the night before.
She still couldn’t believe her mother was dead.
She’d been dying; Josie had known that. They’d even discussed that her mother wanted to be cremated when the time came.
Yes, she’d been prepared for her mother’s death, even not knowing exactly when that would be.
So she was surprised at the sadness that gripped her.
Surprised that she was capable of feeling any loss for the woman who had caused her more pain than anything.
Josie hadn’t truly known her mother, and her mother had never truly known her.
They were related by blood, but not much else.
She was even sadder for her mother than for herself, she found.
Sad about the way Diana Stratton had chosen to live her life.
Because it did come down to choice, didn’t it?
Whether or not her mother had been dealt a terrible hand by life—and Josie could agree she had—she’d continued to hold tight to bitterness, to share her pain with the people she was supposed to love.
Like Josie, her child. But Josie didn’t harbor resentment about that anymore.
And despite her own poor hand, she’d vowed that she would never turn into her mother.
She’d chosen not to let bitterness rule her.
She’d never continue the cycle of pain and abuse. Never.
The front door opened and closed, and she turned when Zach entered the kitchen. “Morning,” he said, setting his phone down on the kitchen table.
She leaned against the sink. “Morning.”
“How are you?”
“I’m fine.” His eyes moved over her face, as though searching for something he thought might be in her eyes that wasn’t in her voiced answer.
She took a sip of coffee. “I think I need to call my friends. The ones I was close with during the time I was attacked.” She looked down, not wanting to feel the small trace of shame that still rose within her when she thought back to that time.
“The ones I was close with when I was seeing Professor Merrick.” The ones she’d been with that last night in the before.
The ones she hadn’t been able to bear seeing in the after when she’d become a completely different person and they’d remained the same.
Their lives had continued on a natural orbit, whereas hers had derailed so significantly.
Irreversibly. But had theirs remained much the same as she had initially thought?
Reagan, God, Reagan. Her apartment had been broken into, her roommate had been taken from the bedroom on the opposite wall of hers.
How did she live with that? Reagan had been drunk and hadn’t gone home with her.
Had Reagan blamed herself for that, she wondered?
Maybe their lives hadn’t been as unchanged as she’d thought.
“You don’t have to, Josie. If you have questions you think they might be able to answer, I can set up an interview. Or Jimmy will.”
She turned and placed her empty mug in the sink.
“No. I owe it to them, Zach. They tried to reach out to me so many times, and I ignored their efforts. They might not remember anything that will be helpful as far as the recent abductions…murders. But maybe they knew something about the professor that I didn’t.
Reagan was in his class with me. Even if it doesn’t amount to anything, I have to try. ”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. It’s something I can do.” She felt so helpless, so scared and confused, and calling her old friends was not only long overdue, but it was also a way she could assist in the case unfolding in horrifying ways right before her eyes.
He was silent another moment before he nodded. “Call them.”
Josie went to get her phone. She hoped their numbers were still the same. She hoped they were willing to talk.
She hoped they could find it in their hearts to forgive her.
* * *
Josie set the sheet of cookies on the stovetop and inhaled the sweet scent of melted chocolate chips. She heard footsteps behind her as she began to scoop the cookies onto a plate.
She turned and handed him a warm cookie with a smile. He took it from her and bit into it. “Goth that’s gooth,” he said around a mouthful. Josie laughed, turning back toward the stove and using the spatula to place another cookie onto the plate.
Zach leaned against the counter directly next to her. “You good?”
“Yeah,” she answered. She was nervous but excited too. Both Cooper and Reagan had sounded so happy to hear from her and agreed immediately to come over. Thankfully it was Sunday, and neither one had plans. Or if they had, they’d canceled them for her.
A vehicle sounded in the driveway, and Josie turned, running her hands down her hips.
Zach gave her an encouraging nod as she walked toward the front door and pulled it open.
She stepped onto the porch and stood waiting as the man getting out of his car spotted her.
Their eyes met across the distance, and for a heartbeat neither moved.
But then a wide smile spread over Cooper’s face, and he began walking toward her.
Josie descended the two steps and covered her mouth as her own smile erupted.
She rushed toward Cooper, and he took her in his arms, hugging her and spinning her around as she laughed.
“Josie,” he said, setting her on her feet. “You look good.”
She grinned, taking him in, his thick head of dark hair, deep brown eyes crinkled slightly at the corners as he smiled back at her. Cooper. My God. He was so beautiful, he almost stopped her breath. “So do you, Cooper. Thank you so much for coming. How are you?”
“Are you kidding? I was so happy to hear from you after all this time. I’ve thought about you so often, Josie.
Wondered how you are. Worried about you.
” Concern etched itself into his features.
Her gaze fluttered to his lips as they turned down.
Cooper had always been beautiful. But he’d also always been kind.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to get in touch,” she said. “I…it’s been hard for me.” She mustered a smile. “But I’m doing a lot better now.”
“Good,” he said, his voice soft. He squinted behind her at the farmhouse. “This place looks like a slice of heaven.”
She glanced back at her home, seeing it with new eyes—not ones that saw every repair and fix she still had to tackle, but ones that noticed the true peace of the place, the quiet charm.
Or maybe it was that she was seeing it with old eyes for a moment—the ones that had held the golden vision she’d kept highlighted in her mind through the dark, lonely days of her captivity.
“It’s getting there. Come inside,” she said, turning and leading the way.
Zach stepped into the doorway, one hip leaning on the frame as he watched them approach. He looked so right there, and for a moment Josie’s heart stalled.
He stepped back so they could enter, and Josie closed the door, pushing the feeling that had just swept over her aside.
“Cooper Hart, this is Zach Copeland. He’s a detective for the Cincinnati Police Department.
He’s working on the cases we talked about on the phone, the ones that involve me and… Marshall Landish.”
Cooper shook Zach’s hand. “Nice to meet you.” Zach tilted his chin, a strange look on his face as he eyed her good-looking friend. Was that jealousy? She dismissed the thought. Surely not. Anyway, Cooper was gay… Not that Zach knew that.
They moved into the living room and sat down. Cooper met Josie’s eyes, tilting his head as he looked at her. “This must be really hard for you.”