Chapter 7
Beckett’s room smelled like a mix of clean laundry, crayons, and the faint sweetness of the apple juice he’d spilled on his rug last week. Jewel folded another of his shirts, his favorite blue one with the horse on it, and tucked it into the small duffel bag on his bed.
She and Beck would spend the next three or four days at Susan’s house with Conrad and Sylvie, while Cole and his mother had surgery and recovered enough to come home.
Three or four days of trying to keep Beckett entertained and calm while the adults managed hospitals, worries, and all the things a three-year-old shouldn’t have to think about.
As her mind wandered to Susan, her hands hesitated over Beck’s clothes.
Cole’s mother had been trying to stay strong, but Jewel had seen the fear in her eyes.
Kidney failure was serious. The surgery was risky.
And Susan wasn’t young anymore. Complications could happen, recovery could be slow, and things could go wrong.
And then there was Cole. He would donate one of his own kidneys.
He would also be on that operating table, unconscious, vulnerable, trusting the surgeons to take care of both him and his mother.
What if something happened to him? What if there were complications?
What if Beckett lost his father after already losing his mother?
She pushed the thought aside, making herself focus on packing. In went Beckett’s favorite pajamas, the ones with the cowboys and horses, the well-loved stuffed horse that he still slept with every night, a few more shirts, extra socks, plus his toothbrush.
Her own bag was already packed and waiting downstairs.
She’d learned to pack lightly years ago, keeping her essentials organized and ready.
It was an old habit from her marriage to Robert.
She’d learned to always be prepared for the next fight, the next ultimatum, the next reason she’d need to leave.
Robert. Just thinking his name made my stomach clench.
She didn’t believe for a minute that the timing of his appearance was a coincidence.
It didn’t make sense that he’d suddenly show up right after Vivian’s bracelet mysteriously appeared in Cole’s barn office—hidden somewhere Conrad had been working in all morning without noticing anything.
If she believed Cole, then it could only mean someone had placed it there recently.
Very recently. And it was just the kind of thing her ex-husband would do.
But how would he have gotten Vivian’s bracelet?
That was the question that had kept her awake most of the night, turning it over and over in her mind. Robert had never met Vivian. He’d never even been to Otter Creek before this summer. He had no connection to the Blackwell family and no reason to know anything about Vivian’s disappearance.
Unless Rebecca had told him.
Rebecca had also been here. She stayed at the lodge, talked to people in town, and heard all the gossip about Cole’s missing wife, especially from Ashley.
Small towns love to talk, and a woman vanishing without a trace is exactly the kind of story that gets repeated at every coffee shop and bar in a town as small as Otter Creek.
But knowing about Vivian was very different from actually possessing her jewelry. Even if Rebecca somehow learned about the bracelet—perhaps saw it in old photos on Susan’s walls or heard descriptions from Ashley—how could she have gotten the actual bracelet to give to Robert?
Through the window, she saw Beck in the backyard, throwing a stick for Scout, both fully immersed in their game.
The border collie had grown since that day at the lake, his black and white coat now shiny and healthy, though he still wore the same worn navy collar they had found him in.
No tags, no identification, and despite her efforts to locate his owner, no one had ever come looking for him.
Scout caught the stick mid-air, brought it back to Beckett, and dropped it at his feet. He had become part of their routine, as essential as breakfast or bedtime stories, appearing every day as if he had always belonged here.
She refocused on her task, adding a few of Beckett’s favorite books to the bag.
The ones he liked Cole or her to read to him at bedtime, a ritual that made him feel safe and loved.
Cole still hadn’t fully accepted that Scout was permanent.
She could see it in the way he’d refer to the dog as “that animal” or “the stray” instead of by name.
In the way he’d suggested, multiple times, that maybe they should try harder to find Scout’s original owner.
But Beckett loved that dog, and the dog loved Beckett just as much. She already knew, in about ten minutes, when she suggested they bring Scout to Susan’s with them, that it would be a problem.
Just thinking about Cole made her shiver. Tomorrow morning, he’d be going under anesthesia, lying on an operating table, and having a kidney removed. He might not wake up, or he might wake up with complications, or he might—
Stop it! Just stop!
She zipped Beckett’s bag with much more force than necessary.
On the nightstand, her phone buzzed, and Ashley’s name flashed on the screen.
Still good for 3pm? Can’t wait to catch up!
She typed back quickly. See you then.
The bracelet was downstairs in her purse, wrapped in the same dark cloth she’d found it in. Since finding it two nights ago, she’d been carrying it around, a constant reminder of questions she couldn’t answer.
Why had it been hidden in Cole’s office? Vivian wore it regularly. But according to Cole, she sometimes took it off while doing dishes, gardening, or working with her hands. She’d leave it on windowsills and counters, casual and a bit careless, with something she liked so much.
So maybe she took it off in the barn office? Maybe she was doing paperwork or helping with lodge business, set it aside, and forgot about it. Then later, someone—Cole, a stablehand, even a lodge guest—found it and tucked it away for safekeeping.
Except that didn’t explain the loose board, the deliberate concealment.
The dark cloth wrapped around it, as if someone wanted to hide it, to keep it secret.
And it didn’t explain why Conrad had been in that office for two hours without noticing anything.
Sure, the board hadn’t been that loose—she’d had to pry it open—but she’d seen it pretty quickly, and once open, the bracelet was right there, visible and easy to spot.
Which could only mean someone had put it there after Conrad left that morning, somewhere between late morning and when she searched for Della’s bag that evening.
Someone who wanted it to be found. Someone who wanted to make Cole look guilty.
Robert’s face flashed in her mind again. The smug satisfaction in his smile as he stood on the lodge porch, announcing he was buying property in the area. The calculated way he touched her wrist, knowing it would provoke Cole.
Robert wanted her to doubt Cole. He aimed for her to feel unsafe, question her judgment, and return to her old life where he could control her again. And what better way to accomplish that than to make Cole look like a murderer?
But the logistics still didn’t add up. Even if Robert somehow got Vivian’s bracelet, how would he have entered the barn office to plant it?
He wouldn’t have known that Cole’s office was inside the barn.
Plus, the lodge property was private. Someone would’ve noticed a stranger wandering around or going into the buildings.
Frustrated, she grabbed Beckett’s bag and headed downstairs, her mind spinning. Her own bag sat by the guest room door, containing the case files she’d been working on about Vivian’s disappearance, her laptop, and everything she’d need to continue investigating while Susan and Cole recovered.
Because she was determined to get to the bottom of this. She would figure out who planted that bracelet and why, and discover what really happened to Vivian Hayes.
That was why she had asked to meet with Ashley today, before the surgery tomorrow.
Vivian’s best friend would know about the bracelet.
If anyone would remember whether she’d been wearing the bracelet in the days before she disappeared, it would be Ashley.
And maybe, just maybe, Ashley could explain why Vivian would’ve left it behind.
For a brief moment, she considered telling Sylvie about the meeting and asking her to join. They’d grown closer over the past few days, and Sylvie had a good gut about people. But Sylvie didn’t trust Ashley. She made that clear more than once, her face tightening whenever Ashley’s name came up.
But to be fair, she hadn’t liked Ashley much at first, either.
The woman had been too intense, too convinced of Cole’s guilt, and too eager to portray Vivian as a trapped victim with no way out.
It had only been over time and through several conversations that she began to soften toward her.
She started to see past the anger to the genuine pain beneath it.
There was no doubt in her mind that Ashley truly loved Vivian. If anyone knew why Vivian might’ve removed her bracelet and hidden it in Cole’s office—or if she hadn’t, which would raise even more troubling questions—it would be Ashley.
The question was whether she should tell Ashley what she’d found out about Trevor—that he’d been back in town before Vivian’s disappearance, and the affair Cole had known about and kept secret. Had Ashley known about it?
She started down the stairs to place Beck’s bag by the door, glancing out the front window. Cole’s truck was in the driveway, which meant he was back from checking on things at the lodge. She could hear him in the kitchen, the familiar sounds of cabinets opening and closing as he gathered supplies.
As she walked in, he looked up, his blue eyes tired, the shadows beneath them suggesting he’d slept about as well as she had. The sight of him, so solid and real and here, made her chest tighten with worry.