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“No one’s been arrested. And from what you’ve said, they barely had any suspects. That’s getting away with it.”
Suspects? That was a tricky subject because there had been suspects. But no evidence, especially without a body. The former sheriff had been against calling it a murder when there wasn’t any proof. He’d always called it a missing persons case.
And then that sheriff had been fired for being incompetent.
“I have confidence in Finn that if this is Lily, or anyone else, that he’ll find out what happened.”
The bell over the door to the bookstore chimed and Piper Winslow walked in with her sister Frankie. They were both smiling, and Lucy had a terrible thought that they hadn’t heard what was going on.
We’re going to have to tell them.
Since coming back to town and buying the bookstore, Lucy had become good friends with the youngest Winslow, Piper. Some people would say that Piper was a little out there, but Lucy had always found the woman to have a heart of gold. If she wanted to read tarot cards and put crystals under her bed that was her own business. She wasn’t hurting anyone, and Lucy wasn’t the judgy type.
She didn’t know Frankie all that well, though. The older sister had spent most of her time winning championships on the women’s tennis tour. The only reason Frankie wasn’t at Wimbledon right now was because she’d hurt her knee. It certainly wasn’t because she was close to her father and aunt.
“I wanted to stop in and thank you for taking the cakes over to Tate,” Piper said. “I really appreciate it. It was nice to have an afternoon off. Frankie and I went into Blaisdell and went to the mall there.”
Frankie’s gaze swung from Jane to Lucy, and then her own sister.
“I feel like we walked in on something,” she said slowly, beginning to back toward the door. “Maybe we should go.”
“No,” Jane said, hopping up from the cushion. “You should stay. You really should.”
“What’s going on?” Piper asked, her brows pinched together in a frown. “Did you get some bad news?”
“You should have some coffee,” Lucy stated, getting to her feet. “I’ll go make some. Let’s all sit down and catch up.”
A million thoughts ran through her mind, but one stuck. Lucy needed to call Tate and let him know that his sisters didn’t know about the body that had been found. She’d tell them about what had happened, but they needed to be with their family, too.
Just how does one sit two people down and tell them that the body of their mother might have been discovered after ten years?
Lucy was about to find out.
5
“You aren’t going to go, are you?”
Piper sounded scandalized, and Frankie was scowling. Zack’s sisters weren’t happy with him. Cooper wasn’t either. Tate was indifferent, and Sam had yet to say anything - positive or negative.
Somehow, they’d all ended up back at the bar with even Sam making an appearance which was surprising. Zack had no illusions of how his youngest brother felt about him.
“I don’t know,” Zack said, trying to hold onto his temper. He didn’t like people telling him what to do or second-guessing his decisions. His dad had spent almost twenty-two years doing it, and frankly, that was more than enough. “I haven’t thought much about the wedding. I’m thinking about the discovery today and wondering if it’s Mom.”
Piper was the emotional one in the family. She’d never tried to hide what she was feeling and thinking, and while Zack admired that trait, it could get on his nerves, as well. Not everything in the world was dramatic and an emergency. Not everything was fraught with emotions. Sometimes things just were what they were. She was always trying to change the circumstances, and from what he’d seen, she was only frustrating herself.
His sister had inherited the Winslow gene whether she wanted to admit it or not - she liked to control things. They all did. It was deeply embedded into their DNA. She just did it in a different way than he did.
“What are the chances that it’s not Mom?” Frankie asked. “It has to be.”
“She’s not the only person that has ever disappeared,” Tate said. “It doesn’t have to be. It simply might be.”
“Are you going to that god-forsaken wedding, too?” Frankie demanded. “I can’t believe this. You support this marriage?”
“I don’t,” Zack replied. “I can’t speak for Tate, but I don’t. Like you, I think this is in poor taste, but our family will be there, and it seems like a shitty time to take a stand. Joel is our dad, and Kim has always been good to us. Emma will be there, as will most of the town. It’s only a few hours out of my life.”
“You have to know that Dad was having an affair with Kim,” Cooper said, knocking back a shot of whiskey. “He and Mom fought when they thought we couldn’t hear.”
As the oldest, Zack had known about the arguments, the marital strife. Piper had been quite young, and they’d protected her from most of it, but she’d still heard a few.
