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“So where does that leave us?” Piper asked. “What do we do now? Just sit here and wait? We might not find out anything for days.”
“I’m going to pour us another round,” Tate said. “If we drink enough, we won’t notice the passing of time.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Cooper approved. “I’ll even go get the bottle.”
Cooper didn’t make it halfway across the room when Tate’s phone rang.
“It’s Finn,” he said, holding up the phone so they could see the display. “I’ll put it on speaker.”
“Hey, Finn. We’re all here. You’re on speaker, okay?”
“That’s good. It will save me a lot of calls,” the sheriff said. “I have news if you’re ready for it.”
Zack wasn’t sure he would ever be truly ready, but there wasn’t going to be a better time than this.
“We are. Go ahead,” Tate urged.
“Along with the remains we found clothes, shoes, and a small purse. There was identification in it belonging to one Sarah Adams. She went missing about eighteen years ago. From the clothes and driver’s license, it looks like we’ve found her. We’ll be confirming with dental records and DNA if we can extract any. I just wanted to give you a call. I didn’t want this weighing on you all night. I don’t think this is Lily Winslow.”
His mother was still missing. They didn’t get any answers.
But…Sarah Adams?
Zack remembered Sarah from high school. They’d been friendly, and even worked on a group project together once. His father hadn’t been very happy about it for some reason. He’d urged Zack to work with someone else, but the groups had already been chosen. Besides, Sarah had been easy to deal with, and she did her share of the project.
Joel was always trying to control people, pull their strings, and make their decisions for them. It wouldn’t have mattered who Zack hung out with. If it wasn’t someone that Joel had picked out himself, he was going to be against it.
Damn. Sarah?
Zack was ashamed to say that he hadn’t thought about her in years. Everyone had assumed that she’d run away from home, himself included. Her home life had sucked from what he could see.
And now she was found. Her family could finally mourn and get closure.
At least one mystery had been solved today.
Lily Winslow’s would have to wait. Again.
And that was the saddest thing of all.
6
Zack tossed his bag onto the bed in Cooper’s guest room. He’d gone back to the house to get it and managed to sneak in without his father knowing. With a little help from Emma.
It was clear that Emma had been crying, and he’d given her a huge hug. She sniffled and told him that Lily would eventually be found. It was only a matter of time. After all, Sarah was just found, too.
“You can stay here as long as you want,” Cooper said. “Or are you planning to go right back to the city?”
“My plans are sort of up in the air.”
Cooper didn’t ask him why, which was the cool thing about his brother. He didn’t pry or judge. He believed in living life on his own terms. And not caring what anybody else thought. And while Zack was concerned about how Cooper was paying the bills, he was never worried about whether his brother was enjoying his life.
“Like I said, my place is your place. You can stay as long as you like. It will be nice to have the company.”
“I wouldn’t want to mess up your love life,” Zack teased. “I don’t want to be a third wheel if you bring a girl home.”
“I’ll just go to their place,” Cooper said with a wicked grin. “At my age, I don’t date women who still live with Mommy and Daddy. So don’t sweat it. It’s all fine. I’m going to hit the sack. I put a spare key on the kitchen counter for you, if you get up before me or something.”
There was no way that Zack was going to sleep after the day he’d had. It wasn’t happening, and he recognized the feeling. It was all too familiar. His mind was going a million miles an hour even if his body was exhausted.
