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Kendall looks a little conflicted but she doesn’t say anything, which I find odd.
“A man has died and whoever is involved is extremely patient. Hashem’s death was clearly linked to his interaction with Halley. There is someone who is watching Halley and probably has been for a long time.”
I straighten up at his words, my eyes narrowing. “You found something.”
Kendall spoke up then, “I found it odd that Halley insisted she had never been asked out or dated and I was just checking some information, old newspapers from her area and her hometown has a really high rate of disappearances, especially those of young males.”
My jaw drops open. “You can’t mean—”
“It’s a leap, I know!” Kendall immediately cuts me off, hastily. “But some of those people were people from clubs she frequented. I got my hands on some police files and it just looks suspicious. These started around the time she turned eighteen and kept on going till she moved here. Ever since she’s arrived here. In these few months, there’s been nothing.”
The idea is so ridiculous that I gape at her before turning to Caleb. “You can’t seriously be listening to this? You’re saying that there’s someone out there who’s killing off men who might have shown a smidge of interest in Halley? That’s—”
“Not entirely impossible,” Caleb says smoothly. “The matter of Halley’s father was never resolved. Nobody knows who he is. Lily changed her name and moved to this town and she sought out Raymond’s help in keeping her identity a secret. She used to live in New York before then. She and Raymond were class fellows in college, so she reached out to him when she was pregnant. The house that she lived in was initially in Raymond’s name. I believe he might know who the man Lily was running from is. That was probably who she was warning Halley against. The red hair in the picture from the traffic cam—not everyone has hair in that shade of red. Whoever this person is, he’s watching Halley and, in his way, protecting her. But for now, I think you need to distance yourself, romantically from Halley. It might indirectly put you in danger.”
This is the longest I’ve heard Caleb speak and it tells me that he’s concerned about me. I can appreciate it, but at the same time, I feel that the two of them are reaching. “I’m not leaving her alone when she needs help. You wouldn’t have done that with Kendall.” I glance at my sister and I know it’s only out of love that she’s trying to get me to leave Halley. “Look, I’ll talk to Halley and see what she wants to do. If she decides to leave and do what her mother told her to…” I pause. “I’ll go with her.”
“Jace!” Kendall sounds shocked.
I give her a small smile. “I really think she is it for me, Kendall.”
Caleb purses his lips and studies me. “Then we’ll just have to make sure it doesn’t come to that.”
14
Halley
Fighting with Jace leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Although I don’t think raising our voices counts as a fight.
My sullen mood is obvious to everyone and no one approaches me for the rest of the afternoon. It’s nearly time to leave but I still have two reports to write out, so I dawdle at my desk.
I know it will
take me less than an hour to finish it but I don’t want to go back yet. Seeing Howard’s face reminded me of that afternoon when my mother had picked me up from school early and we had driven the whole day only to meet with Howard, who had been an asshole to my mother. The words he had said hadn’t held much meaning to me but I remember him grabbing her and whispering something. Now I understand the weight of his demands and it infuriates me that he would have tried to take advantage of a woman who was so desperate at the time.
“Halley?”
I look over to see Uncle Raymond approaching me, wearing a strange look on his face. “Did you go back home this weekend?”
Wincing, I turn around in my chair to face him. “Maybe.”
“Halley.” His voice is stern like it used to be when I was a kid and trying to hide my misdeeds.
The people around us have dwindled and I sigh. “All right. But you have to promise not to get mad.”
He gives me a look.
I make myself smaller in my seat. “Just try not to get mad.”
He brings over a chair from the next cubicle and sits down on it. “Tell me honestly… Are you in trouble?”
“I don’t know.”
I begin recounting everything that has happened, making sure to keep out everything about me and Jace. This is my first relationship and I want to try and figure it out myself.
Uncle Raymond’s face grows whiter and whiter as I recount what I found in the safety deposit box as well as the forgeries. I don’t go into details about how I got my hands on the case file but I mention Jet Stalinski.
