AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Becca took a swallow from her Budweiser. “No. I guess I’m assuming she’s dead like everyone else, except Tamara, though she might be waffling a bit. I guess I just don’t really want it to be, though I can’t think of another explanation why Jessie would leave her parents wondering what happened to her, worrying about her, if she were still alive. Twenty years is a long time to be missing. Renee definitely believes those are Jessie’s bones.”
Hudson’s eyebrows slammed together. “You talked to Renee?”
“We had a drink together.”
“Really?” Obviously this was out of left field for him. “Because you’re such good buds?”
“Because of Jessie and this mess.”
“She tell you about Tim? The separation.”
“A little. Mostly we talked about Jessie and our feelings about her.”
“Huh.” Hudson finished his beer and set it down on the table. “She didn’t try to convert you to the Tarot?” he asked dryly.
“She tried. I resisted.”
Hudson gazed into Becca’s eyes and a smile teased his lips. “I’ve…missed you,” he said slowly.
Becca felt the backs of her eyes burn and she had to look down at her beer. She was not going to embarrass herself. Not. “So, you think Jessie was murdered and left in that grave?”
“I think she ran into-trouble-and she died because of it. She’s never contacted me,” he added. “Maybe I’m giving myself too much credit, but I always thought she would, if she were alive.”
“You never thought she ran away?”
“Oh, sure. At first. I didn’t want to believe she was totally gone, and I sure as hell didn’t want to believe any of McNally’s theories. And I didn’t want any of us to be involved,” he added as an afterthought.
“But now…?” she asked, a sense of dread crawling up her spine. “Do you think one of the kids who went to St. Lizzie’s is involved?”
“I hope not.”
But he sounded like he were trying to convince himself. “So, what if it’s not Jessie?” Becca asked. “I mean…what if it really is someone else?”
“Then who is it? And where the hell is Jessie? What’s she been doing? What kind of life did she make for herself? Can you see her married? Having children? Living a normal life?”
“That would be a leap.”
“Was she as different as I remember?” Hudson suddenly asked, as if the question were wrung from him. He got to his feet and paced around the kitchen, stopping by her chair. She had to turn her neck to look up at him. “We keep talking about her and she’s taken on mythological proportions, but she was just a girl with a history of running away. All we know for certain is that bones were discovered in the maze. If they aren’t Jessie’s, then whose are they?”
Becca lifted her palms.
“I don’t want to think about it anymore,” Hudson said. “I’d rather talk about-anything else. Got a subject you want to discuss? The economy? Global warming? Whether Zeke and Vangie will actually ever get married?”
“I pick number three.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No.”
Uncomfortable, Becca got up from her chair, but she was too close to him so she moved toward the counter, leaning her hips against it. “Okay, what’s going on there? There was a ring on her finger…?”
“Zeke’s never been in love with her.”
“But he gave her an engagement ring.”
“He’ll find some reason not to go through with it. He won’t follow through. It’s not his way.”
