Girl Without A Chance, page 6
She got out of the car and walked up to the house, trying not to feel like she was a dead man walking. Going into a conversation with Jessy, though, did make her feel that way. She just hoped it wasn’t going to be as tiring a night as it often was.
She didn’t have to knock on the door. Her parents had lived here their whole lives, and they trusted the local community enough that they just left their doors unlocked in the evenings. They would lock up when they went to bed, but until then, anyone and everyone – family or otherwise – was welcome to just wander by for a cup of coffee and a chat.
The heat that came out of the house as soon as Tara opened the door was reassuring, a welcome balm to the cool evening air. Most of it had built up during the day in this old house, with no need for extra heating. She closed it behind her and shrugged off her jacket, hanging it up on the peg before starting to wander further in.
“Ma?” she called out, listening for a response in the direction of the kitchen. That was usually where her mother could be found – if not cooking, then reading, sewing, talking with a friend, or, in the winter, resting in front of the fire.
“In here!” her mother called back, and Tara headed right for the kitchen as she had expected.
She emerged into the room to see most of her family already sitting around the table. Her father seemed to be engaged in some kind of solemn debate with Jessy, the two of them sitting with their heads close together and serious looks on their faces as they gestured. Tara’s mother was bustling over to the table with a dish laden with chicken and vegetables, ready to be served.
And then there was the empty space, the one that they always kept but never talked about. Cassie’s chair. Cassie’s place setting. Always laid out at every single dinner, even though she hadn’t been there to sit for a decade.
Tara stepped around it to take a place at her dad’s side. Sitting opposite Jessy was objectionable, but not nearly as much as sitting next to her was.
“This looks delicious, Mom,” Tara said, sliding her chair neatly under the table and reaching for a pitcher in the center of the table to pour herself a glass of water.
“It’s nice to have you all here for dinner,” her mother said, smiling as she took her own seat at the round table, between Jessy and her husband. “It’s good luck I made so much extra.”
“You always make this much extra, Mary,” Tara’s dad grumbled. He took the pitcher next and poured himself a top-up. Apparently, Jessy had been there for long enough that she’d debated him down a whole glass already.
“Yes, well, leftovers are always a fantastic lunch,” her mother replied primly. “Don’t stand on ceremony, girls. Serve yourselves.”
She always said the same thing, and they always waited anyway. Jessy was the first one to reach out and grab the large serving spoon on the side of the dish, allotting herself a generous portion onto her plate.
Tara reached for the mashed potatoes first and then passed them sideways to her father, grabbing a bowl of mixed peas and corn next to serve herself a spoonful. By the time the chicken came her way she was the last one to get it, but there was still more than enough for her to have a full plate. Her mother did make generous portions, that much was true. She was probably hoping that one of these days, either of her daughters might bring a man around to the table.
Or that her missing daughter might come back.
Tara took a forkful of vegetables – broccoli and cauliflower and carrots – and started to chew so she didn’t have to speak. She didn’t want to get into whatever debate Jessy and her dad had been having, and she didn’t want to talk about her day – not without any results to give. And as always when she came back here, the wound of Cassie’s absence became a new raw slash across her day, a visual reminder that she didn’t have living alone in her own home.
Ten years. It should have been easier by now. It should have been the kind of thing that she didn’t even think about anymore. But when there were no answers to what had happened to Cassie, the pain and the wondering never stopped. Tara was beginning to accept the weary feeling that it never would.
“How are you doing with that murder case?” Tara’s mother asked. She groaned inwardly. Of course, the news would have got back to them already. Everyone else in town was talking about it, after all.
“It’s early days,” Tara said, hedging her bets and not looking up from her plate. “Sheriff Braddock is really down on us for playing by the book on this one. I can’t say anything to anyone.”
“Really?” Jessy asked archly. Tara glanced up and saw a superior look on her face, and got the distinct impression that Jessy had been waiting for an opportunity to strike. “That’s funny. Considering the whole mess you got into today with that lawyer.”
Tara looked at her, her mouth a flat line, trying to convey as much as possible with just her facial expression and body language that her sister really shouldn’t have brought that up in front of their parents.
“Oh? What’s this?” her father asked, turning to Tara. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”
“No, Dad,” Tara said through gritted teeth. “We got it all straightened out.”
“That was such a rookie move, Tara,” Jessy scolded her. “You ought to know about jurisdictional protocol by now. Isn't Sheriff Braddock teaching you anything in that pokey little station of yours?”
Tara resisted the urge to straight-up growl into her sister’s face. “It’s not pokey,” she retorted. “And Sheriff Braddock knows what he’s doing. He even reprimanded me for it. He’s -”
“You were reprimanded at work?” Mary Strong gasped, and Tara realized she’d walked right into the trap Jessy had laid out for her. By trying to defend her home station, she’d only incriminated herself further.
“It’s not a big deal, Ma,” Tara said, holding a hand up over her plate. “It’s fine. He just told me not to do it again. And I won’t. We’re just dealing with a big case here and tensions are a little high.”
“Oh, it’s only one little kidnapping,” Jessy said, waving a hand in the air. “You’ll put it to rest in no time at all, I’m sure. It’s not like you have a trafficking ring on your hands.”
Tara gritted her teeth and held back from reacting to that one. Maybe it was a small case to Jessy, given the big city she covered and the kinds of cases they got there on a regular basis. She really had taken down a trafficking ring last year. She’d received a medal for it from the city’s mayor. A medal which she had since taken to wearing on her uniform at all times. Tara was surprised she wasn’t wearing it now.
But it was a big case for Edgar County – one of the biggest they had ever faced since Tara had joined the Sheriff’s department, and certainly the biggest she had ever been asked to lead.
“Well, I’m sure we will,” Tara said, hoping that they would be able to leave it at that.
It was a shame, really. Jessy had more experience with a wide range of different types of cases. Even killings and kidnappings. If they had a normal family relationship, Tara would have asked her for her help and opinion. Found out what kind of techniques Jessy had learned for this kind of investigation, how she might be able to cover more ground without more manpower. But instead they had to bicker back and forth like teenagers, and there was no way in hell that Tara was going to compromise her pride by asking Jessy for anything at all.
“You have to catch these kinds of things in the first forty-eight hours, you know,” Jessy went on, taking a forkful of peas. “After that, the chance of catching someone goes down real quick.”
“Yes, thank you,” Tara sighed, stabbing a piece of chicken onto the prongs of her fork. “I’ve seen the many, many trashy cop shows harping on about the concept.”
“Well, I’m just saying,” Jessy said in a conversational tone, which was a surefire bet that she was about to say something condescending as hell. “I’m surprised you’re here. Aren’t you already more than twenty-four hours in? Seems like you can’t be prioritizing this case if you came to family dinner.”
“Sheriff Braddock told me to take off for the night,” Tara retorted. “I’m going to be a lot better at investigating when I’ve had some solid hours of sleep – and coming here means I don’t have to cook at home, so I’m saving time.”
“Girls,” Tara’s father said slowly, a warning.
“He sent you home?” Jessy replied, tilting her head. “Huh. I thought you were his right-hand woman or whatever. I guess not.”
“I’m still his right hand,” Tara seethed. “He wants me to take over as Sheriff after him, and -”
“Well, not if he doesn’t want you investigating the biggest case you all have ever faced,” Jessy replied. “Maybe he’s changed his mind about you.”
Tara gritted her teeth. “You haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about,” she said. There was no way she was going to convince Jessy otherwise. She knew from experience that Jessy was just going to carry on calmly and stubbornly, grinding away at her, trying to make her madder and madder. The best way was just to dismiss her out of hand and try to move on.
“I do have a lot more experience in these things than you,” Jessy said smugly. “Both in being Sheriff, and in investigating. So you probably don’t realize some things that are going over your head.”
“Girls, I’m sure you’re both on the right track,” Mary said, trying to make some headway between them. She had stopped eating and was looking up at them both, while their father was silently shoveling food into his mouth as if he was in a completely different world. “There’s no need to argue about it now.”
“You’re right, Ma,” Jessy said, primly pushing a piece of broccoli onto her fork with her knife. “I shouldn’t punch down, really. I’m sure Tara will learn all these things in the due course of time.”
“Oh, yes, I’m sure,” Tara snapped bitterly, having finally lost all sense of decorum. “One day I’ll be as knowledgeable as the master Sheriff. I can only pray that I will learn half as much as you, the guru of all investigation. Of course, I’ll have to hurry before you’ve single-handedly solved every case in your county and you decide to come over here and solve all of the cases in mine.”
“Well, I could probably do a better job than that Braddock of yours,” Jessy sniffed. “Old man from another era. He doesn’t even know what he’s talking about anymore. He should retire.”
“So one minute he’s right for not trusting me and the next minute he’s senile? Make up your mind!” Tara said, throwing her knife and fork down onto the plate with a furious clatter.
“He’s never been fantastic at his job, has he?” Jessy snapped back, her eyes flashing cold fire across the table now. She, too, had given up pretending to eat. “Leaving unsolved cases left and right!”
“What unsolved cases?” Tara asked, shaking her head, and wrinkling her nose. They didn’t even get big cases most of the time. Jessy was just making things up now, saying anything she could to antagonize her.
“I can think of one pretty huge case he should have solved,” Jessy shouted, throwing out a hand to point to her side.
In the direction of the empty chair at the table.
Cassie’s chair.
There was a stunned silence in the room, everyone reeling from the sudden appearance of the missing Strong in the conversation. Even though the place was always set, they rarely talked about her anymore. It was just too painful. No one said her name. No one talked about the anniversaries. They were just days when quiet ruled the house, when everyone suddenly had something very pressing to do which required them to be absolutely alone.
To have her brought up forcibly into the conversation now was like having ice-cold water thrown over every single person sitting at the table with no warning.
“He tried everything he could to find her,” Tara said, her voice weak, low, but still defiant.
“How would you know?” Jessy asked. “You weren’t even working for him then.”
“I know,” Tara said. She pushed back her chair with a scrape. Cassie’s absence was a raw wound and she could not, would not, accept the salt being pressed into it with the mention of Sheriff Braddock’s failure. “Sorry, Mom. I’m going home.”
She turned and walked out without another word. Behind her, she heard her father sigh heavily and her mother mutter something in an entreating tone to Jessy. There was no response.
Not until she was at the door, opening it to step outside, and she heard Jessy finally respond.
“It’s not my fault she’s so sensitive.”
Braddock hadn’t failed. There had been no evidence.
He couldn’t have failed.
Because he was her mentor, and if he had failed to find her sister, then Tara had spent her whole adult life working for a fraud.
Tara closed her eyes for a second, slammed the door behind her, and tried very hard not to let the rage bubbling inside her turn to misery.
***
Tara looked up from her magazine and looped her headphones off her head, letting the wires tangle in front of her. The music continued to play in her MP3 player, tinny pop music audible from the discarded device.
“Are you going out?” she asked, watching her sister carefully.
Cassie turned around and grinned. “Just for a bit,” she said. “You won’t tell Mom and Dad, right? Or Jessy?”
Tara sat up and folded her arms over her chest. “That depends. Is that my skirt you’re wearing?”
Cassie looked down at her own body, her arms wrapping across her torso as if she was nervous. “Is it okay? Does it suit me? I wasn’t sure…”
“Are you meeting a boy?” Tara asked, narrowing her eyes.
“No!” Cassie exclaimed. “No, no. I’m just going out with Maddie. We’re going by the lake.”
“Is there a party?” Tara asked. She tilted her head. She was having fun teasing her younger sister. Cassie looked halfway between horrified of being accused of any wrongdoing, and alarmed at the possibility that Tara might insist on coming with her.
“It’s just me and Maddie and maybe a couple of others,” Cassie said, and her face twisted with the kind of angst only a fifteen-year-old can manage. “If they even show up. I bet they won’t show up.”
“Of course, they will,” Tara said, coming to her rescue at last. “And miss the chance to hang out with Cassie Strong? No one would do that.”
“Except, like, everyone,” Cassie said, rolling her eyes. She sighed, and turned to look in the full-length mirror again. The one attached to Tara’s wardrobe was the only one outside of their parents’ room, so all three girls often ended up stopping by to use it. It was just a blessing that Jessy was old enough to be at college now, so there were only two of them fighting over it. “Do you think my hair looks stupid? It looks stupid, doesn’t it?”
“Did you straighten it yourself?” Tara asked, grinning. She got up and stood behind Cassie, running her hands over the heat-induced sleekness of her hair. “It looks cute.”
“Did I miss a chunk at the back?” Cassie asked in horror.
“You look amazing,” Tara reassured her. Teasing her was only fun when she wasn’t already full of anxiety and jitters. “Trust me. Amazing. And whatever boy you hope is coming is definitely going to want to kiss you tonight.”
Cassie blushed. “You think so?”
“I know so,” Tara told her. “You want me to drive you over to the lake?”
Cassie shook her head quickly. “I’m sneaking out,” she said. “If I ask Mom she’ll only say no, so I don’t want to ask. If you drive me it’ll draw attention to us.”
“What if you sneak out and meet me by the car?” Tara suggested. “It’s dark out, Cass. And it’s cold. You don’t want to walk all that way by yourself.”
“I won’t,” Cassie promised her. “Maddie’s going to meet me down the block.”
Maddie was sixteen already, one of the older girls in their year, and her parents had given her a cute little four-by-four, perfect for driving near the lake. Tara relented. So long as Cassie was with her friend, she would be safe. Maddie was a good girl. The two of them had been the school’s biggest and most notorious nerds and goody-two-shoes until this year. In fact, they still were. Sneaking out to go to the woods was probably just a desperate attempt to try to be cool which would result in the two of them ending up studying all night long anyway.
“Have fun, then,” Tara said. She reached out and mussed Cassie’s hair.
“Hey!” Cassie exclaimed, ducking away.
“I just did you a favor,” Tara grinned. “You don’t want to look too perfect, hon. Let it get messy once in a while.”
Cassie rolled her eyes and scampered out of the room, heading for the back door. Tara knew the route she would take already and moved to her bedroom window, watching. She saw her sister walking through the backyard, glancing over her shoulder at the house to make sure she hadn’t been seen and then waving goodbye. Tara waved back, and then Cassie was gone, into the darkness.
And then Tara followed her, like a disembodied spirit, managing to exit the house through the window and fly after her down to the lake. And Maddie didn’t pick her up. And Cassie walked all the way there on her own. And a strange man pulled her into his car and tied her up in his cabin by the lake and when she woke up the next day he served her a plate full of delicious food. And when she asked him what he was doing, he told her to eat up – because right after this, he was going to kill her.
Tara sat bolt upright in bed, clutching the covers against her chest, breathing hard and ragged, biting down a scream.
Cassie had gone missing down by the lake, and now at least one girl had come close to being killed by an unknown man. A man who might well be old enough to have been around back when Cassie disappeared.
Tara grabbed her pillow and held it against her face and screamed into it – and sobbed in frustration at the fear she had imagined on Cassie’s face and the fact that there were ten years between her and that moment, and no way for her to go back and comfort her baby sister.
And when she was done, she set the pillow aside with a fierce determination that no one else was going to feel that way in her county again. Not while she had the power to find and stop him.
