Page 21 of All Good People Here

“We’re very sorry for your loss,” he continued, his gaze flicking between Krissy and Billy. Neither spoke, neither met his eye.

“With this development,” he continued, his tone matter-of-fact, as if finding the dead body of their daughter in a ditch was in fact a mere “development,” “as you can imagine, the investigation has shifted. We’ll loop in a few more detectives from State, but Detective Lacks and I will continue to take the lead here. We’re gonna do everything in our power to find whoever did this.” He paused a moment, letting his words sink in. “We’re going to need your full cooperation for the next few weeks or so, but for now”—he glanced at his wristwatch—“you two have had a long day. Detective Lacks will escort you both to your house to pack a bag, and then she’ll take you to a hotel for the night, okay?”

Krissy frowned. As everything else had that day, this moment seemed to be happening too quickly. They’d just found January’s body at the bottom of a ditch and now they were telling her to pack a bag? It seemed Billy was as lost as she was, because, rubbing one temple, he said, “I don’t understand. Pack a bag?”

Townsend looked at him. “Your house is a crime scene, Mr. Jacobs. We’ll expedite things as best we can, but you three won’t be able to stay there until tomorrow at the earliest.”

It was then, atyou three,that Krissy remembered Jace. Fear sliced through her stomach. What would he do when they told him his twin sister was dead? “Where’s Jace?”

“He’s still with Officer Jones,” Lacks said. “Would you guys like to see him now?”

“No.” Krissy realized she must’ve said it too quickly, because all the heads in the room turned to her. “I don’t want to tell him yet. I think it’d be better if we told him in the hotel. Away from…” She looked around. “All this.”

Detective Lacks nodded. “Of course. You can pack a bag for him too, and I’ll tell Officer Jones to meet us at the hotel. Sound good?”

In her mind, Krissy reached out and slapped the detective hard.No, Detective Lacks,she wanted to scream.My daughter is dead. Nothing sounds good. Nothing will ever sound good again.

As her mind spun with the impossibility of what was happening, Krissy had the strange sensation that the last seven years of her life had been a mere fever dream. That she’d gasp in a breath and suddenly she’d be eighteen again, back to the summer of ’87, before everything had changed, before everything had gone so terribly wrong.

—

With Billy and Dave by her side, Krissy spent the summer after high school in a blur of shimmering nights. All June and July, they drove around in Dave’s car, stole six-packs from garages, and met up with people from school to drink warm beer in abandoned barns outside town. Every once in a while, when there were no other plans, Krissy would sneak onto Billy’s farm, and they’d have sex in the hayloft or skinny-dip in the pond under the stars.

But then, in August, Krissy took a test and everything changed.

“So…” Billy said, and Krissy could hear the nerves fluttering in his voice. “How’re you feeling?” It was four days after she’d told him the news and they were sitting together on the bench by the pond, a full moon glowing above them. “Do you have any motion sickness?”

Krissy snapped her head to look at him. “You mean morning sickness.”

“Right. Yeah.”

She turned back to the pond and stared blankly into its dark water. “Billy, I don’t know what to do.”

“Do about what?”

She hesitated. The words she needed to say felt like stones in her mouth. “Money. I don’t know what to do about money.”

“Oh, that.” He sounded relieved. “Krissy—don’t worry about that. You don’t have to worry about that.”

She turned her head to look him full in the face. “Really?”

He hitched a shoulder. “Of course. I mean, maybe you could help out with the books or something—” She frowned.The books?But before she could say anything, he rushed to finish. “But you don’t have to, of course.” He let out a little laugh. “We’re gonna be fine. You can do whatever you wanna do.”

Her eyes held his, searching for that previous hint of hesitation. But he was smiling, broad and easy. She exhaled, her shoulders sagging, her head sinking into one of her hands. “Thank you,” she said in a small voice. “I just…I’ve been saving all summer but I don’t have enough. Not for this and for New York too.”

Next to her, Billy grew still, and when he spoke again, it sounded as if he were choosing his words very carefully. “Well, Kris, the only reason we’d have money is because of the farm.” Krissy blinked her eyes open, then slowly lifted her head from her hand. “I mean,” he said. “I know you wanted to go to New York, but I can’t leave. Not now anyway. But, Kris, I promise, if we stay here, I’ll take care of you. And we’ll go to New York someday. We’ll stay in a fancy hotel and see the Rockettes.”

“Billy,” she said after a moment. “What’re you talking about?”

“I— What’d you mean? I’m talking about our future. I just don’t want you to get all worked up about money right now. We’ll be fine. We’ll be okay.”

She shook her head. “Wait. Are you saying you wanna have this baby? You wanna—get married?”

Billy gave her a look. “Well…yeah. Kris, you—you’repregnant.”

And then suddenly he was digging a hand into the pocket of his Levi’s and Krissy was watching, heart thumping hard in her chest. He stood from the bench, turned to face her, and kneltceremoniously onto one knee. He lifted his hand and she saw a delicate ring pressed between his thick, calloused fingers. In the center of the gold band was one small, square diamond. Krissy had the sudden sensation of being trapped in a whirling tornado, too fast and strong for her to fight.

“Krissy Winter,” Billy said, swallowing thickly. “Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

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