Page 22 of The Couple's Secret
Josie tore her gaze from the credenza and took a seat at the table. Gretchen settled next to her. They exchanged a look that told Josie that she, too, had mentally cataloged all of the photos, and taken note of the nuptials.
On the table, Riley’s cell phone rang. The grizzled face of an older man with rust-colored hair and a patchy beard flashed across the screen. “Hey,” Riley answered. “I can’t talk right now. The police are here… Yeah, I know. I just talked to him… Hol! Seriously, I’ll call you later.”
She punched the end call icon and dropped the phone back onto the table. Covering her face with her hands, she took several deep breaths.
Hol had to be Hollis Merritt, which meant that Riley had kept in contact with Tobias’s business partner.
“Tell me,” Riley said finally, putting her palms on the table as if physically bracing herself for what she knew was coming.
Gretchen said, “Miss Stevens?—”
“Riley. Just call me Riley.”
“Riley,” Gretchen went on. “Should we wait for your husband?”
“No, please,” Riley said, face beginning to crumple again. “I can’t—just tell me. I don’t care if you have to say it again. Please tell me.”
Sensing her rising hysteria, Josie said, “I’m very sorry but your mother and Tobias Lachlan were found inside Tobias’s vehicle. It was submerged under several feet of water in the Susquehanna River, near the site of the old state hospital.”
Riley let out a long, shuddery breath. “Oh God. Are you sure—are you sure it was them?”
“The license plate matched up,” said Gretchen. “We were also able to match the VIN on the vehicle with the VIN assigned to Tobias’s car. In addition to that, the medical examiner made a positive ID on both your mother and Tobias using dental records. I’m so sorry, but yes, it’s definitely them.”
As the reality hit, passing through Riley’s body like a barely perceptible shiver, Josie could feel the strain she’d been under for the last seven years. The crushing weight of not knowing. The mental precariousness that came with constantly skirting around the crater that Cora’s loss had left in her emotional landscape. The agonizing push and pull of logically knowing her mother must be dead but still clinging to the infinitesimal chance that she wasn’t.
Hope could be a cruel, vicious thing.
Riley said, “So they crashed or something? Drowned in the river? They got stuck inside the car? Oh God.”
Her palm closed over her mouth. Josie knew she was imagining her mother and Tobias fighting to free themselves from the car as it sank. Fighting to breathe as water filled it.
Gretchen said, “They didn’t exactly crash?—”
Riley removed her hand from her mouth. Her words tumbled out in a rush. “But the police in Brighton Springs checked all the nearby waterways. They even looked at lakes and rivers within a fifty-mile radius. We got an independent dive team to… Wait. What were they doing in Denton?”
“We were hoping you could help us figure that out,” said Gretchen. “There’s something else you should know.”
Josie could sense Riley’s dread, see the flash of terror in her brown eyes followed by a horrifying realization. After years of not knowing, she didn’t want to know what they were about to tell her. Not this.
It was one of the more painful death notifications Josie had had to make. “Your mother and Mr. Lachlan were murdered before their vehicle went into the river.”
“Murdered?” Riley croaked, all the color draining from her face. “How? What are you even talking about? Who would do that? Why?”
“The medical examiner found injuries on both your mother and Tobias Lachlan that are consistent with gunshot wounds to the head,” Josie said.
There was a brief, tense moment where Riley stared at them in disbelief. Then she sagged in the chair. Her hands went to her hair, yanking locks from the bun. Grief and rage burst from her in long, keening wails that made Josie’s teeth hurt.
Before she or Gretchen could react, a vibration shook the house, followed by a gust of cool air. Jackson rushed into the room, striding toward Riley with singular purpose. Heavy brown work boots clomped across the hardwood floor. A gray T-shirt clung to his muscular frame. Blotches and streaks of several different substances streaked his jeans. Pain was etched across his handsome face. He snatched Riley from the chair like he was saving her from toppling over the edge of a cliff, bundling her in his arms.
“Hey,” he whispered, pressing her head to his chest. “I’m here, Ri. I’m here.”
She shook violently in his embrace. Patiently, not even sparing Gretchen and Josie a glance, he stroked a hand up and down her spine and planted kisses against the top of her head. Her bun was in disarray. Half the hair was loose. Jackson tugged at her scrunchie and tossed it onto the table. He ran his fingers through her locks, smoothing them until they hung halfway down her back.
When Riley’s cries slowed to whimpers, he looked over at Josie and Gretchen. Tears gleamed in his eyes, but he blinked them back. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Jackson Wright. My dad was?—”
“We know,” said Josie.
“My brother called me. I wanted to get home before you found out but?—”
