Page 7 of The Couple's Secret
“Shit.”
She slowed again and flipped down the visor, blocking out some of the blinding June sunshine. She’d forgotten her sunglasses, because apparently she was too frazzled to handle even the smallest task that wasn’t work-related. Wren had turned her entire world upside down in the best and worst ways. The best because Josie was honored that Dex had chosen her to care for his daughter and she genuinely liked Wren. The worst because watching the girl wade through the devastation of losing her father ripped Josie’s heart out every single day.
“What do you think?” asked Gretchen, interrupting her thoughts.
Josie glanced over to the passenger’s side where Gretchen was adjusting the air-conditioning vent so that the air blew directly on her. She hadn’t forgotten her sunglasses.
“About the stalking victim,” Gretchen clarified, knowing with uncanny accuracy that Josie’s thoughts were at home.
Ever since she decided she wanted to have children, Josie had worried that she’d be terrible at caring for a child because she’d be too consumed with work to be present when that child needed her, but as it turned out, it was quite the opposite.
Who knew?
“I think?—”
Josie was interrupted by the sound of her portable radio squawking. In the dispassionate tone that all their police dispatchers used, a male voice announced that a car had gone into the Susquehanna River and asked all nearby units to respond. Josie noted the location. Her pulse ticked upward. She slammed on the brakes and did a U-turn in the middle of the two-lane road, glad there was no one else around.
Although Gretchen had been with the Denton PD for nearly ten years after having worked for Philadelphia PD’s Homicide squad, she wasn’t as familiar with Denton as Josie, who had grown up there. “I don’t— Where is that?”
Josie punched the gas. “We just passed the turnoff about a mile back. It’ll take us five minutes to get there. There’s a road that leads down to an abandoned state mental hospital. Past that is another road that runs along the riverbank.”
Gretchen advised dispatch that they were on their way with an ETA of five minutes. Then she turned to Josie, voice incredulous. “There’s an abandoned state mental hospital in Denton?”
Josie laughed as she took the turn with screeching tires and barreled toward the old hospital campus. “It’s more like the ruins of it. None of the buildings are even standing anymore. No one lives around here—as you could see from the drive—and hardly anyone uses these roads. There’s an old boat ramp though, so sometimes fishermen launch from there.”
It was the beginning of June, which meant that it was open season for most fishing. It was possible that someone had been fishing in the area and their vehicle rolled into the water, from the boat ramp—especially if it was in poor condition.
The grounds of the defunct mental hospital appeared. On either side of the road were grassy areas overgrown with brush and weeds that sprang up among the heaps of rubble that used to be buildings. Straight ahead, at the bottom of the hill, was the road that ran perpendicular to the one they were now on. It was lined with trees but through gaps in the foliage, the Susquehanna was visible. Josie took a left, hoping she remembered the location of the boat ramp correctly. It had been years since she’d been here.
“There,” said Gretchen.
A woman stepped out from the trees and into the road, waving her arms over her head. Josie stopped the vehicle in front of her. She and Gretchen hopped out.
Searching behind the woman, Josie asked, “Where’s the car?”
“I’ll show you.” The woman smiled serenely and turned back in the direction of the bank. She didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry.
As they followed her through a break in the trees, Josie noted her khaki pants, short-sleeved button-down white blouse, and black galoshes. Her brown curls were tied into a ponytail that stretched almost to her waist.
Gretchen said, “What’s your name?”
“Heather Slack. Dr. Heather Slack. I’m a paleontologist at Denton University.”
“You saw a car go into the river?” Josie asked. There would be time for other questions later. Right now, the priority was getting to the vehicle.
As it was, Josie didn’t feel as though the doctor was moving fast enough. The urge to push ahead of Dr. Slack and race toward the water was almost too great to resist. Then again, the path they were taking was covered in uneven rocks. One wrong move could cause a bad fall or a sprained ankle.
“Oh, I didn’t see a car go in,” Dr. Slack said over her shoulder. “I just saw it under the water. I mean, I think that’s what it is.”
Gretchen glanced back at Josie, one eyebrow arched. Had dispatch gotten the call wrong?
“You’re not sure if it’s a car?” Josie asked.
Dr. Slack held a branch out of the way so they could pass in front of her. “I don’t know what else it could be.”
Now in front, Gretchen stepped aside to let Josie take the lead. She moved swiftly, surefooted even in her boots, this kind of terrain familiar after having traversed it since childhood. Seconds later, they emerged onto a stony ledge. The river basin stretched out before them. At their feet brittle husks of underwater river grass poked from between bone-dry rocks. The river used to be at this height, but the county had been in a near-constant state of moderate to severe drought for the past two years. There was a four-foot drop from the ledge into the expanse of sunbaked river stones and cracked mud. The water’s edge was at least twenty-five feet away.
Dr. Slack joined Josie and Gretchen along the edge and pointed across the water. “I’ve been coming down here for the past several days—this area, I mean. The water must have receded even more because now there’s a weird kind of ripple over there.”
