Chapter Nineteen

“Should we tell the sheriff we think the fire at your parents’ home might have been started by V?” Tammy asked as she and Vince made the drive back to Eagle Mountain.

“We don’t have any proof at all that V started the fire,” he said.

“Except that the fire was in Valerie’s room, and V has connected herself with Valerie.”

“That isn’t proof, though, is it? And Junction isn’t in Travis’s jurisdiction. Not even close. Plus, my dad refuses to say anything to the Junction police about our troubles with V. He doesn’t want to believe they’re connected.”

“Then what are we going to do?”

“I don’t think we can do anything but wait for her to make another move. Travis has already admitted whoever this is hasn’t left much evidence for them to trace.”

Goose bumps rose on Tammy’s arms, and she hugged herself, trying to fend off the sudden chill. “It feels like she’s getting more dangerous—that attack on me and now this fire.”

“The attack on you was terrible,” he said. “And the fire was frightening and destructive, but she didn’t try to burn down the whole house.”

“If that neighbor hadn’t seen the smoke and called 911, the whole house might have burned.”

“I’m worried she might hurt my parents,” Vince said. “But they won’t move out of the house, even temporarily.”

“They can’t believe Valerie would hurt them.”

“But someone pretending to be Valerie might. I tried to tell Dad that, but he won’t listen.”

“My mom never listens to me either,” she said. “We’re still kids to them, and they’re still our parents. The police in Junction are still investigating the arson. Maybe they’ll get lucky and find a witness or something else that leads them to V. In the meantime, you and I will have to keep our eyes open.”

“It’s not like either of us have the skills or the time to investigate this full-time,” he said. “And I don’t have money to hire a private investigator.” He pounded his fist against the steering wheel. “It’s so frustrating.”

“It is,” she agreed. “But we’ll get through this. I have an idea we can try. I’ll have to talk to Russ and see if he will agree, but I think he will.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m thinking I could do another story for the paper, about Valerie. V’s version of what happened that day is so different from what actually happened, a new story might draw her out again.”

“‘Draw her out,’ how? What if she tries to kill someone? What if she tries to kill you?”

Her stomach knotted with fear. “I’ll be careful,” she said. “I won’t go anywhere alone. And it will be worth it if we can draw her out.”

“But how are we going to catch her? What if your article just results in another taunting letter or phone call, or a sneak attack?”

Tammy chewed on her thumbnail, thinking. “We’ll have to set a trap,” she said. She sat up straight. “I know! We can say there’s going to be a memorial to honor Valerie and keep awareness of her alive. In the park. The public is invited. She’ll be sure to come. We can alert the sheriff, and they can have a deputy there. We can watch for anyone behaving suspiciously.”

“It might work,” Vince said. “Do you think the sheriff will agree?”

“We can ask. And the memorial itself will be news enough that I won’t have any trouble getting Russ to run a small piece.”

“If it’s a memorial, we’ll need to tell my parents. They’ll want to come.”

“They can come. But don’t tell them it’s a trap for V. Just say it’s something you wanted to do to honor your sister. Tell them it was my idea, if that helps.”

“Are people going to think it’s strange we’re doing this now, when we haven’t done anything for fifteen years?”

“I don’t think there’s any timeline for these things,” she said. “It might even help your parents to have a public ceremony like this. There will be other people who attend who remember Valerie, teachers and others who knew her. They’ll know they’re not alone in their grief.”

“Like the funeral we never had.” He nodded. “I think it will be a good thing—and if it helps stop V from harassing us, even better.”

“You can talk to your parents tomorrow. I’ll check with the sheriff and find out if we need a permit to hold the memorial in the park.”

“It feels right to be doing something,” Vince said. “Instead of sitting back, waiting for the next bad thing to happen.”

V INCE WAS SURE his parents would resist the idea of a memorial for Valerie. He would have to work to persuade them, or even go through with the plan without their blessing. But once again, they surprised him. Instead of bursting into tears, as he had expected, his mother had responded with enthusiasm. “I have some wonderful pictures we can display at the memorial,” she said. “And there’s a poem I came across, not long after she went missing, that I found meaningful. I don’t think I could read it out loud in front of people, but perhaps you could. Or maybe Tammy?”

“That sounds great, Mom. Tammy’s arranging things with the city for us to be allowed to hold the memorial in the park.”

“I used to think about doing something like this in the mountains, at the place we saw her last,” his mom said. “But I suppose the park is more practical. Much easier for people to get to. Thank you for doing this.”

“It wasn’t my idea. It was Tammy’s.”

“She’s a lovely young woman.” His mother fixed him with the look that made him feel like a boy being quizzed on whether or not he had completed his homework. “Are things serious between you two?” she asked.

“We don’t want to rush things,” he said. Though the truth was, they were as good as living together, with Tammy spending every night at his place and most of her belongings there. He thought soon he would formally ask her to move in full-time, with a change of address and everything. The idea made his heart race a little, but not in a bad way.

After getting his parents on board, the next step was a meeting with the sheriff. He and Tammy went to Travis’s office and laid out their proposal for catching V. “She associates so strongly with Valerie, I don’t think she’ll be able to stay away from the service,” Tammy said. “Eagle Mountain is a small enough community we ought to able to spot someone new or out of place.”

“I can’t arrest someone for being a stranger,” Travis said. “And grief can make people behave in odd ways. That’s not a crime either.”

“But you can watch them, and if they do cause trouble, you can have a deputy there to put a stop to it,” she said.

“All right,” Travis agreed. “But you have to promise to let us handle any incidents. You focus on the memorial.”

“I promise,” Tammy said, and Vince agreed.

Travis sat back in his chair. “I understand there was a fire at your parents’ house,” he said. “In your sister’s old bedroom.”

“How did you hear about that?” Vince asked, unable to hide his alarm.

“I have friends with the Junction police. They called to verify that you and your parents were in Eagle Mountain the day of the fire.”

“They were checking our alibis?” Vince’s voice rose.

“It’s routine in an arson investigation. They don’t have any leads as to who set the fire. Do you think it was V?”

“It could have been,” Vince admitted. “It’s one reason we planned this memorial. I don’t like her getting close to my parents. She’s already hurt Tammy. I don’t want her to hurt anyone else.”

Travis turned to Tammy. “What do you plan to say in your article for the paper?”

“I’m just going to announce the memorial, say anyone who remembers Valerie is invited and give a brief outline of the circumstances of her disappearance.”

“Play up the loving family who never stopped searching for her,” Travis said. “That contradicts V’s story that Valerie’s disappearance was somehow orchestrated by the family. She may feel she has to show up to refute that.”

“I thought we could have a portion of the memorial service where people can stand up and offer their memories of Valerie,” she said. “Maybe V will have something to say.”

“We could get lucky.” Travis stood. “I’ll have a couple of deputies at the service,” he said. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

T HE DAY OF Valerie’s memorial was hot and sunny. Vince’s parents had insisted on a large flower arrangement, and a couple of Valerie’s former teachers and a family friend had also ordered arrangements, which Tammy grouped around a series of enlarged photos of the little girl. Though she and Vince were not identical twins, the resemblance was definitely there, and one photo Mrs. Shepherd had provided showed the children together, arms around each other, grinning for the camera with such happiness it made Tammy’s heart hurt.

“There are more people here than I thought there would be,” Mrs. Shepherd said as they watched people fill the folding chairs they had set out. Latecomers stood around the chairs, all facing the small platform with the flowers and photographs. Tammy scanned the gathering, hoping to spot anyone who seemed out of place or who was behaving strangely. But no one stood out.

At two o’clock sharp, Tammy moved to the microphone set up in front of the platform. “On behalf of the Shepherd family, I want to thank you all for coming this afternoon,” she said. “We are gathered to honor a beloved daughter, sister and friend. Valerie Shepherd vanished from our lives fifteen years ago, but she has never been forgotten. And the family has never stopped looking for her.”

She looked out over the crowd and faltered for a moment when she recognized Mitch and Elisabeth, seated on the back row of chairs. She had mentioned she was planning this event for the family, and this show of support touched her. It wasn’t the kind of thing Mitch would ever have done on his own, so it must be Elisabeth’s influence. She would be sure to thank her later.

She looked down at her notes. “To start, I want to read a poem at the request of Valerie’s mother.” She read the poem, a sentimental piece about the joy a little girl brings to the family. By the time she was done, Mrs. Shepherd was wiping away tears, as were many others in the crowd.

“Now we’ll have an opportunity for anyone who would like to share their memories of Valerie. Her brother, Vince, will start.”

Vince, dressed in dark slacks and a blue dress shirt, sleeves rolled up and collar open, moved to the microphone. Tammy spotted a number of his fellow search and rescue volunteers in the crowd, some of whom must have been involved in the original search for Valerie. Bethany Ames was there. Did that mean she was Valerie?

Vince glanced at a note card in his hand, then cleared his throat and spoke: “When I think of my sister, Valerie, I think of her courage. We were twins, but she got most of the bravery in the family. She truly wasn’t afraid of anything—spiders, heights, deep water, going fast on a mountain bike—all the things that made me nervous never fazed her.

“I remember once, we were riding our bikes in the woods behind our house. Our usual route took us over a ditch, where someone had laid down a couple of boards to make it possible to ride over. But on this day, spring snowmelt had the water in the ditch raging, and had washed the boards downstream. I told Valerie we would have to turn around and go back home the long way, but she insisted we could jump our bikes over the water.

“I looked at that rushing water and my other big fear—of drowning—had me almost paralyzed. I told Valerie I couldn’t do it, but she insisted I could. She backed her bike up a hill, then pedaled furiously down it, gaining speed. When she reached the edge of the ditch, she yanked up on the handlebars and sailed over the gap with room to spare. She wheeled around, shouting in triumph, and told me it was my turn.

“I could have turned around and ridden home alone, but I would have had to live with the shame—and the constant taunts from her—that she had beat me. So I backed my bike up the hill, pedaled with everything I had and held my breath as my bike cleared that gap. Valerie was thrilled, congratulating me and telling me she had known all along that I could do it. I was just relieved that I had survived unscathed.

“After she was gone, I realized how much I had relied on her to lead the way. It was a hard lesson to learn, but I’m a better man for it. I learned that I needed to be brave enough for both of us.”

Tammy watched the faces of those in the crowd as he spoke. Many people were smiling, some nodding their heads. But no one looked angry or upset by the story. Deputies Jamie Douglas and Dwight Prentice stood on either side of the crowd, assessing the attendees but not reacting as if they had spotted anything concerning.

Vince left the microphone and returned to his seat on the front row between his mother and Tammy. Others took turns speaking—two different teachers spoke about how smart Valerie was. Her former soccer coach spoke about her talent for the sport and cheerful attitude. Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd each shared memories of their little girl, their voices breaking as they painted a picture of a cheerful and loved child.

And then it was over. Members of the crowd moved forward to speak with the family while others drifted away. Tammy looked for Mitch and Elisabeth, but they had already left. It didn’t matter. She could thank them later for being there.

Jamie came to stand beside her. “Did you see anyone out of place?” she asked.

“No,” Tammy admitted. “Did you?”

“No. Everyone was quiet and respectful. I didn’t see anything off.”

Dwight Prentice walked up. “Everything seems okay,” he said.

“I guess our plan didn’t work,” Vince said.

“It was still a beautiful memorial,” Jamie said. “I didn’t know your sister, but it sounds like she was a great kid.”

“She was.” Vince took a deep breath and blew it out. “I’m glad we did this, even if we didn’t catch V. We should have done it years ago.”

Tammy slipped her arm in his. “I’m glad we did it too. It helped me to know Valerie and your family better.”

They helped his parents load the flowers and pictures to take back to their home in Junction, which Mr. Shepherd reported was already in the process of being repaired.

Tammy and Vince were walking across the park toward the lot where they had left the Escape when Vince’s text alert sounded. He pulled out his phone. “It’s a search and rescue call,” he said, and scrolled through the message. “Hikers reported an injured man at the base of the cliffs north of Dixon Pass.” He met her eyes. “I should go.”

“Do you need to change clothes and grab your gear?” she asked.

“I keep a change of clothes and a gear bag in the car,” he said.

“Then go.”

“I can drop you off at the condo,” he said.

“I want to walk over and visit my mother,” she said. “I’ll get her to drive me to your condo.”

“You should start thinking of it as our condo,” he said. “You’re spending all your time there.”

“I am, but I don’t want to presume.”

He took her by the shoulders. “I like having you live with me. I think you should go ahead and move in. Permanently.”

She grinned, a little numb and a lot excited. “Yes. Let’s do it.”

“We’ll iron out the details later.” He kissed her on the lips. “Right now, I need to go.” He started to open the car, then stopped. “Be careful. V is still out there somewhere.”

“It’ll be fine,” she said. “It’s broad daylight, and there are tons of people around. When I get to the condo I’ll lock myself in. I promise. And you be careful too. Don’t fall off a cliff or anything.”

“I won’t.”

She waved goodbye and walked the three blocks to her mother’s house. But her mother wasn’t home. Neither was Mitch. Disappointed but undeterred, Tammy pulled her bicycle from the garage and set off toward the condo by the river.