Chapter Nine

Tammy headed back down the hill toward her car. She searched groups of people she passed, hoping to spot Vince. She would say hello, and they could make small talk about the accident. Maybe they could firm up dinner plans.

A crowd had gathered on the side of the road up ahead. Curious, Tammy pushed through the clot of people and was startled to see Vince standing in front of his truck. Several people were shining flashlights on the vehicle, revealing a broken window and splashes of red paint. Tammy stared at the message on the windshield: YOU THOUGHT I WAS DEAD, DIDN’T YOU? V.

Deputy Shane Ellis, along with Colorado State Patrol Officer Ryder Stewart, moved in alongside Vince and began talking to him. Tammy snapped off a few photographs of the scene, then joined them. “Hello, Vince,” she said during a lull in the conversation.

“Hey, Tammy.” He resumed staring at his truck. “I can’t believe this happened.”

Tammy turned to Shane. “Who did this?” she asked.

“We haven’t found anyone who saw anything,” Shane said.

“Everyone was focused on the accident, and it was dark,” Ryder said. “The road was closed, and there weren’t a lot of people along this stretch where the volunteers parked their cars. We’ve got a shoe impression where a person stepped in the paint. It may have been the perpetrator, or maybe someone who was trying to get a closer look.” He studied Tammy’s tennis shoes. “The print is about your size.”

“No paint on me or my shoes.” She extended her leg so he could examine the sole of first one shoe, then the other. “So you think a woman did this?”

“It’s a possibility,” Ryder said. “But only one possibility.”

“Someone could have parked on the other side of the closure and hiked up the road like I did,” she said. “If they waited until everyone was up at the accident site, maybe when the helicopter arrived and was making a lot of noise and attracting everyone’s attention. Then they smashed the windows, wrote the message and tossed the paint, and left before anyone saw them.”

“That could be how it happened,” Ryder said. “Do you know something about it?”

“I got to the accident site a few minutes before the helicopter arrived,” she said. “While I was walking up the road, a woman ran past me. I didn’t get a good look, but I’m pretty sure it was a woman—slender and not too tall, dressed in dark clothing. I noticed her because she was running—and away from the accident, not toward it like everyone else.”

Vince was focused on her now. “What color hair did she have? Did you get a look at her face?”

“No. I was focused on getting to the accident scene. And she was moving pretty fast.”

“Did you see where she went?” Shane asked.

“No, I didn’t,” she admitted.

“The message is signed V ,” Vince said.

“Do you think it’s Valerie?” Tammy asked.

“I don’t know what to think,” he admitted.

“Both of you need to come down to the department and give a statement,” Shane said. “Meanwhile, we’ll go over the truck for evidence.”

“I can give you a ride to town,” Tammy said.

Vince looked glum. “Why would anyone go after my truck? And why the cryptic message?”

“I don’t know,” Tammy said. “Maybe the sheriff can figure something out.” She didn’t believe that. Whoever was pretending to be Valerie, she hadn’t provided them with evidence of her motive, other than to harass Vince. “Do you have an ex who is angry with you? If she knows about Valerie, she might be hiding behind the name as a way of unsettling you.”

“It’s unsettling, all right. But no, I don’t have any exes, angry or otherwise. I told you, I’m not the best at relationships.”

She wanted to reassure him that he was just fine, that no one was an expert at these things, but what did she know? Better to focus on being his friend. If something more developed, that would be good, but better not to force it.

V INCE SLID INTO the passenger seat of Tammy’s Subaru, the image of his vandalized truck still fixed in his mind. You thought I was dead, didn’t you? Of course he thought Valerie was dead. Hundreds of people had searched for her immediately after she went missing, and they hadn’t found one clue as to what happened to her. No one had heard from her in fifteen years. She had disappeared in the high mountains, where people died in accidents every year. One wrong step or a slip could send a person plummeting off a cliff or into a deep fissure in the rocks, and no one would ever see them again.

Whoever was doing this couldn’t be Valerie. She would have no reason to taunt him this way. The real Valerie would be happy to see him again.

But a scammer would demand money, and that hadn’t happened yet.

Which left someone who was doing this in order to torture Vince and his family. A person who enjoyed making other people suffer. Was it someone he knew or a stranger who had read the article in the Examiner and decided to focus on him? “Has anyone contacted the paper about the article you wrote?” he asked Tammy.

“What do you mean by contact ?” she asked. “A few people complimented me on the article. And some people asked what else I had planned for the series.”

“I’m thinking maybe someone saw the article and fixated on it as a way to harass me,” he said. “I’ve heard of people who enjoy psychologically torturing others. Some of the calls my parents received soon after Valerie disappeared were made by people like that. They would say things like ‘Your daughter is being tortured, and you’ll never see her again.’”

“That’s so cruel,” she said.

“It is. I’m trying to figure out if the person who sent that postcard and vandalized my car is like that. They’ve decided for whatever reason to target me, and Valerie’s story is a convenient one to hide behind.” The idea made sense—more sense than the possibility that Valerie had suddenly shown up again after all these years.

“You should tell the sheriff that,” she said. “There might even be someone who contacted your parents before who has resurfaced.”

At the sheriff’s department, Tammy left with Shane to give her statement while Jake Gwynn escorted Vince to an interview room. They had scarcely settled into chairs across from each other when Travis entered. “I might have a few questions after you’ve given your statement to Jake about what happened tonight.”

Vince took him through the events of the evening, from when he had first parked his truck on the side of the closed highway to his arrival back there two hours later, and the vandalism he had seen. “You’re sure the note was signed V ?” Jake asked. “It couldn’t have been some random paint drip?”

Vince thought back to the message on the windshield. “I’m pretty sure it was V ,” he said.

“Do you know who V might be?” Jake asked.

“I think it’s someone who is trying to make me think the message was written by my sister, Valerie.” Vince looked to Travis. “Maybe the same person who sent that postcard.”

“You don’t believe this really is Valerie?” Travis asked.

“How could it be? If she’s still alive, why haven’t we heard anything for fifteen years? And if she was kidnapped and suddenly escaped, you’d think she’d be thrilled to see us again. She wouldn’t hide and try to frighten us.”

Travis scooted his chair closer and looked Vince in the eye. “Did you have anything to do with your sister’s disappearance?”

“What? No!”

“Is it possible Valerie might have thought you had something to do with the accident or whatever happened that day?” Travis continued. “Maybe you were playing and she slipped and fell, and you were too afraid to tell anyone. Or you dared her to do something and she took the dare and was hurt.”

“No! I was in the tent, asleep, when she disappeared. I saw her leave the tent, then fell back asleep. By the time I woke up, my parents were already searching.”

Travis’s expression gave nothing away. Vince glared at him. “Do you think this is Valerie? And that she’s exacting revenge for something I did to her?”

“I think it’s always a good idea to look at every possibility,” Travis said.

“If this is my sister, where has she been all this time? And why couldn’t hundreds of people searching for her find any trace after that day?”

“I don’t know,” Travis said. “But I’m doing my best to find out. Is there anything else about tonight, or about the postcard or the message left on your truck, that makes you think of anything or anyone?”

“No. I’ve gone over and over it in my head, and I can’t think of anything, except that this is another scammer or one of those people who likes to torture others. My parents got calls like that after Valerie disappeared. Is it possible this is one of those people and the article in the Examiner shifted their focus to me?”

“Do you know the names of any of those people?” Travis asked.

“I don’t think so, but I’ll ask my parents.” Although that would mean involving them in this, and he had been hoping to avoid that. “Maybe you have something in your files on the case,” he said.

“I haven’t found anything, but I promise I’ll take a look.” Travis stood. “Jake will print your statement and you can sign it, then you’re free to go. Call us in a day or two, and we’ll let you know when you can have your truck.”

“I hate to think how much it’s going to cost to restore the truck,” he said.

Travis didn’t comment on this, merely said good-night and left the room. Vince waited for the printout of his statement, read over it and then dashed off his signature. It wasn’t until he was walking down the hall that he wondered how he was going to get to his condo. But when he stepped into the lobby, Tammy rose from a chair by the door. “I waited to give you a ride home,” she said.

“Thanks.”

He didn’t say anything else until they were seated in her car. “Are you going to write about my truck being vandalized for the paper?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I have to work on the story about the truck accident and the rescue.” She glanced at him, then back at the road. “Why?”

“I’d rather you didn’t,” he said. “I don’t want to upset my parents, but most of all, I don’t want to give whoever this is more attention.”

“If we do run anything, it’s most likely to be a line item in the sheriff’s report. But it isn’t my decision to make. That would be up to my editor.”

“You don’t have to give him the photos you took,” he said.

“No, I don’t.” She fell silent, and he worried he had hurt her feelings.

“I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job,” he added. “And I’m grateful for all the help you’ve given me. I’m just trying to sort out how to handle all of this.”

“I know.” She turned into the parking area for his condo and pulled into an empty space. She unfastened her seat belt but kept the engine running. “I’m sorry about your truck,” she said. “That has to feel like a personal attack.”

“It does,” he agreed. “That message—‘You thought I was dead, didn’t you?’ As if I betrayed my sister by believing she was no longer alive.”

“Even though a lot of people share that assumption.”

“I’m angry that I’m letting some sick person get to me this way,” he said.

“Don’t beat yourself up for being human.” She reached over and took his hand. Her skin was cool and smooth, her touch firm and comforting. “I wish I could do more to help.”

“You’re doing a lot just being here.” He turned toward her, and she surprised him by leaning over and pressing her lips to his.

He leaned into the kiss, pulled by attraction and need. Then, just as suddenly, she pulled away. The kiss was brief, but the impression of it lingered. She gave a nervous laugh and didn’t meet his gaze. “Call me if you need anything else,” she said, and fastened her seat belt.

That seemed the definite signal for him to leave. “I will,” he said. “And thanks for everything.”

He got out of the car and forced himself to walk up to his condo without looking back. He was relieved to find no nasty notes on his door. He sank onto the couch and leaned forward, elbows on knees and head in his hand. His lips still tingled from that kiss. He liked Tammy. He liked being with her. He was attracted to her, and it would be fun to explore that attraction. But was now the time to get involved with anyone, with everything stirred up over Valerie?

Though, when he looked at his life closely, he recognized that Valerie had been his excuse for not getting serious about anyone all his life. Since his twin had vanished all those years ago, he had grown used to being alone. Valerie wasn’t half of him, but she was part of him. She was part of his life even though she was no longer in it, and he didn’t know how to explain that to someone else. Valerie wasn’t dead, but she would never be truly gone either. He had always wondered if finding her body would make it easier to finally lay her to rest.

Instead, he was grappling with someone who claimed his sister was still alive and wasn’t happy with him. Valerie was still taking up too much room in his head and his life to make it possible to be there for someone else.