Hidden Pieces by Mary Keliikoa

Author:Mary Keliikoa [Mary Keliikoa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Level Best Books
Published: 2022-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jax heard Emily’s high-pitched voice and Kylie’s “I’m sorry” as he trotted onto Emily’s porch. He rang the bell. When no one answered, he went inside and headed straight for the commotion.

“You had this the whole time?” Emily said, thrusting a puffy winter coat at Kylie.

“I’ve had it since last spring. I didn’t just get it.”

Emily had on the same sweats she’d worn yesterday, dark circles under her eyes, her hair disheveled. She hadn’t slept, and the stress of Allison’s absence had chipped away at her. Jax recognized the signs of losing faith.

He stepped into the kitchen. “Let’s calm down, everyone.”

“Thank God you’re here,” Emily said. “Kylie’s been holding out on us.”

Kylie shrunk into the chair.

Emily chewed her thumbnail. “I called her, like you said. I’ve been calling everyone. I asked her about the drugs. About the coat. Begging her to tell me everything.”

Jax inspected Emily’s face and then Kylie, who was shaking.

Emily thrust a piece of white plastic into Jax’s hands. “I found this too on the farm’s perimeter. Allison’s phone is white.”

He hadn’t brought Emily up to date on the suspected drug trafficking. Now he wished he had. “They could have had you arrested for trespassing.” Or worse.

“He, I mean, they wouldn’t.”

Jax turned the shard of plastic over in his hand. No identifying marks. No serial numbers. It could be part of a PVC pipe. Jax hesitated to steal any hope that Emily clung to, but he wouldn’t lie to her either. Even if it had been legitimate evidence, her removing it made it inadmissible. “I get you want answers, but half the workers on that farm could have had a white phone at one time or another. That’s if this is even part of a phone.”

“But…”

He placed a calming hand on her shoulder. “It doesn’t prove anything.” He wanted to find evidence of Allison as much as she did. This just wasn’t it.

The lines of Emily’s face deepened as she tried to gain control. But grief and worry were like sand, finding the cracks. Oozing to the floor in a pile, growing, building, until they buried you alive.

“Well, Kylie has more to tell you. Don’t you, Kylie?” Emily dropped into the dining room chair across from the young girl.

Kylie held out her phone to him. Allison’s Snapchat account lit up the screen. He took the phone and scanned the image before setting it in front of her, working to control his anger. “Why didn’t you tell me you had access to Allison’s account from the beginning?”

Kylie cupped her face in her hands. She’d been crying, but she sniffed, wiping the tears that had pooled under her eyes. “I should have. But I thought Allison was messing around because our relationship has been intense lately. When she didn’t show up at school, I ratted to her mom to get her in trouble. At first.”

“But you told me you two had plans, and there’d be no way she wouldn’t show without calling,” Jax said.

Kylie nodded. “It’s not a lie.

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