Secrets, Lies & Obsession (Secrets and Lies Series Book 3) by Ben Andrews

Author:Ben Andrews [Andrews, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Hunted

EMILY'S FOURTH MESSAGE to Rachel also received no reply. Since Rachel's last phone call, she had only replied to Emily to reveal she was in the hospital and didn't want to speak further on the matter. That was all they knew—Rachel wasn't willing to share any additional information.

Glancing over at Theo, Emily found him engrossed in Jessie's social media pages, desperately searching for any clue regarding her whereabouts. Cynthia approached the pair of them and placed a mug of tea by Emily's side. She gently stroked her shoulder. "Are you sure there isn't anything I can do? I'm just wandering around this house with no one to talk to."

Emily clutched the mug and set her phone aside. "No, Gran. Shouldn't you be at Larry's place, anyway?" She glanced at her watch, aware of Cynthia's usual routine. It was a Tuesday. Every week Cynthia would meet Larry before lunch for a walk.

Cynthia pursed her wrinkled lips. "No, I don't live in his pocket," she snapped, shuffling toward her chair. "Besides, he's got Edna to worry about. I don't need to add to the chaos. She expects most of his attention." Cynthia let out an exasperated huff and picked up a magazine she had already read to aimlessly flip through its pages.

"Hey, Em, check this out!" Theo called. Emily hurried over to the table, leaning across his shoulder to see what had caught his interest.

Cynthia turned her head to face them. "Oh, finally tearing yourself away from that screen?"

Emily focused on Theo's laptop, which displayed multiple open tabs at the top—over twenty, she realised. "I was going through Jessie's Instagram page. It took forever but look." He tapped on a photo, showing Jessie wearing a yellow life jacket. The image showed Jessie, a short bob, full fringe. She looked happy, smiling at the camera.

Perplexed, Emily looked at Theo. "What's so significant about this? She's just on a boat. She looks about twelve. This was taken years ago."

Theo clicked on another tab on the screen. "Ah but look here. While going through her Facebook friends, I stumbled upon an uncle of hers. Check it out. He owns a holiday cabin."

Emily peered over Theo's shoulder once again. The next photo depicted a man with brown hair standing before a wooden cabin, smiling with two young boys. "So? It's a family cabin from a distant uncle. I don't understand the connection. We can't be certain she'd be there."

All the features on his face lifted. Hope shimmered in his eyes as he looked at them both.

"Jessie captioned the photo of her in her life jacket as her 'special place.' And look, in the background, along the lake shore, there's a cabin," Theo explained. He saved both photos and displayed them side by side. "See? The pitch of the roof, the pattern of the logs—it's the same place."

Emily sighed, torn between wanting it to be that easy and not wanting to embark on a journey, only to find nothing there. Cynthia sighed and made her way toward the table.

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