Tiffany Lynn Is Missing: a psychological thriller (A JETT THACKER MYSTERY Book 1) by Dan Alatorre

Author:Dan Alatorre [Alatorre, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Great Oak Publishing
Published: 2021-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Aaron kneeled next to the hearth, the blanket wrapped around his toned waist as he placed more wood on the fading red embers. His muscles rippled in the dim glow of the fireplace. Clutching the sleeping bag around her naked figure, Jett slid two metal cups of icicle chunks across the hearth.

Clapping some bark fragments from his hands, Aaron stood and walked to the window.

“How’s it look out there?” Jett asked.

“Better. We’ll be able to leave soon.” He picked up her phone and checked the time. “Keep an eye on your battery—it’ll drop like a rock when we get out in the cold again. With any luck, we’ll get out and be picked up before it gets dark, but we’ll take some matches to start a signal fire if necessary.”

Jett reclined on the floor, propping herself up on one elbow. “You don’t worry much, do you?”

“Sure, I do.” Aaron walked back to her, sliding under the sleeping bag. His firm, naked body felt good on her skin. “I just try not to obsess—which I’m really bad at—but I try not to let it show. I guess when you’ve actually had bad things done to you, lesser things don’t mean much by comparison. You’re more… numb. Less threatened.”

Jett rolled over to face him. “What bad things were done to you, Aaron? Did Ashley do something?”

He shook his head. “You don’t want to get into all that. I don’t see how that could help your investigation.”

“Let me decide what helps my investigation.” She looked into his eyes. “You said you’d be honest about everything.” Jett took his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers.

“Ashley never hurt me.” Aaron sat up, giving Jett’s hand a squeeze. “Karen used to be rough on my sister and me when we were kids, okay? Real rough.”

“Karen is your mother?”

He looked away.

“Just tell me, please,” Jett said. “I want to know. And I want to know you. Your family business is tangled up somehow with a missing niece who ended up dead. I need to learn about the family dynamics. Maybe it will help me understand what went on with your sister and your niece.”

Aaron took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Karen’s our mother. When we were young, she was a broken-down woman with twin babies and no money, barely scraping by… often, not even scraping by—and she was a pretty bad alcoholic. We lived in a trailer with holes in the floor and a tarp over the roof to keep the rain out, and we wore clothes that other families threw away. Karen was beautiful—men all over town were always chasing after her. But she was… unstable, and as kids we took the brunt of it.”

He stared into the fire, as if his eyes were seeing a place in it from long ago. “Karen felt we were the reason for her problems. No money, no food, no life.” His voice grew soft. “For as long as I can remember, Ashley and I would

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