But as time went by, and they had Jake, Greg realized that while they had achieved their dream, their lives were not perfect.
Jenn would have moments where she would fall silent, usually around the anniversary of the fire. Or she would go by herself to the cemetery in Clarence to visit her parents’ graves. Other times, Greg would find her at home alone, staring at the little framed picture of her with her parents. He never said anything, unable to imagine the horror of that night.
And there was the challenge of his contracting business with its ups and downs, making him consider Arizona. Would it be a good or bad thing for them to move there? And now he was dealing with a more enticing option. Complicating everything was the fact that a few months ago, Jenn had suddenly become detached, almost disinterested.
This is not like her.
He had no idea what was wrong, but something was going on with her. Jenn hid it when they were with other people, or in public. But at home, she was aloof. Whenever he tried to talk to her about it, she’d deny anything was wrong and change the subject. They were barely intimate anymore; when they were Jenn seemed uninvolved, going through the motions. Greg mentioned therapy. Jenn shut him down. Greg tried to reach her but she would not let him in and he didn’t know why.
He was concerned.
He was frustrated.
It tore him up inside because of the other things he was facing.
He’d grown angry with Jenn.
So freaking angry.
“Greg!”
Kat called to him from downstairs. She and Vince had returned. Greg joined them and the boys came up from the basement, with Holly in tow.
“They’re hungry and they want to get pizza,” Holly said.
The burst of energy in the house had a semblance of normal. Greg thanked Kat for getting the new, inexpensive cell phones and laptops for him and Jake, promising to reimburse her.
“For me?” Jake couldn’t believe he now had a cell phone.
“There’ll be some rules, son,” Greg told him. “We’ll activate it later.”
“Wow. Thanks, Dad.”
“And we got you this.” Vince reached for a shopping bag, withdrew a colorful box with a drone. He handed it to Jake.
“A Firelight Mega Striker!” Jake said. “Look, Carter!”
“Awesome!” Carter said.
“We have to get it registered online. We’ll read the instructions and try it out later,” Greg said, nodding his thanks to his dad.
Then, just before the pizza arrived, Kat signaled to Greg that she wanted to speak with him privately.
They went to his office and closed the door.
“Was Jenn happy, Greg?”
“What do you mean?”
“Were you guys having problems?”
Greg thought hard. “What is this?”
“I just want to know.”
He stared at her, his eyes narrowing. “Has this got anything to do with you thinking you know what happened but stopped short of saying it out loud?”
“No.”
“Because if it does...” Greg stepped closer to Kat. “If you know something, Kat—”
“No, Greg, stop. I’m just trying to understand what could’ve been going on with Jenn at the time.”
“Don’t you think I’ve run every freaking scenario through my mind a million times?”
Kat was silent.
“Look,” Greg said, “if we argued, we argued, like everyone else. But it’s got nothing to do with this. My God, Kat, look where and how they found her car! I mean—” Greg’s voice broke.
Kat hugged him.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Everybody’s being pushed to the limit.”
Greg nodded as he collected himself.
“Do you want me and Dad to stay again tonight?” Kat asked.
“I think it’d be best if it’s just Jake and me, you know?”
“Okay, call us if you need anything.”
The pizza came, everyone ate, then Kat and Holly cleaned up. It got late, time for everyone to leave. At the door, Vince took hold of Greg’s forearm and pulled him close, speaking softly in his ear.
“Be strong. Don’t give up hope. We’re going to bring her home.”
Everyone left and the quiet in the house was overwhelming. Greg moved fast to get Jake to take a bath.
They went to bed.
Greg used his new phone to get on Jenn’s social media pages. He found an older video he’d taken of her laughing while holding up live lobsters at a harbor during a vacation in Maine.
Jake laughed. “They’re all wiggly.”
Greg looked at Jenn, her beautiful face, until dread strained his chest.
“Will Mom come home, Dad?”
“That’s what we’re all working on and praying for, son—for her to come home.”
Jake slid his arms around Greg’s neck, holding tight as if he didn’t want to lose his dad. Greg held him and they stayed that way for a long time, until Jake fell asleep.
Greg repositioned him carefully and shifted, his body trembling from stress when his last received text pinged in his mind.
I’ll do anything to help.
Exhausted and terrified, Greg used his hand to smother a sob as he stared into the night.
He couldn’t shake the image of Jenn’s car, not knowing where she was, if she was alive, his fears circling like wolves, moving toward him from the darkness.
Twenty-Four
Location Unknown
Jennifer Griffin looked at the naked bulb in the ceiling.
She didn’t know how long she’d been here.
She had no phone, no way to measure time. Not even a sense of night and day. There were no windows in this room.
Again, her terror-fueled anger erupted.
“Please!” she screamed. “I didn’t see you! I don’t know who you are! Let me go back to my family! Please!”
No one responded.
She kicked, pounded, and clawed at the door until her fingers and feet ached. Tears rolled down her face; she slid to the floor.
Her nightmare began after her book club meeting at Liz’s house. She stopped at the Korner Fast, unable to find her favorite blueberry yogurt. She was driving home along Ripple Valley Boulevard at the long, isolated stretch curving through the woods when—I can’t remember what happened next—everything went hazy as if her memory had been wiped out while fragments still flickered.