“The what?”
“The guy who keeps parking in front of the fire hydrant.” Her eyes go wide. “You…did you come and pick him up? Was that you?”
Clearly, she had seen Antony pick up Aaron, and she did not call the police. If she were innocent, she would have called and reported the crime.
“So you did know he was there.” I give her a knowing smile. “What was he doing? Watching out for you? Protecting you? Just waiting for me to leave so he could come in and get information from you?”
“Nate! You are being ridiculous!”
“Am I? You already admitted that you knew he was there.”
“I most certainly did not! I saw the car, not who was inside. I never talked to him! I don’t know what you’re thinking exactly, but I swear to you, I never saw Aaron after that night at Big O—never!”
“But you already told me you saw him get picked up today! You saw someone abducted outside your apartment, but you didn’t call the police? Why didn’t you call the police, huh?”
Cherry looks away, and I see her shoulders move up and down as she breathes deeply. She glances back at me for a moment, nervously biting her lip. She’s clearly hiding something now—I’m positive of that.
“Nate, I—”
The door opens before she can finish.
“Nate?” Antony says as he pokes his head through the crack in the door. “Sorry, but I need to talk to you for a sec. It’s urgent.”
“What is it?”
“Privately, please.”
I sigh loudly, close my eyes for a second, and then look back at Cherry.
“Stay right there,” I tell her. “I’ll be back.”
I watch her press her lips together, clearly holding something back, and then nod slightly. I step out of the office and into the hallway where Antony and Threes are waiting.
“Look at this.” Antony hands me a piece of paper, obviously fresh from the computer, with a photo printed on it.
The ink is still a little wet and smear
s when I take it from him, leaving a streak on my thumb. The photo shows an older woman waving at the camera from a sailboat docked at a marina.
“Who is this?” I ask.
“That is Virginia Bay,” Antony says. “The real Virginia Bay.”
“What?”
“Virginia Bay is in the Virgin Islands, living a plush life in a condo overlooking the ocean and going by the name Jenny Baylor. However, Jenny Baylor didn’t exist until twenty years ago. She grew up in the town of Accident, Maryland, moved to Philadelphia in the eighties, and suddenly came into a lot of money while she was living there. That’s when she moved to the Virgin Islands under a new identity. Shortly after that, the woman who raised Cherry moved to Accident under the name Virginia Bay and with a newborn. That’s the person who died a few months ago.”
“Who?” I ask. “Who was she?”
“Not Leanne Ramsay,” Antony says. “She was here, in Cascade Falls. Could she have paid someone to raise her child?”
“Why would she do that?” Threes asks. “Why wouldn’t she keep the child here?”
“Maybe it wasn’t Roland’s kid,” Antony suggests. “Maybe she had an affair, and he made her send Cherry away.”
“That makes sense,” I reply with a nod. “Cherry is Leanne’s daughter by another man. Maybe Virginia Bay knew that man.”
“That would tie her into all of this,” Antony says.