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Chapter Twenty-One

J etta rested her hand on Bingley’s head, which lay in her lap as she sat at the kitchen table. The dog hadn’t left her side since she’d returned home from the rehab facility as if sensing Jetta’s worry over her still-missing mother. The baby stirred but the dog didn’t move. She rubbed Bingley’s silky ears, her body tired but her mind unable to focus on any thought but her mother’s safety. Please God, don’t take her from me. I need her now more than ever.

The doorbell rang. Seth had followed her home, then left to snap pictures of another construction site fire, this one on the opposite side of the county from the first one. He wouldn’t have returned so fast. Rapid knocking on the door followed another peal of the doorbell. Maybe the police had found Mom. She refused to believe the visitor was bringing bad news.

Jetta heaved herself to her feet and made her way to the front door. She hesitated, then peeked through the peephole to find Melender standing on her stoop, her long, silvery-blonde hair escaping from a single braid down her back. Jetta yanked open the door.

“Oh, thank God you’re okay.” Melender placed a hand on her chest. “When Brogan told me about your mother, I tried to call you, but your phone rolled over into voicemail. With Seth at the fire, I thought you might like some company, but when you didn’t answer my text, I was concerned something might have happened to you as well.”

Jetta frowned and checked her phone, which had registered several texts and a missed call from Melender. “Sorry, I have it on silent and must not have heard the buzzing.”

“No problem.” Bingley shoved past Jetta to greet Melender. “Hey, boy. You keeping a close eye on your mistress?”

Jetta blinked back tears at the other woman’s thoughtfulness. “You came all the way over here to check on me?”

“Of course.” Melender smiled. “What are friends for?”

Her innocent question brought forth a gush of tears. Melender nudged Bingley out of the way, then guided Jetta back into the house and into the living room. “I’ll make some herbal tea.” She gave her a push toward the sofa. “Put your feet up, and I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

Jetta sank onto the couch, toeing off her shoes and swinging her legs up on the cushions. Her mother would be appalled to see feet—even sock feet—on the sofa, but Jetta didn’t care. Tears eked from her closed lids as she battled to regain control of her emotions. By the time Melender re-entered the room carrying a tray with a teapot, Mom’s honey jar, and two cups on saucers, the tears had stopped.

“I seem to cry at the drop of a hat these days.” Jetta accepted a cup of tea into which Melender had put some honey. She drew in a breath, the scent of lavender wafting to her nose. “I smell lavender but something else too.”

“Chamomile.” Melender sipped from her cup. “It’s Yellow & Blue from Harney & Sons Teas, one of my favorite tea purveyors. I love this blend as it’s caffeine-free and it tastes good. Yes, I brought some with me just in case.”

Jetta tried a small sip. “The honey is a nice change from my usual sugar as the sweetener.”

The two sipped their tea while Bingley rested on the floor. Melender put her empty cup back onto the tray with a click. “How are you holding up?”

Jetta sighed. “Not too well.” Tears pricked the backs of her eyelids, but she refused to let them fall. Enough with the weeping. “The police said there’s nothing to do but wait. I could tell the rehab staff was uneasy about my staying in Mom’s room, so I came home.”

“Anything new in the investigation? Brogan only gave me a bare outline.”

Jetta filled her in on Seth’s invoice sleuthing that led to Dolores Green, and then the shots fired at them.

“Wow.” Melender sat in silence for a moment, then pointed to the clock on the mantel. “It’s four p.m. Why don’t we tackle the rest of your invoices?”

Jetta couldn’t believe it wasn’t late evening, so much had happened that day. “Sure, I only had time to call a couple of them, but they seemed legit. I’ll get them.”

Melender waved her back to the couch. “Tell me where and I’ll grab them.”

Jetta directed her to the study next door and waited until Melender returned with the stack, plus pens and clipboards for both of them. She handed Jetta a stack and took the rest for herself. “Start with the ones on the East Coast and then work your way westward. That way, we’ll make the time zones work for us.”

“Good idea.” Jetta was grateful for Melender’s take-charge attitude, as hers seemed to have fled with her mother’s kidnapping. She sorted the invoices by time zone, then picked up her phone and started dialing. With any luck, she’d find another anomaly.

Forty-five minutes later, Jetta set aside her final invoice. All appeared to check out with legitimate expenses. Melender shook her head as she ended her call. “Nothing on my end.”

“Mine either.” Jetta stretched, her movement sending the baby into somersaults. “Oh, he’s getting active.”

“You’re having a boy?” Melender gathered all the papers together in a neat stack on the coffee table.

“No idea, so I switch up calling it him or her. It sounds too impersonal.” She winced as the baby’s foot caught her ribcage. “She’s practicing for the Olympics gymnastics team today. I can’t believe I have seven more weeks to go.”

“I remember my aunt saying she felt as big as an elephant the final trimester.” A shadow crossed Melender’s face, but it was gone so quickly, Jetta thought she might have imagined it. “Do you have names picked out?”

“I don’t even know if I’m keeping the baby or giving him up for adoption.” Jetta clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, you won’t say anything? I haven’t been broadcasting that.”

“No worries, I won’t say a word to Seth.” The other woman leaned closer. “But he’s a really good guy, solid and trustworthy.”

“I got that sense too, but…” Jetta wasn’t sure how to put into words her trepidation at making another mistake with a man whose outward appearance hid a rotting inside. Something about Melender made her want to try. “It’s like that book we read in high school about the portrait of a man who stays young in appearance as he ages but the painting of him turns ugly and old.”

“ The Portrait of Dorian Gray ?” Melender shuddered. “That story gave me the creeps. But Seth isn’t at all like that character.”

“You can’t be sure, though, can you?” All her concerns about the past, present, and future rushed together, jumbling her brain. Her colossal mistake in trusting Kyle mixed with her worry about her missing mother, driving her fears to greater heights. “But you don’t know him that well, and I barely know him. Sure, he seems like a nice guy, but then again, don’t most psychopaths?”

“I doubt Seth is anything like a psychopath. He’s…”

But once the words began to tumble out of her mouth, Jetta couldn’t stop them. “That’s my point—you don’t think so, but how can you be sure? Have you heard about his upbringing? He spent his early years with a drug-addicted mom who had all manner of mean boyfriends in her home.” She nearly blurted out the secret Seth had shared with her, but somehow managed to keep that bottled up inside. She might not fully trust him, but she also didn’t think he had been lying about killing his mother’s violent boyfriend to save her life when he was so young.

“That doesn’t mean he’s anything like those men. Brogan has only good things to say about Seth. Besides, Seth is a believer.”

Melender’s soft rejoinder did little to quench the flow of words. All the pressure on Jetta, from deciding what to do about the baby to cleaning out her parents’ home to clearing her father’s name, exploded inside her. Like a volcano spewing lava, her voice rose. “He’s a former foster care kid! I worked on a project about foster care, and the stats are troubling. More than half of boys in foster care as teens go on to commit a crime as an adult. Plus, you’ve seen the size of him. He’s a big guy. If I’m wrong about him, he could use his strength to hurt me or the baby, and I couldn’t stop him.”

“I’d never do that.”

Seth stood in the doorway, his face pale. A faint whiff of smoke filled the space, reminding Jetta of his work photographing another fire.

Jetta crossed her arms, unable to retract her words as her emotions seesawed between embarrassment at him overhearing part of her diatribe and her uncertainty of his character. When she stayed silent, his lips firmed, drawing her attention and reminding her of the gentle kiss they’d shared hours earlier.

“Because I’m big, therefore I can’t be trusted.” Sadness tinged his words. For the first time since she’d met him, he looked smaller than usual. He dangled his hands at his sides as if the air was slowly leaking out of his body and draining it of its vibrancy.

Melender cleared her throat. “I’d better be going.”

“You don’t have to…” Jetta began, not sure she wanted to be alone with Seth, but the other woman shook her head.

As she passed her, Melender patted her shoulder. “Let me know if you need more help, and I’ll be praying they find your mom soon.”

The mention of Mom brought fresh tears to Jetta’s eyes, but she blinked them away. She was so done with crying. “Thank you.”

Seth stayed where he was, his body dejected and his face toward the floor. When he spoke, he didn’t meet her eyes. “Do you want me to leave too?”

If she said yes, he would slip out after Melender and wouldn’t bother her again unless she reached out to him first. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. He lifted his head, his eyes fastening on hers. The sorrow etched on his face broke her heart, but she couldn’t find the strength to retract her harsh assessment of him.

She still hadn’t answered his question, but he nodded once as if she’d spoken and left. When the front door closed with an audible click, the flood gates on her tears released. Sobs tore through her body as she cried. Her words replayed over and over in her mind as did the look of utter misery on Seth’s face. As her tears eased, one thought pushed its way to the surface. Seth hadn’t seemed surprised by her conclusions. He seemed more resigned, as if it was what he’d expected. That reaction told her volumes about his upbringing, a background he had shared in confidence with her hours before only to have her use it against him. Maybe Kyle hadn’t been the entire issue after all. Perhaps she had been more to blame than she wanted to think.