Page 17 of Silent Bones (High Peaks Murder, Mystery and Crime Thrillers #7)
“Sure. If you read all of those messages you will see I was trying to guide him toward believing in himself. He had self-esteem issues. He didn’t want to feel left out but in the process he wasn’t being himself.”
She scrolled through her phone for several minutes and located the messages. She handed the phone over and Noah confirmed it was the truth before handing it back.
“I have nothing to hide.”
McKenzie leaned back, studying her. “Have you followed any of the forums about the case? Do you have any interest in Sasquatch sightings, cryptid rumors?”
A flicker of disdain crossed her face. “I don’t waste my time with that garbage.”
“Ever see anything strange near your property?” Noah asked. “Strangers, odd vehicles, poachers, smugglers?”
“No.”
McKenzie gave her a long look. “You seem awfully calm about all this.”
“What do you want me to do, detective?” she asked. “Cry? Scream? I’ve been targeted before. For who I am. For helping someone like Stephen. So no, I don’t feel the need to perform grief for your comfort. When you find him, he will explain everything.”
Noah met her gaze. “You said ‘when we find him.’ You didn’t hear?”
“Hear what?”
“Stephen is dead.”
The words hit like a hammer.
She blinked. “Dead?”
“Yes. His body was found this morning. He was zip-tied. Beaten. Whoever did it left him to die.”
Theresa didn’t speak. Her eyes locked on Noah’s like she was trying to read if he was bluffing.
With a slow movement, she reached for a box of tissues on the table and dabbed at the corners of her eyes, eyes that were still dry.
“That’s… awful,” she whispered.
McKenzie watched her carefully. “And yet you’re not crying.”
“I’m trying to hold it together,” she said stiffly. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to tell you. We were friends. That’s all.”
Noah could tell he wasn’t going to get much more out of her. “If you think of anything else, about the group, about Stephen, about who might’ve done this, call me.”
Theresa sat back in her chair, a tissue balled in one hand. The room had fallen into a heavy quiet, broken only by the distant thrum of campground life, children laughing by the lake, an ATV engine revving somewhere beyond the trees.
“We appreciate your time.”
McKenzie stood as well, rubbing the back of his neck. “Um. Listen, sorry if I came off a little… direct.”
Theresa gave a tired smile. “You weren’t the first and you won’t be the last.”
Noah took a step toward the door, then paused. “Again, if there’s anything else you haven’t said, or can remember, contact us. Even if it feels small.”
Theresa looked at him. And for the first time since she’d walked into the room, her composure faltered. “There is… something.”
McKenzie glanced over, skeptical.
Noah didn’t move. “Go ahead.”
Theresa stared down at her hands. Her voice dropped. “There was a dynamic to the group. Interplay, you might say. Stephen told me something about Rachel, Jesse’s girlfriend. About how she felt Stephen was interfering with her relationship with Jesse, but that’s not the truth. Not really.”
Noah waited.
“Jesse Linwood was causing trouble,” she said quietly.
McKenzie’s brows lifted. “Rachel’s boyfriend?”
Theresa nodded. “Stephen told me… Jesse crossed a line with him. Pushed him into something sexual while camping. Then afterward, he got cold. Mean. Said if Stephen told Rachel, or anyone, he’d regret it.”
Noah’s eyes sharpened. “Stephen confided that to you?”
“We were close. He didn’t have many people to talk to. It confused him. I didn’t judge.”
Noah leaned forward slightly. “Was this… out of character for Stephen to be wrapped in that kind of drama?”
She shook her head. “It wasn’t drama. It was fear.
He said Jesse wasn’t just panicked about Rachel.
He was terrified of his father finding out.
Said Mark Linwood caught him and Stephen on another occasion, fooling around.
Didn’t say a word to Stephen. Just waited until later, then laid into Jesse after he left. ”
Noah’s tone changed. “Physically?”
Theresa’s jaw clenched and she nodded. “Stephen didn’t see it. The next day, Jesse showed up to school with bruises. After that… it was like he shut down. Pulled away from Stephen. Pretended none of it happened.”
McKenzie let out a slow breath. “And Jesse just went back to Rachel like nothing was wrong.”
Theresa nodded. “Stephen said it was like someone turned out the lights in him. Jesse treated him like a ghost. But Stephen… he was still scared. Not just for himself, but for Jesse.”
Noah exchanged a glance with McKenzie; this was no longer about campground drama or adolescent secrets. This had weight. Trauma. Motive. Something more about the group they hadn’t known.
“Stephen said Jesse’s dad would never let anyone find out. Not in a town like this. Rumors travel fast. It could poison the water of people’s futures.”
Noah chewed over his last words, considering the implications of a fathers words or actions toward their children — William Calder controlling, Avery’s future, Luther telling his daughter what to wear, and Hugh, trying to protect the Sutherland name.
McKenzie stepped toward the door. “Well, I guess it’s time we had a real conversation with Mr. Linwood.”
Noah turned back to Theresa. “If anything else comes to mind, call me. Anytime. Day or night.”
She gave a quiet nod. “I will.”
Outside, the late afternoon sun broke through the pines. A breeze carried the smell of woodsmoke and damp earth as they headed toward the car.
Noah pulled out his phone and started typing.
McKenzie glanced over. “Texting Callie?”
“Yep,” Noah said. “Told her to give me an update on the Airstream search warrant. I still haven’t heard back.”
McKenzie popped open the passenger door. “You starting to think this is about more than rage?”
Noah slid behind the wheel. “If half of what Theresa said is true, it’s about fear. Control. Shame. And the kind of secrets that twist people up inside.”
“It certainly would provide Mr. Linwood with a motive, but it still makes no sense, why kill all of them including his son?”
Noah glanced at him and raised his eyebrows.
He turned the key in the ignition.