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"Real," Phoebe finally yelled as she took off at a dead run. The dark figure had already turned and disappeared into the woods. "Call the sheriff, Chloe! Now!"
Chapter Sixteen
Phoebe
An hour later, Phoebe sat at her parents' kitchen table across from Chief Bennett as he finished taking her official statement in his usual gruff, no-nonsense manner. She had recounted the events of the morning in a calm, analytical tone.
Inside, she was dealing with an array of emotions, but most of all anger.
Whoever was watching them wasn't even trying to hide it anymore. It was almost as if he was taunting them.
Chloe was in the process of making everyone a second cup of coffee or tea. She chimed in whenever Chief Bennett had a question or if he wanted confirmation on the reiteration of the day's events. Chloe poured hot tea from the kettle into Phoebe's cup, and the warmth from the porcelain soaked into her hands.
"Is there a reason you didn't call me when you thought someone was following you the other day?" Chief Bennett asked as he finished scribbling inside his small notebook. He focused on her over his reading glasses, probably to catch her response to his question. "And how certain are you that the person outside of Derek Vance's residence is the same individual the two of you saw across the street from the yarn shop? Or out at the pond today?"
"We can’t be sure, but I'm telling you that the man's frame was the same size," Phoebe reiterated for the third time. She cast a frustrated glance toward Chloe, who had not reclaimed her seat. She motioned that she was stepping out of the kitchen for a moment. "I chased after the guy, but I lost sight of him in the woods."
Chief Bennett clicked the end of his pen before leaning back in his chair. He removed his reading glasses and hung them from the pocket of his uniform shirt.
"Let me get this straight," Chief Bennett started off slowly as he began to recap the information. "You discovered that Jenna was seeing Ethan Turner without your parents' knowledge or permission. Turner tells you that Jenna thought someone was following her, but he claims that it was Simone Langley, who in turn accused Jenna of stealing a necklace."
"Yes." Phoebe met the chief's stare, refusing to back down from her belief that he had been wrong in claiming that Jenna's death was accidental. "I also think the dirt underneath Jenna's fingernails was because she buried the necklace somewhere near the pond. We searched the edge of the water and the pier with a metal detector, but we didn’t locate it…yet."
Chief Bennett's attention switched to Phoebe's dad, who was staring at Phoebe as if he wanted to ask her something. She tilted her head in response, but he shook his head as if now wasn't the right time or place.
Was he finally ready to address her visions?
"Kenneth, you saw this necklace?"
"Yes," Kenneth replied after clearing his throat. He turned the mug around with his fingers as he gave more insight into his response. "I didn't see Jenna wearing it, but rather saw it lying next to her textbooks when she was studying one day. I didn't think anything of it at the time."
Chief Bennett seemed almost at a loss with what to do with the information he had obtained from them.
"Chief, I'm officially asking you to reopen the investigation into Jenna's death." Phoebe reached for the sugar on the lazy Susan that had been on her parents' table ever since she was a little girl. Now that everything was out in the open, she wasn't about to let the momentum wane. "You can take our information as a starting point. Chloe and I are going to continue speaking with Jenna's friends back then—Olivia Walton and Kristen Greene. They couldn’t have been clueless about Jenna sneaking around with Ethan. Maybe they know something about why Jenna stole Simone’s necklace."
"Why don't you let me—"
"Chief, with all due respect, you still believe my sister's death was an accident." Phoebe finally stirred the sugar into her tea. She was getting her bearings back, and she was hoping that she could seek out either Olivia or Kristen in the next day or two. "When the time comes that you change your mind after looking into the information that we have provided you, Chloe and I will consider taking a step back."
Chief Bennett rubbed his forehead in frustration.
"Oh, and Jenna was seen at the hospital a few days before she died," Phoebe tacked on as she recalled what Simone had said about her brother's surgery. "I'm not sure how or even if that connects with her death, but it's worth looking into."
Movement behind the chief caught Phoebe's attention. Chloe was walking toward them with the small camcorder in her hand. The front portion of the device was open as Chloe set the camcorder on the table.
"Chief Bennett, you're going to want to see this," Chloe said as she motioned for Phoebe to come around the table. She pushed back her chair, leaving her tea on the placemat. She came to a stop on the right side of the chief, while Chloe stayed on his left. Once she was sure that everyone had a good visual of the camcorder, she leaned down and pressed play. "This is proof that someone followed us out to the pond today."
The footage began to play, and Phoebe tensed at the thought that her father would hear her narrate the tragic details of that day. Fortunately, Chloe had muted the sound. Phoebe shot her friend a grateful glance as Kenneth scooted his chair in tighter to the table to get a better look at the screen.
Phoebe could be seen walking the path from the house to the pond.
Seeing herself retrace those fateful steps made her heart constrict. The footage continued, panning over the bare trees and random boulders lining the path. Phoebe leaned in, scrutinizing each shadowy crevice and trunk.
Where was he?
There—a blur of movement between two pines, so quick Phoebe nearly missed it. She jabbed a finger at the screen.
"There! Do you see him? Behind that tree."
