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This time around, it was her father.
She sighed and pressed the red decline button.
"We're here, Pheebs," Chloe pointed out as she began to retreat a few steps to make sure she didn't miss any of the imaginary grid the two of them had set up. "Walk to the house and talk to your parents before they send out a search party."
"Mom is at the yarn shop, which probably explains how she heard about Ethan." Phoebe paused when she thought she heard the snap of a branch. She glanced over at Chloe, but she didn't take her concentration off the task at hand. "Besides, I'm not leaving you out here alone. We made a pact, remember?"
Chloe didn't have to have any special gifts to know the reason behind Phoebe's reluctance to wander off. She wouldn't leave Chloe out here by herself. The last time she left someone alone in these woods, her life had been forever altered by tragedy.
"Phoebe!" Kenneth’s voice could be heard from down the trail. “Phoebe!”
A part of her experienced a rush of relief at knowing she hadn't been hearing things, but she couldn't stop a wave of irritation at the interruption of their search.
"How in the world did your dad know that we were here?" Chloe asked as she never faltered swinging the metal detector over the cold ground.
"Phoebe, I know you're out here!"
"So help me, Chloe, I am not responsible for my actions if you say something about the entire family having a sixth sense," Phoebe warned after she took a few steps toward her parents' house. "Keep searching. I'll cut him off at the bend."
Phoebe hurried down the snowy path toward her father's voice. Her boots crunched the debris underneath her weight. She spotted her dad up ahead, bundled in a thick winter jacket, hat, and gloves.
"Dad, I sent both you and Mom a text first thing this morning," Phoebe explained as she finally closed the distance between them. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure that Chloe remained in sight. "I'm fine. I just need some time to digest what Aunt Trish told me last night."
"Well, your mother is a wreck," Kenneth complained as his gaze was drawn over her shoulder. "Phoebe, are you and Chloe still searching for that necklace? Why don't you let the police handle things now? Your mother called me a half hour ago to tell me that Chief Bennett brought in Ethan Turner for questioning. I was just about to drive to the station. You told me that you didn’t think he hurt Jenna, but if that son of a—"
"Dad, don't," Phoebe warned him as she reached out to touch his arm. "I'm serious. Don't go down to the station. I stand by my belief that Ethan Turner didn’t kill Jenna."
The last thing that Phoebe wanted to do was bring up her theory regarding Principal Grayson. Her father was liable to hunt him down, as well. It would do no one any good for Kenneth Burrow to be behind bars.
"How can you say that? Chief Bennett—"
"Chief Bennett has other reasons for bringing Ethan into the station," Phoebe explained a bit impatiently, once more glancing over her shoulder. Chloe was still visible, but she had stepped behind a large tree. The sleeve of her jacket could easily be seen from where Phoebe was standing with her dad. "Look, Chloe and I will finish up here and then walk back to the house for a cup of tea. We can talk about everything then."
"Everything?" Kenneth pressed, his concerned gaze searching her face for any signs of deceit. That, in and of itself, would have been funny if the situation wasn't so serious. "Your mother—"
"I love how you're more concerned with Mom's wellbeing than mine, Dad. The entire family kept me in the dark, allowing me to believe that I was losing my mind," Phoebe stressed, unable to hold her words back any longer. She tightened her grip on the shovel in an attempt to keep control of her emotions. She failed miserably. "You stood back while Mom took me to every therapist in the state of Maine. And then the two of you still remained silent when I confessed to you that I lied all those years ago. You know what, Dad? I no longer feel guilty about that. I don't."
"I'm so sorry, Phoebe." Kenneth reached out to her, but she took a step back to avoid his touch. She wasn't in the right state of mind to reassure him. "I truly am sorry, but we thought that was the best course of action at the time. How would you have been treated by the locals if they thought you could…"
"You still can't say it, can you?"
Phoebe's laugh was hollow, and a part of her wished that her mother was present. The thought of having this discussion three times with the three most important people in her life was devastatingly crushing.
What was even worse was that Jenna was standing mere feet away from them.
"I see dead people, Dad." Phoebe motioned to the side of him in a helpless gesture. "I see Jenna the way we found her underneath the ice. She is standing right there, dripping wet while wearing the same sweater that Mom knitted her for Christmas that year. She wants our help, and I did nothing for eleven years. Nothing but ignore her, because a part of me was afraid I was actually losing my mind."
A sob caught in her father's throat, which brought her up short. It had never been her intention to have this conversation in the middle of the woods. She failed to blink back her own tears.
"This isn't helping either of us," Phoebe whispered as she used the material of her gloves to wipe her cheeks. "Dad, go back home. Please."
"I don't have the cameras up yet," Kenneth warned as he collected himself. He also removed a glove so he could collect a white handkerchief from his pocket. When she shook her head that she didn’t need, he then used the fabric himself. Once he had blown his nose, he continued. "I don't like you girls being out here by yourselves, especially if you don't believe Ethan Turner killed your sister."
Phoebe had been unsettled at the sight of her sister, but her presence was becoming more and more frightening. Jenna usually disappeared after a while, but not this time around.
"Dad, the necklace that Jenna stole from Simone Langley’s purse belonged to Francie Turner," Phoebe explained, never taking her gaze off Jenna. Had this been her intention the entire time? Maybe there had been more to their father's decision to forbid Jenna from seeing Ethan. "I'm still piecing things together, but I don't think Jenna believed Francie Turner left town. There is a chance that Jenna was trying to prove that Francie Turner was murdered…by Ethan's father."
Jenna's head abruptly shifted so that her dull grey eyes were focused on them. The sudden movement caused Phoebe to startle.
