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We followed them into the kitchen, a small space that felt cozy despite its size. The large table in the center dominated the room as if it were the heart of the house, and the kitchen smelled of coffee and something sweet, although there was an underlying tension in the air that was impossible to ignore.
We all sat at the table; the silence heavy as Amy poured the coffee. Her hands shook slightly, and she kept her eyes down, not meeting mine or Neil’s.
“What do you want to know?” Jeff asked, breaking the silence.
I could tell this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. This was the kind that dredged up old wounds and forgotten pain. But we were here now, and there was no turning back. I just hoped we were ready for whatever truths were about to be revealed.
Chapter Twenty-Four
NEIL
I leaned forward,my hands resting on the edge of the table, the warmth of the coffee mug seeping into my palms. “What can you tell us about Rebecca Lennox?”
Amy glanced at Jeff, and he gave her a slight nod. She took a deep breath, her voice quiet and tinged with sadness as she started. “Rebecca was quiet, kept to herself mostly. She loved her kids more than anything, and she loved reading. But she felt my brother’s anger too often. It was a miracle she kept her family together as long as she did.”
I could feel the unspoken pain behind her words. “When did you last see her?”
“Around Rachel’s ninth birthday,” Amy replied, her gaze distant as she recalled the memory. “Just after. Edward told us she’d been diagnosed with end-stage breast cancer. They weren’t telling the kids specifics, just that their mommy was ill. They were faced with impossible medical bills, but he found this place he was taking her to up in Canada, a wellness retreat where shecould get treatment funded by a charity. He knew she wouldn’t live, but he just wanted to make her last few weeks good.”
She paused, and I could see the doubt in her eyes, the uncertainty she’d carried all these years. “He was worried about the money but said he had some compensation from a fall on the rodeo circuit way back. Said it would cover everything the charity couldn’t. He … he told us he loved her, right, Jeff?”
Jeff’s expression hardened, and his voice became gruff when he spoke. “‘Loved’ is a strong word. He coveted her. Controlled her. And the kids. But when he came back fromCanada…” he huffed, and how he said Canada made me think he suspected they’d never gone there. “He told us she’d passed, and he became even more of an asshole. Especially to Micah, who did everything to protect his sister until he fucked up and ended up being sent to prison. Then, Rachel left for college, and it was just Edward… it was like he had nowhere to turn the hate, and he crumbled.”
Amy stared down at her hands, her voice trembling. “He wouldn’t let us in the house, and then he killed himself, and he had a photo of Rebecca in his hands when he died, covered in blood… he…” She leaned into her husband, who tucked her under his arm and gave me a warning glance.
The room was heavy with silence, the weight of their words hanging in the air. I let out a slow breath, trying to process everything they’d said. “So, Rebecca is buried somewhere in Canada?”
Amy and Jeff exchanged a look filled with regret andfear. “We don’t know,” Amy admitted. “He was a violent man, Neil. And when Micah killed that boy… it made him so much worse.”
I frowned, my gut telling me there was more to this story than what they said. Edward didn’t sound like a man who’d ever lovedanyone, not the way his sister was trying to paint it. He sounded like an asshole to the core, and whatever love he claimed to have for Rebecca had been twisted and corrupted long before she’d disappeared from their lives.
“And you never pushed him on where your sister-in-law was buried?” I asked, trying to keep the skepticism out of my voice.
Jeff shook his head, his jaw clenched tight. “We tried. But every time we asked, he’d just get angry, tell us to mind our own damn business. We feared what he might do if we pushed too hard.”
Amy nodded, tears welling in her eyes.
I sat back, my mind racing with everything they’d told us. There were too many holes in this story and too many unanswered questions. And the more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that Rebecca Lennox’s story didn’t end in some wellness retreat in Canada. Edward Lennox had been hiding something, something dark, and it had left scars on everyone involved. It would have cost a fortune for Rebecca to have treatment, and was it Edward’s solution to kill her and dump her body in the well on Lennox land?
How was that even possible?
“Thank you for telling us this,” I said, my voice gentler now. “I know it’s not easy to talk about.”
“Sheriff?” Amy exclaimed and closed her eyes for a moment. “People back in Whisper Ridge are saying you found bones in the well on the ranch…” Tears coursed down her face. “Tell me it wasn’t Rebecca. Tell me she died in a soft place in a forest cabin looking over a lake. Please tell me I’m wrong...”
Jeff’s eyes were also bright, and he held his wife tighter.
“We don’t know enough to tell you anything,” I said. “I wish we did.”
We said our goodbyes, and although I sifted through the facts, I couldn’t see a good resolution to any of this.
We were nearly backinto Whisper Ridge when Connor broke the silence. “You think Edward Lennox killed his wife to avoid paying for health care, then dumped her in the well?”
I wanted to tell him it was impossible and that something like that couldn’t have happened. But I couldn’t. Deep down, I knew better. So, in the end, I just nodded and said, “Yes.”
The weight of that single word hung between us as we pulled into town.
“I need to read my dad’s case notes,” I said, my voice rougher than I intended. “The ones in his old journals. Will you drop me at my parents’ place?”
