Page 103 of Lucky Haven

“Y-yes.”

“You ever alone with him?”

“Jesus, Cash,” Jasper mutters. “Let me ask the questions.”

“Then fucking ask them.”

“Kaitlyn, I understand you left some messages for Haven. Did anyone else know about those notes?”

“No.”

“Did you send her emails, too?”

She screws up her face and looks at her mother.

“Tell them.”

‘Y-yes.”

“Did Pastor Martin know about them?”

She shakes her head. “No.”

“But tonight, you told him?”

“N-no. I just told him that Haven was trying to talk to me. That she was mad and she scared me.” Her chin goes up. “I didn’t think it was a big deal. He said he’d handle it.”

He said he’d handle it.

“Handle it how?” Jasper asks, very quietly.

She blinks. The first crack of real uncertainty. “He just… said not to worry about it.”

“What did you think he meant by that?”

“That he would talk to her.” There’s a flash of something like jealousy. “He knows her real well.”

“Did he seem upset?”

A longer pause this time. “...Maybe.”

I interrupt. “And what did you think about that? That he didn’t want you to talk to her?”

Her eyes narrow. “He was just protecting me. He’s a nice man.”

I turn to Jasper. I don’t care that she can hear me. “That’s what Haven thought when she was Kaitlyn’s age, too. She learned better over time. Now he’s backed up against a wall. She’s tough, Jasper. So smart. She’d put it together and say it to his face. And if he felt like he didn’t have any other option, he’d take her to cover up his shameful secret. I know it’s thin, but I know men like him. Thanks to you, I’ve spent more time than I’d like with them. I’ve stared Martin in the eye and seen his possessive jealousy. He’s a real threat to her.”

Kaitlyn angrily interrupts me. “Why are you assuming he’s taken her? If they’re gone, it’s because she’s a slut. She’d go with him willingly. She did it before.”

“That’s a fucking lie,” I snarl.

Meghan gasps.

“Don’t act shocked, lady. Did you tell her that? How much of her ideas about who Haven is and what she’s done come from you?”

“You’re the one who closes your garage in the middle of the day to do God only knows.”

“You’re the one whose daughter is being groomed by a youth pastor right under your nose.”