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Virginia studied Reese as though the woman was trying to make up her mind as to just how bad of an idea it might be to disturb Camree Lynn’s things again.
“Please,” Reese added for good measure.
“What would be the point?” Virginia asked. “Unless you think you can bring her back by rooting through her things.” Virginia blew out a breath. “I always felt guilty for letting the sheriff read her personal thoughts. Then again, I thought she’d come back once she cooled off.”
Reese feared Camree Lynn was gone forever. A body had never been found. There was no closure for anyone who missed her. For a split second, she saw an image of Virginia sitting at this table, staring at that front door, expecting her daughter to come busting through in a fit of rage about her journal becoming public property. It made her sad all over again. The kind of sadness that had her cry in her pillow every night and refuse to go to school or speak to anyone other than the law or Darren. Sheriff Webb had been the sheriff back then. He’d had asked a few questions about Camree Lynn’s mental state but even then, Reese believed the man had made up his mind. Looking back, talking to her had been ticking a box on a form rather than digging for information in an investigation. To Sheriff Webb, it had been an open-and-shut case.
“I’d like to explore any similarities, like we said before,” Reese said honestly.
“It won’t bring her back,” Virginia protested.
“No. I’m sorry, but it won’t. It might bring closure and justice, though,” Reese pointed out.
“Camree Lynn isn’t here to tell me what she wants one way or the other.” Virginia threw her hands up in the air. “So I guess it won’t do any harm now.”
“We can see the journal then?” Reese asked, just to be certain they were on the same page. Getting a close-up look at how hard parenting was made her soften toward her own mother. Seeing Darren second-guess himself as a dad brought home how difficult the job must be. Hearing about the ultimatum her mother had faced burned her up even more about her no-good grandfather. What had the man done for the family besides build a successful cattle ranch? Reese had walked away from the family money at eighteen and had no plans to ask for a red cent. The money wasn’t hers. She hadn’t worked for it and had no business taking it as far as she was concerned.
Virginia stood up and placed her palms on the table as she leaned toward them. “Yes. You can see the journal. I’ve read over it a dozen times and couldn’t find any clues. But you knew her better than anyone else.” She shrugged. “Maybe you’ll find something the rest of us missed. By the time we realized she wasn’t coming back, the trail was cold.”
“I’ll do my best,” Reese promised.
Virginia excused herself and went down the hallway. Darren had been quiet during the journal discussion. He sat back with his arms folded. Had Reese said something to offend him? His jaw muscle ticked like he was clenching his back teeth. It could be the heaviness of the situation, the fact that his daughters lived in a small town where a crime this heinous could occur or he was angry with her. She’d seen the look before. Usually, it meant the latter.
“Everything okay?” she asked, figuring it was better to speak up now than hold her tongue.
“Sure,” he responded with a tone that said the opposite was true.
Reese wasn’t ready to let it go. “Did I say something wrong?”
Before he could respond, Virginia came back into the room, holding Camree Lynn’s journal high in the air.The Starry Nighthad been Camree Lynn’s favorite painting. She’d been obsessed with it, so her journal was wrapped in a cover with a picture of the famous oil painting. “Here it is.”
“Do you mind if we take it with us?” Reese asked.
Virginia emphatically shook her head. “In a strange way, I feel like she might come home expecting it to be tucked underneath her mattress. If it goes...”
Overwrought with emotion, the older woman struggled to get the words out. Reese could only imagine how difficult it must be for Virginia to sit across the table from her presumably dead daughter’s former best friend.
She handed over the journal. “Take pictures of anything you want, but the journal must stay here.”
“Okay,” Reese said, taking the offering as Virginia reclaimed her seat across the table from them. Reese couldn’t help but reach out for Virginia’s hand to comfort her. She had no idea if the gesture made a difference, but when Virginia looked at her with gratitude in her eyes, Reese was humbled.
There’d been the occasional interaction with Virginia in a grocery-store parking lot years ago. Or a wave at the post office. But this was different. They were speaking to each other as adults who were on the same page about what had happened to Virginia’s daughter and Reese’s best friend.
Reese was also seeing parenting in a new light, and the job was even harder than she’d imagined it would be. Had she been too hard on her own mother? Judged her too harshly when Reese didn’t have all the facts? The hard answer was yes. But she wished her mother had mentioned the ultimatum or explained the reasons she stuck around when Duncan Hayes had been a class-A jerk.
She liked her grandfather even less now and she didn’t think that was even possible.
Refocusing on the journal, she flipped page after page until she reached the end. There were mostly scribbles, random thoughts, and sketches. She’d forgotten how much Camree Lynn liked to draw.
“She was good, wasn’t she?” Virginia asked as Reese used her index finger to trace the outline of a teddy-bear drawing on the last page.
“Very,” Reese agreed.
“She was going to start taking art classes in Austin on Saturdays,” Virginia said.
“I didn’t know that,” Reese replied.
“Because I hadn’t told her yet,” Virginia said wistfully. “Her father and I decided to find classes for her as a way of apologizing for all the arguing we did with her around.” She flashed her eyes at Reese and then Darren. “If you do nothing else as a parent, hold your temper. Count to ten. Walk out of the room. And I don’t just mean with your children. Do it with your spouse as well.”
