CHAPTER TWO
Present day…
“I see Dad’s been by to visit.”
Jace Kendall couldn’t help but smile in sadness at the lone tea rose laying on his mother’s tombstone. Lilacs had been Mary Kendall’s favorite, but they were out of season this late in August. This particular tea rose, called Darlow’s Enigma, no doubt came from one of the bushes she’d planted years ago in the front of their family home. The fragrant blooms lasted all summer long and gave the whole front yard a wonderful aroma with each successive breeze. One of the best climbing roses on the market, his mother’s trellis had long since been overrun.
“It looks as if he’s been taking care of your gardening. Noah said Dad’s thumb is finally showing a bit of green.”
Jace’s own thumb was pricked when he examined the small sprig, only then remembering Darlow’s Enigma had one major bad attribute. Their many thousands of thorns were razor sharp. Their beauty could cut a person to the bone.
He wanted to say more to his mom, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, he looked up from his mother’s engraved name and took in his immediate surroundings.
Blyth Lake.
His childhood hometown.
In the twelve years he’d been gone, there hadn’t been one occasion when he returned on leave where he hadn’t driven straight to his parents’ house…until now.
“You have an amazing view.” Jace was glad his father had purchased this particular plot, seeing as it was on the back edge of the graveyard and overlooking a rolling field of wildflowers. There was even a large white oak that provided shade from the hot sun. He pictured himself and his brothers chasing each other through the field as their mother and father walked hand in hand. Their sister had always remained within a few yards of their dad and never ventured too far. “Dad’s in the process of making a wooden bench that will go perfect underneath that tree.”
Jace took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and then exhaled slowly. He tried to compose his emotions. He honestly hadn’t thought returning home without his mom to greet him on the front porch would be quite this hard. He’d stopped at the entrance in town, wanting so bad to make that left turn…but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He’d known he would be coming here to see her grave for the first time since the funeral.
He’d driven straight down Main Street until he’d hit Seventh. The entrance to the cemetery didn’t feel like much of a warm welcome, but he took solace in the fact that his mother was at peace. She’d wanted that for her children, as well.
Jace suffered quite a bit through his time in the service. The Corps didn’t find itself in the vacation spots around the world too often. He had served his country, and now he believed he was entitled to pursue the happiness that had eluded him thus far.
“I’m sure you heard about the crazy events that have been happening this past summer.” Jace cleared his throat before kneeling, not wanting his voice to carry over the slight breeze. He didn’t see anyone in close proximity, but this was still a private conversation. “I can’t believe that Noah found a body inside the wall of his new house. I mean, what are the odds of that kind of insanity happening here in Blyth Lake? He always did have to be the one to stir up trouble in the neighborhood.”
He pictured Mary Kendall wagging her finger his way, letting him know that he ought to be nicer to his younger brother. Now, he had to chide himself. It hadn’t always been easy being the middle child of five, but he wouldn’t change a second of his childhood in this rural paradise they called home. Life here was so much simpler than the breakneck pace at which the rest of the world ran. Time stood still here amongst the live oaks.
Mitch and Gwen were the oldest of the Kendall siblings, whereas Noah and Lance were the younger. Jace had been the pivot point, smackdab in the middle. The experts always said that the middle child was the peacemaker. That wasn’t the case in the Kendall clan. Their sister, Gwen, had taken that particular role. He imagined that she took on the responsibility just because she couldn’t stand having her brothers fight over stupid shit repeatedly.
Had it not been for his mom, Jace most likely would have been an oddball loner who eventually turned into an uptight asshole. Mary Kendall had made sure he was the youngest of the first three and the oldest of the last three. There wasn’t a moment in time where he’d ever felt out of place.
“I do miss you, Mama.” Jace was out of one-on-one time. He’d learned early on that privacy was the first casualty of having a large family, and seeing Lance’s old F150 through the wrought iron fence was just another reminder. His baby brother pulled into the cemetery parking lot, leaving Jace to wonder how that old truck was still even running. “Lance couldn’t have given me two more minutes alone with you, could he? I know, I know. Be nice.”
Jace leaned his palm against the cool grass, lowering himself to the ground. He might as well make himself comfortable. Lance would have to walk halfway through the graveyard to reach him. He wasn’t about to make it easy for his baby brother to horn in on this moment.
His mother’s wagging finger once again materialized in his mind.
“Oh, Mom. Trust me, he could use the exercise.”
Lance slammed the driver’s side door shut before shading his eyes to determine if Jace would decide to head his way.
Not a chance, buddy.
Jace rested a forearm over his knee, enjoying the fact that Lance was muttering curses under his breath as he started hiking up the small rise. He didn’t realize his mini rant carried across the cemetery as well as it did. It wasn’t long until he was standing in front of their mother’s tombstone.
There were times in life that Jace’s siblings surprised him…this moment included. Lance lowered himself next to Jace, and they sat in silence for a good five minutes. Oddly so, it was actually nice to have the company of a family member here on this midsummer’s day.
“Welcome home,” Lance finally said, not even bothering to glance Jace’s way.
“It’s good to be back,” Jace replied, picking at the grass by his side. He might as well fess up. “I wasn’t quite ready to pull up the drive, you know what I mean?”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me. Been there myself.” Lance lifted his shades until they were resting on top of his head. “The day I drove into town, Dad came strolling out onto the front porch wearing his barbeque apron and carrying a spatula in his hand. Let’s just say there was an adjustment process.”
“Everyone already at the house waiting on me?” Jace wasn’t about to get emotional. He’d been there and done that on the day of Mary Kendall’s funeral. He sighed in resignation as he tossed the blades of grass back down onto the ground. “I was hoping to come home quietly, without any kind of fanfare and such.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. Noah and Reese were in the kitchen mixing a massive tossed garden salad when I left, and Brynn was leaving the Cavern when you drove past.”
“Brynn threw me under the bus, didn’t she?” Jace should have known that someone would spot him, but it wasn’t like everyone in town knew he owned a Range Rover. He could all but guarantee that was rectified by the time he’d reached Seventh Street. The word was out. “Dad said the two of you reconnected in the month that you’ve been home. You don’t waste time, do you, brother?”
“She’s the one for me, Jace.” Lance didn’t even bother to hide his goofy grin. He and Brynn had been involved back in high school. Apparently, those old embers had been rekindled with a bit of effort. “She moved in with me last week, as a matter of fact.”
“What is it with you and Noah buying houses without taking your time to look around town? I’m absolutely certain you could have chosen better.” Jace could understand Lance doing something so impulsive, but Noah? That didn’t make any sense. “Let’s face it, the choices the two of you made wasn’t the brightest, now were they?”
“Noah found the body in his wall,” Lance pointed out, sitting up a bit straighter. “I only found pictures of teenage girls who were either abducted or murdered. We must have hit the supernatural lottery with those odds.”
“Get up, you idiot,” Jace directed, pushing himself off the ground and dusting himself off. He had on a pair of his favorite jeans and one of his button-down shirts with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. He always did have better taste in clothes than Lance. “I’m not talking about a serial killer roaming around Blyth Lake while we sit next to Mom’s grave.”
“It’s not like she doesn’t already know what’s been going on,” Lance muttered, catching up with Jace after a few steps. “Maybe she’ll give us a sign. She never did like people thinking bad of us Kendalls or screwing with our hometown’s image.”
“I lay sole blame on Noah. Can you imagine finding a body in the drywall of your house? He has the reverse Midas Touch. Everything he touches turns to shit.”
“Don’t tell Noah, but I already thanked Mom for not letting it be me.” Lance put his sunglasses back onto the bridge of his nose. “Imagine Noah’s surprise when the body turned out to be Sophia Morton, and not Emma.”
Jace figured everyone in Blyth Lake was surprised the body belonged to someone else besides Emma Irwin. The seventeen-year-old girl went missing close to twelve years ago. Her abduction was the biggest mystery this town had ever heard of or seen since. No one knew if she was alive, dead, or abducted by those famous probing aliens.
In all seriousness, that theory had been proposed by Wylie Tilmadge. Good old Wylie used to live on the outskirts of town and had been a favorite with the media back in the day. He had really been out there on the edge.
As for Sophia Morton, it was Jace’s understanding that she had been a young girl who lived in the nearby town of Heartland, Ohio. The small town was located around thirty miles to the east of Blyth Lake. The only connection between Emma and Sophia had been the fact that they’d both attended summer camp together…the same camp Lance had attended the summer before he shipped off to boot camp.
“So, let me get this straight,” Jace said, figuring he might as well be up to speed on current events before driving home and being thrust into the middle of the latest edition of an old story. “The police believe that Sophia Morton was murdered by the same person who kidnapped Emma? Weren’t those cases a year apart? I would think that the two events would be considered unrelated until proven otherwise. I mean, it’s a stretch, isn’t it?”
“You would think, but then how did Sophia’s body end up here in Blyth Lake? Not to mention I found pictures in the basement of my house that do, in fact, prove otherwise.” Lance and Jace finally reached their vehicles, but neither of them made an attempt to get behind the wheels. “Emma and Sophia’s photographs were both in that pile of victims, Jace. It wasn’t a coincidence. Someone targeted those girls.”
“And what about all the other teenagers who were photographed?” Jace wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but somehow his two younger brothers had managed to get involved in an active, honest to God homicide investigation. Now that couldn’t be a coincidence. “Have the police located any of them or their relatives?”
Lance leaned against the side of his truck before rubbing a hand over his face in an attempt to delay his answer. This couldn’t be good.
“Dad figured he’d told you enough bad news in one phone call, so he might have left off a few details.”
“Like what?” Jace didn’t like returning to town blind in one eye. He liked being prepared, and not being handled. Leaving the service hadn’t changed that part of his personality. “Spit it out, for Christ’s sake. I’m already coming home to find my younger brothers living on their own broken-down farms and playing house with their dream girls. Is anyone pregnant yet?”
Jace didn’t have to explain that he was talking about Brynn Mercer and Reese Woodward. Granted, he could understand Lance and Brynn getting back together. They’d been an item for most of their high school tenure. That wasn’t much of a stretch, but the fact that Noah was involved with Reese Woodward was blowing Jace’s mind. What the hell had they put in the water since he was last here? It had to be poisoned.
Reese had come to town seeking answers about Sophia’s disappearance, somehow connecting Sophia to Emma before anyone else did. It came to light that Reese and Sophia were cousins. Honestly, Jace wasn’t sure he wanted to know all the particulars now that he was home. At this point, he was thinking it might have been smarter for him to have delayed his homecoming and let all this crazy just blow over. Lance’s next statement confirmed it.
“Whitney Bell was abducted from her dad’s house just a couple of weeks ago.” Lance shook his head in regret. “The police have fairly convincing evidence that she’s dead.”
Jace let that bit of news sink in as he reconciled past events with current.
He definitely should have delayed his homecoming. Hell, maybe he could sneak out of town before anyone else noticed he was here. Oh, that’s right. It was a little too late for that.
“You’re telling me that the person who abducted Emma twelve years ago and murdered Sophia Morton eleven years ago is the same individual who killed Whitney Bell a couple of weeks ago?” Jace briefly thought about getting in his truck and driving out of town anyway. The only thing that stopped him was the vision of his dad standing on the front porch in his barbeque apron. “That is some crazy shit, brother.”
“You want to know what’s even crazier yet?”
Not really, but Jace had never been able to put a muzzle on Lance in the past. He doubted he could do so now.
“We have an active serial killer in Blyth Lake, and he’s dragging—either by happenstance or with intent—all of us Kendalls into the middle of this investigation.” Lance shot Jace a look of warning. “Watch your back, brother. We got a homicidal maniac itching to do some kind of harm to those we love.”