THINGS WERE FINALLY LOOKING up in his life. Ryder felt it in his gut. After years of working through a marriage that first broke his heart and nearly his faith in love, and then working through the anger that ignited him, he’d sworn off romance and commitment. He had Wyatt and his son was more than enough for him to live for. They were a family, just the two of them and they didn’t need someone to fill Ebony’s role. Plus, they had both sets of grandparents and Chloe. They weren’t lacking in anything.
Somehow, Tara got under his skin. That damn shy smile of hers obsessed him and all he wanted to do was entice it to come out. She was so open with his son, even if she was a little clumsy in figuring out how to interact with him, still seeking her place. Despite all the time they spent together, she hadn’t grown too familiar with Wyatt. She still asked Ryder’s permission before doing anything with him, no matter how many times Ryder told her it was unnecessary and Wyatt was just fine to be with her. He liked it when she babysat him or volunteered to play with him. She never overstepped any boundaries with Wyatt. She was respectful to a fault and Ryder had a hard time convincing Tara of her own value before she tried to engage them.
Going towards his truck, Ryder was on a call when he stopped after hearing his name being yelled.
“Ryder!” He turned to see who shouted from across the street and was just about to climb into his truck when Crystal Hughes approached him. She was still dressed in her uniform and he started to smile and say hello when he paused after observing the grim expression on her face. They had worked together for eight years as both friends and partners.
“What’s wrong?”
“You need to come with me, Ryder.”
“Where? Why? What’s going on? Is Wyatt okay?” Fear instantly gripped his heart and his gut, as well as his entire body, and he started to burn with sheer anxiety.
“Yes. Yes, sorry, Wyatt’s fine. Just… please?”
Confused by her demeanor and attitude, Ryder nodded and started to follow her across the parking lot towards her truck. They got in and a deep silence descended. He didn’t try to break it although Crystal appeared to be at a loss for words. They drove a good ten miles before coming to the trailhead of a hiking path that led to a small lake. There was nothing remarkable about it. Heavily wooded and more remote than most, it was one of the least used hiking trails and not as often patrolled for that very reason.
“Something happen here?”
She glanced his way with a tight smile and replied in a cool, but kind voice. “Ryder, please, just come.”
He followed her for a while up the trail until they veered off and traversed the high side of a swamp. While walking, they carefully avoided the skunk cabbage that grew as thick as grass blades and carpeted a huge area. Up ahead, Ryder saw police tape and several county agencies. That was not unusual to find at crimes scenes, and Ryder wondered why he was being brought there.
Crystal stopped far enough back from the scene that he couldn’t quite talk to anyone else yet. She put her hand on his shoulder. “Ryder… I don’t know how to say this.”
Completely puzzled, he fisted his hands, sensing it had to be directly related to him, and no doubt negative. He just couldn’t formulate what it could be. “Just say it.”
“We found some remains here. A dog was sniffing excessively in the area and that’s when a hiker found a body.”
“Okay…”
She squeezed his shoulder. “I’m sorry, but we believe it’s Ebony’s remains.”
Everything in Ryder froze. His peripheral vision turned black and his breathing escalated into short, shallow gasps. Ebony? Ebony, as in wife? Remains? Found here? What the hell? This had to be a cruel joke or a terrible mistake.
“She left me. She mailed me a note after wiping out my savings. She left me. She’s not… That can’t be her there. She’s not dead. Those could not be her remains.” He grew agitated and he shrugged Crystal’s hand off his shoulder. He started pacing and his heart raced.
“I know. But she had this, Ryder. I recognized it. I’m sorry. I knew both of you and I was at your wedding. I saw her wedding ring and I identified it. The remains are… mostly ravaged, after being underwater for several years. You…” She cut off her own sentence and paused before adding, “You understand.”
Oh, yes, he knew. He understood. He knew exactly what three-plus years underwater did to a human body. There was no way to know for sure. None. So what if she wore a similar wedding ring? So what? Maybe Ebony hawked it in the next town and the remains they found belonged to the victim who bought it. Or perhaps she stole it from Ebony or… There were so many other explanations to consider. Who knew if it was truly Ebony? Gripping his head with both hands, Ryder used his fingers to massage his hair before clasping his neck. No!
“She’s not dead! She’s gone, but she must still be alive. She left me. I divorced her for abandonment. She isn’t dead!” His voice rose and several heads swiveled his way. Fuck! No. His head began to hurt and he stopped dead. Calmer now, he muttered a final word of protest. “No.”
“Ryder… Whoever this is, there was jewelry that settled in the creek bottom around her, including earrings, a necklace and a wedding ring. Those pearl earrings Ebony always loved to wear. I knew her quite well.” Crystal and Ebony had been good friends after meeting through Ryder. “She was murdered. The victim found here was murdered; most likely. I don’t think she wrote any Dear John note willingly. And she definitely didn’t take your money.” Tears filled Crystal’s eyes and rolled down her face.
Ryder backed up a step. Then he took another. His breathing was erratic. His heartbeat was not right either. Something was wrong. He shook his head and Crystal merely sobbed louder. He couldn’t hear her though because of the buzzing between his ears. She must be wrong. She had to be so damn wrong. His wife left him. She was a cold-blooded bitch that left him and abandoned her own son “to go find herself.” She stole their life savings and disappeared. She abandoned him. She didn’t get… murdered. She wasn’t murdered and left in a swamp for years. Years that he patrolled in this very same area. That could not be the body of his rotting wife… no, oh fuck no! She was not the wife he legally divorced.
He shook his head and Crystal came forward. “We’ll test her DNA and the lab will also determine the cause of death. We have to confirm it, Ryder, but… I need you to realize that it’s her. It’s her. You can come and see the jewlery, or you can just trust me. As soon as I saw her jewelry, I knew. You can come and wait for the official report, and honestly, I get it. But Ryder, it’s Ebony.” Crystal held out Ebony’s wedding ring and he stared at it as if it were a poisonous bug that could kill him. He fought the urge to run away from it but picked it up with a sigh of resignation. Inside, he saw EK & RK etched into the band.
It was his wife’s fucking ring.
Sucking in a deep breath, he leaned forward and fell onto his knees. The wet spongy ground soaked through his pants. He suddenly opened his mouth and proceeded to puke his lunch out.