“Jade? Excuse me. Are you awake?”
She jumped at the sound of the familiar voice, banging her head on some kind of shelf. “What in the …”
“Shh.” His tone was calming. Soothing. “It’s all right. It’s me, Ben. I just had a few questions for you.”
She blinked. Why wasn’t she in bed? How could she have fallen asleep?
“You’re in the church closet.” Ben reached down and picked up a wise man costume Jade had been holding.
Her brain wrenched in protest as every single horrible replay of last night crashed around her memory banks. “Did you find my daughter?” She stood again, this time knocking over a box of flannelgraph Bible characters before stepping out of the closet.
Glancing down the church hallway, she studied those around her, trying to figure out if Ben woke her up with good news or bad. Nearly all the faces were unfamiliar: police officers from Anchorage, troopers from the surrounding areas, search and rescue teams deployed from God alone knew where. They all looked tired and worried, not a good sign, but at least they looked busy, which meant the investigation was still ongoing.
Which meant there was still hope. Right?
She braced herself for whatever news Ben had for her.
“Do you need more coffee?” he asked. “A sandwich?”
She shook her head. Why couldn’t he just get straight to the point?
“Let’s take a seat.”
As they passed through the church kitchen, she glanced at the time. Just after five in the morning, with at least another five hours to go before the sun even thought of rising. How much snow had fallen last night? How long could a child as small as Dez survive this long outside?
Jade clenched her fists and jutted up her chin. Whatever news Ben brought her, she was ready. Anything was better than this uncertainty, this waiting.
“What can you tell me about Keith Richardson?” he asked.
“Elder Keith?” It had been years since she stepped foot in Morning Glory’s ornate church building, but the title came to her out of habit.
Ben nodded.
“He was one of my dad’s best friends.” Jade wondered what kind of information Ben was looking for. What did he want her to say?
“He’s the leader of Morning Glory now.” From Ben’s tone, Jade couldn’t tell if he was asking her a question or stating a fact.
“Yeah, he took over after Pastor Mitch died.”
“The church website still calls him Elder Keith, not pastor.”
Jade shrugged. It was no surprise. The church would remain loyal to Pastor Mitch no matter how horrific his crimes had been in life.
“Was Keith Richardson upset when your family went to the police about your pastor?”
She nodded. At first, she was thankful to Ben for his discretion. Thankful he didn’t use words like rape or abuse, labels that had been thrust on Jade’s shoulders since she was a teenager. But the more she thought of it, the more his question smacked of condescension. Did he think she couldn’t handle hearing the truth spoken out loud? Did he think she was that fragile? She sat, waiting for what he would say next.
“Have you been in contact with Keith Richardson since you left Morning Glory?” The question was direct. Abrupt. As if for a moment he’d forgotten that Jade was the victim’s mother and not a suspect herself.
“We stopped having anything to do with him,” she answered. “He was one of the most vocal opponents of us going to the police. He even offered to pay my family money to keep it quiet.”
“But you haven’t had any contact with him recently?” Ben was staring at her with an intensity that made her heart race. What was he suggesting?
She shook her head. “No. Why?”
Ben pulled out her cell phone. It was the first time Jade had realized it wasn’t in her pocket like normal. “Where’d you get that?”
He didn’t answer her question but just said, “Keith Richardson left you five different text messages in the past half hour.”
Jade yanked the phone out of his hands. “What did he say?” Elder Keith had been like an uncle to her when she was younger. His daughter Trish had been her best friend, and they’d promised to go to college together and be roommates and study pre-law together. Jade knew for a fact Trish had been one of the girls Pastor Mitch abused, but even if Elder Keith was aware of the crime, he was too loyal to Morning Glory to ever try to put a stop to it.
And now he was messaging her after Dez disappeared?
She scrolled through the texts, trying to will her hand steady.
It’s Elder Keith. Are you there?
We need to talk. Can I call?
I know it’s early, but this is important.
Are you getting any of my messages?
Jade’s stomach flopped, and she physically recoiled from her phone when she read his last message.
I know what happened to your daughter.