Page 46 of Is Anyone Listening?
"Because all you do is order him around. And that's not fun. Trust me, I know," Jeff added dryly. "Cole wants to have a life, a bigger life than he can have here. Frankly, I think he's on the right track. I should have left a long time ago. But it's too late for me. Not for him. And he should go before he gets himself into more trouble than he can get out of."
"What does that mean?"
"It means he figured out the best way to get your attention, and I'm worried about how far he'll go to get it. Why don't you go see if you can find him now? He probably just went home because he told me he wasn't seeing Sophie until tonight."
"I can't chase him down now. I need to go to the inn. I have to speak to Ellen."
"About what?" Jeff asked.
"It doesn't concern you. Talk Cole out of New York. It's the least you can do for me after everything I've done for you."
As Tom got up, I looked down at my soup, not wanting to call attention to myself, but I needn't have bothered; he was already out the door.
My phone vibrated on the table, and I saw an incoming text from Morgan, who wanted an update. I texted back that I was working on a few things, but nothing to report yet. We texted back and forth for a few more minutes, mostly chatting about Tessa's condition and Morgan's guilt about not being in Stonecross with me. When Finn slid into the chair across from me, I put down the phone.
"Thanks for waiting," he said. "How was your soup?"
"Excellent."
"Good. How's Tessa?"
"She's in pain. Her leg was badly broken. She'll be in the hospital for a few more days, and she won't be walking for a long while."
"Is she up for a visitor?"
"You want to visit her? Why?"
"Because I'm concerned about her. And I'm sorry she got hurt."
I used to think I was good at reading people, but since I'd gotten to Stonecross, that belief had definitely been tested. I didn't know what to make of Finn or of Tyler, or of anyone, really. They all seemed suspicious.
"Tell me what happened yesterday, Finn. Tessa said you went to lunch and then you ran into a friend, a guy named Nathan. He offered to take you both out on his boat, and you encouraged her to say yes."
"I didn't push it. She jumped at the idea after Nathan told her he was the one who'd found Jessica Trent's boat. I didn't realize you and Tessa were also interested in her disappearance."
"Both women stayed at the inn and disappeared within several months of each other."
"Under completely different circumstances."
"Maybe not so different, considering their last known days were at the inn. But I want to know what happened when you were on the boat."
"Tessa started asking Nathan questions, and Nathan enjoyed her attention. He likes to boast about how he was the one who found the boat of the missing woman, as if that made him some kind of hero. And he took us out to the spot where he'd found the boat."
"I understand it was in a cove, with a beach nearby, that one theory is that Jessica got off the boat, climbed up the rocks, and disappeared from there."
Finn nodded. "Nathan mentioned that." He hesitated. "Look, Nathan talks a lot of shit. I'm not always sure how much of it is true."
"You don't think he found the boat?"
"No, I believe he found the boat, but I'm not as certain about what else he told Tessa."
"Which was what?"
After a momentary hesitation, Finn said, "Nathan told us that he found Jessica's diamond ring on the boat, but he didn't tell the police about it, because he wanted to sell it."
I looked at him in surprise. "I can't believe he would keep evidence like that. Did you see the ring?"
"He said he didn't have it on the boat. I'm also not sure he didn't make up the drama to add to his story." He paused. "But then he had second thoughts about what he'd said when Tessa mentioned the real reason you two were in town."
