Page 70 of A Sea of Unspoken Things

“Sadie, they’re just having him make a statement, just like all the other kids who were at the party that night. They’ll ask him some questions and release him. That’s it.” Amelia’s smooth voice turned coaxing and her eyes locked with Sadie’s in what appeared to be an attempt to de-escalate the situation.

Ben said something to Sadie, his back to the officer, and she finally let her son go. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides as Ben was put into the car. Once it was moving, the group of onlookers began to disperse, getting out of the road. That’s when Sadie’s gaze found me.

“You.” Her voice cracked as it deepened and her crazed blue eyes flashed before she started in my direction. “This was you, wasn’t it?”

I looked around me, confused. Amelia tried to catch hold of Sadie, but she was already out of reach, closing the distance between us fast.

“Are you happy?” she shrieked, making me flinch.

When she finally made it across the street, everyone was watching again.

“Are you happy now?” The words repeated, and before I realized what was happening, her hand lifted into the air and came back down with a snap, striking me across the face.

“Sadie!” Amelia shouted behind her.

A collective gasp loosed from the crowd and I sucked in a breath, stumbling to the side and catching myself on the bumper of a car. When I righted, Sadie was already coming at me again.

Amelia caught up with her and wrenched her backward. She putherself between the two of us and shoved Sadie toward the opposite sidewalk.

My mouth hung open, the pain in my face radiating. I didn’t even recognize Sadie. She looked like a wild, crazed animal, her eyes wide and teeth bared as she screamed.

“Get back! Now!” Amelia looked disturbed, taking hold of Sadie’s jacket and shoving her backward again.

Furious tears glinted in Sadie’s eyes. “What are you thinking, letting these people come in here and haul my son out like a criminal? Hasn’t he been through enough because of that girl?”

“This is all procedure, Sadie. This is exactly what we would be doing if it were your child missing.”

Sadie was still heaving. “He’s a good kid, Amelia. We’re agoodfamily.”

“I know.” Amelia was trying to soothe her, a genuine worry in her voice.

“She’s the one you should be talking to,” Sadie spat, pointing a finger in my direction.

The circle of people was widening around us now and more were spilling from the diner. They were all looking at me.

“Why aren’t you askingherabout Johnny? About him and Autumn?”

Amelia put a hand on Sadie’s back, strategically leading her in the opposite direction. Her voice was too low to hear, but Sadie shot a glance backward, that same piercing gaze fixed on me.

I was still frozen, hand pressed to my cheek, when they disappeared into the diner. The faces around me reflected the same expression I was sure was on mine. The whole thing was so bizarre, so unexpected, that I wasn’t completely convinced that it had just happened.

Someone handed me a handkerchief just as the spectators began to thin, and I took it, staring at the soft checkered fabric folded into a square. When my eyes lifted to the figure beside me, they went wide.

It was Rhett Walker.

His stoic face peered out from beneath his hat, his wild dark beard hiding the set of his mouth. He stared at me, his squinted eyes painted that same muted gray as his son, Griffin. He was the last person I expected to be standing there. The last person I expected to show me any amount of kindness.

I swallowed. “Thanks.”

I dabbed at my face, where a stinging stripe was now throbbing on my cheek. The handkerchief came away with a few blots of blood.

He gave me a nod. “I’m sure you’ve figured out by now people aren’t at their best when they’re afraid for their kids.” His gravelly voice was like faraway thunder. “I’ve been there myself.”

When I looked at him, I wondered if the strangeness of his expression was guilt. An acknowledgment of what he’d done that day when he came to our house and tried to…what? I don’t know what he’d intended. But I’d seen that same wild look in his eyes. I’d heard the anguish in his voice. He’d been desperate for the truth. One I had never given him.

“She was at Johnny’s the night they’re saying she disappeared, you know,” Rhett said, gaze fixed on the missing person poster that hung in the window behind us. “That girl.”

“What?” I lowered my voice.