Until I Find You - Rea Frey Page 0,89

come if she were in Bec’s position?

“Beth! Over here.” Jess spots Beth through the crowd. She carries Trevor in a ring sling. He’s wearing red-and-white-striped socks and clutches a wooden teething ring. His gray eyes blink and twinkle in the sun. It’s clear, even from a few feet away, that this child is not Jackson. Even she can recognize the difference now.

“Good lord. This is insanity,” Beth says. “How did Caroline do all this so fast?” Her cheeks are pink, her tanned, toned legs on display in white shorts. She bounces Trevor up and down, and her quadriceps flex. She doesn’t wait for an answer. “I just feel so awful that she actually thought I would ever take her baby.” She fusses over Trevor. “It’s honestly made me look at him in an entirely new way. I won’t ever complain about him again, I can assure you of that.” On cue, he drops his teething ring and gives out a sharp cry.

Jess rolls her eyes. “Oh please. I give it a week.”

“You’re probably right,” she jokes. She brushes off the teething ring and hands it back. Beth waves to someone and mouths hello. “I think the entire town is here.”

“Well, Caroline Walker is a force,” Jess says.

Crystal is surprised by their light, flippant attitudes. Behind her, she catches tidbits of Officer Toby’s conversation with Rob. “Mrs. Gray told us she made it all up, but clearly Caroline has other ideas.” He lowers his voice. “The chief doesn’t want Elmhurst to become a laughingstock, you know?”

She waits for a lull and butts in. “Are you going to be turning this into more of an active investigation after tonight?” She wants him to verbalize his intentions. But she knows he’d never admit to what he was really after: Rebecca. Instead, questioning Crystal maintained the appearance of the police doing their part. The half-assed questioning. The quick dismissal. It had all been for show.

Toby rocks back on his heels. His crew cut and clean face make him look much younger than he probably is. “No, ma’am, we’re not. Unless there’s actual evidence, then I’m afraid we don’t have a case.”

Except the case you’re building against Rebecca, you mean.

“Caroline seems to think otherwise,” Jess scoffs. “Police or no police, she’s taking matters into her own hands.”

“That’s Caroline for you,” Rob says. “When she believes something, good luck to the fool who tries to stop her.”

Officer Toby bows his head and shakes it. His military cut reveals a shiny, pink bald spot on his crown. Paul flashes through her mind. He was in the Navy years before they met. He kept his hair short like Officer Toby’s, and she loved to run her palms over the stubble when he was fresh out of the shower. By the end of their marriage, his hair had grown longer and would often flop into his eyes. She hated it that way, but Evelyn loved it. Her stomach tightens.

“Here you go.” Someone thrusts a fake candle into her hand.

“Where in the world did Caroline find so many of these on short notice?” Jess sounds impressed. She twists the candle in her hand and lets Baxter play with it.

“Definitely sets the mood,” Beth says.

Jess wrestles the candle from Baxter’s strong grip and waves her candle in the air, as if at a concert. Beth joins in.

Crystal ignores their childish behavior, removes her sunglasses as the sun prepares to set, and turns her attention to the microphone. Caroline waits for silence. Crystal glances at her watch. Seven on the dot.

Showtime.

Finally, the crowd settles. “Welcome, everyone. We are here to raise awareness about Rebecca Gray’s missing son, Jackson Gray.” Caroline holds a flyer in her hand. “Rebecca’s son has been missing since Thursday morning and it’s up to us to bring him back.” She pauses to show the crowd. Behind her, a projector lowers, which startles a few spectators. Jackson’s face expands to the entire width of the screen. Crystal strains to see, since it’s not completely dark yet.

Caroline mentions more details but conveniently leaves out the part about Rebecca believing her son is swapped. She’s leading with the direst facts first—facts that people will believe. A missing baby is serious and warrants all hands on deck. But a swapped child? No one knows what to do with that.

Crystal grows antsier with every passing word, murmur from the crowd, and question flung up to the podium. She turns to Officer Toby.

“Shouldn’t you say something?”

He shrugs. “Not my event.”

Suddenly, there’s commotion in the